Painful Breakups: The Beatles, Ben & Jen, Now Symantec & Veritas

You probably saw the rumors come across Twitter, Facebook or on the newsstands in a checkout aisle. Perhaps, like me, you never thought it would actually happen, but the day is coming. Grab a tissue, Symantec and Veritas are breaking up.

Years ago, Symantec, an anti-virus company, merged with Veritas, a backup company known for such products as Backup and Netbackup forming a super power of sorts. This, however, is changing. Although Symantec and Veritas have been a staple in our lives for many years, starting next month they will be separated.

veritasWe’ve seen some tough breakups in the past. The Beatles, Ben and Jen, Britney and Justin, Ross and Rachel, Belichick and Revis, Peaches & Herb, (but I think they reunited), yet this Symantec and Veritas drama really stings. Like all good relationships, this one is coming to an end.

What’s the Deal?

Starting Friday October 2nd all backup related products like Backup Exec and Netbackup will change. This will be the last day to order these products under the current Symantec pricing and part number model.

On Monday October 5th any existing, open quotes for Backup Exec and Netbackup will need to be re-quoted using Veritas’s part numbers and pricing. The new Veritas SKUs won’t be visible until October 5th so, unless that changes, the new Veritas quotes can’t be created until October 5th. Since there is so much change taking place, there is a good possibility that pricing, at least on certain products, could change and increase.

Renewals: Big Change here. With Veritas, there will no longer be a 30 day grace period to get your renewals orders in. So, any Backup Exec and Netbackup renewals will have to be placed prior to its expiration date, otherwise Veritas will apply reinstatement fees. This will be strictly enforced.

There are no changes to Symantec i.e. AV products.

Dates to know:

Friday October 2nd – Last day to use Symantec related quotes for Backup Exec and Netbackup. This includes new and renewal quotes.

Monday October 5th – The new Vertias SKU’s will become available. Any open quotes will need to change over to the new part numbers. Pricing will likely change as well.

What Next?

If you’re working with GreenPages we will provide you a new Veritas quote, however, because we don’t currently know if there will be a price increase, we’d recommend placing your order prior to Friday October 2nd. Also, GreenPages has fantastic backup and retention solution architects and engineers. If you have any questions on Veritas or any other venders you could potentially switch over to, please let us know.

 

By Rob O’Shaugnessy, Director of Software Sales & Renewals

How to Speak at @WebRTCSummit | @ThingsExpo #IoT #M2M #RTC #WebRTC #InternetOfThings

The 3rd International WebRTC Summit, to be held Nov. 4–6, 2014, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA, announces that its Call for Papers is now open. Topics include all aspects of improving IT delivery by eliminating waste through automated business models leveraging cloud technologies. WebRTC Summit is co-located with 15th International Cloud Expo, 6th International Big Data Expo, 3rd International DevOps Summit and 2nd Internet of @ThingsExpo. WebRTC (Web-based Real-Time Communication) is an open source project supported by Google, Mozilla and Opera that aims to enable browser-to-browser applications for voice calling, video chat, and P2P file sharing without plugins. Its mission is “To enable rich, high quality, RTC applications to be developed in the browser via simple JavaScript APIs and HTML5.”
Help plant your flag in the fast-expanding business opportunity that is WebRTC: submit your speaking proposal today!

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[session] Don’t Quit, IoT Retrofit | @ThingsExpo #IoT #M2M #API #BigData #InternetOfThings

In his session at @ThingsExpo, Lee Williams, a producer of the first smartphones and tablets, will talk about how he is now applying his experience in mobile technology to the design and development of the next generation of Environmental and Sustainability Services at ETwater.
He will explain how M2M controllers work through wirelessly connected remote controls; and specifically delve into a retrofit option that reverse-engineers control codes of existing conventional controller systems so they don’t have to be replaced and are instantly converted to become smart, connected devices.

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[session] On-Premise to Cloud IaaS Migration Roadmap By @RichardAWeiss | @CloudExpo #Cloud

Moving an existing on-premise infrastructure into the cloud can be a complex and daunting proposition. It is critical to understand the benefits as well as the challenges associated with either a full or hybrid approach.
In his session at 17th Cloud Expo, Richard Weiss, Principal Consultant at Pythian, will present a roadmap that can be leveraged by any organization to plan, analyze, evaluate and execute on a cloud migration solution. He will review the five major cloud transformation phases and provide attendees with a roadmap that can be utilized to begin planning their organizations migration strategy today.

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The 2016 Big Data Prediction | @BigDataExpo #BigData #IoT #RTC #Java #InternetOfThings

Today, there is countless data collected and analyzed by companies. Just a few years ago, that data was useless, now data is collected and used to provide answers and solve problems.
As big data use cases continue to evolve, there will be an increasing number of business missions that will be served by new approaches to data. With the adoption of an enterprise data hub, developers are finding new agility to create services and applications, as well as decision-making that leads to market dominating strategies. According to Cognitio’s co-founder and partner Bob Gourley, this adoption will lead to two types of companies: those who will use big data to dominate in the market, and those who will ultimately be dominated by others.

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API-Driven Digital Healthcare Solution By @AkanaInc | @DevOpsSummit #API #IoT #DevOps #Microservices

Akana has announced the availability of the new Akana Healthcare Solution. The API-driven solution helps healthcare organizations accelerate their transition to being secure, digitally interoperable businesses. It leverages the Health Level Seven International Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (HL7 FHIR) standard to enable broader business use of medical data. Akana developed the Healthcare Solution in response to healthcare businesses that want to increase electronic, multi-device access to health records while reducing operating costs and complying with government regulations.

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[session] The Cloud Platform Battle By @Cloudyn_Buzz | @CloudExpo #Cloud #IoT #BigData #DevOps

In 2014, the market witnessed a massive migration to the cloud as enterprises finally overcame their fears of the cloud’s viability, security, etc.
Over the past 18 months, AWS, Google and Microsoft have waged an ongoing battle through a wave of price cuts and new features. For IT executives, sorting through all the noise to make the best cloud investment decisions has become daunting.
Enterprises can and are moving away from a “one size fits all” cloud approach. The new competitive field has been a boon to small and large businesses as cloud prices have plummeted. Companies now have the option to distribute their cloud workloads across multiple clouds from different vendors. With the emergence and growing adoption of multi-cloud, enterprises can gain a new level of flexibility around the cloud services they may need based on preferences and requirements, ranging from security, reliability, performance and cost reduction.

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Introducing Containers & Microservices Bootcamp at @CloudExpo Silicon Valley | #Containers #Microservices

SYS-CON Events announced today the Containers & Microservices Bootcamp, being held November 3-4, 2015, in conjunction with 17th Cloud Expo, @ThingsExpo, and @DevOpsSummit at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
This is your chance to get started with the latest technology in the industry. Combined with real-world scenarios and use cases, the Containers and Microservices Bootcamp, led by Janakiram MSV, a Microsoft Regional Director, will include presentations as well as hands-on demos and comprehensive walkthroughs.

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Cloud vendor Apttus raises $108m to fund new services and features

Cloud software vendor Apttus has raised a further $108 million to fund the growth of its quote and renewals management business.

The new investment comes only seven months after it secured $41m in February 2015, as investor confidence in its e-commerce, contract management and renewals management software has surged. Founded in 2006, it received its first series of investment funding in 2013, when it received $37 million.

The Series C funding round was led by KIA. Previous investment rounds have been led by Salesforce’s venture capital arm Salesforce Ventures, which also contributed to this round of investment. Investors in this latest round also included Iconiq Capital and K1 Capital.

The Apttus cloud systems integrate with Salesforce’s CRM platform and are used to develop sales and renewal quotes within Salesforce’s system.

The funds will be used to develop new systems and provide new services to Apttus customers and prospects. According to Apttus, the main targets will be in the manufacturing, life sciences, financial services and telecommunications industries.

Apttus aims to give clients a better system of demand management by giving its users more information about their clients. The intelligence it curates allows sales staff to identify and concentrate their efforts on the most likely sales prospects. This information is gathered by the system by assessing the online track record of the potential customer. By monitoring and managing every transaction, this system gives the seller an ‘unbroken funnel’ throughout the sales cycle. This channelling of the customer is known as the Quote-to-Cash process.

The Apttus system was built on the Salesforce1 platform and it claims to have been an active partner of Salesforce since its foundation in 2006, with participation in the Salesforce ecosystem.

Apttus has 70 customers in the Fortune 500 and is projected tohave 1,000 employees by the end of 2015, a 400% growth in headcount since 2013. It now has offices in London, Sydney and Chicago with a Japanese location planned.

Apttus’s cloud software has re-defined the Quote-to-Cash process and the flow of money, said Farouq Bastaki, Executive Director of Alternative Investments at KIA. “We believe they have developed the future of how organizations manage their entire revenue operation with a modern front office, in the cloud,” said Bastaki.

What IT Support Used to Look Like… By @JaqTech | @CloudExpo #Cloud

If you ever saw the classic SNL sketch in which Jimmy Fallon portrays “Nick Burns, Your Company’s Computer Guy” you’re probably familiar with the pain and humiliation he causes the end users he is tasked with supporting.

Condescending.

Impatient.

Way smarter than everyone else.

Unfortunately, this is how people used to perceive MSPs and IT solutions providers. It used to be guys like Nick were just what small-to-medium-sized business had to endure if they wanted to get their computers to work. Snide remarks and Cheeto breath aside (or maybe not), there was some truth to Fallon’s character. IT support was inefficient and arduous.
But man oh man… That is SO ’90’s.

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