All posts by Richard

Asia/Pacific Rim, Hawaii, Hosting, Nirvanix, Pacific Rim

DRFortress Pay-As-You-Use Cloud Computing Service for Hawaii, Pacific Rim

DRFortress, a Hawain colocation and cloud services provider, today announced that it has launched DRFcloud, a local, pay-as-you-use, cloud computing services based in the State and available throughout the Pacific Rim. This new service, offered in partnership with IaaS pioneer, Appcore, follows the successful start of the Nirvanix cloud storage service. Continuing to demonstrate leadership in the shift to the cloud in Hawaii, both the DRFcloud and the Nirvanix cloud storage hybrid node are maintained at the DRFortress datacenter in Hawaii with redundant mainland nodes for disaster recovery purposes.

“DRFortress has demonstrated extraordinary vision in delivering the first ‘On-Demand, Pay-by-the-Drink’ Cloud Storage and now the same for Cloud Computing Services to Hawaii,” said Marc Staimer, president of Dragon Slayer Consulting. “Hawaii IT organizations are now able to cost effectively take advantage of the cloud services revolution knowing their data and applications will be always be available regardless of local conditions.”

“Previously, Hawaii organizations interested in pay-as-you-use cloud computing were forced to use a Mainland provider, buy hardware boxes and pay maintenance fees or commit to a long term contract with a local virtualization firm,” said Fred Rodi, President, DRFortress. “With our new DRFcloud computing service, we have revolutionized Hawaii’s cloud market by introducing no contract, pay-as-you-need, on-demand utility computing. Clients only pay for the computing power they actually use. In this time of tight budgets businesses and government agencies are increasingly turning to cloud computing as a means of providing flexible computing resources while lowering capital expenses.”

Cloud computing is the most significant advancement in information technology today. According to leading industry analysts, the size of the cloud computing market is expected to be $150 billion by 2013. To gain significant share in this market, DRFortress is employing industry-leading technologies in the new DRFcloud service. With this service, entities of all sizes can implement their own private networks using virtual servers with nothing more than a few mouse-clicks. Companies can self-provision this new service instantaneously online through the DRFortress secure management portal at www.drfcloud.com.

“We are pleased to partner with DRFortress to bring local speed, turn-key cloud solutions to Hawaii and the Pacific Rim,” commented Brian Donaghy, Appcore CEO. “Now service providers and IT departments will be able to use Appcore Onsite™ to launch applications and cloud servers on demand with the click of a single button.”

While security is often mentioned as the number one issue holding businesses back from moving to the cloud, DRFortress addresses this concern by selecting technologies and partners who are able to deliver enterprise-class security and reliability proven in real-world production environments. In addition to DRFortress’ world-class secured datacenter, the company’s partners—Nirvanix and Appcore—have extensive processes and architectures in place to meet customers’ regulatory and business needs.


Electronic health record, IDC MarketScape, Medical, Medical record, Research

Report Examines Leading Vendors of EMR/EHR Technology for Small Physician Practices

IDC Health Insights has released a new IDC MarketScape report designed to guide firms evaluating electronic medical record/electronic health record (EMR/EHR) vendors providing solutions to small physician practices. The new report, IDC MarketScape: U.S. Ambulatory EMR/EHR for Small Practices 2012 Vendor Assessment (Document #HI234732) provides an assessment of eleven EMR/EHR products from nine U.S.-based vendors that target small physician practices and qualify for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) incentives. In the report, IDC Health Insights provides an opinion on which vendors are well-positioned today through current capabilities and which are best positioned to gain market share over the next one to four years. Vendors included in the report are: ADP AdvancedMD; Allscripts; athenahealth; eClinicalWorks; Greenway Medical Technologies, Inc.; LSS (MEDITECH); Lumeris; Optum (OptumInsight); and Practice Fusion.

IDC Health Insights expects the U.S. market to move from less than 25% adoption in 2009 to over 80% adoption by 2016. This anticipated growth is primarily influenced by regulatory stipulations and government incentives under the ARRA; additional trends include the quality of care improvements that result from using EMRs/EHRs in ambulatory practices, their growing capabilities and use of cloud computing, the use of mobile devices in ambulatory practices, and the consolidation of provider vendors as market saturation increases.

According to Judy Hanover, IDC Health Insights research director, “ARRA presents an unprecedented opportunity for providers in small practices to garner federal incentives for demonstrating meaningful use of clinical applications that will help to improve the quality of care, enhance patient safety and prepare their practices for the future. However, the EHR technology itself, the requirements and deadlines for achieving meaningful use and capturing incentives, and the need to change their business practices and integrate the new technology into practice patterns, present complex issues and challenges. If providers allow the constraints of meaningful use to dictate their technology choices and limit the goals for implementation, they may only see the short-term incentives and not the long-term strategic advantage that EHR can bring to their practices and may fail to compete under healthcare reform.”

With hundreds of small practice EMR/EHR vendors participating in the market, the vendors included in this report were carefully selected to include the top five market leaders in the U.S., and a selection of additional vendors that offer compelling technology, strategies or services, such as advanced software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings, innovative pricing or service options, platforms or architecture capabilities. This IDC Marketscape highlights the attributes and key capabilities that providers should look for when selecting an EMR/EHR, and offers a guide for using best practice-based approaches to leveraging an EMR/EHR to build competitive advantage in small practices.

Each product was evaluated against 25 criteria in two category measures for success: strategies and capabilities. Within each of these criteria, IDC Health Insights has weighted specific features of the product or the product’s vendor that are particularly significant for purchasers of the software and for users. A significant and unique component of this evaluation is the inclusion of customer references for all of the products included in the assessment.

Ms. Hanover will review the results of the IDC MarketScape in a one-hour, complimentary Web conference, EHR in the Small Ambulatory Practice: An IDC MarketScape Analysis, on Wednesday, June 6 at 12:00 p.m., U.S. Eastern time. She will also review best practices for implementing EMR/EHR in small ambulatory practices. Register here: http://bit.ly/JjEGj7.


China, Financial Services, Mobile, Mobile payment, Partnerships, Payment

i2c, KargoCard Partner for Prepaid, Mobile Payments, Loyalty Solutions in China

i2c, Inc., a payment processing technology company, and KargoCard, a Shanghai-based prepaid service provider, have partnered to deliver prepaid, mobile payment and loyalty solutions to merchants in China. i2c will provide payment processing services to enable KargoCard to offer a robust suite of products within China.

“KargoCard is an established leader in their market with a rapidly growing distribution network, strong management team and an impressive client list,” said Amir Wain, CEO of i2c. “Their drive to revolutionize the Chinese payments industry aligns perfectly with i2c’s commitment to bring innovation to global payments.”

In a recent report by Mercator Advisory Group, China was estimated to be the world’s largest prepaid market in terms of market potential. With several high-profile clients like Beard Papa, Happy Lemon and Cloud Nine, KargoCard is set to grow exponentially in this market. To support KargoCard and i2c’s growing presence in the Asia-Pacific region, i2c is building out a new data center in Shanghai.

“Our tremendous growth and aggressive expansion plans require an established processing platform that offers superior flexibility and scalability. i2c’s platform provides this, as well as a rich feature set that will allow us to better serve our customers,” said KargoCard CEO David Suzuki.


Backup, Business continuity planning, Data recovery, Disaster Recovery, Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity, Partnerships

EVault Partners with EverGreen Data Continuity to Deliver Disaster Recovery Solutions

EVault, Inc., a Seagate Company, and EverGreen Data Continuity today announced that EverGreen has joined the EVault Partner Program, and will be promoting and selling EVault cloud-connected backup and recovery products and services in the United States. As part of its risk assessment and mitigation service, EverGreen will offer EVault Cloud Disaster Recovery Service (EVault CDR) to further help customers prepare for and respond to disasters and unexpected outages.

EVault CDR is a cloud-based managed service that enables midmarket organizations and enterprise remote or branch offices to securely recover critical systems and data after a disaster. Customers can choose 4, 24 or 48 hour SLAs.

“As a trusted advisor to some of the world’s largest brands and agencies, Evergreen deploys our award-winning Mitigator Business Continuity Management (BCM) software along with our front-end professional services to help customers adequately prepare for any unforeseen event, offering them best-in-class solutions that will meet their needs and mitigate risk,” says Steve Burns, president of EverGreen. “With EVault CDR, we can confidently offer the best disaster recovery service that will help our clients get back to work shortly after a disaster. EVault’s guaranteed SLAs and quality customer service make it a perfect solution for our clients that cannot be without critical systems for an extended period of time.”

All EVault CDR customers work closely with a dedicated, experienced team of EverGreen and EVault DR experts, on call 24/7/365, to guide them through the entire process — from implementation, disaster recovery planning and testing through the execution of system and data recovery processes.

“Building strategic partnerships with industry leaders like EverGreen is critical to EVault’s success,” said Dave Hallmen, vice president of marketing and sales for EVault. “By leveraging EverGreen’s front-line expertise in business continuity coupled with our leadership in the backup and disaster recovery space, together we can help customers mitigate risk, and give them peace of mind that their vital company data is protected at all times.”


Ariba, Ariba Network, Business Processes, Genpact, Partnerships

Genpact, Ariba Expand Alliance to Deliver Procure-to-Pay Solution

Image representing Ariba as depicted in CrunchBase

Genpact Limited and Ariba, Inc. today announced that they have expanded their alliance beyond invoice solutions to encompass the full suite of Ariba’s cloud-based collaborative business commerce solutions into Genpact’s source-to-pay offering. Genpact will combine Ariba’s solutions with its comprehensive service offerings to create a new turnkey offering that will enable medium to large enterprises to improve their visibility into the procurement process and drive greater cost savings. The news came during Ariba LIVE Barcelona, the business commerce event of the year.

This collaboration brings to market a powerful services and technology offering that allows enterprises to fully realize the potential of the source-to-pay cycle. Utilizing Genpact’s unique Smart Enterprise Process (SEPSM) methodology, in conjunction with the Ariba’s cloud-based collaborative commerce applications, will give companies access to industry-leading technologies, standardized practices and strong global relationships. Genpact will leverage its global delivery network to support strategic, transactional and operational source-to-pay processes for companies in multiple industries including life sciences, banking and financial services, consumer product goods (CPG), and manufacturing.

The joint solution will provide clients with access to all aspects of the Ariba Collaborative Commerce Platform including:

  • Cloud-based applications for spend analytics, eProcurement, eSourcing,
    supplier performance management, contract management, working capital
    management and eInvoicing;
  • A community of partners through which they can quickly discover,
    qualify, connect, and collaborate with trading partners; and
  • Capabilities in the form of best practices, community-derived
    intelligence and other unique features or services that are only
    available to members of the community, such as unique analytics,
    preferred financing, and ratings.

“Genpact is excited to expand our alliance with Ariba, as this significantly enhanced offering combines the full range of Ariba’s collaborative commerce solutions with Genpact’s procurement services led by our SEP framework for making business processes much more effective,” said Shantanu Ghosh, senior vice president, Practices, Solutions and Transitions, Genpact. “Our offering not only rapidly reduces the total sourcing and procurement costs, but enables companies to have a high level of visibility and control of their sourcing and procurement process. The combination of these smart processes and smart technologies will result in substantially better business outcomes.”

“Social networks have revolutionized our personal lives, and the technologies underlying them are now helping to transform business,” said Jon Stevens, senior vice president of Global Channels and Alliances, Ariba. “As partners like Genpact recognize, the Ariba Network is an ideal platform through which companies can discover, connect and collaborate with their trading partners and drive process improvements that positively impact their performance and bottom line.”

Genpact employs its unique SEPSM methodology to implement best-in-class practices across sourcing and procurement organizations for both direct and indirect materials. SEPSM is driven by Lean and Six Sigma-based reengineering, analytics, domain expertise, and smart technology execution and delivers 2-5 times higher impact on key business outcomes like reduction in total cost of ownership (TCO), working capital optimization, and availability of material and services. SEPSM provides clear linkages between performance measures, drivers and business outcomes, as well as a clear roadmap for improvements.

Ariba combines industry-leading cloud-based applications with the world’s largest web-based trading community to help companies discover and collaborate with a global network of partners. Using the Ariba® Network, businesses of all sizes can connect to their trading partners anywhere, at any time from any application or device to buy, sell and manage their cash more efficiently and effectively than ever before. Companies around the world use the Ariba Network to simplify inter-enterprise commerce and enhance the results that they deliver.


Education, Information technology, Scholarship

Online Tech Offers Data Security Scholarship to College Students

Online Tech is awarding two $1,000 scholarships to students interested in pursuing a career in information technology, computer sciences and healthcare information technology. The 2012 Data Security Scholarship will be available for the Fall semester of the 2012-2013 academic year.

Applicants should show an interest in cloud computing, data computing, disaster recovery, colocation and similar topics as it relates to the ever-changing fields of information technology and healthcare IT.

“Online Tech feels strongly about offering the scholarship in order to encourage tomorrow’s technology leaders to pursue higher education in their respective fields,” said April Sage, Online Tech’s Director of Healthcare Vertical and Marketing.

Scholarships awarded by Online Tech will be based on the applicant’s response to one of the following questions:

1. Healthcare: “What do you see as the best technology for improving healthcare and health IT?”

2. Mobile Security: “What do you see as the most serious mobile security threat facing consumers and/or companies and why?”

While the traditional essay submission is one option, Online Tech has also opened up the submissions to take the form of a short, 10-minute video or an infographic complete with a brief explanation.

All interested students can apply on Online Tech’s website by clicking here. Submissions should submitted no later than July 8, 2012. Winners for the award will be announced by August 10, 2012.


Hanu, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Partnerships, Windows Azure Circle

Hanu Software Selected to Join the Microsoft Windows Azure Circle Program

Hanu Software today announced that they have been selected for Microsoft Corporation’s elite Windows Azure Circle program. The Azure Circle is the highest level of Microsoft’s Cloud Accelerate Partner program designed to validate the credentials of highly trained and tested partner organizations.

Hanu Software has already established a reputation of excellence developing applications to operate on Microsoft’s Azure platform. In addition to the Azure Circle selection, Microsoft will release two success stories featuring Hanu Software’s Azure development services next month.

“The Azure Circle partner program showcases our Microsoft partners’ commitment to helping shared customers take full advantage of the benefits of cloud services,” says Francesco Rietti, Business Development Manager for Microsoft US Azure Partnerships. “We appreciate the resources that our partners dedicate to mastering the latest technologies and their continued drive for success.”

As a result of the Azure Circle designation, Hanu Software will have access to additional Microsoft promotional and technical resources that will deliver faster and more cost effective results to customers.

“We are excited to be a part of the Azure Circle, furthering our efforts to help customers make strategic choices about their future in the cloud,” Anil Singh, founder and CEO of Hanu Software. “Our strong alliance with Microsoft’s Azure team assures our customers that they have a direct connection with the latest platform developments.”


ASEAN, Asia Pacific, Asia/Pacific Rim, Research

Report: Asia Pacific Hosted Email Market to Top $234 Million in Five Years

Research and Markets has announced the addition of Frost & Sullivan’s new report “Analysis of Asia Pacific Hosted Email Market”.

Hosted Email in Asia Pacific to Accelerate toward $234.7 Million in 2017 as it Gets Integrated into Cloud

Data Security Concerns Need to be Addressed for the Hosted Email Model to Gain Wider Acceptance

Hosted mailboxes are gaining wider representation in the mix of total mailboxes in the Asia Pacific, though its share was only 6 to 9 percent in 2010. Its lower cost of ownership, ability to improve employees’ mobility, and multiple devices accessibility are helping it steadily build on the foothold it gained in the market. Significantly, hosted email’s shift to cloud computing – both public and private cloud – has reduced its overall costs and enhanced its capability of disaster recovery and data protection. Enterprise hosted email service providers need to move their offerings into the cloud space and integrate them with other hosted/cloud unified communications (UC) components, says the analyst of this research.

It also offers the advantages of greater efficiency, larger mailbox space, and not needing expensive software email licenses. Enterprises are expected to turn to hosted emailing for its lower subscription charge with almost no requirement for operation or IT support.

While the larger enterprises tend to gravitate toward the hybrid model of on-premise software and hosted services, most small office home office (SOHO) and small enterprises prefer the free webmail or the subscription model. Global service providers that wish to gain local presence have to battle cultural and user preference for Asians as well as market regulations in emerging markets such as China, India, and the ASEAN. The impending price erosion will also pressure vendors as the market moves toward maturity. Hosted email has not yet become a huge success in the business environment because customers place desire on data security, service reliability, scalability, control, and disaster recovery.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Executive Summary

2. Market Overview

3. Total Market

4. Sub-region Breakdown

5. The Last Word (Conclusions and Implications)

6. Legal Disclaimer

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/ks5vfp/analysis_of_asia_p


Dell, Desktop virtualization, M&A Activity, Virtualization, Wyse, Wyse Technology

Acquisition of Wyse Technology to Extend Dell’s Desktop Virtualization

Image representing Dell as depicted in CrunchBase

Dell today announced it has completed its acquisition of Wyse Technology, the global leader in cloud client computing. The combination of Wyse’s capabilities with Dell’s existing desktop virtualization offerings position the company as the leader in the desktop virtualization, enabling it to offer true end-to-end IT solutions for customers and partners.

Dell has made significant strategic investments over the past three years to expand its enterprise technology and services capabilities. The Dell Wyse portfolio with current Dell desktop virtualization offerings, leading data center products such as servers and storage, and Dell’s services division, provides customers and partners with a single vendor that can match the full range of their cloud computing and desktop virtualization needs.

The Dell Wyse solution portfolio includes industry-leading thin, zero and cloud client computing solutions with advanced management, desktop virtualization and cloud software supporting desktops, laptops and next generation mobile devices. Dell Wyse has more than 180 patents, both issued and pending, covering its solutions, software and differentiated intellectual property. Dell’s existing offerings include Desktop Virtualization Solution Simplified and Desktop Virtualization Solution Enterprise.

Dell recognizes it’s critical for the desktop virtualization solutions strategy to embrace simple device management, enhance security, scale, and boost user productivity, while providing the flexibility to support anytime, anywhere access on any device.

Dell plans to preserve Wyse’s channel offerings and all existing Wyse channel partners will be eligible for our PartnerDirect Program. Dell will combine the best of both companies’ channel deal registration programs, extend this new deal registration program to all partners, and introduce a program in which partners can grow and nurture a customer relationship.

“We’re excited to officially welcome Wyse to Dell and help extend its industry-leading efforts to a broader range of customers and partners,” said Jeff Clarke, Dell vice chairman and president, Global Operations and End User Computing Solutions. “We believe the Dell Wyse capabilities, combined with our previous desktop virtualization offerings and the strength of the Dell enterprise portfolio, provides the most comprehensive and competitive DVS solution available today.”

“Wyse and Dell share the vision and passion in helping our customers and partners create a frictionless user experience via the cloud,” said Tarkan Maner, Vice President and General Manager Dell Wyse, Cloud Client Computing.. “Combining our relentless IP innovation and tight operational skills, and most importantly our laser focus on customer and partner advocacy, Dell cloud client computing will develop and deliver the most advanced solutions globally, from the data center to the end user. We are and will be completely focused on the best user experience for any user, for any content, using any app, on any device, anytime, anywhere; without any conflict, compromise and constraint.”

“As a current customer who has deployed Wyse cloud client computing solutions with Dell PowerEdge servers and Dell EqualLogic storage, Western Wayne School District is excited about the combination of Dell and Wyse,” said Brian Seaman, Network Administrator at Western Wayne School District in Pennsylvania. “Like most school districts, Western Wayne operates in a budget constrained environment and our move to desktop virtualization technologies supported with strong enterprise infrastructure has enabled us to do more with less in service of our students and community. In working with Dell and Wyse to scope and deploy our computing environment, Western Wayne now has the right technology to help us achieve our vision of educating our students of today to become the productive citizens of tomorrow.”

“End point computing models continue to evolve and are accelerating tremendous innovation and efficiencies across enterprise desktop and personal computing,” said Bob O’Donnell, vice president, Clients and Displays, IDC. “One area of strong customer growth is in the desktop virtualization space and we expect to see adoption rates continue to grow over the next several years. As use models continue to mature, so do the vendors who offer solutions in this product space. Dell’s acquisition of Wyse results in an industry-leading solutions and services provider with a formidable end-to-end technology stack from the end point to the datacenter to the cloud.”