Cloud gaming, EMEA, IPTV, Orange, Partnerships, Video game

G-cluster Global, Orange Group Strike Cloud Gaming Partnership

Beginning October 11, Orange broadband customers will experience a seamless and easy-to-access top quality video gaming experience directly on their TV.

The Orange cloud gaming service powered by G-cluster offers to Orange customers a gaming solution free of any old generation hardware concerns and allows them to easily access and play a wide catalogue of video games directly on TV.

With a catalogue of about 100 video games at launch, the Orange cloud gaming service provides valuable gaming content for the whole family! This innovative gaming solution provides many benefits for the end user: simplicity of access and use, attractive prices, a diversified and wide catalogue of games.

G-cluster has been rendering cloud gaming service since 2010. The launch of the Orange cloud gaming service reinforces G-cluster’s position as the leading cloud gaming platform in Europe.

As with video on demand, the end user can access games directly and quickly without the need to download content or purchase any new physical devices. To play, just use the remote controller or a gamepad (any USB gamepad or the one recommended by Orange). The end user can play alone, with other players in the same room or remotely with other Orange TV customers who have subscribed.

Orange offers a new model of usage for interactive content to its new TV users with an attractive price point. End users will be able to enjoy a diversified catalogue of games thanks to unlimited and no commitment monthly subscription packs or with 24h, 48h or 1 week rental offers. A free try-before-you-buy offer is available for all the games in the catalogue.

– Discovery pass: 5€/month for unlimited access to 50 top casual games

– Premium pass: 10€/month for access to premium console games on top of the entire catalogue of casual games

– Rentals: 24h, 48h or weekly rentals of games at affordable prices

Orange and G-cluster have partnered with top leading casual and premium publishers such as Disney, Ubisoft, Playrix, MumboJumbo and Alawar to provide a fun and entertaining experience to all the household members.

The Orange games on demand service will offer games for anyone in the family: action and air fighting games like H.A.W.X® 2 from Ubisoft and kids’ games like Toy Story 3 from Disney. Pixar.

Erik Piehl, president of G-cluster Global says, “G-cluster is very happy to provide its white-label cloud gaming service to Orange, the largest IPTV provider in Europe. This further expands G-cluster’s lead as the largest scale TV cloud gaming provider.”

Jean-François Rodriguez, VP Games and social media at Orange says, “Orange and G-Cluster have built a strong partnership to offer a new gaming experience by leveraging on Orange high speed broadband network and G-Cluster cloud gaming technology. After Video on Demand, streaming music, Orange customers will now enjoy games on demand service.”


Appirio, Human Resources, Knowledge Infusion, M&A Activity, Talent management

Appiri Acquiring HCM Consultancy Knowledge Infusion

Appirio today announced its intent to acquire Knowledge Infusion, which will create the world’s largest cloud-powered Human Capital Management (HCM) consultancy. By marrying Appirio’s unmatched cloud expertise, technology innovation and global scale with Knowledge Infusion’s deep domain knowledge of HR, talent management and change management practices, enterprises finally have a partner that can help them prepare for and capitalize on the new way people work across all business domains.

“We have always considered cloud, social and mobile not just technology, but engines for business transformation,” said Chris Barbin, CEO of Appirio. “By combining forces with Knowledge Infusion, a recognized expert in people-focused processes, we can help business, HR and IT leaders develop the right strategy to ensure they engage employees as effectively as they would customers. That strategy, supported by the right technological innovation, can optimize how work gets done at a time when people’s expectations and motivations have drastically changed because of the consumerization of technology.”

Started in 2005, Knowledge Infusion has provided core HR, talent acquisition, talent management and social collaboration consulting services to more than 350 clients. This includes organizations like Amgen, Best Buy, Campbell’s, Dell, Hertz, Merck, Nationwide, Novo Nordisk, Starbucks and Target. The company’s end-to-end services model, on-demand subscription advisory services, and focus on customer success has made it one of the fastest growing HR technology consultancies in the world. In addition to its advisory work, Knowledge Infusion has become a trusted deployment partner of Workday, SuccessFactors, and Salesforce.com’s Work.com.

“McGraw-Hill is partnering with both Knowledge Infusion and Appirio to help us become a more nimble organization,” said John Berisford, Chief HR Officer at McGraw-Hill. “It is terrific to see their deep domain expertise, strategic thinking and creativity come together.”

“All organizations must take an outcomes-based approach when applying technology to transform and optimize their business,” said Naomi Bloom, Managing Partner of Bloom & Wallace. “When using a consulting partner to support these efforts, organizations need one that combines deep domain expertise and state-of-the-art technical knowledge, with a commitment to delivering rapid, cost-effective results. That’s why I couldn’t be more delighted that Knowledge Infusion and Appirio have decided to join forces. Together they will create a new and much-needed consultancy, sitting between the ‘big T’ process transformation shops and the product-based implementation mechanics. Their focus on business strategy, organizational design, and enterprise technology, all focused on business outcomes, will benefit their customers, partners and our entire industry.”

Appirio was started in 2006 with the mission to help enterprises power their business with the cloud, and has since helped more than 400 enterprises use cloud providers like Workday, Salesforce.com and Google to improve core business processes from HR and financials to sales, service and marketing.

Once the acquisition is final, expected in November 2012, the combined company will bring to bear nearly 600 strategy and technology experts on three continents, a global crowdsourcing developer community, and an integrated suite of applications, assets and analytics that ensure the best outcome for transformation initiatives.

“Like Appirio, we saw a fundamental shift happening in how companies did business, how the workforce was changing, and the inability for traditional service providers to help business leaders adapt to that shift,” said Jason Averbook, CEO and co-founder of Knowledge Infusion, who will become Appirio’s Chief Business Innovation Officer. “Appirio’s track record of innovation, their disruptive services model and culture make it a perfect home for Knowledge Infusion. We’re excited to work together to help organizations move beyond traditional HR and deliver on the full potential of people at work.”


Voice, Voxware

Voxware Cloud-based Voice Solution Goes GA

Voxware today announced the general availability of its Cloud Voice Management Suite (Cloud VMS). This marks the first high-end cloud-based voice software solution that enables companies to enhance operational productivity, improve accuracy and better serve its customers without investing in costly IT infrastructure.

Voxware announced the beta version of Cloud VMS in July of this year. Shortly thereafter, Hollywood Feed, a provider of natural and holistic pet food, as well as ancillary services, selected Voxware’s Cloud VMS to help improve its product fulfillment processes. Unlike on-premise solutions, implementation of the software took just 11 days, enabling Hollywood Feed to immediately leverage the product’s key capabilities. To date, all Hollywood Feed users have been trained, completed practice assignments and are currently using the solution in their daily operations.

“It is rare that an outside team can come in and integrate so easily within an organization; however, Voxware was able to achieve that,” said Shawn McGhee, President of Hollywood Feed. “We found that Voxware truly cares about our users, customers and the success of our company’s short and long-term goals. While there were a variety of factors that led us to select Voxware, I can attest today that they are a good fit for our operation and are already achieving tangible results.”

“With Cloud VMS, we have developed a low-cost, high-impact voice option for smaller to mid-size operations that delivers the same level of quality as our flagship on-premise offering,” said Keith Phillips, President and CEO, Voxware. “Introducing voice solutions to a new customer base extends our market potential and adds range to our well known product line. Evolving our voice solution and taking it to the cloud was a natural extension for us. The ease with which we can deploy and manage Cloud VMS simplifies our customers’ installation processes and drives better business results.”

Voxware has also created a self-evaluation tool that allows companies to determine whether a cloud-based voice solution is right for its business objectives. This tool is available free to all visitors of the Voxware website at Get Cloud VMS. With this tool, Voxware has streamlined the considerations that an organization needs to evaluate as it chooses a method to enhance productivity, safety and brand loyalty.

Key benefits of Cloud VMS:

  • Ease of use: Users do not need technical expertise to employ Cloud VMS
    – they simply complete a questionnaire before receiving a
    ready-to-deploy product
  • No IT overhead: Cloud VMS can run without an IT infrastructure,
    eliminating costs associated with server hardware, maintenance and IT
    personnel
  • Time-to-value: The delivery time is significantly shorter than the
    fastest full-fledged voice solution
  • Future-proof: Users receive automatic software updates, as well as
    hardware refreshes, to ensure they are always leveraging the latest
    technologies
  • No WMS necessary: Small operations that run without a WMS can now
    realize the benefits of a voice solution
  • Straightforward SaaS model: This model guarantees that users get what
    they pay for, without any hidden fees or peripheral maintenance costs


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IS-Channels Named “Bronze Sponsor” of Cloud Expo Silicon Valley

SYS-CON Events announced today that IS-Channels has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON’s 11th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 5–8, 2012, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
IS-Channels offers a wide range of wholesale white labeled IT & Cloud Services ranging from Infrastructure-as-a-Service to Hosted Desktop and Connectivity Solutions. Cloud based, built for channel partners. Leveraging more than 15 years of in market experience. IS-Channels is part of IS-Group, a leading European IT Services provider.

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Interxion Named “Bronze Sponsor” of Cloud Expo Silicon Valley

SYS-CON Events announced today that Interxion has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON’s 11th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 5–8, 2012, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Interxion is a leading provider of cloud- and carrier-neutral colocation data center services in Europe. Supporting over 1,200 customers through 31 data centers across 11 countries, Interxion enables these customers to securely deliver mission-critical applications and content to end consumers. Interxion’s state-of-the-art data centers provide space, power and cooling with reliability and performance that goes beyond industry standards. The head office is located in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Interxion operates in the major metropolitan areas of Europe including London, Frankfurt, Paris and Amsterdam.

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What is the state of the open source cloud? [infographic]

There is no doubt that open source clouds are on the minds of both open source communities/projects and commercial entities.

With 3/4 of 2012 behind us, we thought it was time to get some feedback on The State of the Open Source Cloud.

We polled more than 100,000 community members to determine the prevailing sentiments concerning open source cloud deployments, the perceived advantages and disadvantages of this technology as well as to gain insight into future open cloud deployments within IT departments. You can download a copy of the full report here.

Highlights from the survey include:

Maturity Hampers the Deployment of Open Clouds

  • 82.9% of respondents said they are not using an open cloud.
  • Maturity (38.5%), lack of support (30.7%), and security (28.9%) were most commonly selected as reasons why respondents are not using an open source cloud.

OpenStack Dominates Adoption Plans …

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Cameramanager.com Named “Bronze Sponsor” of Cloud Expo Silicon Valley

SYS-CON Events announced today that Cameramanager.com has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON’s 11th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 5–8, 2012, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Cameramanager.com is a dedicated surveillance operator with a mission to make the world safer and transparent. Our innovative service secures your shop, office or home through 24/7 availability of recordings on smartphone, tablet or PC. Established in 2007 connecting 50,000 cameras in over ten countries worldwide, we have built strong partnerships with brands like Axis, Panasonic, Dell and over 100 trusted resellers.

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Cloud Expo Silicon Valley Keynote Speaker Profile: Jonathan Bryce – OpenStack

With Cloud Expo 2012 Silicon Valley (11th Cloud Expo) due to open in four weeks’ time at the Santa Clara Convention Center, CA, let’s introduce you in greater detail to the distinguished individuals in our incredible Speaker Faculty for the technical program at the West Coast conference…

We have technical and strategy sessions for you dealing with every nook and cranny of Cloud Computing & Big Data, but what of those who are presenting? Who are they, where do they work, what else have they written and/or said about the Cloud and/or Big Data solutions that are transforming the world of Enterprise IT?

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Manila Outsourcing Summit is Truly International

The 2012 International Outsourcing Summit (IOS) is being held this week in Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines. I won’t be at the summit this year, but colleagues of mine will be.

This summit is a truly international event, with attendees from all of the world’s regions, drawing attention to the Philippines and its US$11 billion business process outsourcing (BPO) industry. BPO directly accounts for about 5% of the country’s economy, with local leaders driving to more than double its size by 2016.

Accenture, Infosys, CapGemini, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Cognizant, TSC, and CSC are among the best-known global companies with a major presence in the Philippine BPO industry, joined by numerous strong local companies such as Pointwest Technologies.

The country also has an emerging cloud-computing industry that is still a secret to much of the world. Telcos such as Globe Technologies, datacenters providers such as Arcus IT, investors such as Alfredo Ayala and Dado Banatao, and cloud-software developers such as MorphLabs all figure into the mix, along with an exuberant app culture. Much of this industry will also be represented at IOS this year.

This summit and its location remind me that there’s life beyond the G8 and even G20 economies, beyond the usual Asian stops, and beyond the BRICs.

In fact, the research we’ve been conducting over the past 18 months was inspired by what I saw in the economies and tech cultures during my three-year stay in Southeast Asia, based in Manila. Then, I was able to speak with many interesting people, develop some story ideas, and gain key advisors from several countries from contacts I made at last year’s IOS. The event transcends its ostensible, specific focus of BPO in the Philippines.

So as this year’s summit convenes, here’s a quick review of some of the leaders and emerging nations in our latest research at the Tau Institute. As I’ve written before, our analysis is unique and relative, taking into account local resources and resulting in rankings that show what countries are doing the most with what they have.

World – Global Leaders
1. South Korea
2. Estonia
3. New Zealand
4. Netherlands
5. Finland

Asia – Regional Leaders
1. South Korea
2. Vietnam
3. Taiwan
4. Hong Kong
5. Japan

Asia – Emerging Stars
1. Mongolia
2. Philippines
3. Pakistan
4. India
5. Laos

World – Emerging Stars
1. Eastern Africa (Kenya/Uganda/Tanzania/Ethiopia)
2. Ukraine, Bulgaria, & Romania
3. Nigeria
4. Morocco
5. Jordan

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The need for speed

The advantages of faster connectivity are rarely questioned these days, with consumers told it will improve their access to lifestyle and content services and enterprise users focused on improved productivity. Often the touted benefits are, to a degree, abstract. But in the world of high-frequency financial trading (HFT), the benefits are very measurable and very significant.