Virtual Desktop Tools, Virtual Server Infrastructure
businesswire | July 13, 2023
MacStadium, the industry-leading Mac private cloud and software-as-a-service provider enabling macOS workloads, today announced it has secured two patents: one for injection molded “helmets” providing keyboard, video and mouse (KVM) and precise power button control remotely, and one for a new rack shelving design with optimizing server density along with the KVM system.
MacStadium’s helmets, which sit atop a Mac mini or Mac Studio, are specifically designed to retrofit the company’s current shelving offering. Leveraging 3D printing technology to rapidly prototype and refine the design, this innovation dramatically reduces time-to-market and yields very low cost per unit.
While the helmets remain compatible with former shelving solutions, the new shelf design offers six times the server density of older Mac Pro racks and 50% more server density than existing Mac mini racks. Additionally, each Mac server is provisioned with an Apple-focused KVM device providing significant capabilities and advantages while slashing rack shelving costs by 50% or more.
“These patents offer an exciting glimpse into how much we have grown and evolved our technology to better service our customers with scalability on-demand and faster deployment made possible via our enterprise hardware program,” said Paul Benati, MacStadium’s senior vice president and COO. “MacStadium has been and remains at the forefront of Apple enterprise innovation. As the first to market with new Apple servers, we continue to innovate, prioritizing reduced system friction, increased customer ease and satisfaction and decreased costs.”
MacStadium’s proprietary helmet - which is currently in production - houses a temperature probe, LED light, OLED display and a servo, which allows for granular remote control of Apple devices’ power button. These KVM devices can remotely control the Apple devices to which they are connected, eliminating the need for customers to request server control and for IT teams to physically go to data centers to correct issues. With these remote control and self-service features, customers unlock new capabilities, including the ability to dynamically define the purpose of the Apple device, access to network storage and the long-awaited ability to run FileVault. The KVM system is securely accessed via SSL, SSO integration and authentication and authorization via lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP).
The shelving system, which will soon begin production, is designed to hold 24 Mac minis and 24 Apple-focused KVM devices, increasing the capacity of a standard rack to 144 Mac minis. In addition to increased operational efficiencies and secure server access from anywhere in the world, the shelving design offers tremendous cost savings due to its injection molded manufacturing. Not only is this manufacturing offered globally by a multitude of vendors, but it also allows for reduced shipping costs and more server density per square foot due to the product’s reduced bulk and weight.
These innovations provide a clear competitive advantage for customers and are just some of the foundational elements of MacStadium's offering, aimed at driving Mac compute to customers via self-service.
The patents come after MacStadium announced Orka Workspace with Pulse, designed to enable high-definition audio and visual streaming on virtual Mac desktops via any HTML5-supported browser. In addition, the company recently made public its Orka Small Teams edition, a self-service purchase option, giving MacDevOps teams immediate access to the industry’s leading enterprise-grade macOS virtualization and orchestration tool. As tech companies look to streamline operations and maximize their resources, this automation is critical to remain competitive.
About MacStadium
Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Atlanta, MacStadium is a private Mac cloud provider delivering scalable and secure enterprise cloud solutions exclusively for macOS. The company’s suite of advanced software-enabled infrastructure, combined with its innovative technology, delivers the security, performance, reliability and flexibility its MacDevOps customers require for successful app development on Apple devices. Powered by MacStadium, Orka® (Orchestration with Kubernetes on Apple) Platform is the only virtualization layer available for Mac build infrastructure based on popular Docker and Kubernetes technology. MacStadium is a Summit Partners portfolio company with multi-site operations in the U.S. and EU.
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Virtual Server Management, Security
prnewswire | July 14, 2023
Scale Computing, the market leader in edge computing, virtualization, and hyperconverged solutions, today announced that Scale Computing Platform (SC//Platform) has been qualified on the Lenovo M90Q and the Simply NUC Topaz and is available as a part of the HE100 series of products. The company also announced that SC//Platform is now available from Simply NUC as a pre-integrated enterprise offering through their website. Scale Computing's award-winning SC//Platform allows users to run and manage applications from anywhere with cloud-like simplicity and performance built for edge computing.
"No matter what hardware configuration customers choose, it is the same innovative software and simple user interface powering their infrastructure and managing the heterogeneous fleet of hardware. SC//HyperCore and SC//Fleet Manager make it easier for IT to manage edge infrastructure and for customers to afford," said Jeff Ready, CEO and Co-founder of Scale Computing. "We are excited to partner with Simply NUC; they are a trusted and reliable partner with extensive knowledge of the NUC and other small form factor systems. By combining the power, simplicity and reliability of Scale Computing Platform with Simply NUC's expertise, expansive network and online configuration tools, we are providing organizations with a comprehensive and scalable edge computing solution with the fastest path from pilot to production."
SC//Platform is a powerful, all-in-one platform uniquely designed for running applications at the edge. Lightweight software is packaged for uncontrolled, non-IT environments and managed centrally, making it easy to run applications anywhere they are needed, while also reducing workloads for IT teams. Using patented HyperCore™ technology, the self-healing platform identifies, reduces, and corrects problems in real time. Users achieve results quickly and easily, even when local IT resources are scarce. SC//HyperCore makes ensuring application uptime simple for IT to manage and more affordable for customers.
Also available as part of SC//Platform is Scale Computing Fleet Manager with zero-touch provisioning (ZTP) and Secure Link features. ZTP provides cloud-like simplicity for administrators, allowing them to centrally configure clusters in SC//Fleet Manager prior to nodes arriving on-premises, decreasing the installation time by 90% or more. Secure Link enables cloud-like simplicity for administrators, allowing them to access the HyperCore UI for in-depth cluster management with the click of a button without needing expensive or complex remote access solutions. Edge deployments are just a click away on any browser, on any device, anywhere.
"Scale Computing is the leader in delivering highly performing, highly available, and highly reliable IT infrastructure solutions. SC//Platform is unique in that it provides expandable, fault-tolerant architecture, automated intelligence for self-healing, and remote management with cloud-like orchestration, creating the most highly available environment for edge computing," said Aaron Rowsell, Simply NUC CEO and Founder. "Today's business leaders need efficient application deployment and management, which SC//Platform on Intel® NUC and other small form factor devices delivers — with high performance, in a smaller, easier to manage solution. We're excited to partner with Scale Computing to take Simply NUC's offerings to a new level for distributed enterprise and edge computing."
About Scale Computing
Scale Computing is a leader in edge computing, virtualization, and hyperconverged solutions. Using patented HyperCore™ technology, Scale Computing Platform automatically identifies, mitigates, and corrects infrastructure problems in real-time, enabling applications to achieve maximum uptime, even when local IT resources and staff are scarce. Edge Computing is the fastest-growing area of IT infrastructure, and industry analysts have named Scale Computing an outperformer and leader in the space, including being named the #1 edge computing vendor by CRN. Scale Computing's products are sold by thousands of value-added resellers, integrators, and service providers worldwide. When ease-of-use, high availability, and TCO matter, Scale Computing Platform is the ideal infrastructure platform.
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Virtual Desktop Tools, Server Hypervisors
prnewswire | July 26, 2023
ePlus inc. (news) today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, ePlus Technology, inc., has extended its portfolio to include SD-WAN Managed Services for Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN to include:
Proactive monitoring and alerting
Policy management
Virtual private network path and policy configuration management to SaaS applications
Application-based configuration to ensure optimum performance and security
Underlay management of private, public, and dedicated data transport connections.
"Adding SD-WAN Managed Services expands our existing service capabilities for Palo Alto Networks solutions, including next-generation firewall management and first-call Enhanced Maintenance Support," said Lee Waskevich, vice president of security strategy for ePlus. "The distributed nature of both applications and users has continued to blend responsibilities for networking and security teams to combat the latest cyber threats and provide an optimum user experience. ePlus Managed Services deliver on this convergence to help generate successful outcomes for our customers."
"We are pleased to expand our SD-WAN Managed Services offerings to include support for Palo Alto Networks," said Wayne St. Jacques, vice president of managed services at ePlus. "By offloading the management and remediation of their Prisma SD-WAN solution, customers are poised to increase uptime and performance, optimize business-critical applications, achieve measurable cost savings, and maintain segmentation and inspection policies to ensure compliance with their security policy."
ePlus also offers Managed SD-WAN offerings for Cisco, Meraki, and Fortinet. For more information about ePlus SD-WAN Managed Services, visit https://www.eplus.com/solutions/networking/Software-Defined-Networking. For details about ePlus' Palo Alto Networks offerings and partnership, visit https://eplus.com/partners/showcase-partners/palo-alto-networks.
About ePlus inc.
ePlus has an unwavering and relentless focus on leveraging technology to create inspired and transformative business outcomes for its customers. Offering a robust portfolio of solutions, as well as a broad range of consultative and managed services across the technology spectrum, ePlus has proudly achieved more than 30 years of success, carrying customers forward through adversity, rapidly changing environments, and other obstacles. ePlus is a trusted advisor, bringing expertise, credentials, talent and a thorough understanding of innovative technologies, spanning security, cloud, data center, networking, collaboration and emerging solutions, to organizations across all industry segments. With complete lifecycle management services and flexible payment solutions, ePlus' more than 1,700 associates are focused on cultivating positive customer experiences and are dedicated to their craft, harnessing new knowledge while applying decades of proven experience. ePlus is headquartered in Virginia, with locations in the United States, UK, Europe, and Asia‐Pacific.
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