The 17th International Cloud Expo has announced that its Call for Papers is open. 17th International Cloud Expo, to be held November 3-5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA, brings together Cloud Computing, APM, APIs, Microservices, Security, Big Data, Internet of Things, DevOps and WebRTC to one location.
With cloud computing driving a higher percentage of enterprise IT budgets every year, it becomes increasingly important to plant your flag in this fast-expanding bu...| By Cloud Best Practices Network | Article Rating: |
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| September 15, 2015 07:00 AM EDT | Reads: |
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Disaster Recovery in the Cloud: Why Process and Procedure Are Everything
Technology isn’t enough — your DR process must be sound.
In a recent blog article, I discussed the difference between cloud backup and cloud disaster recovery (or “DR”). In a nutshell, with cloud backup, you basically pay a third-party service provider a monthly fee to have them back up your firm’s data and store it in the cloud, so it can be restored on-demand at a later date. With cloud DR, you gain the option to restore your data/server images to an always-on offsite virtual cloud environment capable of running live production servers. Your recovery time dramatically shrinks with this option.
So, is the reduced recovery time with cloud disaster recovery achieved solely through superior technology, or does this recovery advantage also depend on human processes? Although the right technology definitely enables a recovery, a flawed process can both delay the system recovery and even sabotage it altogether.

backup cloud computing concept illustration design over white
Here’s what I mean.
At a minimum, a cloud disaster recovery solution must have the appropriate technology. That is, it must be able to successfully restore entire servers to an alternate location with minimal disruption and data loss. That might sound straightforward, but pulling it off successfully is like rocket science, and there are literally dozens of opportunities for things to go wrong.
After all, we’re not talking about simply restoring data. To successfully recover an IT environment, you need data to be restored, operating systems and software applications installed and functional, a secure network established to ensure safe integration between users and the new IT environment, and competent personnel to pull it all together.
The only way to mitigate all of these risks inherent in any DR solution is with a sound recovery process, which includes:
- Documented step-by-step recovery procedures
- Clearly defined roles and responsibilities for all parties involved
- Published contact information and communication protocols
- A “return home” process so the IT environment can be “synced back” when the crisis has been resolved
- A testing and exercising schedule so the system recovery can be practiced
When selecting a cloud disaster recovery vendor, ask for a sample of their documented process and procedures. Also ask them to provide you with examples of recent successful recoveries that were performed during real-life disasters. Finally, ask for references so you can speak to customers who have navigated successfully through a crisis with this vendor’s assistance. If the vendor is unable to provide any of the above, you should continue investigating your options.
KeepItSafe is one cloud backup and disaster recovery service provider that can demonstrate successful experience with these scenarios, but there are others. Be thorough in your research.
Read the original blog entry...
Published September 15, 2015 Reads 117
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SYS-CON Events announced today that SoftLayer, an IBM company, has been named “Gold Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 17th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place November 3–5, 2015 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
SoftLayer operates a global cloud infrastructure platform built for Internet scale. With a global footprint of data centers and network points of presence, SoftLayer provides infrastructure as a service to leading-edge customers ranging from Web startups to globa...
As more intelligent IoT applications shift into gear, they’re merging into the ever-increasing traffic flow of the Internet. It won’t be long before we experience bottlenecks, as IoT traffic peaks during rush hours. Organizations that are unprepared will find themselves by the side of the road unable to cross back into the fast lane. As billions of new devices begin to communicate and exchange data – will your infrastructure be scalable enough to handle this new interconnected world?
Cloud Expo is the single show where delegates and technology vendors can meet to experience and discuss the entire world of the cloud.At 16th Cloud Expo in New York City, Sandy Carter keynoted on women in tech and why women need to take risks and embrace failure to give them the courage to crash through the glass ceiling. She now shares some of her own thoughts and experiences from Cloud Expo.
U.S. companies are desperately trying to recruit and hire skilled software engineers and developers, but there is simply not enough quality talent to go around. Tiempo Development is a nearshore software development company. Our headquarters are in AZ, but we are a pioneer and leader in outsourcing to Mexico, based on our three software development centers there. We have a proven process and we are experts at providing our customers with powerful solutions. We transform ideas into reality.
Learn how Backup as a Service can help your customer base protect their data.
In his session at 17th Cloud Expo, Stefaan Vervaet, Director of Strategic Alliances at HGST, will discuss the challenges of data protection in an era of exploding storage requirements, show you the benefits of a backup service for your cloud customers, and explain how the HGST Active Archive and CommVault are already enabling this service today with customer examples.
Manufacturing connected IoT versions of traditional products requires more than multiple deep technology skills. It also requires a shift in mindset, to realize that connected, sensor-enabled “things” act more like services than what we usually think of as products.
In his session at @ThingsExpo, David Friedman, CEO and co-founder of Ayla Networks, will discuss how when sensors start generating detailed real-world data about products and how they’re being used, smart manufacturers can use the ...
SYS-CON Events announced today that Pythian, a global IT services company specializing in helping companies leverage disruptive technologies to optimize revenue-generating systems, has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 17th Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Founded in 1997, Pythian is a global IT services company that helps companies compete by adopting disruptive technologies such as cloud, Big Data, advance...
17th Cloud Expo, taking place Nov 3-5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA, will feature technical sessions from a rock star conference faculty and the leading industry players in the world. Cloud computing is now being embraced by a majority of enterprises of all sizes. Yesterday's debate about public vs. private has transformed into the reality of hybrid cloud: a recent survey shows that 74% of enterprises have a hybrid cloud strategy. Meanwhile, 94% of enterprises ar...
SYS-CON Events has announced today that Roger Strukhoff has been named conference chair of Cloud Expo and @ThingsExpo 2015 Silicon Valley.
The 17th Cloud Expo and 4th @ThingsExpo will take place on November 3-5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
"The Internet of Things brings trillions of dollars of opportunity to developers and enterprise IT, no matter how you measure it," stated Roger Strukhoff. "More importantly, it leverages the power of devices and the Interne...
The web app is agile. The REST API is agile. The testing and planning are agile. But alas, data infrastructures certainly are not. Once an application matures, changing the shape or indexing scheme of data often forces at best a top down planning exercise and at worst includes schema changes that force downtime. The time has come for a new approach that fundamentally advances the agility of distributed data infrastructures.
Come learn about a new solution to the problems faced by software organ...
Everything is moving to the cloud. From public to private to hybrid, enterprises are adopting cloud technologies as their primary operating model. From Juniper’s perspective, a truly cloud-enabled enterprise is more than just how to make more money via a company’s Web site. Achieving a cloud enabled enterprise entails taking a holistic approach to involving the entire network. When it’s done right, a cloud-enabled enterprise results in the following three characteristics.
Moving an existing on-premise infrastructure into the cloud can be a complex and daunting proposition. It is critical to understand the benefits as well as the challenges associated with either a full or hybrid approach.
In his session at 17th Cloud Expo, Richard Weiss, Principal Consultant at Pythian, will present a roadmap that can be leveraged by any organization to plan, analyze, evaluate and execute on a cloud migration solution. He will review the five major cloud transformation phases a...
Serving more than 600 hospitals in the U.S., Adreima provides clinically integrated revenue cycle services. Read this case study to learn how partnering with Tiempo Development has proved to be the most productive, cost-effective way to advance a software platform that serves marketing strategy, client service delivery, and information management.
Countless business models have spawned from the IaaS industry – resell Web hosting, blogs, public cloud, and on and on. With the overwhelming amount of tools available to us, it's sometimes easy to overlook that many of them are just new skins of resources we've had for a long time.
In his general session at 17th Cloud Expo, Phil Jackson, Lead Technology Evangelist at SoftLayer, an IBM Company, will break down what we've got to work with, discuss the benefits and pitfalls and how we can best u...
Using code to define your infrastructure is a trend that is quickly becoming common practice and a critical part of any successful deployment
In his session at 17th Cloud Expo, Christopher Gallo, Developer Advocate at SoftLayer, an IBM Company, will discuss what it means to be powered by SoftLayer, and some really awesome tools to help you make your deployments agile.
The Internet of Things is in the early stages of mainstream deployment but it promises to unlock value and rapidly transform how organizations manage, operationalize, and monetize their assets. IoT is a complex structure of hardware, sensors, applications, analytics and devices that need to be able to communicate geographically and across all functions. Once the data is collected from numerous endpoints, the challenge then becomes converting it into actionable insight.
With the Apple Watch making its way onto wrists all over the world, it’s only a matter of time before it becomes a staple in the workplace. In fact, Forrester reported that 68 percent of technology and business decision-makers characterize wearables as a top priority for 2015. Recognizing their business value early on, FinancialForce.com was the first to bring ERP to wearables, helping streamline communication across front and back office functions.
In his session at @ThingsExpo, Kevin Roberts...
Cloudian, Inc., has released Cloudian HyperStore ‘forever live’ FL3000 series arrays and HyperStore 5.2 software. The new appliances, which can start small and scale up to 3.8 petabytes of storage in a single data center rack, offer businesses the ability to scale with the demands of the business, from terabytes to hundreds of petabytes.
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