Today’s topics include Google’s announcement of its second-generation MySQL database service, Verizon rolls out a data streaming pilot project, Novo Nordisk and IBM’s Watson Health team up on diabetes care solutions, and Microsoft has accelerated Azure backups.
On Dec. 10 Google announced the beta availability of what it described as a second-generation version of its Cloud SQL managed MySQL database service.
Google Product Manager Brett Hesterberg wrote in a blog post that the updated service leverages improvements in Google’s Compute Engine hosted cloud infrastructure service and disk storage capabilities to deliver better scalability and performance per dollar.
According to Hesterberg, Google’s second-generation Cloud SQL service is seven times faster than its predecessor.
Verizon is starting a pilot project that will allow its customers to stream online video or music content without having to use up the data in their personal data plans.
Instead of having customers pay for the data that is used, Verizon will charge partner companies a fee to provide the data for Verizon’s customers.
According to a Dec. 10 story by The Washington Post, the new pilot project will begin within days, with a planned expansion of the service early in 2016. Competitor T-Mobile already offers its customers this ability.
Novo Nordisk and IBM’s Watson Health unit announced that the two organizations will work together to create diabetes care solutions built on the Watson Health Cloud.
The agreement combines Novo Nordisk’s deep understanding of diabetes with IBM’s strength in cognitive computing based on its Watson cognitive system.
The companies will explore possibilities for improved diabetes care via insights from real-time, real world evidence of Novo Nordisk diabetes treatments and devices.
In August, Microsoft massively increased the capacity limits on its Azure Backup data protection offering. Now, the Redmond, Wash., software and cloud services provider is going for speed.
In a company blog post, Giridhar Mosay, a Microsoft Cloud and Enterprise program manager, said that Azure Backup now leverages Update Sequence Number Journal technology in Windows to track files that have changed between consecutive backups, which helps to identify changed files quickly.
As a result, backing up Windows PC, Server, SharePoint, Exchange and SQL can take half the time.