SkySQL Releases Tool For Deploying And Scaling Databases To Amazon Web Services

SkySQL released its first version of a configuration tool for deploying databases to a cloud environment. To start, the company will offer its configuration tool for use on Amazon Web Services (AWS). It will later extend its service to other cloud and bare metal environments.

The SkySQL service is meant for database administrators, but in particular has the end user in mind who may lack the technical skills to deploy enterprise database environments to a cloud environment. With the service, an IT manager can use an administrative console to manage instances, isolate and reconfigure individual nodes on the network, and back up and restore. Those are sophisticated capabilities that would otherwise require deeper database administrative skills to perform.

The service is compliant with the three most used MySQL distributions, namely MariaDB, MySQL database, and Percona Server.

CEO Patrik Sallner makes the point that MySQL is growing up. It is used more for business apps that require high levels of performance. With more sophisticated use cases, companies have more specialized requirements that in-house communities may not have the capability to offer. Companies like SkySQL can provide service level agreements and the latest performance optimization technologies that go beyond what can be done in-house. In line with that, SkySQL is seeking to provide a service that models after Red Hat. It will also offer a free service that is available to use on AWS.

SkySQL has raised $4 million in Series A funding from a number of investors, including OnCorps, Finnish Industry Investment Ltd., Spintop Ventures and Open Ocean Capital.

SAP bundles analytic apps with IQ database

SAP on Monday announced a new family of products that marry its Business Objects BI (business intelligence) software with the Sybase IQ analytic database and include specialized business content for use by various industries.

The four offerings include BI suite, analytics edition; BI platform, analytics edition; Edge analytics edition; and Crystal Server, analytics edition. The latter two are mostly aimed at small and medium-size companies.

Along with IQ, the bundles also include SAP Data Integrator for bringing information into the system. In both cases, customers get a runtime-only license, restricting IQ and Data Integrator's use to the analytic applications in the bundle.

Overall, however, SAP has come up with "very attractive" pricing for the four editions, with a roughly 20% "uplift" for IQ and data integrator added to the base price of the analytics software. said Paul Clark, senior director of analytics marketing. Specific figures weren't available.

IQ is typically licensed on a per-core basis, said Tom Traubitz, director of solution marketing. While the runtime license has no restrictions on data storage or the number of users, customers of the two lower-end packages are limited to 16 cores, while the two higher-end options include 32 cores, he said.

The downloadable business content is also included in the packages' cost and it will "help customers get a jump-start" using the software, according to Clark.

"The way it works is we look at a business use case, based on a particular function in particular industry," such as staff management in health care, Clark said. Then SAP creates content, such as reports and dashboards, to fit the scenario, he added.

While the analytics packages being sold for on-premises use, SAP partners will probably offer hosted versions, according to Clark.

From a strategic standpoint, the new bundles suggest that SAP remains committed to IQ, which was gained through the 2010 acquisition of Sybase, even as its homegrown HANA in-memory database becomes the company's focal point for both analytic and transaction processing workloads.

They also give risk-averse customers an avenue for tackling more complex data analysis jobs, rather than adopt HANA, which is still a fairly new product.

Oracle Launches Free Version of Application Development Framework

Oracle announced the release of a free version of its Oracle Application Development Framework (ADF) that runs on the open-source GlassFish platform.

Looking to give even more developers access to its core development tools, Oracle announced the release of a free version of its Oracle Application Development Framework: Oracle Application Development Framework (ADF) Essentials.

Oracle ADF Essentials enables the global developer community to leverage the core capabilities of Oracle Application Development Framework free of cost. Previously, developers had to have a license for Oracle WebLogic to use ADF.

However, Oracle ADF Essentials is standards-based and deploys on GlassFish Server Open Source Edition, giving developers the ability to adopt and extend Oracle ADF functionality to new environments.

“Oracle ADF is an MVC [Model-View-Controller] framework that we really built for ourselves,” Bill Pataky, vice president of product management for tools and middleware in the Oracle Fusion Middleware group, told eWEEK. Pataky said as Oracle acquired more and more companies the database giant needed a framework to help it integrate apps – often modifying and rewriting them on a common platform. ADF became that framework. Last year, Oracle shipped the first version of its Fusion apps based on ADF.

“This is a version of ADF that is moving more to a ‘freemium’ model,” Pataky said. “Previously it required a paid version of WebLogic to deploy, but we’re releasing this version that runs on GlassFish. We provide over 150 rich enterprise components in this release. And this release gives ADF the chance to be deployed outside an Oracle environment. This is a fairly big step for the ADF community. AF can now run on Tomcat or JBoss, although we don’t certify it.”

As the strategic framework used to build many Oracle applications, Oracle ADF is an end-to-end Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) framework that simplifies application development by providing out-of-the-box infrastructure services and a visual and declarative development experience.

“Oracle ADF is already proven as the strategic framework used to build Oracle Fusion Applications,” said Chris Tonas, vice president of Application Development Tools at Oracle, in a statement. “With Oracle ADF Essentials we’ve combined key tooling from Oracle ADF, Oracle JDeveloper and Oracle Enterprise Pack for Eclipse in a free offering that should be a great way for many of our customers and partners to jump start their development efforts.”

To simplify the developer experience and deliver rich functionality, Oracle JDeveloper provides visual and declarative development capabilities for Oracle ADF Essentials. And Oracle Enterprise Pack for Eclipse is intended to support Oracle ADF Essentials in a future release.

Available for download through Oracle Technology Network (OTN), Oracle ADF Essentials provides a simpler no cost way to develop enterprise applications with core capabilities, including Oracle ADF Faces, which is a set of more than 150 advanced, web user Interface (UI) components based on JavaServer Faces (JSF) that simplify the creation of rich Web UIs, including interactive data visualization.

Oracle ADF Essentials also features Oracle ADF Controller and Oracle ADF Binding. Oracle ADF Controller is an extension of the JSF controller layer that helps build complete reusable process flows and provides the ability to create dynamic regions with changing content in Web pages. Oracle ADF Binding provides a simplified approach to connecting user interfaces to various business services through an XML-based, meta-data abstraction layer.

The free version also contains Oracle ADF Business Components, which simplifies developing business services against relational databases by providing declaratively-configured, reusable components that implement common design patterns, Oracle said. Oracle ADF Essentials includes the core features of Oracle ADF, but does not include the following enterprise capabilities that are built into the full Oracle ADF: declarative customization, granular security layer, integration with Oracle SOA Suite and Oracle ADF Mobile, Pataky said.

“ADF Mobile is a hybrid programming model; a platform we developed to allow the extension of ADF apps to mobile without having to rewrite them as native on each different mobile platform,” Pataky said. 

Oracle will share more on the new ADF Mobile capabilities at the upcoming JavaOne 2012 conference in San Francisco at the end of September, he added.

"At Innowave Technology we have been leveraging Oracle ADF to accelerate project turn-around time at multiple customer engagements,” said Basheer Khan, CEO of Innowave, in a statement. “Oracle ADF gives us an integrated development framework with cutting edge functionality and great tooling that simplifies our development process. Having an Oracle ADF version that can be used without licensing costs and with the ability to run on open-source servers such as GlassFish Server Open Source Edition will enable us to leverage Oracle ADF in more scenarios and with new customers."

Dell unveils first shared infrastructure solution to provide hyperscale customers with new modular computational and storage capabilities

Dell today announced the PowerEdge C8000 Series, the industry’s first 4U shared infrastructure solution to allow the mixing and matching of compute, GPU/coprocessors and storage sleds in one chassis. 

Ideally suited for workloads that require high performance per watt and flexibility in configuration, such as high-performance computing (HPC) and big data applications, the PowerEdge C8000 series delivers the ideal mix of resources, while saving on space, energy and refresh rates, and allowing customers to run their data centers at higher operating temperatures. Customers can pack more compute power in less space than traditional 1U servers, with the cores, memory and I/O expansion needed for peak workload performance. 

Shared Infrastructure Results in Lower Total Cost of Ownership

Customers running highly resource-intensive hyperscale workloads can benefit from shared infrastructure pools and shared compute, storage, power and cooling resources that result in lower total cost of ownership in power efficiency, system scaling efficiency and compute density. The shared infrastructure reduces power and cooling costs and enables customer to refresh with the latest components without having to replace the entire chassis. Additionally, the PowerEdge C8000 Series can provide customers with up to 4x  the server density when compared to competitive solutions.

Mix and Match Compute, Compute/GPU and Storage Sleds

The PowerEdge C8000 shared infrastructure chassis holds up to eight single-wide sleds or four double-wide sleds. Each compute sled is equivalent to a standard server built with a processor, memory, network interface, baseboard management controller, and local hard drive storage. Dell customers can speed up their most resource-intensive workloads by mixing and matching the following compute, GPU/coprocessor and storage sleds in the same 4U chassis:

The PowerEdge C8220 compute sled: packs a lot of compute power in a dense space. Up to eight C8220 nodes can slide into the C8000 chassis mounted on specially-designed single-width sleds, delivering the compute power of up to 16 next-generation processors in just 4U of rack space.

The PowerEdge C8220X compute/GPU sled: further increases the performance and compute/memory density per rack, as well as allowing the use of GPUs and other accelerators. Customers can run multiple workloads in a single chassis in scientific visualizations and other resource-intensive workloads.

The PowerEdge C8000XD storage sled: fits up to 1.4x more local storage in 40U of rack space. This sled is ideal for workloads requiring flexible storage expansion, such as HPC, Hadoop and hosting environments. 

PowerEdge C8000 Customer Deployment Breaks New Ground

The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) is leveraging the performance and flexibility benefits of the PowerEdge C8000 series in its new supercomputer “Stampede” which is expected to become a model for supporting petascale-level computational science. 

“TACC’s Stampede infrastructure consists of several thousand PowerEdge C8000 servers with GPUs to help speed scientific discovery,” said Dr. Dan Stanzione, deputy director at TACC. “Dell’s infrastructure is invaluable in our mission of supporting data-intensive computing and visualization in complex computational science and engineering research including weather forecasting, climate modeling, energy exploration and production, drug discovery, new materials design and manufacturing, and more efficient and safer automobiles and airplanes.“

“At Dell, we are constantly working to address our customers’ evolving needs for solutions that deliver the ultimate in performance for their heaviest workloads, while saving on space, energy and refresh rates. This focus has resulted in Dell’s sustained leadership in IDC’s density optimized server market share report,” said Forrest Norrod, vice president and general manager, Server Solutions, Dell. “Today, based on those customer needs, we are introducing a shared infrastructure solution that provides unprecedented flexibility, performance and efficiency for hyperscale environments.”

Zong Offers Unlimited Calls from 6AM to 6 PM for Rs.6

Zong has announced this new offer that will allow its customers unlimited free ZONG to ZONG calls for 12 hours (between 6AM to 6PM) at a daily charge of Rs 6 plus tax.

Offer Details:

• Free unlimited calls from 6 AM to 6 PM
• From 6 PM to 6 AM: You will be charged as per your current package plan

Daily Charges:

• Rs. 6 plus tax

How to Subscribe:

• Dial *666# to avail this offer

Terms and Conditions:

• Offer is available on all prepaid packages except M9, Perfect Package & Flutter.
• Offer is available nationwide
• LBC and this offer cannot be subscribed simultaneously. You have to unsubscribe the existing offer to subscribe to the other
• For subscription Dial *666# and select 1
• For un-subscription Dial *666# and select 2

Warid Brings Shandaar New SIM Offer

Warid Telecom unveils ‘Shandaar Offer’ in which new Warid prepaid SIM comes with 1000 FREE on-net minutes and 1000 FREE SMS on all networks without any recharge obligations.

Moreover upon usage of Rs. 10 daily, subscribers will receive 100 free on-net minutes, 100 free SMS to all networks, and 100MB free data every day.

This great offer comes on the footsteps of the recent welcome news that Warid Prepaid SIMs as well as GLOW SIMs are now available for only Rs. 60.

Terms & Conditions

• Validity of 1000 minutes and 1000 SMS are 4 days after activation.
•  Daily usage of Rs. 10 includes only
  • Voice: On-net, off-net and IDD (International Direct Dialing)
  • SMS: On base tariff only.
• SMS & GPRS bundles’ subscription fee will not count towards daily usage of Rs. 10.
• Customer will not be able to avail the acquisition offer once he subscribes to any SMS bundle.
• Premium SMS services and balance transfer will not be considered usage.
• This offer will not be valid in case of package change.
• Daily Incentive will expire at 12 am midnight.
• Using a SIM without proper documentation is a crime – PTA
• Terms and conditions apply
• Limited time offer only

Ufone T20 Offer: Free Minutes with Every Boundary

Ufone is again offering free minutes for the cricket loving Nation. The offer comes filled with tons of minutes along with tons of runs, to be enjoyed during the T20 World Cup to be hosted in Sri Lanka.

All a customer needs to do is Dial *2020# and select their team prior to commencement of any T20 World Cup match, as players of their selected team send the ball over the rope or takes an outstanding wicket the customer will win a number of minutes which can be consumed to celebrate their teams achievements.

Offer Details and How to Subscribe:

• *2020# and select your team before commencement of T20 World Cup match
• 4 minutes will be rewarded on every boundary
• 6 minutes on every Six (the ball goes over the rope)
• 10 minutes on each wicket taken by your selected team
• Free Minutes will be given on the day of the match. These minutes will be valid till 3pm next day

Charges:

• Charges of selecting the team each time are Rs.20 (inclusive of tax)
• Selected Team will be valid for one ongoing match

The selection of the team will be valid for that particular day/match for which the team is selected and customers will have to try their luck in next match afresh.
The 2012 World Twenty20 will be the fourth edition of the Twenty20 tournament. South Africa organized the first event in 2007 where India emerged victorious in a closely fought final while Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka in the 2009 tournament in England to become World T20 Champions. England was crowned champions of the third T20 World Cup as it beat arch rivals Australia in Caribbean Islands.
Terms & Conditions:

• This offer is valid for all Prepaid customers
• This offer is only valid for T20 World Cup of 2012
• Ufone reserves the right to stop accepting the entries any time during the day
• Minutes will be given on the day of the match. These minutes will be valid till 3pm next day
• Selected Team will be valid for the ongoing match
• Minutes will be useful for Ufone to Ufone calls only
• In case of match cancellation, 50 minutes will still be given to the customers on the day of the cancelled match
• 19.5% FED on usage and 10% withholding tax at recharge or bill applies
• Terms and condition apply