This article argues whether the generic paas offerings from established giants today are not disruptive enough and at best they are incremental.
Change. Continuous change is what we have witnessed, since Computing began way back in 1960s, we have had many transformational waves on how the Software is built, deployed and accessed; From the COBOL & mainframes to Client-Server & PCs, to the web, to multi-tier and the whole 9 yards of how code was written, arranged, deployed and managed.

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Rackspace, co-developer of the OpenStack cloud platform, has created a more direct path for large, full-service IT providers to deploy the popular open source-based software in large-scale private cloud projects, according to an article on eWEEK.
Rackspace released three new blueprints, called Private Cloud Open Reference Architectures, to fuel the initiative, which is designed specifically for such companies as EMC, Dell, IBM, NetApp and Hewlett-Packard.
The new blueprints primarily are directed at Big Data-type private cloud projects, which are ramping up in many different verticals around the globe.
According to an article on TalkinCloud.com, “reference architectures are one way toward achieving maturity in a business technology, and that’s what Rackspace is hoping to do. At the same time, it may give it and the channel partners that deal in private OpenStack cloud infrastructure and deployments an advantage, as the references should, ideally, make it easier for them to design private clouds for their customers.”

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Amazon is going to use a virtual currency it calls Amazon Coins to stimulate the development and sale of games, applications and in-app virtual goods for its Kindle Fire tablet.
One Amazon Coin is worth a penny and Amazon means to shower shoppers with tens of millions of dollars in free Amazon Coins in May. Consumers can also buy their own Amazon Coins.
The scheme will only be available in the US at the Amazon Appstore and can’t be used to pay for subscription services.
Developers will still get their regular 70% cut.
Developers have to submit any new apps and have them approved by April 25 to qualify for the gimmick.

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Gravitant has announced enhancements coming this month to its award winning cloudMatrix cloud brokerage and management platform:
Continuous cloud asset discovery and sync (starting with Amazon Web Services today with additional providers added over time), which enhances internal governance capabilities to discover and control shadow I.T. and provide alternate sourcing options.
Integration of government certified cloud providers into the cloudMatrix electronic services catalog, which enhances external governance capabilities through secure clouds.

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SYS-CON Events announced today that BoogarLists has been named “Media Sponsor” of SYS-CON’s 12th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 10–13, 2013, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York, and the 13th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 4–7, 2013, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
With a qualified directory of more than 2,000 Venture Capital and Mid-Market/LBO private equity firms, BoogarLists is an excellent place for entrepreneurs to begin their search for investment capital. Whether starting a new company or striving to take an early stage company to the next level, CEOs and CFOs will invariably want to seek out new sources of capital or other financial services. BoogarLists provides an extensive directory of financial, operations and marketing services, as well as a comprehensive directory of conferences and associations, across the technology, media and communications industries.

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by, Adam bogobowicz, Sr. Director of Product Marketing, Service Providers, Parallels

Why is getting a website from a hoster so complicated? Why do we ask our customers to jump through so many hoops to get a simple site up and running?

For example: Select from one of the three (great) plans, buy a domain, buy hosting, buy a site builder, we will give you 150GB of space with it (why do I care?) And what about security (is your business not secure?), backup (thought you would do that for me), and would you want fries with that?

Why does it need to be so byzantine? All I wanted was a website. I certainly do not need to jump through any of these hoops when I go to Facebook or LinkedIn to setup a site. This really hit home for me when my six grade son came home from school to show me the new website his student government body created.  I looked at the URL and it said Site.weebly.com. It was free, and easy enough for a bunch of 12 year olds to build.   We have lost them and lost them forever. Who do you think they will use when they want to build another site? Do you think it will be a hoster?

But why is this service available from the likes of Yola and Weebly and not from any of the established hosters? I believe there are two factors holding back the hosting industry from moving forward.

First there is historical attachment to the business model that got us here. We were (and still are) geeks selling to geeks on the cheap. We created a commodity business and now see decreasing margins.  As a result it is difficult for us to accept upfront costs of the freemium model  and unsure of the revenue impact if upsell cannot be secured at the purchase.  

Second there is a glaring gap in off-the-shelf software that would enable freemium and hybrid freemium models. Software supporting this business model was either developed outside of our industry, is proprietary, or delivered in a form that makes it not usable for hosters.

The good news is that with the release of Parallels Web Presence Builder Business Sites we are addressing the second problem. For the first time hosters on any automation platform  – a Parallels platform or not – will be able to setup freemium and hybrid freemium web creation businesses. Web Presence Builder Business Sites will eliminate any initial complex setup processes and will allow customers to create sites with just few clicks, publish a site for free, and will give the hoster an opportunity to upsell customers to domains, mobile functions, professional hosting, and vanilla milkshakes.

But even the right software is not going to make hosters comfortable with the freemium business model. We are very rational people and do not want to give away services for free and then hope to make it up in volume. And here is where we can learn from the Wixs, Yolas, and Weeblees. Take what is the best and leave the rest. What clearly works is the ability these businesses have to hook a customer first. Most people initially approach web presence with the need for a site.  If we want them as customers we cannot hit them with a complex plan first.  We need to make it easy to get them signed up and accelerate steps that lead to a functioning website with templates and relevant images and content. We also need to help them connect their new sites with social media and sync their presence with Facebook.

Now what about money? I see three strategies that a hoster can use to turn this new simple website creation experience into profit.

1. Differentiate your offering and secure premium pricing
2. Use Site creation as a loss leader to drive customer acquisition and upsell business
3. Or incorporate it as a component of a value added bundle that will help you attract business  

With the differentiation strategy you lead with the value of web creation service. You do not give away sites for free. You ask for a premium prices because you can provision and deliver the value of easy- to- set-up sites. This approach limits your financial risks as you are not hosting sites for free and will help you drive improved revenues per user as well as drive down churn because your users are now less likely to drop off frustrated with the initial site creation process.  

The loss leader strategy requires stronger nerves and more upfront investment. This is the way Yolas and the like approach this problem. The big difference, however, is the fact that hosters are in a much better position to drive upsell process with strong portfolio of web related services and upsell know-how. We already know how to recognize if a site needs a dedicated URL, SSL certificate, support, design services, and can upsell users with shopping carts and business applications and many hosters can drive upsell to virtual servers. Web Presence Builder Business Sites will make easier to automatically identify and upsell to growing sites with page count throttling.

The third strategy is the most reactive but also the easiest to implement. What it suggests is accepting easy site creation as just the cost of doing business, a must-have for a user. In this case easy web creation is simply part of the core bundle of services delivered in some or all of the webhosting plans.

I do not see these three strategies as something our industry needs to consider. I see these as “do them” or “go out of business” options. Our customers are already voting with their clicks for the service they prefer, and we already see a fundamental shift in new site creation from traditional web hosting to the new breed of “web creation” providers. I hope to see all of Parallels partners on the other side of this great divide executing on one of our of the three web creation strategies in 2013.

Parallels is pleased to announce several new services in 2013 that will empower service providers to grow their business.

•  The Parallels Cloud Acceleration Services from Parallels Business Consulting include will help businesses with service definition, business processes, and go-to-market planning as well as offer leading practices forged from over 200 Parallels Automation deployments.

• The 2013 SMB Cloud Insights research offers a new category of market intelligence around Cloud Strategy.  Using the power of Kano and conjoint analyses we are able provide you not just intelligence around market sizing and opportunities but also your best options for market and product strategy based on that intelligence. And later in 2013 we will further expand the value of our SMB Cloud Insights research by rolling out a new training product that distills the knowledge and insights from the SMB Cloud Insights research into tools you can use to train and certify your own staff.  This will allow you to drive market intelligence to support decision-making at every level of your company.

• To further engage the over 350 new certified hosting partners, as well as those certified partners who have already joined our Partner Program, we’re extending the Partner Program and ParterNet to ISVs with our new Cloud Services Developer Program.  This includes the new Parallels Cloud Service Certification program which both provides more market opportunity to APS ISVs and, through additional levels of training and validation, a better end user experience for APS applications on Parallels products. 

by, Brian Spector, CEO, CertiVox

Clearly, the application packaging standard APS has, over the last few years, gained significant traction. Driven by the SMB sector, which has embraced the procurement of enterprise-class computing capability in applications from managed service providers around the world, APS has become a critical element in the go-to-market strategy of hundreds of ISVs and thousands of Managed Service Providers.

CertiVox has embraced APS for some of its services, so I know first-hand its advantages – and some of its challenges. It’s fair to say that APS 1.2 didn’t deliver across the board.  But what’s new in APS 2.0?

Users are king (but who are they?)

Driven by the feedback that users have given, APS 2.0 provides a dramatic increase in functionality over its predecessor in four key areas – user interface, provisioning, single sign-on, and authentication.

There isn’t the space here to go through all of these, but let’s take authentication as just one example. At all levels of the cloud “chain,” this is becoming a critical consideration. Recent high-profile “smash and grab” attacks, for example, have used username and password vulnerabilities in websites and enterprise systems to steal user data.

These attacks have highlighted that it is simply no longer enough for users to have an identity that the system recognises as being legitimate. Instead, they need to be in a position to prove that it is an identity of which they are the rightful owner? In other words, is a user – every user – really who they say they are?

Once it is clear that the user is who they say they are, then it becomes possible for the hosting industry to provide, for the first time, a secure single sign-on experience across all provisioned services – and this is absolutely what users want and need. It enhances usability, improves cross-sell opportunities and reduces churn, so it’s pretty darned important for user and provider alike!

Authentication – inbuilt!

In APS 2.0, for the first time, a combination of multi-factor and multi-party authentication, as well as strong, end-to-end encryption, can be inbuilt. This authenticates users at all levels. Administrators, for example, can authenticate themselves to configure service options and manage the storefronts and choose applications for their business.

Service Providers can also resell the authentication services to their hosting customers, who can use them for all kinds of products and services of their own, to capitalise on the exploding demand for strong authentication across the industry.

And it’s simple. Using nothing more complex than a 4-digit PIN, users can sign in securely to all provisioned services to which they are entitled. APS federates the users’ credentials across the relevant services using a highly secure encrypted token.

Make no mistake; this is single sign-on, strong security, with reduced vulnerability and increased flexibility and scalability – in one package. And no username and password to forget!

APS 2.0 – want to find out more?

If you are at Parallels Summit 2013, come and see our Developer Track on 6^th February at 10:30, and learn about Extending APS packages with Single Sign-On.

I’ll also be looking at some of the other “pillars” of APS 2.0 that I describe above – and explaining more about how they give developers, service providers, ISVs, partners, end-users and others the competitive edge in the cloud.