Day: April 9, 2020

Getting to Grips with Multiple Clouds

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Written by, Anthony Webb, EMEA Vice President at A10 Networks

As more and more organisations embrace cloud as part of their digital transformation efforts, it is becoming more popular for those organisations to adopt two or more clouds within their infrastructure. But here optimisation and security are key to managing multiple clouds.

In fact, according to a global survey that we have undertaken here at A10 Networks, around two-thirds of companies have now deployed enterprise applications across two or more public clouds.  The survey, conducted by the Business Performance Innovation (BPI) Network on our behalf, shows that over four-in-five (84%) expect to increase their reliance on public or private clouds over the next 24 months.

The vast majority of organisations are not just thinking about moving to a cloud, they’re living in a world where managing multiple clouds is already a reality. However, there is a knock-on effect from this – they have to operationalise different environments. Based on the survey data, there is a need to make sure that enterprises can provide reliability and security across all clouds, no matter which ones they are. Additionally, as budgets don’t necessarily go up when new technology is introduced, there is a need to optimise the organisation’s IT staff to make them more efficient.

There is also a compounding problem in that when comparing one cloud provider against another, the services they are offering in the cloud are different. And then even the services they offer to support the application have nuanced differences in terms of how they work.

Think of it in terms of video streaming services, these all have different interfaces and different ways of working. For cloud environments, the critical services that provide reliability and security have different capabilities between cloud providers. For example, if an organisation wants to deploy load balancing for reliability, there’s going to be different levels of functionality among providers. That functionality may be the lowest common denominator when offered by a cloud provider.

As a counterpoint, on-premises infrastructure has a lot of the supporting services, which have been developed over decades and have a lot more advanced functionality.

Meeting the mandates of security and reliability

Organisations trying to meet mandates for reliability and security have to look at the overall environment. When organisations have infrastructure running in multiple clouds, they may have different reasons for doing so, such as better service quality in a remote part of the world or using a specific cloud when a preferred provider doesn’t have a viable presence in a particular region.

Additionally, a lot of organisations may want to move their Microsoft applications to Microsoft Azure or believe that the Oracle Cloud infrastructure is the best place for their Oracle cloud apps. Our survey revealed that many organisations have moved from phase one of deployment of clouds to a second phase where they need to operationalise their environments by making sure IT has the tools to control them.

This means that businesses should look at how they centrally manage their cloud and on-premises environments. IT staff need to have visibility to deal with any incidents as they come in and be able to set consistent policies across the entire environment so that they don’t have to worry about the differences in each individual cloud or on-premises environment.  

Centralised control is key

The survey found that centralised visibility, management and automation will be essential to improving and ensuring the security, reliability and performance of their environments. They point to centralised visibility and analytics into security and performance (56%), automated tools to speed response times and reduce costs (54%), and centralised management from a single point of control (50%) as their most important requirements.

Using a centralised management tool can give IT teams visibility of both on-premises and multi-cloud environments all in one location. This makes it easy for IT teams to see what is really going on in their Polynimbus infrastructure.

It should also help them be more efficient and normalise the disparate cloud environments. Such a strategy of automation and intelligence is key to how organisations move to operationalise multiple clouds and make them more efficient.

CUSTOM LINE NAVETTA 30: WELCOME TO A NEW DIMENSION IN DESIGN

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The eagerly awaited Custom Line Navetta 30 is the first yacht with an interior design scheme by the prestigious Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel architecture firm and exterior design by Filippo Salvetti.

There are some significant new technical and design features, involving unprecedented solutions for the brand.

A fresh chapter is about to begin in the Custom Line world: the new Navetta 30 yacht in the displacement line will be appearing at the first autumn boat shows for the season 2020- 2021. The future of the Navetta range has been outlined by the new super yacht thanks to an in-depth design process that took the seaworthiness, comfort, safety and customisation for which Custom Line has always been renowned and transferred them into a product that is even more ground-breaking, especially in terms of its style and interior design.

With a length of 28.43 m (93 ft) and a beam of 7.3 m (24 ft), it is a product of the partnership between the Ferretti Group’s Strategic Product Committee, headed by engineer Piero Ferrari, and its Engineering Department. The Navetta 30 is also the first Custom Line vessel to boast a combination of exterior design by architect Filippo Salvetti and interior design by architecture firm Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel.

“The new Navetta 30 takes us into a new dimension in design”, explains Stefano de Vivo, the Ferretti Group’s Chief Commercial Officer. “Due to the huge success enjoyed by the new Navetta generation, we want every new project to have the sensational verve of a masterpiece. The Navetta 30 meets this requirement and takes a stunning step forward in the quest to offer Owners and their guests incomparable well-being”.

The classic, perfectly poised profile of the yacht places the emphasis on the way the lines stretch out horizontally, highlighting this aspect of the design so that the vertical connections between the decks almost go unnoticed.

In addition, for the first time the drop from the superstructure on the upper deck has been shortened near the glazed window of the Owner’s cabin, giving the yacht a more streamlined shape that is even racier and sportier. And that is not all: one of the most striking aspects of the new yacht is a gap between the hull and the superstructure, which has been created by raising the joints with the upper deck to form two clearly separate parts.

“The Custom Line displacement range has been expanded by the addition of the new Navetta 30, which blends generous volumes with an attractive, graceful design whose classic charms never grow old. It might have the capabilities of a ship, but it is full of harmoniously balanced visual appeal. It was essential to find the right balance between the hull and the superstructure and emphasise the way the external lines stretch out horizontally in order to add a little vivacious verve to this distinctive, complex creation”, states architect Filippo Salvetti.

The exterior design features large glazed windows in the hull and superstructure, with deck heights of more than 2 m and very spacious areas forward and aft. With finishes and furniture that match those insides, the outdoor spaces can be used not only for dining but also for relaxing and reflecting, thus providing unrivalled potential for people to get a little privacy and enjoy life on board. Great prominence has been given to the connections between inside and outside areas. The former has been opened up to the exterior as much as possible to offer broader, more panoramic views reaching out over the sea to the horizon.

This project breaks new ground in many significant ways, starting with the incredible volumes: its three decks are unprecedented for a yacht of this length. The 100% wide body configuration means that Owners and their guests have a full beam Owner’s suite and lounge on the main deck at their disposal, in addition to four VIP cabins and a crew area on the lower deck. There is a dining area and lounge on the upper deck, which provides access to the integrated bridge that is located further forward. The exceptionally large sun deck rounds off a line-up that is second to none.

To lay the foundations for it all, a brand-new hull has been created, with lines on the bottom that extend it forward. It is designed not only to host very large spaces but also to offer superb performance and minimize consumption.

The innovative interior design scheme was developed in partnership with Citterio Viel. The firm has given traditional maritime style – from the concept to the colour palette – a contemporary twist. The classic design of the curved lines on the furniture and window frames presents a modern outlook on nautical traditions, as does the use of teak. Its timeless allure is complemented by the vibrant “sporty chic” of carbon detailing, surfaces with quartz fibre combined with fibre glass to create customised textures, sophisticated lacquer and fabrics with ultramarine blue stripes.

“The interior design was developed in partnership with the engineers and architects who designed the hull of the yacht”, states Patricia Viel, co-founder of the Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel architecture firm. “BIM enables us to control every single volume perfectly, thus ensuring that the lighting and interior design schemes fit in flawlessly around the shape of the hull”.

The decision was made to reject a more residential outlook and avoid a clear distinction between the yacht itself and the items on board. Built-in furniture was specially designed and made using natural leather, solid wood and plywood, with some exquisite craftsmanship on display. The firm proposed furnishing solutions that were created exclusively for this yacht and two aesthetic approaches: a “textured mood” that was fresher and more youthful, and a less elaborate, more classical “wooden mood” in which wood was the predominant material.

Moving on from the materials and finishes, the interiors of the Navetta 30 – which is the smallest displacement yacht in the Custom Line range – were designed with a big focus on the use of space, in order to make the most of all of the volumes and all of the surface area that was available.

The Custom Line Navetta 30 is ideal for travelling long distances with low fuel consumption and performance at the top of its class. It comes with twin MAN I6 800 mhp engines as standard. They give it a top speed of 14 knots and a transatlantic range of 2,150 nautical miles at a fuel-efficient cruising speed of 10 knots. Two other twin engine options are available:

• Twin MAN V8 1000 mhp engines, as fitted on the first unit;

• Twin MAN V8 1200 mhp engines.

To give maximum comfort at anchor, the Navetta 30 is equipped with stabilising fins, which can be fitted in conjunction with Seakeeper systems on request.

Comfort and safety are top priorities for Custom Line, as underlined by the fact that the yacht falls within CE Class A and has volumes that have never been seen before in this segment of the market. This is thanks in part to unparalleled soundproofing based on targeted mathematical analysis of each and every source of noise on board, and the installation of a floating floor to reduce the transmission of sound from the engine room to the living areas, while also softening the sound of footsteps.

The Navetta 30 is under construction in the Super Yacht Yard in Ancona and it is due to make its official debut at the next Cannes Yachting Festival.