Cloud Computing - W/E - 032417

Accenture to Roll Out High Velocity Sourcing and Procurement (03/20/2017)
Accenture is releasing a High Velocity Sourcing and Procurement offering for helping address procurement challenges. It achieves this by capturing, "at speed," digital technologies such as cloud-based services, real-time analytics, and cognitive systems. The High Velocity Sourcing and Procurement solution offers a preconfigured, cloud-based package that is built on Accenture's sourcing and procurement business process capabilities and technology implementation services.

Adobe Unveils Experience Cloud Services (03/21/2017)
Adobe Systems unveiled the Adobe Experience Cloud set of cloud-based services. The Adobe Experience Cloud portfolio includes Marketing Cloud, Advertising Cloud, and Analytics Cloud, which are each built on the Adobe Cloud Platform and leverage the company's "Sensei" machine-learning and AI (artificial intelligence) capabilities. In particular, Adobe Marketing Cloud offers technology to empower marketers to connect with and better engage customers; Advertising Cloud helps track advertising across traditional TV and digital formats; and Analytics Cloud offers a customer-intelligence engine to integrate audience data across all Adobe Cloud services to "move from insights to action."

Adobe, Microsoft Release Integrated Products (03/21/2017)
Adobe Systems and Microsoft released a set of joint products for "transforming ... customer experiences." These now-available offerings will integrate the Adobe Experience Cloud with Microsoft Azure, Dynamics 365, and Power BI. New releases specifically include Adobe Campaign and Microsoft Dynamics 365, for compiling customer insight across channels; Adobe Analytics plus Microsoft Power BI, for extending insight; and the addition of the Adobe Experience Manager Sites Managed Service for Azure. In addition, Adobe and Microsoft announced that they are collaborating on a new industry standard to help "define and unify the language for marketing, sales, and services data."

IBM Adds Bluemix Container Service for Building, Managing Secure, Cognitive Apps (03/20/2017)
IBM announced a new container service on its Bluemix cloud platform for helping developers more easily build and manage more secure and cognitive apps. This service - which uses the Kubernetes open-source container orchestration system and leverages a Docker engine - works by automatically provisioning, updating, and monitoring containers for creating apps, helping build cognitive innovations that weave in real-time security intelligence.

IBM Announces Cloud Secure Virtualization (03/20/2017)
IBM introduced a cloud-based service - Cloud Secure Virtualization - for improving data and application workload security. This service works by automatically reporting to assist with regulatory requirements, and runs on VMware Cloud Foundation on IBM Cloud. IBM's Cloud Secure Virtualization automates the deployment of Intel Xeon processor-based servers and HyTrust's CloudControl, DataControl, and BoundaryControl software.

IBM Introduces Software, Services for Integrating Data, Applications (03/20/2017)
IBM announced new software and services for helping integrate enterprise data and applications across on-premise, private, and public cloud-based environments. The releases include Cloud Integration, for providing access to actionable business data from cloud-based services, messaging platforms, and application software. Other offerings include Cloud Product Insights, for extending hybrid cloud capabilities to IBM software; Digital Business Assistant, which combines hybrid cloud, data/machine learning, and process automation; and Cloud Automation Manager, which leverages Watson to help make decisions and manage multi-cloud environments.

IBM Refreshes Cloud Object Storage Portfolio (03/20/2017)
IBM updated its Cloud Object Storage family with several new options for archiving data. These releases include the Cloud Object Storage Flex pay-per-use storage service; as well as Cold Vault, for giving access to "cold" storage - which is slower with limited time to access - on the cloud.

IBM Releases Cloud Financial Services Offering (03/20/2017)
IBM rolled out its new Cloud for Financial Services offering, which is designed to provide "essential building blocks" for creating financial services apps on the IBM Cloud. This release - which is initially available in beta - will provide developers with support for more easily building in customer insight, regulatory compliance, analytics, security, privacy, and compliance readiness. In particular, the IBM Cloud for Financial Services offering offers support for development, testing, and streamlining the process of selection, mapping, and data integration.

IBM Rolls Out Blockchain Service (03/20/2017)
IBM announced the new release of IBM Blockchain, an "enterprise-ready" blockchain service that is based on the Linux Foundation's Hyperledger Fabric v1.0. This service can be used to build and host security-rich production blockchain networks on the IBM Cloud. It is underpinned by the IBM LinuxONE secure Linux server.

IBM to Provide Technology for Dublin City University Water Institute (03/22/2017)
IBM signed a contract with the Dublin City University Water Institute to provide the collaborative research pilot with technology for advancing IoT (Internet of Things) research for water management. In particular, IBM will equip the institute's sensors with machine-learning and cognitive IoT technology for helping address environmental management issues such as water quality and protecting and conserving natural resources.

IBM Updates Watson Data Analysis and Discovery Capabilities (03/20/2017)
IBM announced new and expanded capabilities to bolster Watson's data analysis and discovery capabilities on the IBM Cloud. This update includes a beta update to its Watson Discovery Service to improve resiliency training and passage retrieval; as well as the debut of a new Watson Company Profiler experimental platform, which is built with Watson Discovery.

IBM, Veritas Technologies Enter Into Collaboration (03/20/2017)
IBM and Veritas Technologies announced a joint collaboration for helping to manage increasing data volumes - and optimizing and protecting that data - across a hybrid cloud-based agreement. This partnership includes the certification of IBM's Cloud Object Storage software and cloud-based services family for use with Veritas NetBackup 8.0, while NetBackup has been certified to run on the IBM Cloud. NetBackup 8.0 is expected to be released during the second quarter of 2017, and will be available for Bluemix.

Microsoft Incorporates "Bookings" Feature within Office 365 (03/20/2017)
Microsoft added a new "Bookings" feature to its Office 365 service. This function includes a number of elements for helping organizations schedule and manage appointments, among them: support for connecting to Office 365 calendars; adding buffer time before and after appointments; and booking appointments via an iOS or Android device. The update also includes new color customization options.

Oracle Adds Retail Merchandising Solutions to Oracle Cloud (03/21/2017)
Oracle introduced new Retail Merchandising Solutions that will be available via the Oracle Cloud. These services are designed to provide more deployment choices for retailers to extend mobility, improve customer engagement, and help create a flexible, scalable business environment.

Oracle Announces New Utilities Cloud-Based Services (03/22/2017)
Oracle introduced its new Utilities Operational Device Cloud Service and Asset Performance Management solution. The Utilities Operational Device Cloud offers a cloud-based offering to allow utilities to automate grid asset and device management. This stand-alone service looks at smart grid and IoT (Internet of Things) devices, and can be paired with Oracle's Utilities Work and Asset Management software to better extend asset performance management to smart devices. Oracle's Asset Performance Management offering, meanwhile, is designed to help utilities increase asset reliability; find asset failures; and perform predictive maintenance.

Oracle Unveils Data Management Workbench Cloud Service (03/22/2017)
Oracle Health Sciences unveiled the Data Management Workbench Cloud Service. This service is designed to streamline end-to-end clinical data flow to assist with planning and managing trials. In particular, it allows pharmaceutical companies and contract research organizations to integrate, reconcile, and analyze volumes of clinical and healthcare data.

Oracle Updates Prime Projects Cloud Service (03/20/2017)
Oracle updated its Prime Projects Cloud Service. This update includes new Lean Construction and Capital Improvement Program capabilities for adding project execution and capital planning features; managing all aspects of the project lifecycle; providing real-time visibility into project cost, schedules, risk, and performance information; and delivering improved outcomes across all project lifecycle stages. This mobile-ready, cloud-based suite offers built-in analytics and features workflows and social tools to enable rich, real-time collaboration on mission-critical activities.