All posts by Richard

Anti-Virus, Avira, Internet security

Avira Launches 2013 Antivirus Security Software Line; Extends Protection from Computers to Consumers

Avira today announced the Avira 2013 product line, which includes Avira Free Antivirus, Avira Antivirus Premium 2013, Avira Internet Security 2013, and Avira Internet Security Plus.

The 2013 version of Avira’s Free Antivirus software adds 6 new security features making it the most comprehensive free antivirus products on the market. Avira’s premium products have 8 new features. These new features give consumers a more secure browsing experience by protecting them from Internet scams and threats, in addition to keeping their computers free of viruses and malware.

“With over 100 million users worldwide, our goal with Avira 2013 was to offer protection to people no matter what device they use, and we did that by adding many user oriented features to this release, making it the most feature-rich solution we’ve ever made,” said Sorin Mustaca, product manager and data security expert at Avira. “We’ve also kept the resources footprint small, so users will not notice any slowdown in computer performance.”

The following new features added to the Avira 2013 family of products are all designed to protect not just computer devices, but also computer users — wherever they are and whatever device they’re using:

  • Avira Protection Cloud – Avira’s leading cloud technology
    identifies malware faster by uploading suspicious files for instant
    analysis. (Available for paid users)
  • Browser Tracking Blocker – Gives users control over their
    privacy while browsing the internet by blocking trackers that gather
    data about your browsing activity.
  • Website Safety Advisor – Protects users from scams, phishing
    and suspicious sites by displaying safe, low-risk or high-risk icons
    on the search results and any webpage they visit.
  • Social Network Protection – Notifies parents and children of
    suspicious or worrisome activity on social networks (such as predators
    or your child being bullied online) so they can take appropriate
    action.
  • Android Security – Safeguards users’ Android phones and the
    valuable data it holds. Users can locate it when lost, lock it and
    even wipe the data remotely.
  • More Frequent Updates for Free Users – Avira Free Antivirus now
    updates every 6 hours instead of every 24 hours, giving users more
    current protection.
  • Network Folder Scanning – Shared folders like Dropbox and
    network folders are becoming more common, and with it comes the
    increased risk of spreading malware. Avira now scans network folders
    in addition local folders to keep computers free of infection.
    (Available for paid users)
  • No Advertising Pop-ups for Avira Free Antivirus Users – Users
    who install Avira’s SearchFree toolbar will no longer have pop-up ads
    displayed to them. The SearchFree toolbar includes Browser Tracking
    Blocker and Website Safety. As always Avira’s paid products are
    without advertising, independent of toolbar installation.


Call Center, Intellectual Property, Patent, United States Patent and Trademark Office

8×8 Gets New Contact/Call Center Patent

8×8, Inc. today announced that it has been awarded a new patent related to its contact/call center technologies. On September 25, 2012, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued United States Patent number 8,275,116, entitled “Networked Contact Center.”

The patent relates to, among other things, a networked contact center that includes multiple platforms to host multiple tenants. Example embodiments of the invention include receiving a message associated with one of the tenants and identifying one or more of the platforms associated with the message. The invention also enables the networked contact center platform to access a data location that is both associated with the tenant and shared by two or more of the multiple tenants.

Since its establishment in 1987, 8×8 has been awarded eighty-three (83) United States patents covering a variety of voice and video communications, signaling, processing and storage technologies.


Dawn Capital, E-mail archiving, Insight Venture Partners, Messaging, Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Office 365, Mimecast, Venture Funding

Mimecast Gets $62 Million for Email Archiving

Mimecast, a provider of cloud-based email archiving, security and continuity for Microsoft Exchange and Office 365, has today announced that it has secured $62.15 million in Series C funding led by Global Private Equity Firm Insight Venture Partners, with existing investors Dawn Capital also participating. Mimecast plans to use the funding to accelerate the development and deployment of new technology, and to support plans for rapid expansion in the U.S. market.

Founded in the U.K. in 2003 by Peter Bauer (CEO) and Neil Murray (CTO), Mimecast has grown rapidly, with over 50 percent year on year revenue growth recorded in six of the past nine years. Today, the Company has over 6,000 customers globally – including 70 percent of the U.K.’s top 100 law firms – and over 1.5 million users worldwide.

In addition to growing its existing business within the European, American and South African markets, Mimecast intends to use the investment to drive innovations in corporate email. The Company’s technology has already played an instrumental role in changing the way businesses deploy email; leading the transition from fragmented LAN-based infrastructures to a single platform cloud solution, Unified Email Management (UEM). Mimecast will now focus on continuing this evolution, using its Software-as-a-Service technology to create an Information Banking platform that allows businesses to unlock the inherent value stored within corporate email.

“Today’s businesses are as dependent on email as ever but, increasingly, email struggles to keep up as the way we create, store and share information changes,” Peter Bauer, CEO and co-founder, Mimecast. “At Mimecast, we believe email needs to be rewired if it is to continue to deliver real value to businesses. Building on our history of innovation, we are working to make email more collaborative and more interactive to realize the true value of the vast amount of unstructured data in email stores. We believe that the future is a more interactive archiving model, where IT folk and end users alike can derive more value in real time, on a day-to-day basis on any technology platform they choose to use. The cloud has the potential to democratize information management and deliver these kinds of powerful productivity tools to businesses of all sizes, rather than just being the preserve of the largest enterprises.”

“Email is the most important means of business communication and, better than anyone else, Mimecast delivers a true integrated solution for secure and accessible email,” said Jeff Lieberman, managing director, Insight Venture Partners. “Mimecast has already achieved strong success and with their product superiority, the industry’s move towards cloud solutions and a very large market opportunity, we believe that Mimecast is poised to achieve high growth and become the global leader in unified email management. Insight is delighted to share in this journey with management and existing shareholders.”


Archiving & Regulatory Retention, HarbourVest Partners, Pamlico, Pamlico Capital, Venture Funding

Secure-24 Gets Investment from Pamlico Capital

Secure-24, Inc. (“Secure-24”) and Pamlico Capital announced today that a Pamlico Capital-led investment group has made a growth equity investment in Secure-24, Inc. Secure-24, founded in 2001, is an emerging leader in business critical application hosting and cloud services with a focus on ERP applications from SAP® and Oracle®. The co-founders, Volker Straub and Matthias Horch will retain significant ownership of Secure-24 and will continue to manage the growth of the company in partnership with Pamlico Capital. The investment group included HarbourVest Partners. Detailed terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

Secure-24 also announces that it has recruited industry veteran Michael Jennings to join the Secure-24 management team. Jennings was co-founder and CTO of Appshop, Inc. a leader in Oracle ERP hosting.

“We are extremely happy to partner with Pamlico because of its track record supporting companies and entrepreneurs as a growth capital provider,” said Matthias Horch, Secure-24 CEO. “Secure-24 has seen tremendous demand for IT infrastructure and application outsourcing services and is poised to continue to grow as companies focus on building strategic partnerships to reduce costs and improve the operation of advanced and complex IT systems. The expertise and resources Pamlico brings to our team will be critical assets to accelerate innovation, growth and market leadership.”

Pamlico Partner Scott Stevens said, “We focus on making equity investments in growing and profitable industry-leading technology companies. Secure-24 has demonstrated all the characteristics we look for; an experienced and highly capable management team, a strong competitive position, an industry-leading technology platform, and a superior service delivery model. Secure-24’s focus on helping companies increase business value through their IT investments provides them the opportunity for impressive growth in the years ahead.”


Hyper-V, Microsoft, Microsoft Windows, Network management, Network virtualization, Virtualization, Windows Server

F5 Extends Dynamic Networking to Windows Server-Based Virtual Network Environments

F5 Networks, Inc. today announced the F5 Network Virtualization Solution for Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V. The solution gives F5 customers the flexibility to use the BIG-IP platform to deploy network services in cloud-driven data centers that are built on Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V. This announcement underscores F5’s commitment to deliver a dynamic, efficient data center that will ensure scalability, security, and manageability across an organization’s IT environments and systems.

With this solution, the same network-based services that the BIG-IP platform provides—such as local and global load balancing, advanced traffic steering, access control, and application security and acceleration—can now also be used to deliver applications in the Microsoft cloud and virtualized network environments. The solution is enabled by F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager™ (LTM®) Virtual Edition (VE) running on Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V.

Organizations that use Hyper-V network virtualization to realize cost savings and operational efficiencies stand to gain many additional benefits from the F5 solution, including:

  • Improved Flexibility – Working in conjunction with Hyper-V
    network virtualization, the F5 solution supports seamless, low-cost
    migration to the cloud by allowing organizations to use the same
    policies and IP addresses in the cloud that they currently use in the
    physical network.
  • Cost Savings – The F5 solution accelerates data center
    consolidation by connecting hybrid cloud environments, enabling
    organizations to cut costs while extending their applications and
    services.
  • Efficient Network Management – The F5 solution can
    intelligently manage network traffic at layers 4-7, mitigating the
    need for organizations to build and manage large layer 2 networks.
  • Streamlined ADN Services – The F5 solution runs on Windows
    Server 2012 Hyper-V, and all services are applied in BIG-IP LTM VE, so
    no software upgrades or special code is required on the physical
    network.


Test automation, Testing, Webinar/Webcast/Presentation

DeviceAnywheres Automated Mobile Testing Platform Being Shown at StarWest Conference 2012

Keynote® Systems today announced that Bryan Segale, Director of Solutions for Keynotes’ DeviceAnywhere platform, will conduct a technical presentation at Software Testing Analysis & Review West (StarWest) titled “Learn About Testing on Real Devices With All the Ease of Browser-based Testing,” on Thursday, October 4 at 1:30 p.m. at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, Calif.

Segale will highlight the advantages of using automated testing tools for mobile devices, drawing from first-hand experience working with all types of enterprises in the mobile space, helping them to design and implement manual and automated testing strategies to facilitate higher-quality applications to market faster. His technical presentation will focus on the benefits of using browser-based testing with actual, live devices. “Learn About Testing on Real Devices With All the Ease of Browser-based Testing” will examine what it means to be able to remotely test devices using industry-leading tools, including how to:

  • Easily create scripts that operate across multiple mobile device
    models and OSs
  • Efficiently automate tests, leveraging the latest in HTML5
  • Improve ROI for your mobile initiatives

WHAT: Technical Presentation: “Learn About Testing on Real Devices With All the Ease of Browser-based Testing”

WHEN: Thursday, October 4, 2012 from 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. PDT

WHERE: Disneyland Hotel – Booth 3

For more information about the StarWest event, visit: www.sqe.com/StarWest. If you are unable to attend the event and wish to view what we are showcasing, you can join us via StarWest Virtual Conference on October 3-4. To attend the event right from your desktop, register here: https://vts.inxpo.com/scripts/Server.nxp.


Application performance management, AppNeta, Network performance, Tools

AppNeta Launches Unified Application, Network Performance Management

AppNeta today announced the launch of its unified solutions for End User Experience Monitoring including full-stack application performance tracing and unprecedented network performance insight. With the recent acquisition of Tracelytics, AppNeta now provides industry-first performance visibility that IT teams have never had before, across the complete network and application infrastructure.

As business organizations become completely dependent on Internet and web-based technologies such as unified communications, CRM systems, ecommerce, hosted email, and other custom applications, it is necessary to know how they are running and where problems are occurring. With AppNeta’s integrated performance management solutions, IT teams and developers can easily see into the datacenter applications, down to the specific layer and code, and out to the remote sites where end users are experiencing performance degradation or service failure. With this comprehensive level of visibility and analysis, IT teams can quickly identify if the issues are happening in the network or the applications, and save hours chasing down problems and finger-pointing.

“End users have little tolerance for application performance problems,” said Jim Melvin, CEO of AppNeta. “As today’s applications have become more sophisticated and performance-sensitive, the risk of service disruption is at an all time high. AppNeta solutions provide a level of breadth and depth of performance insight that the industry has never seen before. Our customers solve technology problem before they become business problems.”

“The Application Performance Management market is moving to a SaaS delivery model that allows developers and IT teams to assure performance of distributed applications across datacenters and private/public clouds,” said Bernd Harzog, CEO, APM Experts. “This is leading to innovative, disruptive performance management solutions that are truly transforming the way IT teams assure application performance and end user experience.”

AppNeta’s new TraceView application performance monitoring service delivers immediate time-to-value by providing full-stack application tracing capabilities through application tiers and stacks to get real-time insight into actual web application performance. TraceView offers deep, detailed analysis of performance problems and provides actionable data for quick resolution and optimization.

AppNeta’s award-winning PathView Cloud service provides integrated insight from every element of the network performance stack including active path performance analysis, application-aware traffic flow analysis, automated remote site packet capture, and on-demand device status (SNMP). This complete suite delivered from the cloud brings thousands of global customers the fastest time to resolution in the industry and superior End User Experience monitoring.

Free trials of PathView Cloud network performance management service and the TraceView application performance monitoring service are both available today at www.appneta.com.


AppFirst, Business transaction management, Partnerships

AppFirst Launches New Partner Program

AppFirst, the SaaS application management system, today unveiled a comprehensive new Partner Program designed for both Cloud and Solution Providers. The program offers a new, expanded free subscription available only via AppFirst partners and provides ongoing training and product support, enabling partners to deliver innovative solutions to their own customers. The rollout of this Partner Program follows the company’s launch earlier this month of its new DevOps Dashboard, an application performance monitoring solution that delivers a clear, unified status view of infrastructure, applications and business metrics to all stakeholders in an organization.

“Our focus today is on growing our global ecosystem to increase the number of AppFirst experts as well as the overall availability of our product,” said David Roth, AppFirst CEO. “By offering access to our solutions through the primary source customers use to deploy their applications in the cloud, our Partner Program complements our partners’ solutions with AppFirst technology, delivering added value to our respective customers. This expanded universe is designed to provide our partners with the solutions and support they need to succeed and grow within their own markets.”

Under the Cloud Provider Partner Program, qualified cloud service providers such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) can offer the enhanced free version of AppFirst to its customers via their own marketplace or dashboards, as an extension or add-on to their own service. AppFirst partners deliver value to their end customers by offering a solution that provides the visibility needed across the infrastructure, application and business as an application is running in production, with the added benefit of AppFirst’s extended free program.

“In today’s online world, keeping applications and websites up and running is business critical,” said Mal Knox, Director of Business Development at Engine Yard. “With Engine Yard Cloud, we provide the tools and resources to ensure the optimum performance of our customers’ applications. Partnering with companies like AppFirst enables us to deliver enhanced performance monitoring services, giving customers the visibility they need.”

Solution Provider Partners, which include systems integrators, application development shops and cloud consultancies, will have access to AppFirst products and training, while also receiving implementation tools and assistance, technical resources and implementation support from the company. As these partners become competent with AppFirst’s solutions, they can integrate them in their customer deliverables and even customize and optimize the solution. Solution Providers are also able to offer the free version to their clients, allowing direct visibility into the applications their customers want to actively monitor themselves. Building a global ecosystem of trained Solution Provider Partners allows AppFirst to scale to deliver implementation and industry-specific configuration services at the local level through their partners.

Because AppFirst’s DevOps Dashboard is also easily customizable, any partner company can offer broad custom solutions for internal use, and for their own customers, whether executives, IT ops or DevOps.

“Our customers, with our assistance, are making strategic decisions about if, when and how they migrate to cloud,” said Eileen Boerger, president of CorSource Technology Group. “Partnering with AppFirst provides us another tool in our quiver to assist with those decisions. With the DevOps Dashboard being so customizable, that allows us to provide individualized solutions for our customers, something they demand.”

AppFirst collects millions of infrastructure, application and business metrics that are aggregated and correlated in a single big data repository that eliminates the need for users to look for data in multiple places. Data is collected continuously to provide customers with unprecedented visibility into their entire infrastructure and every application running in production, bringing overall system management to a whole new level.

The DevOps Dashboard’s ability to auto-detect application stacks and configure data collection from the relevant sources delivers a customized dashboard specific to the user’s environment — all automatically, with no extra effort required. With the smart threshold feature, AppFirst time learns over time what is “normal” for a user’s business metrics and delivers alerts when metrics shift one standard deviation from normal levels, saving time and money.

For more information on AppFirst’s Partner Programs, please visit the AppFirst partner section or call 1.800.782.2181.


Archiving & Regulatory Retention, Electronic discovery, Financial Services, Rand Secure Archive, Rand Worldwide, Requirement

Rand Secure Archive Implements Hosted Archiving Solution for Ampersand Capital Partners

Rand Worldwide announced that their Rand Secure Archive division has implemented their proprietary hosted archiving and retrieval solution for Ampersand Capital Partners.

“As a private equity firm, Ampersand has to deal with a constantly evolving regulatory environment, including reporting requirements by the SEC, the impact of Sarbanes-Oxley and the Dodd-Frank Act,” says Rick Charpie, Ampersand’s founder. “To address those requirements we followed the advice that we always give to the CEOs we mentor – to select the best partners possible. That’s why we chose Rand Secure Archive, a partner who shares our commitment to success by delivering world-class technology and service.”

“In the financial services industry, it’s critical that electronic information and communication is both archived and easily retrievable – regardless of the file type or medium,” says Chris Grossman, vice president, Enterprise Applications at Rand Worldwide. “Our robust, hosted solution not only meets the legal requirements, but also offers robust functionality with simplicity and security.”

Key functional requirements for financial services organizations safeguarding their data include:

  • Preserve every electronic business record and store them securely.
  • Find and produce electronic communications quickly, and be prepared
    for SEC and other regulatory examinations or requests with on-demand
    data production for investment advisor compliance.
  • Enables the creation and enforcement of retention policies while
    maintaining a full audit trail to ensure compliance with these
    policies.
  • Offload the cost and operational burden of managing complex and
    disparate email and messaging platforms.

Compared to competitors, Rand Secure Archive provides faster, more advanced search capability and integrated eDiscovery tools, as well as more convenient user access to archived data.


Cloud & IT Management, Data center, Diesel generator, Emergency power system, Google, Green, Microsoft

Cloud Data Centers in Rural Locations — Gobbling Electricity, Throwing Their Weight Around

Very interesting in-depth article in the New York Times today on the sprawling, electricity-hungry data centers spawned by cloud computing.

Internet-based industries have honed a reputation for sleek, clean convenience based on the magic they deliver to screens everywhere. At the heart of every Internet enterprise are data centers, which have become more sprawling and ubiquitous as the amount of stored information explodes, sprouting in community after community.

the gee-whiz factor of such a prominent high-tech neighbor wore off quickly. First, a citizens group initiated a legal challenge over pollution from some of nearly 40 giant diesel generators that Microsoft’s facility — near an elementary school — is allowed to use for backup power.

Then came a showdown late last year between the utility and Microsoft, whose hardball tactics shocked some local officials.

These data centers are apparently not always good neighbors, and of course as they are there to serve our cloud needs we’re all complicity to some degree.