All posts by Richard

M&A Activity, RealPage

RealPage Acquires Rent Mine Online

RealPage, Inc., a provider of on demand software and software-enabled services to the rental housing industry, today announced that it has acquired RentMineOnline Inc. (“RMO”), a software-as-a-service provider of social network marketing solutions for the multifamily rental housing industry (www.rentmineonline.com).  The acquisition will extend the Company’s LeaseStar™ multichannel managed marketing solution which enables property owners and managers to originate, syndicate, manage and capture leads more effectively and at less overall cost.

RentMineOnline helps property owners and managers generate leads by combining the success of online resident referral programs with the power of social networks, such as Facebook™, Twitter™ and LinkedIn™, as well as email.  Since the average social media user has over 150 Facebook™ friends and Twitter™ followers, social network resident referral campaigns are quickly becoming an extremely important source of leads for the rental housing industry.

“Adding a social network referral channel to our LeaseStar™ solution is expected to help increase the percentage of overall leads that a property can generate organically, reducing dependency on more expensive traditional listing services,” said Steve Winn, Chairman and CEO of RealPage.  “Social influence in the rental decision is proving to increase conversion rates, so property owners and managers are now using this type of tool to improve both the quantity and quality of leads that they receive. In addition, we expect social network recommendations to help improve search engine optimization of our LeaseStar™ websites.”

“We are excited to become part of the RealPage team,” said Ed Spiegel, CEO of Rent Mine Online.  “We have revolutionized the way property owners and managers utilize social media to drive demand reaching over 10 million unique friends since our inception.  We are delighted that our vision and dedication on this front will enable us to become part of the LeaseStar™ multichannel marketing solution which should transform the way property owners and managers solve the total rental housing demand equation.”


IT Management, Tools, Virtual machine, Virtualization, VMware, VMware vSphere, vSphere

Cloud Resource Meter for VMware vSphere available for download From 6fusion.

Cloud Resource Meter for VMware vSphere allows users to meter resource consumption in any VMware vSphere 4.1 or 5.0 environment providing  insight into resource consumption – for free right from the VMware console. In addition, new functionality was added to the latest version of Cloud Resource Meter for VMware vSphere based on feedback from beta customers, including:

  • Enhanced reporting capabilities such as viewing individual and summary
    VM profile reports
  • Usability and navigation enhancements such as sorting and managing
    profiles by Name, Free and Pro
  • The ability to upgrade from the Free to the Pro version of Cloud
    Resource Meter directly within the tool

Cloud Resource Meter for VMware vSphere joins the existing family of 6fusion Cloud Resource Meter products, including Cloud Resource Meter for Linux and Cloud Resource Meter for Windows. You can see a demo of Cloud Resource Meter for VMware vSphere at 1PM ET on Wednesday, August 1st – register here.

“Cloud Resource Meter provides us a powerful and simple way to centralize and aggregate our customers usage information for billing and reporting of our Cloud Continuity services,” said Omar Torres, Director of Virtualization & Cloud Solutions at Veristor. “Through the secure, web-based console we are able to accurately track our customers usage without having to invest in and run our own metering infrastructure. This brings us a number of valuable efficiencies to how we operate and service our cloud customers.”

“6fusion believes metering IT consumption across heterogeneous environments is fundamental to optimizing any IT infrastructure,” said John Cowan, Co-Founder and CEO of 6fusion. “Cloud Resource Meter for VMware vSphere gives organizations unprecedented insights into how their IT resources are actually being used, who is using those resources, and they can improve the business value they are delivering.”

Cloud Resource Meter is available in two models – Free and Pro. Cloud Resource Meter Free provides the ability to meter and view the last 28 days of data directly in the vSphere interface or in the 6fusion UC6 Console. The Pro version provides the full capabilities of the tool, including unlimited metering, expanded reporting capabilities, technical support as well as the ability to access 6fusion’s enhanced analytics tools.


Business Processes, ControlCase, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, IT Management, Legal, Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, Skydera

Compliant Cloud includes all products, services required to keep cloud infrastructures compliant with PCI DSS, HIPAA, ISO 27001/2

Image representing ControlCase as depicted in ...

Image via CrunchBase

Compliant Cloud includes all the necessary products and services required to keep cloud infrastructures secure and compliant with PCI DSS, HIPAA, ISO 27001/2 and other regulations and standards.

US companies remain concerned over lingering data security risks with new cloud-based applications – and as a result, they lag behind Asia-Pacific and Latin American companies in the adoption of cloud computing by nearly two to one, according to a recent report in Forbes magazine. ControlCase has developed a solution to alleviate these security issues and allow US companies to confidently leverage the latest cloud-based systems.

ControlCase has partnered with leading cloud-based technology providers to make this elegant package of solutions complete and comprehensive; Skydera provides an easy-to-use management interface, while Amazon hosts the service securely and reliably.

The Compliant Cloud service is incorporated into ControlCase’s unique Compliance as a Service (CaaS) platform, the industry-changing solution that provides one convenient source for a complete and continuous suite of compliance and security services, including internal and external security testing, 24/7/365 data log monitoring and alerting, policy management, training and certification.

ControlCase’s development of the Compliant Cloud service represents the strength of the company’s broader vision to help organizations achieve compliance more quickly, more consistently. “With the proliferation of cloud usage, it is only natural that our clients worry about the security and compliance of their current or intended use of cloud-based applications,” explained CEO Kishor Vaswani. “ControlCase has made it easier for our clients to adopt these new technologies by solving the security and compliance needs of their cloud infrastructures.”

For more information about ControlCase and the Compliant Cloud service, visit www.controlcase.com or call 703.483.6383.


Education, High Performance Computing, HPC, Indiana University, Linux, Memphis University, Penguin Computing, University of Delaware, University of Virginia

Penguin Computing Offers HPC Compute Clouds Built for Academia, Research

Penguin Computing today announced partnerships with multiple universities to enable easy, quick and unbureaucratic on-demand access to scalable HPC compute resources for academic researchers.

“Penguin Computing has traditionally been very successful with HPC deployments in academic environments with widely varying workloads, many departments competing for resources and very limited budgets for capital expenses, a cloud based model for compute resources makes perfect sense,” says Tom Coull, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Software and Services at Penguin Computing. “The new partnerships help academic institutions with a flexible cloud based resource allocation for their researchers. At the same time, they present an opportunity for IT departments to create an ongoing revenue stream by offering researchers from other schools access to their cloud.”

Penguin has implemented three versions of academic HPC clouds:

Hybrid Clouds – Which are a local ‘on-site’ cluster configured to support the use of Penguin-on-Demand (POD) cloud resources as needed on a pay-as-you go basis. Local compute resources can be provisioned for average demand and utilization peaks can be offloaded transparently. This model lowers the initial capital expense and for temporary workload peaks excess cycles are provided cost effectively by Penguin’s public HPC cloud. Examples of hybrid cloud deployments include the University of Delaware and Memphis University.

Channel Partnership – Between Universities and Penguin Computing, allow educational institutions to become distributors for POD compute cycles. University departments with limited access to compute resources for research can use Penguin’s virtual supercomputer on-demand and pay-as-they-go, allowing them to use their IT budget for operational expenses. When departments use the university’s HPC cloud, revenue can supplement funding for IT staff or projects, increasing the department’s capabilities. This model has been successfully implemented at the California Institute for Technology in conjunction with Penguin’s PODshell, a web-service based solution that supports the submission and monitoring of HPC cloud compute jobs from any Linux system with internet connectivity.

Combination Hybrid / Channel – The Benefits of the first two models have been successfully implemented at Indiana University (IU) as a public-private partnership. Penguin leverages the University’s HPC facilities and human resources while IU benefits from fast access to local compute resources and Penguin’s HPC experience. IU can use POD resources and provide compute capacity to other academic institutions. The agreement between IU and Penguin also has the support of a group of founding user-partners including the University of Virginia, the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Michigan who along with IU will be users of the new service. The POD collocation offers access through the high-speed national research network internet2 and is integrated with the XSEDE infrastructure that enables scientists to transparently share computing resources.

“This is a great example of a community cloud service,” said Brad Wheeler, vice president for information technology and CIO at Indiana University. “By working together in a productive private-public partnership, we can achieve cost savings through larger scales while also ensuring security and managing the terms of service in the interests of researchers.”

For more information about Penguin Computing’s HPC compute resources, please visit www.penguincomputing.com.


Asure, IT Management, PeopleCube, Resource Scheduler, Tools, Videoconferencing

Asure Software Updates Resource Scheduler

Asure Software, Inc. today announced that it has released a new version of Resource Scheduler, a SaaS-based application for managing shared workspace and other organizational assets. This new release follows the July 2, 2012 acquisition of PeopleCube, making Asure the largest global provider of cloud-based workplace management solutions.

“The release of Resource Scheduler version 9.2 is a significant milestone for Asure and its clients, as it represents the first product release following Asure Software’s acquisition of PeopleCube,” said Pat Goepel, Asure’s Chief Executive Officer. “We are thrilled that we have been able to deliver this release as originally scheduled, reaffirming our commitment to our clients and supporting our vision that we will aggressively invest in ongoing product innovation for not just Resource Scheduler, but for the AsureSpace product line as a whole.”

The PeopleCube solution set has been incorporated into the AsureSpace workspace management platform, joining Asure’s existing Meeting Room Manager scheduling application. The addition of Resource Scheduler, Workspace Manager, PeopleCounter, Workplace BI, and Energy Management to the AsureSpace platform creates a comprehensive suite of workspace management solutions that helps organizations of any size maximize the efficient utilization of shared organization assets.

Over time, Asure will integrate Workspace Manager and Meeting Room Manager, combining the extensive office hoteling features of Workspace Manager with the best-in-class room scheduling capabilities in Meeting Room Manager.

“The acquisition of PeopleCube creates a powerhouse in the workspace management market by delivering increased measurable value to our clients,” continued Goepel. “Our customers will benefit tremendously from the combined organization. With additional investment applied to ongoing product research and development, expanded cloud-based offerings, new LCD panel scheduling capabilities, and a larger services and support team than the organization size of most of our competitors, we have greatly strengthened our ability to help improve the efficiencies of our clients each and every day.”
Resource Scheduler 9.2 features enhancements to improve telework and related office hoteling programs, including available support for importing CAD floorplan diagrams and integration with Brivo card readers for simple hoteling check-in. The release also includes integration with BT/Engage to support the scheduling of video conferencing equipment and services through Resource Scheduler, enhancing clients’ collaboration using the BT/Engage platform.

“Resource Scheduler has long been a leading solution of choice for organizations of all sizes to help maximize the efficient utilization of shared resources and other assets,” said John T. Anderson, Asure’s Executive Vice President. “This release of Resource Scheduler supports Asure’s strategy of delivering measureable value to its clients by streamlining the management of video conferencing services and shared workspace, both key components to enhanced collaboration and productivity of today’s modern workforce.”


AutoDesk, Autodesk SketchBook Pro, iOS, M&A Activity, Mobile, Pixlr, Socialcam, Video

Autodesk Buys Socialcam for Mobile Social Video

Image representing Autodesk as depicted in Cr...

Autodesk Inc., has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Socialcam for a purchase price of approximately $60 Million. Socialcam is a popular mobile social video capture, editing and sharing app and service that was launched in 2011. This transaction is expected to close in Autodesk’s third quarter of fiscal 2013 (which ends on October 31, 2012) and is subject to customary closing conditions.

“Mobile computing, the cloud and social media are improving and changing the way people design, engineer and create projects,” said Samir Hanna, vice president, Autodesk Consumer Group. “Video is an ideal medium for professionals and consumers alike to communicate and share their design ideas. We are excited to have Socialcam join our growing portfolio of applications, services and communities for digital art, personal design and fabrication, home design and entertainment.”

Socialcam is a smartphone application and web-based service that makes it easy to capture, edit and share videos. The Socialcam app has been one of the most popular mobile video apps in the iOS App Store and Android marketplace with over 16 million downloads since it was first launched in 2011. Autodesk will prioritize support for the existing Socialcam community, while investing in scaling the platform and developing a more comprehensive set of tools for Socialcam users. Autodesk also plans to use the Socialcam platform to help make its Academy Award-winning technology for professional film and video creators more accessible to a broader audience.

“Socialcam shares Autodesk’s mission of helping everybody imagine, design and create a better world,” said Michael Seibel, Founder and CEO, Socialcam. “Autodesk has a proven track record of acquiring and scaling fast-growing, early stage consumer businesses while staying true to their core audience and vision. With products like Pixlr, SketchBook and 123D, Autodesk is empowering creativity in millions around the world by making their award-winning technology accessible to everybody. We’re excited to join them and introduce this global community to simple video creation, editing and sharing.”


Facebook, IT Management, ManageEngine, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, Social, Social network, Twitter

ManageEngine Ships Private Social Network Exclusively for IT

ManageEngine today announced the general availability of ITPulse, a private social network built exclusively for IT teams. ITPulse engages and socializes IT teams by establishing a one-stop, cascading wall for real-time display of IT infrastructure health and collaboration in a secure and fun environment.

Today’s lean IT model forces IT teams to make decisions on the fly, forcing them to ditch the traditional email-based communication systems and adopt instant collaboration tools such as Facebook-type social networks. However, concerns about data security make IT reluctant to adopt social networks for official communication. To meet the unique communication needs of IT, ITPulse includes a Facebook-like wall for having discussions and sharing articles and videos in a private and restricted domain. Only users within the domain can access the wall, and the data shared are not leaked to the outside world.

“IT teams love ITPulse as it offers a common wall for both IT and IT management tools,” said Dev Anand, director of product management at ManageEngine. “Any alarm, event, report, overdue ticket, etc. created in the IT management tool is automatically posted on the wall. IT folks can pick them up from the wall in real time and start working on them straightaway.”

Anand added, “Apart from offering a social platform for real-time collaboration, ITPulse also acts as a secure communication channel during disasters such as a mail server outage. IT folks can discuss the issue and the troubleshooting steps on the wall from anywhere, anytime.”

IT Gets a Social Network of Its Own

ITPulse reflects the experience and expertise ManageEngine has developed in serving more than 60,000 customers representing more than one million IT users worldwide. The overarching goal of ITPulse is to improve the quality of information and communications for IT users. To that end, ManageEngine is making ITPulse available as both a standalone SaaS service as well as a module that will integrate with its portfolio of IT management tools, including

  • OpManager
    – User actions, such as alarm pickup, alarm clear, alarm delete and
    alarm notes, will be reflected automatically on the ITPulse wall.
  • ServiceDesk
    Plus     – User actions, such as ‘add a knowledge-base article,’
    ‘add a problem request,’ ‘add a change request,’ and ‘approve a change
    request,’ will be posted on the ITPulse wall automatically.
    Additionally, users working from within the ITPulse UI will be able to
    initiate actions in ServiceDesk Plus.

The integrations, in turn, drive powerful automations that streamline IT collaboration in problem prevention and resolution. For example, if a network admin makes a change to a router config file, which is picked up by change management software and reported in OpManager as an alarm, the data gets posted on the ITPulse wall if someone acknowledges the alarm or adds notes to it — a much faster process than communicating via email or telephone.

ITPulse includes group-in-group support, which lets sub-teams within an IT team privately chat among themselves, keeping private discussions intact and posting only the key findings to the entire team.

In addition to ManageEngine users, the company is making ITPulse available to all IT community members regardless of the tools they use to manage their networks. The ITPulse API is open and publicly available, enabling integration with tools from BMC, CA, HP, IBM and other vendors, as well as with homegrown management solutions, such as a daily back-up script for a storage area network. The company is also making ManageEngine professional services available to provide technical support for third-party integrations.

Pricing and Availability

ITPulse is available immediately. In addition to the ITPulse Free Edition, which supports up to two users, ITPulse Professional Edition is $5 per user per month. The Professional Edition includes technical support via support@youritpulse.com. ITPulse is available at a discount for existing ManageEngine customers; this special offer can be accessed at http://ow.ly/chvJx.

Users can sign up for ITPulse at https://youritpulse.com/signup. User licenses are available via the ITPulse store at http://itpulse.myshopify.com/products/it-pulse-user-license and via direct sales at sales@youritpulse.com.

For more information on ITPulse, please visit http://youritpulse.com. For more information on ManageEngine, please visit http://www.manageengine.com; follow the company blog at http://blogs.manageengine.com, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ManageEngine and on Twitter at @ManageEngine.


Uncategorized

SilkRoad Launches Point for Social Talent Networking

 

Image representing SilkRoad technology as depi...

SilkRoad Technology Inc. has launched Point, the latest tool in the social talent management solutions provider’s Life Suite product range. The new employee-centric social networking solution connects employees to each other and their organisation by uniting the popular features of social networking with talent management.

SilkRoad Point gives employees the forum they need to share expertise and be recognised by peers and leaders while simultaneously helping companies to better understand what and who is driving their business.

The launch follows positive feedback from industry experts and HR professionals in attendance at the HR Software Show, Olympia, where Point was previewed last week.

“Our research shows that organisations that adopt peer-to-peer learning, recognition, and knowledge sharing dramatically outperform their peers in customer service, time to market, and employee engagement,” says Josh Bersin, Chief Executive Officer and President of Bersin & Associates, the leading provider of research-based HR best practices that drive business results. “SilkRoad Point represents a new breed of consumer-like social talent tools that organisations can use to easily leverage the power of social connections in corporate learning, collaboration, and project management.”

Employers often have a limited view of what employees are actually doing as job descriptions and performance reviews don’t always accurately depict employees’ knowledge and contributions across the organisation.  With Point, organisations can increase knowledge and insight through the use of social collaboration and learning. Employees identify centres of influence by contributor, content and topic.   As a result, organisations create a self-motivating culture where employees can be identified and recognised for their influence and recognise others for their contributions.

“HR has struggled to understand how knowledge and information flows across the organisation,” says Lisa Rowan, Program Director for HR, Learning, and Talent Management Strategies, IDC. “With Point, organisations now have the ability to reveal not only the connections between its employees but the meaning behind them and how it impacts the company. Point enables companies to share goals, inspire innovation, and increase efficiency to drive organisational change and success.”

Features include:

  • People and Connections – Increase collaboration and connections to share links, files, questions, photos, polls, announcements and feedback across the organisation.
  • Groups – Connect people with similar interests by creating Groups.  Groups can be used to align a team around a particular topic or set of goals encouraging knowledge sharing and collaboration.
  • Content – Share content in the form of articles, thoughts, Q&A and files by posting on either a personal landing page or a group home page.  Comment, reply and discuss to build better solutions through collaboration.
  • Points and Influence – Tag topics with a ‘Point’ to help categorise content for more efficient search strategies. By identifying Points, which can include thoughts, documents, files etc., influential content and its author(s) will emerge.
  • Integrated Learning Platform – Allow users to easily access and manage their learning plans directly from Point.  Informal social learning supplements the knowledge gained by the learning programs found in GreenLight.

“With Point, we’ve closed the gap between social networking and talent management by converging them together to drive even higher levels of employee engagement and performance,” says Brian Platz, COO of SilkRoad. “Using Point, companies can more easily encourage and increase knowledge sharing for greater productivity, innovation and collaboration.  Organisations are enabled to better engage and retain employees using social networking features already familiar to employees while decreasing risks with greater insights into strategic workforce planning.”


CCIE Certification, CDW, CDW Cloud Collaboration, Cisco, Cisco Systems, Collaboration, Partnerships

CDW Offering Cisco Cloud Collaboration Solution

CDW  today announced its new CDW Cloud Collaboration solution. CDW, a Cisco Gold Certified Partner, will host the new offering in its own facilities and will combine Cisco’s collaboration platforms with CDW professional services to provide customers the security and personalization of a traditional, on-premise communications solution with the flexibility, scale and economics of a cloud solution.

Most organizations understand the value of collaboration technologies such as voice and video conferencing, voicemail or customer collaboration platforms, but many lack the deep technical expertise and staff resources to successfully deploy and manage them. With CDW’s Cloud Collaboration offering, users can focus on critical business responsibilities and customer needs with peace of mind, knowing that CDW is behind them to deliver a strategic collaboration solution from design to implementation to management.

“The way organizations work is changing, with employees no longer confined to working in the same physical location and customers increasingly involved in product and service development. As a result, collaboration technology needs are evolving,” said Christine Holloway, vice president of converged infrastructure solutions, CDW. “Today, organizations need new technologies that increase efficiency, accommodate a dispersed workforce and integrate customer communications, while freeing up IT staff to work on other projects. Built upon industry-leading technology from Cisco, CDW Cloud Collaboration includes all the features necessary to provide organizations with top collaboration services.”

CDW’s Cloud Collaboration solution, powered by the Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution (HCS), provides organizations with exceptional flexibility in choosing the way that collaboration applications are deployed. The capability to choose a hosted deployment option can also help organizations deploy collaboration technologies faster, while potentially lowering capital expenditures and operating expenses.

“As enterprises adopt collaboration technologies to quickly connect people with a high level of security to the resources and information they need to get work done, many businesses are requiring cloud solutions and looking for options from partners,” said Richard McLeod, senior director, Worldwide Partner Collaboration Sales at Cisco. “Based on Cisco HCS, CDW Cloud Collaboration provides customers with the flexibility to have collaboration applications delivered to them as services, with ongoing support and management provided by CDW.”

CDW Cloud Collaboration is supported by a dedicated team of CDW solution architects and engineers, and each client will have its own highly secure, virtualized private intranet hosted in CDW’s facilities. Partnering with Cisco helps ensure that CDW Cloud Collaboration meets a proven quality standard, with CDW’s expert team ready to support implementation and management. CDW holds Cisco Master Certifications in unified communications, managed services and security, and the CDW team includes more than 600 Cisco certified engineers, including more than 50 with the CCIE certification – the highest technical certification offered by Cisco. Further demonstrating CDW’s deep knowledge, Cisco recently named CDW its Global Partner of the Year – Americas and awarded the company its U.S. Nationals Architectural Excellence Award for Collaboration.

For more information about CDW’s Cloud Collaboration offerings, please visit: http://www.cdw.com/cloudcollaboration.