Google Apps Marketplace Open for Business
Author: John Duckgeischel
on March 11, 2010 - 12:32 AM
Google’s Apps
Marketplace opened the online doors for business on Tuesday with 50 companies
joining in the offerings. The most
popular offerings were related to Google cloud apps that are Software-as-a-Service
focused. Lesser known companies joined
in with CRM, fax and ERP apps, but there were well known companies such as
Intuit with its payroll software and content management from Box.net. Creative offerings from companies such as
Manymoon, with its free "social productivity, project management, and task
management" app, were part of the mix.
Atlassian Software known for its hosted software development suit will
bring its customer to Google Apps, but will benefit from the Google Apps that
enable word processing, calendar, and chat within the Atlassian suite.
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Avaya Targets Small Business with Unified Communications for IP Office
Author: John Duckgeischel
on March 10, 2010 - 11:46 AM
Avaya’s new
offering for small business reduces the price point for unified communication
by 40 percent, which features a new combination card that provides support for
IP, digital and analog phones. The
collaborative tools include video, instant messaging and presence. The lasted offering utilizes an SD card,
which replaces the flash card and license that was required previously. It is offered as part of the 6.0 version of
IP office which is browser based. The
6.0 version features improved instant messaging, more presence features and the
ability to archive voice messaging.
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Microsoft Gets Serious About Windows Mobile with $1 Billion Infusion
Author: John Duckgeischel
on March 5, 2010 - 5:48 AM
According to
Brendan Barnicle, senior research analyst with Pacific Crest Securities,
Microsoft has plans to spend $1 billion on its Windows Phone business during
this coming year. Bill Koefoed, general
manager of Microsoft’s investor relations, revealed the plans make the hefty
investment in research and development in this year alone. Even for Microsoft, this represents a
significant commitment of approximately 10 percent of the company’s R&D
budget. "In our minds, [Koefoed]
ruled out them buying somebody like Palm or RIM. He didn't say it directly ... it's
our conclusion.” Barnicle stated to InternetNews.com.
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Increasing Numbers of Smartphones Users Connect to Social Networks
Author: John Duckgeischel
on March 4, 2010 - 10:18 AM
Year over
year numbers for January 2010 show that smartphone users are moving toward
connecting to social networks via their smartphones in growing numbers. Users are not just using their PC’s to
connect with social networks as the number of smartphone users that are jump on
social networks doubled from 5% to 10% when compared to January 2009. The number of users accessing Facebook via a
mobile browser grew by 112%, and Twitter grew by an amazing 347% from the
previous year. "Social networking
remains one of the most popular and fastest-growing behaviors on both the
PC-based Internet and the mobile Web," Mark Donovan, senior VP of mobile
at ComScore, wrote in a statement. "Social media is a natural sweet spot
for mobile since mobile devices are at the center of how people communicate
with their circle of friends, whether by phone, text, email, or, increasingly,
accessing social networking sites via a mobile browser."
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RSA Conference: Cloud Security Alliance and HP Identify Top Cloud Computing Security Threats
Author: John Duckgeischel
on March 1, 2010 - 12:56 AM
HP and the
Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) have identified the top cloud computing security
threats in a new document which features research on the subject. The CSA has provided a warning to
organizations to be aware of technology that accumulates sensitive personal
information such as credit card numbers, social security numbers and employee
information. Prevention is less
expensive that cleaning up after a data loss or regulatory compliance violation,
which require notification and system modification. Chris Whitener, HP's chief security
strategist, noted that although cloud computing can reduce capital
expenditures, managing risks is often overlooked. "The No. 1 thing you shouldn't do is
approach this with complete ignorance," Whitener stated. "And
unfortunately, this is something that a lot of people do. Understand and limit
your risk profile. If you approach this with complete abandon, you're asking
for it."
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