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The enterprise virtualization landscape is experiencing a seismic shift. Following Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, organizations are reassessing their virtualization strategies, prompting a closer look at alternatives that promise both cost efficiency and operational continuity. A recent conversation between Phil Godwin of Clear Technologies and George Crump of VergeIO illuminates the evolving market dynamics and emerging solutions.

Understanding Market Response to VMware Changes

The impact of Broadcom’s VMware acquisition has created three distinct customer segments in the market. Some organizations face immediate pressure from dramatic price increases ranging from 50% to 500%, driving urgent exploration of alternatives. Others, protected by existing Enterprise License Agreements (ELAs), are taking a more measured approach to planning their transition. A third segment remains cautious, concerned about disrupting deeply integrated VMware-dependent processes that power their operations.

This segmentation reflects a broader industry challenge: how to balance the need for cost optimization with operational stability. Organizations must navigate this transition while maintaining business continuity, a challenge that requires careful consideration of both technical and operational factors.

The Evolution of Virtualization Alternatives

The market response to this situation has been notable, with numerous vendors positioning themselves as VMware alternatives. These solutions broadly fall into two categories: container-based platforms like OpenShift and Kubernetes, and traditional virtualization approaches built on KVM technology. Each approach presents distinct considerations for enterprises.

Container-based solutions offer modern architecture but require significant operational changes. Traditional virtualization alternatives promise familiar paradigms but vary significantly in maturity and integration depth. This diversity of options highlights a critical industry trend: the move away from single-vendor dependency toward a more diverse, flexible infrastructure approach.

Bridging the Migration Gap

A key industry challenge emerging from this situation is the need for practical migration paths. Organizations need solutions that can preserve existing operational processes while enabling modernization. This has led to the development of sophisticated migration tools and methodologies that focus on maintaining operational continuity during transitions.

The industry is seeing a preference for graduated approaches to migration, often described as “crawl, walk, run” methodologies. This approach allows organizations to begin their transition with new workloads while maintaining existing environments, providing a practical path forward without forcing an immediate complete migration.

The Role of AI in Infrastructure Evolution

Perhaps the most significant industry trend emerging from this market shift is the integration of artificial intelligence into infrastructure management. This development addresses two critical industry challenges: the persistent IT skills shortage and the increasing complexity of infrastructure management.

AI integration is manifesting in several ways:

– Automated workload deployment and optimization

– Intelligent system analytics and monitoring

– Natural language interfaces for system diagnostics

These developments suggest a future where infrastructure management becomes more accessible and intelligent, potentially reducing the operational complexity that has historically characterized enterprise virtualization.

Looking Ahead: Industry Implications

The current market dynamics in enterprise virtualization point to several important industry trends:

1. The end of single-vendor dominance in virtualization, leading to more diverse and competitive solutions

2. A growing emphasis on operational continuity during technology transitions

3. The increasing role of AI in infrastructure management

4. A shift toward more flexible and cost-effective licensing models

These trends suggest a fundamental transformation in how organizations approach infrastructure virtualization. The focus is moving from pure technical capability to broader considerations of operational efficiency, cost management, and future scalability.

For industry professionals and organizations navigating these changes, the key lessons are clear: maintain flexibility in infrastructure strategy, prioritize operational continuity in transition planning, and prepare for an increasingly AI-integrated infrastructure future.

This period of market disruption, while challenging, presents an opportunity for organizations to reassess and modernize their infrastructure approach. The emergence of viable alternatives and new technological capabilities suggests that the future of enterprise virtualization will be more diverse, flexible, and intelligent than ever before.

Clear Technologies is proud to announce our recognition on the list of 2024 Top Workplaces by Dallas Morning News.

This prestigious award reflects our ongoing commitment to fostering an exceptional workplace culture and employee experience.

The Top Workplaces program, based on employee feedback, evaluates companies on key aspects including company values, leadership effectiveness, employee engagement, and organizational health. This recognition validates our efforts to create an environment where innovation thrives and every team member can reach their full potential.

“This achievement belongs to every member of the Clear Technologies family,” said Phil Godwin, President & COO at Clear Technologies. “Our success stems from our people-first culture and our commitment to delivering exceptional technology solutions while maintaining a supportive, collaborative workplace.”

Key factors contributing to our recognition include:

• Commitment to professional development and growth opportunities
• Culture of innovation and collaboration
• Strong focus on work-life balance
• Emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion

As we continue to grow and evolve, this recognition reinforces our dedication to maintaining a workplace where talent, creativity, and personal growth flourish.

For more information about career opportunities at Clear Technologies, visit us on LinkedIn.

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About Clear Technologies
Clear Technologies is a leading technology solutions provider specializing in enterprise hybrid infrastructure products, security solutions, and IT consulting. Founded in 1993, we’ve established ourselves as a trusted partner for businesses seeking innovative technology solutions.

The President and COO of Clear Technologies and Visual One Intelligence, Phil Godwin, recently sat down with Jonathan Halstuch, CTO and co-founder of RackTop Systems, for an insightful conversation discussing valuable perspectives about the evolving landscape of data storage and cybersecurity. Their discussion revealed how organizations are adapting to increasingly sophisticated threats as the traditional separation between storage and security dissolves.

The Convergence of Storage and Security

One of the most significant trends Halstuch identifies is the convergence of storage and security functions within organizations. Historically, these were siloed operations, with security teams operating independently from infrastructure and operations teams. However, just as CIO and CSO roles have become more interconnected, there’s a growing recognition that security is everyone’s responsibility.

Beyond Traditional Storage Solutions

When Godwin asked about what makes RackTop unique in the market, Halstuch explained their distinctive approach in an industry where many traditional storage vendors are retrofitting security features onto existing products. “What we’ve done is we’ve developed a product that’s cyber stored, our BrickStor Security Platform, which is a high-performance NAS with all three protocols – NFS, SMB, and S3.”

What sets RackTop apart is their data-centric zero-trust approach, evaluating trust for each file operation in real-time. Unlike traditional systems where permissions remain static until manually changed, BrickStor continuously monitors user behavior for potential threats. This dynamic approach allows the system to detect and respond to suspicious activities, such as:

– Potential insider threats attempting to steal data

– Compromised accounts showing unusual behavior

– Ransomware attacks trying to encrypt files

The Limitations of Traditional Security Measures

Halstuch challenged the common notion that backups are the best protection against ransomware. “It’s not a protection at all,” he argues. “In fact, it’s your last resort for recovery.” He pointed out that 92% of ransomware attacks involve data theft as their first step – something that neither backups nor immutable snapshots can prevent. The key is stopping attacks as they begin, not just preparing for recovery afterward.

Key Use Cases

Healthcare: With petabytes of medical images and sensitive patient data, healthcare organizations are prime targets for cyberattacks. Recent incidents like the Change Healthcare breach highlight the critical need for robust data protection in this sector.

State and Local Government: These organizations manage critical citizen services and data, making them attractive targets for both ransomware and data theft attacks.

Higher Education and Research: Recent false claims acts against institutions like Penn State and Georgia Tech have highlighted the need for better security measures in academic settings, particularly regarding NIST 800-171 standards for CMMC compliance.

Looking Ahead: AI and Data Operations

As the conversation turned to future developments, both leaders acknowledged the growing importance of AI in data operations. Godwin noted that while AI is a hot topic in every client conversation, organizations often struggle with the fundamental challenge of locating and organizing their data for AI applications. Halstuch agreed, explaining that RackTop is positioning itself to help customers leverage their data more effectively for AI workloads, whether it’s for retrieval augmentation generation (RAG) or machine learning applications.

The Partner Ecosystem

The discussion highlighted the strong partnership between Clear Technologies and RackTop Systems. Halstuch praised Clear Technologies’ Visual One platform as providing crucial insights into customer environments, enabling more effective solution delivery. “That’s why we like to work with Clear,” Halstuch noted. “The AI journey is going to be a long one… and to your point, the first thing is getting your hands around your data, organizing that, then the next thing is tagging and labeling it.”

As organizations continue to face new security challenges and explore AI opportunities, RackTop’s integrated approach to storage and security provides a foundation for secure, efficient data management. The company’s focus on real-time threat detection and prevention, combined with high-performance storage capabilities, positions it well for the future of enterprise data management.

 

Addison, Texas, June 7^th, 2022 — Clear Technologies, trusted advisors in data management, IT managed services, and cyber security, today announced that CRN^®, a brand of The Channel Company, has named Clear Technologies to its 2022 Solution Provider 500 list.

CRN’s annual Solution Provider 500 ranks North America’s largest solution providers by revenue and serves as the gold standard for recognizing some of the channel’s most successful companies. With a combined revenue of more than $434 billion, this year’s list represents an impressive amount of influence and impact wielded by these companies on today’s IT industry and the technology suppliers they partner with.

“We’re proud to be recognized once again on CRN’s Solution Provider 500 list. Clear Technologies takes pride in our services organization, it’s really what sets us apart in the reseller industry. As the trusted IT advisor for our clients for nearly 30 years, we are always finding new ways to expand our services offerings”, said Phil Godwin, President, and COO of Clear Technologies. “This past year we announced the addition of Capacity Planning to a long list of customized services packages. I’m excited to see how our team continues to grow and support clients with their IT optimization journey.”

“The Solution Provider 500 list from CRN serves as the benchmark for the top technology integrators, strategic service providers, and IT consulting firms, making it an invaluable resource for technology vendors seeking to partner with today’s top-performing IT solution providers,” said Blaine Raddon, CEO of The Channel Company. “My congratulations go out to each of these companies for their extraordinary contributions to the continued growth and success of the IT channel.”

CRN’s 2022 Solution Provider 500 list is available online at www.CRN.com/SP500 and a sample from the list will be featured in the June issue of CRN Magazine.

About Clear Technologies

Clear Technologies partners with enterprise organizations to deliver customized IT solutions designed to increase operational efficiency. Unlike other solution providers, Clear Technologies utilizes Visual One Intelligence® to help enterprises discover performance insights, simplify storage management processes, and increase ROI. With over 29 years of experience and a premier offering of cloud-based infrastructure and services, combined with Visual One Intelligence®, Clear Technologies is the preferred partner in digital transformation. www.cleartechnologies.net

About The Channel Company

The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers, and end-users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequaled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelcompany.com 

Follow The Channel Company: Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

© 2022 The Channel Company, LLC. CRN is a registered trademark of The Channel Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Clear Technologies Contact:
Meredith Wardell
Clear Technologies
mwardell@cleartechnologies.net

The Channel Company Contact:
Jennifer Hogan
The Channel Company
jhogan@thechannelcompany.com

 

 

“I’m quitting”, “two weeks’ notice” and other terms related to an employee resigning can be the worst phrase a manager hears. But it’s happening all too often with a surge of people leaving their current jobs for new opportunities. Corporate America has been experiencing a movement termed ‘The Great Resignation’ since mid-2021 and there are no signs of it trailing off.

Staffing disruptions are happening at a high rate, especially in the healthcare and technology industries. With a constantly evolving landscape, IT jobs are opening left and right. IT leaders are faced with the challenge of keeping the team members they have, filling open positions and maintaining normal workloads to keep the business running as usual. How does an IT team survive the spiraling effect?

IT leaders need a reliable solution for keeping infrastructure operations running smoothly during a staffing transition. Understanding your current environment and increased capacity needs for business growth is imperative to finding the best solution for maintaining business continuity. A trusted IT advisor can establish recommendations for implementing and maintaining data center projects including migrations, monitoring tools, plus regular maintenance and support services.

Managed Services

In the event of a staff departure or support gap, working with a Managed Service Provider ensures your core business applications continue running smoothly. With operational services like daily job queues, monitoring, capacity planning, and virtualization management, Clear Technologies’ service experts are an extension of your IT team. Data protection services including Backup and Recovery and DRaaS safeguard your systems in the unfortunate event of a breach.

Clear Technologies offers health checks and assessments for IBM i to ensure your environment is current. As your trusted advisor, our experts make recommendations for cost optimization and architectural services to improve availability and decrease unplanned downtime. With flexible SLAs, we offer a fully customizable services package to meet the current and future needs of your IT team.

Hybrid Cloud

As an organization with an evolving IT landscape, migrating to the cloud is a major undertaking for internal IT teams. Clear Technologies has an extensive partner ecosystem to bring flexibility and scalability to your hybrid cloud solution. With cloud-based services, our experts provide consulting, migration services, and monitoring for your cloud environment. This allows your team to focus on higher priority projects and trust the administration needs are taken care of in the event of a staffing disruption.

Storage Monitoring & Capacity Planning

Implementing a storage reporting and capacity planning tool helps your IT team fully optimize your storage environment and improve budgeting accuracy. With Visual One Intelligence®, you can trust that storage management won’t fall to the wayside during a turnover gap. Visual One collects and displays all of your storage infrastructure data into one dashboard including performance, capacity, and utilization. Not only does this give you the ability to reclaim space, but you can also improve data accuracy and prevent unnecessary purchases.

With consolidated alerting, Visual One warns you of any anomalies – helping prevent shortages, outages, and even security breaches. Visual One Intelligence® provides expert insight into your storage environment with comprehensive email reports from a Visual One expert who knows your organization and storage environment.

Confidently maintain business continuity with help from Clear Technologies. Find out what solutions are best for your IT environment by speaking with one of our technical advisors today! Learn More.

New year, new you… right? Your company has big expansion goals for 2022, but you’re stuck with the same resources you had last year. How will your IBM i environment maintain peak performance and evolve to accommodate new needs for your organization?

We’re here to help you understand the needs of your IBM i environment and build a customized service approach to not only enhance the capabilities of your internal staff but also fill the gaps of IBM support.

Where do you start? Step one is to gain valuable insight into your IBM i system. Our IBM i Health Check provides a comprehensive overview of your IBM i environment. With this assessment, our IBM experts examine the vulnerability, accessibility, and reliability of your IBM i system. Gain the assurance of knowing the current state of your system and proactively identify infrastructure issues. Plus, create a plan for future expansion to meet the needs of your company’s growth initiatives.  

A complete check-up reviews the following:

• Hardware & Software Problems
• System Connectivity Issues
• Fix Level
• IBM Library Capacities
• Output Queues
• Journal Receivers
• Outdated Software Products
• Backup/Recovery Strategy
• User Profile Status
• System Value Settings

Once the IBM i Health Check is complete, a full executive review document is presented to you with recommended improvements for your system. Our IBM experts take into consideration the necessary improvements paired with anticipated enhancements needed to accommodate future capacity growth. Receive a comprehensive plan of action for your IBM i environment without taking your internal staff away from their normal workloads.

A tailored service plan customized to meet the needs of your system.

Clear Technologies offers a robust managed services program for IBM i environments. Implement a fully customizable service plan to augment IBM support gaps while saving time and money. Our clients have seen an overall savings of 40% compared to the cost of internal staffing. As your IBM i trusted advisor, Clear Technologies helps you build an IT strategy that increases ROI and lowers TCO.

Confidently manage your critical business applications and free up your IT teams with Clear Technologies IBM i (iSeries, System I, AS/400) managed services. Support for the full IBM i stack includes infrastructure, software, operations, data protection, business continuity, and security. 

For a limited time, we are offering a FREE IBM i Health Check ($5,000 value). Take advantage of this complimentary service and learn more about the full suite of IBM i Managed Services options from Clear Technologies.