BlueWater Communications Group

VMWORLD 2011 Highlights

2011-09-23T12:18:00.000-07:00

Key Product Announcements

Networking
VXLAN - Logical networks to be extended among virtual machines placed in different subnets. Flexible, scalable cloud architecture in which new servers can be added in different subnets. Migration of virtual machines between servers in different subnets

Hardware
Teradici APEX PCOIP Offload card - With 2GB of onboard memory, each Server Offload Card can support up to 64 displays at a resolution of 1920x1200, up to 32 dual displays. PCI-E Expansion card with future support for mezzanine formats. Offloads PCOIP compression from CPU.

Disaster Recovery
Disaster Recovery to the cloud via VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5 - Enterprise grade disaster recovery delivered via public cloud service providers leveraging SRM (FusionStorm, Hosting.com, iland, VeriStor).

Cloud

VMware vCloud® Datacenter Global Connect - Giving customers the power to use public cloud services across multiple providers in multiple geographies as if from one cloud. Bluelock, Colt, SingTel and Softbank Telecom are expected to be the first providers to offer Global Connect services.
VMware vCloud® Connector 1.5 - Faster, more reliable delivery and management of virtualized workloads from enterprise datacenters to public clouds, accelerating hybrid environment portability. Also introduced was vcloud.vmware.com, a new online destination where enterprises can find public cloud service providers, test drive services, and begin transferring and managing workloads in the cloud.
VMware vFabric™ Data Director - Manage, provision and deliver access to a growing set of diverse data sources required for application development in the cloud.
VMware vFabric Postgres - The first database integrated with Data Director, a fully compliant PostgreSQL relational database engineered to take full advantage of VMware vSphere's underlying virtualization resource capabilities.
Project AppBlast - provide the universal delivery of any application, including Windows-based applications, to any device supporting HTML5, enabling instant remote access to applications without the heavy footprint of the underlying operating system.
Project Octopus - tool that can provide a DropBox service for the enterprise.

Virtual Desktop
VMware View™ 5 - New levels of innovation and performance with integrated 3D graphics support, unified communications and Persona management.

Security & Mobility
VMware Horizon™ Application Manager - Extending the benefits of user-centric identity, policy and entitlement from SaaS Apps to virtualized Windows applications via VMware ThinApp®.
VMware Horizon Mobile (formerly MVP) - Establishes and securely manages a connected mobile workspace in isolation from their personal Android mobile environment.

Cisco Highlights

Cisco UCS achieved the highest score ever recorded for the VMware VMmark 2.1 benchmark with a 21% performance advantage over other identical server core count.
Introduction of the Virtual eXtensible LAN protocol jointly developed by Cisco and VMware, Broadcom, Arista, Red Hat, and Citrix and submitted as an IETF Internet Draft. VXLAN essentially allows cloud builders and providers to surpass traditional VLAN scale boundaries through MAC-in-UDP. Read more about it in this short white paper.
New virtual form factor ASA, which provides ASA capabilities such as NAT and VPN in a virtual form factor that can be deployed with the Nexus 1000v as part a secured virtual networking infrastructure for VMs.
Additional integration with vCloud Director to additional automation and role based access to the networking capabilities offered by Cisco’s virtualized networking solutions on VMware.

We look forward to seeing more from the following vendors:

vKernel
AppSense
Bluelock
ConRaid
Nutanix

Building a Strong Base For UC in the Cloud - John Marchese, BlueWater, for Information Week

2010-05-24T12:22:00.001-07:00

The cloud computing tornado we’ve all been caught up in hasn’t lost one bit of momentum over the past few months—if anything, additional pressure has been placed on IT to develop a cloud strategy, the sooner the better. However, moving an inefficient business process to the cloud just perpetuates the problem. And, the recent economic climate has meant that the goal of optimizing business processes via technology has often been put on the back burner while organizations focused on reducing operational and capital expenditures.

Some stats: 71% of the of 393 business technology professionals responding to our April InformationWeek Analytics Cloud ROI Survey are either using or considering cloud technologies, with software as a service the top response. For 90% of those using or evaluating cloud, IT is in the thick of the decision-making process, putting to rest the idea that business is primarily driving this bandwagon.

As trends go, cloud is big. But this is not the first time most of us have been around the hype block. It was only a few years ago when the movement to IP-based private branch exchanges promised to let us ride the unified communications wave all the way to efficiency nirvana. Now that cloud services have emerged as the top prospect to reduce IT capex, expedite delivery of new applications, improve business agility and minimize IT support costs, we need to explore the impact these services have on existing technologies.

In this report, we’ll discuss how to prepare for the use of cloud services while extracting the maximum value from what you already own, and from investments you’re preparing to make. To do this, we’ll focus on unified communications; it’s an ideal case study of how to make the most of existing investments while also leveraging the best the cloud has to offer.

Tell us how your school system would benefit from mobility technology and win a wireless makeover worth $35,000!

2010-04-02T07:58:00.000-07:00

Mobility Solutions based on wireless technology are helping schools just like yours compete more effectively and innovatively than ever before. How? By connecting administrators, teachers, students, parents, and others anywhere, anytime to the information and resources they need over a secure, reliable wireless network.

BlueWater and Cisco have teamed up to offer a wireless makeover to one deserving school district. If you can tell us in 500 words or less how you would use mobility technology to unplug your school - you’ll have the chance to win a wireless makeover worth up to $35,000!

If you’re in the New Jersey and Long Island area, your school district could win! Visit http://www.winwithbluewater.com to enter the challenge!

About BlueWater Communications Group

2010-03-08T08:14:00.000-08:00

Phone Number: 212.324.4379
Fax: 212.324.4399
E-Mail: jaime.mehnert@blueh2ogroup.com
Website: http://www.blueh2ogroup.com

BlueWater is focused on providing high-performance, holistic, cohesive IT infrastructure solutions to growing companies. We specialize in providing organizations with Full Life Cycle services in Unified Communications, Collaboration & Video, Virtualization, Consolidation & Data Center, and Security solutions to increase productivity and improve business operations. Our Managed Service, BLUE, provides proactive support and remediation preventing costly downtime, under a flexible contract, utilizing custom technology and industry-standard tools to optimize your IT investment.

At BlueWater, we believe that many organizations are not being adequately served by their technology vendors. While there are many companies that will "sell" technology there are few that can bring a life-cycle solution approach to technology that is linked to your business strategy. This increases your ability to maximize your return on IT investments. BlueWater is a true technology partner linking technology to your strategic and financial objectives.