20-plus eye-popping Black Friday 2014 tech deals

hone 6, iPad Air, Samsung Galaxy gear and big cheap TVs among the hottest electronic deals for Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2014.

Black Friday is upon us
Word is that more retailers will relent to public pressure – I mean do the right thing for their employees – and close on Thanksgiving Day this year. But that won’t prevent them from going all out online, where much is automated and the workers are less prominent. Here are some of the best deals on network and technology offerings for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and in between. (Compare with last year’s deals)

Dell: Inspiron 15-inch laptop
Powered by an Intel Celeron processor and running Windows 8.1, this system boasts 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive. Dell’s special pricing for those getting through online beginning at 12 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 28, is $190, a $110 discount off what Dells calls the “market price” (though Dell appears to regularly sell the laptop for $250.

Target: Apple TV
Like other retailers, Target has a number of deals on Apple products. Among them: $11 off an Apple TV device, which you can get for $89 on Black Friday.

Target: iPhones, iPads and gift cards
Apple gives retailers little leeway in terms of discounting its products, so Target and others often resort to selling the Apple products for the regular price, but bundling the with gift cards. Target is offering a $100 Target gift card with an iPad Air 16GB WiFi tablet ($400), iPad mini 3 16GB WiFi tablet ($400) or iPad mini 2 16GB WiFi Tablet ($300).

Best Buy: Samsung Gear Fit Fitness watch with heart rate monitor
Best Buy is slashing the price on this gadget, which comes in black, from $150 to $100. Count your steps taken and calories burned in style, with this device, which syncs up with various Android phones. Best Buy’s online sales will run Thursday/Friday, with stores opening at 5 pm on Thanksgiving Day where allowed, and again at 8 am on Friday.

Best Buy: Surface Pro 3
The retailer is cutting $50 to $150 off the price of Microsoft Surface Pro 3 tablets with 128GB of storage or more (they start at $1,000 before the discount). Note that this does not include the keyboard for the flexible 12-inch touchscreen device.

Best Buy: Panasonic 50-inch LED TV doorbuster
This 33-pound Panasonic TV, which serves up a 1080p and 60Hz HDTV picture, usually costs $550. The pre-Black Friday price is down to $500, but will go for just $200 in this in-store-only deal on Thanksgiving/Black Friday.

Microsoft: Tablets and games
The Microsoft Store lists a slew of deals, some for which you need to wait until Thanksgiving or Black Friday, and others that you can snag ahead of time. Among the early bird specials is a Lumia 635 phone for 1 cent with a new service contract. The phone has a 4.5-inch screen, runs Windows 8.1 and has 8GB of storage. Microsoft also has lots of Xbox and game deals available in its store this holiday shopping season.

Staples: Asus x205-TA Laptop computer
This bare-bones Windows 8.1 machine, with a 32GB hard drive and 2GB of RAM, normally goes for $250. It’s already been marked down to $200, and for Black Friday, Staples is cutting that price in half. The laptop, featuring 802.11abgn WiFi, is powered by an Intel Atom processor and has an 11.6-inch screen.

Staples: JLab Pro-7 Tablet
OK, can’t say we know this brand either, but for $40, it could be worth a shot if you just want to play around with a small Android tablet. The device usually sells for $70. It only packs 8GB or storage, but has a MicroSD slot for adding up to 32GB more.

RadioShack: RC Surveyor Drone
Satisfy your drone curiosity and freak out your neighbors with this 2.4GHz quadcopter that’s been marked down from $70 to $35 for Black Friday. This lightweight flyer comes with a built-in 1080x720 camera, can be controlled up to 65 feet away and can even do stunts. RadioShack will be opening on Thanksgiving morning, again late in the afternoon, and then at 6 am on Black Friday.

Costco: HP Envy 15.6-inch TouchSmart Laptop
This computer is powered by an Intel 4th generation Core i7 processor, runs Windows 8, features Beats audio and a 1TB hard drive. Costco, which is tossing in a second-year warranty, is slashing its $800 warehouse price by $150 for Black Friday shoppers who come into the store.

Office Depot/Officemax: Samsung Galaxy Tab 4
The price on this 10.1-inch Android tablet has been axed to $250, which is $100 off the usual price. Yes, this isn’t Samsung’s latest model, but it only came out in April. The device features a 1.2GHz quad core processor, and 16GB of storage, expandable to 64GB.

Meijer: Samsung Galaxy Tablet Lite
This 7-inch, 8GB tablet will run you $99 on Black Friday, which is $40 off the regular price. Plus, you’ll get a $20 coupon for your next shopping trip. The touchscreen tablet boasts a 1.2Ghz dual-core processor.

Sears: 55-inch Samsung LED TV
This 1080p Smart HD-TV, usually priced at $1,400, is available for $800 starting on Thanksgiving night (though note that Sears already lists TV for $1,000, not $1,400). It comes integrated with services such as Netflix and Pandora.

Belk: iLive Bluetooth Soundbar
This 32-inch black bar will enable you to wireless boom your tunes for $70 -- $30 off the usual price. Works with iOS gadgets and most Android and BlackBerry devices. Can also sync up with your TV, game systems and more. This is an online deal.

Shopko: Kindle Fire HD tablet
This lightweight 7-inch WiFi tablet (with 8GB of storage, 1GB of which is internal memory) will have its price shaved by $20, so you pay $80. The retailer’s Black Friday deals start at 6 pm on Thanksgiving Day, though look for additional doorbusters as early as Wednesday.

Various retailers: Record Store Day specials
Got an MP3 hater in your life who prefers to spin big ol’ discs? Record Store Day, an annual April event designed to accommodate record lovers, expands for a Black Friday event that will feature limited-edition offerings from a variety of singers and bands, including The Afghan Whigs, The Beatles and Chvrches.

Walmart: iPhone 6
The monster retailer, which has said it will match Amazon prices in all its stores to kick off the holiday shopping season, has a pretty fine deal on the iPhone 6, which will cost $179 for a 16GB model with a two-year contract (typically $199). What’s more, you’ll get a $75 Walmart gift card, plus another $200 gift card for a smartphone trade-in. (Some industry watchers have warned about whether the 16GB size will only lead to frustration for iPhone 6 users...)

Walmart: iPhone 6
The monster retailer, which has said it will match Amazon prices in all its stores to kick off the holiday shopping season, has a pretty fine deal on the iPhone 6, which will cost $179 for a 16GB model with a two-year contract (typically $199). What’s more, you’ll get a $75 Walmart gift card, plus another $200 gift card for a smartphone trade-in. (Some industry watchers have warned about whether the 16GB size will only lead to frustration for iPhone 6 users...)

Walmart: 65-inch Vizio LED TV
This behemoth set will go for $648 this Black Friday, a savings of $350. Walmart says a 60-incher last holiday season went at $688, so you can see where pricing for big TVs is going…

Walmart: Xbox One Assassin’s Creed Unity Bundle
This package, including the Microsoft game console, the new edition of Assassin’s Creed and Version IV: Black Flag, will be available for $329 starting on Thanksgiving Day at Walmart. That’s down from the usual price of $400, though actually that price has already been marked down to $349.

Toys R Us: 5th generation iPod touch
You don’t hear about these much anymore, but it makes sense that Toys R Us would sell this Apple mainstay. The 16GB model is selling on Black Friday for $150 -- $50 off the usual price. It comes in many pretty colors, too!

Kohl’s: Innovative Technology portable power bank
Kohl’s isn’t the first retailer we think of for tech products, but we did come across this possible stocking stuff: a Justin 2200mAh Power Stick Portable Power Bank for $10, which is $15 off the regular price. USB-pluggable, works with most smartphones to keep you from running out of juice when not able to plug in.

Hhgregg: LG 50-inch smart LED TV
The electronics retailer has a ton of TVs on sale, with many prices slashed by $100 or more. One example: The LG 1080p 120Hz LED WebOS Smart HDTV, which will go for $658, down from $800. You get a free 6-month Spotify subscription to boot.

eBay: LG 60-inch Plasma Smart TV
The online auction site is offering this big HDTV, with two pairs of 3D glasses, for $750 starting at midnight EST on Thanksgiving Eve, Nov. 26.

Newegg: CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme H710 Desktop PC
This machine, boasts an Intel Core i7 4790K (4.0GHz) processor, 8GB DDR3 and 2TB of storage, and runs Windows 8.1 64-bit. The price has been slashed from $1,100 to $800.

Newegg: Asus 13.3-inch Chromebook
The online retailer is knocking $50 off a $250 Asus 13.3-inch Chromebook with Intel Celeron N2830 (2.16GHz) processor, 2GB of DDR3 memory and 16GB SSD.

Amazon: HP Chromebook
Amazon’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday lines are blurred big time, with the online retailer rolling out deals early and often. Among them: This 11.6-inch Chromebook with 2GB of SDRAM and a 16GB solid state drive for $150 — $130 off the regular price.

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Microsoft updates Windows 10, gets an earful from users about OneDrive changes

Testers call OneDrive sync changes in Windows 10 'stupid,' 'big step backwards'

Microsoft yesterday rolled out the next update to its Windows 10 Technical Preview, just three weeks after the previous version arrived.

But one change that Microsoft trumpeted -- an alteration to how OneDrive, the company's cloud-based storage service, synchronizes files -- got a big thumbs down from users.

The update, tagged "Build 9879," followed the Oct. 21 release of Build 9860, which came 20 days after the initial Technical Preview.

So far, Microsoft's cadence for Windows 10 has been faster than what analysts anticipate will be the practice when the new operating system publicly launches in mid-2015. Then, updates will ship as often as monthly for consumers, while businesses will be able to choose between that and two additional tempos that Gartner has tagged "near-consumer speed" and "long-term servicing." The former will roll up the "consumer-speed" updates every four to six months to versions that fast-acting enterprises will test and deploy, while the latter will remain feature- and UI-static for as long as two to three years, receiving only security updates.

In the technical preview, customers have an update frequency choice of only "Fast" or "Slow," with the former representing the final's consumer speed while the latter will probably have no corresponding cadence.

"If you're in the Slow ring, you won't receive the build right away -- we'll publish to Slow after we see how everything goes with the Fast ring," said Gabe Aul, the engineering general manager for Microsoft's operating system group, in a blog post yesterday.

Microsoft is using the Technical Preview to not only show customers what Windows 10 will include, but also to test the faster release pace. Build 9879, however, is a full, in-place upgrade, and not one of the smaller updates that next year will include only changes since the last version.

Aul touted several changes to Windows 10 in the latest build, including one that users bashed as a step backwards.

"We're also introducing changes to how OneDrive syncs your files in this build," Aul wrote. "In Windows 8.1, we use placeholders on your PC to represent files you have stored in OneDrive. People had to learn the difference between what files were 'available online' (placeholders) versus what was 'available offline' and physically on your PC."

In other words, OneDrive on Windows 8.1 did not automatically place actual copies of all files in the cloud storage service on a device, but instead showed placeholder icons, what Microsoft calls "smart files," that included a thumbnail image of the file -- useful when searching through photographs -- and searchable metadata. When clicked, the placeholder/smart file kicked off a file download to the local device. That was counter to, say, Dropbox's method of everything-is- available-locally-on-every-device, but also saved local storage space and the bandwidth necessary to download and synchronize large OneDrive collections.

With Windows 10, OneDrive will use what Aul called "selective sync" in that users choose which files are synched with actual downloads. Other files remain on OneDrive, but do not show up in File Explorer, Windows 10's file management tool. To see everything in OneDrive, users must instead open a browser and comb through OneCloud's online interface.

Users hated the change.
In comments appended to Aul's blog, on a short thread on Microsoft's support discussion forum, and also in a much larger collection of complaints on Microsoft's Windows Feature Suggestion Box, customers gave Aul a piece of their minds.

In nearly 60 comments linked to the feature request, "Add an advanced option to restore showing ALL OneDrive files in Explorer, synced or not," Windows 10 Technical Preview users lambasted the OneDrive change.

"Stupid to remove a perfectly working and very useful feature," said Asbjarn today. "And how does this square with the recently announced unlimited storage for OneDrive? Or perhaps that is the real reason. Theoretically unlimited storage, but in practice limited by the storage capacity of your smallest device."

"The change to OneDrive is unbelievably stupid in this release," echoed one of several anonymous commenters.

"I was about to get a subscription for Office 365 Home Premium just for the OneDrive space -- but if this will be the way it works in the future it offers me zero advantage over Dropbox or Google Drive," added Kyriakos Ktorides.

"OneDrive has reverted back to how it was in Windows 7, big step backwards," complained Øystein Johnsen. "Unusable now."

"Yeah, you guys screwed the pooch on this change," said Nate Laff. "I get what you were trying to do..., but I just uploaded my entire family photo collection to OneDrive in the last week (200+ GB). Obviously it's impossible to sync that entire folder down to each device."

Mary Branscombe, a freelance writer who has blogged for ZDNet and written for CITEworld -- the latter, like Computerworld, is operated by IDG -- was the one who kicked off the request to restore the Windows 8.1 smart files functionality in Windows 10.

Branscombe reached out via Twitter to Omar Shahine, the partner group program manager for OneDrive, to ask if Microsoft would reconsider.

"It was a tough change to make," Shahine replied on Twitter. "It is certainly the future but there were significant issues with the model that required change."

In a tweet a little later, Shahine said, "Yes. It's a huge change. Not denying it. Yes it is worse in some ways. But it was necessary."

Late Wednesday, Shahine added that Microsoft would be posting a response to the outcry on the feedback thread. As of mid-day today, the promised reply or explanation had not appeared.

Shahine did not immediately reply to a request for more information on Microsoft's position regarding the OneDrive changes in Windows 10.

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Nasuni raises the bar for hybrid cloud storage

As growth in cloud-based storage products continues to accelerate, enterprise vendors have taken cloud storage to the next level. The hybrid model, which utilizes both local and offsite storage, offers organizations a way to more seamlessly scale up and manage large amounts of data with a single-vendor service.

We tested Version 6 of Nasuni’s hybrid solution, which it calls Enterprise Storage as a Service. The components of Nasuni’s subscription-based service include a local storage appliance (Nasuni Filer), management tools, built-in antivirus, cloud gateway/cloud broker and cloud storage, currently offered on either the Microsoft Azure or Amazon EC2 cloud platforms.

The Nasuni Filer is available as a hardware appliance or virtual machine. We tested the Nasuni Filer appliance NF-440 model 2U unit with 20+ 600 GB drives, which is similar to the standard subscription of 12TB. We also tested the Filer configured as a virtual appliance on a server running Windows Server 2008 R2 hypervisor, and the Nasuni Management Console (NMC), also configured as a VM.

The basic startup and configuration of the Nasuni Filer was quick and uncomplicated. Using DHCP we were able to access the Filer’s Web GUI over SSL in less than 10 minutes from power up. There are only a couple of steps involved in getting the Filer ready for first use, such as configuring the network, providing a user name and password and assigning a serial number, which starts the process of registering the Filer on the Nasuni network.

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Once the home page appears you have the option of uploading your own encryption keys, integrating with Active Directory security and performing other basic setup tasks such as setting date/time and adding an email for notification purposes.

The Filer comes with a default volume named ‘files’ already created, which the user can rename or create additional new volumes. With no data yet stored in the cloud, the Filer starts out as essentially a file server or attached storage on the local network. Volumes are mapped just like a regular file server or other storage device. However with over 13TB (22 x 600 GB drives), the local storage capacity of the Nasuni Filer we tested was truly impressive, worth all 80+ pounds. But of course local storage is only part of the story.

Once data is copied to a volume, the Filer goes to work uploading snapshots to the cloud. The initial snapshot copies all data currently on the Filer to the cloud and subsequent snapshots only synchronize changes made since the initial snapshot. Data that has been moved to the cloud is saved back to the local cache when requested as opposed to being accessed directly from the cloud. The default interval for snapshots is once per hour, but this can be modified to as frequent as every minute. Our initial batch of data, which was about 3GB, including several files in the hundreds of megabytes, initially took over 12 hours to be copied to the cloud. At first we were concerned about the seemingly sluggish transfer, but a deeper dive showed that we needed to tweak a few settings to boost performance.

Settings can be applied by volume or by Filer. As data is stored to the Filer it is in what Nasuni calls the cache, stored locally. The percentage reserved for new incoming data can be set from 5% to 90%; a larger number means less data is stored locally and more data is moved to the cloud. The default setting is ‘automatic’, meaning the Filer manages the best use of the cache. In order to keep the local cache from filling up, data is ‘evicted’ to the cloud as needed. In order to keep certain data always available in the local cache, you can "pin" folders, and if "pinned" data is taking up too much storage, an alert is issued.

The system is designed to ensure that frequently used data is stored on a local Filer for rapid retrieval, using what Nasuni refers to as a Least Recently Used (LRU) algorithm. Some of the settings depend on the intended usage of the Filer; one organization may only want to use the Filer for backup purposes whereas another may use it as their primary file storage or for high performance shared applications. It is also possible to set up different volumes for different purposes, customized for each task.

After specifying a more frequent snapshot interval on our Filer, and using QoS settings to allocate more bandwidth for the cloud transfer, performance on our test Filer increased dramatically. With a shorter snapshot duration, smaller files were sent to the cloud almost immediately, making the Filer seem almost like local storage. However unlike local storage, the Nasuni Filer only sends snapshots to the cloud one volume at a time.

Each Nasuni Filer can be managed individually using a built-in Web interface. Multiple Filers can be centrally managed using the Nasuni Management Console (NMC). We set up the NMC as a virtual machine under Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V. After setting the Filer to be centrally managed by the NMC, we noticed that some of the previously-available configuration options in the local management interface had been disabled. This is by design, as the NMC at that point has taken over the bulk of management tasks.

Initially, the NMC displays an overview of the storage environment; e.g. how many Filers and volumes are under management, how much storage is used and how much is available. It also displays graphs showing live network traffic, file types and the health status of each managed Filer. A notification system displays system alerts.

Ours kept reminding us that one of our virtual machines was low on memory until we allocated more. On the hardware Filer, we forgot to plug in one of the power supplies and the Filer kept notifying us of this condition until we corrected it. Notifications can be sorted by various parameters, such as severity and date, and each notification must be acknowledged in order to drop off the list.

Overall, we found the web-based NMC and Nasuni support to be among the best we’ve ever tested. We called customer support on a Sunday evening to resolve an issue with the VM used for the management console. We were pleasantly surprised to get a call back in less than 10 minutes and several pointers to get the issue resolved. However it was later explained to us that late night phone support is usually reserved for more critical issues like unresponsive systems and situations more serious than ours. Throughout the test experience we found the Nasuni support teams to be knowledgeable and responsive to the few issues we encountered.

Depending on subscription levels, Nasuni cloud storage can be virtually limitless, provided you don’t exceed the subscription capacity at any given time. With north of 12TB of available cache space on our Filer we did not run into a problem with this. Snapshots settings offer granularity that will fit most common storage scenarios.

For instance, you can customize the ‘Quality of Service’ setting, which is essentially the bandwidth made available for uploads/downloads, depending on the time of day. With QoOS settings, snapshots taken during business hours could be limited to give precedence to user traffic, and re-prioritized during non-peak hours to allow snapshots to be performed at a faster pace.

In addition to accessing Nasuni-managed data as a shared volume, it can also be accessed via FTP, Web browser and mobile devices. Mobile access is available for Android and iOS devices through respective Nasuni apps available for both platforms. Currently only CIFS-enabled volumes are accessible from mobile devices. Most file operations can be performed by mobile users, such as viewing, deleting, uploading and downloading. There is also a Nasuni desktop client that provides portal access to a Nasuni Filer. It is available for Linux, Windows and OS X. The only downside is that the desktop version only allows access to one Filer at a time.

On the security front, Nasuni-managed data is encrypted over SSL both locally and in the cloud. Encryption keys are generated and kept by the user, rendering the data useless and unreadable without the proper key. User access can be defined on a more granular level by assigning roles and read/write permissions to volumes on the Filer. The Filer also has built-in antivirus protection that, if enabled, scans each new or modified file saved to the Filer. For external monitoring, the Filer supports SNMP access.

New features in Nasuni 6.0 include global locking, file virtualization and desktop file synchronization. Global locking takes traditional locking typically used with a local file server and extends it across multiple geographic locations. Global locking can be configured on the folder level allowing for granular control where it is needed. When a file lock is requested, it is submitted to the Nasuni Global Locking Service. If no lock is already present, a lock is issued. The local cache is then checked to make sure the latest version of the file is available and updates from the cloud are merged if necessary before the file is opened.

Data virtualization uses Nasuni’s patented UniFS Global File System to make the same data globally available to all users by storing only one master source of the data. This is accomplished without physically replicating the data, thus reducing the need to locally manage end-user file data. In combination with caching on local filers, data virtualization provides "global" access essentially the same as if the data was accessed from a local file server.

Desktop File Synchronization gives users the ability to create a local folder that is synchronized to the Nasuni cloud. This synchronized folder provides global access to user files from multiple devices such as tablets, smartphones and computers.

Strategically, Nasuni views its solution as a best fit for organizations currently using NAS storage that have 5TB or more of data to manage across multiple locations. A starter bundle of 5TB of licensed storage, five virtual filers and a mid-range physical filer, start-up services, and ongoing maintenance, support and upgrades is $25,000.

Aimed at smaller businesses with less data to manage, Nasuni is introducing a lower-cost Filer, the NF-100, with exact specs and pricing to be announced. There is also a new desktop Filer in the works, slated for release in the fourth quarter of 2014.

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2014's most significant cloud deals have OpenStack at heart

The most important cloud acquisitions this year have one thing in common: OpenStack.

2014's slate of cloud deals reflect a few important trends in the market for the open source cloud software. One is that traditional enterprise vendors continue to see potential in OpenStack and they're willing to shell out the cash to buy the expertise and technology they need to pursue the market.

The second is that despite interest from those big vendors, actual adoption of OpenStack hasn't happened as quickly as some people might have hoped. The result is that some of the startups, even trendsetters like Cloudscaling, are open to acquisition as they realize they may not be able to make it on their own.

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The impact of these deals is still unknown. On the downside, the acquiring vendors all have other flagship businesses they need to protect. In many cases, that means they'll limit customers of their new OpenStack products and services to using their legacy products. The result is users won't have as much choice as they might like.

The upside, however, is that the traditional vendors know how to ship stable, well-supported products. That's a plus for any business that's been reluctant to go with an OpenStack startup.

Here are the top five cloud deals of the year, so far:

EMC buys Cloudscaling for an unconfirmed $50 million
The rationale: With more workloads moving to the cloud, EMC knows its storage products have to be in the running for businesses building cloud operations. While EMC is an obvious option for VMware shops given that it owns VMware, it's not always top of mind in the open source world. With its platform for building private OpenStack clouds, Cloudscaling gives EMC a foot in the door in the OpenStack community.

It remains to be seen if a culture clash will lead to hiccups, however. Cloudscaling, with its outspoken founder Randy Bias, has a reputation as a scrappy upstart. EMC, on the other hand, is more of a staid, traditional vendor.

Who cares? It's possible that Cloudscaling won't be quite so open once it gets absorbed by EMC.Cloudscaling currently names EMC competitors including Dell, HP and Supermicro as partners on its web site, and Nexenta's CEO is on Cloudscaling's board. Also, Cloudscaling's platform allows users to build hybrid clouds with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform. Given that those businesses compete with EMC or VMware in some way, it wouldn't be a surprise if EMC restricts Cloudscaling's openness in the future. That could be a disappointment for potential Cloudscaling users.

Impact: With the backing of a giant like EMC, Cloudscaling is likely to stabilize and become more attractive to enterprises. But being backed by a giant often means slower innovation. Combined with the potential for less choice for users, this deal slightly tips negative in terms of potential benefit to users.

HP buys Eucalytpus for an unconfirmed $100 million
The rationale: HP's press release about the deal focused heavily on the fact that Marten Mickos, Eucalyptus's CEO, will run HP's cloud business. There was essentially no mention of Eucalyptus's technology – a private cloud platform that's compatible with AWS. It's hard not to think that HP bought Eucalyptus primarily to get Mickos, who was also previously CEO of MySQL.

Who cares? If Mickos gets his way, users might get a unique and valuable capability. In an interview on the day the acquisition was announced, Mickos said his hope was to use Eucalyptus technology to bring AWS compatibility to HP's OpenStack cloud products. That could be attractive for businesses that want to build private OpenStack clouds that burst to AWS when additional resources are needed.

Impact: The fact that Eucalyptus couldn't go it alone seems to prove that a community-based open source project like OpenStack has a better chance of success than an open source platform driven by one company, like Eucalyptus. Chalk this up as a win for the OpenStack community.

Cisco bought Metacloud for an undisclosed sum
The rationale: With Metacloud, Cisco gets a unique technology that delivers an OpenStack private cloud as a service, remotely managing the cloud for customers. Cisco has actually had its own OpenStack distribution for years, but you'd be forgiven for not knowing it existed. The Metacloud deal lets Cisco sell customers server hardware combined with a well-known platform for running a cloud.

Who cares? VMware might. Cisco and VMware have had a curious relationship over the past few years, at one moment, partners, and the next, competitors.

For instance, Cisco, EMC and VMware started VCE, which offers packaged compute, storage and networking from those three companies. (Just this week Cisco reduced its stake in VCE to 10%.) Cisco also makes it easy for users of its server hardware to run VMware's cloud products. With Metacloud, however, Cisco now opens the door for customers to go OpenStack instead of VMware.

Impact: Customers and potential customers lose another independent service provider, which offered users lots of choice, but gains a backer determined to be successful in OpenStack. This one is a wash.

Red Hat buys eNovance for $95 million
The rationale: Red Hat wants to dominate OpenStack and with eNovance it gains deployment expertise, since eNovance is in the business of helping customers build OpenStack clouds.

Who cares? While eNovance was open to using the best technology to meet a customer's needs, including sometimes recommending AWS instead of an OpenStack cloud, that's likely to change under Red Hat. For instance, eNovance will surely steer customers to Red Hat's OpenStack distribution rather than any available from competitors.
No deal!

This year has also been a year of cloud-related acquisitions that didn't end up happening. For instance, for months there was buzz around Rackspace looking for a buyer. Eventually though, Rackspace said it had decided to continue go it alone.

There were also rumors about EMC wanting to acquire HP. There's more to both companies than the cloud, but after HP's announcement of earmarking $1 billion for OpenStack, it's clear the cloud is becoming an important business for the company.

Impact: The presumed loss of choice for eNovance customers pushes this deal into the negative column for customers.

Red Hat buys Inktank for $175 million
The rationale: Adding Inktank's Ceph object and block storage software to its existing Gluster file system storage gives Red Hat a more complete portfolio of storage offerings. Also, as Ceph is popular among OpenStack users, the deal makes sense as part of Red Hat's enthusiastic support of OpenStack.

Who cares? Red Hat tends to do its best to herd customers exclusively toward its own products, but it has pledged to keep Ceph open. For instance, Red Hat has said that Ceph will continue to run on non-Red Hat operating systems.

Impact: If Red Hat does indeedallow Ceph to continue to support non-Red Hat products, this deal should be a solid win for OpenStack users. Ceph has proved valuable to the OpenStack community and can benefit from Red Hat's experience running open source projects and delivering open source products.

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