Monday 30 April 2012

EC OPTIMIS Project To Release First Open Source Toolkit For Cloud Providers

Toolkit Reduces Risk and Helps Providers Build The Perfect Cloud For Their Needs

The EU-funded OPTIMIS project has announced it is releasing the first version of its open source toolkit to help European service providers build and run applications in the cloud.

The software toolkit makes it easy for service providers to build service policies and virtual machines and make deployment and infrastructure decisions based on four key factors - trust, risk, eco-efficiency and cost (TREC). It gives service providers the choice of deploying services across all types of cloud environments – private, hybrid, cloud-bursting, federated or multi-clouds.

“The OPTIMIS project is an important part of Neelie Kroes’ EU-wide cloud initiative,” said Csilla Zsigri, director of consulting services EMEA, at 451 Research and project spokesperson. Neelie Kroes, VP of the European Commission, is responsible for the Digital Agenda and has set out an EU-wide cloud computing strategy to put Europe ahead of the game, by making it not only ‘cloud-friendly’ but ‘cloud active’.

“This cloud strategy goes beyond a policy framework by stimulating new research and innovation, and the creation of pan-European partnerships to create better cloud environments and give European businesses, especially SMBs, a platform on which to innovate with new products and services,” Zsigri added.

The OPTIMIS programming component allows developers to define service elements and automatically create virtual machines. Using the TREC optimisation engine, the toolkit manages the deployment of the VMs to the service provider’s preferred infrastructure.

Another component, the OPTIMIS broker, manages the infrastructure selection and service deployment by automatically evaluating infrastructure providers based on the service provider’s TREC preference. These deployments can even occur across multiple cloud infrastructures if the TREC-based evaluation determines that would deliver the best result.

Once the service is live, OPTIMIS allows the service provider to continue to monitor, change and optimise the various configurations at runtime.

Another key feature of the toolkit is that the software design incorporates data protection requirements. “This is important, because data protection is more and more becoming a 'must have' feature for cloud services, not only in Europe but worldwide,” added Zsigri.

Version one of the toolkit will be available on 1 June 2012 for download from the OPTIMIS web site.

The beta version of the toolkit has been tested by some of the cloud providers and IT services firms involved in the project, such as Atos, Flexiant and Arsys in collaboration with major supercomputing centres such as University of Stuttgart (HLRS) and Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC).

“The beta version has given us an indication of the potential benefits of this toolkit. At this stage, the beta version has been able to select best deployment venues based on the application’s TREC requirements. Once the full application service is up and running, the toolkit monitors both the TREC levels and the application KPIs and if the SLA is compromised, it takes corrective action and for instance it automatically bursts to a different cloud environment,” said Ana Juan, head of Service Engineering and IT platforms Lab at Atos.

“The OPTIMIS toolkit helps eliminate the risks involved in building cloud environments and we hope this will encourage more European SMBs to create new cloud applications and services,” added Juan.

FACTFILE: OPTIMIS is a three-year, €10.5m research and development project under the 'Software and Service Architectures & Infrastructures' track of the EU's 7th Framework Programme (FP7). The OPTIMIS project consortium is led by IT services company Atos and includes Umea Universitet, The 451 Group, Universität Stuttgart, ICCS, Barcelona Supercomputing Center, SAP, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, University of Leeds, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Flexiant, BT Group, City University London and Arsys. The project started in June 2010. More details at : www.optimis-project.eu.

Verdantix Says The Product LCA Software Market Is Set For Rapid Growth From Small Beginnings

Spending on software for product life cycle assessment (LCA) will grow from €21 million in 2011 to €78 million in 2015 across the six largest European economies according to a new report from independent analyst firm Verdantix. Corporate spending on product LCA software will grow at a compound annual rate of 39% over the 2011 to 2015 period. In the major European economies, 2012 spend on consulting services associated with product LCA software usage will be between €61 million and €91 million.

“Software-based product life-cycle assessment is still a nascent market reflected in the €31 million size of the European market in 2012” commented Emilie Beauchamp, Verdantix Industry Analyst and author of the report. “We expect the European product LCA software market to grow by 45% in 2012 reflecting a powerful mix of business drivers spanning environmental regulation and resource scarcity. Increased use of product LCA software will spur customer-centric sustainability strategies. ”

The Verdantix report, Product LCA Software Market Forecast 2011-2015, finds that growth in demand in Europe is the result of five factors:
1) New European regulations on environmental product labelling which are expected to take effect in 2015; 2) The French government’s Grenelle II environmental law that mandates life cycle analysis for environmental product labelling from 2013;
3) Harmonisation of LCA methodologies such as the Greehouse Gas Protocol for product life cycles and ISO 14040;
4) Democratisation of product LCA software with lower price points, more simple models and better user interfaces;
5) Attempts to achieve competitive differentiation on sustainability by product suppliers like Michelin, Unilever and Volkswagen.

“Adoption of LCA software will be dominated by firms in the technology, consumer products, retail, automotive and building materials sectors” stated Rodolphe d’Arjuzon, Verdantix Global Head of Research. “Firms such as Autodesk and WSP Environment & Energy have launched new solutions that democratise LCA for a wider range of non experts. Established players like PE International offer a powerful combination of LCA software and materials databases. Usage scenarios for LCA software are expanding into many areas such as eco-design, embedded energy analysis, water footprints and environmental product declarations.”


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Sunday 29 April 2012

RS Components Takes Raspberry Pi To Sci-Fi-London


RS Components (RS), the trading brand of Electrocomponents plc, the world's leading high service distributor of electronics and maintenance products, will present Raspberry Pi at Sci-Fi-London 2012, the 11th annual international festival of science fiction and fantastic film to be held on 5-6 May at London's BFI South Bank.

At the weekend-long event, RS, one of the two global distributors of Raspberry Pi, will feature two demonstrations of this new low-cost credit card sized computer board designed to revitalise interest in computer programming among children and hobbyists worldwide.

One of the two Raspberry Pi boards will run the classic computer game 'Manic Miner' using Fuse, the Free Unix Spectrum Emulator, originally developed for Sir Clive Sinclair's ZX Spectrum computer which this year celebrates 30 years since its creation. The other Raspberry Pi will display the speed and power capabilities of the new module.

Bill Marshall, Central Content Editor at RS, who will be on hand at the event to answer technical questions and advise on the accessories required to operate the Raspberry Pi, said, "The simplicity of the Raspberry Pi is reminiscent of the Spectrum which gave many of today's software engineers their first taste of coding. Raspberry Pi has been created to seed the next generation of programmers and it has already provoked a huge amount of excitement through its promise to make programming accessible to all."

FACTFILE:
RS Components and Allied Electronics are the trading brands of Electrocomponents plc, the world's leading high service distributor of electronics and maintenance products. Through operations in 32 countries and 17 warehouses, the Group serves 1.6 million customers worldwide and distributes 550,000 products ranging from semiconductors and optoelectronics to power tools and protective clothing. The product and service portfolio supports the entire product lifecycle from R&D through pre-production to maintenance and repair.

The Group ships more than 46,000 parcels on the same day the orders are received.
Electrocomponents is listed on the London Stock Exchange and in the last financial year to 31 March 2011 had revenues of £1.18bn.

For more information, please visit the website at www.rs-components.com.

Saturday 28 April 2012

Managing the network for the world’s busiest single runway airport - hear how Gatwick Airport took IT off the critical path in a newly published case study

 - hear how Gatwick Airport took IT off the critical path in a newly published case study.

Xchanging, the business process and technology services provider and integrator, has published a case study on the transformational network services they’ve delivered to their customer Gatwick Airport.

When Gatwick Airport was acquired by Global Infrastructure Partners, it inherited 140 IT legacy systems still owned and operated by BAA. This added a considerable degree of complexity to the business, representing a risk to airport operations and, consequently, the passenger experience.

As Gatwick’s Network Managed Services partner since October 2010, Xchanging has created a common infrastructure for the airport which provides greater visibility and control over IT.

As part of the airport's £1.2 billion investment to improve the passenger journey through the airport, this initiative will drive efficient operation and better service, and see inherited IT systems cut by half. With new infrastructure delivering a secure, reliable and speedier service, Gatwick and Xchanging have been able to introduce new, innovative services that enhance passenger and airline services. These include a secure wireless network throughout the terminals, multicast TV channels in seating areas and passenger kiosks.

To find out more and for your copy of the full case study, please visit http://www.xchanging.com/

New CTO at Sirius

Sirius, the acclaimed open source System Integrator, names Andrew Savory as Chief Technology Officer and lays out his open source vision.

Sirius is unique in providing genuine 24/365 managed services and support for open source software to both Government and Private Sector enterprises. New CTO Andrew Savory takes responsibility for leading the team of expert architects and engineers. A long-standing open source developer and member of the Apache Software Foundation as well as business leader, Andrew has run a number of companies delivering open source services throughout the UK and Europe. Most recently he provided the guidance and oversight on open source development for major OEMs and network operators, as well as managing infrastructure for a global platform engineering initiative.

"Sirius is a company who's time has come" says Andrew "the world now accepts open source as 'business-as-usual', and 'business-as-usual' means managed services and support. Sirius is unique in providing exactly what the worldwide shift to open source needs now - all-inclusive support with thier stress-free technology approach".

Mark Taylor, Sirius CEO and well-known advocate of open source in the Public and Private sectors emphasises what Andrew is bringing to the company - "Sirius is already great, this is about taking us to the next level. We are well known for our core competencies in enterprise infrastructure; the open source database PostgreSQL; directory services such as OpenLDAP and Shibboleth; as well as other critical infrastructure components. Andrew has rapidly expanded our depth and breadth of support with new offerings around search technologies Apache Lucene and Apache Solr, telephony and pbx technologies like Asterisk, and major offerings in virtualisation around KVM and OpenStack."

An early initiative from Andrew is a series of open source Showcases and Open Days. Each focuses on a specific technology area, laying out the uses and benefits to businesses seeking the competitive advantages of open source, with case studies, talks by end-users, demonstrations and briefings. The first Open Day focuses on Open Source Identity Management and is being held at Sirius' canal-side campus in sunny Surrey on Friday 1st June 2012.

Andrew has a BSc in Applied Computing from University of East Anglia, where he is also an Honorary Research Fellow for his assistance in delivering open source research projects. As well as his Apache Software Foundation membership, he is an advisory committee member of OSS Watch, and a SIG Champion for Cambridge Wireless.

itSMF UK Celebrates its 21st Birthday at 2012 Conference

Sponsor the leading ITSM Conference or book your place at early bird rates!

itSMF UK, the UK’s largest service management user group, has announced its flagship annual event, the itSMF UK Conference and Awards Dinner, will take place at the Novotel London West on 5th and 6th November 2012. The itSMF UK will be celebrating its 21st birthday, so visitors, sponsors and exhibitors can expect a bigger and better event than ever before as the itSMF UK celebrates its milestone birthday!

The itSMF UK Conference and Exhibition is the world’s leading annual event for IT Service Management professionals, offering education and networking opportunities along with its highly popular annual awards dinner. The event mixes inspirational plenary sessions with specialist breakout groups and educational presentations on a broad range of ITSM-related topics, and delegates can choose from around 40 different sessions to tailor the day specifically to their needs. Last year saw a truly inspiring opening keynote from Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, and the Awards Dinner was hosted by the legendary Lenny Henry so visitors can expect some more fantastic names for 2012.

One of the highlights of the 2011 Conference was its buzzing exhibition space and this will be back in 2012, with exhibitor spaces available from just £285 per square metre. Exhibiting at the conference provides unique access to a targeted audience of service management professionals, an audience that is growing year on year. 2010 saw 753 Service Management professionals pass through the conference doors, while 2011 welcomed 913 and the organisation expects even higher numbers for this year’s event. It is therefore a great way to meet with end users, customers and prospects face to face.

There are some fantastic platinum, gold, silver and awards sponsorship packages available for those wishing to leverage the itSMF UK’s wide membership base. For full details, download our sponsorship guide at www.itsmf.co.uk/Sponsorguide.

Delegate places are also available now, at early bird rates until the end of May. There are a range of different options available, from a one-day exhibition-only pass right the way up to full packages which include the awards dinner. For further details of all delegate packages, please visit the company website at www.itsmf.co.uk/Conference2012.

Ben Clacy, Chief Executive, itSMF UK commented: “We’re always very grateful to our sponsors and exhibitors, and their ongoing support means that we can continue to put on a great conference every year. It’s always good to see so many service management professionals coming together to share tips and best practice. With their continued support we are able to put on bigger and better events every year.”

For further information on the sponsorship and exhibition packages please contact colin.dudley@itsmf.co.uk or call 0118 9186504.

For more information on the itSMF UK 2011 Conference, please contact fiona@c8consulting.co.uk or call 0118 900 1134.

Wednesday 25 April 2012

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Monday 23 April 2012

BroadGroup launches new B2B market research services for information technology sector globally

Consulting firm BroadGroup (www.broad-group.com) has launched a new range of market research services - B2B Information Technology Market Research - to meet increased demand for insight into specialist niche global markets.

BroadGroup has built a leading reputation in consulting over the past five years, conducting a wide range of international bespoke projects, commercial due diligence, and market and financial analysis covering datacentres, fibre, IT solutions and telecoms. Its client base has expanded particularly in financial, investor and government agencies globally.

Market studies reveal that the future success of companies will depend on their ability to capture, analyse and gain insights from their audiences. More granular and qualitative B2B research can provide even greater understanding of the business decisions customers are likely to take and predictive models constructed by user type, geography, and a wide range of other segmentations. This is particularly so in the case of the datacentre sector which has experienced sustained growth for some years.

“Our experience of datacentre markets has involved continuous assessment of the sector over the past five years which has yielded substantial insight for our clients,” commented Steve Wallage, managing director of BroadGroup Consulting. “B2B research across the IT sector is a natural addition in the evolution of our service portfolio, offering clients a customised interpretation of customer behaviour and change.”

The new services will include competitor analysis, B2B panels, customers and products, and market evaluation and entry.

BroadGroup believes that B2B markets in the IT sector are complex and increasingly fragmented, and to achieve a balanced insight to launching a new product, understanding customer requirements or measuring demand, robust market research provides analysis and interpretation to guide decisions that need to be made. This counts especially in international markets where BroadGroup’s specialist B2B research capabilities in the IT/Telecoms sector brings a much needed level of expertise.

For further information please contact:
Email enquiries@broad-group.com

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Advanced Computer Software Group launches Advanced Mobile Communications

Advanced can now supply software applications, mobile devices and airtime all under one roof

Advanced Computer Software Group plc (Advanced) today announces the launch of Advanced Mobile Communications (AMC).

AMC – Advanced’s new mobile communications brand - supplies corporate mobile devices and airtime, delivering savings in excess of 25 per cent per user on current corporate mobile packages.

Vin Murria, CEO of Advanced Computer Software Group says, “Mobile working is an integral part of the business landscape of the future. We’re already seeing considerable take-up of mobile applications and technologies and this demand is only expected to increase. With the launch of Advanced Mobile Communications, we have mobile applications, technologies and airtime all under one roof, demonstrating our commitment to mobile working while making it as easy as possible for businesses to roll it out.”

Advanced’s decision to supply corporate mobile devices and airtime is in response to growing demand for mobile business applications. With over 13,000 users of Advanced’s mobile solutions, iConnect and iNurse, Advanced recognises the benefit to customers of supplying a ‘one stop shop’ offering in which handheld devices and airtime are supplied alongside mobile software applications. This provides customers with a competitive proposition from a single supplier. Advanced is the only UK software provider that can offer mobile applications, handheld mobile devices and airtime all under one roof.

Murria adds, “Advanced Mobile Communications is a key differentiator in the UK software and services market as no other UK-based IT provider has its own in-house mobile airtime and hardware division. With Gartner predicting that mobile applications will generate $15.9 billion in end-user spending in 2012, we are primed to take full advantage of the surge in demand for mobile applications and the associated hardware and airtime opportunities.”

Advanced is a ‘one stop shop’ for all organisations’ mobile working needs. Fully bespoke airtime packages on a range of phones (including smartphones and tablets) can be provided, delivering significant savings on organisations’ current corporate mobile phone expenditure. All packages can be tailored to the needs and size of the organisation with integrated fixed line and complementary VoIP services also available.

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Sunday 22 April 2012

Logistics Live and friendly in the Cloud

Personalised Dashboard showing live KPI
Personalised Dashboard showing live KPI
With a new live dashboard and interactive maps, Deltion’s cloud computing CarrierNet Version 6 Delton CarrierNet takes a leap forward in user friendliness, while also helping logistics operations to reduce their costs and improve their sustainability.

Deltion is rolling out Version 6 of its CarrierNet transport management solution, which continues to be delivered as Software as a Service (SaaS). This major new release takes a significant step forward in user-friendly features and visibility to identify empty running, which leads to environmental benefits and the ability to save money.

Among its many new features, CarrierNet Version 6 has a new realtime dashboard to give full visibility of what is going on in the transport operation with a live feed to events at depots and on trailers as they happen. The dashboard’s easy-to-read needle gauges and charts give a clear overview of important information on such things as empty running, load fill, asset utilisation, depot performance and load builds.

This feature builds on last year’s launch of Deltion’s Logistics Control Tower, which takes advantage of the latest Internet technology to provide a range of information in the form of dashboards and alerts to manage and control a logistics operation.

Akilen Pandian, Technical Director at Deltion, explains: “Because the live dashboard in Version 6 extracts information from the planning office as well as the database it will show planning changes in realtime for a genuinely live view of what is going on in the operation. This is a real innovation.”

CarrierNet Version 6 features more advanced transport planning yet is even easier to use than previous versions. It has the ability to carry out planning across several depots concurrently, so enabling collaboration and identification of backhauls and shared resources within a company or transport network.

“This means that instead of taking a siloed approach, CarrierNet Version 6 identifies what is best for the company or network,” says Pandian.

CarrierNet Version 6 makes greater use of interactive maps in planning, allowing users to not just see actions on a map but also to modify them on the map. For example, users can add modes, change resources and get instant indicators of whether the modifications will work to help avoid empty or low running mileage.

The live screen map allows a user to look at a route and gauge the efficiency of each part of it. A ‘traffic light’ ranking system will display a leg of the route in green if it is running at what the user has defined as full; it will show amber if there is a load on board that could be optimised; and it will show red when it is empty. Users can set their own parameters driving the traffic lights so, for example, fewer than 6 pallets means empty. In addition, the map identifies what loads are available around that route.

This gives the user the ability to eliminate an empty or part-empty leg interactively on the map, which will lead to lower costs and an environmental benefit from reduced empty running. “The user, seeing an empty leg with an order nearby can drag that order onto the route, which either accepts it or gives a warning that it might not work because, for example, of capacity constraints or the user maybe placing a frozen delivery onto an ambient truck,” says Pandian.

CarrierNet Version 6 continues to be delivered as Software as a Service, which means users can gain competitive advantage from the benefits of this state-of-the-art transport management solution without the need for capital expenditure. Deltion has started rolling out the new version to current users and new users will go automatically onto Version 6.

“CarrierNet Version 6 will have a big impact on the market because it is extremely user friendly, which simplifies the operators’ job while its innovative new features will benefit on a senior management level by making it easier to run the business.”

www.deltion.co.uk

FACTFILE:
Celebrating 10 years in business in 2012, Deltion is a world leader in Cloud Computing and Software as a Service (SaaS) applications. CarrierNet was the first Internet based logistics solution and has been recognised internationally as the leading web based application for supply chain, logistics and transport management.

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Murray International Holdings and Capito turn to Westcoastcloud for email protection

One of the UKs largest privately-owned organisations has turned to Westcoastcloud to protect it from email borne threats.

Murray International Holdings (MIH) delivers solutions to a diverse range of sectors including metals, property, oil and gas and outsourcing. Since 2000 the group’s ICT strategy and services have been delivered in partnership with Capito, a leading managed services provider headquartered in Livingston, Scotland.

MIH has grown to encompass over 50 different email domains with a resultant rise in email traffic, from under 100,000 emails a month to more than 1 million. This had a negative impact both on the system and end-users at MIH.

Mark Gammie, Operations Director for Capito, explained: “Our Managed Service Desk team were spending an increasing amount of time handling calls that were email related so we decided to look for a cloud-based solution that would not only deliver integrated threat protection but would also alleviate bandwidth issues by filtering and cleaning the email prior to it entering the network.”

Capito decided that Westcoastcloud’s cloud-based Netintelligence email filter managed service met it requirements and strategic direction for MIH.

Mark said: “Westcoastcloud is a 100% channel focused organisation and we were comfortable that we could work in partnership to meet the requirements of MIH. Westcoastcloud clearly demonstrated how Netintelligence would guarantee service levels around spam and virus protection as well as the scalability to meet future requirements.”

In addition to reducing network bandwidth by capturing 100% of known viruses and reducing spam by 99% before it hits the MIH corporate network, Netintelligence also saves the managed service desk at Capito time and energy previously spent on administration.

Greg Scott, IT Manager for Murray Metals Holdings said: “Since the introduction of the Netintelligence service I’m happy to confirm that we have had very limited incidents of spam or email threats reaching our end users, thus making our mail management a great deal easier”

Capito has also switched its own internal systems to use Netintelligence.

Bill Strain, director of Westcoastcloud, said: “Spam email accounts for billions of emails across the world every day resulting in risk to business and poor productivity. Stopping it in its tracks is of critical importance to global organisations like Murray International Holdings. By working with Capito and MIH we have succeeded in protecting their staff and network from email borne threats.”

For the case study visit http://www.westcoastcloud.com/case-studies/

New Managed File Transfer offers solution

New Managed File Transfer solution offers advanced audit capabilities, integration with Microsoft Outlook and patent-pending large-file transfer acceleration

Wick Hill announces the availability of OpenText’s new solution for managing the fast and secure exchange of large files inside and outside enterprises.

Easy-to-use and deploy, OpenText Managed File Transfer (MFT) integrates with Microsoft Outlook, helps reduce file attachment size concerns, and provides a powerful platform for the secure and auditable exchange of rich digital content, including sensitive intellectual property among employees, partners and customers.

Ian Kilpatrick, chairman of Wick Hill Group, commented: “Organisations are increasingly looking to move beyond legacy file transfer technologies such as FTP to solutions that can handle the exchange of growing volumes of digital content, address increased challenges to protect information and help address regulatory compliance.

“At the same time, end-users demand that the solution be convenient and easy to use. OpenText MFT offers the ideal platform for these requirements.”


Key Managed File Transfer features include:

- Ultra-fast content delivery based on patent-pending file acceleration technology

- Intuitive user experience through Microsoft Outlook or a Web browser

- Encryption of content-in-transit and authentication against the enterprise directory

- End-to-end audit trail

- File delivery with auto-resume, QoS support and network conditions adaptability

Eugene Cherny, General Manager for Connectivity at OpenText, said: "We heard loud and clear from customers that their current solutions for exchanging digital content were limited in file size, not secure enough, too slow or too hard to use. We developed OpenText Managed File Transfer to fully address these challenges.

“Our deep expertise in developing enterprise connectivity and content management solutions puts us in the position to offer a dramatically improved approach to enterprise file transfer.”


Overcome file size limitations
In most organisations, the average file attachment size allowed within Microsoft Outlook is just 10 megabytes. This represents a major limitation when it comes to exchanging rich media content such as slide presentations, images, video files or engineering and architecture drawings that range from hundreds of megabytes to multiple gigabytes
in size.

In certain industries, such as film and broadcast production, the time it takes to transfers files between locations is a major concern. To overcome the 10 MB restriction, employees often resort to risky or cumbersome file exchange methods such as FTP, physical media or cloud-based public storage sites.

OpenText Managed File Transfer unburdens users from file size limitations while providing usability comparable to email attachments.

With support for a wide range of industry standard encryption types and the included OpenText FIPS 140-2 certified cryptography module, OpenText Managed File Transfer helps ensure the safe and compliant exchange of intellectual property. On the receiving end, files are easily accessed from any browser or email system.

On March 5th 2012, OpenText announced the availability of OpenText Tempo, a secure hybrid cloud document sharing and mobile syncing solution. While OpenText Tempo lets organisations quickly set up a private solution for easily sharing and syncing of content in the cloud, OpenText Managed File Transfer is designed to help organisations overcome the security and performance limitations of traditional file transfer mechanisms, such as FTP servers and physical media.

FACTFILE:
Established in 1976, value added distributor Wick Hill specialises in secure IP infrastructure solutions and convergence. The company sources and delivers best-of-breed, easy-to-use solutions through its channel partners, with a portfolio that covers security, performance, access, networking, convergence and hosted solutions.

Wick Hill is part of the Wick Hill Group, based in Woking, Surrey with sister offices in Hamburg. Wick Hill is particularly focused on providing a wide range of value added support for its channel partners. This includes a strong lead generation and conversion programme, technical and consultancy support for reseller partners in every stage of the sales process, and extensive training facilities.

Follow OpenText on Twitter @opentext and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/opentext.

OpenText, a global ECM leader, helps organisations manage and gain the true value of their business content. OpenText brings two decades of expertise supporting 100 million users in 114 countries. Working with our customers and partners, we bring together leading Content Experts™ to help organizations capture and preserve corporate memory, increase brand equity, automate processes, mitigate risk, manage compliance and improve competitiveness. For more information, visit www.opentext.com.

Thursday 19 April 2012

Wednesday 18 April 2012

Ex- Deutsche Bank Cloud Expert appointed by Intergence

Alistair McLaurin, Intergence
Intergence an IT optimisation consultancy based in Cambridge, UK, has appointed Alistair McLaurin as a principal consultant, responsible for developing on site relationships with Intergence’s rapidly growing customer base and developing new customer relationships. The role was especially created for him and he will report to Chief Operating Officer, Robert Smith.

Robert Smith says: “Intergence has a strong commitment to understanding the value of the cloud, as well as some brilliant new ideas around understanding the value of data management and visualisation. I am delighted to welcome Alistair to the Intergence team and am confident that his skills and expertise will prove invaluable.”

“As part of this commitment, the role that Alistair has been recruited to perform will enable Intergence to continue to lead in the domain of “big data” visualisation, helping large enterprises to extract commercial advantage.”

Alistair has a background in designing and implementing innovative new IT architectures and solutions and he specialises in innovation, cloud architecture and identity management.

Alistair comments: “I am passionate about cloud computing and believe that, used imaginatively, cloud computing offers organisations almost limitless new ways to analyse and manage their data without having to align their organisational development to the way their legacy IT system worked.

“Over the next five years I will work with a wide range of customers to help them leverage cloud services to develop innovative new solutions to drive their business.”

Alistair’s most recent role was Head of Cloud Architecture for Deutsche Bank which included defining the strategic architecture for the bank’s cloud programmes, as well as running proof of concept implementation programmes. He led a major research project to investigate how elastic computing and application delivery network controllers could deliver greater efficiencies to the data centre and more responsive environments for IT customers. He has also worked on data centres in non traditional environment, including detailed investigation of using container based modular data centres to provide rapid compute power on demand at far lower cost than traditional data centre provision.

In this role Alistair won the Open Data Center Alliance's ‘Conquering the Cloud Challenge’ award for his work and white paper on ‘Identity Management in the New Hybrid Cloud World’.

Prior to working as a cloud architect, he spent ten years leading and developing Deutsche Bank's Identity Management service. This was a team of over 100 people worldwide responsible for Directory Services, Single Sign On, PKI and Cryptography and account and entitlement management and recertification. Alistair developed many of the architectures for these services and continues to specialise in identity data modelling and data lifecycle management.

Prior to working in Financial Services Alistair worked at the Science Museum London where he managed projects as diverse as introducing the Museum's first Internet email server to making a movie of the inside of the Apollo 10 command module.

The Channel Islands Co-operative Society selects Sunrise Software

IT service management and self-service boost efficiency and customer service for one of the Channel Island’s largest employers.
 
UK-headquartered service management company Sunrise Software has today announced that The Channel Islands Co-operative Society (CICS), one of the Channel Island’s largest employers, has selected its flagship product Sostenuto to support 500 users at 25 locations. Since deploying Sostenuto and Sunrise Software’s self-service offering Chameleon, CICS has improved business processes across multiple departments, boosted IT productivity and significantly enhanced customer service.

CICS was looking to replace its manual Incident Management process with a fully automated solution. After reviewing several vendors in the marketplace, CICS selected Sunrise primarily after reading how Vision Express, one of the UK’s most trusted opticians, had successfully deployed their technology.

According to Mike Guest, Head of IT for The Channel Islands Co-operative Society, “If Sunrise could do such a good job for Vision Express with 500 locations, we were absolutely confident they would deliver the same excellent results for us. Sunrise met all our requirements, the right functionality at the right price with the added bonus of being flexible enough to support our many business operations, not just IT.”

Since deploying Sostenuto from Sunrise in August 2010, CICS has been able to introduce a sophisticated business tool that is accessible to everyone through a single point of contact. Sostenuto captures 100% of IT incidents ensuring all receive prompt attention. Staff are encouraged to log their issues via a self-service portal, a move that has saved time and reduced the number of calls coming into the service desk. For the first time, staff have complete visibility of how their incidents are being handled.

The results of a recent user satisfaction survey highlight the success of self-service: 87% of users claim the system is easy to use, simple to log calls and the control of support calls is far better. A further 91% appreciate the ability to track the progress of their calls and have noticed faster response times.

The majority of users have welcomed the adaptability of the Sunrise solution to other parts of the business, for example, the Facilities department. As a fresh food store business, The Channel Islands Co-operative relies on efficient refrigeration and air conditioning units to guarantee excellent products at all outlets. Now, if a fridge breaks down in a store, staff can simply log the asset number of the fridge into the Sostenuto system. This automatically flags up the breakdown by email to CICS’ third party maintenance contractor, Jersey Electricity, who is able to respond to technical issues more promptly and minimise loss of revenues for their customer.

The Society has configured the Sostenuto platform in a number of creative and ingenious ways. Today, all external requests are logged in Sostenuto, enabling the customer service department to deal with everything from complaints to members of the public enquiring about potential job opportunities. When it comes to security, the loss prevention team can now record important security incidents such as shoplifting or drive-offs at petrol stations in a specially designed template that helps the local police requesting CCTV footage or detailed information for crime reports. Furthermore, whenever CICS plans to announce special offers or discounts at its stores, it can test product scanning codes and record incidents of where codes do not work before launching the initiatives publicly thus guaranteeing a superior customer experience at the checkout.

Mike Guest added, “Sostenuto’s reporting capabilities are second to none. The solution is clever enough to spot trends and enables us to tackle priority weakness areas immediately. It’s also an excellent strategic tool giving us the hard evidence we need to drive forward business change and support industry compliance. We deal with many suppliers and Sunrise, with its first-rate technology and professional, accommodating team, is definitely up there with the best of them.”

Next on the horizon is expanding the use of the Sunrise solution to support CICS’ Health & Safety initiatives, expense order process and point-of-sale requests.

Geoff Rees, Sales Director of Sunrise Software, concluded: “The Channel Islands Co-operative Society values the configurable and adaptable capabilities of Sostenuto. As a forward-looking organisation, it is continually looking for creative solutions to all challenges across its diverse business infrastructure. Sostenuto, designed to be highly flexible and configurable, is perfect for companies like CICS who want the freedom to adapt our software to their own processes rather than the other way round. We look forward to helping them achieve continual improvements to operational efficiency and customer service in the future.”

For more information on Sunrise Software, its products, services and customers, please visit www.sunrisesoftware.co.uk

Uniblue Launches a Brand New, Feature-Rich 2012 Version of SpeedUpMyPC

SpeedUpMyPC System Scan
SpeedUpMyPC System Scan
Since being launched in 2003, Uniblue SpeedUpMyPC has established itself as a popular software utility, assisting global PC users challenged by compromised computer speed. Faced with slow start-up and shutdown times, deterioration in performance and even system crashes, SpeedUpMyPC has helped novice and expert users alike to overcome these frustrations.

Uniblue has drawn on years of experience in the software utility industry in order to develop the new version; a vastly improved product with a professional set of tools and features. The new one-click installer provides a simpler and quicker user experience from the outset, whilst a CPU monitoring tool runs in the background ensuring that runaway processes don’t compromise system resources.

The software now cleans up invalid registry entries and has been equipped with a new set of tweaks to optimize boot up and system management speeds. In addition to the new features in the full version, the trial version now contains a collection of free tools that will enable the user to preview some of the software’s functionality prior to purchasing the full product.

David Walsh, Chief Marketing Officer at Uniblue says, “We believe feedback from our millions of customers is invaluable in driving our in-house product development. By listening to our customers we realised that by combining the functionality of our best selling products, we could deliver a best in class solution - at a lower cost for the customer. {{The latest release is superior to previous versions and is the first of many improvements in the pipeline}}.”

SpeedUpMyPC 2012 contains the following new features and improvements:

• CPU Manager to ensure runaway processes do not monopolize CPU resources
• Proactive thumbnail generator
• Faster launch times for applications accessed through the start menu
• Quicker software start up by boosting allocated resources
• System resource management tweaks
• Boot up and shut down tweaks
• Windows user interface tweaks
• Option to deactivate processes and services in order to free up resources
• Clean up of invalid registry entries that may hinder the Windows registry speed
• Localized in 17 different languages
• 1 click installation

The software can be downloaded from: http://download.uniblue.com/site/prodpage/sp/speedupmypc.exe

FACTFILE:
Uniblue Systems Ltd is creator and provider of award-winning software products designed to deliver superior performance and stability to PCs everywhere. Uniblue has risen to be known as the thought leader in the utility software market. The company’s products, services, free resources and help guides such as www.Processlibrary.com are recommended by IT experts as definitive reference points for ensuring consistent computer functionality. Uniblue is a customer-oriented company and provides support in several languages. Uniblue software benefits don’t end at great software; customer satisfaction is a priority which Uniblue takes pride in.

Uniblue offers a 60 day money back satisfaction guarantee.
Uniblue is a Microsoft Partner Independent Software Vendor with a Gold competency.

Microsoft is a trademark of the Microsoft group of companies. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

That's Green: CloudApps shortlisted for BusinessGreen Leaders Aw...

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Cyta Chooses Telsis For Messaging Future

Leading Cyprus network operator Cyta has signed a major deal with Telsis to boost the performance, efficiency and flexibility of its SMS messaging network.

A Vodafone partner network, operating under the brand Cytamobile-Vodafone, Cyta is installing the latest generation intelligent SMS Routing system from the services and infrastructure vendor.

Cyta’s senior network director, Dr Aristos Riris, says the network’s key objective is to provide its customers with high quality communications and advanced services that support their business ambitions and improve their quality of life.

“With the latest Telsis messaging system in place, we get an immediate benefit of having state of the art technology of high performance. But more importantly, we will have the option to pick from a range of off-the-shelf business and social SMS services and quickly roll them out.”

Jeff Wilson, Telsis CEO and founder, said: “Cyta is an important operator in the region and we are delighted that it has chosen to upgrade to our new platform which is an enabler for a rich menu of differentiating SMS services and will also provide a firm foundation for seamless evolution of services to new technologies such as IMS and LTE.”

Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (Cyta) is the primary telecommunications provider in Cyprus. Its product portfolio covers the whole spectrum of electronic communications ranging from fixed and mobile telephony to Internet service provision, IPTV and broadband applications. Cyta, through its strategic business unit Cytaglobal, is particularly active in the area of international submarine fibre optic cables, providing wholesale products and services globally, and has established Cyprus as a regional telecommunication hub in the Eastern Mediterranean. Find out more about Cyta and Cytaglobal at:
www.cyta.com.cy - www.cytaglobal.com

The Telsis mission is to enrich people's lives through innovations in communications technology and services. Over 25 years, Telsis has provided tier-1 network operators with flexible infrastructure and compelling services in voice, text and video. From TDM, through IP-based networks to IMS and LTE, Telsis provides evolutionary solutions to match customers' network developments and enable the provision of advanced services today.

Telsis’ portfolio of services is backed by proven engineering skills, system integration expertise, and a deep understanding of human factors, all of which combine in solutions that enable operators to offer their customers exciting and practical services with compelling real-world appeal.
www.telsis.com

Monday 16 April 2012

Software Europe

Software Europe has seen product developments and service innovations, and a customer base that has gone from strength to strength throughout 2012.

"Software Europe has continually demonstrated why it is recognised as a market leader. Our customer base has gone from strength to strength throughout the past year, and we will be pleased to shortly announce our largest NHS Health contract to date," said a spokesman.

"We are pleased to announce the successful award of a framework agreement through The NEP Shared System Group; this will permit quick and efficient access to Software Europe’s online expenses technology for any public sector organisation.

In July 2011 the UK Government-led Innovation Launch Pad initiative recognised Software Europe as one of the top 9 Small-Medium Enterprises who are providing proven savings to the UK public sector. We can also confirm our inclusion on the UK government’s G-Cloud platform.

"We want to change the way organisations do things and remove slow and arduous tasks that are preventing growth. Development of GreenLight, our online forms technology, began in 2009. This technology goes way beyond replicating paper forms and deploys high-intelligence logic to make the gathering of information and the workflow of that information as simple as drag and drop. GreenLight is already deployed at a number of Software Europe’s existing customer implementations and we see substantial growth in this technology area over the next 36 months.

"This year Software Europe has also completed the development of a new product for a new industry sector. Three years in development our Corporate Diligence online service is suitable for any company that is involved in mergers and acquisitions. Corporate Diligence revolutionises the way information is gathered and presented throughout the due diligence project.

"More than just a data room, Corporate Diligence expedites the process with accurate reporting, dynamic checklists and real-time risk tracking. I’m delighted to confirm this product is already in pilot phase at one of the UK’s largest law firms. We anticipate positive growth in this market sector, further establishing Software Europe’s ambitions for a global footprint for its web-based technologies.

"We will be taking our Research & Development work acquired from building Corporate Diligence and use this to enhance Software Europe’s Framework and Expenses products with this new technology. Torch is the name we have given to our next generation of reporting and dashboard services, we expect these products will be available to all of our customers by the end of 2012.

"We will be launching the first of our smart-phone applications which is the spearhead for Software Europe’s new mobile technology division. Expenses360 for iPhone will be available shortly as a free download from Apple’s iTunes store. Software Europe’s Expenses and Expenses Health customers will be able to record their expense items and capture images of receipts as they happen. For those with expense claim approval responsibilities they can scrutinise and authorise claims from their mobile device. BlackBerry, Android and Windows Phone 7 versions will follow. We believe that accessing our technologies through mobile channels will enable our customers to realise further benefits. Substantial investment by Software Europe in this area will continue.

"We are very pleased to report a 35% increase in our customer numbers for this financial year which finished on the 31st March 2012. New customers include some popular global brands including Net-A-Porter who selected Software Europe’s online contract management solution, Framework, for its power, flexibility and high quality Service Desk. The complete implementation was delivered in less than five weeks. We also received feedback from our new customers that they needed the confidence of working with a company with a proven track record and a stable financial position.

"Software Europe was formed 23 years ago on the foundation of delivering exceptional service. On Monday 26th March 2012 we launched our new support service called Circle. Circle will continue to drive Software Europe’s objectives for delivering exceptional service by offering our customers instant access to our support channels through an easy to use interactive online service. Circle is an addition to our readily praised Service Desk that provides telephone support currently.

"Since our first web-based solution went live in 2003, we have seen continuous positive growth. I am delighted to report that this year has seen this growth move to an average of over 50% year on year. Our innovation will be maintained and our investment in Research & Development will continue to enhance the businesses of our customers."

Sunday 15 April 2012

Carry Your Laptop In Style With A Stylish Laptop Handbag From A-SHU.CO.UK For Just £15.99!

A fashionista can never have too many handbags and they sure are a great way to make a strong fashion statement this season. However, carrying a laptop and looking stylish always seemed to be a mission. Not any more!

At A-SHU.CO.UK they've launched a fab range of fashionable handbags with an internal laptop compartment, suitable to hold light to medium weight laptops - and a bargain at just £15.99! At last we hear you say!

The collection comprises of a large, patent mock croc design handbag with internal laptop compartment to keep your electronic best friend safe and sound. With a structured formal form, this bag is ideal for both the lady who works as well as a key over-sized statement handbag for the lady who does lunches or shopping sprees with her girlfriends!

In terms of trends, if you didn't already know, exotic animal prints in various shades and textures are without a doubt one of the biggest handbag trend of the season. It seems, the handbag world is literally dominated by exotic skins!

Totally desirable and uber chic, this bag just oozes sophistication. Forget carrying around a dull, boring and unattractive laptop bag when you can swap for this! A modern bag which oozes a fashion edge yet smart style about it. We love! The texture and patent design adds drama, whilst the neutral shades set the tone most suitable for work attire. Plus, it is also super light in weight which makes it suitable to add other handbag essentials in it, as well as a light to medium weight laptop.

Take your pick from tan, grey or black shades, or treat yourself to one of each to match your wardrobe. Finally your fashion faux-pas with a normal laptop carrier is over!

External Features: Large croc effect handbag in a glossy patent finish. Front zipped compartment. Padded style handles for extra comfort. Wide, flat base. Four base stud feet. Silver metal finish. Very light in weight. Full length zip to main inside compartment. Internal features: Full canvas lining. Split into two main compartments; one open space and the other to insert a laptop with a velcro strap closure to hold in place. One additional zipped compartment.

Size: One Size (OS). Measurements: Approx. 43L X 31H X 13W CM. Handle height approx. 20 CM.

www.a-shu.co.uk

London's technology industry continues to flourish as market-leader Amstore launches revolutionary new VideoPak®

As companies and organisations look to technology to deliver their advertising and promotional material to customers in new and innovative ways, Amstore, one of the UK's leading suppliers of creative digital media to the entertainment and corporate markets, has answered the call by developing a revolutionary but brilliantly simple product - VideoPak®.

Already used by an array of global blue-chip brands including Nokia, Jaguar, SKY and Harrods, custom-designed VideoPak® units combine ultra-thin, light weight TFT-LCD screens embedded into printed materials using printed circuit board assembly methods, effectively fusing the two mediums for the first time.

Incorporating a micro-USB cable for data transfer at a rate of over 700 kbit/s to PC and Mac computers, the made-to-order packs can be pre-loaded with video and / or audio content at manufacture, providing high-impact collateral that can be used for everything from sales brochures to direct mail and press releases. The built in, lithium rechargeable battery can provide up to 180 minutes of quality audio or visual content and offers users the chance to store entire, feature-length movies on the packs if required.

And then there's the versatility benefits. VideoPak® units are available in a number of different size options incorporating screens up to 7" with 16:9 resolution. Each VideoPak® also features a 0.5W built-in stereo speaker and comes equipped two different playback options which use magnetic sensors for automatic activation when opened.

Weighing in at just 40g, the VideoPak® Micro Series is the latest development from the Amstore team. Approximately the same size as a standard credit card, these units are packed with many of the same features and data options of its larger counterpart, all of which are embedded into a pack with a thickness of just 7mm.

Designed and assembled in London by a team of dedicated specialists, the packs offer companies an exciting and unrivalled new communications platform by which to deliver product or service information direct to their customers or suppliers.

Commenting on the launch of VideoPak®, Marcelo Bustamante, Director of Amstore group said: "We've worked hard to develop a product that combines cutting-edge TFT-LCD technology with bespoke printed material - and VideoPak® offers just that. Our units have really begun to turn heads in the marketing and communications industries as they're able to explain complex concepts and ideas that don't easily work through 'one dimensional' print."

"Using a VideoPak® not only demonstrates that a brand is committed to technical innovation and being at the forefront of marketing & promotion, it also provides increased brand recall and gives real stand out from the crowd."

Saturday 14 April 2012

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Tenerife to become communications nexus spanning three continents

The Council of Tenerife has announced a new initiative that will convert Tenerife into a global communication capital.

The objective of the ALIX initiative is to transform Tenerife into a main link within the global telecommunications network via the development of the neutral Internet access point (or NAP) for Western Africa-Canary Islands, the Island Telecommunications Ring and the CanaLink Project.

As a result of the geographical location of the Canary Islands in a key zone between Latin America, Africa and the rest of Europe, the Archipelago acts as a privileged tri-continental bridge. Status as a platform between three continents offers many advantages in a number of areas including cultural, social, economic, business spheres. All areas of our daily lives can be benefitted via good management of the location of the Islands within this globalised world.

The Western Africa-Canary Islands Nap (Network Access Point) is the element that will enable Tenerife to exploit its possibilities as a tri-continental platform and bridge, commencing with fundamental issue: communications. The Nap, to be installed in Granadilla, will house various existing submarine cable links along with others that are being prepared both between the Islands and within the Canary Islands-Europe-Africa-Latin America axis.

Therefore, the Council of Tenerife's Western Africa-Canary Islands Nap will act as a neutral data centre that not only serves as a point of concentration and distribution of international connectivity, but also as a base infrastructure for local information technology companies interested in competing overseas, or international companies that wish to operate in Western Africa using Tenerife as a platform, with the legal security afforded by location in the EU, hoping to benefit from the additional fiscal advantages associated with the Canary Islands' status as an Outermost Region.

In order to provide alternatives to internal connections, the Council is creating a fibre-optic cable network that will allow the Island to provide its own infrastructure for voice and data transmission.

The first phase will see the southern zone of Tenerife linked to the facilities of the Canary Islands Astrophysics Institute, using the layout of the roads and motorways on the Island. The second phase will see fibre-optics extended to the north and south-east, also via the road network managed by the Island Corporation.

The Island Telecommunications Ring of Tenerife will also be connected to the Western Africa-Canary Islands Nap.

The CanaLink project is another cornerstone of ALIX. CanaLink will contribute to the end of the monopoly within cable communications. CanaLink is formed by the Telecommunications Technology Institute (IT3) and the neutral submarine cable operator, IslaLink. It is responsible for laying a new cable between Tenerife and Rota (Cadiz), which will result in the liberalisation of the sector.

This submarine cable will avoid failures in data transmission and will afford high levels of quality to telecommunications within the Archipelago. It will fulfil the demands of the various telecommunications operators that operate in the remainder of the national territory that currently have their access to the market of the Canary Islands restricted.

FACTFILE:
The Council of Tenerife is the government body of the island of Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain). It was constituted on the 16thof March 1913 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The Council of Tenerife, as is the case with the other councils of the Canary Islands, possesses a series of exclusive competences that are contained in the Statute of the Autonomy of the Canary Islands and has also been delegated a series of competences by the remaining bodies of the territorial administration.  It is the Canary Islands' own manner of governance and administration, which offers services and exercises powers deriving from the Autonomous Region of the Canary Islands. The president of this body is Ricardo Melchior Navarro.

www.tenerife.es

Thursday 12 April 2012

Compuware Launches the Industry's First International Transaction Web-Performance Benchmark

Compuware Corporation, the technology performance company, has announced the launch of the industry's first international transaction web-performance benchmark. The new Compuware Gomez benchmark measures the web performance of a multi-step banking transaction for leading UK banking institutions. Co-operative Bank provided the best response time across eleven companies in the new benchmark.

The UK Banking Account Details Business Process (www.gomez.com/uk-banking-account-details-business-pro... ) benchmark emulates a typical banking transaction to review account details across multiple pages from account login to account summary and logout. It uses a real end-user account across three metrics - response time, availability and consistency. This real-world view of web performance helps companies better understand the experiences being delivered to their customers.

"A first step towards optimizing website performance to meet customers' expectations is comparison to top companies in your industry," pointed out Jonathan Ranger, Gomez Benchmark Practice Director at Compuware. "Leading banking institutions in the UK that use the new transaction benchmark to track and measure the performance of their transactions gain a fundamental measurement of the quality of their customers' online experiences."

Gomez Benchmarks are an impartial, quantitative measurement of comparative web and mobile site performance and rank the web and mobile performance of companies across three key metrics:

Response Time — measures the time elapsed while downloading a page or an entire multistep transaction process.
Availability — measures the percentage of successfully completed tests out of total test attempts for the measurement period.
Consistency — measures the standard deviation of the response time of successful tests completed.

Benchmarks are used by organizations to compare and track performance against competitors and market leaders; baseline and track performance over time; and as key indicators of success for business and IT site owners. Gomez publishes hundreds of global web and mobile performance benchmarks based on more than 20 million monthly tests across 3,000 companies in 13 countries and include:

Home Page Backbone Benchmarks: measure the performance of the website's home page from the Internet Backbone.
Home Page Last Mile Benchmarks: measure the performance of the home page from the end user's desktop taking into account the real user's connection speed.
Transaction Benchmarks: measure the performance of a key business process such as ordering a product or making a stock trade.
Mobile Benchmarks: measure the performance of mobile site's home page on the largest carriers and top devices.

The Gomez platform is the industry's leading solution for optimizing the performance of web, non-web, mobile, streaming and cloud applications. Driven by end-user experience, Gomez provides a unified view across the entire application delivery chain, from a user's browser or mobile device, across the Internet or a corporate WAN, in the cloud, to inside the data center, eliminating blind spots from the First Mile to the Last Mile.

FACTFILE:
Compuware Corporation, the technology performance company, provides software, experts and best practices to ensure technology works well and delivers value. Compuware solutions make the world's most important technologies perform at their best for leading organizations worldwide, including 46 of the top 50 Fortune 500 companies and 12 of the top 20 most visited U.S. web sites. Learn more at: www.compuware.com.

Wednesday 11 April 2012

#OracleWinner – e-DBA named Oracle Technology Partner of the Year 2012

e-DBA, a specialised Oracle Platinum Partner has been recognised by Oracle at the highest level after being awarded the Oracle Technology Partner of the year at the 2012 Oracle Partner Awards held in London.

This accolade comes ahead of the forthcoming Oracle Customer awards where two e-DBA customers have been shortlisted for the solutions e-DBA provided them with.

The ‘Oracle Technology Partner of the Year’ award is considered to be one of the top prizes of the evening as it recognizes innovation, Oracle revenue growth, successful adoption of new Oracle technology and diversity from competition.

Alex Louth, Managing Director “We are delighted to come away with this award and be recognized for all the hard work our team has done to ensure our customer can benefit from the latest Oracle technology. ” he added “We are very excited about the next 12 months, as we adopt even more Oracle technology, and are becoming a true Engineered Systems partner which can only benefit our customers and Oracle”

This award tops a very successful 12 months for e-DBA having completed an MBO, moved to larger premises, been awarded several new Oracle Exadata projects, and made significant investment in new Oracle Technology such as the Oracle Database Appliance and BigData.

Engineered Systems, the Oracle Exa stack and the future

Having won this award in 2010 and now again in 2012, this really shows how fast e-DBA are growing and how well their Oracle practice is maturing in both product and service units.

e-DBA have been one of the first partners to truly adopt Oracle’s ‘Engineered Systems’ strategy and have already started implementing end to end solutions from the Oracle Red Stack. Oracle Exadata, Oracle Exalogic and the Oracle Database Appliance (ODA) have been key to e-DBA’s success in taking the ‘Engineered Systems’ message to customers.

James Anthony, Technology Director “Having won this award for a second time, it really shows our commitment to Oracle and how well we have been able to adopt and deliver the latest Oracle Technology. he added “2012 is going to be a great year for e-DBA, this award is a great start and really puts us a stride ahead of our competitors but more importantly, we hope to share our success with our customers and Oracle”

FACTFILE:
e-DBA, a specialised Oracle Platinum Partner and Oracle Technology Partner of the year. e-DBA specialises in providing Oracle Managed, professional and license services as well as offering engineered systems solutions such as the Oracle Database Appliance, Oracle Exadata, Oracle Exalytics and Oracle BigData.

e-DBA has 2 offices, one in Chelmsford (Head office) and another in Brighton. With customers spanning across all vertical markets and industries, e-DBA is perfectly positioned to provide a full technology solution to ensure your business IT needs are met. e-DBA employs a team of highly skilled Oracle technology experts who ensure all of your technical and commercial requirements are fulfilled. To learn more about e-DBA, please visit www.e-dba.com

Tuesday 10 April 2012

Star provides cloud makeover at Nirvana Spa

Wellbeing business re-invigorated with new IT approach

Star, a provider of on-demand cloud computing and communication services to UK businesses, today announced that the award-winning spa and health club, Nirvana Spa has laid a platform for growth based on Star cloud services across its businesses.

One of only three UK spas with its own underground water source, Nirvana Spa has provided discerning clientele with wellbeing treatments for over thirty years. Star collaborated with Nirvana Spa on {a radical makeover of its IT systems including wireless hotspots for customers and state-of-the-art unified communications for staff.

The decision to standardise on Star cloud services was part of a three year strategy to transform Nirvana Spa into a modern data-driven business that is capable of achieving and accommodating growth without adding cost and complexity to its IT systems. Having had a long standing relationship with Star, Nirvana Spa felt it played a role in the strategic development of IT systems and services.

IT Director Mark Tocher commented, “Star was selected as our cloud services provider because we could see the value of buying into its pre-integrated WorkLife productivity suite. But the deciding factor was our trust in Star as a long term partner.”

Paul Watson, interim CEO at Star said, “We are delighted to collaborate with Nirvana Spa on this make-over of its IT systems. A secure and resilient virtual private cloud, delivered from a shared platform will help to keep costs low for the company whilst allowing it to access leading technologies often taken for granted by much larger enterprises.”

Wednesday 4 April 2012

Exeter University utilises new Archiving solution from C2C

ArchiveOne® transforms management of University’s 5000 staff mailboxes

C2C, a provider of email, file and messaging management solutions has announced that one of the top performing UK universities, Exeter University, has adopted ArchiveOne® to manage their 3,500 staff plus associates and group mailboxes. In terms of the IT infrastructure, Exeter University has 20 virtualised Exchange servers split across the two sites that are either clustered or set up as DAGs (for data replication). ArchiveOne is deployed on 6 virtualised archiving servers supporting an extensive email infrastructure, with more than 37,000 mailboxes contained within the Active Directory.

Like all academic establishments, the University in recent years has seen unprecedented growth in the size and volume of email not only as coursework files but right across the infrastructure, as departments have become more reliant on large image-based files, PDFs and PPTs.

Dave Dickinson is the Universities’ Information Systems Developer responsible for all email system infrastructure and takes up the story: “We were in the process of migrating from a UNIX-based email system. This was an effective, simple, pure flat-file email system that was not particularly resource intensive, but it did not offer the extra features, such as calendaring and workflow that we deemed as essential. We therefore embarked on the move to Microsoft Exchange 2003 and then later to Exchange 2007.”

There were a number of changes that the University had to adopt as part of the migration to Microsoft Exchange. The first was to include high-performing shared storage into the infrastructure and the second was to identify an effective archiving solution. Critical requirements for this solution included both the ability to handle the increasingly large volumes of email and the capacity to reduce the burden of Exchange which demanded far greater resources than their Unix-based system. After examining three market-leading solutions, the team opted for C2C’s ArchiveOne solution due to its flexibility and seamless end user experience.

With 7TB of primary storage assigned to run Exchange, it had been critical that the archiving solution quickly and effectively moved data to the archive store reducing the impact on primary storage. ArchiveOne stored the files in a compressed format so the demand on secondary storage was reduced as well. On top of this infrastructure challenge, there was a cultural challenge that users needed to overcome. The previous UNIX-based system offered users unlimited email space, so they became accustomed to keeping an unrestricted amount of email. The transition to Exchange with its mailbox quotas had caused users to implement PST files resulting in difficulties with backup and data discovery.

The installation of ArchiveOne provided the management team with an archiving solution that meant they seamlessly regained control over mailbox stores and quotas. A solution of policy enforcement was created for staff and associate mailboxes, comprising approximately 5000 mailboxes.


Critically, ArchiveOne has enabled automated policies with two standard policies in place. For average mailbox users, any emails older than 12 months are automatically archived and compressed to an archive store. For those ‘power users’ whose mailboxes regularly exceed 750MB, ArchiveOne automates an archiving policy of six months. These archiving policies enable the email system to run at an optimal 70% capacity of primary disk. For users, the process is simple, they simply click on the email in the inbox, and the full email is located and retrieved seamlessly from the store.

For Dave and the team, the ability to manipulate and customise archiving policies has proven invaluable. “When we initially installed the archiving system, we installed five archive repositories. Since then we have installed additional archives on an annual basis. What we found when using ArchiveOne is that its policies were flexible and adaptable to our needs.

"For instance, we would be able to move to a six month repository cycle easily if data growth required, and we are able to extend policies to individual users with no impact.”

One of the most significant benefits of archiving is reducing the impact of an Exchange upgrade. Moving the majority of data to the archive before the migration alleviates the need for the data to be moved when upgrading between the Exchange versions. Since the majority of data had already been moved prior to the upgrade from Exchange 2003 to 2007, time and management overhead was significantly reduced. Indeed, so has storage capacity declined. Two years down the line, ArchiveOne has alleviated the need for any further primary storage, ensuring major cost savings and fewer problems for the Infrastructure team.

For users with ArchiveOne, archiving is seamless and automatic, and of course, now falls within the blanket protection of the Exchange backup. With the majority of data in the archive, the benefits to an Exchange upgrade have already been realised. In 2012 the University will upgrade to Exchange 2010 and the benefits of not having to move all the data will be realised once more. The process will be relatively quick and less demanding on the University.

In conclusion, Dave comments, “Put simply, I couldn’t imagine not having ArchiveOne operating seamlessly behind the university’s email infrastructure. It is an easy-to-use, flexible and valuable tool.”

For more information visit www.c2c.com.

Tuesday 3 April 2012

Back-up protocols often ignore security devices

Reading, Berkshire – Osirium (www.osirium.com) a leader in Privileged User & Infrastructure Management has today warned organisations to carefully review back up policies that extend beyond file servers and user access devices.

Uncovered during research conducted by QuoCirca, for Osirium, the lack of back-up processes associated with security devices became quickly apparent. The study found that in around 50% of organisations, such devices do not get backed up weekly, and fewer than 30% ran back-ups daily. It was also found that device problems would often take hours to get them functioning again, particularly if the system administrator needed to rebuild the device using out of date settings or, in the worst case, from scratch.

“The risk value of backing up these devices should not be under-estimated,” said David Guyatt, CEO at Osirium. “Firewalls often have complex rules programmed into them whilst content filtering devices contain policies about what users can and cannot do with content, so the operational risk from losing these security services without any reliable backup and restore process escalates considerably.

Most organisations use a wide range of security devices from an equally wide range of network and security vendors, so the issue in question perhaps becomes more about managing the many different back-up protocols associated with each vendor device because they’re often seen as complex, costly and resource intensive. Organisations often don’t allocate sufficient budget to manage this adequately, which was further reflected in the research statistic that 42% of organisations have 30 day gaps between backing-up security devices”.

Whilst organisations do try to backup critical devices and servers at regular intervals these are often conducted under excessive workloads. Back-up goals get compromised so critical servers become a priority whilst back-ups on the less obvious, but just as important infrastructure devices, are often delayed,
Guyatt continued, “Rather than having a specific backup up process in place for each device Osirium offers a single interface, multi-vendor solution that automates these back-ups across a wide range of products to bring control back within the organisation.”

Specifically, Osirium allows organisations to schedule, or select, individual device configuration back-ups and automatically scale the task across multi-vendor infrastructures as well as running back-ups before and after configuration changes, to provide ’roll-back’ services. Furthermore, Osirium can also delegate backup initiatives to other parties, such as help desks, which allows them to execute back-ups without needing full system administrator access.

FACTFILE:
The research was completed by Quocirca and 100 interviews were collected. At the time of answering the questions, those surveyed were not aware that the research was being conducted on behalf of Osirium. Respondents were qualified in as follows:
- Must be involved in IT management with one of the following job functions: IT manager, IT security manager, IT infrastructure manager
- Must answer yes to: “are you involved with, or knowledgeable in how your organisation views and manages issues relating to privileged users (that is how the granting of the extra privileges that IT administrators require to do their jobs is controlled), the automation of IT admin tasks and how these issues relate to your organisation’s ability to meet the regulatory requirements that govern it?”

Osirium drives down operational risk and eases the pain of managing and maintaining multi-vendor IT infrastructures by providing a central, secure access point and a “built-in” best practice foundation which tracks all SysAdmin changes in the infrastructure and allows you to easily meet and maintain compliance.

Osirium dramatically improves productivity and reduces human error by automating routine and repetitive SysAdmin tasks and delegating them to less costly help desk staff, to provide faster problem resolutions with fewer errors.
Osirium is establishing itself as a new and unique IT infrastructure security solution and is already helping some of the world’s biggest brands and public sector bodies.

For more information please see: www.osirium.com

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Monday 2 April 2012

Ipswitch Network Management Division Wins Network Monitoring Product of the Year Accolade at Network Computing Awards 2012

WhatsUp Gold Delivers Everything IT Admins Need Through a Single Console

Ipswitch, Inc.‘s Network Management Division, developer of WhatsUp Gold suite of IT management software, today announced that following a vote of over 20,000 readers and industry analysts, WhatsUp Gold has been named Network Computing’s Network Management Product of the Year 2012. Additionally to winning the award, Ipswitch founder CEO, Roger Greene was the runner up in the Contribution to ICT award.

The Network Computing Awards were launched in 2007 to recognise the companies, products, services that have most impressed the readers of one of the longest established computer networking publications. New to this years‘ awards were individual excellence awards, that were chosen by the editors of the Network Computing Awards. Winning the award continues WhatsUp Gold’s impressive track record at the Network Computing Awards. It won the award in 2010 and has been a runner up in 2008, 2009 and 2011.

“We are pleased to have been awarded the highly regarded award from Network Computing for 2012. It underlines our commitment and vision of delivering a highly innovative and agile network management solution that will provide real tangible benefits for organisations of all sizes,“ said Ipswitch Network Management Division President, Ennio Carboni. “As the industry keeps moving forward, we are looking to continue to provide solutions that meet the IT management challenges of today, whether it is pure network management and monitoring or assisting organisations in monitoring their virtualised and cloud computing environments.“

“We would like to congratulate Ipswitch Network Management Division and all the other winners and finalists on their success,” said Dave Bonner, event manager, Network Computing Awards. “This years’ event was another record-breaker since the launch of the awards, with record number of nominations and votes pouring in. WhatsUp Gold continues to impress on the market and our readers’ votes clearly highlight its importance to businesses of all sizes.”

For businesses with networks of all sizes, WhatsUp Gold offers a comprehensive yet cost-effective network and application management solution that installs, discovers and maps network-connected assets in under an hour. With WhatsUp Gold’s powerful SNMP v1-3, SSH, Telnet and WMI monitoring, alerting and notification capabilities, users have 360 degree visibility, actionable intelligence and complete control over their networks.

About the Network Management Division of Ipswitch, Inc.
The Network Management Division of Ipswitch, Inc. is the developer of the WhatsUp Gold suite of innovative IT management software. WhatsUp Gold is deployed on over 150,000 networks worldwide and delivers comprehensive network, system, application and event log monitoring and management solutions for small and medium businesses and enterprises. The award winning solution supports a wide range of IT management tasks including automated discovery, mapping, real-time monitoring, alerting, troubleshooting and reporting.

Founded in 1991 and currently celebrating its 20th anniversary, Ipswitch, Inc. is headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts, and has offices in Atlanta and Augusta, Georgia, Madison, Wisconsin, Livonia, Michigan, as well as its European headquarters in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Asia Pacific headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. Ipswitch sells its products through distributors, resellers and OEMs worldwide.

To learn more about WhatsUp Gold, please visit:
http://www.whatsupgold.com/products/download/

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Comply Serve strengthens top team

Comply Serve Limited (www.complyserve.com), the project compliance software innovator, has today announced that it has completed two senior level sales appointments – Alan Moon joins as Account Director, taking responsibility for corporate rail clients and major rail project clients whilst Richard Cork assumes a senior account manager role, looking after infrastructure companies. The appointments are in line with recently announced expansion plans, following investment injections from its syndicated investment partners Chord Capital Ltd, Midven and Catapult Venture Managers Ltd.

In their new roles Alan and Richard have been given the vital roles of driving momentum forward in key accounts and with prospects in order to build on recent company successes which include adding recognised brands such as Etihad Rail, Banedanmark and Laing O’Rourke (amongst others) to the client roster.

Alan brings with him a wealth of experience from his past work in Business Development and Channel and Alliance Manager positions. In this role of Account Director, Alan will work in partnership with clients to drive further value from joint collaborations, delivering major rail projects and high value annual workbanks employing ComplyPro. In recent roles he has also managed business relationships with Network Rail, London Underground, Centrica and Thales positioning complex solutions to complex business problems.

Richard has worked in construction since 1981 and his portfolio of projects include the New British Library and Sizewell ‘B’ power station, as well as an assortment of more traditional commercial, retail and public sector projects. He has extensive experience in procuring, implementing and managing new processes, which was further recognised when he was given a remit to report on the strategic management of IT across a group of companies. Richard is a fellow of The Chartered Institute of Building

“I am delighted to welcome both Alan and Richard to the team,” said Don Cameron, Sales and Marketing Director at Comply Serve. “Comply Serve has ambitious growth plans in place for this year and the targets set are not for the faint-hearted. I am confident that both individuals can, and will, hit the ground running and will become key players in no time.”

ComplyPro™, Comply Serve’s flagship product, enables major infrastructure programmes to get complex compliance and assurance processes under control by providing unprecedented visibility of assurance and compliance progress against well-defined delivery objectives.

FAVTFILE:
Comply Serve provides unique, web-based project and product compliance solutions to clients operating in highly regulated industries. Its core product ComplyPro, focuses in markets where there is a need to address complex compliance and assurance goals on high risk, high value programmes of work. ComplyPro began life as a system designed for transport projects, in particular for rail and infrastructure projects. Whilst the solution has evolved to encompass a wider range of industries, the core product is still ideally placed as the only compliance and assurance project system on the market place today for the rail and transport industries.

ComplyPro to date has been used in a number of high profile, international projects such as Crossrail, Etihad Rail, East London Line and Banedanmark and is adept at handling the various intricacies and characteristics of large infrastructure projects.