Uncategorized

Cloudreach announces launch of Salesforce Connector Tool

 

Image representing Salesforce as depicted in C...

Cloudreach announced the launch of its Salesforce connector tool at the Gartner Application Architecture, Development & Integration Summit 2012. This new tool is designed to automatically sync data between customers’ Salesforce and Google accounts, making wasted time and missed opportunities a thing of the past for sales teams.

AluminaConnect, the first in the Alumina Tools series from Cloudreach designed to improve connections in the Cloud computing space, has been developed in conjunction with clients to help them work more effectively, accurately and seamlessly. Teams will be able to work between apps, by synchronising mail, contacts and calendar over any device with their Google accounts. Automation of mundane tasks via a 2-way sync will bypass any duplication of effort, allowing sales teams to be more productive and focus on converting opportunities into sales. AluminaConnect is enterprise grade, which means that businesses benefit from a resilient and reliable tool that is fully secure and compliant.

Pontus Noren, CEO of Cloudreach, said: “We have worked with clients to develop and optimise AluminaConnect for numerous individual requirements. At Cloudreach we recognise that sometimes the simplest solutions are the best and we have been careful to keep this tool simple and easy to use. Further, AluminaConnect is cost effective and promises users an even greater return on their Salesforce and Google investments as it will be enhanced from a reporting to a delivery tool.”

As a ‘Bring Your Own Device’ set-up has become increasingly popular with British businesses a lack of linked apps can be problematic. Windows of opportunity can bypass sales teams, and agents can wind up red-faced after calling contacts a colleague dialled hours earlier. This Salesforce connecting tool is set to help British businesses streamline their operations.


Uncategorized

Virtustream Peddles Clouds for All Occasions

Virtustream wants to move mission-critical legacy apps to the cloud where they’ll be 60% cheaper to run on-demand especially since they won’t have to be rewritten.
So it’s put out xStream 2.0, an update, which is supposed to move both web-scale applications and legacy applications to a public, private or enterprise-class hybrid cloud take your pick. Stuff, it says, you can’t do on Amazon.
It’s for the enterprise and solution providers.
For the effort they’re supposed to get enterprise-class security and compliance, application SLAs, consumption-based billing and our old friend cloud efficiency, pretty much the whole point of the exercise.

read more

Arts and Entertainment, Content Management, Free, Media Production, Scenios, Television, Video

Scenios Launches Free Version of Cloud Platform for Film, Video Production

Scenios LogoScenios now offers a free version of its secure, cloud-based platform for film and television production.  The free version allows film, TV and commercial producers to manage every aspect of their production, including 5 GB of cloud storage and an unlimited number of users.

Studios, networks and production companies can use Scenios as a comprehensive “virtual production office” to manage all aspects of their productions, and to collaborate more effectively online with their teams. Scenios provides a set of online, real-time collaboration tools that significantly streamline the production process, and that help reduce costs for many people working in the industry.  Key features of the Scenios platform include the ability to:

  • Write the script in your web browser, and collaborate on it in real time.
  • Create your budget in Scenios, and restrict who sees it by setting access permissions.
  • Distribute call sheets and other documents instantly.  Send them to individuals, departments, or to the entire production team.
  • Share professional HD video files, and do reviews and approvals in your web browser.
  • Set up video conferences in Scenios for up to 10 people, for things like virtual production meetings and virtual table reads.
  • Customize Scenios to match your workflow, by creating and organizing your own production-related apps.

The free Scenios plan also allows users to connect to one other production that they aren’t managing.

“Many aspects of the production process now require complete flexibility, and our secure, cloud-based platform helps productions operate more efficiently in a real-time, location-based environment,” said CEO Mark Davis. “This new free option will provide the TV and film industry with an innovative, time and cost saving way to manage a production.”

In addition to the free service, additional account options include:

  • SCENIOS PLUS: allows users to manage 2 productions, to connect to 2 other productions, and to get 100 GB of cloud storage ($19 per month)
  • SCENIOS PRO: allows users to manage an unlimited number of productions, to connect to an unlimited number of productions, and to get unlimited cloud storage ($49 per month)
  • SCENIOS ENTERPRISE: provides 10 Pro seats, plus the Enterprise Control Dashboard, and unlimited cloud storage for $299/month. Add more Pro seats for $39/month each.

For more information go to http://www.scenios.com


Business Processes, Digital signature, Electronic Signature, Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, Law

Security Concerns for Electronic Signatures and Cloud Technology

Signing documents has been a part of business contracts since before paper even existed. Having something in writing has always been what makes a transaction truly “official.” Lately, the next chapter in the written agreement is unfolding on the digital frontier. Electronic signatures are becoming the new standard for completing transactions all over the world.

As with any new technology, e-signatures raise almost as many questions as the problems they resolve. Are they legally binding? How can one know they are safe? Combine these concerns with the trend toward using cloud computing– and you have additional reasons for concern.

Let’s address some of the common issues and questions about e-signatures and cloud computing in this article.

Why Use Digital Signatures?

The reasons why digital or electronic signatures are preferred over hard copy are obvious. Contracts can easily be signed with people in other countries without waiting for mail, scanning documents or any of the other issues normally associated with getting something signed.

Digital signature systems that are properly designed also make it easy to maintain an audit trail of who signed what. This record keeping is very important in the event that legal action related to the contract must be taken. While scanning signed hard copies can provide quick response, it offers little of the audit trail that a third-party electronic system provides.

Are Electronic Signatures Legal?

Like anything that goes digital, people are always a bit worried about if it’s legal and safe. As far as legality goes, electronic signatures have been completely legal for over a decade. In 2000, the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce law, or ESIGN, was passed making e-signatures legally binding and acceptable for transactions around the world. Europe and Canada followed suit and adopted similar legal laws.

Does this mean any kind of digital signature is a safe bet? Not really. Electronic signatures have been challenged in court. Important factors in making the signature legal was how secure the archiving and retrieval system was as far as the overall audit trail provided by the system. Knowing exactly who signed a document and verifying their identification was very important. Any electronic system used for collecting and archiving signatures should provide this level of authentication.

Electronic Signatures and Cloud Computing

With dedicated hosting on the decline and cloud computing becoming the new standard information technology infrastructure, some serious questions come up about how safe and secure your documents really are. How does cloud hosting of e-signing solutions present a security concern?

Many alarmists point to the shared nature of cloud hosting solutions as an automatic security risk. The fact that several computer systems share a single storage area network that may contain private data make some people nervous. The truth of the matter is though, the same level of risk exists on any system that is not properly designed and maintained.

Cloud computing systems have matured from an unreliable and unsecure prototype technology to a fully functional well-supported trustworthy infrastructure solution. Clear security protocols audit what all users do and partition data from one client away from that of another. Of course, any computer system is only as good as the technicians who maintain it. For this reason, it does pay to investigate what technology is behind the electronic hosting system that you select.

Fortunately, the industry of cloud hosting has lots of standardized security certification programs that include regular audits and a commitment to keeping systems up to date. If you make sure your e-signature solution is using such a system, you can rest easy knowing that your authentication and archive processes are safe and secure.

Electronic signature systems are definitely here to stay and have the legal and security behind them to make them a valid solution. Find out how you can streamline the legal aspects of your business by setting up one of these systems today.


Uncategorized

Gizmox Salvages Client/Server Apps

Tel Aviv-based Gizmox says it’s figured out how to salvage all those scads of Microsoft client/server desktop apps – pointedly the enterprise ones – transform them – relatively painlessly – into secured-by-design HTML5, and move them to the web, the cloud and mobile devices all without rewriting any code or re-engineering anything.
It’s agnostic about what mobile device. It could be Apple or Android as well as the new Windows 8 stuff.
It calls its tool-base solution Instant CloudMove Transposition Studio, a name that will never fit on a marquee. But Gizmox will still know if it gets applause for the downloadable community technology preview (CTP) it’s just put out.

read more

Uncategorized

Nine specifications for a Cloud Computer: A call to action

What is cloud computing? We recently asked a number of people in our industry, and got back a range of interesting, and sometimes self-referential, responses. According to our respondents, cloud computing means anything from a single-tenant, multi-user application cloud (also known as software-as-a-service or “Saas”) to multi-tenant, general purpose, on-demand clouds (sometimes called platform-as-a-service or “PaaS”).

I think the world of computing, generally, is moving away from a do-it-yourself approach to accomplish “shared” computing (and by computing is meant anything having to do with servers, in general) towards embracing or, better, stepping into the cloud for most computing the isn’t on the edge of the network.

The migration has begun from dedicated, collocated servers to the cloud. Buyers don’t want to take possession of servers, routers, switches, network drops, racks; they want this from the cloud.

But what is the cloud?

What sort of cloud computer(s) should …

Uncategorized

Enhancing Collaboration in a Mobile World

HP has announced technology solutions and services, as well as financing and training programs that enable resource-challenged small and medium businesses to simplify IT.
According to Gartner research, by 2016, at least 50 percent of business email users will rely primarily on a tablet or mobile client instead of a traditional desktop. The trend to use devices to access email and other business data requires SMBs to prepare their infrastructures to support increased mobility.
“We’ve spent a lot of time working with our channel partners,” said Lisa Wolfe, Worldwide Small and Medium Business lead for HP. “They’re facing a fairly new set of IT challenges. Companies have a growing mobile workforce. These new solutions align to a bring-your-own-device world and are designed to help SMBs provide infrastructure to support a growing workforce.”

read more

Uncategorized

Roger Sippl’s Back

Roger Sippl, who co-founded Informix a generation ago, then Vantive and Visigenic, all acquired after going public, is staging a comeback with new database widgetry that does real-time data integration from multiple sources in the cloud.
He’s been working on it for four years recruiting along the way 20 guys from the old days who are already rich thanks to Roger but still want to be “useful.”
Elastic Intelligence, the company he started a few years ago, is going to productize this newfangled virtual relational database technology as Connection Cloud, a real-time data connection service infrastructure and all.

read more

Uncategorized

Lessons from (IT) Geese

Birds migrate in flocks, which means every individual has the support of others. IT often migrates alone – but it doesn’t have to.
“Lessons from Geese” pdf-icon has been around a long time. It is often cited and referenced, particularly with respect to teamwork and collaboration. The very first “lesson” learned from geese migrations applied to human collaboration is this:
Fact #1: As each goose flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the others behind it. By flying in a “V” formation, the whole flock adds 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew alone.

read more

Uncategorized

Run Recorded Future Foresite in Your Private Cloud

We have previously written about Recorded Future, a company providing new ways of exploring what the web knows about coming events. Mankind knows things about the future and the analytic tools provided by Recorded Future helps extract the meaning and relevance of this knowledge and apply it to organizational missions. Their public cloud-based capabilities are […]

This post by was first published at CTOvision.com.

read more

The cloud news categorized.