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app cloud, News & Analysis, salesforce.com, Software as a service

New Salesforce App Cloud promises one platform for building connected apps

Salesforce WearSalesforce has launched a new service that aims to simplify application management.

The Salesforce App Cloud is the latest incarnation of the Salesforce1 system, which now integrates various elements of the service – such as Force, Heroku Enterprise and Lightning – with a new shared identity, data and network service. The rationale is to liberate chief information officers (CIOs) from the laborious tasks involved in bringing together the strands of a multitude of applications. By unifying the management system for apps, Salesforce says it can save CIOs from having to delve into all the different silos, addresses and architectures that must be brought together.

A number of new services will be included in the App Cloud platform. Heroku Enterprise aims to help developers create connected apps using network, data and identity services shared across the App Cloud. The Private Spaces feature helps administrators create a dedicated area with direct access to customers’ on-premise data from legacy systems. The Regions feature allows companies to run their apps in metro areas throughout the world based on their accessibility, compliance or any other local requirements. Heroku Enterprise is connected to Force with bi-directional data synchronization, single sign-on and role-based access controls. Salesforce Lightning aims to simplify app design using pre-built, reusable building blocks, such as maps, calendars, buttons, and number entry forms. A new interactive learning environment, Trailhead, aims to help make Salesforce app creation more intuitive.

In beta trials of the App Cloud 40,000 app creators have participated in Trailhead training, and have earned 150,000 badges. App Cloud includes an ecosystem of 2.3 million developers, who have built 5.5 million apps.

“CIOs need a way to develop apps for the connected world,” said Tod Nielsen, Salesforce’s VP for App Cloud. “App Cloud brings together all of Salesforce’s services, giving IT leaders an integrated, trusted platform to quickly build connected apps for every business need.”

In other Salesforce news, communications group Zayo is to give customers direct connection to their Salesforce environments through its high-bandwidth, fibre-based connections.

Zayo’s fibre-optic network extends more than 84,000 route miles across the United States and Europe, and connects to approximately 17,500 on-net buildings, providing connectivity to the majority of data centres and carrier hotels in the United States.

Zayo’s cloud connectivity will initially link to Salesforce Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Community Cloud, Analytics Cloud and Force.com.

Amazon, AWS, News & Analysis, training, Vendor

Amazon Pop-up Loft programme to give start ups free web service training

amazon awsThe Amazon Web Services (AWS) Pop-up Loft programme has extended to London, with the opening of dedicated office space where start ups can get free support from cloud computing experts.

The Fore Street offices, close to the city of London, will be open until the end of October with the intention of bringing together developers, engineers, entrepreneurs and tech enthusiasts. AWS is offering personal help and guidance from a range of experts from both AWS and its partners, with the intention of encouraging entrepreneurs to build new systems on AWS or create their own startups. Once registered, visitors can participate in training courses, boot camps, self-paced labs, seminars or networking events.

The programme will feature a number of educational strands for would-be developers. Under the Ask an Architect initiative, AWS users can book appointment for a one to one meeting with an AWS systems expert to discuss technical questions about their AWS architecture, AWS features and cost optimization. The AWS Technical Bootcamps will be free one day training sessions run by experienced AWS instructors and systems designers, with the aim of giving delegates hands-on experience using a live environment with the AWS Management Console.

The free technical sessions are designed to cover development areas in which experienced instructors are rare in the cloud industry, such as mobile and gaming, databases, big data, compute and networking, architecture, operations, and security. AWS customers, partners and industrialists will also host evening sessions to share their experiences.

Startups will also get the chance to hear from customers, venture capitalists and incubators. Experts in venture capital, from Seedcamp and Techstars, will be on had to offer funding and business development guidance.

Intel, a supporter of the programme, will host talks and demonstrate new advances in Xeon processors and the Internet of Things. IT automation company Chef will advise on development operations.

Pop-up Loft London is the third initiative in the programme after previous events in San Francisco and New York as AWS aims to help local startups to grow their businesses using its cloud services.  Two thirds of the UK’s startups with valuations of over a billion dollars, including Skyscanner, JustEat, Powa, Fanduel and Shazam, now use AWS to run their services, Amazon claims.

“We’re bringing some of the brightest and most creative minds in the industry to help startups across the UK,” said Amazon CTO Werner Vogels.

cloud security, Funding, Identity management, News & Analysis, Okta

Okta raises $75m in funding as cloud identity management leader is valued as $1.2 bn

identity access managementCloud security vendor Okta has raised $75 million from existing shareholders, taking its market valuation at $1.2 billion.

A specialist in identity and mobility management, Okta raised the finance from lead investors Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners and Sequoia Capital. New investment has been attracted from Khosla Ventures, Altimeter, Glynn Capital and others.

Since its founding in 2009, Okta has now raised a total of $230 million.

Okta has added to its management team with Michelle Wilson, former general counsel at Amazon, joining as the first independent director on its board. In addition, Okta has appointed Michael Guerchon, ex-Riversoft HR man, as its Chief People Officer and Jon Runyan as its General Counsel. Runyan, formerly a partner in Goodwin Proctor’s technology companies practice, will oversee the company’s legal affairs worldwide.

In September Okta announced a ‘substantial investment’ in private cloud infrastructure rented from Amazon Web Services in Germany. An additional disaster recovery facility has been established in Eire. The use of the AWS facilities was a move to manage all European data in a single facility within Europe.

“We’re at an important inflection point where IT leaders, product developers and industry analysts see the critical role identity plays in connecting people, apps, devices and organizations,” said Todd McKinnon, Okta CEO, “Okta pioneered cloud-based identity management, which set us up to become the foundation for secure connections.”

Okta stakeholder Ben Horowitz, co-founder of investment partner Andreessen Horowitz, described Okta as the ‘runaway market leader in identity management’.

“This new round of funding will expand their scope and bring that solution to the world,” said Horowitz.

Since its start-up in 2009, Okta has won 2,500 customers globally catering to demand for cloud security with its identity management service.

Meanwhile, Cybersecurity vendor Webroot announced new channel to market for its cloud based services, in a partnership with New Zealand-based distributor exceed. The agreement gives retailers, IT resellers and managed service providers access to Webroot’s cloud-based big data analytics, automated machine learning and intelligent endpoint security.

Distributors, resellers and service providers are revising their business model to focus on cloud services, giving security vendors the scope for rapid expansion, according to Justin Tye, Exeed’s managing director. “We selected Webroot for its flexible, fast, and effective solutions, as well as its business model that clearly supports a multifaceted sales strategy,” said Tye.

CIO, Enterprise IT, News & Analysis, Research, Support

Support for the cloud is over priced, say disillusioned CIOs

SupportThe vast majority of businesses now use cloud computing but most feel ripped off, according to a study.

Research firm Vanson Bourne has canvassed a sample of 200 chief information officers (CIOs) for their feedback on cloud computing. The results show that almost all (186 out of 200) use the cloud in some form. However, almost as many of them (160 of the 200 CIOs) agreed that ‘ripped off’ was the multiple choice answer that best described their feelings over support services.

If the survey was statistically significant and was representative of industry wide sentiment, then 80 per cent of British businesses feel they are paying a high premium for basic support on their cloud services. While the penetration of cloud computing is high, with 93 per cent of businesses now using ‘some form’ of the service, some 84 per cent of the total sample said that it has not met their expectations on reducing support.

The most common problems presented by the survey were: slow response times to customer service queries (which was identified by 47 per cent of the sample), call handlers lacking technical knowledge (41 per cent), over-use of automated phone lines (33 per cent), complicated escalation processes (28 per cent) and a lack of 24/7 cover (19 per cent).

The results suggest that support from service providers is poor, according to Richard Davies, CEO of service provider ElasticHosts, which sponsored the independent study.

Companies adopt cloud in order to remove the headache of managing IT and the burden on in-house IT staff, so they expect to provide less support themselves, Davies said. For precisely that reason, the cloud service provider must not run a skeleton support service, Davies argued. Too often, according to Davies, companies have to pay a high premium to get the same level of service they got from their internal support.

“When using any service, you want to be able to ask questions, whether to learn how to configure a server or to query a bill. You should be able to do this without having to pay a hefty premium,” said Davies.

Asking a cloud service a technical question frequently involves a long wait and a call that is re-routed through an automated service. Ultimately a human call handler will admit they don’t know the answer, according to Davies.

“The industry should be doing more to help customers,” said Davies, “the first contact for support should be an engineer with strong technical understanding of the service.”

Cisco, Datacentre, Enterprise IT, HP, News & Analysis

HP overtakes Cisco in cloud infrastructure equipment leadership battle

ServersHP is now the top selling supplier to the cloud infrastructure equipment market, having sat on the shoulder of market leader Cisco throughout 2013 and 2014, according to a study by the Synergy Research Group.

The research group’s sales figures for the two vendors showed them to be tied in the first quarter of 2015, but by Q2 HP had opened a lead after achieving much stronger sequential revenue growth. The two leading vendors are both achieving ‘stellar revenue growth’ in the burgeoning market, according to Synergy. However, while HP maintained a 13 per cent worldwide market share in Q2, Cisco’s share dropped by half a percentage point. The two front runners are followed by Microsoft, Dell, IBM, EMC, VMware, Lenovo and Oracle.

In the public cloud infrastructure equipment market Cisco still has a ‘commanding lead’, but HP has a clear lead in private cloud. Total cloud infrastructure equipment revenues, including hardware and software, are now running at $16 billion per quarter, having grown 25 per cent year on year.

HP leads the cloud infrastructure competition because of its dominance in the cloud server sector and its strong contention in storage, according to Synergy. Cisco’s challenge is upheld by its domination of networking, with support from its rapid ascension in the server market. Microsoft owes its high ranking to the success of its server operating system and virtualization applications. In the chasing pack, Dell and IBM both maintain strong positions with a respectable presence in a range of cloud technology markets.

Servers, operating systems, storage and networking combined account for 89 per cent of the cloud infrastructure market, according to Synergy’s figures. The balance of the market revenues are made from cloud security, cloud management and virtualization applications.

“The public cloud services market is clearly booming and driving heavy investment in cloud infrastructure, while a rapid transition to cloud is also in full swing in the enterprise IT market,” said Jeremy Duke, Synergy Research Group’s founder and chief analyst. “The good news for all vendors is that this huge market is growing rapidly and in aggregate the two leaders only account for a quarter of it – much the same as they did a year ago.”

Yesterday cloud service provider Ormuco, an HP Helion Network charter member, appointed Norwich based MigSolv as its UK data centre partner, adding another HP installation to the cloud infrastructure.

Alcatel-Lucent, Content & Applications, Content delivery network, Google, News & Analysis

Google and Alcatel announce content delivery network upgrades to cloud services

contentTwo major content delivery network (CDN) technology announcements have highlighted the strategic importance of CDN in delivering content without lag and latency.

Google’s Cloud Platform is to be sped up by the addition of four new content delivery networks, it has announced. The addition of CloudFlare, Fastly, Highwinds Network and Level 3 Communications to Google’s network of 70 points of presence in 33 countries forms part of Google’s new CDN Interconnect programme, which falls within the Google Cloud Interconnect line.

The plan is to cut prices for joint customers of the CDN providers and Google Cloud Platform when the customer’s traffic moves from the Google cloud to the CDN, it said. Google’s Cloud Platform product manager Ofir Roval said the additions are needed to speed delivery of rich media payloads from the Google Cloud Platform to end-user devices. Emerging web and mobile apps ‘carry hefty media assets’ which, he blogged, explains the need for new CDN additions, according to a report in The Light Reading. In time dependent enterprise business systems, users are unlikely to tolerate ‘laggy’ unresponsive applications, said Roval.

In November the cloud vendor launched Google Carrier Interconnect, to help link enterprise customers to the Google cloud. Partners in the initiative included Verizon, Equinix, Level 3 and Tata Communications.

Meanwhile, Alcatel-Lucent has moved to bolster it cloud-based IP video storage and content delivery technologies with a new Cloud DVR platform and a new Elastic content delivery network. The plan allows service providers to manage network capacity more dynamically as they deal with growing customer demand, according to Alcatel-Lucent.

The Cloud DVR platform incorporates a number of advances in storage resulting from Alcatel-Lucent’s collaboration with Intel and uses the Intel Intelligent Storage Acceleration Library.

With functions moved to the cloud, the Elastic CDN allows resources to be allocated more flexibly, said Paul Larbey, head of Alcatel-Lucent’s IP Video business. “Our IP Video portfolio helps customers better manage the changes in traffic that they are seeing. We can help providers deliver video content more intelligently and efficiently to dramatically improve the end-user experience, in line with demand but without increasing costs.”

Telco TalkTalk has tested components of the enhanced Cloud DVR in a live network environment.

Elastic CDN will be made commercially available in 2016.

CRM, Database, Mobile, News & Analysis, Research, salesforce.com, Software as a service

Salesforce would be more effective if it was more mobile, workers tell survey

Salesforce WearCustomer relationship management leader (CRM) Salesforce needs to improve the employee experience before its clients can get the most out of it, says a new report.

The advice comes in the fourth annual State of Salesforce report, from consultancy Bluewolf, a partner agency to world’s top CRM vendor. It suggests that while customers of companies that use Salesforce feel more connected, the users of the CRM system aren’t as happy. The main complaints are inconsistent data quality and a lack of mobile options. However, the majority of the survey sample plan to ramp up their investment in the system.

Based on the feedback from 1,500 Salesforce customers worldwide, the 2015-2016 report suggests that the concerns of employees should be the next priority for Salesforce as it seeks to fine tune its CRM software.

The demand for better mobility was made by 77 per cent of salespeople surveyed. Their most time-consuming task was identified as ‘opportunity management’ which, the report concludes, could be improved by better mobile applications. The study also says that employees were twice as likely to believe that Salesforce makes their job easier if it could be accessed from a mobile device.

Bluewolf’s report suggests that Salesforce’s priorities in 2016 should be to invest more three areas: the mobile workforce, predictive analytics and improving the sales team’s experience of using apps.

In the modern obsession with customer experience, it is easily forgotten that employees create the customer success, according to Bluewolf CEO Eric Berridge. “While innovation is essential to improving employee experiences, companies must combine it with data, design and an employee culture.”

However, the report does indicate that companies are happy with Salesforce, since 64 per cent plan to increase their budget. Half, 49 per cent, have at least two Salesforce clouds and 22 per cent have at least three. A significant minority, 11 per cent, say they are planning to spend at least half as much again next year on Salesforce services.
That investment is planned because 59 per cent of Salesforce users say the CRM system is much simpler to use than it was a year ago.

Meanwhile, many companies are taking the employee matter into their own hand, says the report. One in three companies has already invested in agent productivity apps and one in five is planning to invest.

Enterprise IT, insidesales.com, neuralytics, News & Analysis, predictive cloud, sales

InsideSales.com announces world’s first predictive cloud for sales

A new cloud system driven by a neuralytics predictive engine could help users to use the intelligence gathered from 100 billion sales interactions.

The Predictive Cloud, from InsideSales.com, uses the knowledge of self-learning machines gathered from multiple sources across the globe to improve applications, business processes and sales practices, it maker claims.

Predictive analytics can be used as a platform, as a service or as a sales acceleration application, according to InsideSales. Independent software vendors (ISVs) can use Predictive-as-a-Platform using an open application programming interface to add predictive functions to their own apps. Users of Predictive-as-a-Service can get up to speed more rapidly through cloud delivery, says the vendor. The Sales Acceleration apps aim to improve sales communications, email and web tracking, predictive forecasting, lead and opportunity scoring, sales gamification and sales hiring.

The vision for the Predictive Cloud dates back to the founding of the company in 2004 according to founder Dave Elkington, InsideSales CEO. The rationale was to create a system that intelligently analyses billions of data points instantly. Having performed this instant analysis, it then recommends the optimal next steps for almost any application or business process. After building on this foundation, InsideSales plans to apply predictive technology beyond the realm of sales organisations, so it can deliver benefits to sectors such as government, healthcare and retail. Eventually predictive analytics could be used in any industry, said Elkington: “We are building an Amazon-style recommendation engine for business.”

InsideSales.com has partnered with Cloudbilt, the makers of MapAnything, CloudCraze, Demandbase, Dynamic Signal, Eventboard and LogMeIn.

“At this extreme scale, data science is critical in matching the right product to the right customer,” said Larry D’Angelo, senior sales VP at LogMeIn. “Predictive Cloud is taking analytics to a new level that can boost sales productivity.”

In May 2015 InsideSales closed a $60 million funding round led by Salesforce.

The system is due to be showcased at the Dreamforce conference in San Francisco on September 15th.

Predictive analytics could be the key to sales acceleration, according to Forrester Research’s principal analyst Kate Leggett. Speeding a prospect through the sales funnel will be driven by prescriptive insights, Leggett predicted in Forrester’s July 2015 report, CRM Sales Automation Software for Every User. “The insights driven by predictive analytics layer on domain-specific business logic resulting in context-specific, actionable prompts for individual salespeople,” Leggett reported.

acquisition, Adallom, cloud security, M&A, Microsoft, News & Analysis

Microsoft unveils cloud security plans for Adallom amid rising cloud unrest

Cloud securityMicrosoft has announced its plans for Israeli founded cloud security firm Adallom, the cloud security firm it bought for a reported $250 million.

Detail of the plans for its new acquisition was unveiled in a Microsoft blog by corporate VP for cloud and enterprise marketing Takeshi Numoto. Though reports of the acquisition emerged in July details of Microsoft’s cloud security strategy have only just been unveiled.

The frequency of advanced cybersecurity attacks has made security ‘top of mind’ among cloud users, according to Numoto. The acquisition of Adallom will expand Microsoft’s existing identity assets by acting as a cloud access security broker, allowing customer to see and control application access, Numoto explained. It will also protect critical company data stored across cloud services. Adallom helps secure and manage popular cloud applications including Salesforce, Box, Dropbox, ServiceNow, Ariba and Microsoft’s own Office 365.

Adallom will complement existing Microsoft offerings as part of Office 365 (serving in a monitoring capacity) and the Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS), which includes Microsoft’s Advanced Threat Analytics system. Microsoft had previously bought another cloud-security vendor, Aorato, with Israeli Defence Force ties, in 2014. Aorato was rebranded as Advanced Threat Analytics.

Adallom’s technology monitors the use of software-as-a-service applications and was created by founders 2012 by Assaf Rappaport, Ami Luttwak and Roy Reznik who met while serving in intelligence for the Israel Defense Forces.

The unveiling of Microsoft’s cloud defence plans coincides with an independent report, by Osterman Research, that 76 per cent of UK firms are concerned about the lack of security in the cloud, with consumer-grade cloud storage of corporate documents being named as the chief cause of unease.

The report found that employees preferred consumer-focused file sync and share (CFSS) solutions to enterprise-grade file sync and share (EFSS) solutions in the workplace, and often failed to consider the security risk posed by CFSS solutions.

Services that will be monitored by Microsoft’s new cloud security acquisition, such as Dropbox, which allow consumers to instantly sync files across all devices, but do not provide the same protection of information as EFSS, were identified in Osterman Research’s report as a particular cause for concern.

“Use of CFSS over EFSS significantly increases corporate risk and liability,” the Osterman Research report warned.

“We are thrilled to welcome the Adallom team into the Microsoft family,” said Numoto in his Microsoft blog, “cybercrime will persist in this mobile-first, cloud-first era, but at Microsoft we remain committed to helping our customers protect their data.”

Cloud computing, Enterprise IT, News & Analysis, training

APMG launches end user cloud computing foundation certification scheme

Skills and trainingCloud industry expert Bernard Golden has created a vendor-independent course to help people and businesses make the transition to cloud-based services.

Golden developed the course for APMG International which has launched a new end user cloud computing certification scheme. The aim is to give the workforce the cloud skills needed to support the migration to cloud-based computing.

The course, Cloud Computing Foundation Certification, is designed to give an impartial and objective overview as an introduction to cloud computing. This is necessary, according to Golden, before any organisations can move to the cloud successfully.

The certification was developed in response to the mounting need for businesses to understand and prepare for the move to cloud. The course is aimed at all enterprise IT employees, from finance to operations, and sets out to outline the fundamentals of cloud computing. It will then move on to explain the benefits, challenges and pros and cons of rival delivery models.

The most important aspect, according to the author, is to create a cloud computing action plan for course participants. The ultimate proof of the course will be the successful adoption of cloud computing, according to Golden, APMG’s Chief Examiner.

“With cloud computing fast becoming the de facto platform for enterprise computing, the failure to understand its fundamentals poses a real danger,” said Golden. Failure will affect both the productivity of businesses and the employment prospects of the staff within them, he warned.

Though the benefits of moving an organisation’s data to the cloud – from potential cost savings to increased flexibility – are well documented, the execution is not, according to Golden. It is this gap in understanding that he intends to address, he said.

“The fact is that the majority of deployments aren’t as simple as just flicking a switch – you need to fully comprehend the security, technical and regulatory implications to make cloud a success, which is why training and certification are critical,” said Golden.

Many cloud computing training courses tend to be heavily weighted in favour of one vendor, which ultimately provides a skewed view, Golden claimed.

“This course has been designed to provide a vendor neutral knowledge base to provide an objective education about the topic,” said Golden, who promised there would be no ‘abstract knowledge without practical application’. Students will learn concepts and tools that can be applied immediately in the working environment, said Golden.

“For cloud projects to succeed they need to gain acceptance within businesses,” said Richard Pharro, CEO of APMG.