"Yes, the software giant is determined to supersize itself by building the mother of all data centers (time to buy Cisco stock), dramatically upping its investment in MSN, and taking no prisoners in the launch of its new advertising initiative, AdCenter, into the already-shark-invested waters of the search advertising marketplace. Everyone agrees: All this is aimed squarely at Microsoft's new nemesis, Google.
Let's review the facts: Microsoft stunned Wall Street last week by announcing that it expects to have spent approximately $6.2 billion in research and development by the end of its current fiscal year (that's June 30). And according to Reuters, analysts were told that R&D spending would increase to a whopping $7.8 billion next fiscal year. As a result, projected income is expected to drop at least 10%.
Where is all this money going? Most will be funneled into building the infrastructure necessary to support Microsoft's upcoming wholesale conversion to software-as-a-service (SaaS)."
Monday, May 22, 2006
Locus Technologies - On Demand Environmental Information Management (EIM) Software
www.locustec.com Locus Technologies' Environmental Information Management (EIM) software is the world's first and largest online environmental database system designed for environmental professionals. EIM is used on thousands of sites worldwide to manage complex environmental data sets, prepare reports, validate data, create boring logs and cross sections, display aerial photos, and more.
LocusFocus ePortal provides environmental information intelligence across all areas of your environmental practice–from analytical data management, document management and collaboration, to GIS integration through Google maps. ePortal offers instant snapshots of key environmental data and information. We offer a complete architecture that empowers every business, from consultants and laboratories to owners, to experience the benefits of on-demand environmental data management throughout its entire organization.
LocusFocus ePortal provides environmental information intelligence across all areas of your environmental practice–from analytical data management, document management and collaboration, to GIS integration through Google maps. ePortal offers instant snapshots of key environmental data and information. We offer a complete architecture that empowers every business, from consultants and laboratories to owners, to experience the benefits of on-demand environmental data management throughout its entire organization.
SAVO Group - Sales Enablement On Demand - Sales Asset Mgt (SAM) as SaaS
www.savogroup.com The SAVO Group is the industry’s leading provider of Sales Enablement solutions. SAVO specializes in maximizing the sales organization’s ability to communicate value and differentiation in clear, consistent and compelling ways. Through a combination of proven sales and marketing best practices embedded in an award-winning on-demand application (Sales Asset Manager), SAVO addresses ALL aspects of the Sales Enablement challenge – spanning people, process, content, and technology. These solutions have been developed and refined through long-standing relationships with companies such as Morgan Stanley, AmerisourceBergen, Citigroup, ADP, and FedEx/Kinkos. The combination of real-world client experience, an innovative consulting approach, and award-winning technology uniquely positions SAVO to deliver practical solutions to enable the entire sales organization.
According to some, SAVO's Sales Asset Management (SAM) tool frees salespeople for more rainmaking activities and has improved cross-selling strategy by teaming products together from separate departments.
SAM, a distant off-shoot of CRM-type technology, uses a browser-based platform to connect sales teams with a variety of potential sales materials in a document-management setting. Unlike shared-server portal arrangements in which salesmen grab what they want, SAM limits what can be added, reconfigured or excluded for a client presentations or PDFs. Marketing executives and relationship managers spell out the key terms and conditions on what to up-sell and cross-sell against a particular client's portfolio, creating the SAM system rules specifying which products are available and which are off-limits. If a product is not designed or allowed for certain markets, it can't be included for that region's sales pitches. If a disclaimer is required, it's automatically included.
Although a nascent market, sales enablement software has the potential to be a $400 to $500 million slice, or 10 percent, of the on-demand, software-as-a-service marketplace, according to analysts. SAAS is growing at a 20 percent annual growth rate, from an estimated $3.3 billion in 2003 to a projected $8.5 billion North American market in 2009, according to projections from IDC's Financial Insights.
According to some, SAVO's Sales Asset Management (SAM) tool frees salespeople for more rainmaking activities and has improved cross-selling strategy by teaming products together from separate departments.
SAM, a distant off-shoot of CRM-type technology, uses a browser-based platform to connect sales teams with a variety of potential sales materials in a document-management setting. Unlike shared-server portal arrangements in which salesmen grab what they want, SAM limits what can be added, reconfigured or excluded for a client presentations or PDFs. Marketing executives and relationship managers spell out the key terms and conditions on what to up-sell and cross-sell against a particular client's portfolio, creating the SAM system rules specifying which products are available and which are off-limits. If a product is not designed or allowed for certain markets, it can't be included for that region's sales pitches. If a disclaimer is required, it's automatically included.
Although a nascent market, sales enablement software has the potential to be a $400 to $500 million slice, or 10 percent, of the on-demand, software-as-a-service marketplace, according to analysts. SAAS is growing at a 20 percent annual growth rate, from an estimated $3.3 billion in 2003 to a projected $8.5 billion North American market in 2009, according to projections from IDC's Financial Insights.
OpSource taps 3PAR for On Demand, Utility Storage
OpSource(TM), the SaaS experts, and 3PAR, the leading provider of Utility Storage, announced today that OpSource has increased its storage capability for its customers' Software as a Service (SaaS) applications by leveraging the 3PAR InServ® S800 Storage Server.
According to OpSource CEO Treb Ryan, "3PAR Utility Storage fits perfectly with our business model. We price our Optimal On-Demand(SM) SaaS enablement and delivery solution so that software companies pay only for the resources they need, as they need them. 3PAR allows us to acquire storage capacity in much the same way, as opposed to buying all the storage we expect our customers to use in the coming year and then having most of that resource sit around, paid for but unused, for most of the year."
3PAR President and CEO David Scott added, "Just as OpSource helps its software company customers deploy Software as a Service applications with fewer servers and lower up-front costs, 3PAR is helping OpSource do more with fewer arrays and lower overall storage costs. The key is 3PAR Thin Provisioning, which uses dedicate-on-write technology to allow OpSource to safely allocate as much useable capacity as they wish, but to install and pay for physical capacity only as applications actually write data to the storage array."
OpSource's Optimal On-Demand is a collection of services, processes and technology that enables software companies to quickly and cost-effectively deliver high-quality SaaS solutions to end users.
3PAR Utility Storage allows customers to overcome the cost, complexities and functional limitations of traditional storage offerings. 3PAR enables customers to start with smaller amounts of physical storage and grow in small, affordable increments; customers purchase capacity only for written data and benefit from tiered storage that is automatically optimized. Like a true utility, 3PAR allows customers to use as much as they need, but to pay for only what they use, when they use it.
According to OpSource CEO Treb Ryan, "3PAR Utility Storage fits perfectly with our business model. We price our Optimal On-Demand(SM) SaaS enablement and delivery solution so that software companies pay only for the resources they need, as they need them. 3PAR allows us to acquire storage capacity in much the same way, as opposed to buying all the storage we expect our customers to use in the coming year and then having most of that resource sit around, paid for but unused, for most of the year."
3PAR President and CEO David Scott added, "Just as OpSource helps its software company customers deploy Software as a Service applications with fewer servers and lower up-front costs, 3PAR is helping OpSource do more with fewer arrays and lower overall storage costs. The key is 3PAR Thin Provisioning, which uses dedicate-on-write technology to allow OpSource to safely allocate as much useable capacity as they wish, but to install and pay for physical capacity only as applications actually write data to the storage array."
OpSource's Optimal On-Demand is a collection of services, processes and technology that enables software companies to quickly and cost-effectively deliver high-quality SaaS solutions to end users.
3PAR Utility Storage allows customers to overcome the cost, complexities and functional limitations of traditional storage offerings. 3PAR enables customers to start with smaller amounts of physical storage and grow in small, affordable increments; customers purchase capacity only for written data and benefit from tiered storage that is automatically optimized. Like a true utility, 3PAR allows customers to use as much as they need, but to pay for only what they use, when they use it.
Avitage and iCentera provide On Demand solutions for Content Creation and Delivery
Avitage, a marketing and sales effectiveness company (MSE) and iCentera, the leading provider of on-demand private website portals for marketing, sales and customer communications, announced today a partnership to seamlessly integrate the Avitage Marketing and Sales Communication System and the iCentera icSuite. For more than 12 years Avitage has helped companies like HP, John Hancock, Teradata, and Unisys bring selling messages to life through PowerPoint slide management, on-demand webinars, and web-assisted selling solutions. iCentera’s Portals for Mortals combine custom portal creation, content management, and real-time analytics into a single on-demand solution for companies like ADC, American Marketing Association, Draka Marine Oil & Gas, Harris Interactive®, and VNU Global Media. Together both Software as a Service (SaaS) companies deliver a comprehensive solution for the creation, management, and delivery of effective marketing and sales communications.
Microsoft Releases early version of toolset for SaaS
Microsoft today announced the availability of Hosted for Applications Version 1, a set of tools and guidance intended to help its vendor partners gain a foothold in the burgeoning software-as-a-service (SaaS) market. The move is more than a tactical nod to the growing importance of SaaS, where it has said it will become a player; it is also a strategic way of reassuring its reseller community.
Microsoft said that Hosting for Applications mirrors the SaaS model. Just as SaaS vendors charge end-users on a per-seat, per-month basis, so Microsoft will only charge ISVs for usage. The SaaS model is an annuity-based model, and on the back end Microsoft wants to make sure the way they are paying is based on the same thing.
Microsoft said that Hosting for Applications mirrors the SaaS model. Just as SaaS vendors charge end-users on a per-seat, per-month basis, so Microsoft will only charge ISVs for usage. The SaaS model is an annuity-based model, and on the back end Microsoft wants to make sure the way they are paying is based on the same thing.
Intuit Exec says SaaS is a HOW, not a WHAT - Podcast
Intuit says they may be the world's largest ASP (whoops, sorry, SaaS). Download a podcast: Intuit QuickBase GM Talks About SaaS and Ray Ozzie's strategy.
Intuit expects to launch this week a fully-hosted software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for large enterprises as an add-on to QuickBase for Corporate Workgroups, Jana Eggers, general manager of Intuit QuickBase. In the podcast interview, Eggers talks about the "leaked" memo to employees from Microsoft Corp. chief technical officer Ray Ozzie, and the software-as-a-service model (SaaS). She defines it as services-enhanced software, a hybrid model.
For Intuit, SaaS is a delivery mechanism. What matters are the services, not the channel. The channel is just a convenience for users, e.g. AJAX, web services. Intuit will focus on exceptional service, taking a customer-centric approach to defining those services.
Intuit expects to launch this week a fully-hosted software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for large enterprises as an add-on to QuickBase for Corporate Workgroups, Jana Eggers, general manager of Intuit QuickBase. In the podcast interview, Eggers talks about the "leaked" memo to employees from Microsoft Corp. chief technical officer Ray Ozzie, and the software-as-a-service model (SaaS). She defines it as services-enhanced software, a hybrid model.
For Intuit, SaaS is a delivery mechanism. What matters are the services, not the channel. The channel is just a convenience for users, e.g. AJAX, web services. Intuit will focus on exceptional service, taking a customer-centric approach to defining those services.
SaaS 2.0 relies on SaaS Integration Platforms (SIPs)
This research introduces the term SIP - SaaS Integration Platform. I have to admit to prefering the term IaaS.
Research released this week by Saugatuck Technology indicates that software-as-a-service (SaaS) is rapidly reaching a critical point in its evolution, and that enterprise software vendors may be left in the dust by emerging SaaS players who combine software, business process services, and technology integration and management.
“Users are already moving beyond SaaS as a cost-cutting tool, and expect vendors to expand and improve what SaaS can deliver for their business operations,” stated lead study author Mark Koenig, senior program director at Saugatuck. “We see the market at a tipping point between looking to SaaS as a cost-cutting software alternative, and planning their business growth around integrated business applications, processes, and services delivered via SaaS 2.0 platforms.”
“A surprising percentage of user firms, including SMBs, are ready and willing to move to SaaS 2.0 as soon as the vendors can provide it,” shared Bruce Guptill, a study co-author and Managing Director of Research at Saugatuck. “Unfortunately, most software vendors are still approaching SaaS as an alternative means of delivering their existing applications. Those vendors stand to lose significant market and wallet share by being stuck in the past.”
Saugatuck research findings in the study include the following:
• Traditional business drivers such as efficiency and customer service are clearly leading SaaS customer adoption. SaaS adopters have been primarily seeking to reduce software costs and improve service levels for business applications. But adopters increasingly discover that SaaS offers flexibility, customization, and configurability for specific business or market conditions.
• Key market drivers will evolve from today’s cost-effective software management solutions (SaaS 1.0) to enabling companies to change how they do business (SaaS 2.0). The business drivers for SaaS 2.0 will be about helping users transform their business structures and processes. In this way, SaaS 2.0 has the potential to have much in common with Business Services Provisioning.
• Sales channels (SIs, ISVs and VARs) will be critical to SaaS adoption growth, as users will still require application and data integration with their IT environments. Non-traditional channels (e.g., banks, telcos, web portals) will be key for many SaaS solutions.
• SaaS Integration Platforms (SIPs) – solution hubs that provide application sharing, delivery, and management solutions – will become critical to broader SaaS adoption. Three to four dominant SIP Master Brands will emerge by 2010, and will manage more than 30 percent of core SaaS offerings to users. Monitoring and billing capabilities will enable increasingly attractive pricing.
The complete research study, entitled SaaS 2.0: Software-as-a-Service as Next-Generation Business Platform, was published today by Saugatuck and is available on the company’s web site at http://www.saugatech.com/239order.htm.
Research released this week by Saugatuck Technology indicates that software-as-a-service (SaaS) is rapidly reaching a critical point in its evolution, and that enterprise software vendors may be left in the dust by emerging SaaS players who combine software, business process services, and technology integration and management.
“Users are already moving beyond SaaS as a cost-cutting tool, and expect vendors to expand and improve what SaaS can deliver for their business operations,” stated lead study author Mark Koenig, senior program director at Saugatuck. “We see the market at a tipping point between looking to SaaS as a cost-cutting software alternative, and planning their business growth around integrated business applications, processes, and services delivered via SaaS 2.0 platforms.”
“A surprising percentage of user firms, including SMBs, are ready and willing to move to SaaS 2.0 as soon as the vendors can provide it,” shared Bruce Guptill, a study co-author and Managing Director of Research at Saugatuck. “Unfortunately, most software vendors are still approaching SaaS as an alternative means of delivering their existing applications. Those vendors stand to lose significant market and wallet share by being stuck in the past.”
Saugatuck research findings in the study include the following:
• Traditional business drivers such as efficiency and customer service are clearly leading SaaS customer adoption. SaaS adopters have been primarily seeking to reduce software costs and improve service levels for business applications. But adopters increasingly discover that SaaS offers flexibility, customization, and configurability for specific business or market conditions.
• Key market drivers will evolve from today’s cost-effective software management solutions (SaaS 1.0) to enabling companies to change how they do business (SaaS 2.0). The business drivers for SaaS 2.0 will be about helping users transform their business structures and processes. In this way, SaaS 2.0 has the potential to have much in common with Business Services Provisioning.
• Sales channels (SIs, ISVs and VARs) will be critical to SaaS adoption growth, as users will still require application and data integration with their IT environments. Non-traditional channels (e.g., banks, telcos, web portals) will be key for many SaaS solutions.
• SaaS Integration Platforms (SIPs) – solution hubs that provide application sharing, delivery, and management solutions – will become critical to broader SaaS adoption. Three to four dominant SIP Master Brands will emerge by 2010, and will manage more than 30 percent of core SaaS offerings to users. Monitoring and billing capabilities will enable increasingly attractive pricing.
The complete research study, entitled SaaS 2.0: Software-as-a-Service as Next-Generation Business Platform, was published today by Saugatuck and is available on the company’s web site at http://www.saugatech.com/239order.htm.
Infomatica - Data quality for SaaS, SOA and BPO
www.informatica.com When a trend appears, it slowly gets noticed by incumbants, who then re-position to take advantage of the marketing wave. Nothing has changed, except a new name for a wave.
Informatica Corporation, a leading provider of data integration software, today unveiled the agenda for Informatica World 2006, its eighth-annual worldwide customer and partner conference and one of the data integration industry's premier events. Informatica chairman and CEO Sohaib Abbasi will open the conference with a discussion titled "Data Integration for the Enterprise and the Business Web." His presentation will examine the new business imperatives driving enterprise data integration, spotlight the drive to ensure data quality across the enterprise and beyond, and demonstrate how a unified enterprise data integration platform supports such major trends as Software as a Service (SaaS), Service Oriented Architectures (SOA), and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO).
Informatica Corporation, a leading provider of data integration software, today unveiled the agenda for Informatica World 2006, its eighth-annual worldwide customer and partner conference and one of the data integration industry's premier events. Informatica chairman and CEO Sohaib Abbasi will open the conference with a discussion titled "Data Integration for the Enterprise and the Business Web." His presentation will examine the new business imperatives driving enterprise data integration, spotlight the drive to ensure data quality across the enterprise and beyond, and demonstrate how a unified enterprise data integration platform supports such major trends as Software as a Service (SaaS), Service Oriented Architectures (SOA), and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO).
LioNBRIDGE - Software localization, translation and testing services globally
www.lionbridge.com Lionbridge provides globalization and offshoring services that enable clients to develop, release, manage and maintain their enterprise content and technology applications globally.
Through its globalization service offerings, Lionbridge adapts client products and content to meet the linguistic, technical and cultural requirements of customers, partners, and employees worldwide.
Lionbridge offshoring services include the development and maintenance of content and applications as well as testing to ensure the quality, interoperability, usability and performance of clients' software, hardware, consumer technology products, web sites and content. Lionbridge offers its testing services under the VeriTest brand.
Lionbridge has a dedicated team of 4,000 employees worldwide, including 1,500 skilled professionals in India and China. Lionbridge program managers, engineers, content developers, quality assurance professionals and linguistic experts work with a global community of over 5,000 independent translators collaborating across a technology-based, global delivery platform.
Service Offerings:
* Development and Maintenance
* Localization/Translation
* Outsourced Testing
* Infrastructure Services
* Business Process Services
* Technical Publications
* eLearning
* Interpretation
Through its globalization service offerings, Lionbridge adapts client products and content to meet the linguistic, technical and cultural requirements of customers, partners, and employees worldwide.
Lionbridge offshoring services include the development and maintenance of content and applications as well as testing to ensure the quality, interoperability, usability and performance of clients' software, hardware, consumer technology products, web sites and content. Lionbridge offers its testing services under the VeriTest brand.
Lionbridge has a dedicated team of 4,000 employees worldwide, including 1,500 skilled professionals in India and China. Lionbridge program managers, engineers, content developers, quality assurance professionals and linguistic experts work with a global community of over 5,000 independent translators collaborating across a technology-based, global delivery platform.
Service Offerings:
* Development and Maintenance
* Localization/Translation
* Outsourced Testing
* Infrastructure Services
* Business Process Services
* Technical Publications
* eLearning
* Interpretation
Knowledge Blue - Outsourcing On Demand - Open Source ERP and CRM go SaaS
www.knowledgeblue.com KnowledgeBlue L.L.C. is a privately held Open Source Services company founded by several Fortune 500 executives and is based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
"Our mission is to help grow your Company. First, we do this by providing a suite of integrated services to help reduce your overall cost structure - without any large up-front capital expenditure. This allows you to leverage your cash and investments in the areas that will excel your future growth. Second, we provide you an outsourced operational infrastructure, that grows as you grow, providing unlimited scalability for your Company, when you need it, on demand. Our whole business model is built around your future growth. If you grow we grow, so we assume a responsibility for your overall success. Our focus is on small and medium businesses (SMB), including start-up and emerging Companies. We specialize in providing a suite of high value, outsourcing services that are economically attractive, and available to you on demand."
openBLUE, from KnowledgeBlue, is based on the open source Compiere software. KnowledgeBlue provides this well known open source ERP and CRM suite as an on-demand business application that can support an entire company. It allows support to customer relationship management (CRM) to enterprise resource planning (ERP) to Project / Consulting Services to full Web e-commerce capabilities. The openBLUE application offers everything, including multi-organizations, multi- currency, multi-accounting, and multiple languages, delivered in a single, open, integrated, on demand service. Additionally, openBLUE provides an open Architecture so you can access your own data, your own reports, and your own customizations, how you want, when you want.
Why openBLUE?
* Open Source - Because openBLUE is based on open source it allows you the flexibility and freedom to modify the application based on your individual business needs
* Flexibility - There are multiple delivery service models which allow you to have the software in an software as a service ASP hosted model or on your own ready for production dedicated server. These service options allow you as the client to provide your own support or leverage our technical support thru our managed service.
* Centralized Database - Integration of business functions into one centralized management application.
openBLUE Delivers Integrated:
* Accounts Payable
* Accounts Receivable
* Auditing
* Bill of Materials
* Budegeting, Planning & Forecasting
* Cash Management
* Customer Relationship Management
* E-Commerce
* Fixed Asset Management
* General Ledger
* Inventory Control
* Job Costing
* Multi-Accounting
* Multi-Costing
* Multi-Currency
* Multi-Language
* Multi-Organization
* Multi-Tax
* Order Entry
* Partner / Vendor Management
* Payroll
* Project Management
* Purchase Order
* Report Writer
* Time and Billing
* Work Order
* Workflow Management
"Our mission is to help grow your Company. First, we do this by providing a suite of integrated services to help reduce your overall cost structure - without any large up-front capital expenditure. This allows you to leverage your cash and investments in the areas that will excel your future growth. Second, we provide you an outsourced operational infrastructure, that grows as you grow, providing unlimited scalability for your Company, when you need it, on demand. Our whole business model is built around your future growth. If you grow we grow, so we assume a responsibility for your overall success. Our focus is on small and medium businesses (SMB), including start-up and emerging Companies. We specialize in providing a suite of high value, outsourcing services that are economically attractive, and available to you on demand."
openBLUE, from KnowledgeBlue, is based on the open source Compiere software. KnowledgeBlue provides this well known open source ERP and CRM suite as an on-demand business application that can support an entire company. It allows support to customer relationship management (CRM) to enterprise resource planning (ERP) to Project / Consulting Services to full Web e-commerce capabilities. The openBLUE application offers everything, including multi-organizations, multi- currency, multi-accounting, and multiple languages, delivered in a single, open, integrated, on demand service. Additionally, openBLUE provides an open Architecture so you can access your own data, your own reports, and your own customizations, how you want, when you want.
Why openBLUE?
* Open Source - Because openBLUE is based on open source it allows you the flexibility and freedom to modify the application based on your individual business needs
* Flexibility - There are multiple delivery service models which allow you to have the software in an software as a service ASP hosted model or on your own ready for production dedicated server. These service options allow you as the client to provide your own support or leverage our technical support thru our managed service.
* Centralized Database - Integration of business functions into one centralized management application.
openBLUE Delivers Integrated:
* Accounts Payable
* Accounts Receivable
* Auditing
* Bill of Materials
* Budegeting, Planning & Forecasting
* Cash Management
* Customer Relationship Management
* E-Commerce
* Fixed Asset Management
* General Ledger
* Inventory Control
* Job Costing
* Multi-Accounting
* Multi-Costing
* Multi-Currency
* Multi-Language
* Multi-Organization
* Multi-Tax
* Order Entry
* Partner / Vendor Management
* Payroll
* Project Management
* Purchase Order
* Report Writer
* Time and Billing
* Work Order
* Workflow Management
CDC Software delivers SaaS in China
CDC Software, a wholly owned subsidiary of CDC Corporation and provider of enterprise software applications, today announced that it will begin delivering enterprise software applications as hosted services using the Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery model in China, in July of 2006. These applications, offered on a subscription basis with very low up-front costs, will be sold throughout China through both direct and indirect sales channels.
The company already has a broad infrastructure established throughout the country by its The China.com division. CDC Software will leverage this proven infrastructure to deliver its enterprise applications as online services. This network, that required over 5 years to build, is established nationwide in 30 provinces and 4 municipalities and includes servers in all key cities. The network currently supports the company's widely-used online games, thriving portal business, and hosting services for over 1,700 enterprises in China. Including a 24x7 support call-center, the CDC network has established a track record of 99.9% up-time and provides all the security features required by corporate customers.
"Demand is on the rise for enterprise software applications in China and we believe that the SaaS subscription-based delivery model will be preferred by many Chinese companies," said Richard Thomas, senior vice president, Asia/Pacific Region for CDC Software. "The low up-front costs, greatly streamlined implementations and reduced maintenance overhead, will be particularly appealing in the Chinese markets. Our unique ability to leverage our existing nationwide infrastructure to deliver enterprise applications as subscription services, combined with the rapidly growing demand for these applications in China, will create a perfect-storm effect that will drive significant adoption rates for CDC Software."
CDC Software currently provides enterprise applications around the globe as hosted services. The company's Pivotal MarketFirst solution for marketing automation is provided as a hosted application for many of its customers in North America, including Sharp USA and Applied Biosystems. Additionally, the company's ION Global expresso solution for direct email marketing is hosted for a wide variety of customers throughout Asia. CDC Software also hosts its OnePlan supply chain management (SCM) planning and scheduling applications used by food and consumer products companies such as Ghirardelli Chocolate, Carvel Ice Cream, Wise Snacks and See's Candies.
The July launch in China will begin with CDC Software's human resources (HR/Payroll) applications delivered as hosted services. These will be followed by the company's customer relationship management (CRM) applications for sales force automation, and supply chain management (SCM) applications for forecasting, planning and factory scheduling. CDC Software will also continue to license, enhance and support its full suite of applications for customers that prefer to run the applications on-premise.
About CDC Software
CDC Software, The Customer-Driven Company), is a provider of enterprise software applications designed to help organizations deliver a superior customer experience while increasing efficiencies and profitability. CDC Software's product suite includes the Pivotal CRM (customer relationship management), Ross ERP (enterprise resource planning) and SCM (supply chain management), IMI warehouse management and order management, Platinum China HR (human resource) and business analytics solutions.
These industry-specific solutions are used by more than 4,000 customers worldwide within the manufacturing, financial services, health care, home building, real estate, and wholesale and retail distribution industries. The company completes its offerings with a full continuum of services that span the life cycle of technology and software applications, including implementation, project consulting, outsourced business services, application management and offshore development.
The company already has a broad infrastructure established throughout the country by its The China.com division. CDC Software will leverage this proven infrastructure to deliver its enterprise applications as online services. This network, that required over 5 years to build, is established nationwide in 30 provinces and 4 municipalities and includes servers in all key cities. The network currently supports the company's widely-used online games, thriving portal business, and hosting services for over 1,700 enterprises in China. Including a 24x7 support call-center, the CDC network has established a track record of 99.9% up-time and provides all the security features required by corporate customers.
"Demand is on the rise for enterprise software applications in China and we believe that the SaaS subscription-based delivery model will be preferred by many Chinese companies," said Richard Thomas, senior vice president, Asia/Pacific Region for CDC Software. "The low up-front costs, greatly streamlined implementations and reduced maintenance overhead, will be particularly appealing in the Chinese markets. Our unique ability to leverage our existing nationwide infrastructure to deliver enterprise applications as subscription services, combined with the rapidly growing demand for these applications in China, will create a perfect-storm effect that will drive significant adoption rates for CDC Software."
CDC Software currently provides enterprise applications around the globe as hosted services. The company's Pivotal MarketFirst solution for marketing automation is provided as a hosted application for many of its customers in North America, including Sharp USA and Applied Biosystems. Additionally, the company's ION Global expresso solution for direct email marketing is hosted for a wide variety of customers throughout Asia. CDC Software also hosts its OnePlan supply chain management (SCM) planning and scheduling applications used by food and consumer products companies such as Ghirardelli Chocolate, Carvel Ice Cream, Wise Snacks and See's Candies.
The July launch in China will begin with CDC Software's human resources (HR/Payroll) applications delivered as hosted services. These will be followed by the company's customer relationship management (CRM) applications for sales force automation, and supply chain management (SCM) applications for forecasting, planning and factory scheduling. CDC Software will also continue to license, enhance and support its full suite of applications for customers that prefer to run the applications on-premise.
About CDC Software
CDC Software, The Customer-Driven Company), is a provider of enterprise software applications designed to help organizations deliver a superior customer experience while increasing efficiencies and profitability. CDC Software's product suite includes the Pivotal CRM (customer relationship management), Ross ERP (enterprise resource planning) and SCM (supply chain management), IMI warehouse management and order management, Platinum China HR (human resource) and business analytics solutions.
These industry-specific solutions are used by more than 4,000 customers worldwide within the manufacturing, financial services, health care, home building, real estate, and wholesale and retail distribution industries. The company completes its offerings with a full continuum of services that span the life cycle of technology and software applications, including implementation, project consulting, outsourced business services, application management and offshore development.
Nine Systems - We make media work
www.ninesystems.com Headquartered in San Diego, CA, Nine Systems helps today’s best-known companies broadcast audio and video over the Internet and wireless easily, affordably and reliably.
Stream OS, Nine Systems' suite of configurable rich media management
tools, provides broadcasters and content owners intelligent control over
management, delivery and reporting of rich media content. Stream OS tools,
offered in Software as a Service (SaaS) form, enable customers to use
drag-and-drop functionality to simply manage, monetize and distribute rich
media content online. All content is delivered through Nine Systems'
Network of Networks, the industry's first aggregated network that
dynamically routes rich media through a hierarchy of Nine Systems' and
partner CDNs.
The company’s success is due to our:
* Network of Networks, a unique open framework that routes rich media content through Nine Systems CDN and across other top-tier worldwide CDNs.
* Stream OS, a suite of configurable rich media management tools that enable easy publishing of rich media to the Web, detailed usage reports, ad insertion, rights management, and eCommerce.
* Service, a customer-centric focus and dedication to personal, professional service that’s embodied in the company’s technology and people.
Offering the best-of-breed services at competitive prices, Nine Systems:
* Serving over 250 million unique streams monthly for more than 300 major businesses including Universal Music Group, the NBA, Lakewood Church, CBS Sportsline, EMI Music and the NHL.
* Flawless support of milestone events such as 2002 Madonna Webcast from London, the 2003 Windows Media 9 launch, the 2004 Open Championship, Amazon’s 10th anniversary events and continuous support of the NBA online.
* Employing 55 staff at its San Diego HQ and Denver NOC, with additional sales offices in major centers such as Atlanta, LA, Seattle, St. Louis, New York and Washington DC.
* Maintaining a greater than 95% customer retention rate due, in no small way, to the quality of our Client Services staff and our overall operational performance.
Stream OS, Nine Systems' suite of configurable rich media management
tools, provides broadcasters and content owners intelligent control over
management, delivery and reporting of rich media content. Stream OS tools,
offered in Software as a Service (SaaS) form, enable customers to use
drag-and-drop functionality to simply manage, monetize and distribute rich
media content online. All content is delivered through Nine Systems'
Network of Networks, the industry's first aggregated network that
dynamically routes rich media through a hierarchy of Nine Systems' and
partner CDNs.
The company’s success is due to our:
* Network of Networks, a unique open framework that routes rich media content through Nine Systems CDN and across other top-tier worldwide CDNs.
* Stream OS, a suite of configurable rich media management tools that enable easy publishing of rich media to the Web, detailed usage reports, ad insertion, rights management, and eCommerce.
* Service, a customer-centric focus and dedication to personal, professional service that’s embodied in the company’s technology and people.
Offering the best-of-breed services at competitive prices, Nine Systems:
* Serving over 250 million unique streams monthly for more than 300 major businesses including Universal Music Group, the NBA, Lakewood Church, CBS Sportsline, EMI Music and the NHL.
* Flawless support of milestone events such as 2002 Madonna Webcast from London, the 2003 Windows Media 9 launch, the 2004 Open Championship, Amazon’s 10th anniversary events and continuous support of the NBA online.
* Employing 55 staff at its San Diego HQ and Denver NOC, with additional sales offices in major centers such as Atlanta, LA, Seattle, St. Louis, New York and Washington DC.
* Maintaining a greater than 95% customer retention rate due, in no small way, to the quality of our Client Services staff and our overall operational performance.
Friday, May 19, 2006
Azaleos - Managed Enterprise E-Mail Appliance
www.azaleos.com A trend? Appliances on-premise coupled to managed services off-premise? Azaleos provides an enterprise-class managed e-mail messaging solution to combine an e-mail appliance with 24x7 remote maintenance, ensuring high reliability, 99.999% availability, and optimized performance of your Microsoft Exchange 2003 environment.
The Azaleos OneServer appliance and OneStop managed services offer unmatched uptime, proactive monitoring by Exchange experts, patch management, e-mail backup, system fixes, and reporting. Available OneStop business continuity and disaster recovery services keep mission critical e-mail up and running even in unexpected circumstances.
Azaleos Corporation, based in Redmond, WA, was founded in 2004 by Microsoft Exchange experts to provide a comprehensive maintenance and management solution for Exchange 2003.
Azaleos is a startup led by senior executives from leading technology companies such as Microsoft, IBM, and Lotus. Azaleos investors include Ignition Partners and Second Avenue Partners.
The Azaleos OneServer appliance and OneStop managed services offer unmatched uptime, proactive monitoring by Exchange experts, patch management, e-mail backup, system fixes, and reporting. Available OneStop business continuity and disaster recovery services keep mission critical e-mail up and running even in unexpected circumstances.
Azaleos Corporation, based in Redmond, WA, was founded in 2004 by Microsoft Exchange experts to provide a comprehensive maintenance and management solution for Exchange 2003.
Azaleos is a startup led by senior executives from leading technology companies such as Microsoft, IBM, and Lotus. Azaleos investors include Ignition Partners and Second Avenue Partners.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Bottom Line Technologies - Accounts Payable Just Got Easier
www.bottomline.com Bottomline Technologies provides payments and invoice automation software and services to organizations seeking more secure and efficient financial processes. The company remains at the forefront of delivering innovative solutions that complement and extend the value of existing financial processes, business relationships and back-office systems.
The company’s solutions enable industry-leading banks, financial institutions and corporations to automate, manage and control processes involving payments and collections, invoice approval, cash flow, risk mitigation, reporting and document archive.
The company’s solutions enable industry-leading banks, financial institutions and corporations to automate, manage and control processes involving payments and collections, invoice approval, cash flow, risk mitigation, reporting and document archive.
3Tera - Grid Operating System for SaaS
www.3tera.com Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is among the fastest growing segments of the technology industry. Although much of the attention focuses on the low entry cost for users and subscription revenue stream for providers, the viability of SaaS really stems from the fact users simply prefer SaaS applications. Operating the application themselves, allows SaaS providers to focus on the user experience rather than on the IT team who installs and maintains the application. Salesforce.com and Webex have proven SaaS is a viable business model and inspired a wave of change in the software industry. However, typical ISVs face a significant challenge in adopting the SaaS model; architecting multi-tenant applications.
The Challenge
Multi-tenant applications, like Salesforce.com, are shared among all customers. When all users share a common database, such as a search engine, sharing the application offers few challenges to the developer. On the other hand, sharing applications in which users access only their own data, such as CRM, requires securing data from inappropriate use. The added security wouldn't be needed if each user had their own dedicated application and database. Unfortunately, hosting individual applications for each customer hasn't been feasible due to the economics of IT operations. The manpower involved in deploying and maintaining hundreds of copies of a complex application would make the cost of the resulting service unappealing to users. Therefore, to reduce operating costs the provider must share a single application among all users.
Building a multi-tenant application has its own costs. Architecting systems for multi-tenancy requires scarce skills. Additional engineers are required and development and test cycles are longer. In addition, when all subscribers share the same application, upgrades and outages affect the entire user base, creating spikes in support needs. Therefore, designing for multi-tenancy is a tradeoff; increasing engineering expense and time-to-market in order to lower the cost of service.
3tera's Solution
AppLogic changes the economic assumptions that drive the need for multi-tenancy by eliminating most of manpower required in typical IT operations. Instead of provisioning servers and installing software, AppLogic applications are built with virtual appliances, essentially disposable infrastructure that becomes part of the application. When an application runs, the infrastructure required is created dynamically, maintained while the copy runs, and then disposed of when it stops. This allows operators to maintain a simple grid of commodity servers, and not the complex infrastructure used by the applications. AppLogic enables copying and deploying complete applications for subscribers without operator intervention. The provider can automate the entire process starting with the user's click on a browser to subscribe and ending with the user logged into a private copy of the application.
Solution Benefits
Enabling SaaS providers to deploy individual copies of applications for their subscribers eliminates the need for multi-tenancy in most applications. Therefore applications can be brought to market quicker with smaller staffs.
The Challenge
Multi-tenant applications, like Salesforce.com, are shared among all customers. When all users share a common database, such as a search engine, sharing the application offers few challenges to the developer. On the other hand, sharing applications in which users access only their own data, such as CRM, requires securing data from inappropriate use. The added security wouldn't be needed if each user had their own dedicated application and database. Unfortunately, hosting individual applications for each customer hasn't been feasible due to the economics of IT operations. The manpower involved in deploying and maintaining hundreds of copies of a complex application would make the cost of the resulting service unappealing to users. Therefore, to reduce operating costs the provider must share a single application among all users.
Building a multi-tenant application has its own costs. Architecting systems for multi-tenancy requires scarce skills. Additional engineers are required and development and test cycles are longer. In addition, when all subscribers share the same application, upgrades and outages affect the entire user base, creating spikes in support needs. Therefore, designing for multi-tenancy is a tradeoff; increasing engineering expense and time-to-market in order to lower the cost of service.
3tera's Solution
AppLogic changes the economic assumptions that drive the need for multi-tenancy by eliminating most of manpower required in typical IT operations. Instead of provisioning servers and installing software, AppLogic applications are built with virtual appliances, essentially disposable infrastructure that becomes part of the application. When an application runs, the infrastructure required is created dynamically, maintained while the copy runs, and then disposed of when it stops. This allows operators to maintain a simple grid of commodity servers, and not the complex infrastructure used by the applications. AppLogic enables copying and deploying complete applications for subscribers without operator intervention. The provider can automate the entire process starting with the user's click on a browser to subscribe and ending with the user logged into a private copy of the application.
Solution Benefits
Enabling SaaS providers to deploy individual copies of applications for their subscribers eliminates the need for multi-tenancy in most applications. Therefore applications can be brought to market quicker with smaller staffs.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
GE uses Klir Technologies for "Instant Insight" IT Analytics Managed Service
www.klir.com Access Distribution, a General Electric company and a leading value-added distributor of complex computing solutions, today announced it is helping its reseller partners enter the growing managed services market by expanding its OneTech services program to include the IT Analytics platform from Klir Technologies.
Through a marketing relationship with Access Distribution, Klir Technologies will provide IT Analytics services to Access Distribution reseller partners and their end user customers. The platform allows real-time visibility into the performance and utilization of applications, bandwidth, networks and servers. With this new offering, resellers can offer their customers both initial IT audits as well as regularly scheduled IT health checks aimed at right-sizing infrastructure and applications.
"Managed services is a growing opportunity for resellers both to build recurring revenue streams and identify new product and solutions sales," Chuck Scalia, Director of IT Service Solutions, Access Distribution. "By offering the IT Analytics platform, we are helping resellers break into the managed services market by providing them with the technology infrastructure and the building blocks to deliver better support and performance to their customers."
With the addition of Klir's IT Analytics platform to the OneTech service offering, Access Distribution is furthering its mission to help resellers mitigate costs while providing a best-in-class end user experience. Access Distribution is offering the IT Analytics platform as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) delivery model to allow resellers to receive immediate value and eliminate a significant up-front capital investment.
"The SaaS delivery model enables resellers to lower their risk while offering rapidly deployable, enterprise-class solutions through a subscription-based service offering," said James Maiocco, CEO of Klir Technologies. "Klir's flexible architecture empowers resellers to deliver new services to clientele in any industry or location, while providing each client with a solution tailored to their specific needs."
OneTech IT Services help drive reseller profitability and customer satisfaction by providing additional resources and expertise that allow Access partners to realize greater margins and lower resource investments. For more information on how to take advantage of OneTech, visit http://www.geaccess.com/ourCompany/capabilities/channel.html.
About Klir Technologies
Klir Technologies delivers SaaS IT Analytics to provide companies real-time visibility into the performance and utilization of applications, bandwidth, networks and servers. Klir gives IT professionals a holistic view of the interdependencies of critical IT assets to increase uptime, better support mission-critical applications, anticipate problems and reduce troubleshooting cycles. Klir Technologies is a privately held company headquartered in Seattle, Wash., and founded in 2000, with customers around the world in a number of market segments, including manufacturing, retail, transportation, professional service and health care.
Through a marketing relationship with Access Distribution, Klir Technologies will provide IT Analytics services to Access Distribution reseller partners and their end user customers. The platform allows real-time visibility into the performance and utilization of applications, bandwidth, networks and servers. With this new offering, resellers can offer their customers both initial IT audits as well as regularly scheduled IT health checks aimed at right-sizing infrastructure and applications.
"Managed services is a growing opportunity for resellers both to build recurring revenue streams and identify new product and solutions sales," Chuck Scalia, Director of IT Service Solutions, Access Distribution. "By offering the IT Analytics platform, we are helping resellers break into the managed services market by providing them with the technology infrastructure and the building blocks to deliver better support and performance to their customers."
With the addition of Klir's IT Analytics platform to the OneTech service offering, Access Distribution is furthering its mission to help resellers mitigate costs while providing a best-in-class end user experience. Access Distribution is offering the IT Analytics platform as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) delivery model to allow resellers to receive immediate value and eliminate a significant up-front capital investment.
"The SaaS delivery model enables resellers to lower their risk while offering rapidly deployable, enterprise-class solutions through a subscription-based service offering," said James Maiocco, CEO of Klir Technologies. "Klir's flexible architecture empowers resellers to deliver new services to clientele in any industry or location, while providing each client with a solution tailored to their specific needs."
OneTech IT Services help drive reseller profitability and customer satisfaction by providing additional resources and expertise that allow Access partners to realize greater margins and lower resource investments. For more information on how to take advantage of OneTech, visit http://www.geaccess.com/ourCompany/capabilities/channel.html.
About Klir Technologies
Klir Technologies delivers SaaS IT Analytics to provide companies real-time visibility into the performance and utilization of applications, bandwidth, networks and servers. Klir gives IT professionals a holistic view of the interdependencies of critical IT assets to increase uptime, better support mission-critical applications, anticipate problems and reduce troubleshooting cycles. Klir Technologies is a privately held company headquartered in Seattle, Wash., and founded in 2000, with customers around the world in a number of market segments, including manufacturing, retail, transportation, professional service and health care.
CoreMetrics - Hosted Analytics
www.coremetrics.com Coremetrics is the leading provider of on-demand web analytics and precision marketing solutions, offering the industry's only web analytics platform that captures and stores all customer and visitor clickstream activity to build LIVE (Lifetime Individual Visitor Experience) Profiles. Representing the single most accurate and comprehensive source of online customer data, LIVE Profiles serve as the foundation for all successful eBusiness initiatives. Leading online brands rely on Coremetrics LIVE Profiles to monitor and optimize the performance of multiple marketing campaigns, improve cross sell and multichannel initiatives, and precisely target customers through intelligent marketing campaigns. Coremetrics services more than 600 brands and has delivered over $300 million in documented ROI in the past two years. The company is privately held with funding from Accel Partners, FTVentures, and Highland Capital Partners and is headquartered in San Mateo, California with offices in Austin, Texas, Dallas, Texas and London, England.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
CollabNet makes Version Control a Hosted Application
"CollabNet, a firm focused on software that supports distributed development, launched a hosted version of an open source code version management system, Subversion, which was designed as a replacement for more local version control software. Read/write systems, such as a version control system, have to coordinate continuous changes from many different contributors. They tend to work best as a local system, with developers clustered around it. They are "inherently difficult to make as distributed systems," says CollabNet CTO Brian Behlendorf, co-founder of the Apache Web server project.
CollabNet's framework is in use at Sun Microsystems, Hewlett Packard and on several of the open source project hosting sites. It forms the backbone for operations at Java.net, a site that hosts 2,755 Java open source projects with 228,000 participating developers."
CollabNet's framework is in use at Sun Microsystems, Hewlett Packard and on several of the open source project hosting sites. It forms the backbone for operations at Java.net, a site that hosts 2,755 Java open source projects with 228,000 participating developers."
Friday, April 21, 2006
Smallthought DabbleDB
smallthought.com/blog "Model your business. Share your data. Explore your data. Get smart results. These are the things that they say Dabble DB can do when it launches and I can think of at least ten things that I could do with this right now to exponentially help my business. Filemaker/Access is not terribly collaborative, Sharepoint is a steep wallet, and Quickbase is certainly a strong offering but at a not-suitable-for-noodling $250/month pricepoint...and I am a creative, not a database guy, so Dabble DB looks like I might be able to do something useful quickly and easily.
The way it works now is I sketch out what I want the system to do and then bounce it off of IT and then I wait. And wait. And wait for something to possibly, maybe, perhaps happen.
If Dabble DB afforded me the ability to cobble something that actually worked, hey, that would be incredibly useful. And (this is important) IT would FEAR me!"
The way it works now is I sketch out what I want the system to do and then bounce it off of IT and then I wait. And wait. And wait for something to possibly, maybe, perhaps happen.
If Dabble DB afforded me the ability to cobble something that actually worked, hey, that would be incredibly useful. And (this is important) IT would FEAR me!"
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