The Cloud ERP (enterprise resource planning) landscape is expanding, and competition is heating up. Back in July 2012, Web-based business software provider NetSuite’s Q2 revenue and earnings numbers were the first indicators of a growing trend in the Cloud ERP space.
As Ben Kepes reported in the Cloud Ave blog, NetSuite’s subscription and support revenues were $61 million, a 27 percent increase of Q2 2011. And NetSuite’s cash flow from operations was up 80 percent year-over-year to $15.2 million.
Don’t yawn – yes, earnings reports in and of themselves aren’t exactly riveting. But as Kepes said, the trend that these numbers indicate signals a very important shift in the ERP space.
Enterprise software isn’t «sexy,» but it continues to be a growth sector year-over-year, he said, because it’s directly monetisable – enterprise software companies deliver a service customers are very willing …
What changes in the cloud computing and big data landscape should we be expecting in 2013? In this article we offer a round-up of industry experts’ opinions as they were asked by Cloud Expo Conference Chair Jeremy Geelan to review the year ahead.
While trawling the blogs, feeds and news I came across an analyst’s article about best security practices in which he kept referring to “the stack.” And by this he meant a multitude of various solutions that address certain security needs and capabilities; everything from email filtering, firewalling, authenticating, credentialing, logging and intrusion detection, etc…
And, if you read my blogs often enough, you know I am a big proponent of unified security. However, unified security is not a stack. It is easy to be confused as both look to utilize best of breed tools to prevent negative impact on IP assets. A stack references a number of technologies where each operates independently from one another. Single sign on by itself is a sufficient tool, but when operating alone in its own silo, important contextual information is lost.
The unified approach, as I describe in REACT, is a collaborative practice …
While trawling the blogs, feeds and news I came across an analyst’s article about best security practices in which he kept referring to “the stack.” And by this he meant a multitude of various solutions that address certain security needs and capabilities; everything from email filtering, firewalling, authenticating, credentialing, logging and intrusion detection, etc…
And, if you read my blogs often enough, you know I am a big proponent of unified security. However, unified security is not a stack. It is easy to be confused as both look to utilize best of breed tools to prevent negative impact on IP assets. A stack references a number of technologies where each operates independently from one another. Single sign on by itself is a sufficient tool, but when operating alone in its own silo, important contextual information is lost.
The unified approach, as I describe in REACT, is a collaborative practice …
Reports that rPath, the source code automation start-up founded in 2005 by ex-Red Hat technical folk, was looking for a buyer proved true.
Business analytics software shop SAS Institute has acquired its code and some of its staff expecting to expand its ability to automate and manage IT operations on multiple platforms and environments, including on-demand and in the private and public cloud.
It said it would better automate the set-up and management of SAS solutions in any virtual environment and is thought to give SAS a more direct path to support public, private and hybrid clouds than building the widgetry itself.
Increasingly organizations are looking to tap the collective power of social, mobile and cloud technologies. We asked Ric Telford, IBM VP of Cloud Services, to share his perspective on the trend in light of IBM’s new social business software including SmartCloud Docs, a cloud-based office productivity suite. University of Texas at El Paso is using the software to collaborate in the cloud using mobile devices.
Cloud Computing Journal: What’s the connection between Social, Mobile and Cloud. Are they just three tech buzzwords?
Ric Telford: Social, mobile and cloud are inextricably linked as three facets of the same movement – a new era of computing. Some call it the «third platform,» others «SoMoClo, let’s just call it «new era» for now. Cloud is the delivery, mobile is the ubiquitous access and social is the personal engagement. Cloud is scalable, flexible IT resources on-demand with the compute power to handle real-time analytics and Big Data; mobile is having simplified, user-friendly access anywhere. Social adds the power of collaboration. As one consolidated framework, this «new era» enables flexible delivery of services and expanding reach – bringing communication and productivity to whole new levels.
Cloud computing is changing the way big business communicates and is fast becoming the new technological standard for enterprises.
With employees working across so many devices from numerous locations, cloud computing is taking on a growing importance for a seamless work experience. Whatever solutions companies decide to buy, they all have to work on the range of devices people now carry. According to an article on CalgaryHerald.com, cloud computing is making business life easier by allowing users access to the same information regardless of which gadget they have logged on with.
A new mobile workforce means that software and file storage must be accessible anywhere, on any device, and cannot be stuck in one static place anymore. People want to be able to access work while at the beach or the soccer field. Simply dropping a file into a centralized location using cloud storage technology offers easy access and version control with the click of a button. This also means that your IT team will be able to focus on their core competencies rather than getting bogged down by contextual issues from their fellow, less tech-savvy colleagues.
Veeva Systems has partnered with Medidata Solutions to offer the life science industry’s first cloud-based end-to-end solution that integrates clinical documentation and trial development. The two companies will integrate Vault eTMF, Veeva’s electronic trial master file (eTMF) content management application, across the Medidata Clinical Cloud, offering life science companies and their global partners a complete clinical technology solution with a searchable central repository for all clinical documentation.
“Within the industry, there is an emerging demand for an eTMF to more consistently manage documents within a clinical trial,” said Alan S.Louie, Ph.D., research director, IDC Health Insights. “With the industry shift away from individual applications to more comprehensive eClinical solutions, seamless integration of applications and features such as eTMF into existing eClinical platforms should help leading life science companies to more fully and transparently manage overall trial efforts and improve process efficiencies.”
As clinical trials become more and more complex, the need for dependable document storage combined with real-time data accessibility is vital. The partnership will meet this need, advancing technology platform offerings in clinical development by facilitating efficient management of the trial master file collection. The integrated solution also provides secure document exchange between sites and sponsors, reducing the need for separate enterprise collaboration systems and portals. The collaborative nature of the clinical research team also demands a solution that is globally accessible and meets both regulatory and security needs.
Message Bus has a simple goal: help customers keep their legitimate email messages out of recipients’ spam folders.
Message Bus has a pedigreed CEO, an impressive list of customers and partners, and technology that makes its cloud-based service highly scalable and resilient, yet the young company’s goal is simple: help customers keep their legitimate email messages out of recipients’ spam folders.
With Twitter co-founder Jeremy LaTrasse at the helm, Message Bus is navigating the often dark waters of email delivery so that its customers don’t have to. The company’s Global Delivery Network, launched in mid-November, aims to be to email and mobile messaging what Amazon Web Services are to cloud computing and Dropbox to cloud storage.
A popular spot where the Cloud and Identity domains intersect is the idea of “Personal Clouds”, which would be ideal services to build via a concept of the `X Internet`.
With open standards like SAML providing the building blocks of interconnecting identity systems between applications, then those applications will be better enabled to exchange this personal data.
This will power a revolution in online e-business models – For example your grocery provider could sell you online loans and mortgages, underwritten by your bank providing them your salary details via an online web service query.
