Subject:::IBM and Microsoft Join Forces on Hybrid Cloud - TMCnet's TechToday
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IBM and Microsoft Join Forces on Hybrid Cloud


As noted in a previous posting on moves being made by major industry players to be the preferred vendors for all things cloud, this past week has seen a full-frontal assault on the market by Microsoft. In fact, following up on its own vision and enhancements to its portfolio of cloud solutions, it reached out to a typically fierce competitor—none other than IBM—to help customers cross the chasm and accelerate their move to the cloud for (pardon the pun) virtually "E"verything.

Why You Need to Know: The two giants have put the guns back in the holsters—at least when it comes to hybrid cloud implementations—and are helping their customers take the leap to the cloud where there is intensive overlap. This collaboration is designed not just to provide options. The new collaboration is also being positioned as the vehicle that will "help clients and developers move to the cloud faster and seize new business opportunities."


 

Smartwatches Aren't Smartphones, But They Aren't Smart Enough to Know It

It comes as no surprise the so-called smartwatch market is following its predecessor, with the number of smartwatches increasing regularly. Without question, the highest profile market entry was the long-awaited iWatch… I mean, Apple Watch. And Samsung's position in the mobile space gives it something of an edge over many of the independent vendors.

Why You Need to Know: Many quickly note they have no desire for a smartwatch – the phone is enough – when most people stop and think about it, there are likely quite a few instances where the phone is actually inconvenient and a simple wrist-worn connected device would actually be useful.
 
 

Untapped Market: WebRTC for Contact Center Agent Desktop Apps

One of the problems with contact center deployments is the actual installation of third-party software on agents' machines. Until now the two available solutions were either inefficient browser plug-ins or certification by corporate IT departments.

Why You Need to Know: Now with WebRTC, all the features that were supported by a dedicated agent desktop application can be run from a browser, including media and telephony features, without any extra plug-in or compromise in quality of service or security.
 
 

Lync Qualification Creates NICE Opportunities in Financial Services

Going back to 2007, with the initial launch of OCS, Microsoft Unified Communications launches and enhancements have been met with not only great market interest, but swift action. With few exceptions, any vendor that fits in some way into the MS ecosystem – whether officially or by nature – is quick to ensure interoperability at the very least, and official certification where needed in order to ensure it doesn't lose business to Microsoft shops.

Why You Need to Know: Financial institutions, healthcare facilities, and other heavily regulated industries can ill afford to even consider non-compliant solutions, let alone actually adopt them. This means that tech providers that have designs on competing in these markets must go through the steps to become qualified to support Lync.
 
 

VCE Now Under EMC Control-Breaking Up is Easy to Do?

VCE, which is touted to have a $2 billion annualized demand run-rate for its Vblock and Vblock-related products and services, has just experienced its sixth consecutive quarter of greater than 50 percent year-over-year demand growth.

Why You Need to Know: Using owner Cisco's compute and network capabilities and EMC's storage and data protection, and EMC-owned independent entity VMware's virtualization and virtualization management capabilities, it has become the leading player in the converged infrastructure market.
 
 

 
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