Helping partners innovate in business applications

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]As written by James Phillips on community.dynamics.com

At Microsoft Inspire this year, more than 17,000 partners, customers and business leaders will hear our CEO and leadership talk about the critical role our partners play in enabling customers to transform their businesses across industries. Microsoft invests billions annually in innovation to bring the best products to market to support our customers, and to give our partners a set of technology solutions and services they can build their business atop.

This ecosystem of Microsoft Cloud Partners is 64,000 strong – one of the largest in the world. As our partners look to develop or grow their cloud practice we offer them the most comprehensive cloud - spanning Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), application-platform-as-a-service (aPaaS) through leading Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offerings. These services are enterprise ready and have been built from the ground up to work together.

ISV’s have always been able to build on Microsoft Azure. In fact, we have over 35,000 partners already using Azure IaaS and PaaS services for their apps. Increasingly we’re being asked by these partners to make our higher-level cloud services – particularly those that make up our business applications platform – available as embeddable building blocks.

We pioneered this with Power BI – which has been available as a partner-embeddable building block for nearly a year. Since then we’ve watched ISVs take advantage of Power BI Embedded to add powerful business analytics capabilities to their applications.

Now we want to give our partners even more capabilities with our award-winning business application services, such as:

Announcing ISV Cloud Embed

Today we are making it even easier for ISV partners to modernize their existing business applications, and build new ones, with a new program we are calling ISV Cloud Embed. Later this year, we will extend the number of higher-level services available as embeddable “building blocks” to include:

Benefits to ISV Partners

In addition to being able to embed and build atop these new capabilities, partners also receive critical go to market benefits, based on deal volume, to support their business:

ISV Cloud Embed – like all Microsoft partner programs – delivers increased benefits based on usage and deal transaction volume. Go to market support is provided at all tiers. For partners whose apps drive significant consumption, we offer co-selling support from one of the world’s largest enterprise salesforces. Today’s post from Ron Huddleston provides more detail on this aspect of the program.

Getting started

Any ISV that builds qualified, finished applications can participate in ISV Cloud Embed at different levels and benefits based on the partner’s preference. To learn more about the program, please go to the ISV Resource Hub. If you would like to sign-up, there’s a simple online form to get started.

We look forward to seeing you at Inspire this week where we will share more about this program, and we look forward to building with you in the coming months.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Firms in the UAE Improve Security with SaaS

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Security as a service on the rise in the UAE

By Alicia Buller as written on computerweekly.com
Take-up of security as a service in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is rising as firms become increasingly concerned about cloud-borne threats.
According to the latest IDC trends report, security continues to be the number one challenge facing Middle East-based CIOs, with spending on security systems in the region set to pass $2bn in 2017.
The value of the region’s security as a service sector grew by just over 26% last year to hit $210m, according to Gartner research.
“We continue to see a shift from legacy IT services to cloud-based services,” said Sid Nag, research director at Gartner. “Organisations are pursuing a cloud-first strategy, which is driving market growth.
 “The growth in cloud management and security is testimony that cloud-related services, in addition to core cloud services, are critical to cloud adoption. Organisations will look for increased automation and management of these cloud assets, as well as focus on the security aspects of consuming public cloud.”
Experts say the upcoming Dubai World Expo 2020 will be a critical factor in driving demand for security as a service. The Expo is set to be the largest event ever hosted in the country and could drive up to 50 million extra visitors to the city.
“With the huge number of tourists and investors coming to the UAE, there will be a large influx of data, which will need greater infrastructure planning,” said Sachin Bhardwaj, director of business development at eHosting DataFort (eHDF).
“Businesses will have to manage this large amount of information in the most organised way. To ensure this, investing in additional storage, network capacity and security will be required and this will drive the demand for all aspects of cloud services, particularly security as a service.”

Rapidly evolving threat

Bhardwaj warned that the threat landscape in the UAE is rapidly evolving in sync with the increasing sophistication of cyber crime across the globe. “Cyber crime has become a heavily globalised industry, with many attacks happening across borders via the internet,” he said. “Hacker operations globally have become very organised and sophisticated and malicious actors seek to access the most valuable and sensitive information of organisations mainly in the financial services, energy and healthcare sectors.”
The shortage of cyber security talent in the region is driving companies to seek automated solutions for peace of mind, said Bhardwaj.
“Many organisations are seeking solutions that provide necessary expertise, are scalable, and serve as predictable operating expenses, rather than variable capital expenses,” he said. “Hence, they are looking for cost-effective technology that provides round-the-clock security. Managed security services fit the bill perfectly.”
Bhardwaj said eHDF has seen increased local demand for email encryption, security information and event management (SIEM), end-point protection and data loss prevention.
In response to this growing demand, the company recently launched a cyber defence centre to cater to both private and government clients. The centre offers a portfolio of managed security services (MSS) along with remote managed SIEM services, deliverable within eHDF’s datacentre, on customers’ premises or in the cloud.
The UAE market largely echoes global trends in shifting away from traditional security management technologies and techniques, said Bhardwaj. “Major factors that are contributing to the growth of security as a service include the rise in demand for cloud-based security and high on-premise security costs for organisations.”
Bhardwaj said demand for end-point protection is expected to increase in the next few years because of the rise in malware, ransomware and cyber attacks. “Managed security service providers are developing solutions to incorporate advanced analytics and more powerful tools for detecting, investigating and managing increasingly dynamic threats across an expanding range of attack vectors,” he said. “Cloud-based security services, in particular, will be the most sought-after services, particularly in the UAE and Qatar.”
Jameel Alsharaf, head of group IT for UAE conglomerate the Kanoo Group, predicted a rise in demand for data leakage prevention and mobile security systems over the coming years as “more enterprises realise that the biggest security threats are internal”.
Alsharaf said he has opted for a hybrid solution for the group’s security requirements. “We are currently using security as a service for our email security, but opted for an on-premise option for our network security.”

Slow evolution

However, some experts say security as a service will evolve slowly in the UAE as organisations gradually become more educated about the market. “The maturity of some of the offered services and their associated service-level agreements are still maturing, and this will influence wide-scale adoption,” said Saeed Agha, general manager – Middle East at Palo Alto Networks.
There is currently an imbalance between supply and demand in the UAE marketplace, said Agha. “We will see higher rates of adoption of some services, such as a managed security operations centre and public cloud security as we see more mature offerings come to the market,” he added.
Agha said securing the public cloud will be a growth area in 2017 as more customers move their workloads and infrastructure into the cloud in the expectation that their data will be protected across their premises and the cloud seamlessly.
“Security as a service will be a rising trend in 2017, but service providers should spend more time educating their customers to create more demand from the customer side,” he added.

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New blog launches: Microsoft AppSource, your destination for SaaS business apps

New blog launches: Microsoft AppSource, your destination for SaaS business apps

For anyone interested in creating, consuming or providing services for SaaS business apps on the Microsoft Cloud platform, Microsoft AppSource is the place to go.
AppSource is Microsoft’s answer to a longstanding market need to connect business customers with SaaS apps and integration services, and it’s already become a thriving ecosystem that gives business users one place to discover and trial apps built on the Microsoft Cloud platform, with implementation help from Microsoft partners.
To provide more information about AppSource and its growing collection of apps, ISVs, systems integrators and customers, the team is adding another dimension to the service this week — launching a new blog. The blog will feature resources to help participants get the most from AppSource, along with the stories behind the apps and how they’re bringing more value to customers.
Since the launch of AppSource in July, business users from all over the world have visited to check out the service. ISVs are submitting new apps every day, and already more than 100 systems integrator partners have come onboard to help customers implement them.
The new blog adds a forum to share information and stories as this resource continues to grow. It’s also a blog you’ll probably want to bookmark — with so much going on, we’re sure AppSource is going to have a lot to share in the near future.

Intelligent Cloud Database

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Pay as you Go SQL Server Cloud Products

Unmatched scalability & uptime. As your company grows so do the demands on the database that support core business functions.
Better Performance: Are your applications keeping up with your business? With physical and operational security built in Azure, SQL Database can help you meet the most stringent regulatory compliance.

Intelligent Cloud Database

Industry-first enterprise-class cloud data warehouse that can grow, shrink, and pause in seconds
SQL Data Warehouse independently scales compute and storage, so you pay for query performance only when you need it. Unlike other cloud data warehouses that require hours or days to resize, SQL Data Warehouse lets you grow or shrink compute power in minutes. Take full advantage of storage at cloud scale, and apply query compute based on changing performance needs. When compute is paused, you pay only for storage, leveraging our market-leading on-demand price per terabyte.

 

Deploy secure infrastructure quickly with no maintenance costs:

SQL Data Warehouse is easy to deploy in seconds.
The service is a fully managed offering which removes you from the hassle of spending time on software updates and maintenance. SQL Data Warehouse has built-in database backups to support self-service restore; the service automatically backs up your data to Azure storage as it snapshots database restore points.
Make sure your apps are keeping up with the speed of your business with SQL Server:

Managed Solution’s Team has the experience and expertise to architect SQL database and reporting systems tailored for your environment. Contact us for more information 800-307-0296

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Industry-first enterprise-class cloud data warehouse that can grow,
shrink, and pause in seconds
Azure SQL Database Elastic Database Basic and Premium tiers in public preview

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Azure SQL Database Elastic Database Basic and Premium tiers in public preview

Elastic databases support SaaS applications that have many databases and unpredictable database resource demands. Now you can use the flexibility of elastic databases to support both explosive growth and competitive SaaS business models. Instead of over-provisioning databases to meet peak demand, you can combine elastic databases in a pool where a large number of them leverage the same resources, all within a budget that you control. This can be much moAzure SQL Database Elastic Database Basic and Premium tiers in public previewre efficient than individually dedicating resources to each database—and that can mean cost savings. Now in public preview, the Basic tier enables small, less demanding databases to be combined in a pool, while the Premium tier allows larger, more demanding databases to be pooled. In addition to the public preview of Basic and Premium tiers, we've increased the Standard tier's maximum databases per pool from 100 to 200 databases.
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What is Cloud Computing?

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What is Cloud Computing?

"Cloud Computing", by definition, refers to the on-demand delivery of IT resources and applications via the Internet with pay-as-you-go pricing.

The Basics

Whether you are running applications that share photos to millions of mobile users or you’re supporting the critical operations of your business, the “cloud” provides rapid access to flexible and low cost IT resources. With cloud computing, you don’t need to make large upfront investments in hardware and spend a lot of time on the heavy lifting of managing that hardware. Instead, you can provision exactly the right type and size of computing resources you need to power your newest bright idea or operate your IT department. You can access as many resources as you need, almost instantly, and only pay for what you use.

How Does it Work?

Cloud Computing provides a simple way to access servers, storage, databases and a broad set of application services over the Internet. Cloud Computing providers such as Amazon Web Services own and maintain the network-connected hardware required for these application services, while you provision and use what you need via a web application.

Six Advantages and Benefits of Cloud Computing

Trade capital expense for variable expense - Instead of having to invest heavily in data centers and servers before you know how you’re going to use them, you can only pay when you consume computing resources, and only pay for how much you consume.
Benefit from massive economies of scale icon - Benefit from massive economies of scale - By using cloud computing, you can achieve a lower variable cost than you can get on your own. Because usage from hundreds of thousands of customers are aggregated in the cloud, providers such as Amazon Web Services can achieve higher economies of scale which translates into lower pay as you go prices.
Stop guessing capacity - Eliminate guessing on your infrastructure capacity needs. When you make a capacity decision prior to deploying an application, you often either end up sitting on expensive idle resources or dealing with limited capacity. With Cloud Computing, these problems go away. You can access as much or as little as you need, and scale up and down as required with only a few minutes notice.
Increase speed and agility - In a cloud computing environment, new IT resources are only ever a click away, which means you reduce the time it takes to make those resources available to your developers from weeks to just minutes. This results in a dramatic increase in agility for the organization, since the cost and time it takes to experiment and develop is significantly lower.
Stop spending money on running and maintaining data centers icon - Focus on projects that differentiate your business, not the infrastructure. Cloud computing lets you focus on your own customers, rather than on the heavy lifting of racking, stacking and powering servers.
Go global in minutes - Easily deploy your application in multiple regions around the world with just a few clicks. This means you can provide a lower latency and better experience for your customers simply and at minimal cost.

Types of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing has three main types that are commonly referred to as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Selecting the right type of cloud computing for your needs can help you strike the right balance of control and the avoidance of undifferentiated heavy lifting.
Source: http://aws.amazon.com/what-is-cloud-computing/