Gawkwire: Web Hosting and Internet News Resource

New Year’s Nation Hub at CoreXchange for Second Year

2009-12-31T07:00:00-05:00

Dallas, Texas (Gawkwire.com) Dallas-based CoreXchange has again been selected to provide NTN-TV’s New Year's Nation with data center and network infrastructure services from CoreXchange’s Dallas Infomart data center. CoreXchange will provide bandwidth and power for New Year’s Nation, a live broadcast of a unified New Year’s party that takes place in ten cities across four time zones with an anticipated 10,000 plus guests and thousands more watching via NTN-TV online. NTN-TV reported 42,000 Internet viewers of last year’s online broadcast of the New Year’s Nation event.

“All of our production work takes place at CoreXchange, which gives us premium network performance and reliability,” said Jann Yogman, president of New Year's Nation. “What's seen simultaneously coast-to-coast by our audience of tens of thousands of Internet viewers is selected from NTN-TV’s control central, which is powered by the CoreXchange network access exchange with seamless, one-hop access to all of the major Internet backbones.”

CoreXchange provides a multi-homed mesh of BGP-routed Tier-1 backbone carriers and cross-connects to all major carriers, including increased peering and scalability via direct connection with Equinix, and with next generation switching, routing and security, customers benefit from the best possible throughput. CoreXchange’s unrivalled power redundancy includes independent TXU substation feeders with six in-building main switchgear rooms and UPS, ATS and diesel generator backup.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/new_year_s_nation_hub_at_corexchange_for_second_year.html

Codero Teams With Toys for Tots, Helping Kids in Need This Holiday

2009-12-31T07:00:00-05:00

OVERLAND PARK, KS (Gawkwire.com) Codero, a dedicated server/managed hosting leader, recently completed its 1st Annual Toys for Tots campaign, raising more than $3,600 to buy new toys for Kansas City-area youth during this holiday season. Codero used an all-employee competition known as “Penny Wars” <http://www.facebook.com/notes/codero/codero-launches-all-out-penny-wars-for-the-holidays/201836325377> to raise $1,806.25, matched by the company for a total of $3,612.50; in turn, this allowed employees to purchase 496 toys which were then delivered to the local Toys for Tots office.

In early December, Codero launched its “Penny Wars” game to raise money for the Kansas City Metro Toys to Tots <http://kansas-city-mo.toysfortots.org/local-coordinator-sites/lco-sites/default.asp> , part of a national program run by the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. Codero departments and groups then had one week to generate the most cash or points: pennies and $10, $20, $50, and $100 bills counted as positive points for each team, while nickels, dimes, quarters, and $1 and $5 bills were negative points.

“I would like to thank Codero for their generous donation, and it has gone a long
way in making this Christmas season a little brighter for those less fortunate in our area,” says MSgt Gerhold Wanamaker, Toys for Tots coordinator with the 24th Marine Regiment.” It’s through the generosity of people like this that I am able to provide this assistance to the kids of Kansas City.”

In all, this year’s Kansas City Toys for Tots campaign collected over $71,000 and 70,000 toys to assist more than 52,000 children throughout the metro area. According to Marine Corps Reserve organizers, this season was a success in meeting all requests from those who applied to the program in 2009.

“In the spirit of giving, and giving back to our community, we’re pleased to partner with this longstanding charity to help children experience the joy of the holidays,” says Ryan Elledge, Codero’s Chief Operations Officer. “This has been a great experience for us as well, and we’re already making plans to do it again next year.”

See more about the Toys for Toys campaign on the Codero Facebook page <http://www.facebook.com/pages/Overland-Park-KS/Codero/96896166469?ref=ts> .

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/codero_teams_with_toys_for_tots_helping_kids_in_need_this_holida.html

Google loses domain name trademark arbitration

2009-12-30T06:14:00-05:00

Toronto, Canada (Gawkwire.com) Internet giant Google has lost an arbitration over the domain name, Groovle.com. In a decision released today, The National Arbitration Forum, dismissed Google’s complaint (Claim Number: FA0911001293500) that it was entitled to the domain name, Groovle.com. Google had claimed that the domain name Groovle.com, is “confusingly similar” to its trademark for “Google”. The National Arbitration Forum is an international arbitration service accredited by ICANN, the international agency that oversees the Internet, to provide resolution services for domain name disputes around the world.

The unanimous three person panel composed of two retired American judges and one American law professor, ruled that Groovle.com “is not confusingly similar” to Google’s trademark, “Google”. To-date, Google has commenced 65 domain name disputes and this is only the second time that it has ever lost.

Young Canadian entrepreneurs Jacob Fuller and Ryan Fitzgibbon, who have been friends since high school, launched the innovative Groovle.com web site in 2007 and it has proven immensely popular with young Internet users. As Fuller explains, “Groovle was created to provide users the ability to upload photos and customize their Internet start page. We thought it would be a cool feature to have a nice photo of friends, family etc., every time you launch your web browser, instead of the very plain Google.com and Yahoo.com page.” Says Fitzgibbon, “Since we launched Groovle in 2007, Google, Bing and Ask.com have each come out with something similar.”

Groovle’s young creators are elated with the decision. “We were stunned when Google launched the domain name dispute as we have great respect for Google and have always had a good relationship with them,” said Ryan Fitzgibbon. Jacob Fuller added that, “Google never had anything to fear from our web site. The arbitrators’ decision that the two domain names are sufficiently different should put Google at ease and we look forward to a renewed positive relationship with Google.”

Groovle was successfully defended by renowned domain name lawyer and Internet law expert, Zak Muscovitch, who says, “Google clearly miscalculated here however my clients are prepared to put this behind them.”

The Decision: http://domains.adrforum.com/domains/decisions/1293500.htm

http://www.gawkwire.com/domains/google_loses_domain_name_trademark_arbitration.html

JumpFly Awarded the 2009 USCA Award in the SEM Consultants Category

2009-12-30T06:12:00-05:00

Chicago, IL (Gawkwire.com) JumpFly, the top ranked Search Engine Marketing Consultants in the US, was awarded the 2009 Best of Elgin Award in the Search Engine Marketing Consultants category for the 3rd year in a row. Each year, the U.S. Commerce Association (USCA) selects outstanding local businesses they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. Only companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community are chosen.

The USCA was established with the intention to recognize the best of local businesses in their community. The organization works exclusively with local business owners, professional associations, chambers of commerce and other business advertising and marketing groups to help promote local business activity through public relations, marketing and advertising. JumpFly was selected for the 2009 USCA Best of Local Business award in the Search Engine Marketing Consultants Category based on information gathered by the USCA and data provided by third parties.

Based in the Chicago suburb of Elgin, Illinois, JumpFly has served as the leading Search Engine Marketing Consultants for small and medium businesses throughout the United States for over 10 years. Specializing in PPC Management, JumpFly’s sole purpose is to enable its clients to maximize the results of their PPC advertising efforts while saving time and money. As proven Search Engine Marketing Consultants, JumpFly has earned several industry awards, in addition to the USCA recognition, due to its commitment to client satisfaction and successful client results. In 2009, JumpFly received an “A” grade from the Better Business Bureau and was also proudly recognized as TopSEOs’ #1 PPC Management Company in the US.

“We are grateful to be recognized for providing a valuable service to our community and our clients. This award is a testament to our staff and their ongoing contributions and dedication. We are fortunate to have a group of committed professionals that all have the same goal in mind, and that is to help our clients achieve success. An over-abundance of self proclaimed search engine marketing consultants often makes identifying truly qualified companies a challenge. This award and others achieved by JumpFly over the past several years, in addition to our clients’ ongoing success, help demonstrate why JumpFly is the PPC Management Authority.”

For additional information about JumpFly, please contact Brad Garlin or visit JumpFly.com.

http://www.gawkwire.com/seo_sem/jumpfly_awarded_the_2009_usca_award_in_the_sem_consultants_categ.html

DynaSis Announces Technology ToolKit for the SMB

2009-12-30T06:11:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) DynaSis today announced the release of their “Technology Toolkit”, a set of informational documents for businesses to assess their current IT versus their existing infrastructure. The toolkit will help small to medium sized businesses make a solid decision when considering an IT purchase.

The Technology Toolkit contains a technology self-assessment that allows businesses to score their IT in relation to best practice standards as well as an IT checklist of services an IT provider should offer. A total cost of IT calculator is also included so businesses can calculate the overall expenditure of their IT network over a three year period when compared to managing IT in-house or outsourcing daily IT functions to a managed service provider. Lastly, the toolkit provides SMBs a whitepaper on software as a service (SaaS) technology which details how businesses can leverage SaaS to decrease technology costs.

DynaSis Vice President Chas Arnold commented, “The Technology Toolkit gives businesses a chance to read all the information for themselves and make an informed decision about their technology. Making an IT purchase is an involved process, and many business professionals don’t know what to look for when searching for a new solution. The Technology Tool Kit will give them a good starting point to evaluate a solution that is right for them.”

The documents in the kit have been compiled after years of working with professionals in the Atlanta metro area and contains answers to commonly asked questions regarding IT providers and IT purchases.

DynaSis President David Moorman said, “After 18 years in the SMB IT market we are confident the Tool Kit will be a value add to any company struggling with questions like: Should we host our IT? What should my provider be doing for me? Will managing my IT in-house or outsourcing be more cost effective? DynaSis will continue to work with professionals in the decision process, but now businesses will have answers to the basics at their fingertips.”

The Technology Toolkit is free to small and medium sized businesses and can be found by visiting www.dynasis.com.

DynaSis is a managed IT service provider servicing small and medium sized businesses in the Atlanta area for over 17 years. DynaSis specializes in managed IT service plans, managed hosting and professional equipment installation. For more information about DynaSis visit www.dynasis.com.

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/dynasis_announces_technology_toolkit_for_the_smb.html

Free Aftermarket Domain Name Marketing Tools Now Available

2009-12-30T06:10:00-05:00

Round Rock, TX (Gawkwire.com) FindDomainNamesHere.com goes online today to assist owners of premium domain names with the marketing of their domain names for sale or lease. The new service will be promoted professionally through Internet news channels, search engines and the blogosphere to drive interested buyers of premium aftermarket domain names to the Website.

Buyers can use the domain name search, resource library and secure seller contact e-form without registering, remaining anonymous until they are ready to enter into direct buyer-to-seller negotiations to purchase or lease a domain name. Buyers and sellers never pay sales commission fees to use this service.

Domain names available in the current inventory include such valuable business names as iWorkPlace.com, iHelpDesk.com, WebToFax.com, FaxToMe.com, CyberstorePromotion.com and iCompanyStore.

Phase I includes a personal scrolling domain name portfolio widget for sellers. The widget appears on a personal portfolio page accessed by buyers online, and a code snippet can be inserted on outside Web pages to further promote the domain name portfolio. In addition to the initial tools going live today, several planned developments will be available early in 2010, starting with a Favorite Names Tracker, which will allow buyers to keep track of domain names of interest.

A unique benefit to domain name buyers and sellers is the ability to bundle value-added services with the sale of a domain name, which can be the bargaining chip to secure a purchase or sale of a premium domain name. This seller option provides discounted professional Website design, business Website hosting and managed dedicated server lease packages to anyone who pays $1,000 or more for a name listed with FindDomainNamesHere.com.

Anyone who requires more than 5 domain names to be listed for sale at FindDomainNamesHere.com can opt to purchase the Premium service for $149 per year to increase the domain name portfolio size to 100. Customers with a managed dedicated leased server on the Secure Business Web network will get the Premium service at no extra charge.

Serious domain name sellers can purchase a company-branded installation of the FindDomainNamesHere.com Website hosted on the Secure Business Web network to list an unlimited number of domain names or provide an exclusive aftermarket domain name portfolio, complete with secure e-forms, data encryption, SSL, and user-friendly content management system.

The Website is highly secured to protect sensitive member data. Registered member, login and contact form data is encrypted using SSL as it is submitted across the Internet, and all data stored is encrypted in a secure database housed on the SecureBusinessWeb.com network. Payment for premium and optional services is secured through PayPal and consumers are encouraged to use Escrow.com for added protection against fraud when conducting domain name purchase transactions.

The service is a creation of Ms. Steffanie Lynch, an expert in Internet marketing and secure, intuitive Internet business applications, who has provided custom Website applications and secure business Website hosting services since the early 1990's to businesses and non-profit organizations that require highly-functional Websites and security solutions. Ms. Lynch has sold four domain names in recent years for amounts greater than $20,000. Ms. Lynch is not a domain name broker and is only interested in providing a platform for selling a few select names from her portfolio, while sharing resources with other businesses.

Consumers can search the domain name inventory or register at http://FindDomainNamesHere.com to start listing domain names for sale today.

http://www.gawkwire.com/domains/free_aftermarket_domain_name_marketing_tools_now_available.html

Ourweb.net Offers a New VPS Program

2009-12-30T06:06:00-05:00

Holden, MA (Gawkwire.com) Ourweb.net (http://www.ourweb.net) is a Web Design and Hosting company launched by William Banks III in 1990. William Banks is a life-long resident of Holden who overcame a disability to create one of the communities favorite companies.

Ourweb.net offers new low cost virtual private servers, otherwise known as a "VPS", "VDS", or "Virtual Dedicated Server"'. Ourweb.net offer DirectAdmin control panels with all of our virtual private servers.

A VPS gives users all of the benefits of having their own dedicated server, but still sharing the main server with other users, so it's still technically a shared hosting environment. One good server could hold 20 or so virtual servers, and all are allocated a certain amount of the servers resources.

When someone has a popular website, a virtual private server will the only thing that can handle the strain on a server. If the site gets 10K visitors a day, and the pages are 10 - 50MB in size, that's about 100 - 500GB of bandwidth. Someone can get that amount of bandwidth from a shared hosting account (ex: the $4.95 deals), but the websites resources usage would slow down the server, and it would end up being bad situation for all hosted on that server. That's when it's a good time to look at a VPS.

Ourweb.net support all major Openvz distributions except for FreeBsd at this time.

Packages V768

Basic Features
Disc Space    - 15GB
Bandwidth    - Unmetered
Self Managed - Yes
Dedicated IP's - 1
Full Root Access / SSH - Yes
Dedicated RAM - 512MB
Burstable RAM - 640MB
Control Panel - DirectAdmin $15/mo
VPS Control Panel - SolusVM

Domain Features
Domains Hosted - Unlimited
Parked/Addon/Subdomains - Unlimited

Advanced features
mySQL 5.x Databases - Unlimited
FTP Accounts - Unlimited
PHP 5 with Zend Optimizer - Yes

Guarantees
Dual AMD Operton processors or Dual Intel Xeon processors - Yes
Minimum 12 GB RAM    - Yes
RAID Redundant hard drives - Yes
99.9% uptime Guarantee   - Yes

For the first five order, ourweb.net will give you $10.00 off

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/ourweb_net_offers_a_new_vps_program.html

Trends for Strategic Social Networking in 2010

2009-12-29T06:28:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Beyond Search, http://www.arnoldit.com/wordpress, a Web log focused on news, research and analysis about online search and content processing, has released its list of the top 10 social network trends to come in 2010.

According to Patricia Roberts, an advisor to Beyond Search: "Social networks will have far reaching impacts on hiring, competitive intelligence, governance and marketing. The buzz about networks like Twitter and Facebook, and the lack of standardized, robust metrics make it difficult to discern the true implications of social communications in business."

Social networks will have far reaching impacts on hiring, competitive intelligence, governance and marketing
A list of the top 50 social search systems appeared in the Dec. 23, 2009, story Preliminary List of Beyond Search Evaluated Social Search Systems posted at http://arnoldit.com/wordpress/2009/12/23/preliminary-list-of-beyond-search-evaluated-social-search-systems/ .

The Beyond Search team conducted a web survey of business professionals, interviewed more than 30 business writers, and compiled supplementary research in October and November 2009 provided a wealth of data about the implications of social networks for organizations and professionals. The Beyond Search team analyzed the information access systems focused on social networks and distilled its research into the top ten trends unleashed leading into 2010.

1. Virtual organizations will replace traditional business organization models.

2. Marketing via social networks will displace direct mail and slower, more expensive ways to build brands and identify prospects.

3. Governance of social networking will place significant stress on professional interaction. The shift from local communication to diffused communication will stress confidentiality and security procedures set up to handle a 20th century approach to business.

4. Hiring will shift from the traditional hierarchical relationship to an organic, fluid distributed approach.

5. Control of information and organizational "secrets" will become difficult, if not impossible to control, without escalating friction between professionals and the organization itself.

6. Prohibitions against the use of social networks on company time will increase the likelihood of work arounds, undermining mandated policies.

7. Corporations will continue to invest increasing resources in social media, almost always at the expense of traditional media, despite the lack of clear direction and metrics to determine return on investment figures.

8. The lack of robust, standardized metrics for social media will make it difficult for organizations to establish and understand the true value proposition of their social media efforts.

9. 2010 becomes the turning point for the use of social network tools in healthcare. We expect increase use for healthcare education and public health alerts.

10. Social network technology will displace more expensive, traditional methods in business processes from recruitment to direct marketing.

The strategic use of social network systems and tools will have a significant impact on marketing, security, public relations, recruitment, and management systems. "The meaning of a social network is changing and fast", said John Lack, MBA, an advisor to Beyond Search. "The implications for business and knowledge workers are not well understood."

In January 2010, Arnold IT will create a new Web log focused on strategic social network tools, systems and applications. A full description of the new service will appear in the Beyond Search Web log at http://www.arnoldit.com/wordpress.

http://www.gawkwire.com/reviews/trends_for_strategic_social_networking_in_2010.html

Wix.com and Networks Solutions Gives Out Free Domains for the Holidays

2009-12-29T06:26:00-05:00

New York, NY (Gawkwire.com) Wix.com, a burgeoning start-up company in the field of website building is giving out free domains for the holidays.

Wix provides galleries filled with free Flash templates in a slew of different web designs, including business website templates, photography website templates and much, much more. In addition to these free website templates the company has developed a powerful website building platform with that includes an easy to learn GUI interface, with which the templates can be easily customized and personalized.

Users are encouraged to choose a template and create a free website for themselves. This free website can be published, promoted and re-edited incurring no additional costs. However, Wix has refrained from giving out certain things for free, and that is changing this holiday season.

This holiday season Wix.com has forged a natural alliance with Network Solutions, an online solutions company that supplies domains in addition to a host of other web services while emphasizing support of small businesses. Together, they have launched a campaign through which Wix users, who upgrade their free account to premium, can obtain a free domain. They can choose any domain they like, as long as it is available of course, and direct their Flash website to that domain.

The holiday upgrade package is a special upgrade of one of three premium packages, the combo, the unlimited package and the ecommerce package that also includes activation of a shopping cart. A standard upgrade includes more storage room, meaning Wix users that have created a free website can upload more content, pictures, videos etc, to their website. This content will be safely protected on the wix.com servers. In addition, they will be receiving more bandwidth, making their website faster to upload and improving its usability. While free websites created with Wix also include a few Wix advertisements, the premium website will be free of any ads and the user will be able to use his own chosen domain, for free.

Creating a website for free and using a unique and personalized domain is an important promotional tool for small businesses all over the world. The internet gives small businesses a marketing edge that once belonged solely to larger enterprises with greater capital. Both Wix.com and Network Solutions, a subsidiary of General Atlantic, are dedicated to promoting and developing small businesses by offering special opportunities that allow small business to compete in a larger market.

http://www.gawkwire.com/promotions/wix_com_and_networks_solutions_gives_out_free_domains_for_the_ho.html

Ruby on Rails Applications Now Easy to Deploy with RubyStack 2.0

2009-12-29T06:25:00-05:00

San Francisco, CA (Gawkwire.com) BitNami, the site that simplifies the process of deploying web applications natively, virtually and in the cloud, has released RubyStack 2.0 along with ready to run packages of Rails-based open source applications. The BitNami Stacks are available as native installers, virtual appliances and cloud templates for Amazon EC2 and GoGrid.

RubyStack 2.0 is a fully integrated and configured package of Ruby, Rails, and all of the components required to develop and deploy Ruby on Rails applications, such as Apache, MySQL, Apache, PHP, Subversion, ImageMagick, Git and more. RubyStack is available as a native installer for deployment directly on a host machine, as a virtual machine image for deployment in a virtual environment, and as an AMI for Amazon and a GSI for GoGrid for deployment to either cloud platform. The fact that it is available in multiple formats makes it easy to replicate a standard configuration across different deployment environments for development, testing and production purposes.

BitNami also offers Stacks for popular open source Rails-based applications, including:
    •   Spree: A flexible, extensible e-commerce platform. Spree supports over 50 payment gateways and includes the ability to add customized logic for taxation, shipping, discounts and coupons, along with a host of other features.
    •   Radiant: A content management system designed for small teams. Radiant features an elegant user interface, flexible templating with layouts, snippets, page parts, and a custom tagging language, a first-class extension/plugin system and more.
    •   Typo: A powerful blogging platform that provides custom templates, powerful drag and drop plugins API, advanced SEO capabilities, XMLRPC API and many more.
    •   Tracks: An application for implementing David Allen’s Getting Things Done (tm) methodology.
    •   Redmine: A project management application. It supports multiple projects, role-based access control, an issue tracking system, file management, feeds and email notifications, per project wikis and forums, time-tracking and more.

“Our goal with BitNami is to make developing and deploying applications on Rails and other frameworks as painless as possible,” said Daniel Lopez, the founder and CTO of BitRock, the primary sponsor of BitNami. “We’re happy to be able to offer so many great open source applications in freely available, easy to deploy packages.”

In addition to the applications listed above, BitNami offers over 25 other Stacks for popular open source applications and development environments. Popular BitNami Stacks include Drupal, Joomla!, Wordpress, SugarCRM, Alfresco, Subversion and Liferay. All BitNami Stacks are available as native installers, virtual appliances and cloud templates.

To learn more, visit bitnami.org/learn_more.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_design/ruby_on_rails_applications_now_easy_to_deploy_with_rubystack_2_0.html

Super Early Bird registration for HostingCon expires this week

2009-12-29T06:24:00-05:00

(HostingCon) This is the final week to take advantage of HostingCon 2010 Super Early Bird registration savings! Register before the new year and save up to $240 on your HostingCon 2010 conference registration! How much can you save per registration type?

- Full conference registration with lunch saves $240 on the regular registration rate

- Full conference registration without lunch also saves $240 on the regular registration rate

- Single day conference registration (either Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday) saves $120 on the regular registration rate

- Exhibits only conference registration saves $40 on the regular registration rate

Don’t forget, Super Early Bird rates for HostingCon 2010 will disappear forever after 12/31/09. Register Now before it’s too late!

http://www.gawkwire.com/events_html/super_early_bird_registration_for_hostingcon_expires_this_week.html

Biznet Internet Solutions Experiencing Growth in Challenging Times

2009-12-29T06:23:00-05:00

Wixom, MI (Gawkwire.com) Biznet Internet Solutions, a Wixom, Mich. based full-service Web solutions company, focusing on business and mobile Web sites, advertising agency support and Internet marketing, announces four new full-time hires including Marketing Director, Doug Menzer; Director of Account Management, Patti Swanson; and two Marketing Coordinators, Jennifer Weesies and Dave Lemieux.

“It is exciting to be in a position of growth right now, especially while many others are scaling back. The recent additions to the team reflect Biznet's commitment to continued growth,” said Kevin Krason, CEO and founder of Biznet. "We are a strong company that has survived 2009 and has big plans to flourish in 2010."

Doug Menzer is a ten-year veteran of marketing communications with two degrees from Michigan State University in Communications and Psychology. Just prior to his new position at Biznet, Doug worked as a Marketing Manager/Director of Social Media for a Birmingham, Michigan based digital marketing agency. In his role as Marketing Director at Biznet, he is responsible for research, strategy, planning, project management and oversight of brand awareness and digital public relations for a variety of clients.

Prior to joining Biznet , Patti Swanson, with nearly 20 years marketing and management experience, held numerous positions for the YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit including most recently Executive Director at North Oakland Family YMCA, and prior to that Vice President of Marketing and Membership. She has a Bachelor's of Business Administration in Marketing and Management from Northwood University and a Master's of Science Administration in Business and Marketing from Central Michigan University. In her role as Director of Account Management at Biznet, Patti is responsible for account supervision and project management ensuring the highest level of quality and flawless execution while forging new relationships and opportunities.

Jennifer Weesies, a recent graduate of Ferris State University with her Bachelor's of Business in Public Relations, joined the Biznet team in Oct. of 2009. Prior to accepting a Marketing Coordinator position at Biznet, she worked as an intern at Lambert, Edwards and Associates, a public relations firm in Grand Rapids, Mich. As a member of the marketing team at Biznet, Jennifer develops and carries out digital marketing and social media strategies including content distribution campaigns, SEO/SEM, social media training and digital public relations while monitoring and building client relationships.

David Lemieux began his career at Biznet Internet Solutions in Feb. of 2009 as an intern and was hired on staff full-time in Oct. of 2009. He is currently wrapping up his Bachelor's degree at Oakland University. In his position as a Marketing Coordinator at Biznet, Dave is responsible for website copy writing and tweaking, search engine optimization, article and video distribution, analyzing metrics, client reporting, social media monitoring as well as forging and maintaining client relationships.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_design/biznet_internet_solutions_experiencing_growth_in_challenging_tim.html

Consumers Lose Over $150 Million to Rogue Anti-Virus

2009-12-29T06:20:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) In its press release last week, the Internet Crime Complaint Center, a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) reported that "the FBI is aware of an estimated loss to victims in excess of $150 million" from "Rogue" Anti-Virus.

This threat typically presents itself in the form of a pop-up window which could appear on any type of website a user is visiting. The popup will suggest that the user’s computer is somehow infected and invites the user to download software on the pretense of removing it or further scanning the system for more. Typically, such downloads will contain malware, as well as an invitation to pay the perpetrator a fee to remove it.

As part of his Internet Security Insider video blog series, Comodo CEO Melih Abdulhayoglu offers his unique, insider viewpoint on this type of threat and what to do about it. In Establishing PC Security Software Standards he explains an industry-wide initiative within the security software industry to develop standards that enable users to differentiate between legitimate and "Rogue" security providers. This initiative, the Common Computing Security Standards Forum, has created a list of known legitimate security software vendors which consumers can view at the CCSS Forum Website. Comodo Security Solutions is a member of the forum and was instrumental in its formation. http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/consumers_lose_over_150_million_to_rogue_anti-virus.html

Net Onboard Partners with SmarterTools

2009-12-28T06:11:00-05:00

Selangor, Malaysia (Gawkwire.com) Web hosting provider Net Onboard Sdn Bhd proudly announces a partnership with SmarterTools Inc., an information technology (IT) management software company, to provide SmarterTools software to qualified customers at no additional cost.

Under the terms of the partnership, Net Onboard Sdn Bhd will provide a SmarterTools software bundle to all server co-location plans and Dedicated Virtual Machine Server (DVMS) subscriptions at no additional cost. The bundle includes the latest versions of the SmarterMail mail server, SmarterStats Web log analytics and SEO software, and SmarterTrack customer service software and is valued at $800 USD. Qualified customers will need to activate their SmarterMail, SmarterStats, and SmarterTrack licenses through SmarterTools to use the software at no additional cost.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/net_onboard_partners_with_smartertools.html

Total Phase Software Named a Finalist for 2010 Best in Test Award

2009-12-28T06:09:00-05:00

Sunnyvale, CA (Gawkwire.com) Total Phase is pleased to announce that the Data Center™ Software has been selected as a finalist in the Computer Bus Analyzer category of the 2010 Best in Test award, a competition conducted each year by Test & Measurement World Magazine. The Best in Test annual award honors innovative new products and services, and Total Phase is honored to be included in the group of finalists. Test & Measurement World readers will get a chance to vote for their favorite products and tools, and the winners will be announced in April 2010. Please visit the Test & Measurement World website and vote at http://www.tmworld.com/article/441341-Best_in_Test_Finalists_2010_Computer_bus_analyzers.php!

"Total Phase is excited to be a finalist in this year's Best in Test competition," states Derek Fung, Senior Engineer. "By displaying protocol data as it is captured in real time, the Data Center software provides efficient protocol analysis and deep visibility into the complex board-level communications, all at an affordable price for embedded systems developers."

About the Data Center Software

The Data Center Software is the industry's only protocol analysis software offering true real-time performance and cross-platform support for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. The bus monitoring software provides user-friendly features and displays, and captures USB, I2C, and SPI data in real-time with the Beagle™ line of hardware protocol analyzers. This year, Total Phase overhauled the Data Center software, adding advanced new features including: real-time USB class-level decoding, expanded real-time data filtering, intuitive hierarchical data packet grouping, instant multilingual support, UNIX-style command line interface, and many others.

One of the most useful new features is real-time class-level decoding, which instantly and automatically parses and displays USB data in human-readable class-level transactions. The Data Center software gives engineers quick feedback about their system under test through its real-time display, search, and filtering capabilities. These features afford an unprecedented level of visibility into USB and other serial bus protocols, helping engineers find problems and craft solutions in less time. The Data Center software and Beagle hardware protocol analyzers constitute an affordable, powerful solution, which is yet unmatched in the test and measurement industry.

For more information, including a list of features and screen captures, please visit http://www.totalphase.com/products/data_center/

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/total_phase_software_named_a_finalist_for_2010_best_in_test_awar.html

SEO Consult Relocates Headquarters As Business Continues To Boom

2009-12-27T17:09:00-05:00

Cheshire, England (Gawkwire.com) SEO Consult, leading Search Engine Optimisation agency and TopSEOs number 1 UK SEO agency for the last 13 consecutive months, are to move to new and considerably larger premises in January 2010 in order to allow for further company growth.

SEO Consult moved to Chester House, Cheshire, in 2006 and just 3 years later have outgrown the available office space as company personnel has almost tripled in size during that period. The new, purpose built office facilities in Hooton, Cheshire will provide a high standard of advanced business space to house the current Search Engine Optimization team at SEO Consult, as well as allowing for further growth in the future. The relocation to the brand new office development tops off a year during which the company has employed a record number of new personnel and seen growth in all areas of their team.

“2009 has been a great year for the company and we have seen our client base grow significantly, so have been able to offer employment to many more talented people as a result and we have now truly outgrown our current home.” Commented Matt Bullas, Managing Director of SEO Consult. “We are delighted to be moving to this fantastic new facility, as not only does the building meet our needs right now, but we also have scope for future growth too. This move means the SEO team will work in a purpose built office environment which helps to propel the company forward onto the next level and can only benefit our clients in 2010 and beyond.”

To find out more about SEO Consult, their free website analysis or any of their other services, please visit our website at www.seoconsult.co.uk or call 0845 205 0292.

http://www.gawkwire.com/seo_sem/seo_consult_relocates_headquarters_as_business_continues_to_boom.html

Virtual Global Releases Top Ten Cloud Computing Predictions for 2010

2009-12-28T06:08:00-05:00

Morgantown, WV (Gawkwire.com) Virtual Global, a leading provider of cloud-enabled enterprise solutions and the TeamHost™ online platform for creating SaaS applications, released its "Top ten cloud computing predictions for 2010" as part of its "Cloud Computing Made Easy" eBook available for download at www.cloudipedia.com.

Cloudipedia - Cloud Computing Made Easy"Cloud computing's time has come," said Cary Landis, CEO of Virtual Global. "In today's economy, smaller businesses see it as an economic necessity. The market demands it."

Landis cites multiple factors driving the adoption of the cloud, including costs, entrepreneurship, telecommuting and the more collaborative workspace. "In 2010, we'll see infrastructure prices fall, platforms become the norm, and big IT companies struggle for new identities," noted Landis. "Ultimately, the cloud is more than just a piece of technology. It's changing the way we do business, the way we work, and even the way we think."

Virtual Global calls cloud computing "the biggest shift in business since the Industrial Revolution." The top ten predictions include:

1. Cloud infrastructure commoditizes, and prices fall. Cloud computing already provides a price advantage. The underlying hardware prices are decreasing as data center competition is increasing. Prices will fall, making it easier for thousands of SaaS providers to enter the market.

2. Open standards emerge as dominant in cloud platforms. As the Platform as a Service space gains acceptance, the proprietary shakeout will give way to more open platforms in the cloud. This will simplify development, allow for more customization, and address the question of what happens to a company's applications if a cloud provider goes out of business.

3. Homesourcing becomes mainstream. The era of the cubicle is over. Because applications and data no longer need to reside on the computers in front of us, the physical office is quickly becoming redundant.

4. Corporate processes become decentralized. Larger companies take advantage of the decentralization made possible by cloud computing. This leads to more of outsourcing, which in turn triggers the need for more small companies to fill the need for those outsourced services.

5. A new wave of entrepreneurship emerges. Cloud computing ushers in the next great dotcom boom, only this time things are different. Cloud computing has lowered the barriers to entry so entrepreneurs won't need to be programming wizards or venture backed. They only need an idea, ambition and a credit card.

6. Smart phones evolve with cloud apps. Smart phones continue to gain functionality, and their reach extends further with access to wireless broadband. This makes smart phones more attractive as an actual working machine, and a tool for accessing productivity apps over the cloud for corporate use.

7. The days of multi-million dollar enterprise software projects dwindle. Enterprise-level cloud computing apps will gradually replace huge on-premises implementations. The Platform as a Service space will become the norm, rather than exception for new software projects. The days of multi-million IT projects will eventually fall by the wayside along with the fall of ground-up Web 2.0 engineering.

8. Cloud computing penetrates all areas of business management. Cloud applications will evolve to accommodate more mission-critical needs, delivering full-fledged management systems to the largest government agencies and corporations in the world.

9. Big-name companies will struggle for new identities. The emergence of new cloud offerings will drive competition in the cloud infrastructure arena. Several new brands will emerge, both from established players and newcomers to the market.

10. Social networking systems will give way to collaborative management systems. The future of collaboration will be more focused on the emerging needs of mangers who are coping with increased complexity and reporting demands. The future will be less focused on social needs.

For a free complete copy of Virtual Global's predictions and landmark book, "Cloud Computing Made Easy," visit www.cloudipedia.com.

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/virtual_global_releases_top_ten_cloud_computing_predictions_for_.html

DediPower helps send Virgin Galactic supersonic

2009-12-28T06:07:00-05:00

Reading, UK (Gawkwire.com) Along with the announcement of the groundbreaking Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo roll out is the associated stellar new website. With the eyes of the world watching the news of the first commercial space flights, the website is being used as a key tool to communicate with the hundreds of thousands of people keen to discover more. DediPower Managed Hosting has been selected to provide the stable platform the site will rely upon for the high traffic the site will receive.

To cope with the high bandwidth demand, DediPower has put several custom-built solutions in place, including dedicated servers and a gigabit connectivity to accommodate the high traffic volume. In addition, a 24/7 managed service will be provided to relieve Virgin Galactic of uptime concerns.

Ned RocknRoll, Astronaut Experience, Cosmic Brand and Marketing at Virgin Galactic, said, “As a company, Virgin has a pioneering spirit and strong brand values, and it was essential that we worked with a team that understands this. DediPower has stepped up to the challenge, guaranteeing that our primary means of communication with our customers is constantly available. Our customers are very important to us. DediPower understand this and ensures our site will be reliable. I feel completely safe and at ease in DediPower’s very capable hands.”

Craig Martin, CEO at DediPower Managed Hosting, added, “We are delighted to be working with Virgin Galactic and incredibly excited to be a part of this revolutionary space programme. An event of this magnitude sees an inordinate amount of people accessing the website. Our scalable solution is meeting traffic demands, enabling Virgin Galactic to rest assured that its site is being managed with the highest service levels possible.”

In addition to working with the Virgin Galactic team, DediPower has also been working with Virgin over the last year.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/dedipower_helps_send_virgin_galactic_supersonic.html

Microsoft Statement on Order to Stop Selling Word

2009-12-22T18:54:00-05:00

REDMOND, WA (Gawkwire.com) We have just learned that the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has denied our appeal in the i4i case. We are moving quickly to comply with the injunction, which takes effect on January 11, 2010.

This injunction applies only to copies of Microsoft Word 2007 and Microsoft Office 2007 sold in the U.S. on or after the injunction date of January 11, 2010. Copies of these products sold before this date are not affected.

With respect to Microsoft Word 2007 and Microsoft Office 2007, we have been preparing for this possibility since the District Court issued its injunction in August 2009 and have put the wheels in motion to remove this little-used feature from these products. Therefore, we expect to have copies of Microsoft Word 2007 and Office 2007, with this feature removed, available for U.S. sale and distribution by the injunction date. In addition, the beta versions of Microsoft Word 2010 and Microsoft Office 2010, which are available now for downloading, do not contain the technology covered by the injunction.

While we are moving quickly to address the injunction issue, we are also considering our legal options, which could include a request for a rehearing by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals en banc or a request for a writ of certiorari from the U.S. Supreme Court.

--Kevin Kutz, Director of Public Affairs, Microsoft Corporation
http://www.gawkwire.com/business/microsoft_statement_on_order_to_stop_selling_word.html

Letter From David Jones: Peak 10 Acquires 1Vault Networks

2009-12-23T06:18:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) I am proud to formally announce that today, December 22, 2009, Peak 10 has acquired 1Vault Networks, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based business continuity and data services provider. This acquisition establishes our tenth market and 17th data center facility. We continue to grow, adding strength and scale with enhanced products and services, increased technical resources and unparalleled market depth and breadth. The talented team at 1Vault Networks will remain in place and committed to customers, the South Florida market, and Peak 10's success company-wide.

The expansion of Peak 10 into South Florida’s vibrant technology community provides us with access to a wealth of technical and engineering expertise. We will continue to offer our trademark customer service and support as a local data center and managed services operator, regardless of a customer’s size or stature. This is a core philosophy we will continue to employ throughout every Peak 10 market.

Peak 10 will continue 1Vault’s well-earned reputation for providing leading-edge services and support. We will leverage their expertise in delivering business continuity and disaster recovery services, which complements our own business continuity solutions and private, redundant network. 1Vault will become Peak 10 South Florida and will operate in a fashion similar to our other data centers located in Nashville, Tenn.; Louisville, Ky. Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C.; Tampa and Jacksonville, Fla.; Atlanta, Ga.; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Richmond, Va.

If you have questions or would like additional information about Peak 10 South Florida, please feel free to contact me at your convenience. Thank you for your business and continued support.

Best Regards,

David H. Jones
President and Chief Executive Officer
Peak 10, Inc.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/letter_from_david_jones_peak_10_acquires_1vault_networks.html

AIT Offers Web Hosting Home Based Business Opportunity

2009-12-23T06:18:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) As Kenneth Rivers wound down his military career, he was incredibly positive about his future as a part time owner of a web development company. Rivers, a Special Forces operator and Green Beret found an online article outlining the success of a similar brother in arms, a former infantry officer turned tech CEO, Clarence Briggs. Briggs, the founder of AIT, Inc. (http://www.AIT.com) has paved the way as a shining example of success from startup to a fourteen year industry domain registration and web hosting incumbent. The story of Briggs and AIT provided enough motivation for Rivers to ignite his own entrepreneurship and the pursuit of his lifelong dream to become a business owner.

“We love stories like this,” said Avery Skelton VP of Sales and Marketing for AIT, a two time Inc. 500 Company and D&T Fast 500 Award Recipient. “Given that 80% percent of the company is prior military, it’s always fulfilling to see those who have served in the armed forces come to us and say that they have been inspired to start their own company based on the AIT story,” continued Skelton, who is also a veteran who has served with the U.S. Armed Forces.

In the early 1990’s Infantry officer, Clarence Briggs, decided after suffering a serious injury during a parachuting exercise that the business of web hosting and domain name registration represented a significant opportunity and soon converted his garage into the company’s first operations center. Several years the company moved into a 5,000 square foot building. The company now with customers in over one hundred and seven countries is owns and operates a 93,000 square foot facility and Data Center located in Fayetteville, NC.

“Like most of our resellers, I was working a full time job, coming home and putting in eight to ten hours at night and on the weekends. It wasn’t easy but a little tenacity goes along way.” Said Briggs. “The thing that made us different from other web hosting companies is a fanatical commitment to customer service and our web hosting and domain name reseller programs. We’ve always tried to keep the entrepreneurial spirit alive, developing products and services for corporate clients as well as those who are working part time from home-based startups,” continued Briggs. “Small businesses are the key to any free enterprise economy and they are a key part of our client portfolio,” said Briggs.

Rivers claims the Hosting Reseller Programs of AIT were the perfect answer to the transition his military career to the civilian world. “I was actually working my new business part time while still in the military,” said Rivers. “AIT provides the solid foundation that has made my company successful. Our latest project, WACommerce.org is a hosted economic development tool which helps the local community to keep local dollars local by empowering area businesses with a simple tool to find contracts and subcontracting opportunities at both the municipal, state, and federal level” continued Rivers. Wacommerce.org is hosted by AIT and is powered by the company’s proprietary technology, GovTide™ which has a proven track record in North Carolina branded as MatchForce.org.

Rhonda Perkins, shares the enthusiasm of Rivers as she has recently resigned from her position as a purchaser of government products to dedicate full time to her business which specializes in Internet Marketing and web design services. “I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to learn how to be a server administrator overnight so I started researching companies that specialize in managed reseller hosting and dedicated servers,” said Perkins. I found AIT nine months ago and since then I’ve tripled my revenue due to all of the private label web hosting services offered by AIT. I also signed up to be my own Domain Name Registrar at www.AITdomains.com. AITs email marketer application has added an entire new bundle of Internet Marketing solutions to my portfolio.” Said Perkins. “I will hire my third full time employee within the next month.” Said Perkins.

AIT’s reseller web hosting programs have lead the way for many small businesses to flourish. The Web Host and Domain Registration Company recently announced a large discount on its core line of hosting plans including fully managed, dedicated servers that give anyone with a computer and an internet connection the ability to start reselling or hosting their websites for less than the cost of an average monthly utility bill. All AIT plans include over 100 free, private label services such as a web site builder and shopping cart. The company also couples free demo accounts within its search engine, tyBit (www.tybit.com) to ensure that new web hosting customer are also getting a head start on the promotion of their web sites. The company invites anyone interested in becoming a reseller to visit its web site www.AIT.com or call 1-800-878-4084.

Advanced Internet technologies Inc, offers web hosting, domain name registration, web design, email marketing and is home to over 210,000 customers that include Fortune 500 companies as well as small businesses. Founded in 1996 AIT has grown into a multimillion-dollar web hosting and technology company, from its humble beginnings in a garage to its current 93,000 SF headquarters. AIT has achieved 14 straight years of sustained profitability and been named 2 times to The Inc. 500 list of fast growing firms, 3 times to the Deloitte & Touché Fast 500 list, and NC Entrepreneur Firm of the Year. For more information email sales(at)ait(dot)com or call 1-800-878-4084 to take advantage of these special offers.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/ait_offers_web_hosting_home_based_business_opportunity.html

2010 Bay Area Search Engine Optimization Classes Announced

2009-12-23T06:20:00-05:00

Livermore, CA (Gawkwire.com) The Bay Area Search Engine Academy announced today their SEO classes for 2010 have been scheduled through the first quarter. Their first hands-on workshops will be held in San Ramon, California February 22-26, and then repeated in Santa Clara, California March 22-26.

Seating is limited in each class, so people interested in attending are encouraged to sign up early to reserve a spot. Petty noted too that due to the economy, tuition is going up significantly in 2010. "However, people can register now before the end of the year, and save several hundred dollars off their tuition."

The Bay Area Search Engine Academy is the San Francisco Bay Area's local office from the global Search Engine Academy. They hold classes around the United States, in Canada, Europe, Australia and southeast Asia. They offer hands-on workshops with standardized content in search engine optimization (SEO) classes, social media optimization (SMO), and other techniques for getting listed on the search engines like Google and Yahoo!. Each workshop concludes with an online exam to ensure the students have mastered all the material.

Thomas Petty is the President of the Bay Area Search Engine Academy, which holds its classes around the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento, California. He teaches the workshops to students who have come from as far away as Belize and Mexico. "They're designed specifically so non-technical business owners as well Web specialists can both learn high-powered techniques to getting listed on the search engines," Petty said. "Everyone walks away with strategies they've already practiced in class, and can implement right away."

Petty says the Academy classes are very different from other seminar-style trainings because class size is kept small, typically with no more than 15 or 20 students. "Each student has time in class to get their specific questions answered and problems worked on right there," he said. They encourage students to bring their wireless-enabled laptops with them to work on their own Web sites or their clients' in class and collaborate with other students. He adds, "Everyone has the opportunity to show a problem they're working on to the rest of the class and get constructive feedback from everyone else."

Google recently implemented some changes in the way search results get displayed. Many people have noticed that their Web site may have moved, and wonder why. Petty said, "The search engines - especially Google - constantly change the rules. This makes it challenging for a business to get ahead consistently when there is so much competition and a moving target."

The Search Engine Academy spends the first two days of class time teaching students a proven, six-step process that business people can implement on their own site to get good search engine position results without a lot of technical knowledge.

The last three days are spent teaching advanced techniques that can get a Web site listed on the search engine results page multiple times. "Anyone who occupies more than one of the ten spots on Google increases his or her chance of being clicked on," Petty says. "It's not rocket science, we teach techniques that anyone can implement as soon as they leave the classroom."

For a small fee to cover paperwork, graduates of the Bay Area Search Engine Academy workshops can also receive continuing education units (CEUs) through the University of Southern Mississippi. Many businesses are seeking "SEO Certified" employees to help them with their online marketing activities. Each graduate who successfully completes the exam receives a Certificate of Mastery in Basic or Advanced search engine marketing strategies.

For more information about the schedule, course content and how to register for classes, visit their Web site or call toll-free (888) 807-5658.

http://www.gawkwire.com/seo_sem/2010_bay_area_search_engine_optimization_classes_announced.html

BitNami and Spree Simplify E-Commerce Natively, Virtually and in Cloud

2009-12-23T06:17:00-05:00

San Francisco, CA (Gawkwire.com) BitNami, the site that simplifies the process of deploying web applications natively, virtually and in the cloud, announced today that it has partnered with the Spree project to provide an easy to deploy package for the open source e-commerce platform.

Spree capitalizes on the dynamic nature of the Ruby programming language to provide the most flexible commerce platform available. It has been designed from the ground up to be as open and extensible as possible. Spree supports over 50 payment gateways and includes the ability to add customized logic for taxation, shipping, discounts and coupons, along with a host of other features. Because Spree is licensed under the liberal New BSD License, anyone can use it free of charge for both commercial and non commercial purposes.

"We are excited to add Spree to the long list of applications that are available on BitNami.org" said Daniel Liszka, a BitNami developer. "E-commerce platforms can often be inflexible and difficult to get up and running. Because it is built on top of Ruby on Rails, Spree is easy to extend and BitNami makes installation and configuration a snap. "

The new BitNami Spree Stack makes deploying Spree a fast, painless process. To install the e-commerce platform on their system, users just download BitNami Spree Stack from BitNami.org and click through the simple installation and configuration wizard. In less than 10 minutes, they can have a completely configured Spree installation up and running on their system, free of charge.

BitNami also offers users the option of downloading a virtual machine image or deploying the BitNami Spree Stack directly to Amazon EC2. Regardless of the deployment target, users will get a completely integrated, ready to run package that includes Spree and all of its dependencies. No manual configuration is required, so users at all technical levels can deploy Spree in minutes.

"BitNami stacks are a great solution for encouraging the adoption of open source technologies. They significantly lower the barrier to entry for getting a fully functional stack up and running on a local machine" said Sean Schofield, CEO Rails Dog LLC and contributor to the Spree project. "Even though Spree is open source, people still like to "try before they buy." This will make it easier for our prospective users to take the software for a test drive as well as to show it off to other stakeholders."

In addition to Spree, BitNami.org offers a wide range of popular open source applications for wikis, blogs, document management, bug tracking and more. BitNami-packaged applications are available as native installers, virtual machine images and Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) and GoGrid Server Images (GSIs).

To download the BitNami Spree Stack or another application, visit BitNami.org/stacks.

About BitNami:
BitNami.org simplifies the process of deploying web applications natively, virtually and in the cloud. Each BitNami Stack contains an application that is fully integrated with all of the software it requires to run. BitNami Stacks are available free of charge as native installers, virtual machine images and cloud templates, so they can easily be deployed in any environment.

Popular BitNami-packaged applications include Drupal, Joomla!, Wordpress, SugarCRM, Alfresco, Redmine, Subversion and many more. For a complete list, visit BitNami.org/Stacks.

BitNami stacks are packaged with the BitRock multiplatform installer tool, InstallBuilder.

Amazon, Amazon EC2, Amazon Machine Images, AMIs, GoGrid, GoGrid Server Images, GSIs, BitRock, BitNami, Spree and other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/bitnami_and_spree_simplify_e-commerce_natively_virtually_and_in_.html

Only Half as Many IT Professionals Working Through Holidays This Year

2009-12-23T06:16:00-05:00

New York, NY (Gawkwire.com) Intermedia, the global leader in Microsoft Exchange 2010 hosting, surveyed nearly 200 small- and medium-sized businesses and found that 42 percent of IT professionals plan to work through the holidays compared to 84 percent in 2006.

The majority of IT professionals and business managers plan to check email from home while on holiday. 82 percent of business managers and 75 percent of IT professionals will also be reachable to coworkers over the holiday regardless of vacation plans.

"The survey results reflect a more mobile workforce. Higher numbers of managers are using smart phones and Outlook Web Access, so there’s less need for them to be tethered to the office during the holidays," says Manlio Carrelli, chief marketing officer, Intermedia.

Anytime, anywhere access also appears to have reduced potential for professionals to use work as an excuse to avoid holiday responsibilities:

■89 percent of both IT professionals and business managers surveyed said they won’t use work as an excuse to get out of helping around the house

■89 percent of IT professionals and 80 percent of business managers won’t pretend to work in order to avoid relatives.

http://www.gawkwire.com/business/only_half_as_many_it_professionals_working_through_holidays_this.html

Afilias Releases .INFO Domain 2009 Annual Report

2009-12-22T06:35:00-05:00

Dublin, Ireland (Gawkwire.com) Afilias, a global provider of internet infrastructure services and registry for the .INFO domain, has released the 2009 .INFO Annual Report illustrating .INFO’s rise over the past eight years. .INFO currently ranks seventh among all 270+ Top Level Domains (TLD’s) worldwide and first among all new TLDs introduced on the Internet since 2001.

“After 8 years of concerted effort, .INFO is the undisputed most successful new TLD launched to date, accounting for over 40 percent of all new TLD registrations,” said Roland LaPlante, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Afilias “.INFO’s experience provides many lessons applicable to the launch of new domains to come. As an organization, Afilias has been able to use our experiences with .INFO as a benchmark for successfully gaining approval for, launching and growing more new TLDs than any other registry services provider.”

.INFO, which now boasts over 5.3 million domains, continues to deliver on its mission to provide Internet users with a fast and intuitive way to access information online, with over 70 percent of domains resolving to real content and over 1 million unique Web sites. The top regions for registrations continue to be North America (61 percent) and Europe (23 percent). However, Asian markets are growing and the region now holds 11 percent of .INFO registrations.

.INFO also continues to gain penetration into the registrar marketplace which offers domain names for retail sale. .INFO is now available with over 330 distributors that support over 90% of sales volume in the worldwide domain name industry.

In addition to statistics on the health of .INFO, the report also addresses important news and initiatives that .INFO has undertaken over the last year. This includes .INFO’s efforts to reach new audiences via Facebook, Twitter, the recent .INFO Awards and the release of an interactive .INFO domain directory at www.info.info/directory . The report also highlights Afilias’ continued efforts and accomplishments at keeping the .INFO domain space and Internet users secure through its Domain Anti-Abuse Policy and supporting initiatives.

“.INFO’s market leadership has been driven by a combination of its value as an intuitive string with broad appeal, near universal registrar support, effective registry management, reliable technology, and an experienced team with a track record of success in the ICANN community,” added LaPlante.
The full 2009 Annual report is available online at http://www.info.info/webfm_send/98.

http://www.gawkwire.com/domains/afilias_releases_info_domain_2009_annual_report.html

Miva Merchant 5.5 Shopping Cart Top 5 Features

2009-12-22T06:33:00-05:00

(The Hosting News) – Top features of the Miva Merchant 5.5 Shopping Cart:

1. PCI & PA-DSS Compliance

It is crucial that the shopping cart software you use for your e-commerce site is compliant with the new PCI PA-DSS by July 2010 if you store any confidential or credit card information. Many shopping carts are not and will not be compliant by the deadline. However, Miva Merchant will be 100% compliant by July. Sites that are found to be non-compliant can face severe and hefty fines and even face the possibility of being shutdown. This is not a matter that is being taken lightly by any means since Internet security is taken very seriously nowadays.

Miva Merchant has developed a strategic partnership with ControlScan to provide all-inclusive PCI compliance and security across all sites utilizing Miva Merchant Hosting. Websites that use ControlScan’s services receive a seal from the company notifying customers that they are protected. This seal will give consumers a sense of trust and security so they will feel comfortable sharing their private information.

2. Store Morph Technology (SMT)

This popular and powerful new feature allows users to create stores that are totally customized to their specific needs based on provided templates. Store Morph Technology is a huge advancement in the creation, design and management of e-commerce businesses.

With SMT, storeowners have total control over the layout and design of every single page of their store. SMT allows merchants to have a certain layout on one page and a totally different one on another page. SMT is renowned for its simple use of basic HTML commands in order to create customized pages.

SMT allows stores to become more functional to their target clients and customers by modifying small yet important details of a site. This way not every Miva Hosting store looks the same – you can make your site stand out amongst the competition.

3. Miva Skins

A skin is a graphical interface that changes the appearance of a site without altering the way the site functions or operates. Miva Merchant has developed skins for just about any kind of retailer or service you can fathom. From sporting goods retailers and beauty product stores to travel agencies and restaurants, store skins for a wide array of businesses are available at a reasonable cost.

The Miva Merchant 5.5 Skin Store gives the online merchant an impressive selection of store skins available for purchase. When a storeowner purchases a skin for their store, they are able to improve the look and feel of their site instantly. Banners, custom images, backgrounds and buttons are also included with the purchase.

4. Miva Modules

Miva Merchant 5.5 presents its users with the ability to buy and install third party modules for their stores. These plug-ins are easily installed and allow for customization without costly outsourcing to a custom programmer.

New modules are consistently being developed since there is an evolving market for them. There are modules for a wide variety of tasks including:

•Physical Appearance Templates (that go beyond the abilities of SMT)
•Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
•Email Management
•Ordering and Shipping
•Marketing and Promotions
•Inventory Management
For a list of the best-selling Miva Merchant modules available, please visit Miva Central’s Modules Page.

5. Technical Support

The technical support of Miva Merchant and its Premier Partner hosting companies is unparalleled and unrivaled. They connect with each and every client on a personal level and demonstrate time and again that they actually care about their customers. Furthermore, online merchants will find a great deal of valuable information on the Miva Merchant website through their forums, tutorials, FAQs and videos.

For a setup fee of $129 and a monthly cost of $19.95, store operators can join the Miva Merchant Service Club, which provides them with exclusive support through Miva themselves. The $129 setup fee will be waived if you sign up within thirty days of obtaining your Miva license.

If a storeowner signs up with Miva’s Service Club they will receive the following:

•Priority access with unlimited toll free telephone and email support for Miva Merchant
•Support for Miva Synchro (Miva’s unique program that integrates online storefronts and databases with Intuit Quickbooks)
•Database Repair
•Free modules, success secrets and store graphics as part of Miva’s monthly “Gem”
For the clients of Webnet Hosting, a Premier Provider of Miva Merchant Web Hosting and consistently voted Best Miva Merchant Host, 24/7/365 phone and email technical support are included with all hosting packages at no additional cost. Keep in mind that a quality web host will always provide 24/7 both email and phone support. Having constant support for your website is important because if your site is not working properly you can quickly lose money and no e-commerce operator wants that!

http://www.gawkwire.com/reviews/miva_merchant_5_5_shopping_cart_top_5_features.html

Exabytes Widens Its Wings

2009-12-22T06:31:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Exabytes Network Pvt. Ltd., (http://exabytes.sg/promotion/2009/historypromo/) the leading webhosting company today announced that it has just penetrated the Singapore market by providing their products and services in the Lion City.

The company which specializes in various platform hosting and domain registration announced the release of its Here to Create History Promotion which their clients one free hosting account with each purchase of their .sg domain name. The promotion is also reported to be for a limited time only, from December 21st to December 31st 2009.

When asked the reason for penetrating a new market, CEO Chan Kee Siak said, “
"We must not be easily satisfied with what we have achieved. To continue progressing and be successful, we should strive to be ahead of change and not be trailing it. And offers a great business opportunity to achieve just that," http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/exabytes_widens_its_wings.html

How to reduce power consumption in data centers

2009-12-21T12:00:00-05:00

Milan (Gawkwire.com) The Energ-IT project has been set up to focus on Green IT. The main aim of the project is to develop solutions that can be used to reduce power consumption in data centers. The project final goals are to:

1. Identify a set of green reengineering actions to be applied to legacy systems without necessarily replacing them.

2. Empirically assess related energy savings.

3. Compare savings with top market solutions by means of a test data center (demonstrator) that represents the best state of the art energy saving technology.

Members of the Energ-IT project are: Fondazione Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Elettronica e Informazione del Politecnico di Milano, Beta 80 Group, Enter, and Neptuny.

The Energ-IT project has built a test data centre that switches from a traditional IT infrastructure into a virtualized one in order to determine benchmarks on green savings as well as to identify a set of actions that can be applied to the data center as it moves to a virtualized infrastructure. The test data centre will showcase the best energy saving technology enabling organizations to see what they can achieve.

The Energ-IT team has discussed its initial findings in the workshop “Models and actions for reducing IT energy consumption” (Milan, 11th December 2009)

The event has been organized by Fondazione Politecnico di Milano in cooperation with the European Commission.

The workshop was presented by Neptuny and by the other team members, highlighting the intermediate results of the Energ-IT project and discussing paths and tools needed to develop Green IT strategies for the 21st century.

Paolo Cremonesi, Neptuny’s CTO and member of the Energ-IT steering committee, comments “Neptuny has developed a module to predict the utilization and power consumption of a data center. Neptuny has always been focused on Green IT and its flagship product, Caplan, in addition to adopting SPECpower, the first industry-standard SPEC benchmark that evaluates the power and performance characteristics of volume server class and multi-node class computers, is possibly the only Capacity Planning solution that can take into account facilities KPIs (i.e. factors such as power, cooling, raised floor space and load or rack space) in its analyses, models and reports so as to effectively support Green IT initiatives.”

The workshop participants included Gianluigi Castelli, chief information officer at ENI S.p.A, André Richier, principal administrators of the European Commission, Pierre Chastanet, officer of the European Commission, and Roger Johnson, past president of the British Computer Society.

Energ-IT is a project financed by Regione Lombardia, the regional government of Lombardy.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/how_to_reduce_power_consumption_in_data_centers.html

Half of Shoppers Look for Green Practices when Choosing Online Retailers

2009-12-21T12:00:00-05:00

London, UK (Gawkwire.com) More than half of Christmas shoppers now look for 'green' credentials when choosing online retailers, according to research released by 1&1, www.1and1.co.uk, the world's largest web host. The survey of 1500 consumers found that 59 per cent of consumers are more likely to buy if a retailer uses eco-friendly practices such as recycling and using renewable energy. The data reveals that 1 in 4 consumers now expect retailers to use eco-friendly services across their operation as well as recycling and reducing physical waste. The use of renewable electricity to power their website is viewed as important as using less polluting vehicles. The survey reveals that 37 per cent of Britons now expect online retailers to be reducing their environmental impact to the same degree as high-street stores.

Whilst many supermarkets and high-street stores loudly champion their eco-friendly policies, it would appear that consumers now have equivalent expectations for the online retailers they use. 1&1's 'Greener Shopping Survey'(1) reveals that most Christmas shoppers will consider the environment impact of their purchases. Over half of consumers (59 per cent) now consider a retailer's use of 'green' practices within their buying decision, and nearly three quarters (72 per cent) believe that online retailers have a responsibility to act. Whilst 37 per cent of shoppers expect online retailers to tackle the issue to the same degree as high street stores, 1 in 5 say they are more likely to buy from a retailer that explains its carbon usage on its website.

Consumers now expect online stores to adopt a wide range of environmentally responsible practices. As well as the more obvious efforts such as recycled packaging (44 per cent) and reduced packaging (43 per cent), and eco friendly vehicles (24 per cent), 1 in 4 (24 per cent) of online shoppers seek retailers who use green services across their operation such as renewable electricity. 1 in 4 is more likely to buy from a retailer which powers its website and servers with renewable energy, the same proportion that look for the use of eco-friendly vehicles. The use of renewable energy by online retailers is seen by 20 per cent of shoppers as equal in important to the use of recycled packaging.

Oliver Mauss, CEO 1&1 Internet Ltd. said, "As more of us think about our personal impact on the environment, there has been a surge in demand for greener practices in retail. A significant proportion of British consumers now expect all types of retailer to power their operations with renewable energy, and for online stores that should start with their website".

Interestingly, demand for 'greener' retailers appears to vary with gender, with women on average more concerned about retailers' efforts. For example, 46 per of women are more likely to buy from a retailer that uses recycled packaging compared to 36 per cent of men. Significantly, all age groups appear to be equally aware and committed on the issue of green credentials. Londoners are most influenced by eco-friendly practices (70 per cent), whilst residents of Yorkshire (49 per cent) are by far the least.

The research reveals that whilst online shopping is undoubtedly a pleasure for many, some shoppers struggle with "eco-guilt" concerning the impact of their online purchases. 1 in 10 Britons admit to weighing-up the environmental cost of each online purchase they make. Levels of guilt on the issue were once again highest in London (13 per cent) and lowest in Yorkshire (3 per cent).

The data lends weight to the theory that online retailers can financially benefit from using more eco-friendly services across their operation. For example, large web hosting providers such as 1&1 offer firms shared hosting and eCommerce packages (from £4.99/month+VAT) and dedicated servers (from £29.99/month) that are powered with renewable energy and leverage energy-saving technologies. In response to consumer attitudes, 1&1 now provides its business users with a logo they can display on their website to indicate that it uses 'green hosting'. In such a way, consumers can be made aware that an online retailer is committed to lowering their environmental impact from their technical infrastructure upwards.

Mauss added, "Green-IT is no longer just a concern for multi-national retailers. By implementing more eco-friendly technologies such as green-hosting, smart retailers of any size can demonstrate their effort to lower environmental impact and can bolster customer loyalty and spend in doing so".

For more information on 1&1 hosting visit the website at www.1and1.co.uk <http://www.1and1.co.uk/>

(1) 1581 UK adults surveyed by OpinionMatters via online feedback form

http://www.gawkwire.com/reviews/half_of_shoppers_look_for_green_practices_when_choosing_online_r.html

Hostpoint is Expanding - More Storage Space, Security and Services

2009-12-21T06:06:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Security has a calming effect. Above all with regard to website hosting, as customers do not want to have to bother with the technical details. The most important aspect is knowing that your website data is being well looked after, can be accessed at any time and is integrated into a service package that meets your specific needs. Hostpoint now has two new servers for those who expect even more.

“Smart Server” is a new offer that provides 50 GB of storage space for CHF 14.90 a month, allows 50 domain names to be used and can manage 50 databases. The attractive price/performance ratio is geared, above all, towards customers who want to expand their web presence, and for whom security is just as important as good support.

The service package for businesses with complex and comprehensive websites has also been redesigned. The former “Professional Server” has been renamed “Business Server” and now offers 100 GB of storage space for CHF 24.90 a month. In addition to 100 domains and 100 MySQL databases, this service package also includes exclusive Gold Support for prioritized assistance.

With 110,000 hosted websites and 125,000 supported domains (status: December 2009), Hostpoint is one of the most important hosting providers in Switzerland. The company was founded in Rapperswil-Jona in 2001 and now has subsidiaries in Austria, Germany and Spain.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/hostpoint_is_expanding_-_more_storage_space_security_and_service.html

CoreXchange Launches New Enterprise-Class Dallas Colocation Facility

2009-12-21T06:05:00-05:00

Dallas, TX (Gawkwire.com) CoreXchange, the fastest growing provider of IT and network infrastructure services, announced the expansion of data center capacity with the launch of its new Dallas data center. Located at 8600 Harry Hines Boulevard, the CoreXchange Connection significantly increases the company’s data center footprint to meet a growing demand for managed colocation infrastructure from existing and new customers.

Customers at the new CoreXchange Connection facility can colocate their servers and applications with the same level of Tier-1 Internet backbone and carrier access, performance, and customer support as those customers in the CoreXchange Dallas Infomart facility. Using CoreXchange’s proprietary bandwidth Pricing Configurator tool, customers can create a network access profile that best meets their requirements from the CoreXchange multi-homed mesh of BGP-routed Tier-1 backbone carriers and cross-connects to all major carriers, including direct connect to the Dallas Equinix facility.

“Offering the highest performing network and service customization, we’ll continue to deliver the best customer solution for the best possible price,” said Julia Morgan, sales executive for CoreXchange. “And with more data center capacity and a growing list of network backbone partners, we’ll have even greater opportunity to create satisfied customers.”

The CoreXchange Connection is located only eight miles from downtown Dallas and two miles from Love Field Airport. Phase I build out of the new facility consists of an initial 20,000 square feet, with planned expansion to 100,000 square feet to meet ongoing customer demand. Half cabinets, full cabinets and customized cage solutions are available.

The CoreXchange Connection features the same enterprise-class level of data center fault tolerance as in the Infomart facility, including redundant UPS, generator, and cooling capacity; 24-hour staffing of the company’s network operations center; and free remote technical support and network-layer managed services.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/corexchange_launches_new_enterprise-class_dallas_colocation_faci.html

Google joins IPSO Alliance, along with electronics-maker Fujitsu

2009-12-21T06:04:00-05:00

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA (Gawkwire.com) Technology leader Google has joined the IPSO Alliance, a group of technology companies with the common goal of promoting the Internet Protocol for smart object communications, allowing items ranging from appliances to factories to cars to “communicate” as individuals do over the Internet.

In addition to Google, top IT and technology manufacturing company Fujitsu has joined IPSO, alongside specialty electronics companies Elster Electric, Echelon Corp. and Augusta Systems.

The IPSO alliance now boasts 53 member companies, including Bosch, Cisco, Ericsson, Intel, SAP, Sun Microsystems and Texas Instruments.

"Google's participation in IPSO is a result of its expectation that many devices will become part of the Internet environment," said Vint Cerf, Google's Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist. "The IPv4 and IPv6 Internet protocols are well established and used for this purpose. Google's PowerMeter application makes use of this idea to help Smart Grid users capture and analyze their energy usage information."

The Google PowerMeter is a free online tool that allows users to view their homes’ energy usage. In coordination with their energy partners, including TXU Energy and San Diego Gas and Electric, Google is now able to bring real-time energy use information to the consumer, enabling individuals to lower their utility costs and prevent waste.

“The addition of Google, and its PowerMeter service, to the Alliance really completes the Smart Grid circle within IPSO,” explained Geoff Mulligan, Chairman of the IPSO Alliance. “Now, not only will consumers be able to use the products and services of IPSO Alliance member companies to connect their home to the grid, they also will be able to monitor how those appliances, and their entire home, are consuming energy.”

In addition, IPSO’s other new members hail from a wide range of IT, energy and technology-related industries:

- Fujitsu, with a presence in over 70 countries, and technology offerings ranging from hard drives to infrastructure support, will help support a wider growth of internet protocol as the standard for smart object communication.

- Echelon Corporation provides infrastructure to Smart Grids by replacing existing stand-alone electricity meters with a network infrastructure that is open, inexpensive, reliable, and proven. In addition to providing backbone products and services, Echelon also provides technology to manufacturers enabling their devices to join the Smart Grid by connecting them to each other, to the electricity grid and to the Internet.

- The Elster Group creates advanced and integrated metering solutions for the gas, electric and water industries. This technology allows utility companies to improve customer service, operations and increase revenue through the use of advanced metering. The company has operations in over 38 countries primarily in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

- Augusta Systems’ configurable technology platforms enables the management of complex monitoring, control, and automation systems, including those used for safety and security, energy and utility management, asset tracking, building management, and other business functions.

The IPSO Alliance recently celebrated its first anniversary. In one short year, the group has established itself as the leading advocate for IP networked devices and synchronicity of physical objects with the Internet. The group was hailed as one of Time Magazine’s “Best Inventions” of 2008 – the report noted, "The organization intends to create a new kind of network that will allow sensor-enabled physical objects -- appliances in your home, products in a factory, cars in a city -- to talk to one another, the same way people communicate over the Internet."

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/google_joins_ipso_alliance_along_with_electronics-maker_fujitsu.html

SEO or PPC? Engine Ready Led Panel Sparks Intense Debates

2009-12-21T06:03:00-05:00

San Diego, CA (Gawkwire.com) Search marketing industry experts representing the two heavyweights of search marketing, SEO and PPC got to battle it out in front of a packed house at Search Engine Strategies Chicago in a no-holds barred debate over which marketing technique is more cost effective.

Engine Ready (http://www.engineready.com) Vice President Brian Lewis, moderated the panel which was represented by industry leaders Christine Churchill, Karen Weber, Dave Naylor, Michael Gray and Rand Fishkin. The session which was held on December 9, 2009, began with Mr. Lewis presenting an 18-month study prepared by Engine Ready comparing conversion rates, average order values, and average value/visitor metrics for visitors arriving on sites from organic listings versus paid Google ads.

This study, available on the Engine Ready site (http://www.engineready.com/), fueled the 90 minute debate where panel members explained, and at various times, disagreed about what circumstances favor a greater investment in PPC or SEO. Although most online marketers agree that both paid search and search engine optimization should be included in an organization’s marketing strategy, audience members were enlightened to learn when one tactic should be favored over the other.

"No one can argue the importance of a combined SEO and PPC strategy, however many organizations strapped with smaller marketing budgets must decide which tactic to primarily focus on”, reports Engine Ready VP Brian Lewis. “This panel was a great opportunity for marketers to learn how to best allocate their budgets based on numerous circumstances”.

Engine Ready’s CEO Jamie Smith adds, “We’re very excited about our continued strong relationship with Incisive Media and the SES Team. Working together we’ve helped numerous organizations learn how to optimize their websites for higher rankings and improved conversions by better understanding and adopting proven strategies and tactics.”

Search Engine Strategies offers educational sessions on PPC, SEO, Social Media, Landing Page improvement, Website Optimizing, Usability and Accessibility in Search, Proper Advertising, Search Marketing fluency, Branding and other ways to succeed in Internet Marketing. For more information on the Search Engine Strategies Conferences, visit http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/

About Engine Ready, Inc.
Engine Ready, Inc. is a recognized leader in providing search marketing services and software, helping organizations achieve unparalleled success on their web initiatives. Managing paid search accounts in excess of 15 million keywords, and over $10.1 million in annual media spend, Engine Ready was the first organization to deliver companies the benefits of combining the power of website analytics with search marketing.

For information: http://www.engineready.com or phone: 1 (888) 283-0882

http://www.gawkwire.com/events_html/seo_or_ppc_engine_ready_led_panel_sparks_intense_debates.html

AppGate Network Security Positioned in the Magic Quadrant for SSL VPNs 2009

2009-12-21T06:02:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) AppGate Network Security, a leading provider of network security solutions, today announced that Gartner, Inc. has positioned it in the Magic Quadrant report for SSL VPNs, 2009.i

"We are glad to see Gartner’s recognition, which we believe highlights our strong position in this space. What AppGate offers differs from the traditional SSL VPN solution. AppGate is using SSH and delivers a complete business solution that stretches far beyond the original design boundaries of SSH", said Tomas Olovsson, AppGate CTO. “With our solution we take control of end point security and allow granular access to business critical information through policies, rules and roles” Olovsson continues.

Designed to protect corporate assets and services, AppGate’s system provides precise control and full monitoring of user access. The choice of SSH also makes the solution compatible with a large number of networking products on the market and it enables automated connections from computer systems. The concept behind the technology actually means that data and applications are more secure with AppGate, and AppGate’s products are used by a number of Government and defence organisations around the world as well as in the SME segment.

As always AppGate security servers build on existing proven functionality such as:

Application Layer Firewall
Mobile & Fixed VPN
Granular & Role based Access Control
End-point Security with device check

To appear in this Magic Quadrant, a vendor must meet Gartner's criteria for revenue, geographic presence, functional capabilities and "reference-ability".

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/appgate_network_security_positioned_in_the_magic_quadrant_for_ss.html

Infuseweb Continues Partnership with SmarterTools

2009-12-18T06:21:00-05:00

San Antonio, TX (Gawkwire.com) Infuseweb, LLC, provider of quality Windows and Linux Hosting, is proud to announce they have renewed their long-standing partnership with SmarterTools Inc. to distribute SmarterTools software as an authorized reseller and bundle provider.

The partnership allows Infuseweb to resell the SmarterTools product line, including the SmarterMail mail server, SmarterStats Web log analytics and SEO software, and SmarterTrack customer service software. The partnership also allows Infuseweb to offer bundled software to qualified dedicated server and virtual private server clients at no additional cost. The software bundle is valued at $800.

“Infuseweb is grateful for the opportunity to continue to offer SmarterTools products in our online store and as part of our Dedicated and Virtual Server hosting products. SmarterTools has proven a quality company delivering reliable, feature-rich, stable products that greatly benefit the hosting community and our customers” said Anthony Wilko, president of Infuseweb, LLC.

SmarterMail is a cost-effective Microsoft Exchange alternative, bringing enterprise-level functionality to businesses, ISPs, and Web hosting environments. SmarterTrack is a powerful help desk application built for tracking, managing, and reporting on customer service and communications, including sales and support issues. SmarterStats is comprehensive Web log analytics and SEO software that cost-effectively delivers relevant, accurate and detailed website statistics to help businesses increase conversions and maximize ROI.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/infuseweb_continues_partnership_with_smartertools.html

ad:tech Postpones Chicago Conference and Exhibition

2009-12-18T06:20:00-05:00

San Francisco, CA (Gawkwire.com) ad:tech expositions, LLC (www.ad-tech.com), the leading conferences and exhibitions organizer for the global marketing community, announced plans today to postpone its 2010 ad:tech Chicago event. Citing a new strategic vision across all of its global events, ad:tech will focus its North American efforts on its two thriving coastal events: ad:tech San Francisco and ad:tech New York.

“The decision was difficult,” said Susan MacDermid, SVP of dmg world media, the parent company of ad:tech expositions. “But we’re seeing a variety of signs that the industry prefers fewer, larger events. We have always delivered the best in-person venues for doing business, and exhibitors and attendees are favoring the larger coastal ad:techs for sourcing new business solutions. We will announce whether we will return to Chicago in 2011 at the close of 2010.”

ad:tech will incorporate topics traditionally discussed at ad:tech Chicago into the ad:tech San Francisco and New York events. Additionally, participants will benefit from the expanded conference agendas, increased networking opportunities, access to substantially more technologies and vendor services, and greater audiences at these larger events.

ad:tech Chicago has long since been a favorite for the event producer and the mid-western region. Consistent support from regional powerhouses, such as Leo Burnett and Razorfish, and associations, including CIMA and ANA, helped sustain the ad:tech Chicago event in recent years. ad:tech would like to thank the many loyal clients, attendees, media and association partners, speakers and advisory board members who supported the event.

ad:tech’s next North American event, ad:tech San Francisco, will be held April 19 – 21, 2010 at Moscone Center North. Event details can be found at www.ad-tech.com/sf

http://www.gawkwire.com/events_html/ad_tech_postpones_chicago_conference_and_exhibition.html

Gogax Reveals New Customer Portal

2009-12-18T06:19:00-05:00

Montreal, Canada (Gawkwire.com) Gogax, a Canadian dedicated server provider is proud to reveal its brand new customer portal offering “total control” to its dedicated server customers using a web based customer management portal.

This new portal offers improvements in the account management functions, support features and extensive server management including detailed bandwidth monitoring, reboots, os reloads and much more. Gogax is proud and excited to offer this long-awaited new customer portal as the old one was lacking in features and was not as scalable. The new portal has been operational for the past two weeks and the positive feedbacks keep pouring in. Customers greatly appreciate this new and powerful tool we are providing them with their servers.

Elazar Cohen, CEO of Gogax, explains "It was time for a refreshing new portal for our customers and the feedback proves it. The new portal offers many new robust features making it very simple for our customers to do tasks such as automated reboots, extensive server monitoring solutions, IP management, server hardware and software management, reverse DNS, kvm over IP functions and much more. We strive for customer satisfaction and I can definitely say that with this new change, it is mission accomplished."

For complete details on the new Gogax Portal and its features, visit: http://www.gogax.com/servers/cp.php

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/gogax_reveals_new_customer_portal.html

Affordable SEO Packages Increases Client Traffic Over 400%

2009-12-18T06:18:00-05:00

Los Angeles, CA (Gawkwire.com) Affordable SEO firm ASP, (affordableseopackages.com) specializing in achieving top rankings and making websites more profitable, continues its steady growth announcing its latest achievement with My Own Canvas, America's leading canvas art printing company.

Marshall, CEO of My Own Canvas, said: "In just a few weeks, Joseph Lancaster and the team over at ASP produced a significant increase in search engine results and generated true traffic improvements for our company website, myowncanvas.com. Their attention to detail and their need to know the intricacies of our business certainly impressed us. The strategic input in to the optimization efforts helped us increase sales by 10 fold; relative to our initial investment and those numbers continue to grow our sales of canvas prints."

According to Joseph Lancaster, ASP, "Our industry is very competitive. It doesn’t take research to tell that clients prefer to work with a firm which ranks highly in search engines. We’ll let our good position on Google show how well we are at what we do.”

Mr. Lancaster further explains "Our SEO approach involves us to fully understand our clients’ core business strengths to help leverage the areas of opportunity and to successfully market their company using the top search engines." Lancaster added "by applying our strategies and systematic approach, we create a road-map & set targets for improvement to drive exceptional internet marketing performance producing measurable return on investments. Looking at myowncanvas.com, we have managed to drive visitors from the keyword "canvas photo" from traffic fewer than 1,000 to over 5,000 visitors in less than 90 days."

About ASP (affordableseopackages.com) Affordable SEO Packages, headquartered in Los Angeles, CA launched in 2001 in Austin, TX. The company was moved to Los Angeles, CA in 2008. The primary services center around SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Analytics, and PPC (Pay Per Click) Advertising Management. ASP is a fast-growing boutique search marketing firm, focused on providing results-driven internet marketing campaigns driven on an array of vertical markets that range from internet start-ups, to high volume ecommerce web retailers. With white-hat search engine marketing strategies the firm helps maximize their client’s advertising investment to achieve page one placement on all of the top search engines.

For more information about ASP and its cheap SEO, please contact (323) 230-0365.

http://www.gawkwire.com/seo_sem/affordable_seo_packages_increases_client_traffic_over_400.html

Black Lotus Chooses GlobalSign’s SSL Certificates to Enhance Protection

2009-12-16T17:38:00-05:00

Portsmouth, NH (Gawkwire.com) GlobalSign, one of the longest established Certification Authorities (CA) and specialists in SSL Partner Programs, today announced a new partnership with Black Lotus Communications, a leading provider of DDoS protection, managed hosting and unmanaged dedicated servers. The newly formed partnership will allow Black Lotus to enhance their leading protection solutions by offering GlobalSign’s highly trusted, future proof SSL Certificates.

Since 1999, implementing robust and cost effective DDoS protective solutions has been the foundation of Black Lotus Communications. Black Lotus Communications has since expanded their service portfolio to include everything needed to protect websites, servers and hosting environments. By adding SSL Certificates to their portfolio, Black Lotus will not only enhance its protection services, but will truly offer customers a one-stop-shop online security service.

Black Lotus sought an SSL provider who could offer highly trusted and reliable SSL Certificates, but at an affordable cost as the company’s business model revolves around delivering high grade solutions at economical prices. Black Lotus chose GlobalSign for the highly trusted range of value add GlobalSign SSL Certificates, and will enjoy the extra benefits of GlobalSign’s integration with the Ubersmith web hosting billing management platform. The Ubersmith integration allows Black Lotus to manage and automate SSL Certificate reselling from the same Ubersmith platform they already use to manage their existing portfolio. Adding the GlobalSign SSL Certificate range to their portfolio will provide Black Lotus an additional revenue stream with a fast time to market.

“Black Lotus needed a partnership with a Certificate Authority who offered strong, future-proof SSL at reasonable prices, and GlobalSign ticked all the boxes,” said Jeffrey Lyon, President of Black Lotus Communications. “Adding GlobalSign’s SSL Certificates to our protection offerings will allow us to strategically differentiate ourselves and provide immediate one-stop-shop benefits for our valued customer base.”

“We are delighted to add a leading DDoS protection solutions company such as Black Lotus Communications to our portfolio of partners and extend our SSL solutions to an expanded audience,” says Katsuo Chujo, Marketing Director, GlobalSign. “This new partnership, will enable Black Lotus to provide customers with dynamic protection solutions built around the highest levels of trust and security.”

Black Lotus will offer GlobalSign’s feature packed SSL range, including fast issuance Domain Validated SSL, traditional Organization Validated SSL and EV SSL, the newly standardized SSL which activates the green address bar interface in IE, Firefox, Opera, Chrome and Safari browsers. GlobalSign’s SSL Certificates will be included in Black Lotus hosting and server bundle packages. All GlobalSign SSL Certificates are inclusive of Server Gated Cryptography (SGC) (to “step up” weak browser encryption to strong encryption on older browsers) and are issued from the widely distributed 2048 bit GlobalSign Root CA.

For more information about Black Lotus, please visit www.blacklotus.net .

For information on GlobalSign’s Partner Program, please visit http://globalsign.com/partners/

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/black_lotus_chooses_globalsign_s_ssl_certificates_to_enhance_pro.html

Improve Search Engine Ranking with SmarterStats 5.x

2009-12-17T06:36:00-05:00

PHOENIX, AZ (Gawkwire.com) No matter how well-designed a website is, it must be vigorously promoted in order to attract visitors—and search engine optimization (SEO) is the most cost-effective marketing strategy an online business can have.

"Your website is your storefront, and how you prepare your store for business will have a direct impact on how well your business will do online," said Tim Uzzanti, CEO of SmarterTools. "Ignoring SEO is like having no signs and blank windows in your building. Potential customers will drive past your store, not even realizing you are there."

Unfortunately, improving a website's search engine visibility and competing with other websites for a top position isn't easy. Without the right tools, it's virtually impossible.

That's why SmarterTools Inc. is proud to announce the release of SmarterStats 5.x. The latest version of this Web log analytics tool sets itself apart from the competition by allowing for the complete management and control of website statistics and SEO marketing efforts in a single application.

“According to the U.S. Small Business Association, roughly 50 percent of small businesses fail within the first five years. Those that succeed usually excel at attracting new customers while developing and retaining a loyal customer base,” Uzzanti said. “The new features in SmarterStats 5.x will provide businesses with the tools they need to enhance their SEO strategy and attract new website visitors while monitoring analytics to ensure a positive experience for existing customers.”

With highly accurate SEO and site reporting, SmarterStats 5.x will help businesses:
 Increase website traffic
 Improve search engine ranking and visibility
 Track visitor trends, on-page behaviors, and conversions
 Compare a website's performance for an unlimited number of keywords against competitors
 Identify under-performing areas of a website or campaign
 Track positions in search engines over time to identify successful SEO strategies
 Identify websites that may be competing for search engine traffic
 Analyze website performance and page load times
 Increase sales

In addition, SmarterStats further refines statistics by separating real traffic from spider and bot traffic, providing companies with true website statistics that reflect actual customer behavior. Together these resources will equip businesses to make informed decisions that drive them toward quantifiable objectives for traffic, leads, sales, and customer support.
SmarterStats is available at the SmarterTools website and through authorized resellers. A complete list of new features and improvements is available by viewing the SmarterStats 5.x release notes.

http://www.gawkwire.com/seo_sem/improve_search_engine_ranking_with_smarterstats_5_x.html

Lunarpages Selects Latisys HD Colocation And Managed Services

2009-12-17T06:35:00-05:00

Englewood, CO (Gawkwire.com) Latisys, a provider of colocation, managed hosting, managed services and disaster recovery solutions, today announced it has been selected by leading Web Hosting provider Lunarpages to provide data center colocation and managed IT services.

For more than a decade, Lunarpages has focused on providing affordable and reliable hosting for over 150,000 satisfied customers – ranging from individuals and small businesses to Fortune 100 corporations. Customer growth, as well as broader use of high-density applications, drove Lunarpages’ need for a provider that could deliver outsourced, scalable IT infrastructure management services.

"We consider our data center partner to be a critical part of the Lunarpages team, which is why we invest in only the best,” said George Natzic, Chief Operating Officer at Lunarpages. “By turning to Latisys, our customers will benefit from a SAS70 compliant infrastructure and continuous uptime. At the same time, we have assurance and peace of mind that our IT environment is secure.”

Lunarpages selected Latisys and its Irvine data center facility for its ability to provide:

- High-density colocation services – LatisysHD (Latisys’ high-density colocation services) in the firm’s SAS70 Type II certified Irvine, California data center facility (delivering 225 watts of power per square foot) can support customers’ increasingly high-performance computing and application requirements. LatisysHD is available in all Latisys locations including Denver, Colorado and Chicago, Illinois.

- Maximum uptime – Latisys' data center facilities are engineered with the highest level of redundant systems to deliver a 99.999% uptime Service Level Agreement.

- Managed security – Latisys’ comprehensive suite of managed security solutions (firewall, intrusion detection, VPN, virus-filtering) ensures that the customer’s colocated or managed hosting environment is fully secure.

- Power and cooling – With N+1 cooling and power infrastructure, Latisys’ data center facilities have been designed to scale and meet power and cooling requirements in both the short and long term.
Compelling pricing – Latisys employs a flexible approach with customers for managing their IT infrastructure in the most cost effective manner.

“Because Lunarpages prides itself on offering customers uncompromised security, management, pricing, and services, selecting a data center partner that enabled the firm to execute on this mission was paramount,” said Don Goodwin, executive vice president, Latisys. “We are excited to begin this new relationship with Lunarpages, and that our Latisys HD data center services and related managed services offering continue to resonate with leading Web hosting providers.”

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/lunarpages_selects_latisys_hd_colocation_and_managed_services.html

One-third of UK creative professionals illegally use Internet images without remorse

2009-12-17T06:33:00-05:00

London and Bonn (Gawkwire.com) More than a third of UK marketing, PR and publishing professionals (37 per cent) admit to using images illegally from the Internet. A survey of UK creative professionals* by Deutsche Telekom’s online photo agency, Polylooks.co.uk, found that not only do a great many creative professionals use images from the Web without paying for the rights, but additionally, most do not understand the meaning of the terms ‘royalty free’ and ‘rights managed’.

Given a number of options, only 21 per cent correctly identified the definition of ‘royalty free’, with nearly half (44 per cent) believing it meant they could use the image without paying for it. In fact, users must purchase the image and then are able to use it with certain restrictions.

Additionally, only 16.5 per cent knew what ‘rights managed’ meant. The survey unveiled that these creative professionals have control over image-buying budgets, despite their lack of knowledge of how to legally use them.

“There is still a great deal of confusion when it comes to using photos or illustrations that photographers and artists have made available for sale online,” said Norbert Weber, Product Manager at Polylooks. “Many people who should be paying for the right to use images are not doing so due to a lack of understanding on industry rules and terminologies. Some 85 per cent of creative professionals are not familiar with the term ‘microstock’, which presents stock image providers like Polylooks with a challenge. Is it time we redefined what we offer?”

Polylooks found that half of the UK’s marketing, PR and publishing staff have used a professionally-generated stock photo or illustration at some point without paying for it, although some of this may include use of ‘commons’ images, which come with some restrictions of their own.
Other key findings from the survey include:

•       81.4 per cent of creative professionals that have used an image without paying for it did not feel guilty
•       44 per cent legally download between one and five pictures each month, while seven per cent buy more than 11 stock images each month
•       Nearly half (48 per cent) do not have a microstock image budget but five per cent spend in excess of £100 each month on images

*Survey of 200+ UK-based marketing, PR and publishing professionals conducted online throughout November 2009

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/one-third_of_uk_creative_professionals_illegally_use_internet_im.html

VISI Expands Storage Offering with Cloud Storage

2009-12-17T06:31:00-05:00

EDEN PRAIRIE, MN (Gawkwire.com) VISI, Minnesota’s largest data center services and managed hosting provider, is pleased to announce the launch of Cloud Storage, a pay-as-you-go cloud offering geared for business customers.

As the need for storage increases, many companies find themselves unable to justify the capital necessary to expand their storage pool. With VISI Cloud Storage, there is no need to spend valuable capital on storage hardware. Cloud storage is an elastic, pay-as-you go service, meaning businesses pay only for the storage and data transfer actually used. Files are easily accessed with WebDAV, NFS, or HTTP protocols.

“Cloud Storage eliminates the architecture headaches that are related to scaling data,” said Jason Baker, Chief Technology Offer for VISI. “The virtual architecture makes it easy to scale. There’s no need to worry about adding more hard drives or storage shelves -- the storage will simply be there.”

VISI’s Cloud Storage includes features designed for business -- such as built-in data redundancy. That means any file placed in the storage cloud will automatically be replicated – thus storing two copies of your data in a SAS 70 Type II data center. Organizations can also choose to have data replicated additional times should additional redundancy be desired.
“Cloud storage pricing starts out at just $0.25 per gigabyte per month with no minimums or monthly contracts,” said Ray Hagen, product manager of VISI. “This makes cloud storage perfect for temporary storage requirements as well as off-site storage, backup, disaster recovery and web 2.0 storage.”

For more information about VISI’s Cloud Storage offering, call 612-395-9000 or visit us online at www.visi.com/cloud.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/visi_expands_storage_offering_with_cloud_storage.html

Reseller Web Hosting Launched by Just Host

2009-12-16T13:00:00-05:00

Wilmington, DE (Gawkwire.com) Web hosting giants Just Host, today announced the launch of their professional reseller hosting services. After a record breaking year for Just Host in the shared web hosting market, they have now moved into reseller hosting and it seems they have launched with a bang as their pricing and specifications look set to compete with all the current major reseller hosts.

Just Host Web HostingJust Host are renown for offering affordable shared web hosting with superb uptime and support and they hope to carry this forward with their new reseller hosting plans. Sophy Gasson Just Host’s Marketing Director said “Reseller hosting is the obvious move for any shared web host who has built up a name for themselves as a reliable host. People buying reseller services are very much in the know about web hosting and their success is in our hands they are relying on our infrastructure to provide a first class service to their customers. With this in mind we are confident that Just Host can become a major force in the reseller hosting market”

Just Host’s reseller plans have a vast list of features that are sure to impress new and existing customers, these features included a free eNom domain reseller account, a choice of free billing systems, WHM for full account management and unlimited free cPanel accounts. All of these tools will be vital to resellers looking to set up their own web hosting business.

Just Host’s reseller program consists of four plans, each with four term options to suit all budgets. The plans start from as little as $19.95 per month for an impressive 75GB of disk space and the top end of the scale they offer unlimited space and bandwidth plans for $89.95 per month. All of their plans come with the well know WHM and cPanel control panels and a wealth of extra features for both the reseller and their hosting customers. Just Host have also chose to include extra features such as a free domain with each account, the ability to host unlimited sites in each control panel and private nameservers for each reseller which all place Just Host in a very competitive position when it comes to reseller hosting.

Since their conception late in 2007, Just Host has taken the web hosting industry by storm and they now host an impressive 175,000 customers. Their shared hosting plans offer unlimited disk space and bandwidth, a free domain for life and with their reseller program set to follow the same success they are the name to watch in 2010.

For further information please visit: http://www.justhost.com and http://www.justhost.com/reseller

Just Host are part of the Just Develop It Group which comprises of over 15 internet based services such as artificial intelligent virtual sales agents, web design and web hosting services.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/reseller_web_hosting_launched_by_just_host.html

Web Host AIT Offers Entrepreneurs Work from Home Opportunity

2009-12-16T13:00:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) AIT’s Reseller Web Hosting Plans have enabled many home businesses to prosper over the years. The Company recently announced a large discount on its core line of Web Hosting Plans including fully managed Dedicated Servers, empowering Entrepreneurs to resell Web Hosting and Domain Registration for less than the cost of an average monthly utility bill. All AIT plans include a series of free private label Web Hosting and Domain Registration services for the Holiday Season.

AIT (http://www.AIT.com) customers include Small Businesses to the Dedicated Hosting clients from around the worldwide with a core group of thousands of private label Web Hosting and Domain Name Resellers. AIT’s senior management cited the most recent price cuts as the first of many improvements and value additions that now include advertising credits within the companies tyBit (http://www.tyBit.com) search engine. “The cost savings with free advertising to promote my products and services is turning out to be a holiday windfall,” said Ken Rivers, an AIT Web Hosting and Domain Name Registration Reseller.

tyBit, a unified search platform is uniquely different from the current online advertising models by employing a Pay-Per-Position (PPP) or flat rate for online keyword text advertising that focuses on branding. tyBit advertisers do not pay for each click their advertisements receive but rather pay for a position over a selected period of time. This paradigm shift enables online advertisers to budget in a predictable fashion. “We just don’t sell ads, we build brands,” said Sean McCoy, Senior VP of Marketing.

tyBit also provides a wide array of web reporting and web analytics so advertisers can measure the success of their ad campaigns as well as collect web intelligence to improve those campaigns and branding efforts.

“I’m always surprised at how many customers don’t know about the value of search advertising. Our web hosting plans cuts and deep discounts on domain registration coupled with our Promotional online advertising is a powerful business booster just in time for the holidays,” said Avery Skelton, VP of Sales & Marketing for the company.

The company’s slash in pricing comes with a line of fantastic upgrades for the dedicated hosting plans like a minimum half GIG of RAM with very robust storage and bandwidth allotments. The choices offered to a hosting customer include a wide selection of premium support options, web design, multiple operating systems, email marketing, and ecommerce ready software. AIT’s award winning support and toll free twenty four hour service center round out just a few of the many benefits customers enjoy.

Recently, AIT also announced price matching and domain name brokering services providing domainers and name speculators an added value by ensuring the best pricing possible. Additionally, the domain name brokering service provides access to a large portfolio of domain names owned by the company that clients may view and purchase which have considerable built in traffic.

Advanced Internet technologies Inc, offers web hosting, domain name registration, web design, email marketing and is home to over 210,000 customers that include Fortune 500 companies as well as small businesses. Founded in 1996 AIT has grown into a multimillion-dollar web hosting and technology company, from its humble beginnings in a garage to its current 93,000 SF headquarters. AIT has achieved 14 straight years of sustained profitability and been named 2 times to The Inc. 500 list of fast growing firms, 3 times to the Deloitte & Touché Fast 500 list, and NC Entrepreneur Firm of the Year. For more information email sales(at)ait(dot)com or call 1-800-878-4084 to take advantage of these special offers.

http://www.gawkwire.com/promotions/web_host_ait_offers_entrepreneurs_work_from_home_opportunity.html

Cloud Computing Congress toTake Place in Europe, North America & Asia

2009-12-16T13:00:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Six Degrees is launching a new group of events - the Cloud Computing Series (http://www.cloudcomputingseries.com). The first Cloud Computing Congress Europe (http://www.cloudcomputingcongress.com) is taking place on 16th March 2010 at Olympia in London.

The series of events will look at how Cloud Computing is revolutionising information technology in the European, North American, and Asian market. Topics discussed include the latest state of Cloud Computing in the respective markets, its benefits and technical challenges, the impact on the IT function, and how the applications can be build, controlled and managed in a cloud-based environment.

The Cloud Computing Congress Europe will run alongside Enterprise Social Media (www.enterprisesocialmedia.net) & the Social Media World Forum (www.socialmedia-forum.com), a leading social media event that brings together all industry facets.

The Cloud Computing Congress & Enterprise Social Media in London will feature industry leading speakers, including:

-     Martin Bellamy, Director, Office of the Government CIO & SIRO, Cabinet Office
-     Dion Hinchliffe, Editor in Chief, Social Computing Magazine & Web 2.0 Journal
-     Dominic Burch, Head of Corporate Comms and New Media, ASDA
-     Paul James, CIO, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, MOD
-     Sonia Carter, Senior Manager Online Communications, AXA
-     David Wilde, CIO, Westminster City Council
-     Kenneth Verlage, CIO, DHL Express
-     Eachan Fletcher, CIO, Sporting Index
-     Simon Revell, Associate Director, Collaboration and Web Technologies, Pfizer
-     Evangelos Kotsovinos, Vice President, Morgan Stanley
-     Kostas Tsatsaris, CTO and Director, Strategy and Architecture, HM Revenue and Customs
-     Henri Reinbolt, CIO, Greenwich Council

You can join the Linkedin group on the event web site http://tinyurl.com/ydll8q2 to network with other attendees, or follow the latest event activity on the Cloud Computing Congress Twitter account – http://twitter.com/cloud_comp_news

The Cloud Computing Series is closely connected to the Enterprise Series http://www.enterpriseseries.net, which looks at the next generation workspace, how new application stores can be harnessed within a web 2.0 environment, and how internal business communities can be built. Other event series organized by Six Degrees are the Social Media Series (http://www.socialmediaseries.net), and the Social TV Series (http://www.socialtvseries.com).

There is a 25% early booking discount which ends on 22nd December, delegates can register online www.cloudcomputingcongress.com or via telephone +44 (0) 117 946 8870.

http://www.gawkwire.com/events_html/cloud_computing_congress_event_series_taking_place_in_europe_nor.html

WebHostingBuzz Launches WebHostingBuzz.co.uk

2009-12-16T06:18:00-05:00

Lincoln, United Kingdom (Gawkwire.com) WebHostingBuzz.com, a leading US based provider of web hosting services including reseller hosting, vps hosting and dedicated servers has entered the UK and European market with the launch of WebHostingBuzz.co.uk.

"We have a truly diverse worldwide client base with North America our biggest region, followed by Europe in second place. Our UK launch is the first of a few pending European country specific launches that we have planned over 2010", says Matt Russell, WebHostingBuzz CEO, "Now our UK customers can enjoy competitive pricing in GBP without having to pay expensive conversion charges on their credit cards, as well as low cost UK telephone support. We will join the club of a select few providing high quality services at an affordable price, backed by 24x7 phone support, live chat and helpdesk support. Our excellent worldwide reputation will give our UK customers peace of mind when buying from us."

To celebrate its launch, WebHostingBuzz is offering a special offer on all of hosting plans when paid monthly with the first month costing just £1.00.

About WebHostingBuzz.com:
WebHostingBuzz.com is a leading US web hosting provider with over 30,000 clients and home to around 500,000 websites. Headquartered in Boston, USA, WebHostingBuzz.com is widely respected as one of the most customer service focussed web hosts in the industry today.
WebHostingBuzz.com was also one of the pioneers of social media marketing and has an establish Facebook presence at http://facebook.webhostingbuzz.com where customers enjoy special offers, post reviews and interact with other customers.

About WebHostingBuzz.co.uk:
WebHostingBuzz.co.uk, incorporated under Host Lincoln Limited, is the new UK arm of WebHostingBuzz, also offering 24x7 phone, live chat and helpdesk support with prices in pounds and a UK based low cost phone number.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/webhostingbuzz_launches_webhostingbuzz_co_uk.html

EvoSwitch Data Center Increases Energy Savings Rate to 50 Percent

2009-12-16T06:17:00-05:00

Amsterdam (Gawkwire.com) EvoSwitch, the Dutch carrier-neutral data center with CO2-neutral operations, has lowered the average Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of its data center from 1.6 in 2008 to 1.5 in 2009. Thus, the energy savings compared to a conventional data center has increased from 40 to 50 percent. The ultimate goal of EvoSwitch is to achieve an energy savings rate of 80 percent.

“Actually, our energy savings rate is already more than 50 percent,” says Eric Boonstra, Managing Director of EvoSwitch. “This is due to the fact that the PUE of our data center continuously has been slightly below 1.5 for some time now. The extra savings is primarily due to further investments in green technology and in control systems. The expansion due to customer growth in 2009 was another reason for the reduced PUE.”

Boonstra: “The number 1.5 indicates that our operations at EvoSwitch are quite energy-efficient, although we still have not achieved our goal. We started with a PUE of 1.8 in early 2007. One year ago, the PUE was 1.6. We now have a PUE of 1.5, but we will continue to invest in further energy savings. This is critical to EvoSwitch and to our customers, since the negative impact on the environment caused by the data center sector should be kept to an absolute minimum.. In addition, energy prices will rise, and we want to be able to keep our energy bills, and those of our customers, at an affordable level.”

Affordable Data Center
EvoSwitch uses much of its energy savings to finance its current and new investments in green technologies. Boonstra: “Building a green data center is more expensive than building a conventional data center, for the simple reason that green technology costs more than conventional equipment. But we do not pass on these extra costs to our customers. And that also applies to the green power we use and our investments in CO2 compensation in collaboration with the Climate Neutral Group.”

“For customers, investments in green technologies are the ultimate insurance against high energy bills in the near future,” says Boonstra. “This keeps their energy bills manageable, predictable and affordable. This is a key criterion, especially for major IT infrastructures.”

Copenhagen Climate Conference
EvoSwitch is a good example of a company that successfully combines green and profitable business operations. Boonstra: “To put it even more strongly: significant energy savings will, in the near future, be a prerequisite for data centers to remain in business, and a necessity for customers in order to keep their IT infrastructures affordable. IT infrastructures generally use huge amounts of power, unlike green data centers such as EvoSwitch.”

The data center sector could have been a topic for the Copenhagen Climate Conference, according to Boonstra. “The data center sector in its conventional form is said to be just as environmentally harmful as the aviation sector, and that might be true. Thanks to green technologies, the use of green power, and the fact that IT infrastructures are of vital importance to companies, this huge power consumption is justifiable. Also, using a shared data center for multiple IT infrastructures is still more efficient than each company having its own small data center. But it also demonstrates that the environmental benefits would be significant if all data centers operated in an environmentally sound manner.”

The green design
The environmentally sound design of the EvoSwitch data center is based on advice provided by TNO (www.tno.nl) and on in-house innovation by a dedicated design team. This resulted in an energy-efficient design when the data center opened in April 2007, using technologies such as Free Cooling (cooling by using the outdoor temperature), Cold Corridors (separation of hot and cold airflows), and UPS technology with Delta Conversion.

The EvoSwitch R&D team is currently working on a new cooling design that will further improve the PUE. Boonstra: “This will result in further reduction of capital expenses and operational expenses, which will substantially benefit the environment as well as EvoSwitch customers. With this new design, we aim to achieve a PUE of 1.2.”

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/evoswitch_data_center_increases_energy_savings_rate_to_50_percen.html

SmarterTrack Upgrade at 34SP.com

2009-12-16T06:16:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) UK website hosting firm 34SP.com has announced that the company has upgraded to the latest version of the SmarterTrack help desk application software created by SmarterTools. 34SP.com was founded by Manchester University colleagues Daniel Foster and Stuart Melling, and recently celebrated 9 years in the web hosting business. According to information released by 34SP.com, the company is continuing its efforts to provide the highest possible levels of technical support to web hosting clients. The SmarterTrack upgrade is integral to the company's support efforts.

The transition from SmarterTrack 3.x to 4.6 provides many advantages for 34SP.com clients needing technical support. SmarterTools (the developers of the software), describe the product as follows: ''SmarterTrack is a powerful help desk application that transforms customer service efforts into a comprehensive, multi-channel communications portal with features like a Ticket system, Live Chat, WhosOn, branding and language support reporting, and a Knowledge Base.''

The most noticeable improvements for 34SP.com clients will be:

Further increased speed and reliability for support.

Faster response times for accessing the 34SP.com Technical Support Knowledge Base.

Enhanced detail regarding support tickets - all support management functions can now be accomplished online through the 34SP.com support portal in addition to email.

Google translate function (beta) for live chat - in the event that clients want to ask questions in another language and receive translated answers.

Improved collaboration for internal 34SP.com staff - to better coordinate on complex service issues.

Additionally, any identified bugs from previous releases have been addressed and improved as well.

Co-founder of 34SP.com, Daniel Foster, was quoted on the 34SP.com website as saying, ''After some great help from the staff at SmarterTools, we were able to plan the deployment of this upgrade to happen with almost no impact to customers, so that all you will see are the benefits outlined above. We're looking forward to playing with the new features and finding more ways to improve the outstanding support we already offer.''

34SP.com was also recently one of the first web hosting companies to set up a new VPS template, pre-installed with the Google Go programming language, ready for rapid development testing. The Go Development VPS template is built upon a 64-bit image of Ubuntu Server 9.04, using the latest build of Go and includes a sample 'Hello World' script in the /root directory, ready to build.

To learn more about 34SP.com web hosting services please visit: http://www.34sp.com/hosting.

For further information on the SmarterTrack helpdesk application please visit: http://www.smartertools.com/smartertrack.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/smartertrack_upgrade_at_34sp_com.html

LeaseWeb Makes Significant Investment in New Cisco CRS-1 Router Modules

2009-12-16T06:12:00-05:00

Amsterdam (Gawkwire.com) LeaseWeb (www.leaseweb.com), one of Europe’s largest hosting providers, has added two new modules to the two Cisco CRS-1 routers in the backbone of its global hosting network. The cost of these modules: USD 790,000, i.e. more than half a million euros.

The two Cisco CRS-1 units – non-stop devices with a basic purchase value of 1.6 million euros – are a crucial element in LeaseWeb’ global hosting network. They link the four data centers in LeaseWeb’s network with telecom carriers and a multitude of Internet exchanges, including LINX (London), DE-CIX (Frankfurt), AMS-IX (Amsterdam) and NYIIX (New York). LeaseWeb specifically uses two Cisco CRS-1 units because they provide the best guarantee for uptime in the hosting network.

Hosting Connections
The modular design of the Cisco CRS-1 units allows for easy expansion of the backbone of LeaseWeb’s hosting network. “They are plates of approximately 70 by 70 centimeters that can be slid vertically into the CRS-1 chassis,” says Bastiaan Spandaw, LeaseWeb’s network architect. “These Modular Services Cards (MSC) and related Physical Layer Interface Modules (PLIM) allow us to create a large amount of additional port capacity in our network, external connections with telecom carriers and Internet exchanges as well as internal connections through various Cisco Catalyst 6500 switches with customers’ equipment.”

Although LeaseWeb has chosen to use 10-Gigabit Ethernet connections for the added modules, it hopes to be able to use 100-Gigabit Ethernet modules for future expansion of the CRS-1 units. Spandaw: “Due to the rapid growth of our network, we really need those 100-Gigabit Ethernet connections. I understand that Cisco is planning to introduce these new modules in Q1 or Q2 of 2010. This will make it easier for us to further upscale our backbone capacity.”

Strong Growth of Internet traffic
The current expansion of the backbone in LeaseWeb’s global hosting network was really necessary due to the rapid growth in bandwidth usage by LeaseWeb customers as can be seen in LeaseWeb’s Network Operations Center: http://noc.leaseweb.com/. “In April 2009, our customers used 300 Gigabits per second,” says Rolph Haspers, Operations Director of LeaseWeb. “And in November 2009, bandwidth usage had increased to even more than 500 Gbps. In view of our policy of maintaining double the amount of bandwidth that customers actually use, this requires significant, easily scalable capacity in our network.”

The rapid growth in bandwidth usage is due to existing as well as a large number of new customers. Haspers: “Many of our customers are resellers such as webhosting providers, system integrators, web designers, and application developers. These customers each have several customers of their own, which can really accelerate bandwidth growth per LeaseWeb customer. In addition, we notice that the amount of bandwidth in our network automatically attracts new customers who find this very useful for purposes such as streaming. This has a flywheel effect in the growth of our Internet traffic.”

Cisco CRS-1
The CRS-1 is the fastest product supplied by Cisco. LeaseWeb’s CRS-1 units are geographically separated, i.e. installed in two different data centers. They are large, heavy machines, each with a basic weight of approximately 800 kilograms and a height of 2.13 meters.

The CRS-1 units and related network design by LeaseWeb allow the company to handle the current strong growth in Internet traffic. Haspers: “The hierarchic, scalable and redundant design of LeaseWeb’s network is partly due to the CRS-1 units. This assures our customers of enormous, stable growth possibilities in bandwidth capacity over the coming years.”

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/leaseweb_makes_significant_investment_in_new_cisco_crs-1_router_.html

Subsea Cable Brings Digital Independence to Tunisia

2009-12-14T17:32:00-05:00

London, UK (Gawkwire.com) Tunisie Telecom has brought digital independence to Tunisia by landing the country’s first 100% African-owned subsea cable in Europe, firmly establishing itself as the leader in IT innovation in the region. Dubbed “Hannibal”, in honour of the courageous Carthaginian general who sailed from ancient Tunisia to conquer Italy, the new cable connects North Africa to Interoute’s pan European next-generation network, via Interoute’s landing station in Sicily.

The state-of-the-art cable provides Tunisia with an additional route to the Sea-Me-We-4 and Keltra submarine cables, providing a far more secure and reliable international network for Tunisie Telecom. The fibre-optic cable is buried more than a metre deep using a specialist plough and remotely operated submersible vehicle, designed specifically to lay subsea cables in turbulent waters. The overall marine operation to lay the 170km cable took 68 days, with the 76 crew members staying aboard the cable-laying vessel for the entire duration.

The cable’s total capacity of 3.2 Terabytes per second is more than seven times greater than that of the consortium owned SEA-ME-WE-4 cable that had been serving Tunisia previously. This extra capacity will enhance Tunisia’s IP connection capacities, ensure rapid growth of broadband services across the country and support the roll out of IP internet services across Africa, enabling Tunisia to act as the internet hub for neighbouring North African countries.

Gareth Williams, CEO of Interoute, commented: “Interoute is proud to be involved in this significant digital step for Tunisia. It is a very exciting time for the country as it is one of the fastest growing telecommunications markets in Africa. Tunisie Telecom has made significant investments in modernising its infrastructure over recent years and it has developed a cutting edge telecommunications offering. The extra capacity and resilience provided by the new cable will make Tunisia even more attractive to foreign investors looking to establish operations in the region.”

Tunisie Telecom will now be able to keep pace with the fast growing broadband penetration rate, improve the global competitiveness of its business customers and drive economic growth, as well as satisfy the current and future needs of its residential customers and provide them with a better surfing experience.

The delivery of the Tunisian cable marks Interoute’s first direct partnership and connectivity into North Africa. Interoute had already established links with East Africa earlier this year via its partnership with SEACOM. This project connected a 17,000 kilometre intercontinental submarine fibre optic network to Interoute’s pan-European fibre optic network, providing East Africa with access to major business centres in Europe and throughout the rest of the world. This is a demonstration of Interoute’s commitment to contribute to connectivity in Africa and provide equivalent services to those enjoyed by its European customers.

Interoute has been involved in a series of expansion moves during 2009, as it continues to target emerging countries as well as cementing its reach across Central, Southern and Eastern Europe, including the Mediterranean, Scandinavia and Russia.

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/new_subsea_cable_brings_digital_independence_to_tunisia.html

Meet the 1&1 Affiliate Team at Affiliate Summit

2009-12-15T06:31:00-05:00

Philadelphia, PA (Gawkwire.com) 1&1 Internet, Inc., the world’s largest Web host by known servers, today announced that its affiliate marketing team will attend this year’s Affiliate Summit conference at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas from January 17-19, 2010. 1&1 Internet will be located at Meet Market Table #73 on January 17th and Merchant table #T4 on January 18-19th.

Affiliate Summit provides the perfect environment for directors of highly popular affiliate programs to connect with their partners, and recruit new members into their programs. The three-day conference includes an exhibit hall for attendees to network with affiliate merchants and vendors, as well as educational sessions covering the latest trends and information from affiliate marketing experts.

“We enjoy supporting Affiliate Summit each year and exhibiting our program. It is a wonderful opportunity to meet and connect with new partners who want to leverage 1&1’s worldwide brand to increase their earnings,” said 1&1 Affiliate Program Manager Kem Odike.

Members of the 1&1 affiliate program earn a commission, up to $300, for each customer they refer to 1&1. The program is free and available to anyone, regardless of customer status. Additionally, affiliates have access to support from 1&1’s dedicated affiliate marketing team, as well as the state-art-of-art affiliate portal site, www.1and1affiliate.com, which features unique tools, and tips to help affiliates earn money through the program.

For more information about the 1&1 Affiliate Program, please visit www.1and1Affiliate.com.

For more information about Affiliate Summit, please visit http://affsummit.1and1resources.com

About www.1and1Affiliate.com:
1and1Affiliate.com offers a centralized hub for everything needed to become a successful affiliate, including tips on how-to earn high commissions and link-building tools to achieve success. The website offers 1&1 affiliates several ways to build and promote their affiliate links using both off and online tools such as SMS texting, a personalized PDF Poster Creator, and a Dynamic Product Page creator to display 1&1 products on affiliates’ websites. Current affiliates receive advice articles and can also access affiliate newsletters and other tips on this new site. The portal also offers dedicated support via toll-free phone, live-chat and an email from the 1&1 affiliate marketing team.

About 1&1 Internet Inc:
1&1 Internet Inc. is a subsidiary of United Internet, a profitable public company with a market cap of $3 billion. 1&1 was founded in 1988 and hosts more than 10 million domain names, while more than 70,000 servers run on the company’s five state-of-the-art green data centers. 1&1’s global community is over 9 million customer contracts strong. The company’s U.S. headquarters is located in Chesterbrook, PA and its US data center is located in Lenexa, KS. For more information, please contact the company at www.1and1.com or 1-877-GO-1AND1.

http://www.gawkwire.com/events_html/meet_the_1_1_affiliate_team_at_affiliate_summit.html

Online Shoppers Face Virtual Shop Queues

2009-12-15T06:29:00-05:00

Gloucester, UK (Gawkwire.com) The majority of online shoppers continue to experience ‘virtual’ shop queues in the run up to Christmas, according to research released today by Fasthosts Internet Ltd, (www.fasthosts.co.uk), a leading web hosting provider. The study of 1500 consumers1 found that a remarkable 80 per cent of shoppers encounter slow working websites at Christmas time, and 30 per cent believe that websites perform more slowly in the run up to the holiday season. An alarmingly 42 per cent of consumers have abandoned purchases on slow running sites whilst buying their gifts, and 34 per cent are more likely to switch to a competitor’s website during this period. Whilst many firms will be hoping for brisk sales this Christmas, the data warns that many online consumers are alienated by technical glitches. Retailers are advised to check that their website is hosted with a quality provider, offering unlimited traffic with no throttling of its performance.

Data from Fasthosts’ ‘Seasonal Web Sales’ study finds that the majority of online shoppers experience website usability issues at this time of the year. 80 per cent of shoppers have used a slow website when Christmas shopping around one third believes that retailer websites work more slowly than at other times of the year. A total of 44 per cent of shoppers have faced delays in the eCommerce process, including slower product searches, delayed payment processes and delays in receiving emailed confirmations. 1 in 4 shoppers (24 per cent) believe that retailers add too many seasonal products and offers to their websites, and so make the sites more difficult to navigate.

A significant number of Britons will sidestep brand loyalty in favour of speed and abandon a preferred retailer’s site for a competitor’s website because of the pressure of Christmas shopping. 1 in 3 shoppers (34 per cent) admit to being more likely to abandon a slow running retail website at Christmas than at other times of the year. Interestingly, women more inclined to switch to an alternative if they are experiencing problems with a retailer’s website (44 per cent compared to 39 per cent of men). On average, those in northern regions appear to be the most impatient. 50 per cent of Scots and 49 per cent of respondents in Yorkshire abandoned purchases because of speed, as compared to 39 per cent in London and 36 per cent in the South West. Younger age groups are more likely to form a negative impression of a business based on a slow website (36 per cent of under 25s, as compared to 25 per cent of those aged 45-54). This should act as a warning to Britain's retailers, as customers will clearly no longer tolerate businesses that have poor hosting or web design in place.

Slow websites can cause brand-damage to the retailers concerned. 28 per cent of shoppers admit to feeling more negatively towards retailers as a result of such stress. Shoppers in the North West are the least forgiving with 34 per cent believing their opinion of retailers are negatively impacted. It would appear that women feel more pressured by the problem than male shoppers. 1 in 5 women (22 per cent) have suffered negative emotions from using slow websites, compared to 18 per cent of men (24 per cent). Once again, the problem appears to be decrease with age, with those aged 16-24 most affected.

Steve Holford, CMO Fasthosts Internet Ltd., said “The data shows that whilst many firms sell successfully online, usability can take a real knock at the most crucial time of the year. Shoppers today are more impatient and unforgiving than ever before, and are ready to source an alternative. Retailers must ensure that their hosting responds dynamically with increases in demand or they will lose revenue and reputation”.

Graham Jones, Internet Psychologist (www.grahamjones.co.uk), advises, "In these days of high speed broadband, Internet shoppers expect rapid responses. If your web site doesn't react quickly, if your server platform has technical problems or inadequacies, it's almost certain you are losing purchasers".

Holford added, “In an attempt to maximise sales and reduce costs, many retailers can forget the basics of good web design and hosting. Shoppers nowadays will only complete a sale if the whole experience is speedy and stable. Retailers should review their web infrastructure before the Christmas rush, and make regular tests throughout the period to check that their hosting is coping with demand”.

Retailers can take precautions against fluctuations in website performance by ensuring that their website design and databases are optimised, and by using web hosting with unlimited traffic levels and ‘load-balancing’ – the real-time monitoring of resource that can switch visitors to the most optimal web server at that time. Retailers of all sizes are advised to regularly review the web hosting resources they have in place. Nowadays, it is vital to leverage hosting that will not restrict visits or levy charges for increases in bandwidth. Large web hosts such as Fasthosts provide tools for business owners to monitor their website bandwidth usage, including filtered reports and email alerts.

As a leading web host, Fasthosts delivers an extensive range of high-performance web solutions for businesses. Businesses are assured that Fasthosts guarantees 99.9% or higher dedicated server uptime. Products include shared web hosting, dedicated servers, domain name registrations, email solutions (including mobile email services), reseller web hosting and feature-rich broadband packages.

For more information see the website at http://www.fasthosts.co.uk

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/online_shoppers_face_virtual_shop_queues.html

.MX Domain Name Extension Now Available to Everyone

2009-12-15T06:28:00-05:00

Herndon, VA (Gawkwire.com) The .MX domain name extension is no longer exclusive to Mexican government websites. Now any organization or business can take advantage of the shorter and more direct domain name to highlight their Mexican heritage or promote a Mexican themed business in marketing communications or company advertising. Network Solutions® will offer the .MX domain name extension for a limited time at $10 off the regular price.

The .MX extension can be used for promoting websites or incorporated in email addresses. Additionally, organizations that already have .COM, .NET and .ORG domains registered can further protect their brands by registering the .MX extension.

Having a short, easy to remember domain name is important to any business.
“Having a short, easy to remember domain name is important to any business,” says Sean Kaine, Director of Domain Services for Network Solutions. “With .MX now available to anyone it can help establish the Mexican connection to a website easily and quickly.”

To help businesses register their domains quickly, Network Solutions is offering a limited-time .MX domain registration price of $49.99 per year, $10.00 less than the regular .MX country code top-level domain price.

“We are happy to support the growing demand from both the U.S. and Mexican small business community with the launch of this new domain extension,” adds Kaine.

For more information on the newly available domain name extension, visit http://marketing.networksolutions.com/dms/DOM/dotMX/index.php

http://www.gawkwire.com/domains/mx_domain_name_extension_now_available_to_everyone.html

PEER 1 Offers Customers Flexible, On-Demand Storage Resources

2009-12-15T06:26:00-05:00

Vancouver, BC (Gawkwire.com) PEER 1 Network Enterprises, Inc. (TSX: PIX), the global online business hosting provider, today announced its selection of EMC® Atmos™®, as the foundation for its new cloud storage service. PEER 1 will offer customers a network accessible, data storage service in the first half of 2010. This enhances PEER 1’s existing cloud offerings, which today include; SaaSGrid, its software-as-a-service enabler and the CloudXcelerator Program for cloud innovators.

PEER 1 selected EMC Atmos as its foundation because the technology uniquely provides a policy driven infrastructure that is capable of managing and distributing petabytes of information globally. In addition, it offers standard web service APIs and provides simple migration across all Atmos-based clouds.

PEER 1 is initially deploying EMC Atmos technology in its Atlanta and San Antonio data centers. Its cloud infrastructure will enable instant access to information across distributed geographies and efficiently deliver content and information services over the Web. PEER 1 will incorporate EMC Atmos within its 10GB SuperNetworkTM in 2010 to increase overall storage capacity and geographic footprint for customers. In addition to PEER 1’s managed hosting customers, the service will also be available to dedicated hosting customers of ServerBeach.

Tim Varma, Director of Product Management at PEER 1 said: “EMC Atmos is designed specifically to support service providers hosting large data sets that require worldwide content distribution. PEER 1 can now offer high performance cloud storage capabilities for our customers, which further complement our other cloud service offerings. PEER 1’s strategy is to build our infrastructure on best-of-breed technology to exceed our customer’s expectations.”

Jon Martin, Director of Product Management and Marketing, EMC Cloud Infrastructure Group said: “Hosting providers, such as PEER 1, are increasingly leveraging EMC Atmos as a key enabler to their cloud services portfolio, creating a competitive advantage for themselves and benefiting from the operational efficiency, simplified management and cost advantages that are inherent to cloud. EMC is pleased to work with PEER 1 and broaden their portfolio of cloud offerings to customers worldwide to offer a best-in-class storage service.”

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/peer_1_offers_customers_flexible_on-demand_storage_resources.html

New Unitrends Software Release Supports Microsoft Exchange Server 2010

2009-12-15T06:25:00-05:00

Columbia, SC (Gawkwire.com) Unitrends, www.unitrends.com, the leader in affordable, heterogeneous disk-based data protection appliances, today announced support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2010. Unitrends’ D2D (disk-to-disk) based data protection appliances use a common backup and recovery engine that supports more than 40 versions of operating systems and applications, now including Exchange 2010.

“We’re pleased that we can be among the first to release Exchange Server 2010 support,” said Ken Smith, Unitrends’ technical lead for the new VSS-based Microsoft Exchange agent. Sameer Kamat, the director of engineering for Unitrends added, “We appreciate the support of our many beta customers that helped us ensure that we have a high-quality product from day one.”

We’re pleased that we can be among the first to release Exchange Server 2010 support

We appreciate the support of our many beta customers that helped us ensure that we have a high-quality product from day one.

Microsoft Exchange is one of the most critical business applications for most small and medium businesses

That is why we delivered on our support commitment for Exchange 2010 very early on. Our appliances are designed from the ground up for cost-effective, easy to manage backup and recovery and with our focus on heterogeneous support customers can be assured that their data is always protected with Unitrends, regardless of the platform it runs on.

“Microsoft Exchange is one of the most critical business applications for most small and medium businesses,” said Mark Campbell, chief operating officer, Unitrends. “That is why we delivered on our support commitment for Exchange 2010 very early on. Our appliances are designed from the ground up for cost-effective, easy to manage backup and recovery and with our focus on heterogeneous support customers can be assured that their data is always protected with Unitrends, regardless of the platform it runs on.”

Exchange 2010 support is included in Unitrends’ Release 4.2, which is available today for all existing customers via an upgrade and is installed on all new appliances beginning today. The support of Exchange 2010 is provided via its Rapid Recovery Console™, a powerful yet intuitive graphical user interface that simplifies backup management and cuts administrative time. It provides “single pane of glass” view into multiple unit monitoring, and management of both Unitrends’ on-premise and off-premise data protection appliances for business continuity and disaster recovery. Through this one window, users can view the entire set of appliances, capabilities and software functions that deliver true business systems continuity protection.

Availability
The new Unitrends Version 4.2, and its support for Microsoft Exchange 2010 Server, is available now for all Unitrends recovery appliances. There is no charge for the additional operating system support for existing Unitrends customers. For more information, please visit: www.unitrends.com.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/new_unitrends_software_release_supports_microsoft_exchange_serve.html

CirtexHosting Adds Support For PostgreSQL Databases in cPanel

2009-12-14T14:00:00-05:00

NEW YORK, NY (Gawkwire.com) CirtexHosting, a leader in Linux Web hosting, announced today it has added PostgreSQL Hosting, enabling its customers to create and manage PostgreSQL databases through the cPanel control panel.

The vast majority of shared Web hosts currently do not support PostgreSQL, instead supporting only the MySQL database platform. Although both platforms are loaded with an impressive array of features and boast strong performance records, CirtexHosting added support for PostgreSQL to allow its customers to utilize the database the best meets their needs.

“In recent months, there has been a consistent increase in demand from our customers for more database options. Although supporting two databases increases the complexity of our hosting environment and adds marginally to our customer support load, we believe it is essential to do everything we can do help our customers succeed, especially when they ask for improvement in a specific area,” said CirtexHosting President John Xie.

Customers can utilize either MySQL or PostgreSQL at no additional charge. In fact, customers are able to manage both MySQL and PostgreSQL databases when creating databases in their allotment. This flexibility enables customers to build a Web site that relies on a diverse set of applications that are powered by both platforms.

CirtexHosting offers a variety of Unmetered Bandwidth hosting plans and Semi-Dedicated hosting plans, in addition to Shared hosting and Reseller hosting plans. With Unmetered Bandwidth Hosting, customers can host bandwidth-intensive applications and stream multimedia without worrying about exceeding arbitrary caps or facing crippling overage fees. Unmetered Bandwidth hosting plans start at just $15.99 per month. Semi-Dedicated hosting plans start at just $35.99 per month and are housed on powerful servers that can deliver the level of system resources needed to sustain optimal performance for each individual account.

To learn more about CirtexHosting, please visit http://www.cirtexhosting.com.

CirtexHosting is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cirtex Corp., on the web at http://www.cirtex.com.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/cirtexhosting_adds_support_for_postgresql_databases_in_cpanel.html

Amid Rapid Growth, Crucial Paradigm Introduces New Xen-based Linux Virtual Private Servers

2009-12-14T14:00:00-05:00

DALLAS, TX (Gawkwire.com) Crucial Paradigm, a fast-growing provider of Shared, Reseller, virtual and dedicated hosting solutions, announced today it has re-launched its United States-based Linux Virtual Private Server (VPS) offerings, including several new competitive VPS plans powered by the Xen® virtualization platform.

Starting at just $8 per month, the company’s entry-level Xen128 Virtual Private Server plan includes 128MB RAM, 10GB Storage and 150GB of monthly data transfer. With the re-launch, Crucial Paradigm has also added a Xen384 plan (starting at $18 per month) and a Xen1536 plan (starting at $69 per month).

“Virtual Private Servers continue to drive our company’s rapid growth, and we see it as a strategic imperative to constantly broaden our array of services and keep plan configurations competitive in the marketplace. In the last year alone, we have deployed nearly 1 Terabyte of RAM capacity in our VPS nodes, and with the release of these new plans, we expect to double our growth by the second half of next year,” said Ijan Kruizinga, sales and marketing director of Crucial Paradigm.

Crucial Paradigm uses the Xen® hypervisor, an industry standard for virtualization, offering a powerful, efficient, and secure feature set. The platform provides significantly more robust VPS isolation and security than other technologies, such as OpenVZ, for a similar price. All servers also feature Intel® Xeon® E5520 processors, DDR3 RAM and RAID 10 disk configurations.

Crucial Paradigm is one of the only hosting providers offering a full range of Virtual Private Servers, with plans starting at 128MB of RAM and extending all the way to 16GB of RAM.

The company’s Australian division (http://www.crucial.com.au) has grown by over 300% in the past year, a result of continued high demand for its Xen-based Virtual Private Servers.

For more information about Crucial Paradigm, please visit http://www.crucialp.com.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/amid_rapid_growth_crucial_paradigm_introduces_new_xen-based_linu.html

Search Marketing Firm Expands Its Board of Advisors

2009-12-14T06:24:00-05:00

Charlottesville, VA (Gawkwire.com) Search Mojo, a leading search engine marketing and social media company, announced today that it has expanded its Board of Advisors for the 2009 session. New members to this year's board include Andy Beal, an internet marketing consultant, and Julia Lim, Vice President of Marketing for ScienceLogic. Beal and Lim join George Assimakopolous, Principal of EyeTraffic Media, and Tom Lueker, co-founder of ZipMinder, in offering strategic guidance to the company.

"We are honored to have these innovative thought leaders on our advisory board for this year's session,” said Search Mojo founder and CEO Janet Driscoll Miller. "As demand for Search Mojo's search engine marketing services has exploded, we need the counsel of these industry leaders to guide the company during this tremendous and formative growth stage. Their insight will help to position Search Mojo for its long term growth strategy.”

Beal is an internet marketing consultant specializing in search engine marketing, online reputation management, and business blogging. Considered one of the world's most respected online marketing experts, Andy has worked with many top companies, is a published author, and has been featured in top publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and BusinessWeek. Andy has performed numerous SEO firm evaluations and audits and will evaluate Search Mojo's performance and counsel on strategies to drive corporate success for the future.

Lim is a current client of Search Mojo and has extensive technology marketing experience at companies ranging in size from large, public corporations to small startups. Lim has been instrumental as a customer at assisting Search Mojo with beta programs and testing as well as providing feedback on measurement and reporting mechanisms from the client perspective. Lim will bring that client insight and perspective to the board, ensuring that the customer voice is also clearly present in determining the company's future strategic direction.

http://www.gawkwire.com/seo_sem/search_marketing_firm_expands_its_board_of_advisors.html

Webhost.Uk.Net Christmas Crazzy Special Offers!!

2009-12-14T06:23:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Webhost.Uk.Net, the UK's fastest growing reliable hosting provider today announces multiple coupons on Shared | Reseller | VPS and Dedicated Server Plans.

"Christmas is a favorite time of the year involving gift giving, parties and feasting -- We would like to show our Christmas spirit by offering various blowouts prices" - said Abbie Clayton head of Business Development for WEBHOSTUK LTD.

Shared and VPS Plans Discounts :

Signup for our Shared or VPS Plan before 31st Dec 2009 -- and receive 2 months additional hosting and also one .info domain name completely free.

Reseller Plan Discounts : Coupon Code : XMAS2009

Signup for our Reseller Plan (Annual / Biennally) before 31st Dec 2009 -- and receive 20% OFF and additional 6 months free hosting.

Our Reseller Plan includes --

FREE WHMCS billing Software (on selected reseller plans)
FREE Vision Helpdesk Software
FREE Enom reseller account
FREE SSL Certificates (on selected reseller plans)
FREE cPanel/WHM (for linux) and Plesk (for Windows) servers.
FREE private lablelled nameservers:
FREE Rvskins
FREE RvsitebuilderPRO
FREE Fantastico

Dedicated Server Discounts :

Signup for our Dedicated Server Plan (Annual) before 31st Dec 2009 -- and receive 1 month Free.

"What are you waiting for? -- go grab your Christmas Gift now!! and wish you Merry Christmas:) - May god bring piece and happiness to you and your family" - said Abbie.

For more information please visit http://www.webhost.uk.net/blog/webhost-uk-net-christmas-crazzy-special-offers.html http://www.gawkwire.com/promotions/webhost_uk_net_christmas_crazzy_special_offers.html

SES New York 2010 Registration Now Open

2009-12-14T06:22:00-05:00

New York, NY (Gawkwire.com) On the heels of record breaking attendance at Search Engine Strategies (SES) Chicago, SES announced today that registration is now open for SES New York to be held March 22-26, 2010 at the Hilton New York. The conference and expo will consist of multiple keynotes and more than 70 sessions. SES invites marketing professionals and those working in the search engine optimization industry to submit proposals for sessions and presentations.

To register for SES New York, which is expected to draw over 100 exhibitors, go to:
http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork/registration-details.html

People registering through January 15, 2010 will receive a special pre-agenda discount.

“Mike Grehan, our vice president of global content, and Stewart Quealy, our vice president of content development, are working non-stop to finalize the agenda for SES New York, and they tell me it is shaping up to include more new sessions than we have ever had at a conference,” said Matt McGowan, Vice President and Publisher for Incisive Media’s Interactive Marketing Group. “We know it’s a busy time of year, but we want to get the word out that we have great discount pricing through mid January.”

Two keynote speakers have already been announced: David Meerman Scott, author of World Wide Rave, and Avinash Kaushik, author, blogger and Analytics Evangelist at Google. In addition to the keynote sessions, panels and individual presentations, SES New York includes many networking events and parties that give people the opportunity to mingle with their peers and make new contacts.

About SES
Incisive Media's Search Engine Strategies is a leading global conference and training series focused on search engine marketing (including SEO and PPC). Other Incisive resources for interactive marketers include ClickZ.com for digital marketing news, information, commentary, advice, opinion and research and Search Engine Watch which provides news and information about search, analysis of the search engine industry and tools for improving search marketing effectiveness.

Incisive Media is a leading global provider of specialized business news and information, in print, in person and online. The company's principal markets include financial services, legal services, commercial real estate, marketing services and risk management. Incisive Media's market-leading brands include Accountancy Age, Computing, Investment Week, Legal Week, Post, Risk, and Search Engine Strategies.

For more information, visit incisivemedia.com.

For more news and event updates visit the SES blog at: blog.searchenginestrategies.com/

http://www.gawkwire.com/events_html/ses_new_york_2010_registration_now_open.html

Final Video in the "How to Make Money with Google" Series

2009-12-14T06:21:00-05:00

Louisville, KY (Gawkwire.com) The final video of the six-video series called "How to Make Money with Google" premiered today at http://www.arnoldit.com/video. This video, released by Arnold Information Technology, http://www.arnoldit.com, builds upon the first five videos and summarizes how to grow your revenue with Google.

"This final video makes clear that Google is more than a search vendor," Stephen E. Arnold, president of Arnold Information Technology, said. "With its subsidizing business model, Google will disrupt a number of business sectors. In my research, I have data that suggest it is smarter to surf on Google than to ignore a digital force."

Arnold explains that each time Google introduces a new product or application, that product produces a "shockwave" that spreads opportunity throughout multiple business sectors such as telecommunications, the enterprise software industry and publishing, among others.

The rest of the video series includes an overview of those money-making opportunities: using Google's Adsense advertising module; search engine optimization consulting and services; the opportunity Google presents programmers who can create applications for the Google platforms such as Android for mobile devices; and the Google partner and reseller program.

"Information about Google is everywhere, but the upside of Google as an opportunity is not widely known," Arnold said. "The increase in 'get rich quick' with Google e-mails I was receiving convinced me that a more measured discussion of the opportunities was needed. I will make these videos available without charge in the hopes that the Google revenue opportunities get broader dissemination." Arnold has published three Google monographs and these videos are based on the information compiled for The Google Legacy, Google Version 2.0, and Google: The Digital Gutenberg. The monographs are available from Infonortics Ltd., in Tetbury, Glos., at http://www.infonortics.com.

The purpose of this short video series--watching all six videos takes about 30 to 40 minutes--is to explain the magnitude of the Google opportunity and give clear, factual information on four specific ways an enterprising individual, a services company, or a diversified company can use the Google platform to produce revenue while meeting the needs of their customers and prospects. The videos are available for personal and educational use with no fee.

The series is available at http://www.arnoldit.com/video. ArnoldIT.com has no relationship with Google. The information presented in the video represents the views and findings of ArnoldIT.com's analyses of Google. The videos were directed by Chris Forrester, Perceality Productions, at http://twitter.com/perceality. The samba music is courtesy Sounddogs.com. For information about other uses of the videos, contact ArnoldIT.com at seaky2000 [at] yahoo.com.

http://www.gawkwire.com/video_tv/final_video_in_the_how_to_make_money_with_google_series.html

Search Engine Academy Launches New Hands-On SEO/SEM Workshops

2009-12-14T06:20:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Search Engine Academy has traditionally offered comprehensive search engine optimisation and marketing workshops to business owners, web developers and marketing agencies throughout North America and Asia. The organisation is proud to announce the launch of their specialised Search Engine Workshops in Brisbane, to begin in February of 2010, with plans for additional workshop locations throughout Australia in development.

Sue CooperWorkshop attendees can now stay close to home instead of travelling to the United States or Asia for a quality SEO/SEM hands-on education. In these comprehensive, 2-day Essentials, 3-day Advanced and Complete 5-day SEO Mastery courses, Sue Cooper will teach business owners, web developers, marketing agency representatives and others everything they need to know about search engine marketing, website optimisation, high-performance and conversions. Attendance in all classes has strictly limited enrolment to ensure that every student receives the individualised attention he and his website deserve. Attendees will learn not only how to attract visitors to their website but how to encourage them to participate in a call to action once they’ve arrived.

Leading SEO industry educators Robin Nobles and John Alexander, the original creators of the Search Engine Workshops, are proud to welcome Sue to their international family of talented and dedicated workshop instructors. Sue has been fascinated with the internet and its development since the early 1980’s and has been building and marketing her own websites since the mid-90’s. Her talent and professional skill led her to form her own company, HomePage Development, in which she uses her skills to help business design and competitively market their online businesses.

Sue is incredibly passionate about helping others to design and build their own websites with proper search engine optimisation and marketing techniques. Those who attend her SEO Mastery Skills workshops will certainly benefit from her expertise.

For more information about this article or about Search Engine Academy in Australia contact Sue at +617 3818 7834, email info(at)seaq(dot)com(dot)au or visit www.searchengineacademyqld.com.au.

http://www.gawkwire.com/seo_sem/search_engine_academy_launches_new_hands-on_seo_sem_workshops.html

Lavasoft Malware Labs Releases 2010 Internet Security Trends

2009-12-11T06:23:00-05:00

Gothenburg, Sweden (Gawkwire.com) Well-known anti-spyware pioneer Lavasoft today announced its list of security predictions for 2010, anticipating the top threats that Internet users should be aware of this coming year as cyber criminals adapt their tactics, finding new ways to con people while they use the Internet.

“Online criminals have been busy in 2009. Comparing the third quarter of 2009 to the same time last year, we’ve seen a 477 percent increase in the amount of malware added to Ad-Aware’s threat database,” says Andrew Browne, head of Malware Labs at Lavasoft.

Expectations for 2010 include not only an increase in malicious Internet attacks, but the online attackers will bolster their tactics using new twists on traditional methods – as well as focusing on newly emerging platforms – according to Lavasoft Malware Labs.

“We expect that traditionally successful and lucrative modes of attack on PCs, such as rogue threats and exploiting application vulnerabilities for programs people use on a daily basis, will see enhanced attacks using more subtle and sophisticated methods. At the same time, emerging operating systems and popular platforms, like smartphones, will likely attract increasing attacks – the more popular the platform becomes, the greater the incentive to attack,” Browne says.

Lavasoft Malware Labs’ analysts anticipate that the following five threat trends will dominate the security landscape in 2010:

1. Malware attacks on Windows 7. With the release of their latest operating system, Microsoft aims to replace Windows XP as the operating system of choice. As users move to Windows 7, malware authors will shift their attention to find ways to exploit the new operating system with targeted attacks.

2. Application vulnerability exploits. Should Windows 7 prove to be more secure – in other words, more difficult for malware authors to exploit – exploiting application vulnerabilities, such as web browser vulnerabilities, will be the next best thing. To compound this, while users have begun to understand the importance of applying operating system patches, they are less aware of the need to apply security updates to applications; patches fixing application vulnerabilities are typically slow to appear, and it’s not always apparent to the user that an update is available and that action needs to be taken – making it an easier malware target.

3. Scareware and rogue (fake) security products. Rogue security software, also known as scareware, take the form of legitimate-looking anti-virus, anti-spyware and anti-malware products and appear to be beneficial from a security perspective; in reality, they provide little or no protection, generate misleading alerts, or attempt to lure users into fraudulent transactions. The money made from this malware model ensures that cyber criminals will not abandon this profitable endeavor. If anything, expect that these attacks will become more stealthy and complex.

4. Compromising non-Windows platforms. Due to increasing discontent with Windows, PC users are experimenting with other operating systems. Ubuntu is one operating system of choice for users new to Linux. Although the quantity of users is limited compared to Windows users, if the attack surface becomes broad enough on a non-Windows operating system, malware writers will investigate ways to compromise those systems.

5. Mobile malware. Smartphones are becoming more ubiquitous and, as more services involving financial transactions are made available to handsets, exploits that leverage vulnerabilities on smartphone operating systems are sure to be targets for cyber criminals. While smartphone security threats have been monitored by malware researchers for some time, recent attacks have brought the issue into focus, stressing the need for additional security. Without a doubt, this is a threat venue to watch in 2010.

To stay safe in 2010, Lavasoft recommends that users secure their computers with updated security software and stresses the need to stay aware and cautious of the types of threats they may encounter online. Lavasoft offers educational resources for computer users including frequent security updates on the Malware Labs’ blog, The Rogue Gallery online database of known scareware programs, and the Lavasoft News monthly security newsletter.

More information on Lavasoft’s security solutions as well as online protection tips are available at www.lavasoft.com.

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/lavasoft_malware_labs_releases_2010_internet_security_trends.html

Linux Professional Institute Expands Training Partner Program

2009-12-11T06:21:00-05:00

olsom, CA (Gawkwire.com) The Linux Professional Institute (LPI), the world's premier Linux certification organization (http://www.lpi.org), announced that it had expanded its training partner program to include 44 nations--up from 33 a year ago. In addition the organization has increased the number of LPI-Approved Training Partners (LPI-ATP) and LPI-Approved Academic Partners (LPI-AAP) to a total of 242 partners -- up 10% from this time last year.

Jim Lacey, president and CEO of LPI credited the continuing growth to the increased participation of post-secondary institutions in LPI's training program: "In the last year we have made substantial efforts to reach out to the academic community and describe to them the benefits of our training program. Many have participated in LPI in the past by providing insight and input into our exam development process. However, the academic community's renewed and increased participation at LPI demonstrates that our vendor-neutral Linux certifications add to their educational programs while providing additional benefits to their students who will be pursuing IT careers in the future."

Notable milestones in LPI's training partner program in 2009 include the following:

Ecole Nationale Polytechnique: first LPI-AAP in Senegal
Nouvelle Universite' Bulgare: first LPI-AAP in Bulgaria
Association DNT: first LPI-AAP in Moldova
General Computech: first LPI-ATP in Mali
CNTG (Centro de Novas Tecnoloxias de Galicia) and IES D'RAN: first LPI-AAPs in Spain
University of Lancaster, ICT Focus: first LPI-AAP in the UK
Howe Systems: first LPI-ATP in Ireland
Liga Distribution ApS is LPI's first training partner in Denmark
Linagora of Belgium, Brussels is the first LPI-ATP in that country
VVR Tecnologia em Software of Sao Paulo, Brazil, a new training partner, has also published recent LPI books for Linux Magazine Brazil for both LPIC-1 and LPIC-2
a long time developer of LPI courseware materials, Guru Labs has become an LPI-ATP and is now hosting several exam labs for local LPI candidates in Utah, USA.

For more information on the benefits of becoming an LPI training partner please contact your local LPI Master Affiliate or Area Operations Manager: http://www.lpi.org/affiliates

Additional information on the LPI's training partner program can be found at: http://www.lpi.org/training

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/linux_professional_institute_expands_training_partner_program.html

New I/O Server Features Truly Integrated I/O for Monitoring and Control

2009-12-11T06:20:00-05:00

Wixom, MI (Gawkwire.com) Acromag introduced the I/O Server Industrial PC featuring an internal carrier card to interface a wide selection of related plug-in I/O modules. Designed specifically to work together, this combination of a rugged, fanless box computer and conduction-cooled I/O modules provides a truly integrated system for high-performance measurement and control projects. The first release in the I/O Server line, the Model IOS-7400, is equipped with an Intel® Atom™ CPU and a whole host of interface connections for peripherals and network devices. Users can insert up to four mezzanine IOS modules, in any mix, onto the slide-out carrier card to perform A/D, D/A, discrete monitoring/control, counter/timer, serial communication, and FPGA computing functions. The interface for up to 192 channels of field I/O is handled through four high-density connectors on the front panel for clean, easy cable access. Advanced thermal technology removes heat without open vents or fans for dependable operation from -30 to 75°C. Pricing for the I/O Server PC starts at $2195 while the twenty-plus IOS modules begin at $325 each.

I/O Server Industrial PC features integrated carrier card that holds up to four I/O modulesMany industries can benefit from the I/O Server's tightly integrated approach to embedded computers and I/O signal processing. Manufacturers will find the I/O Server package well-suited to machine control and factory automation applications. Military and homeland security system developers will appreciate the unit's integrity and high performance. The compact, rugged design will work well as a mobile server and in transportation projects such as rail or trucking. Wide operating temperature capabilities also make the I/O Server a preferred solution for outdoor signage and display systems. Additionally, the flexible I/O configurations with easily interchangeable I/O modules should appeal to scientists and technicians working on continually evolving research, simulation, data acquisition, and test & measurement projects.

The IOS-7400 PC unit features an embedded 1.6GHz CPU, 1GB DDR2 RAM, and runs on Windows® Embedded Standard or Linux®. Standard interfaces include VGA, Ethernet, serial, USB, CompactFlash®, and audio input/output.

More than 20 IOS modules are available to provide a wide variety of analog, digital, and serial I/O processing capabilities. A re-configurable FPGA module allows users to execute custom logic routines and algorithms on TTL, differential or LVDS I/O signals. Up to four IOS modules can be combined in any mix on the carrier card for flexible, high-density I/O to meet custom requirements.

http://www.gawkwire.com/reviews/new_i_o_server_features_truly_integrated_i_o_for_monitoring_and_.html

Top 10 Email Marketing Firms for December 2009 Released by topseos.com

2009-12-11T06:19:00-05:00

Plymouth, IN (Gawkwire.com) The December list of Top Email Marketing Agencies has been ranked and released by topseos.com primarily for the benefit of potential customers.

Email is an important, yet fragile, form of marketing. If abused, email marketing can actually shed a negative light on your business. Customers are aggravated by a flooding of spam emails. Your business will need a company that understands the intricacies and art of email marketing.

These are the Top Email Marketing Agencies:

1.   Exact Target- Indiana
2.   Topica Inc.- California
3.   Stream Send- California
4.   My Emma- Tennessee
5.   EmailLabs- California
6.   Mailworkz.com- Canada
7.   VerticalResponse- California
8.   Double Click- New York
9.   Constant Contact- Massachusetts
10.   iContact- North Carolina

Each company was reviewed and ranked based on a set evaluation criteria for email marketing companies. Not only were the companies assessed based on their practices, but at least three clients of each firm were interviewed concerning their experiences.

Email marketing companies interested in being considered for ranking at topseos.com should visit http://www.topseos.com/rankings/search-engine-marketing-agencies/apply-for-ranking.

http://www.gawkwire.com/seo_sem/top_10_email_marketing_firms_for_december_2009_released_by_topse.html

Parallels Small Business Panel 10.1 Updated for Increased Ease-of-Use

2009-12-10T10:28:00-05:00

RENTON, WA (Gawkwire.com) Cloud-enablement leader, Parallels, today released Parallels Small Business Panel 10.1, featuring a number of enhancements to make the solution even more user-friendly and simple, including a new migration tool, an easy set-up wizard and file sharing capabilities. The new version also introduces a product demo mode and additional customer language pack tools to enable users to add their own custom language packs.

The migration tool allows customers that are currently on Parallels Plesk Panel 9 to seamlessly move to the new Parallels Small Business Panel 10.1 without fuss or the risk of losing data. It also creates the opportunity to upgrade shared hosting clients to a new VPS specifically designed for small business customers. A new set-up wizard makes it even easier for customers to install and setup the entire system. The file sharing feature is now available on Windows versions, making both Linux and Windows functionality equivalent.

“Parallels Small Business Panel is specifically designed to be as easy to use as possible, supporting the needs of non-technical business users,” said Jack Zubarev, President of Service Provider Division, Parallels. “This update builds on this, introducing very simple tools such as the set-up wizard and migration utility so that small businesses can adopt it very quickly and easily.”

For partners who are selling the product, a new demo mode allows the software to be safely embedded on a web site for a full demonstration. Parallels Small Business Panel 10.1 supports five languages but a new Customer Language Pack can be utilized if a customer needs to include a language that is currently not on the software.

Availability and Pricing
Parallels Small Business Panel 10.1 is available in English, German, Japanese, Spanish, French, Chinese Simplified and Russian.

The offering is available through retail, lease, or the Parallels Partner Program.

Further information on Parallels Small Business Panel’s new features and capabilities, as well as videos, screenshots and a demonstration of the new product are available at www.parallels.com/products/smallbusinesspanel.

As of today, Parallels Small Business Panel is available through Softlayer, Codero, Viux, Robson, Turnkey Internet, Servint, Layershift, Zipservers, KickAssVPS, CCF Consulting, ISOMEDIA, Blue Ridge Internet Works, Cartagon, OVH, Axarnet, Grupo Interdominios S.A, Redes Digitales de Telecomunicacion en Internet SL , AVANZAS, Ideamultiples, Interdominos, Netensia, Oxyd, Mailclub, PSW Group, Redestel, Trustinfo, , Simply Root, Webfactor, Digital Media Technology, Neworld (Rouhost), GraFX ltd, Ebitda Sp. z o.o. , KAOS Redes , Azura Networks/Nuxit, Softtech Internet and Trustinfo,

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/parallels_small_business_panel_10_1_updated_for_increased_ease-o.html

AYKsolutions Adds Enterprise-Grade Cloud Hosting Solution

2009-12-09T14:00:00-05:00

SCHENECTADY, NY (Gawkwire.com) AYKsolutions, a provider of Shared, Reseller and Dedicated hosting solutions, announced today it has introduced Cloud Servers, offering high-availability, enterprise-level hosting architecture for small to medium sized businesses.

Unlike traditional shared or dedicated hosting architecture, which relies on single servers to host the operating system, services, and account data, AYKsolutions’ new Cloud Servers utilize an integrated Storage Area Network (SAN) that centralizes data storage and provides exceptional protection against hardware-related data loss. The SAN, powered by HP StorageWorks, is configured in both RAID 10 ( which both mirrors data and provides fault tolerance), and additionally in RAID 5 (providing a highly unique additional level of redundancy).

The new Cloud Servers are virtualized with VMware’s vSphere™ technology, which enables the users to setup highly available and fault tolerant clusters with multiple hardware nodes. If any single node experiences failure for any reason, VMware will automatically move the affected sites to a backup node in less than one minute, thereby sharply reducing the possibility of any downtime.

Starting at $319 per month, Cloud Servers include Dual Intel® Xeon® 5506 or Dual Intel® Xeon® 5520 processors, cPanel (optional at no additional charge), and 1 vSphere™ license with vCenter management panel, enabling the user to remotely reboot, move and alter his or her nodes. All Cloud Servers will be hosted in the company’s Atlanta data center facility.

“Cloud hosting is undeniably the new frontier in hosting. Its success is predicated on the notion that businesses will continue to place a greater emphasis on uptime, data integrity, and long-term stability. We’ve implemented our Cloud Servers with a laser focus on meeting those needs,” said Artyom Khmelnitsky, president of AYKsolutions.

AYKsolutions currently offers dedicated servers in five American cities, including Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, Denver, and Miami. Monthly dedicated server plans start at $69 and feature a variety of configuration options, including *Nix/Windows platform choices, control panel choices, and hardware choices.

To learn more about AYKsolutions, please visit http://www.AYKsolutions.com.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/ayksolutions_adds_enterprise-grade_cloud_hosting_solution.html

Enterhost Renews Partnership with SmarterTools

2009-12-09T14:00:00-05:00

FORT WORTH, TX (Gawkwire.com) Enterhost, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and leading provider of Windows-only web hosting, announced today it has renewed its partnership with SmarterTools to provide business communication software for its dedicated server clients.

"Our relationship with SmarterTools continues to provide our customers with a robust email and collaboration platform,” said Enterhost President Kevin R. Valadez. “This is the fifth year we’ve committed to doing business with SmarterTools and we continue to have great confidence in SmarterTools’ ability to meet our clients’ requirements.”

The software includes SmarterMail 6.X -- an award-winning, ASP.NET AJAX-based mail server, SmarterStats 4.X -- a robust site analytics application, and SmarterTrack 4.X -- a helpdesk application designed for customer service departments.

As a result of the partnership, every client who purchases a dedicated server from Enterhost will automatically receive all three applications at no charge, and will own a 50-user permanent software license in their own name. The software package normally retails at nearly $500.

SmarterMail 6.X strengthens out-of-the-box spam protection with additional antispam measures blocking 97% of spam. Dozens of new features have been added including Silverlight reports and charts, new message attachment and attachment thumbnail views, and user-definable columns for contacts, calendars, and tasks.

SmarterStats 4.X gives users comprehensive Web log analytics in a new Web interface that includes a full complement of standard and custom reports, data mining, geographic mapping and more. The software’s newest features include Silverlight charts and graphs, web-based log viewer, spider and bot identification and reporting, and more.

SmarterTrack 4.X is a powerful help desk application built for tracking, managing, and reporting on customer service and communication, including sales and support issues. Features include a customer service portal, live chat, real-time tracking of customers as they navigate websites, and self-service resources such as Knowledge Base and news items.

For more information about Enterhost, please visit http://www.enterhost.com.

For more information about SmarterTools, please visit http://www.smartertools.com.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/enterhost_renews_partnership_with_smartertools.html

canada.topseos.com Ranks Top Canadian Search Engine Optimization Firms

2009-12-09T14:00:00-05:00

Plymouth, IN (Gawkwire.com) The independent authority on search vendors, canada.topseos.com has evaluated and listed the Top Canadian SEO Companies for the month of December.

Search engines are the gateways to information on the Internet. The best place for a company’s link to be are the result pages that pertain to the information on their site. The strategy included in getting a company to the top of the results page is extensive. A good SEO knows the intricacies of SEO and will be able to send a company to the top with a good strategy.

The Best Canadian SEO Firm and other great companies are:

1.   Increase Visibility Inc.
2.   1st on the List Promotions Inc.
3.   Enquiro Search Solutions Inc.
4.   First Page SEO
5.   Beanstalk
6.   Acroterion Inc.
7.   6S Marketing Inc.
8.   StepForth
9.   FreshPromo
10.   Welpix- Visual Media Toronto
11.   SitePosition Search Engine Marketing
12.   eMarketing 101
13.   Plu eMarketing
14.   Searching Works Inc.
15.   Bloom Search Marketing
16.   BubbleUP Marketing
17.   Bay Street SEO
18.   Search Rank Professionals
19.   Virtually Canadian
20.   SuperSeoMan.com
21.   Page Zero Media
22.   First2Search
23.   Get Clicked SEO
24.   WebWize Inc.
25.   SEO Expert
26.   Manning Search Marketing
27.   5Fish Inc.
28.   Epiar Inc.
29.   Mastermynde
30.   Metamend

To be included in this list, the companies had to go through an extensive assessment to measure their capabilities in search engine optimization. The evaluation criteria for SEO companies includes reviewing the effectiveness of the company by interviewing past and current clients.

Learn more about the Best Canadian SEO Expert and other great companies highlighted this month.

SEO companies that would like to be considered should apply for ranking at: http://canada.topseos.com/rankings/search-engine-marketing-agencies/apply-for-ranking

http://www.gawkwire.com/seo_sem/canada_topseos_com_ranks_top_canadian_search_engine_optimization.html

Go Daddy Girl Danica Patrick ‘Going NASCAR!’

2009-12-09T06:15:00-05:00

SCOTTSDALE, AZ (Gawkwire.com) At last, the long-awaited announcement is official – Go Daddy is taking Danica Patrick to the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2010.

Danica will drive the No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet in a partial Nationwide schedule next season, plus one ARCA race. The Go Daddy Girl will be racing as a member of the JR Motorsports (JRM) team owned by Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Rick Hendrick, Kelley Earnhardt and Tony Eury, Jr. through 2011.

“It’s been a long time coming, but the stars finally aligned for me with Go Daddy and JRM,” Danica said just before making her announcement. “I have always said I love to drive, and if I could make it work to race in both IndyCar and NASCAR – with the right sponsor, like GoDaddy.com and the right team, like JRM – then I’d love to drive in NASCAR!”

Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons introduced Danica today as she made it official with the unveiling of her new stock car in front of fans and media outside Chase Field in downtown Phoenix. The Go Daddy Girl had just wrapped up her latest Go Daddy Super Bowl shoot for the world’s top domain name registrar and Web hosting provider. She’s also planning to attend Go Daddy’s annual holiday party to be held Saturday at the ballpark.

“As Danica said, the stars aligned,” said Parsons. “We’re thrilled to expand our long-standing relationship with Danica into NASCAR. This is not only big news for NASCAR fans; it has all the ingredients for some major GoDaddy-esque marketing magic.”

Parsons and the Go Daddy Girl driver were flanked by the brand new bright green No. 7 GoDaddy.com Nationwide Chevrolet and the equally distinctive 2010 IndyCar at today’s news conference.

Go Daddy is leveraging its existing relationship with Earnhardt, Jr., who has also driven for Go Daddy in the Nationwide Series and will continue to work as a Go Daddy spokesperson.

Dale, Jr.’s sister, Kelley, is VP and GM for JRM and was at today’s news conference. She expressed her excitement to have a woman join the team. She also pointed to JRM’s experience as a key asset in Danica’s foray into NASCAR. “One of the things JRM has to offer is proven NASCAR experience,” said Earnhardt. “This is a team sport, and our team will help Danica get up to speed quickly. She’s slated to begin working with our crew starting with the upcoming ARCA tests.”

The move to put IndyCar’s Most Popular Driver, and overall media magnet, into a Nationwide car is expected to give NASCAR a much-needed boost considering its goal to maintain the sport’s enormous fan base. In a recent news conference, NASCAR’s CEO Brian France was asked about Danica joining NASCAR. France said, “She has a lot of talent and would be good for NASCAR…I’ve told her that directly.”

Danica’s NASCAR races would take place before, after and in between her IndyCar schedule. Michael Andretti, owner of Danica’s IndyCar team, Andretti Autosport, addressed that issue. “Danica and I are both working hard for a win at the Indianapolis 500 – keeping the race schedules separate will help keep her focused,” Andretti said.

The world will surely be watching when Danica drives her bright green GoDaddy.com car in her first-ever stock car race, an ARCA event in Daytona, scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 6 – the day before the Super Bowl. Danica’s latest Go Daddy commercials are set to debut during the Super Bowl.

To see photos of Danica and her GoDaddy.com Nationwide NASCAR, visit www.GoDaddy.com/Danica.

Many in the media have speculated about Danica’s recent contract negotiations. Successful negotiations are the topic of Parsons’ most recent video blog, which can be seen at www.BobParsons.me.

To find out how you can get online quickly and affordably, visit www.GoDaddy.com.

http://www.gawkwire.com/domains/go_daddy_girl_danica_patrick_going_nascar.html

Hostway Expands Hosted Storage Solutions

2009-12-09T06:14:00-05:00

Chicago, IL (Gawkwire.com) Hostway Corporation, one of the world’s largest hosting and web application providers, announced today the expansion of its existing hosted storage solutions with the availability of an Enterprise-Class Shared SAN (storage area network) product. Shared SAN will augment existing hosted storage offerings which include direct and network attached high performance storage arrays, For customers with high volume and/or high performance requirements, the range of add-on storage solutions can cost effectively augment the internal storage available with each dedicated or virtual server.

Hostway Corporate LogoHostway’s shared SAN is an easily upgradeable solution that lowers the cost of storage, because the high performance, enterprise class array is shared among multiple customers, eliminating upfront capital expenditures. The SAN is fully managed and maintained by Hostway, freeing customers to focus on running their businesses. Storage can be acquired on a demand basis, enabling capacity to be ramped up and down without penalty as needs change.

“The new Shared SAN solution solves a significant problem for our customers” said Todd Benjamin, director of Enterprise Hosting. “Now server customers can access high performance, reliable, and virtually unlimited storage on a service basis as the needs of their businesses dictate.”

To learn more about Hostway’s customized storage solutions please call 1-888-874-1875 or email sales(at)hostwayenterprise(dot)com

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/hostway_expands_hosted_storage_solutions.html

Hostgator-Backed VoIP Service Offers Year of Unlimited Phone Service for $99

2009-12-09T06:13:00-05:00

Houston, TX (Gawkwire.com) HostGator-backed VoIP provider VOIPo is offering a year of home phone service for $99 with unlimited calling to the US and Canada and 60 minutes of free international calling monthly.

“Today more than ever consumers are looking for ways to save money and this plan allows them to do that. Several of our competitors are offering a “free year of service” when you purchase a year of service for $199, but add inflated shipping charges and other fees which bring the total upfront cost to well over $250. In today’s economy that kind of initial outlay is not feasible or appealing for many consumers.

Our strong financial position and below average marketing costs that come from our partnership with HostGator allow us to offer the savings upfront so that consumers can see real, tangible savings on their home phone bills almost immediately rather than waiting a year to realize those savings,” commented Timothy Dick, VOIPo’s founder and chief executive.

The VOIPo residential VoIP plan offers a year of service for $99 and includes a free phone adapter, free activation, and free shipping. The plan offers residential users unlimited calling to the US and Canada and 60 minutes of free international calling each month. It is a full home phone service package which replaces a landline and does not require a computer to use. The plan includes over 35 calling features including voicemail, caller ID, call waiting, 3 way calling, a free second line, call hunting, and more.

In late December, VOIPo also plans to open up a beta program for its highly anticipated voip reseller program. The program will allow individuals and businesses to rebrand VOIPo services and sell voip services under their own brand. Resellers will pay VOIPo $24.95 monthly for a reseller account and then will purchase the services they sell at wholesale pricing giving them significant profit margins.

http://www.gawkwire.com/promotions/hostgator-backed_voip_service_offers_year_of_unlimited_phone_ser.html

SEO.com Announces the Top 10 Internet Marketing Strategies of 2009

2009-12-09T06:12:00-05:00

Salt Lake City, UT (Gawkwire.com) In response to an eMarketer.com study stating that businesses will spend up to 75 percent more on Internet marketing this holiday season, SEO.com – a full-service Internet marketing company in Salt Lake City – announces the top 10 most effective Internet marketing strategies of 2009.

"Businesses want to make sure every penny goes to something that produces results," said Dave Bascom, chief executive of SEO.com. "For that reason, more and more money is being allocated to Internet marketing because it’s measurable and has proven to increase ROI."

There are a wide variety of Internet marketing methods, the most effective being the ones that establish credibility, trust and directly target a demographic.

"Credibility is the most important," said Ash Buckles, SEO.com’s director of search engine optimization. "When people are watching their money closely, they will only buy from companies and Web sites that they trust."

Credibility, Buckles said, depends on how well a site is architected, how many other sites and networks link back to your site, how much social media and buzz surrounds a domain, how often a site goes down, how unique a site’s content is and how fast a site loads.

The Top 10 Internet Marketing Strategies of 2009:

1. Organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Web sites in the top of the search results are viewed as the leaders of their industry, and more than 80 percent of Web users click on the first listings. Good SEO services will consistently deliver a huge return on investment.

2. Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn – Social media marketing engages customers on a personal level, and can rapidly create buzz around a product, brand or business. In 2008, Pubcon search conference spent $75,000 to marketing their conference. In 2009, Pubcon saved that money and used strictly social media advertising with great success.

3. Keyword Research – Everything revolves around discovering what words and phrases your customers are searching for online.

4. Video Marketing – This is becoming more important both on-site and off-site. Videos help convert Web site visitors into sales. In the universal search results, people tend to click on links with videos more than those without – even if the video link is ranked lower.

5. Online Public Relations – This builds credibility online, in the mainstream media and for potential customers. Online public relations can help create a lot of buzz about your site through bloggers and industry sites, and can boost organic SEO.

6. Link Building – A key element in search engine optimization. Search engines like “popular sites.” From the search engine’s point of view, a credible and popular site will have a lot of links pointing to it.

7. Blogging – Blogs provide additional site content (which search engines love), graphics and other viral content to disseminate information and tie in with social media. Blogs can build your credibility by establishing your site as the hub for industry information.

8. Conversion Web Design – A good Web design will keep visitors on your site and sell them products or services. In the end, it all comes down to a site that makes money.

9. Paid Search Marketing – Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is an extremely targeted strategy with measurable, immediate results. This enables a more efficient spending of marketing dollars.

10. Email Marketing – Nurture relationships and retain existing customers. It’s much easier to keep old customers than to get new ones. Send good offers and valuable information that’s customized to their needs.

"To have success on the Internet, you need a combination of all these strategies to drive traffic to your site, establish credibility of your brand and convert traffic into sales," Bascom said.

http://www.gawkwire.com/seo_sem/seo_com_announces_the_top_10_internet_marketing_strategies_of_20.html

PEER 1 challenges Mr. Brown to “Help Britain’s E-tailers”

2009-12-09T06:11:00-05:00

SOUTHAMPTON, UK (Gawkwire.com) Dominic Monkhouse, UK MD at PEER 1 Network Enterprises, Inc. (TSX: PIX), the global online business hosting provider, has written to Gordon Brown, Prime Minister, urging him to provide more support for Britain’s online retailers.

In his letter, Monkhouse cites the potential of this sector as a key component in Britain’s economic recovery and calls for more to be done to help businesses overcome the impact of the global economic downturn and factors like the postal strike.

Monkhouse said: “2009 has been a tough year for British e-tailers, many of whom are independently owned and provide a world-class service. These businesses, often the brain-child of Britain’s finest entrepreneurs, would under normal circumstances be flourishing. They have the potential to create jobs and stimulate the economy, often exporting internationally and bringing in much needed revenue to the UK.

The credit crunch, global downturn and postal strike have all worked against these businesses that have so much potential. I urge the Government to do its bit to nurture these green shoots by considering tax incentives that will help these businesses capitalise on the momentum that they have built up. Britain offers advantages in terms of infrastructure, language, time-zone and geographic location which means that we can become the world leader in terms of online retail across Europe and North America. A small investment and the right stimulus package could create a world-leading sector. The time to act is now.”

The CBI report, OFT Market Study on Online Shopping: CBI Submission, highlighted the strength, potential and fragility of the UK’s e-commerce sector: “The growth rate of online commerce is unparalleled in any other industry, growing twenty times faster than the overall UK retail market in 2005. Furthermore, the number of online shoppers grew by 25.5% to 14.6 million, with the number over the age of 55 doubling to 2.7 million. Forrester Research predicts that UK shoppers will drive UK e-commerce from €43bn in 2006 to €76bn in 2011, accounting for 29% of total European Internet retail.

“The Internet is and will continue to be an increasingly important sales channel for retail companies. The UK has much to celebrate in being a networked hub for many of the value- adding online services associated with online commerce, and for having a large and growing market for online shopping. This reflects the Government’s appetite for the UK to become the world’s e-capital. However, the Internet is subject to the full forces of globalisation like no other commercial platform, with time and location becoming increasingly irrelevant in service delivery and much service innovation taking place amongst a mêlée of individuals, SME’s and large corporates." *1

PEER 1 offers a range of managed hosting solutions tailored for the e-commerce market. It hosts 1% of the Internet and over 10,000 online retail businesses and is an example of one of the many businesses that benefit from a successful e-commerce sector.

http://www.gawkwire.com/business/peer_1_challenges_mr_brown_to_help_britain_s_e-tailers.html

The Best E-Commerce Design Companies for December 2009

2009-12-09T06:10:00-05:00

Plymouth, IN (Gawkwire.com) BestWebDesignAgencies.com has ranked the Best E-Commerce Design Firms for this month.

“E-commerce has become a large part of the internet and the economy all around the world. Giving the consumers the opportunity to deal business online has helped to dissolve physical borders as well as to help businesses reach out to a wide variety of customers originally inaccessible,” explains BestWebDesignAgencies.com. It is important for the consumer to be able to browse the online catalog and make a purchase in the same place.

The Best Ecommerce Design Agencies for this month are:

1.   Lounge Lizard- New York
2.   Bam Creative- Washington
3.   7strategy- New York
4.   Engines of Creation.com- New York
5.   Iflexion- Texas
6.   Brand Web Designs- United Kingdom
7.   Broadway Infotech- Australia
8.   Firepages- United Kingdom
9.   Creative Ideaz- United Kingdom
10.   ECommerce Partners- New York

Each company is put through an evaluation process based on category. E-Commerce sites are judged first on the agency’s project analysis process. Next, the level of customer involvement is examined. The third criterion includes evaluating the company’s design standards followed by the fourth criterion of looked at the functionality of the created design. The final criterion evaluates the stock quality of the images used on the e-commerce site. After extensive evaluation, the aforementioned companies are those that shined above all others. BestWebDesignAgencies.com is proud to call these the best.

Companies interested in applying should visit http://www.bestwebdesignagencies.com/rankings/web-design-agencies/apply-for-ranking

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_design/the_best_e-commerce_design_companies_for_december_2009.html

Microsoft Looks For Don Dodge Replacement

2009-12-08T06:52:00-05:00

(TechCrunch) When Microsoft laid off Microsoft’s Director of Business Development Don Dodge last month we called it a huge mistake. He was Microsoft’s “ambassador” to startups and largely responsible for the success of the Bizspark program (the Bizspark program gives Microsoft products for free to startups, and also funds a number of tech blogs through sponsored posts).

Eleven days after Dodge was let go he was a Google employee.

Now Microsoft is looking for his replacement, it seems. From a job listing (we’re trying to confirm with Microsoft now that it’s authentic): ...Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/business/microsoft_looks_for_don_dodge_replacement.html

Black Lotus Launches Green Cloud Hosting With Built-In DDoS Protection Services

2009-12-08T06:52:00-05:00

Virginia Beach, VA (Gawkwire.com) Black Lotus, a leading DDoS protection services company, announced today its new LotusCloud VM service, the first environmentally-friendly virtual server hosted in the cloud with high-end DDoS protection built-in. Website owners get the added security of DDoS protection without having to purchase DDoS protection services separately.

“Customers needing to rapidly deploy DDoS protected servers can use LotusCloud VM to do so on their own terms, with the exact configuration they need, all at an affordable price while helping the environment,” said Jeffrey Lyons, Director of Black Lotus. “Bare metal dedicated servers utilize an average of 40 to 460 watts of power, whereas LotusCloud VM only uses 7 watts per server, drastically reducing energy cost and carbon footprint.”

LotusCloud VM is a cloud protected by a cloud. Each LotusCloud VM instance is hosted on the Black Lotus Enterprise Network with pre-configured DDoS protection services. LotusCloud VM customers can include the hardware, OS, and software without checking or waiting for server availability for the ultimate in on-demand cloud hosting with DDoS protection services already added.

“LotusCloud VM is a low cost ‘in the cloud’ virtual DDoS protected dedicated server allowing customers to enjoy the same performance at a better price. In fact, a highly available, multi-core RAID environment is extremely affordable starting at $99.00 per month,” said Lyons. “With DDoS protection services already added to each LotusCloud VM, customers are ready to host their websites without having to worry about robots attacking and destroying their data.”

What used to take days to configure, is now automatically built-in to the existing cloud infrastructure using LAMP. Traditionally, the installation of LAMP management and custom configuration could have taken days, now it is all automated with the click of a mouse. Black Lotus customers wanting the built-in DDoS protection service can purchase LotusCloud VM pre-configured with cPanel/WHM, Litespeed web servers, and other security and performance tuning that comes standard with the LAMP product.

“Unlike any other cloud service in the market today, Black Lotus provides automatic native DDoS protection for the entire environment at 1000 Mbps without the need to purchase add-ons or an upgraded service level,” said Lyons. “Leveraging experienced network engineers and security technology from RioRey, IntruGuard, Juniper and Cisco, the network is protected by an in-depth defensive strategy capable of isolating malicious traffic and processing bad packets on multiple layers through both packet inspection and trend analysis."

LotusCloud VM is a unique DDoS protected cloud hosting solution. For the first time in the history of managed DDoS protection, LotusCloud VM breaks the 1 Gbps threshold for less than $100.00 a month. Black Lotus is the first DDoS protection services network to establish a cloud and offer an affordable virtualized product. http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/black_lotus_launches_green_cloud_hosting_with_built-in_ddos_prot.html

1&1 Internet Announces Launch of Webinar Series

2009-12-08T06:50:00-05:00

Philadelphia, PA (Gawkwire.com) According to a study of small and medium-sized business owners, the average monthly cost of webhosting is around $45.* 1&1 MyBusiness Site allows SMB’s to get a custom website online in less than 10 minutes and for less than $10 a month. This online presentation will demonstrate how people with no technical experience can get online, create a custom website and edit website content with ease. Since 2003, 1&1 Internet Inc. has been helping small and medium-sized businesses get online at a fair price. This webinar series will continue that tradition and allow businesses to interact with product managers who helped create these products.

Here are some of the topics that 1&1 will discuss during its 45 minute webinar:
- How to customize a 1&1 MyBusiness Site
- How to drive traffic to a site using social media and search engine optimization
- Success stories from current MyBusiness Site users

WHO: Sandra Rios, 1&1 MyBusiness Site Product Manager and Aaron Nye Communication Manager for 1&1 Internet

WHAT: Online Tutorial and Demonstration of 1&1 MyBusiness Site

WHEN: Thursday December 10, 2009 1pm EST

WHERE: Register here: https://eval.webex.com/eval/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=361345042

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/1_1_internet_announces_launch_of_webinar_series.html

Less than one month left to save on HostingCon 2010 registrations

2009-12-08T06:48:00-05:00

(HostingCon) Time is running out to save big on your HostingCon 2010 registration!

Take advantage of Super Early bird registration rates now and save up to $240 on your HostingCon 2010 conference registration. How much money can you save?

- Full conference registration with lunch saves $240 on the regular registration rate

- Full conference registration without lunch also saves $240 on the regular registration rate

- Single day conference registration (either Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday) saves $120 on the regular registration rate

- Exhibits only conference registration can save $40 on the regular registration rate

Super Early bird registration rates expire after December 31, so Register Now to take advantage of these fantastic Super Early bird rates!

http://www.gawkwire.com/events_html/less_than_one_month_left_to_save_on_hostingcon_2010_registration.html

Future Hosting Offers Hybrid Virtual Private Servers in London

2009-12-08T06:46:00-05:00

NOVI, MI (Gawkwire.com) Future Hosting, an Internet solutions provider serving SMBs and enterprises internationally and developer of Future Engineer™, today announced the launch of Hybrid Virtual Private Servers (VPS) in its London data center facility, continuing its globalized approach to virtualization. The company already offers traditional Virtual Private Servers in five international cities.

Hybrid Virtual Private Servers provide significantly greater power than traditional Virtual Private Servers. With a Hybrid VPS, physical servers average one CPU core per VPS, and each node has a maximum capacity of 8 VPS instances (thereby assuring at least one CPU core per VPS). This strict capacity limit also increases disk I/O availability, and provides greater overall performance.

Physical hardware is also more robust in the Hybrid VPS environment, usually providing greater RAM, upgraded network interface cards (NICs), and other features. Hybrid Virtual Private Servers are available as either managed or unmanaged.

“For years, we have specialized in providing the industry’s most reliable, affordable, and scalable Virtual Private Server and Dedicated Server hosting solutions. With an international colocation portfolio and long track record of performance, we continue to realize low customer turnover and significant new customer growth in both of these service areas. However, as new technologies continue to underscore the value of virtualization, we see real strategic value in introducing Hybrid VPS to meet the needs of an emerging market segment,” said Future Hosting Chief Strategy Officer Stephen Kowalski.

Hybrid Virtual Private Servers start at $99.95 per month for 2000GB of monthly data transfer, 2GB of RAM, 50GB of disk space, and 4 IP addresses. Customers can choose from cPanel or Plesk at no additional charge.

Future Hosting is the developer of Future Engineer™, a technical support automation system designed to automate time consuming server configuration and repair tasks on Virtual Private Servers (VPS), Future Engineer™ allows clients to receive a greater level of technical support than is available when technicians spend their time performing routine or basic maintenance tasks. With Future Engineer™, technicians are free to spend their time offering a level of technical support that is unrivaled and otherwise unaffordable.

For more information about Future Hosting, please visit http://www.futurehosting.com. http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/future_hosting_offers_hybrid_virtual_private_servers_in_london.html

The Art (and Business) of Managing Up

2009-12-03T09:41:00-05:00

Gulf Breeze, FL (Gawkwire.com) Leaders, are you looking for a highly effective way to gain support for meeting established goals, create more autonomy within your organization, save time, and better control your personal destiny? Learn the fine art of "managing up." That's right. According to Quint Studer, CEO of Studer Group,SM accentuating the positive is more than fodder for classic song lyrics and self-help books—it's brilliant business advice.

"Managing up is, in essence, positioning people well," says Studer, author of Straight A Leadership: Alignment, Action, Accountability (Fire Starter Publishing, 2009, ISBN: 0-9840794-1-6, $18.00). "It sounds quite simple and in theory it is: just work to align staff instead of dividing them. But managing up is actually a skill of some delicacy. It's not always our first impulse. But it's a skill that managers should focus on and hone until it becomes second nature."

When you don't manage up, you inadvertently contribute to what Studer calls the "We/They Culture." As in: I fought hard to get you that raise, but Administration said we just don't have the budget for it. See? We = manager and employees. They = Administration. Perhaps you've said something similar, "managing down," not deliberately but subconsciously.

This is just one example of what happens when you manage down by default. But it serves to illustrate why you must make a conscious effort to manage up whenever possible. Studer says there are three major ways to do so:

Manage up your boss.
Managing up your boss positions the organization well, aligns desired behaviors, helps senior leaders be more visible, and creates an opportunity for praise. "Don't think your boss is getting overwhelmed with praise," says Studer. "Bosses hear what's wrong all the time. Very rarely do they hear what's right." Here are a few suggestions:

- Write your boss a thank you note. Be specific about what you appreciate, because it will align your boss's behavior to your own and help you control your own destiny. For example, if you say, "Debbie, I really appreciate the fact that you always make time for me because I find this to be so important," what do you think will happen the next time you see Debbie? She will make time for you.

-Give your boss information that helps him connect with staff in a sincere way. In Hardwiring Excellence, Studer gives an example of a staff member telling him about another employee whose sister-in-law had died. This gave him the opportunity to offer the bereaved employee his condolences. "Otherwise, I might never have heard about it," he writes. "Then one day, someone might ask the employee, 'How do you feel about Quint?' And that person might say, 'Oh, he's a machine. He has no feelings!'"

Manage up your staff.
Managing up employees is more than "a nice thing to do." It's a practical tool for reinforcing specific behaviors. "Recognized behavior gets repeated," Studer points out. "When all managers start managing up their direct reports on a regular basis, pretty soon you have a whole company full of people making it a point to replicate the behavior that got them recognized. The impact of that can be enormous." Here's how:

- Single out high performers for public praise. Corner your exemplary employee when he's with a group of his peers to say thank you. Be specific, not general. Don't just say, "Bob, you're doing a great job." Say, "Bob, you did a great job on that marketing report. Thanks for staying at the office so late last night to finish it up." "Yes, this reinforces Bob's thoroughness and work ethic, but it also lets other employees in the vicinity know what kinds of behaviors get praised," says Studer.

- Ask your boss to recognize the high performer. You might send an e-mail to the CEO that says, "Bob Smith did an outstanding job on the marketing report. He knew we were in a crunch, so he stayed until 11:00 p.m. to finish it. If you don't mind, please drop him a note to say thanks . . . it would mean a lot coming from you." (Note that you're managing up Bob and the CEO, simultaneously!)

Manage up your organization.
"People need to feel good about the company they work for," says Studer. "No one can achieve excellence—which means having a sense of purpose, doing worthwhile work, and making a difference—if they're in an environment where people denigrate the company or its products. Look for every possible opportunity to manage up your organization." Here's how:

- Never down talk other departments. This is another manifestation of We/They syndrome. If you're in marketing, don't make disparaging remarks, even jokingly, about those short-sighted "bean counters" in accounting. Remember, you must seek to create alignment, not division. A company divided against itself cannot stand.

- Promote your brand to customers, family, and friends. In Studer's health care work, managing up hospitals to patients is a big issue. It makes sense. Saying, "We have an excellent radiology department," or "Dr. Jones is the best cardiologist in the industry," goes a long way toward reassuring jittery patients. But Studer insists that the same principle applies to any industry. And walk the walk; don't just talk the talk, he adds. "If you make Fords for a living, you don't drive a Chevrolet," he says. "It sends an unfavorable message."

"There are plenty of opportunities to manage up," Studer concludes. "Do it when things are going well, when you have good news to share, or when you need direction on how to achieve specific goals. When you look for ways to focus on the positive, you will find them. And they will ripple outward, creating more opportunities. Ultimately, you'll find that managing up makes you a better leader, your employees better employees, and your organization a better organization. It's a win for everybody."

About the Author:
Quint Studer not only teaches it, he has done it. After leading organizations to breakthrough results, Quint formed Studer Group®, an outcomes firm that implements evidence-based leadership systems that help clients attain and sustain outstanding results. He was named one of the "Top 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare" by Modern Healthcare magazine for his work on institutional healthcare improvement. Studer was named "Master of Business" by Inc. magazine. He is the author of BusinessWeek bestseller Hardwiring Excellence: Purpose, Worthwhile Work, Making a Difference; 101 Answers to Questions Leaders Ask; Straight A Leadership: Alignment, Action, Accountability and Wall Street Journal bestseller Results That Last: Hardwiring Behaviors That Will Take Your Company to the Top. For more information, visit studergroup.com.

About the Book:
Straight A Leadership: Alignment, Action, Accountability (Fire Starter Publishing, 2009, ISBN: 0-9840794-1-6, $18.00) is available at bookstores nationwide, major online booksellers, or directly from the publisher by calling (866) 354-3473. Copies also can be purchased online through the Studer Group website at www.studergroup.com.

http://www.gawkwire.com/reviews/the_art_and_business_of_managing_up.html

SKGold Hosting’s Datacenter Goes Green

2009-12-03T09:40:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Environmental considerations are helping to drive business decisions at SkGold Hosting’s datacenter. In a move intended to conserve energy and protect the environment, the company is pleased to announce that its datacenter has implemented new, “green” practices and procedures.

The datacenter for SkGold Hosting is addressing the energy concerns associated with greenhouse gases and global warming from more than one perspective. First, it has committed to using renewable energy sources for both its power and its cooling processes. Since it requires as much energy, if not more, to cool the servers as it does to bring power to them, this represents a significant commitment to renewable resources.

SkGold HostingIn addition, the SkGold Hosting’s datacenter invests in renewable energy credits (RECs) through 3Degrees, a globally recognized carbon offset provider. Those credits are used to put wind-generated electricity into the system; when the datacenter uses electricity, it extracts power equal to its credit for clean and renewable energy.

According to Sergey Krongold, founder of SkGold Hosting, taking the datacenter green pays off in two different ways. “First, SkGold Hosting’s datacenter is helping to reduce the negative impact on the environment of generating power with non-renewable resources like coal and oil. In addition, energy efficient practices at datacenter help to keep operating costs in check, and the company is able to pass some of those savings on to our customers.”

Datacenters around the globe use a tremendous amount of energy to cool their servers and provide power for their equipment. Estimates suggest that, as a group, their annual consumption is as much as 4 percent of the world’s total. While that may not sound significant, it’s actually more than most countries use in a year.

SkGold Hosting is very pleased to be part of a forward-looking environmental movement that is working to reduce reliance on the fossil fuels that produce greenhouse gases. For more information on this topic or to learn more about SkGold Hosting, visit the company’s website at http://www.skgoldhosting.com.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/skgold_hosting_s_datacenter_goes_green.html

CMDS Receives Award For Website Design And Development Excellence

2009-12-03T09:37:00-05:00

Middletown, NJ (Gawkwire.com) Web design company CMDS has been awarded a 2009 "Outstanding Achievement" Interactive Media AwardTM in the Building/Construction category for its creation and marketing of the johnnyonthespot.com website.

Created by the Interactive Media Council, a non-profit organization dedicated to elevating the standards of online marketing excellence, the award recognizes best-in-class website development worldwide. Judges include representatives from top global marketing companies, including American Express, Microsoft, and Time Warner, as well as leading advertising and PR agencies such as McCann Erickson Worldwide, Hill & Knowlton, and OgilvyOne Worldwide.

Nominations for the annual IMAs are accepted from around the world. The judging process uses a proprietary scoring system to evaluate submissions across five areas:

Design
Content
Feature Functionality
Usability
Standards Compliance and Cross-Browser Compatibility

"Given the collective experience of IMA's panel of judges -- a group that is highly respected across all areas of marketing -- this award is a tremendous compliment and validation of our efforts at CMDS," says Christopher J. Mulvaney, the agency's founder and creative director. "Our approach has always focused on usability and functionality as the true drivers of return on investment, so we're pleased to have scored so highly in those key areas, as well as for our best practices in design and compatibility that enhance the user experience."

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_design/cmds_receives_award_for_website_design_and_development_excellenc.html

Interxion Announces Gold Sponsorship of Datacenter Transformation Summit

2009-12-03T09:36:00-05:00

AMSTERDAM, (Gawkwire.com) Interxion, a leading European operator of carrier-neutral data centres, today announced its Gold Sponsorship of the Datacenter Transformation Summit Silicon Valley 2009 (www.dtsummit.com/na/west/2009/), organised by Tier1 Research and The 451 Group. The event will take place at the Santa Carla Marriott Hotel, Santa Clara, California on the 8th December 2009.

The Tier1 Datacenter Transformation Summit offers substantive analysis and insight from thought-leading analysts and key players within the marketplace. In addition, the event offers significant networking opportunities, enabling attendees to learn from their peers. The world's largest retail and wholesale colocation companies, along with some of the most specialised boutiques, will be in attendance and will offer presentations that address the needs of IT executives seeking information on best practices.

As part of the company’s support for the event, Phil Collerton, Executive Vice President of Engineering and Operations, Interxion, will be participating in the ‘Changing Data Centre Architectures’ panel, looking at new ways of building data centres, including everything from traditional designs to modularisation and containers.

“The Datacenter Transformation Summit Silicon Valley 2009 is a great opportunity for analysts and industry players to discuss the latest trends and technologies seen in the market,” said Anthony Foy, Group Managing Director Interxion. “We look forward to sharing our expertise in data centre design, management and service provision to contribute to best practice in the sector.”

http://www.gawkwire.com/events_html/interxion_announces_gold_sponsorship_of_datacenter_transformatio.html

IPHost Network Monitor Offers Discounts up to 25% on Monitoring Software

2009-12-03T09:34:00-05:00

Novosibirsk, Russia (Gawkwire.com) IPHostMonitor Inc, announced today a discount program that brings the opportunity to purchase the IPHost Network Monitor software with the discount of up to 25% from the list price. This offer, which will be available for three weeks from December 3rd till December 24th, substantially reduces the acquisition cost for IPHost Network Monitor, popular network, server and application monitoring software specifically designed for small- and medium-sized businesses with up to several hundred monitored devices and systems. To request your discount please contact us using contact form at IPHost Network Monitor support page or contact Alexander Grasmick at xmas2010 (at) iphostmonitor.com

IPHost Network Monitor is a reliable and feature-reach monitoring tool. Each monitor gives you timely information on monitored resource performance and availability. With adequate support of industry standard network and server monitoring and management technologies: SNMP monitoring (SNMP v1/v2c/v3, MIB browser is included) and WMI monitoring, IPHost Network Monitor provides you with ability to monitor both Windows and Unix/Linux servers, various networks and network equipment.

IPHost Network Monitor includes Internet monitor that supports HTTPS, POST requests, connection via proxy, several authentication methods (including NTLM) and response validation, whereas some of the high-priced tools do not even support HTTPS, not to mention authentication. Soon we will introduce advanced Internet monitor (web transaction monitor) for end-to-end web application monitoring that allows to record and replay user interaction with web application, for instance, typical session of an online shop visitor. This monitor helps companies that use web applications in their day-to-day activity or even as a base of their business to be aware when a problem with a web application performance or availability arise.

IPHost Network Monitor has native support for monitoring Oracle, MySQL and MS SQL Server databases in addition to monitoring databases using ODBC. In total, IPHost Network Monitor includes some 20 monitor types, among them: mail monitors (SMTP, IMAP, POP3), TCP, UDP, FTP, file size and availability, disc space, service availability monitors. If your environment requires some specific monitoring you can create a custom monitor (script or program) or we can create monitor for your requirements. You can also use Nagios (popular open source network monitoring system) plug-ins in our monitoring tool, currently there are about 1500 plug-ins available, so you can be sure that IPHost Network Monitor can cover the vast majority of your company needs related to network and server monitoring and management.

Some other IPHost Network Monitor capabilities highlight:

• A developed alerting system with e-mail, SMS and instant messengers' (Jabberm, ICQ, AOL) notifications. In order to reduce downtime support for automation of recovery actions can be implemented.

• Quick discovery of IP-based network services on devices in your network and automatic start of monitoring with thoroughly devised settings for each monitor. It helps you to start monitoring in a few minutes and to complete monitoring configuration in a matter of hours not days thus saving administrator time.

• Two usable user interfaces: a Windows interface for managing monitoring configuration and review of basic reports and graphs, and a Web interface that shows various reports and graphs for in-depth analysis of the monitoring results. With just one quick look, the administrator or business owner can get an overview of the status of systems and applications in their network from any web-enabled device. The tree views that group monitors (by host, by monitor type, by current monitor state, favorite monitors) make it easy to locate a problem or navigate through reports.
• Our software automatically creates daily backup of monitoring database so if the file is corrupted our software do automatic restore.

Pricing and Availability

IPHost Network Monitor is designed for Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7 and Server 2003/2008. The 30-day trial version with the full set of features limited to 20 monitors can be downloaded at http://www.iphostmonitor.com/iphostmonitor.exe. The program prices start at USD $99 for license allowing 50 monitors and limited set of features, Professional edition with full set of features and unlimited number of monitors is priced at USD $649. Each license includes Maintenance&Support contract for one year for free.

http://www.gawkwire.com/promotions/iphost_network_monitor_offers_discounts_up_to_25_on_monitoring_s.html

1&1 Internet's Kansas Data Center Recognized as Leading Green Power Purchaser

2009-12-02T13:00:00-05:00

PHILADELPHIA, PA (Gawkwire.com) 1&1 Internet, Inc., the world’s largest Web host by known servers, today announced that its Lenexa, Kansas Data Center has been recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a Green Power Partner for its annual purchase of 17.5 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power (electricity that is generated from environmentally preferable renewable resources, like wind, solar, hydroelectric and geothermal). This is equivalent to 100 percent of the purchased electricity use for the Kansas Data Center.

1&1 Internet’s new partnership with the EPA is the company’s next step in its efforts to protect the environment. In 2008, 1&1 first purchased certified Green-e renewable energy certificates (RECs) from the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, a leading national supplier of green power products, as an initiative to lessen the company’s impact on the earth’s climate. The EPA calculates that 1&1’s new green power purchase for their Kansas Data Center will equal the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of more than 2,000 passenger vehicles per year.

“This is a huge honor and we are proud to be recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,” said Oliver Mauss, the CEO of 1&1 Internet. “1&1’s continued purchase of green power helps our organization become more sustainable, while also sending a message to others companies across the U.S. that supporting clean sources of electricity is an important choice in reducing climate risk.”

Globally, 1&1’s five data centers are among the most energy efficient data centers in existence. In addition to purchasing RECs for the Lenexa, Kansas Data Center, 1&1 continues its green efforts by using highly efficient power supplies with less than 20 percent heat loss as well as omitting any unnecessary components within its servers.

"EPA commends our leading partners for their continued commitment to protecting the environment by using green power," said Kathleen Hogan, Director of the Climate Protection Partnerships Division at EPA. ”By supporting green power, 1&1 Internet's Kansas Data Center is reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, supporting clean energy technologies, and contributing to a clean energy future."

The Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program organizations can participate in to help raise awareness about green power. Generating power in these ways creates a net zero increase in CO2 emissions. Purchasing green power also boosts the support for developing new ways to generate renewable energy nationwide.

1&1 is the one-stop-shop for Web solutions, providing a high quality service with the security of its five state-of-the-art green data centers. Globally, 1&1’s green efforts will offset emissions of over 30,000 tons of CO2 per year.

For more information on 1&1 Internet, visit the website at www.1and1.com.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/1_1_internet_s_kansas_data_center_recognized_as_leading_green_po.html

Thunderbird Connector for Open-Xchange Now Available

2009-12-02T13:00:00-05:00

NUREMBERG, Germany (Gawkwire.com) Open-Xchange, the leading provider of business-class open source collaboration software, announced today the availability of a free connector for Mozilla Thunderbird, the cross-platform e-mail and news client developed by the Mozilla Foundation.

The "Community OXtender for Thunderbird“ software connector gives users full access to appointments and contacts stored in the Open-Xchange Server and enables them to use Thunderbird as a rich PIM (Personal Information Management) client to access data online and offline. The software packages and documentation are available at www.open-xchange.com/oxpedia#ThunderbirdOXtender.

“Mozilla Thunderbird and Open-Xchange are a great open source alternative to Microsoft Outlook and Exchange,” said Rafael Laguna, CEO of Open-Xchange. ”The availability of this OXtender lowers costs and will be attractive to educational institutions, public administrations, as well as businesses.”

The "Community OXtender for Thunderbird" is developed and maintained by Open-Xchange Business Partner Fusionworkx. For more information, visit the official "Community OXtender for Thunderbird" project page, www.thunderbird-oxtender.com.

The Thunderbird client software helps individuals manage their online interactions -- whether e-mail, instant messaging, social networking messages, or other types of messages.

The Open-Xchange groupware resides on the server and provides e-mail, calendar, contact, document and task management in an integrated application. Open-Xchange makes communication easier and teamwork more efficient. http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/thunderbird_connector_for_open-xchange_now_available.html

WorkLight Appoints Kurt Daniel (formerly at Parallels) as Chief Operating Officer

2009-12-02T13:00:00-05:00

NEW YORK, NY (Gawkwire.com) WorkLight, the leader in secure Web 2.0 widgets for business, announced today that Kurt Daniel, formerly with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and most recently Parallels, has joined the company as Chief Operating Officer. A growth-oriented industry veteran, Mr. Daniel will manage all business operations for WorkLight in North America including sales, business development, marketing and operations.

“I am pleased to welcome Kurt to the WorkLight executive team, as we continue to expand our operations worldwide,” said Shahar Kaminitz, CEO of WorkLight. “In his newly created role, Kurt will be instrumental in defining and driving our business strategy and operations. I have great confidence in Kurt as a seasoned business executive, creative thinker and strong leader.”

Mr. Daniel joins WorkLight from Parallels, a fast-growing virtualization and automation software company, where he was a Senior Vice President in charge of the Online Business Unit as well as worldwide marketing, business development and corporate development. Over several years, he played a critical role in leading the company to 1.5 million customers and clear market leadership positions in server control panels, desktop virtualization and operating system containers.

Previously, Mr. Daniel spent several years at Microsoft, the world’s largest software company. There he led strategy, product management and business management teams for the highly profitable SQL Server Business Unit as it quickly crossed the $1 billion milestone.

“I am excited to join WorkLight at this stage in the company’s evolution and to build from its strong product foundation and customer momentum,” said Mr. Daniel. “WorkLight has a significant opportunity in Web 2.0-based lightweight applications for web, desktop and mobile, and I look forward to working with Shahar and the rest of the team to accelerate our market position.” http://www.gawkwire.com/business/worklight_appoints_kurt_daniel_formerly_at_parallels_as_chief_op.html

AOL's Top Searches for 2009

2009-12-02T06:28:00-05:00

AOL’s top searched celebrities for 2009
1. michael jackson
2. robert pattinson
3. rihanna
4. farrah fawcett
5. kim kardashian
6. megan fox
7. jon and kate
8. miley cyrus
9. patrick swayze
10. natasha richardson

AOL’s top searched news stories for 2009
1. barack obama
2. cash for clunkers
3. madoff scheme
4. octomom
5. jasmine fiore
6. health care reform
7. sonia sotomayor
8. craigslist killer
9. chimp attack
10.balloon boy

AOL’s top searched movies for 2009
1. twilight
2. star trek
3. terminator salvation
4. transformers 2
5. harry potter
6. 2012
7. slumdog millionaire
8. watchmen
9. gi joe
10.taken

AOL’s top searched for sporting events in 2009
1.march madness
2. super bowl
3. us open
4. tour de france
5. kentucky derby
6. wimbledon
7. british open
8. masters tournament
9. french open
10.world series

AOL’s top searched mobile devices for 2009
1.iphone
2. ipod touch
3. psp
4. palm pre
5. zune
6. blackberry storm
7. garmin nuvi
8. blackberry curve
9. sidekick
10.amazon kindle

AOL’s top searched for coupons in 2009
1.dtv coupons
2. bed bath and beyond coupons
3. macy's coupons
4. kohl's coupons
5. best buy coupons
6. home depot coupons
7. target coupons
8. pizza hut coupons
9. lowes coupons
10.kfc coupons

AOL’s top searched “What Is… “ is 2009
1. what is twitter
2. what is my house worth
3. what is my ip address
4. what is a short sale
5. what is gout
6. what is love
7. what is a good credit score
8. what is swine flu
9. what is skype
10. what is lupus

AOL’s top searched television shows for 2009
1. american idol
2. dancing with the stars
3. lost
4. the biggest loser
5. big brother
6. the bachelor
7. jon and kate plus 8
8. survivor
9. ncis
10. true blood

AOL’s top 10 most searched for vacation destinations for 2009
1. disney vacations
2. las vegas vacations
3. florida vacations
4. hawaii vacations
5. mexico vacations
6. myrtle beach vacations
7. costa rica vacations
8. italy vacations
9. colorado vacations
10. grand canyon vacations

AOL’s 10 searched for health conditions in 2009
1. swine flu
2. lupus
3. diabetes
4. pregnancy
5. depression
6. herpes
7. fibromyalgia
8. autism
9. hpv
10. breast cancer

AOL’s top searched Car Brands for 2009
1.toyota
2. ford
3. honda
4. nissan
5. bmw
6. chrysler
7. lexus
8. hyundai
9. audi
10.jeep

http://www.gawkwire.com/seo_sem/aol_s_top_searches_for_2009.html

SoftLayer™ Continues Data Center Expansion

2009-12-02T06:27:00-05:00

DALLAS, TX (Gawkwire.com) SoftLayer Technologies™, the innovative on-demand data center services provider, today announced the opening of three new data center pods in the company’s Dallas, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., data center facilities. The new pods add capacity for 20,000 additional servers, bringing SoftLayer’s total capacity to more than 45,000 physical machines.

“We continue gaining momentum every year. We broke more projections and records this year than last, and 2010 will bring even more of the same,” said Lance Crosby, CEO of SoftLayer. “These three new pods meet the customer demand increases that we expect in the very near future. And they are only preliminary measures in our growth strategy for 2010. We have some big plans which we can’t wait to share with everyone.”

“We’re extremely excited to introduce Private Cloud services to our customers. Private Cloud gives Softlayer customers yet another dynamic, scalable infrastructure option,” said Nathan Day, CTO, SoftLayer. “This will provide a service with segregated physical computing hardware giving customers security and peace of mind with the benefits of unlimited, on-demand scalability.”

SoftLayer’s milestones in 2009 included:

•More than 5,700 active customers across 110+ countries
•More than 23,000 deployed servers
•Placement in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Web Hosting and Cloud Infrastructure Services
•Introduction of CloudLayer™ line of cloud services, including CloudLayer Storage, CloudLayer CDN, CloudLayer Computing, and Bare Metal Cloud™
•Industry’s first deployment of Intel® Nehalem microarchitecture
•IPv6 support across all data centers
•Multiple carrier additions across all data centers for a total of 290Gbps
The new pods are part of SoftLayer’s unique approach to data center design. Each of the company’s geographically diverse data centers consists of multiple pods built to identical specifications with the same bestin- class methodologies. This level of standardization across all its geographic locations enables SoftLayer to optimize key data center performance variables, including space, power, network, personnel, and internal infrastructure.

About SoftLayer Technologies
Headquartered in Plano, Texas, SoftLayer provides best-in-class, on-demand IT services on a global basis from facilities in Dallas, Seattle, and Washington, DC. SoftLayer integrates and automates all IT elements to innovate industry-leading services—including cloud, dedicated, and virtual computing environments—all managed through a single interface. Enterprises of all sizes benefit from gaining complete control, security, scalability, and ease-of-management for their IT solution. For more information, please visit www.softlayer.com or call 866.398.7638.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/softlayer_continues_data_center_expansion.html

Dasient Web Anti-Malware Services Move Out of Beta

2009-12-02T06:26:00-05:00

PALO ALTO, CA (Gawkwire.com) Leading web anti-malware provider Dasient today announced that the monitoring and diagnostic components of its Web Anti-Malware (WAM) service have graduated out of beta. The Dasient WAM services have successfully helped tens of thousands of site owners address their web-based malware issues to date, and are now generally available at http://www.dasient.com.

"Prior to using Dasient, we had repeated issues with malware infections on our website," said Heiko Mitzkus, president of Enlighten Living, a retailer specializing in home lighting and ceiling fans. "And by the time we realized we were infected, search engines and browsers had already blacklisted us, causing an 80% drop in traffic and sales. Dasient WAM is a great preventative tool to have, giving us advance warning that our site is hosting malicious content before we're flagged by a blacklist."

With the graduation of these services into general availability, a number of new features have been introduced. These include richer reporting tools that will provide customers with data on the number of URLs scanned each week, lists of all URLs scanned and attacks being checked for, and the latest web-based malware attacks Dasient has detected. They also include new account management features that will enable customers using Dasient WAM to protect multiple domains to manage all those domains using a single login.

Other new updates include significant upgrades to the overall speed and reliability of the Dasient WAM scanning technology, as well as the ability to scan customer sites for links to dangerous downloads that might be placed in user-generated content or in syndicated ads on those sites.

"In the last six months, we've continued to build out the scalability, reliability, and speed of our Dasient WAM malware detection platform and have proved its readiness with tens of thousands of beta customers," said Dr. Neil Daswani, one of Dasient's three co-founders. "We're excited to now be able to bring Dasient WAM to even more businesses on the web, to help them protect their sites from the serious threat of web-based malware."

Services like Dasient WAM are becoming increasingly important to companies of all types and sizes, as attackers are focusing more than ever on compromising legitimate websites and using them to distribute malware. In the second half of this year alone, Dasient has identified more than 98,000 unique web-based malware infections, which in turn have impacted hundreds of thousands of sites and millions of pages. The speed, scale, and complexity of these attacks makes it extremely difficult for site owners to identify and fix the resulting infections, and as a result, more and more legitimate sites are feeling the effects of web-based malware infection, which can include loss of traffic, decline in revenue, and damage to brand equity.

About Dasient
Dasient is an Internet security company that protects businesses from web-based malware attacks. It is the first to develop a complete web anti-malware service that can monitor, automatically identify, and quarantine malware on websites before it can infect visitors and cause a loss of traffic, reputation, and revenue. Dasient was founded by former Google engineers Neil Daswani and Shariq Rizvi and former McKinsey strategy consultant Ameet Ranadive. They are backed by a group of seed investors who also invested in VeriSign, Citrix, Twitter, Digg, Tumbleweed, Finjan, and more. More information about Dasient can be found at www.dasient.com and www.twitter.com/dasient.

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/dasient_web_anti-malware_services_move_out_of_beta.html

HostV Introduces ‘Server Snapshot’ powered by R1Soft

2009-12-02T06:24:00-05:00

NEW YORK, NY (Gawkwire.com) HostV, a leader in managed Virtual Private Servers and Dedicated servers, today introduced its exclusive Server Snapshot enterprise data backup solution, powered by R1Soft’s Continuous Data Protection technology. HostV will provide the solution to all new and existing customers at no additional charge.

Server Snapshot automatically backs up each hosting account (including databases and files in the account’s root directory) once daily. The backups are then compressed, encrypted and stored securely in physically separate backup storage servers. Clients can simply contact HostV’s support department to request data from a backup to be restored in case of data loss or emergencies.

“Although we have always provided our customers with integrated data backup, today’s introduction of Server Snapshot, powered by R1Soft, represents a major step forward in providing a more advanced, capable, and versatile solution. We have made a significant financial investment in acquiring and implementing this technology, and believe it will add significant value to our line of hosting services,” said John Xie, president of Cirtex Corp., HostV parent company.

Before Thanksgiving, HostV doubled both disk space and backup space for without raising prices. Server Snapshot will provide data backup for the entire disk space allotment for each customer. Each Virtual Private Server (VPS) from HostV also includes RAID-10-based data backup, which physically mirrors data stored within the same server. Server Snapshot provides an additional layer of protection.

VPS Hosting from HostV starts at $39.99/monthly for 50GB of disk space and 1000GB of top-tier data transfer. All accounts include full support for video hosting, data backups, and HostV’s premium customer support.

Starting at just $149.99 per month for 300GB of RAID-10 protected disk space and 5000GB of monthly data transfer, HostV’s Hybrid Servers include 24/7 premium technical support and access to data backup space that offers a full mirror of each plan’s disk space allotment. All Hybrid Servers are based on Linux and offer pre-installed server management software, including Parallels Virtuozzo Power Panel, cPanel and Fantastico. Clients also receive SSH root access to their servers.

To learn more about VPS Hosting from HostV, please visit http://www.hostv.com/vps-hosting.shtml.

To learn more about HostV, please visit http://www.hostv.com.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/2867.html

JaguarPC Web Host Celebrates Eleventh Anniversary with a Trio of Promotions

2009-12-02T06:23:00-05:00

HOUSTON, TX (Gawkwire.com) JaguarPC, an industry-leading provider of end-to-end web hosting services, today announced three new promotions in honor of their eleventh anniversary. The promotions include their VPS plans, shared plans and new dedicated server plans.

1. Pay a total of only $11 for three months of shared web hosting, which includes:

-FREE endless diskspace
-FREE SSL and Sitebuilder
-500 GB bandwidth
-2500+ Jag Reward Points
-Unlimited multi-hosted domains, sub-domains, MySQL databases, FTP accounts and email accounts

2. 11% off any new dedicated server plans, which all include:

-Full root access
-JaguarPC exclusive client dashboard
-100% Network Uptime SLA
-FREE initial software installation: (Apache, ProFTP, OpenSSH, OpenSSL, Bind, PHP, Perl, GnuPG, Qmail, Qpopper, Exim)
-FREE initial server hardening and security
-FREE moving assistance and data transfer for moves
-FREE Enom reseller account
-FREE 2000GB Bandwidth, Data Transfer
-FREE 5 IP Addresses
-FREE Remote Reboot
-FREE Software RAID optional
-Choice of OS: CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora Core, Suse,FreeBSD, Windows

3. 30% discount for life on VPS plans with one full month free and 50% more free resources:

Original VPS Two Plan:
-Regular price $34.97/month
-384 MB of RAM
-25 GB disk space
-400 GB bandwidth

Special VPS Two Plan:
-$24.47 for life special pricing
-576 MB of RAM
-37 GB RAID 10 disk space
-600 GB bandwidth

JaguarPC has been leading the way with innovative features and developments in the hosting industry for over a decade. The company’s commitment to customer service and communicating with their base has helped them build a massive online loyal following.

“Since Day One, our philosophy has been to continually find ways to serve our customers better,” says Greg Landis, President of JaguarPC. “These new promotions are a great way to find the perfect hosting plan for any type of business, even during these economically challenging times. After eleven years of growth, we are committed to further innovation and remaining on the cutting edge of hosting technology.”

Visit www.jaguarpc.com to learn about all the Eleventh Anniversary promotions. http://www.gawkwire.com/promotions/jaguarpc_web_host_celebrates_eleventh_anniversary_with_a_trio_of.html

AfterLogic Announces New cPanel Integrated WebMail for Hosting Providers

2009-12-02T06:20:00-05:00

NEWARK, DE (Gawkwire.com) AfterLogic today released the beta of its long-awaited, cPanel/WHM-integrated version of AfterLogic WebMail Pro, providing Web hosts with the opportunity to offer a modern webmail solution for their clients and solve a common source of customer complaints.

Unlike the bare-bones webmail clients that are included in the default cPanel/WHM installation, WebMail Pro offers an interactive, multi-domain user interface that emulates standalone mail clients and supports virtually all Web browsers. WebMail Pro includes a robust contacts/address book manager and full calendar/scheduling (private, public, and shared calendars) functionality.

Other features of WebMail Pro include folders and sub-folders; full IMAP support; many skins and interface languages; a robust rich-text (WYSIWYG) editor; support for multiple mail accounts per user; domain-level branding and defaults; PDA version for mobile devices; a Web-based administration panel, and a Developer's API. A live demo is available at:
http://www.afterlogic.com/webmail-pro/.

“cPanel is one of the Web hosting industry’s most widely used control panel systems, but for years, users have complained about limited webmail functionality – the open source solutions installed by default have simply not caught up with the times. Web hosting customers have in the past been driven to using standalone mail clients like Outlook or even rely on outside mail hosting services, like Gmail, to provide a reliable Web-based mail interface. That’s self-defeating,” said Vlad Klimenko, Hosting Provider Program Manager at AfterLogic.

“With these concerns in mind, we’ve decided to build on the success WebMail Pro has been enjoying in the corporate market over the years, and deliver a version just for Web hosting providers. cPanel integration is just the first step, and we plan to build a significant community of Web host providers. Our WebMail application is absolutely loaded with features, and we made it extremely affordable by rolling out special licensing and pricing for ISPs and hosting companies,” he said.

As part of the beta release, AfterLogic is seeking a limited number of beta testers to utilize the application in a live cPanel-controlled hosting environment. Each beta tester will receive significant discounts on the product license valid through the end of 2010.

The standard annual fee for 1 shared server installed instance is $500.00. The Contributing Partner Host ISP License for 1 shared server installed instance is discounted to $275.00/year. However, by applying for the cPanel beta testing program, several qualified Web hosting firms may get the same license for just $100.00, and the license would not expire until January 1, 2011. To apply, the interested Web host providers should simply fill out the contact form at:

http://www.afterlogic.com/contact.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/afterlogic_announces_new_cpanel_integrated_webmail_for_hosting_p.html

SES Chicago to Offer “Small Business Track”

2009-12-01T06:33:00-05:00

Chicago, IL (Gawkwire.com) Attendees from small businesses will have something to Tweet about this December at SES Chicago 2009. On December 8, SES Chicago will be featuring a “Small Business Track” consisting of three panelist sessions and one sponsored session from Google, Inc.

Stoney deGeyter, Pole Position MarketingThis track will cater to small businesses looking to increase their marketing ROI through Social Media, SEO or SEM campaigns. The sessions, Small Voices, Big Impact: Social Media for the Little Guy, Search on a Dime, and Turning Simple Change Into Big Profit are all taught by well known leaders and experts in the search industry. Attendees to any or all of the sessions on this track will find that the techniques they learn on this track will translate into a potentially huge opportunity for marketers.

“Small businesses are the heart and soul of the SES conferences, and the Small Business Track is one of the most important series of panels at SES Chicago,” said Matt McGowan, Vice President and Publisher for Incisive Media's Interactive Marketing Group. “Attending SES Chicago could tremendously help out small businesses in terms of online visibility, site traffic, and business profitability. Effective application of the skills discussed in our Small Business Track could increase the relevancy of small businesses many times over. The sky is truly the limit!”

The Sessions
All sessions in the Small Business Track take place on Tuesday, December 8.

Small Voices, Big Impact: Social Media for the Little Guy (10:30am-11:45am), led by Stoney deGeyter of Pole Position Marketing, will cover how a small business with a small budget can use social media to conduct market research, organize focus groups, and build a consumer base without spending a dime.

Search on a Dime (1:00pm-2:15pm), led by Jennifer Evans Laycock of SiteLogic, will go over the tips and tricks on how a small business can maximize its exposure through organic search, paid search and local search without overspending its budget.

Turning Simple Change Into Big Profit (4:15pm-5:30pm), also led by Jennifer Evans Laycock, will review a number of simple changes to either organic search or paid search campaigns that can dramatically increase both traffic and conversions. This panel will also share free tips and tools on cheap and easy campaign testing.

http://www.gawkwire.com/events_html/ses_chicago_to_offer_small_business_track.html

Nintendo Sells More Than 1.5 Million Hardware Units During Thanksgiving Week

2009-12-01T06:31:00-05:00

REDMOND, WA (Gawkwire.com) Nintendo’s internal tracking numbers show that the company sold more than 1.5 million Wii™, Nintendo DS™ and Nintendo DSi™ video game systems combined in the United States during Thanksgiving Week. That works out to more than 150 Nintendo systems sold every minute continuously for the week – or more than 2.5 every second.

Nintendo estimates that during the week:

•more than 550,000 Wii home consoles sold, demonstrating that consumers nationwide have responded to the new suggested retail price of $199.99.
•more than 1 million Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi portable systems sold. This number surpasses the all-time hand-held hardware sales record set by Game Boy™ Advance during Thanksgiving Week 2002.
“Holiday shoppers are finding value in our products’ prices, and through a game-play experience that is unique to Nintendo,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing.

Note that the internal Nintendo of America numbers referenced in this release represent sales from Sunday, Nov. 22, through Saturday, Nov. 28.

For more information about Nintendo games and systems, visit www.nintendo.com.

http://www.gawkwire.com/business/nintendo_sells_more_than_1_5_million_hardware_units_during_thank.html

HostingCon Welcomes 2010 Platinum Sponsor, VeriSign

2009-12-01T06:30:00-05:00

(HostingCon) “We are very excited to have VeriSign return to HostingCon in 2010 with an even greater presence than is years past,” says Kelly Kleiner, VP Sales at iNET Interactive. HostingCon’s newest Platinum Sponsor is also supporting a brand new event at the show – a Happy Hour in the Exhibit Hall on Tuesday afternoon, July 20, 2010. For the last 2 hours of the show that day, drinks will be served throughout the show floor as attendees mingle with exhibitors and learn about their newest products and services. VeriSign will be offering complimentary drink tickets from their booth.

VeriSign is the Internet Trust company. The company provides technologies and services that enable customer confidence across one of the largest, most reliable and secure networks in the world. Its Secured Seal is recognized by 91% of Internet users, and its stewardship of the .com/.net network gives it unsurpassed expertise in providing cloud based services. VeriSign has a superior track record of protecting sensitive information and making it easy to identify Web sites that are secure and authentic. VeriSign’s services can provide increased traffic, conversion and loyalty for our customers. And for consumers, VeriSign makes it easy to know a Web site is secure and authentic.

If you are interested in becoming a Sponsor for HostingCon, please contact us now to learn more about the benefits to your business! You can also check out the exhibiting at HostingCon 2010 page to see all of the current exhibitor opportunities as well as past exhibitor testimonials.

To learn more about VeriSign, please visit: www.verisign.com

http://www.gawkwire.com/events_html/hostingcon_welcomes_2010_platinum_sponsor_verisign.html

Best Pay Per Click Companies Ranked by topseos.com for December 2009

2009-12-01T06:29:00-05:00

Plymouth, IN (Gawkwire.com) The independent authority in search, topseos.com, continues to highlight the Best Pay Per Click Companies, showcasing their skills to potential clients. topseos.com reviews hundreds of applicants and compiles a list of the best each month. Pay per click marketing is a growing industry, and topseos.com wants to make sure that the best firms are represented in this prestigious list of pay per click firms.

The Best US Pay Per Click Affiliate and its followers in competition for December include:

1.   JumpFly, Inc.
2.   Intrapromote PPC Agency
3.   SEOP
4.   WebiMax
5.   Increase Visibility Inc.
6.   WebMetro
7.   SEO Image Inc.
8.   Oneupweb
9.   ThinkBIGsites
10.   Customer Magnetism
11.   eVisibility, Inc.
12.   SEO Inc
13.   Web.com Search Agency
14.   SEO Moves
15.   Silver Scope Promotion
16. Bruce Clay Inc.
17.   Efficient Frontier Inc
18.   Location3 Media
19.   First In Search Inc.
20. Maximum Hit
21.   Reprise Media
22.   Enquiro Search Solutions Inc.
23.   Morpheus Media LLC
24.   Target Logics
25.   KeyRelevance
26.   Page Zero Media
27.   eVision LLC.
28.   SpiderSplat Consulting Inc.
29.   iMajestic Performance Based SEO
30.   Outrider

To be considered in this list, topseos.com put hundreds of applicants through a rigorous evaluation process that gauges three major factors which include their knowledge of pay-per-click, the return on investment and the drive for customer satisfaction. To get a firm understanding of each firm’s capabilities, topseos.com asked tough questions that include “ What would be 3 things you would change about your experience?”, “What type of a ROI were you anticipating, what was achieved and in what time frame?”, and “By what % have you increased your PPC budget and over what time?”

Learn more about the Top PPC Companies

PPC Companies interested in being listed with topseos.com should apply for ranking at http://www.topseos.com/rankings/search-engine-marketing-agencies/apply-for-ranking

http://www.gawkwire.com/seo_sem/best_pay_per_click_companies_ranked_by_topseos_com_for_december_.html

PhatWare Releases PenOffice 3.3 for Microsoft Windows 7 & Windows Server

2009-12-01T06:26:00-05:00

Mountain View, CA (Gawkwire.com) PhatWare Corporation announces the launch of the latest version of PenOffice, which works with Microsoft Windows® 7 and Microsoft Windows Server® 2008 R2 to offer customers enhanced security and innovative user interface features. PenOffice 3.3 is an advanced collaboration and handwriting recognition software for Microsoft Windows-based computers which can be used with any pointing input device, such as graphic tablet, interactive while board, touch screen monitor, Tablet PC, online digital pen, and even standard computer mouse.

"Our ISV community is alive with innovation, and we're committed to helping our partners drive the next generation of software experiences," said Ross Brown, Vice President of ISV and Solutions Partners for the Worldwide Partner Group at Microsoft. "Adding compatibility for the latest Microsoft operating systems helps ISVs to stay ahead of the competition and give their customers access to cutting-edge technologies."

"PhatWare is excited to launch this new version of PenOffice," said Stan Miasnikov, president of PhatWare Corp. "Making our application compatible with Microsoft Windows 7 and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 helps us offer our customers compelling benefits, including intuitive user interfaces such as pen-based collaboration, improved security and reliability features, full support for multi-core processing, and sophisticated configuration and management features to improve mobile working."

PenOffice has found wide acceptance worldwide among OEMs and end-users due to its highly accurate handwriting recognition, easy-to-use user interface, and extensive set of pen-based collaboration features. In addition to a wide range of pen-based collaboration features, the application recognizes handwriting in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish, and Spanish, and is designed for use with Windows-based Desktop, Portable, Tablet, and Ultra Mobile PCs. In addition to Microsoft Office markup feature, the new version of PenOffice now incorporates support for OpenOffice.org 3.0 or later documents. The software allows users to add handwritten notes and annotations to OpenOffice.org Writer, Calc, Impress, and Draw documents.

PenOffice Availability and Pricing
PenOffice 3.3 is available now at the list price of $59.95. A free 30-day trial version of PenOffice 3.3 can be downloaded from the PhatWare website at www.phatware.com/penoffice. It is a free upgrade to registered owners of PenOffice 3.x. All registered users of previous versions of PenOffice can purchase an upgrade at a discount. The upgrade policy can be found on the PhatWare website at www.phatware.com/penoffice.

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/phatware_releases_penoffice_3_3_for_microsoft_windows_7_windows_.html