Sphere 3D Corp. (ANY)

[donkschmonk]

Dear JB, please most kindly update the DD sticky with the following 2 key article links the board uncovered. It is getting harder to keep up to date as we pop up more frequently which is awesome!:)

Many thanks!


1) RCPMag:

Microsoft Charts Course Toward Containers, Cloud Computing's Next Frontier
Perhaps you've heard the buzz about containers and how they're poised to become the next big thing in cloud computing.

By Jeffrey Schwartz April 20, 2015

Containers, long used as a way of providing a secure sandbox that separates an application from the OS and in some cases network infrastructure, are poised to take on computing tasks deemed unachievable by today's virtual machines (VMs) and cloud infrastructures.

In less than a year, a once-little-known startup provider of open source software called Docker put containers on the map. The company's open container platform is designed to let developers build and systems administrators manage distributed applications on any OS, VM and cloud. Among those supporting Docker are Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google, IBM, Rackspace, Red Hat, VMware and even Microsoft.

With Docker Swarm, which spins a pool of Docker hosts into one virtual host, an administrator can deploy their container-based apps and workloads using the native Docker clustering and scheduling functions, according to Sanders. It also lets customers select cloud infrastructure such as Azure, enabling them to scale according to their needs. Using the Docker command-line interface (CLI), customers can deploy Swarm to enable scheduling across multiple hosts. While this will initially be useful for dev and test, it portends a day when partners can build and deploy apps that are OS-, hardware-, VM- and cloud provider-independent.

Docker isn't the only container solution Microsoft is embracing. Sphere 3D last month said its Glassware 2.0 Microvisor can virtualize infrastructure components and the application stacks from both Windows and non-Windows-based systems and claims it can "outperform" any existing hypervisor-based infrastructure. Furthermore, Sphere 3D said it can be used for systems and cloud management, orchestration and clustering.

It's still early days for containers in the world of cloud computing, but if they live up to their promise, they can raise the bar for performance and portability.


http://rcpmag.com/articles/2015/04/01/containers.aspx


2) Virtualisation Review:

Windows Containers and 'Microvisors'
A new Microsoft partner, Sphere 3D, is making containers that have fewer dependencies than Docker.

By Jeffrey Schwartz 03/10/2015

Containers are still relatively new on the scene. Docker, of course, is the most famous name in containers, but competitors are cropping up weekly. And with those competitors come new technologies that are changing even the nature of containers.

One of those competitors is working specifically in the Windows world. In its push to simplify migration of Windows applications to cloud infrastructures without dependencies on hardware or software platforms, Microsoft has added Sphere 3D as its latest partner to deliver Windows containers. The two companies announced a partnership today to deliver Glassware 2.0 Windows containers for Azure.

Sphere 3D said it's collaborating with Microsoft to develop tools to simplify the migration of Windows-based end user applications to Azure. The two companies are first working to offer Glassware 2.0-based workloads in Azure for schools. Later in the year, Sphere 3D will offer other tools, the company said. Unlike Microsoft's higher-profile container partner Docker, which is open source, Glassware 2.0 is a proprietary platform designed to virtualize applications without requiring a virtualized desktop.

The Glassware 2.0 suite includes a micro hypervisor which the company calls a "Microvisor." Unlike a traditional hypervisor, which requires a guest OS for applications to run, the "Microvisor only pulls in elements of the OS stack needed for the software application to run, and also fills in any gaps that may be present, in particular with applications needing functionality not inherent in whichever OS stack you happen to be using," according to the company's description.

Glassware 2.0 also includes containers, management tools and clustering software. The containers are designed to run multiple instances of the same app in a Glassware 2.0-based server. It provides the ability to share binaries, libraries or the Glassware 2.0 Microvisor, according to the company. This environment provides access only to those components of an operating system an application needs to run. It supports applications running in Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8.x environments.

http://virtualizationreview.com/articles/2015/03/10/windows-containers-and-microvisors.aspx?m=2

Recent Tweets:

Novarad: "Huge thank you to everyone who came to see #NovaGlass at #HIMSS15--it was the most popular attraction by far. @Sphere3D
10:24pm - 17 Apr 15

Peter Bookman retweeted
Jason Katcher ?@jkatcher74 13h13 hours ago
Jason Katcher retweeted Machiavelli's Mentor
Thx 4 sharing @Machiavellismen @Sphere3D Many use cases beyond TestNav in EDU. @dougheuringaria #virtualization $ANY Jason Katcher added,

Machiavelli's Mentor @Machiavellismen
@jkatcher74 @Sphere3D $ANY Nice Video on Novaglass with Sphere 3D prepared for HIMMS 2015:

Many thanks!!