Gawkwire: Web Hosting and Internet News Resource

DotNetPanel Announces Support for Exchange 2010

2010-02-28T17:33:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) DotNetPanel, a leading Windows hosting control panel developer, announced today its new Exchange 2010 module, designed exclusively for hosting companies and Internet service providers that want to offer Hosted Exchange 2010 services to customers, along with Hosted Exchange 2007 services, all in one control panel.

"The latest DotNetPanel Windows web hosting control panel release offers support for Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010, making it easier for customers to migrate from Exchange 2007 to Exchange 2010," said Feodor Fitsner, Director of DotNetPanel. "Web hosting companies and Internet service providers can run both Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010 simultaneously based on customer preferences."

With DotNetPanel's Exchange 2010 hosting control panel, customers can take advantage of Exchange Server 2010's reduced deployment cost, greater mobility and flexible access, decreased inbox overload, increased productivity, safeguards for sensitive information, and reduced risk of malware and spam. Additional Exchange 2010 features include simplified compliance, high availability, and disaster recovery.

"The new DotNetPanel Exchange 2010 module is ideal for web hosting companies and Internet service providers that want an easy-to-use Exchange Server hosting control panel for creating, selling, and reselling Exchange 2010 email services," said Fitsner. "Like our Exchange 2007 module, the Exchange 2010 module will help companies easily manage their Exchange Server 2010 email accounts across their entire line of Windows hosting servers."

DotNetPanel's latest version also includes support for BlackBerry Enterprise Server v5.0 for Microsoft Exchange SP1 and hMail Server version 5. BlackBerry Enterprise Server v5.0 provides additional support for DotNetPanel's BlackBerry module. hMail Server version 5, a free email server for Microsoft Windows, supports common email protocols including IMAP, SMTP and POP3. Plus it has flexible score-based spam protection and can scan all incoming and outgoing email for additional protection.

"Our DotNetPanel BlackBerry module has become extremely popular since its launch back in February 2009, so we make sure customers always have access to the latest BlackBerry Enterprise Server releases for optimum support," said Fitsner. "With the addition of the hMail Server module, web hosting companies and Internet service providers can offer free email services to customers who are not yet ready for Exchange 2010's powerful features, giving companies a greater advantage in the hosting marketplace."

The DotNetPanel team of Windows hosting control panel developers encourages visitors to view the online demo or download the free DotNetPanel web hosting control panel edition by visiting dotnetpanel.com.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/dotnetpanel_announces_support_for_exchange_2010.html

1&1 Raises 2 Million Dollars in Funds for Earthquake Victims in Haiti

2010-02-26T09:09:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) The ongoing suffering in Haiti following the devastating earthquake triggered a wave of generosity: In just 2 weeks, United Internet company 1&1 raised a donation of some $2 million with the help of thousands of its users.

Thanks to recent donations, UNICEF can now provide the people of Haiti with urgently needed relief supplies, distribute drinking water, prepare a vaccination campaign to curb the threat of diseases and bring supplementary food for malnourished children in the desperately poor Caribbean nation. The world's leading Webhost 1&1 Internet (www.1and1.com) had reached out to website owners to support the campaign of its foundation, “United Internet for UNICEF," and received an overwhelming response. Together with an additional grant from United Internet and the willingness of thousands of Internet users, a total of some $2 million was raised for UNICEF’s work in the disaster area to the relief efforts by today.

Despite the overwhelming donations of Internet users over the last few days, Oliver Mauss, CEO of 1&1 Internet, points out the need for further donations. "Following the two major earthquakes which have shaken Haiti, people will need our help for a long time to alleviate the horrific suffering and to tackle the reconstruction."

Now it is important to help vulnerable children who have lost their parents or were separated from them in the earthquake. “As UNICEF contacts reported from the disaster area, thousands of children in the earthquake zone have to go through this alone. They are facing malnutrition, disease and exploitation. We must find these children and provide for, protect and bring their families back together," says Oliver Mauss.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/1_1_raises_2_million_dollars_in_funds_for_earthquake_victims_in_.html

iNetGlobal's statement in Response to Government Raid

2010-02-26T06:17:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) iNetGlobal™ is a global Internet Service Company that provides essential services for its target market—entrepreneurs, home-based business, small businesses, and corporations—all those who need to market on the Internet.

In a statement released today by iNetGlobal’s legal team, the company makes the following announcement:

On Tuesday, February 23, 2010 - U.S. Federal Agents arrived with a warrant to search the Minneapolis offices of iNetGlobal looking for something to substantiate their claim that illegal activity was occurring in the business.

iNetGlobal™ provides a number of essential internet tools and services for the small and home based business market.

These services include: Domain Registration, Web Hosting, Email Marketing, Shopping Cart, eCommerce, Local Business Directory, Press Release service, Search Engine, and Pay Per View Advertising services.

iNetGlobal™ offices will remain open to provide support to our 1,000's of customers from around the world. iNetGlobal™ will continue to provide the level of quality service our customers have come to expect now and into the future.

We would like to thank all of our Members and Customers for their support and well wishes in this trying time.

Thank you – iNetGlobal

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

Interxion Partners with the London Access Point

2010-02-26T06:15:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Interxion, a leading European operator of carrier-neutral data centres, is to host a Point of Presence for the London Access Point (LONAP) in its City of London data centre. The move provides Interxion’s 1,100-plus customers with the opportunity to peer directly with LONAP’s extensive member base.

LONAP is a Layer 2 Internet Exchange Point providing the physical infrastructure and connections for around 100 members to exchange traffic with each other efficiently and at low cost. LONAP joins Interxion’s roster of over 500 carrier and network partners that provide connectivity and peering opportunities from its sites across Europe. The partnership will offer current and potential customers the choice between LONAP and the London Internet Exchange (LINX), which already has a Point of Presence at Interxion’s City of London facility.

“We are in the process of deploying our next-generation switching platform to increase the availability of 10Gbps connections to cope with increasing demand from our members, and Interxion will be the first site to run exclusively on this new infrastructure,” said Sebastien Lahtinen, Chairman of LONAP. “Our agreement with Interxion means network operators wishing to peer at LONAP and currently based in Docklands now have the choice of a datacentre in the City of London. Interxion’s facility also offers high-density power configurations and plentiful capacity, and serves a large community of potential new customers, so it is an excellent environment for growth.”

“We already have a partnership with LINX, and by partnering with LONAP, we are able to offer our customers increased choice and redundancy for their IP traffic,” said Greg McCulloch, Interxion UK MD. “Customers can now exercise greater control over their network traffic by choosing which exchange to join, or they can connect to both Internet exchanges, expanding their public peering opportunities even further and ensuring redundant connectivity.” http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/interxion_partners_with_the_london_access_point.html

Attenda Wins EMEA and Global VMware Award

2010-02-26T06:14:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Attenda Limited, the Always On Managed Services company, today announced that it has been recognised by VMware as a winner of a VMware Partner Network Award in the EMEA and Global VMware Service Provider Program Partner of the Year categories. The award was presented at VMware Partner Exchange 2010, VMware’s annual partner event, on February 9th in Las Vegas.

Simon Hansford, VP Service Strategy & Marketing, Attenda comments “This award is further validation of our investment and success in deploying cloud-based solutions for enterprise-class clients. By leveraging the functionality of the VMware platform, we have been able to deliver for our clients greater agility at higher availability and reduced costs.”

During 2009, more than 50 clients were deployed onto Attenda’s cloud services, Attenda RTI, all recognising that cloud services bring new levels of agility and efficiency, delivering their infrastructure as a service.

“VMware’s partners continue to be the bedrock of our business, and we are pleased to recognise the great work they have accomplished throughout the year,” said Doug Smith, senior director, global partner sales, VMware. “We congratulate Attenda and look forward to continuing our work together to help deliver virtualization solutions for clients building private cloud infrastructures.”

As Simon Hansford concludes, “Through adoption of Attenda RTI and cloud based solutions, we shall continue to build stronger and deeper relationships with our clients and strategic partners, to become recognised as a strategic outsourcing partner of choice.”

At VMware Partner Exchange 2010, VMware acknowledged key performances and outstanding achievements by the company’s ecosystem partners during 2009. Winners from around the world were recognised in 15 categories:

• VMware Service Provider Program (VSPP) Partner of the Year
• Solution Provider of the Year
• Education Partner of the Year
• Distributor of the Year
• Systems Integrator of the Year
• SMB Partner of the Year
• Desktop Virtualization Partner of the Year
• Academic Partner of the Year
• Technology Innovator
• Vertical Trailblazer
• VMware Competency Partner of the Year
• Partner Executive MVP
• Corporate Reseller of the Year
• Federal Partner of the Year
• SpringSource Partner of the Year http://www.gawkwire.com/business/attenda_wins_emea_and_global_vmware_award.html

Netfirms launches VPS built entirely on Parallels Products

2010-02-26T06:13:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) The leading enabler of cloud services, Parallels today announced that Netfirms has launched Parallels Virtuozzo Containers to help strengthen its market share.

Netfirms, Canada’s largest web hosting provider with more than 1.2 million websites integrated Parallels Virtuozzo Containers primarily to achieve its strategic goal of delivering profitable Cloud services while expanding its offerings to its customers.

“We were experiencing exceptional growth and our existing customers were asking for more flexibility and control,” Thomas Savundra, CEO of Netfirms said. “We chose Parallels’ virtualization products as it delivered the flexibility and control our customers needed but also because we believe the Parallels Virtuozzo Container and Parallels Plesk products are the leading VPS solution for hosting companies.”

“Our newly strengthened product line with VPS hosting on board puts us in a preeminent position in the market today in terms of where we stand against potential competition,” Mr Savundra said.

Parallels Virtuozzo Containers create isolated virtual environments or “containers” on a single physical server and OS instance — data is protected and isolated from everyone else. The technology also has burstable memory so the user can scale-up performance as needed. When used with the Parallels Plesk Panel, the user is presented with a single seamless interface to manage both the control panel and virtual private server simultaneously.

“Parallels’ virtualization software is ideal for small businesses like Netfirm’s web designer community who require more server space and higher flexibility and functionality than standard hosting plans provide,” said Jack Zubarev, President of Worldwide Service Providers at Parallels. “It is innovative partnerships like this that ensures Netfirms increases profits and market share through our products.” http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/netfirms_launches_vps_built_entirely_on_parallels_products.html

Britons Unaware of Email Scanning for Advert Placement

2010-02-24T17:32:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) 65 per cent of Britons are unaware that their free email provider may be scanning their personal emails for advertising purposes, according to research released today by GMX, www.gmx.co.uk, the free email service with more than 13 million active users. Remarkably, the figure is an increase from the 40 per cent found to be unaware of the issue back in 2008. This year’s survey of 1580 UK adults(1) shows that the vast majority of people feel negatively towards the practice, with 56 per cent concerned and 19 per cent anxious about it. More than half of those surveyed want the ability to opt out. 1 in 4 Britons is now taking issues of personal privacy such as this more seriously than in the past. Only 9 per cent of respondents were both aware of ad-scanning by providers and had considered this when signing up to their provider. Upon learning of the issue, 1 in 4 users (26 per cent) believe it could affect their next choice of provider.

GMX’s latest ‘Attitudes to Email’ study finds that whilst the British public are heavy users of free email services, the vast majority of consumers is still unaware that it is common practice at some large email providers to scan private emails for keywords that are then linked to targeted advertising. Awareness of the practice has fallen in recent years, with two thirds of respondents currently unaware of it. There is a significantly higher degree of understanding within men, with 14 per cent higher awareness than in women. The level of awareness was remarkably equal across age groups. The North East and Northern Ireland were most unaware that their emails may be scanned in this way (57 per cent), whilst Wales was most aware, with 31 per cent alert to this.

The vast majority of consumers feel negatively about their emails being scanned in order for suitable advertisements to be placed around them. Negative responses range from embarrassment (5 per cent) to concern (56 per cent) to real anxiety (16 per cent). Once aware of the issue, over half of Britons (56 per cent) believe that users should be able to opt out of such scanning should they wish, a rise of 23 per cent from 2008. 15 per cent of respondents are not bothered by the practice and only 2 per cent believe it would be in their best interest. The most dissatisfied with the activity was the 35-44 year old demographic. By geographical location, Northern Ireland was by far the most concerned region, with 97 per cent of respondents feeling negative about the issue.

Interestingly, the research reveals that the importance placed on the issue varies between genders. Whilst 21 per cent of male respondents were not bothered by the practice, only 12 per cent of woman felt as reassured. Women wish to exercise more control over the privacy of their personal email content. Nearly two thirds of women (60 per cent) feel that users should be able to opt out of ad scanning, as compared to 49 per cent of male customers. Very few of either gender believe that the practice can bring benefit to them.

All email providers, including GMX, automatically scan incoming email traffic in order to identify risks to the user such as SPAM emails and viruses. However, GMX is a provider that does not analyse the contents of its customers’ private emails for advertising purposes.

Eva Heil, Managing Director, GMX, said, "Many of our competitors continue to use private email content in the body of emails to tailor advertising to the individual user. With public awareness of this practice still low, we believe it is important that every user is at least informed about the usage of private email communication for tailoring advertising".

Furthermore, the GMX study finds much opposition to the scanning of children’s email content for advertising purposes. Some 46 per cent feel that parents should be clearly informed if this is being carried out. Furthermore, nearly half of Britons (48 per cent) feel that the practice should be banned for children’s email accounts. The strongest support for this (56 per cent) comes from the 55 years+ age group.

Heil added, "British consumers should bear in mind that there is a choice of free email services on the market that don’t do this. If they are uncomfortable with the practice either for their own or their children’s email, they should change provider. At GMX, we continue to view emails to be like sealed letters, and so we will never scan private email content for ad reasons".

With over 13 million active users, GMX draws on over a decade of free email expertise and is well placed to offer a reliable, secure service. Besides great looks, great performance and state-of-the-art functionality, GMX.co.uk offers the widest selection of first-choice addresses such as yourname@gmx.co.uk.

Free email has grown up, find it at GMX. The new free email service can be seen at www.gmx.co.uk

(1) 1581 UK adults surveyed by OpinionMatters via electronic feedback

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

K7 Computing and Sales Effect Partner to Expand to Greece and Cyprus

2010-02-25T06:31:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) K7 Computing, a leading information security software solutions provider, based in India, has announced its foray into the Greek-speaking European region, through a partnership with Sales Effect, Athens based softwaredistribution company. Through this alliance, Sales Effect will market K7 Computing’s anti- virus and software security products in Greece and Cyprus. This development marks K7 Computing’s continual International expansion, further to the success that the company has witnessed in the Japanese market.

Speaking about the partnership with Sales Effect, Mr. Kesavardhanan, MD & CEO, K7 Computing, said, “We’re extremely happy to announce this partnership with Sales Effect, which continues our expansion in the Greek speaking European countries. This step is a part of our aggressive expansion in Europe where are our products very well received.”

Emilia Velissariou Sales Manager at Sales Effect said “We are pleased to partner with K7 Computing to distribute their emerging solutions in Greece and Cyprus. We strongly believe that we will succeed and make K7 Computing an important player in our region.

http://www.gawkwire.com/business/k7_computing_and_sales_effect_partner_to_expand_to_greece_and_cy.html

United Planet Says Web 2.0 is the key to collaboration and agility

2010-02-25T06:30:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) According to United Planet (www.unitedplanet.com), one of the leading developers of enterprise portal software in Europe, the opportunities presented by social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook have paved the way for a new kind of teamwork for business. Web 2.0 applications such as wikis, blogs and forums, have made it possible to support business-internal collaboration and knowledge management, transforming companies into an Enterprise 2.0 organisation.

Instead of ‘losing’ or ‘hiding’ company knowledge inside employees’ heads, Web 2.0 functionality in the form of wikis and blogs can provide an easy to use outlet for experience and expertise. This new way of working and sharing knowledge mirrors the Facebook approach to communicating. As this approach is very popular outside of work, employees are happy to engage with it, creating an invaluable tool for collecting, archiving and sharing knowledge with other employees in the future.

Employees can post past experiences or personal information in a company wiki, making this available to their colleagues on the portal. They can share information in forums or contact one another quickly when required which is particularly useful for project groups. The ability to exchange opinions on important topics of difficult issues informally in the run-up to a meeting means that the time needed to plan and conduct such meetings is significantly reduced.

Axel Wessendorf, managing director at United Planet, said: “Modern portal solutions such as Intrexx are equipped with templates for Web 2.0 applications such as wikis, blogs and forums, as standard. As a new way of doing business, Enterprise 2.0 not only allows companies to pool distributed knowledge on the central data platform of the enterprise portal, enabling the company to profit directly from the knowledge and experience of its individual employees. It also ensures that knowledge is easily transferred across multiple locations.”

“Agility will be vital for all businesses going forward and Enterprise 2.0 will make it much easier to share and discuss new ideas, and develop innovative solutions in a collaborative manner without delay. Accelerated distribution of information throughout an organisation not only empowers employees to learn from the knowledge of others, it also makes a real difference to employee morale and encourages team spirit,” he added.

For further information about Intrexx, as well as free live demos of Web 2.0 applications such as wikis, blogs and forums, visit www.unitedplanet.com. http://www.gawkwire.com/business/united_planet_says_web_2_0_is_the_key_to_collaboration_and_agili.html

Latest News from Parallels Summit 2010

2010-02-25T06:29:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Parallels, the worldwide leader in enabling cloud services, outlined its 2010 roadmap today during the Parallels Summit, including plans for new offerings for partners interested in providing enhanced cloud-based services to their small business customers.

More than 1100 people are attending Parallels Summit 2010 in Miami, to focus on small businesses moving their IT services to the cloud and how hosters and cloud services providers can innovate, optimize and grow in order to profit from the cloud.

Product announcements on Day 2 include:

Parallels Outlines Technology Roadmap
In 2010, Parallels will introduce support for Microsoft Exchange 2010 as well as VoIP services for messaging and collaboration in its automation products. Additionally, the company will offer Parallels Server for Mac Bare Metal Edition and Parallels Virtuozzo Containers v4.6 for virtualized infrastructure services, and Parallels Small Business Panel and Partner Marketplace v2 for broader SaaS applications.

Jack Zubarev, President, Parallels emphasized that offering a broader portfolio of cloud-based services to small businesses can impact customer retention and the bottom line for hosting companies and VARs. “For these companies, particularly shared Web hosters, offering services such as messaging and collaboration in addition to Web site hosting can significantly improve profitability and decrease churn,” said Mr. Zubarev.

Other news at Parallels Summit included:
Go Daddy, the world’s leader in domain name registrations and dominant Web hosting provider, officially introduced its Mac Hosting solution, Cloud Server powered by Mac OS X. The new virtual dedicated servers provide the power of a dedicated Mac OS X server for a fraction of the cost.

ParaScale, Inc., a leader in developing cloud storage software solutions, demonstrated the ParaScale Cloud storage 2.0 platform, in what it believes is the next generation of cloud storage. http://www.gawkwire.com/events_html/latest_news_from_parallels_summit_2010.html

Comodo Launches New Version of SecureEmail Featuring Plug-ins for Outlook

2010-02-24T17:28:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Comodo, a leader in cybersecurity, announces a new version of its SecureEmail with a plug-in for Outlook. SecureEmail allows PC users to protect email messages and attachments from interception by encrypting them.

Once the user employs the Outlook plug-in in the new Comodo SecureEmail, then SecureEmail takes over the encryption decision-making process using its default level settings, or group policies via the custom level. The user can configure preferences using the Outlook Tools menu. If the user chooses, he or she can override the SecureEmail settings; otherwise Comodo SecureEmail uses the encrypt and sign buttons already existing in Outlook.

Comodo SecureEmail, which is compatible with Windows 7, is free for individuals. Additional features for businesses are available in a fee-based version.

To learn more about Comodo SecureEmail for individuals, visit www.comodo.com/home/internet-security/secure-email.php.

To learn more about Comodo SecureEmail for businesses, visit www.comodo.com/business-security/authentication/secure-emails.php http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/comodo_launches_new_version_of_secureemail_featuring_plug-ins_fo.html

Parallels Automates All Core Processes for Keenondots

2010-02-25T06:27:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) The leading enabler of Cloud services, Parallels, announced today that the Dutch hoster Keenondots will implement Parallels Automation to provide a complete end-to-end automation platform to provide cloud services for their customers, including regional small businesses and larger national and international clients.

Keenondots provides managed services to support the infrastructure needs of over 750 customers and selected Parallels Automation as the flexible solution that will support all core cloud enablement processes. Parallels Automation provides Keenondots a scalable platform. “We are now implementing a very mature system that covers all our core cloud enablement processes, from account management to virtualization technology, disaster recovery and service monitoring. Our already automated way of doing business with many key suppliers will be enhanced even further,” Laurens van Alphen, founder and owner of Keenondots said.

“We have been using Parallels software, including Parallels Virtuozzo Containers, since 2005 and have already deployed its latest Parallels Server for Bare Metal technology,” Laurens van Alphen said. “Parallels Automation will be used for our entire line of services including domain registration, hosting, online backup and in due time we will connect our line of hosted Microsoft applications, such as Exchange and Sharepoint.”

Through Parallels Automation, Keenondots can continue to provide excellent customer service and build new profitable service offerings.

“With a relatively low number of employees we enhance our competitive advantage and we will continue to extend excellent customer service to our customers.” Laurens van Alphen said.
“Parallels Automation allows partners like Keenondots to offer a full suite of profitable services to its customers,” Jack Zubarev, President of Worldwide Service Providers at Parallels said. “Hosters and cloud services providers can rely on Parallels Automatoion to help improve revenue per user, reduce churn and focus on their core business.”

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

PEER 1 UK Offers Dedicated Smart-Phone App Hosting Service

2010-02-24T11:30:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) PEER 1 Hosting the global online business hosting provider has today announced the launch of a dedicated smart-phone app hosting service, taking advantage of its peering relationships with mobile network operators. The company, which provides dedicated hosting solutions through ServerBeach, has assigned a specialist “Host My App” team tasked with supporting fast growth innovators who are developing smart-phone apps, to enable the potential explosion in popularity that successful apps attract.

In addition to peering with mobile operators, including Vodafone and O2, which ensures that apps are downloaded quickly to end users and operate at optimum speeds, the Host My App team offers flexible and scalable month-to-month contracts. These elements, coupled with the ability to offer robust hosted test development environments, have been packaged to create a bespoke hosting solution specifically to meet the needs of smart-phone app developers.

PEER 1 Hosting already supports a number of successful smart-phone apps including Red Laser from Occipital and Urban Spoon. The company, which recently provided 150 servers in 48 hours for EA Games whilst on a month-to-month contract, has shaped its offering as a result of working with these brands.

Geri Searson, Head of Host My App at PEER 1 Hosting said: “Choosing the right hosting partner is a vital component in the success in smart phone app development. The peer reviews can make or break an app and performance plays a key part in the customer experience. We recognise that a small percentage of apps launched get into the top ten, so it is vital that contracts are flexible and primed for success, without costing the earth.”

Jeffrey Powers, Co-Founder of Occipital, the company behind No.1 barcode scanner app, RedLaser said: “Choosing the right hosting partner has been a critical part of our success. RedLaser has over one million users and has been among the top 20 paid iPhone apps for six months, three months of which was spent in the top 5. The ServerBeach team has been highly responsive and their technology offerings have allowed us to scale to match the growing demand, all while giving us the granular control we need to optimise our search API.”

PEER 1 Hosting’s UK Host My App team can be contacted on hostmyapp@peer1.com and via the telephone line 0800 840 7490

PEER 1 Hosting currently has over 500 customers in EMEA and revenue in excess of £3 million making it one of Europe’s largest IT hosting providers. The company offers managed hosting through PEER 1 Hosting and dedicated hosting through, ServerBeach, which is billed as ‘by geeks, for geeks’. http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/peer_1_uk_offers_dedicated_smart-phone_app_hosting_service.html

World's First Parallels Server for Mac Bare Metal Edition Now Available

2010-02-24T11:29:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Parallels, worldwide leader in Cloud services automation and virtualization software, today announced that it is extending its server virtualization offerings for Apple environments with the introduction of the world’s first bare metal hypervisor solution for the Apple Xserve: Parallels Server for Mac Bare Metal Edition. The new edition offers greater performance for applications running in virtual machines on the Xserve, enabling businesses to standardize on the Apple platform, and opening a new opportunity for cloud services providers to offer profitable Mac OS X services. The addition of Parallels Virtual Automation provides comprehensive management tools for monitoring and maintaining the virtual environment.

“The 33% year-on-year increase in sales of Macintosh computers reported by Apple this quarter indicates a growing interest in Apple hardware. Virtualization solutions can help make this a practical reality for users, giving them the ability to run the Windows and Linux applications they need on the Apple system they want,” said Serguei Beloussov, CEO of Parallels. “Parallels Server for Mac Bare Metal Edition provides a high performance solution that enables IT professionals and developers to capitalize on the power of Mac OS X Server while having the flexibility to run Windows and Linux workloads both on-premise and through the Cloud.”

“The Xserve offers unbeatable performance, and Mac OS X Server is the world’s easiest to use server operating system,” said Ron Okamoto, Apple's vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. “With the Mac more popular than ever, and Parallels' new virtualization tools, there has never been a better or easier time for entire organizations to switch to Mac.”

Parallels Server for Mac Bare Metal Edition builds on Parallels’ market leading virtualization portfolio for Apple environments, most notably the existing server virtualization solution, Parallels Server for Mac. Launched in June 2008, Parallels Server for Mac brought virtualization to the Apple Xserve for the first time, enabling organizations to standardize on the Mac platform and integrate into existing IT infrastructures. The new edition builds on this with a new architecture that represents the first ever “bare metal” hypervisor for Intel-powered Apple systems, offering users greater performance and the ability to migrate systems without needing to go completely offline (“hot migration”).

Hypervisor server virtualization enables users to create multiple simultaneously executing, isolated virtual machines on the same physical server, each of which runs its own operating system. With Parallels Server for Mac Bare Metal Edition users can run Windows, Linux and Mac OSX operating systems side-by-side. For end-user organizations, this provides the ability to standardize their IT environment on the Apple platform, consolidating their server resources, consolidating and supporting legacy OSes and applications and streamlining server and application operations. This reduces the maintenance and management burden, which is further simplified with the management capabilities of Parallels Virtual Automation.

Micah Baker, District Technology Coordinator at Oregon City School District deploys Parallels desktop and server virtualization solutions to provide a mixed Windows and Apple environment across the schools in his district. He is excited to see the introduction virtualization solution designed for large scale projects: "With the integration of Parallels Virtual Automation Server and its true enterprise capabilities Parallels Server Bare Metal Edition is taking Apple virtualization to a whole new level."

Parallels Server for Mac Bare Metal Edition is not only suitable for on-premise deployments; it also represents an opportunity for cloud services providers to diversify their offerings into new growth areas, capitalizing on Apple’s increasing popularity. The new solution integrates seamlessly with Parallels other technologies, creating an easy addition to existing Parallels environments. For Parallels’ service provider partners, this means they can quickly and easily offer profitable Mac OS X services, including Virtual Private Servers and application hosting as a cloud service.

Hosting company Go Daddy has announced plans to offer Mac OS X services based on virtual private servers built on Parallels Server for Mac Bare Metal Edition. "Go Daddy is always looking for ways to enhance our customer experience, and provide simple solutions," said Go Daddy Chief Operating Officer and President Warren Adelman. "We do this by offering the products our customers want and need. Together with the innovative minds at Parallels and the usability experts at Apple, we have opened the door to a line of Mac OS X hosting products."

Further information on the features and capabilities of Parallels Server for Mac Bare Metal Edition is available at www.parallels.com/products/server/mac. http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/world_s_first_parallels_server_for_mac_bare_metal_edition_now_av.html

Malware Protection Seal Introduced at Dasient

2010-02-24T11:28:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Dasient Inc., the leading provider of anti-malware solutions for websites, today announced that it is introducing the Dasient SafeSite security seal for websites to communicate that they are continuously testing clear of any malware by the most reliable, precise, and real-time monitoring service available -- Dasient's WAM (Web Anti-Malware). The Dasient SafeSite seal is the world's first recognized security seal specifically for malware protection and will provide critical differentiation for web businesses that are committed to offering a safer user experience for their site visitors.

With the dramatic increase in malware-based web attacks, website owners and consumers are increasingly seeking ways to protect themselves. "Security is becoming a bigger and bigger concern on the web," said Dr. Neil Daswani, one of Dasient's three co-founders. "Unfortunately, hackers are becoming more sophisticated and infecting more websites with malware which in turn infect consumers with viruses. Dasient SafeSite was conceived with the notion that websites that are being monitored against malware will provide a safer online experience for visitors."

Dasient customers using the monitoring component of Dasient's WAM (Web Anti-Malware) service will now be able to display the SafeSite seal and start receiving reports with statistics on how much of their traffic is protected by malware monitored pages. Additionally, Dasient SafeSite provides instant visual feedback to visitors, allowing them to see at a glance whether a website is malware monitored.

As attacks are constantly on the rise legitimate websites face the problem of being infected with malware. A recent study by Dasient shows that every 1.3 seconds a new web page is infected with malware and that malware attacks have grown by 600% since 2008. Consumers are becoming more and more concerned about getting infected and websites are increasingly losing revenue due to a lack of customer confidence. Research shows that 75% of consumers do not want to provide their credit card information online (Pew Research, 2008) and 93% of consumers are concerned about viruses being installed on their computer (RSA 2010).

"We're excited to bring Dasient SafeSite as an added offering to more businesses on the web, to help them protect their sites from the serious threat of web-based malware and communicate that protection to their site visitors. The Dasient SafeSite Seal enables sites to increase customer visits, conversions and revenue," Dr. Daswani said.

Dasient SafeSite is being made available to all existing and future Dasient customers.

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

Reliacloud & enStratus Offer Seamless, Manageable Cloud Computing Service

2010-02-24T11:27:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) ReliaCloud, the new service that offers small-to-medium-sized enterprises cloud computing servers and storage space, has announced a new partnership with enStratus, a national cloud management platform that delivers governance for enterprise applications in the cloud. Together ReliaCloud and enStratus offer companies a seamless, manageable cloud computing service. The two organizations are also joining forces to sponsor 2010 CloudCamp events and an April 7, 2010, webinar to educate information technology professionals about the business advantages of using cloud computing.

“We are thrilled to offer the enStratus solution to ReliaCloud customers,” said Jason Baker, chief technology officer for ReliaCloud. “The highly regarded management platform and experience in cloud security and availability management at enStratus is invaluable to regulation-heavy businesses or enterprises that are concerned about reliability and business continuity.”

To go beyond basic cloud computing service, ReliaCloud customers now have access to a suite of software management tools from enStratus that are also used with Amazon Web Services, Rackspace and Microsoft Azure platforms to maximize:
• Security – enStratus has a patent-pending security architecture that ensures separation of security keys from encrypted data and provides advanced user management and activity logs for compliance;
• Reliability - Automated management tools, auto-recovery engine and unique clustering capabilities that minimize human error and enable support of service level agreements up to 99.9999 percent; and
• Cloud Independence - enStratus provides business continuity through cloud-independent backups as well as cross-cloud disaster recovery.

“enStratus is pleased to add ReliaCloud to its supported list of cloud providers,” says George Reese, chief technology officer of enStratus. “We’re confident that ReliaCloud is ready to serve IT directors who are seeking a reliable and secure partner that they can trust in the cloud.”

In addition to launching their affiliation, ReliaCloud and enStratus are hosting the Minneapolis CloudCamp on Tuesday, March 2, which is a local gathering of early cloud computing adopters who want to exchange ideas on the evolving topic. Other upcoming 2010 regional CloudCamps are taking place on Friday, March 5, in Chicago; Tuesday, March 16, in Philadelphia; Tuesday, March 23, in Washington, DC and Tuesday, May 25, in Denver. For more details about a specific CloudCamp go to www.cloudcamp.org.

To continue cloud computing education efforts, ReliaCloud and enStratus are also hosting a webinar on Wednesday, April 7, 2010, for IT directors and chief technology officers who want to learn what cloud computing can do for their respective businesses and hear examples of success stories. The webinar will feature Jason Baker from ReliaCloud and George Reese from enStratus. More details about the Webinar are posted on the ReliaCloud blog at www.reliacloud.com/blog.

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

Day 1 Summary of Parallels Summit 2010 Keynote

2010-02-23T17:28:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Parallels CEO Serguei Beloussov outlined the company’s vision for the Cloud in his keynote presentation at Parallels Summit 2010. Beloussov advised more than 1100 service provider, telco, VAR and ISV attendees to recognize the huge opportunity presented by the small business need for Cloud services, a market which he predicted will grow to nearly $19 billion by 2013. To meet this considerable opportunity and “Profit from the Cloud”, Beloussov explained Cloud services providers and ISVs must innovate, optimize and grow to develop full-service offerings. He pledged Parallels’ ongoing and increased support for this through the company’s investment in partnerships and complete realignment to a Cloud services-oriented company structure.

“Considerable growth is predicted in Cloud services for small businesses as they provide a low cost, easy solution for these organizations, who need an increasing range of IT services, but have very little IT knowledge and limited budgets,” said Beloussov. “The complexity of IT requirements can easily become an expensive and time-consuming distraction from the core business. Buying services through the Cloud removes both the significant initial expense of buying in-house IT operations, and simplifies decision-making as small businesses can get a range of business IT services from a single provider at a low monthly subscription rate.

“For Cloud services providers, this represents a significant opportunity; however, it is essential for businesses to innovate, optimize and grow if they are going to compete successfully and increase profitability. Innovation is critical in order to keep meeting evolving customer needs: Cloud services providers need to drive better bundled services and develop new “sticky” offerings, while ISVs need to refine their technology. This will help them open new revenue streams and attract new customers,” added Beloussov.
“To grow and be successful, Cloud services providers need to offer a complete range of services for small businesses. Improving the quality of existing services and offering customer loyalty programs are critical steps in building customer confidence and growing the loyal customer base,” said Beloussov.

During the keynote, Beloussov announced that Parallels will continue to invest in supporting its partners achieve these goals, providing support for marketing, training, certification and in other areas of the business beyond the technology itself. In addition, the company is realigning its business and engineering functions to focus on the service areas that are important to its partners and customers. The company will focus on four key services areas spanning and encompassing Parallels’ product portfolio: Shared Web Hosting Services; Messaging and Collaboration; Virtualized Infrastructure Services (VPS); and SaaS and Other Applications. Each of these services groups will be led by a senior Parallels’ executive championing the space and working closely with Parallels’ partners to identify and meet their needs.

The Shared Web Hosting Services group will be led by Craig Bartholomew, VP of Panels at Parallels, who brings considerable expertise from over 20 years as a business leader at Microsoft. Craig’s group will be working with partners to help them develop their Shared Web Hosting Services offering, encouraging the innovation and optimization that will enable them to grow and retain their customer base. The service area will be supported by a range of Parallels products, including Parallels Plesk Panel 9.5, Parallels Hosting Panel 10 (to be launched later this year) and Parallels Automation High Efficiency Shared Hosting.

The Messaging and Collaboration group will be led by Oleg Melnikov, one of the founders and VP of Automation at Parallels. As a veteran of the service provider space, he has a strong understanding of the opportunities and challenges that face them and will be working closely with Parallels’ partners and customers to help them take advantage of the trend towards unified communications and increased levels of collaboration so they can grow their service offerings for greater up-sell and cross-sell opportunities. In 2010, this service area will be supported by Parallels Automation developments providing support for Microsoft Hosted Exchange 2010, MS OCS and VOIP services.

The Virtual Infrastructure Services group will be led by Amir Sharif, VP of Virtualization at Parallels, who bring considerable product management experience, most recently from VMware. Amir’s group will be helping Parallels’ partners and customers innovate and grow by offering profitable virtualized services; predicted to be the biggest area of growth in Cloud services in the next five years. This service area will see developments across Parallels’ virtualization products in 2010, including the launch of Parallels Server for Mac Bare Metal Edition at Parallels Summit 2010, an update for Parallels Virtuozzo Containers (version 4.6) and the launch of Cloud Utility Computing later in the year.

The SaaS and Other Applications group will be led by Matt Domo, CTO at Parallels, who brings considerable expertise as a former general manager at Amazon Web Services and Microsoft veteran. This group will focus on helping new ISVs find new channels to market, enabling Cloud services providers to innovate new bundled services offerings and grow their up-sell and cross-sell opportunities. To support this service area, Parallels is introducing Parallels Partner Marketplace v2 and Application Packaging Standard 1.2 at Parallels Summit 2010. http://www.gawkwire.com/events_html/parallels_summit_2010_keynote_parallels_ceo_pledges_to_help_clou.html

ReliableSite Releases First-Ever Network Tools Application

2010-02-24T06:41:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) ReliableSite.Net LLC today released Network Tools, the first-ever application for the Palm webOS that enables users to perform basic network testing functionality directly from their smartphone.

Network Tools offers a variety of essential network functions, such as retrieving the IP address of the device, pinging outside Web and IP addresses, traceroutes, network information, URL decoding, URL encoding, and HTML header and source retrieval. The application was developed by ReliableSite and will be available free to the general public in the PalmOS Apps Catalog.

“Necessity really was the genesis of this application. Many of our technicians in-house use the Palm Pre, and no applications exist for the Palm that offer even simple network functionality. In this industry, however, being able to work from a smartphone is an important time-saver. We first developed this application for our own employees, but decided to release it to the world to allow many more to benefit,” said Radic Davydov, owner of ReliableSite.

Network administrators and Web site owners may find the application especially valuable in everyday operations and to help resolve customer issues remotely when a laptop isn't accessible. The application works on all devices running the new Palm WebOs platform such as the Palm Pre, Palm Pixi, Palm Pre Plus, and Palm Pixi Plus.

ReliableSite has also created a Web-version of the application that emulates many of the same features. It can be accessed at http://tools.reliablesite.net.

ReliableSite offers a wide-range of hosting solutions, including shared hosting, semi-dedicated servers, dedicated servers, and reseller hosting.

Available in Dual Core, Quad Core, and 8 Core hardware configurations, dedicated servers start at just $89 per month and can be loaded with a variety of operating systems, including Microsoft Windows Server and Linux. Dedicated servers also include remote boot functionality, 24 hour provisioning, and a 100% uptime SLA for network, power, and cooling.

To learn more about dedicated servers form ReliableSite, please visit http://www.reliablesite.net/v3/dedicated.asp.

To learn more about ReliableSite, please visit http://www.reliablesite.net.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/reliablesite_releases_first-ever_network_tools_application.html

Farmers Branch welcomes SoftLayer's New Headquarters

2010-02-24T06:27:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) In a move that further solidifies the city's position as a leader in technological business and industry, Farmers Branch Mayor Tim O'Hare has announced that SoftLayer Technologies, is bringing its headquarters and world class, on-demand virtual data center services to Farmers Branch.the company's global headquarters and operations center.

The fast-growing tech firm is relocating from Plano to 60,000 square feet at 4849 Alpha Road in Farmers Branch where they plan to invest $80 million for their headquarters and data center.

"SoftLayer is a classic example of a 21st century success story," said Mayor O'Hare. "They seized on the need for a fully integrated computing environment and, in turn, have sold more than 25,000 servers in four years. This is a company we are thrilled to have in Farmers Branch."

SoftLayer counts nearly 6,000 customers in more than 110 countries around the globe. They will be bringing 80 jobs to Farmers Branch but plan to double that number in the near future. The Alpha road site includes three, two-story buildings which will include SoftLayer's global network operations center. SoftLayer CEO Lance Crosby said proximity was a prime consideration in selecting Farmers Branch.

"Farmers Branch is situated in the very center of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, minutes away from airports," he explained. "Our new site is very near LBJ Freeway and the Dallas North Tollway which is very convenient. We're happy to be coming to a city that values its economic development partners and where there is, literally, room to grow."

Farmers Branch Economic Development Director John Land said SoftLayer fits in with the corporate community. "From the Fortune 500s to the emerging corporations, we've got major installations in Farmers Branch ranging from regional offices to global headquarters," he explained. "We're glad a rapidly expanding tech firm like SoftLayer saw the benefits of location and value in Farmers Branch."

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

ConnectinPrivate.com Aims For Fledgling UK Internet Privacy Market

2010-02-24T06:24:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) The world’s most comprehensive internet privacy and security product, ConnectinPrivate.com, has today launched in the UK. The company, which can provide UK surfers with completely anonymous and non-traceable offshore browsing and email accounts, has packages offering complete privacy from £4.99/month.

ConnectinPrivate.com works by creating a VPN (Virtual Private Network) between computers and smartphones in the UK and ConnectinPrivate.com’s completely secure and anonymous servers in Canada. Privacy laws in Canada mean that ConnectinPrivate.com is not obliged to keep logs of its customers’ internet history or sites visited, and their VPN creates a ‘private tunnel’ between each UK customer’s computer and Canada. Anonymity is, therefore, 100% guaranteed.

Aside from anonymous browsing, ConnectinPrivate.com offers secure offshore e-mail accounts, the world’s most comprehensive ‘PC Cleaner’ software and Mobile VPNs, which allow secure browsing and email on most mobile devices. Also available for business customers are secure, offshore web conferencing facilities. No other product in the UK offers this comprehensive package of protection.

Smartphone support is currently available for the iPhone and Windows Mobile devices – meaning that wherever they are, users of these devices can connect via a secure VPN tunnel to ConnectinPrivate.com’s Canadian servers to surf and e-mail completely anonymously on the move. Mobile VPNs are also available for corporate intranets.

ConnectinPrivate.com can even add privacy and security to your existing email account, without the need to change your domain name. ConnectinPrivate.com can also, however, create a new domain name of your choice for you.

ConnectinPrivate.com works on fixed or wireless broadband networks and is of particular benefit for those using public wireless hotspots where it is easy to clone an identity. While surfing online, your IP address, operating system, browser type, and the last pages you visited are all recorded and can be used to observe your activities and build a profile about you. Criminals, companies and scores of official and unofficial agencies all like to build up a picture of your online activities.

“To say that you are exposed is an understatement,” said James MacDonald, Network Architect at ConnectinPrivate.com. “Just by browsing the internet and sending emails and texts without taking precautions to protect yourself, you're offering free information to anyone that wants it. ConnectinPrivate.com, from today, offers the most comprehensive package on the UK market to help you escape this gaze. Whoever you’re trying to protect yourself from, whether it’s internet fraudsters or your own family, ConnectinPrivate.com will be your best friend.”

“CONNECT IN PRIVATE” PRICING:

VPN, Mobile VPN, PC Cleaner - £4.99/month
VPN, Mobile VPN, PC Cleaner + Offshore eMail & SMS - £5.99/month http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/connectinprivate_com_aims_for_fledgling_uk_internet_privacy_mark.html

Paralles Announces Winners of Inaugural Partner Awards

2010-02-24T06:23:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Worldwide cloud enablement leader, Parallels, today announced the winners of its inaugural Partner Awards at the Parallels Summit 2010.

Highlighting excellence in the industry, the awards recognize the outstanding achievement of four Parallels Partners that have realized growth, shown innovative strategies and optimized their business for future success.

Category winners are Rookie of the Year: Arsys; Cloud Innovator: Wallace Systems; Brand Champ: ASPserveur; and Most Inspiring: Jason Frisch, President of Tsukaeru.net.

“We are proud to recognize our partners for outstanding achievement in launching new Cloud services. These companies show a true commitment to growing their business in partnership with Parallels. Jack Zubarev, President of Worldwide Service Providers at Parallels. “Parallels helps create profitable services that enable our partners to offer innovative technology that benefit small businesses.”

The Parallels Rookie of the Year Award recognizes significant growth in sales during the first year in the Partner Program. It was awarded to Arsys, Spain’s largest service provider, who introduced Virtual Private Servers and Parallels Plesk Panel in 2009.

Commenting on the award, “We are experiencing continuous growth in market share and we are committed to remaining number one in our market. We chose Parallels as our partner in this project because it allows us to offer maximum reliability, meeting the needs of our more than 250,000 clients,” Faustino Jiménez, CEO of Arsys said.

Innovation is a key message of the Parallels Summit 2010 and the Cloud Innovation award acknowledges the Partner who is leading the way in cutting-edge innovation and offering cloud computing services to SMBs. Wallace Systems was the recipient of the award for its innovative solution for Logibanque. Wallace System integrated Parallels Business Automation software with Logibanque’s Streaming technology and Endeavor’s Application Jukebox.

“Combining virtualization, streaming and billing automation technologies allowed us to create a revolutionary business model that opens new revenue opportunities to the hosting market,” Pierre Marguelles of Wallace System said. “Logibanque is the first integrated turnkey solution for on-demand portal creation and management and brings the hosting and ISV world closer.”

The Brand Champ award recognizes the partner who implemented the most effective changes to their website during the Parallels “Caught Red Branded” campaign and improved its sales conversion rate as an outcome.

“It makes sense for us to support the Parallels brand. It is well recognized, represents quality products and it is committed to helping make us more profitable so we do everything possible to protect and enhance their brand,” Sebastien Enderlé at APSserveur said.

One of the most widely-anticipated awards was the announcement of “Most Inspiring”, which recognizes an individual rather than a company. This inaugural award was given to Jason Frisch of Tsukaeru.net.

“I am humbled by this award. To be recognized by my peers with such an award is truly gratifying,” CEO of Tsukaeru.net, Jason Frisch said. “At Tsukaeru.net we have an amazing team that’s not afraid of challenges and trying new things. We pride ourselves on being a leader of new technologies and strategies that embrace the Cloud.” http://www.gawkwire.com/events_html/paralles_announces_winners_of_inaugural_partner_awards.html

G3 Global Partners with Attenda to launch new subscription-based Hosting

2010-02-24T06:21:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Attenda Limited and G3 Global today announced a partnership to launch a new subscription-based hosting offering for SAP Business All-in-One, as part of the G3 ConnectedBusinessCloudTM, the technology platform that enables business process innovation.

In the new partnership, G3 Global, UK SAP Channel Partner, launches G3 ConnectedBusinessCloud, a solution designed to drive massive cost savings for the mid-market by delivering a portfolio of pre-configured, fully integrated “Best Practice” SAP ERP and CRM business processes and business intelligence solutions, as part of the G3 Global ConnectedBusinessTM Concept.

The strength in the partnership is the integration of Attenda’s Cloud & managed services delivery with G3 Global’s innovation in the implementation, configuration and support of SAP Business All-in-One solutions. The G3 ConnectedBusinessCloud is built upon Attenda’s Cloud Platform, Attenda RTI, providing the capability to rapidly scale computing resources up or down according to business demand, to implement cost effective disaster recovery solutions and to deliver unprecedented business agility.

Commenting on the new partnership with G3 Global, Simon Hansford, VP Service Strategy & Marketing, Attenda, says, “Our partnership with G3 Global is an important strategic alliance, combining G3’s expertise in SAP business processes and the implementation and configuration of SAP industry solutions with Attenda’s expertise in the operational management and hosting of enterprise critical applications, to deliver a subscription-based hosting offering for SAP Business All-In-One.”

The G3 ConnectedBusinessCloud solution for SAP Business All-in-One, fully managed by Attenda, includes all licences, hosting, support and upgrades and facilitates the implementation of SAP within a rapid timeframe, within 4-8 weeks, enabling clients to derive almost immediate cost benefits from the efficiencies that it delivers to the business. It provides a highly available, functionally rich, robust, fully managed SAP solution, with all of the benefits enjoyed by larger enterprises, delivered within an accelerated implementation timeframe, at an affordable price point and with no additional burden on their internal IT resources.

G3’s confidence in its affordable pre-configured SAP solutions for the SME market is reinforced by the decision to base all of its own mission critical ERP and CRM business processes on G3 ConnectedBusinessCloud solution.

As Chris Gunter, CEO, G3 Global explains, “We are confident that this is the right decision for our business and will position us strongly for growth. As a mid-size company ourselves, it not only reinforces the message that SAP is not just for large organisations, but more importantly, it provides our clients with the additional confidence that we are using the G3 ConnectedBusinessCloud to run our own business.” http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/g3_global_partners_with_attenda_to_launch_new_subscription-based.html

Day 0 Summary of Parallels Summit 2010

2010-02-23T07:17:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Parallels Summit kicked off today in beautiful Miami, Florida at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach Resort with an opening session presented by Parallels President and co-founder Jack Zubarev. The session titled “Clouds, with 100% Chance of Profit” opened by talking a little about the company and its relationship with the cloud market.

Zubarev went on to talk about how rapidly the cloud services market is growing and where it will be in the next few years. Parallels predicts that the current $9 billion industry will more than double by the year 2013.

The presentation went on to talk about how cloud service offerings can help small hosting providers solve three major problem factors: customer acquisition, retention, and cost pressure. Next her went on to talk about the direction that Parallels is going in the cloud services market and how service providers can profit from it.

The presentation also introduced Parallels Small Business Panel after talking about how the Software as a Service is expected to grow 26 percent.

Finally, the session ended with the discussion of what Parallels can do beyond just being a software provider. Parallels' PartnerNet provides a range of partner marketing opportunity, support request submissions, and allows users to submit feedback and feature request.

After the session, the exhibition hall opened for visitors and the day ended with a poolside welcome recption.

http://www.gawkwire.com/events_html/day_0_summary_of_parallels_summit_2010.html

ControlByNet Announces Beta Testing for Reseller-Hosted Surveillance

2010-02-23T07:15:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) ControlByNet announces initial beta testing of its reseller-hosted version of their highly successful i-flashback REMOTE. This release (v5.0) allows resellers to remotely host and manage cameras for their customers. Integrators will be able to brand the solution as their own (white label) and manage all aspects for the customer. ControlByNet v5.0 also provides tools and private site access for sales, marketing and installation support.

ControlByNet’s i-flashback REMOTE platform provides a hosted surveillance solution enabling end-users to house only the cameras on the premises. No other hardware is required and the customer accesses the live and archived video 24/7 from the Internet.

“i-flashback REMOTE is an ideal solution allowing integrators and resellers the ability to quickly and safely add a recurring revenue stream,” according to Ryan Strange, founder of ControlByNet. “With the implementation of HTTPS and central authentication, integrators can feel comfortable with a safe and complete solution. It’s such a good option for many customers; we already host hundreds of cameras just in our local area.” He added the software development has required an investment in excess of $1 million over several years and is appropriate for integrators of all sizes.

The 100% browser-based management and access provides flexibility for integrators to manage customers and keep systems running. Multiple-server support allows for seamless growth.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/controlbynet_announces_beta_testing_for_reseller-hosted_surveill.html

Neosurge provides affordable cPanel optimized VPS services

2010-02-23T07:14:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Neosurge announces their VPS optimized cPanel hosting solution starting at just 19.95$/mo.

"We've been working hard behind the scenes here to deliver the best price, performance and reliability anywhere with our cPanel VPS hosting solution. As a direct partner with Cpanel as well as having been offering cPanel hosting ourselves since 2002, we are able to offer our expertise to our customers" sad Brian Easley, a Neosurge representative.

cPanel w/ WHM provides the greatest level of flexibility and control for hosting virtually unlimited websites. With pricing starting at just $19.95/mo for an optimized cPanel VPS with 256MB Ram, 512MB total Burstable Ram (including swap space), 15GB of RAID-10 storage, 350GB Bandwidth, a dedicated IP address and access to Neosurge's expert support team it has never been easier or cheaper to get a full featured web hosting solution in place.

In addition to the powerful cPanel w/ WHM control panel, customers get full access to root and ability to customize their machine for their specific purposes. The massive amount of bandwidth included even at the most affordable plan allows for a cost effective solution for VOIP, high resolution video streaming, VPN and other bandwidth hungry applications. Neosurge's fully scalable virtualization system allows for immediate upgrades to CPU power, RAM and hard disk without the need for upgrading or rebuilding hardware.

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

SensorLogic Releases New White Paper “M2M Meets Cloud Computing”

2010-02-23T07:11:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) SensorLogic, a pioneer in the use of Cloud Computing for asset tracking, announces that it is making available, for no charge, its white paper “M2M Meets Cloud Computing.” The paper describes how a cloud-based Platform as a Service (PaaS) could catalyze explosive growth in M2M deployments.

M2M applications all have a common set of complex core requirements that drive cost and development time up and the value of the investment down. Employing an M2M PaaS allows every enterprise and solutions provider to leverage a common framework that can cut the time of building these applications by a factor of five and reduce the cost by half, compared to building with the traditional software model.

Topics covered in this white paper include:

An expert’s review of Cloud Computing
Growth forecast for cellular M2M connections
Traditional inhibitors unique to M2M application adoption and deployment
Layers of an M2M cloud-based PaaS and the benefits provided to M2M applications
How a cloud-based PaaS addresses the challenges of M2M applications
Specific PaaS benefits for complex device management

If you would like to download a copy of this white paper, visit http://www.sensorlogic.com and click "What's New" on the the SensorLogic Home Page and click on “New White Paper.”

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/sensorlogic_releases_new_white_paper_m2m_meets_cloud_computing.html

DiscountASP.NET Enhances Microsoft IIS Database Manager 1.0 Support

2010-02-23T07:10:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) DiscountASP.NET announces launching support for Microsoft IIS Database Manager 1.0 for their Windows Server 2008 hosting platform, allowing customers to manage local and remote databases from within IIS Manager. DiscountASP.NET further announces enhancing the user experience through integrating a SQL Server backup and SQL Server restore solution within the DB Manager interface.

The IIS Database Manager is an out-of-band IIS UI module released by Microsoft to allow users to manage their local and remote databases from within IIS Manager. Once connected, IIS DB Manager provides an array of functionalities including managing tables, views, stored procedures and data as well as running ad hoc queries. IIS Database Manager provides support for both SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2005 databases.

To improve the user experience, DiscountASP.NET integrated the DB Manager UI with SQL Server backup and SQL Server restore functionality. With this enhancement, customers can use DBManager within IIS Manager to back up their SQL Server databases and save their backups within the App_Data folder. Customers can also use DB Manager to select from a list of previously saved backups and restore a specific SQL backup.

“Delivering on our goal to provide customers with maximum control over their shared hosting environment, we now support a powerful tool to help our customers manage their SQL Server databases, including a new way to backup and restore databases.” said Takeshi Eto, VP Marketing at DiscountASP.NET. “We are proud of this announcement and this serves as an example of the kinds of innovations and value we are striving for in our Windows hosting service.”

“We enjoy working with partners like DiscountASP.NET who actively seek to build value on top of the Microsoft Web stack,” said Saad Ladki, Microsoft Internet Information Services Program Manager. “This is a great example of a solution that leverages Windows Server, IIS and SQL Server to alleviate the common customer burden of data backup and integrity.”

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/discountasp_net_enhances_microsoft_iis_database_manager_1_0_supp.html

iWeb's Names René Bousquet to board of directors

2010-02-22T13:58:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) iWeb Group inc. is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. René Bousquet as a director of iWeb.

“We are proud that René Bousquet has accepted to be a director of the Company. His past experience, especially in executive positions, as the person responsible for finance, for marketing and then as president of a major telecommunication company will bring us new ideas and reinforce our existing marketing team. In addition, René will be the president of a new board of directors’ committee, the Strategy Committee.” says Eric Chouinard, iWeb's President and CEO.

Graduate in Business Administration from the University of Sherbrooke, René Bousquet initiated his career at Price Waterhouse in strategic management and market research. As an expert in consumer behavior and retailing, he was co-author of Price Waterhouse’s Canadian Retail Outlook annual publication. In the following years, he held various executive positions at Microcell Telecommunications Inc., particularly Vice-President, Finance and Vice-President, Marketing during which he was awarded Marketing Man of the Year in 2004 by the Montreal Marketing Association. Subsequent to the acquisition of Microcell by Rogers, he was appointed President of Fido. In 2006, he joined Trio Capital Inc., a private investment firm, as a Partner. Recently, he was appointed Chief Commercial Officer for TerreStar Solutions.

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

The Planet Reports Fourth Quarter Results

2010-02-22T13:57:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) The Planet, the global leader in IT hosting, today discussed its results for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2009. The Planet provides quarterly updates to its customers, business partners and prospects with information relative to new initiatives and its progress.

“We ended the fourth quarter and the year with increased revenue and EBITDA beyond 30%, despite the tough economic conditions,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Douglas J. Erwin. “During the quarter, we reorganized our sales and support organizations to best serve our various customer segments, and we declared 2010 the Year of Customer Experience. In that regard, we recently announced certain new offerings, and lowered our prices for bandwidth and various server lines. We also have kicked off numerous training and customer service programs in an effort to deliver the best customer experience in the industry.

“To deliver across the board, operational excellence is critical. While our customer satisfaction rankings remain at all-time record highs, we will continue to make changes to improve our performance and deliver the products and services our customers require for their businesses.”

“We had another record revenue year and a solid quarter,” said Chief Financial Officer Kevin Klausmeyer. “Deal sizes continue to increase, and the managed hosting business is gaining more traction. Our cash flows remain very strong, which has resulted in a powerful balance sheet, with our net debt at its lowest level in the past three years. In 2010, we plan to make significant investments in our customer-facing systems, our network, our Virtual Dedicated Server offering and our data center infrastructure.”

Fourth Quarter Highlights
Complex Infrastructure Growth: The company’s complex infrastructure solutions, which include virtual and private racks, experienced more than 30% growth year-over-year, making them the fastest-growing products in the portfolio.

Partner Program Addition: Ayuda Networks, a highly regarded leader in IT infrastructure connectivity strategy and services, headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., joined the company’s Partner Plus program.

Cloud Speaking Engagements: Rob Walters, director of product management, represented The Planet as a panelist at the Cloud Computing Expo and Conference. Todd Mitchell, general manager for the company’s Dedicated Hosting and Global Services business, delivered an address on cloud computing at the fourth annual cPanel customer conference.

New Storage Area Network: The company announced the availability of the Dell PowerVault MD3000i, a high-performance storage area network (SAN) disk array. Ideal for multi-server environments such as virtual and private racks, the company’s fastest-growing solutions, the MD3000i offers a cost-effective and scalable storage solution.

Nehalem Servers: The Xeon 3450, based on the Dell PowerEdge R210 platform and loaded with Intel’s next-generation Nehalem microarchitecture, became the third and most powerful server in the company’s fleet.

Microsoft OS Added to Portfolio: The company added the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 to its product line-up, making it available to all dedicated hosting customers.

Microsoft WebsiteSpark Membership: Supporting its SMB customers, the company joined Microsoft’s WebsiteSpark program, which provides small Web development and design firms with free Microsoft licenses for the latest versions of Windows Server and SQL Server, key tools for building and designing rich Web sites.

Texas IPv6 Conference: At its Houston-based headquarters, The Planet hosted and served as a Gold Sponsor for the Texas IPv6 Task Force, which attracted more than 100 participants. Also participating as Gold Sponsors were NTT America, Global Crossing and ARIN (American Registry for Internet Numbers).

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

iWeb Announces First Quarter Revenues up 19% to $7.2M

2010-02-22T13:55:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) iWeb Group Inc. (TSX-V: IWB), a global provider of Internet hosting services and IT infrastructure, today announced its financial results for the first quarter ended December 31, 2009.

First Quarter Financial Highlights:
• Revenues increased to $7.2 million from $6.1 million, up 19% compared to the same quarter of the previous fiscal year
• Adjusted EBITDA of $2.1 million during the first quarter; 28.4% of revenue
• Net income increased to $180,000 compared to the $1,248,000 loss reported a year ago
• Fourth data center confirmed with a total capacity of 20,000 servers

"Revenue growth for this quarter, nearly 20%, reflects our strong position in the IT infrastructure market," said Eric Chouinard, President and CEO, adding that “the Company’s focus is on the consolidation of its substantial growth over the past 5 years. The fourth data center, announced in January 2010, along with its additional capacity of 20,000 servers, will give us tools to continue our growth.

"Virtually every significant figure in iWeb’s financial results has improved," says Chief Financial Officer Philip Tousignant. “Revenues are up 19%, EBITDA exceeds $2 million, net results are now positive and cash flows from operations increased by 40%."

First quarter of 2010 Financial Review
Revenues for the quarter ended December 31, 2009 were $7.2M, an increase of $1.2M or 19% compared to first quarter of 2009 ($6.1M).

Adjusted EBITDA was $2.1M (28.4% of revenues) for the quarter ended December 31, 2009 compared to $1.9M (31.3% of revenues) for the quarter ended December 31, 2008.

The Company recorded a net income of $180,000 for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, compared to a net loss of $1,248,000 for the comparative period last year. Last year’s loss was due to the unrealized exchange loss on the long-term debt.
Key Financial Data (‘000 $ except per share amounts)

                                        First Quarter ended December 31
                                                2009             2008
Revenues                                $7,249           $6,075
Gross Profit                              $2,905           $3,155
Operating income                          $3             $248
Net earnings (loss)                               $180          ($1,248)
Earnings (loss) per share - basic              $0.0064         ($0.0447)
Adjusted EBITDA(1)                              $2,056           $1,899
Cash flows from operations                      $1,880           $1,337

                                                 As at            As at
                                           December 31,    September 30,
                                                  2009             2009
Total assets                                   $33,271          $32,990
Shareholders' equity                            $6,640           $6,365
Cash and term deposits                          $2,023           $2,215

1- The Company defines Adjusted EBITDA as Earnings before interest expenses, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation, unrealized exchange gain/loss and straight-line amortization of rental expense.

The complete interim financial statements and management report of the Company are available at www.sedar.com and http://investors.iweb.com.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/iweb_announces_first_quarter_revenues_up_19_to_7_2m.html

Open-Xchange and Partners Integrate Anti-Spam Security

2010-02-22T06:49:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Open-Xchange, a provider of business-class open source collaboration software, and eleven, Germany’s leading e-mail security provider, have agreed on comprehensive technical cooperation to easily add e-mail security to all Open-Xchange products.

Web hosters, ISPs and telcos can combine Open-Xchange Hosting Edition -- with more than 10 million users -- with eleven's e-mail security solution eXpurgate. eXpurgate is scalable, easy to integrate, and offers a spam detection rate of more than 99 percent. In addition, eXpurgate will be integrated as a premium option in the Open-Xchange products aimed at companies that want to operate their e-mail server in-house.

"With Open-Xchange and eleven, web hosts can offer their customers not only a cost-effective and professional package, but also an optimally protected e-mail solution," said Robert Rothe, founder and CEO of eleven.

"Effective spam and virus protection is essential for every e-mail server. eleven products protect Open-Xchange users against viruses, spam and phishing e-mails," said Rafael Laguna, CEO of Open-Xchange. "Companies that run their Open-Xchange Server themselves benefit from this releationship as well as users that get Open-Xchange as Software-as-a-service from hosting providers, telcos and ISPs."

For more information, visit Open-Xchange and eleven at the Parallels Summit, 22 to 24 February 2010 in Miami, USA, and at WebhostingDay, 17 to 18 March 2010, in Cologne, Germany. http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/open-xchange_and_partners_integrate_anti-spam_security.html

4PSA Announces Sponsorship of Parallels Summit 2010

2010-02-22T06:48:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) 4PSA announced today its participation to the 5th annual Parallels Summit, the leading event in US hosting industry. The company will preview the General Availability version of the VoipNow Automation, the operations and business automation software designed for cloud services.

VoipNow Automation is a component of VoipNow Plaftorm, a suite of software solutions targeting IP Communications Service Providers. 4PSA exhibits at booth #26 and sponsors the event as a Silver Sponsor.

Designed to take advantage of cloud resources, VoipNow Platform allows hosting providers to deliver distributed, scalable Unified Communications services and to build carrier class IT infrastructures using commodity hardware. The integrated solution includes VoipNow Professional, Automation and Core.

At Parallels Summit 2010, 4PSA will preview the General Availability for VoipNow Automation, a business and operations automation tool that introduces new concepts in managing cloud based services. Together with VoipNow Core and Professional, Automation offers a complete end-to-end Unified Communications solution covering all technical and business aspects.

At the exhibition, 4PSA will demo VoipNow Platform and will cover in a keynote the issues hosting providers face today when deploying Unified Communications. "Parallels Summit 2010 is an important event, bringing together companies that build and use the cloud. Our software platforms delivering Unified Communications, website and email hosting and DNS management are a perfect fit into this environment." said Bogdan Carstoiu, 4PSA’s CEO.

VoipNow Professional is a software Unified Communications solution that allows service providers to deliver rich multimedia communications services like voice, video, presence, instant messaging, and faxing. VoipNow Professional customer base is growing at an accelerated rate; the software is currently deployed with service providers from more than 40 countries.

VoipNow Core is the first distributed cloud VoIP delivery solution in the world. The software is using 4PSA’s 4Grid technology and allows service providers to deliver high volume SIP trunking and wholesale VoIP services to end-users and resellers. VoipNow Core also includes distributed media gateway features, allowing service providers to interconnect SIP and PSTN at minimal costs.

http://www.gawkwire.com/events_html/4psa_announces_sponsorship_of_parallels_summit_2010.html

Ensim Corporation Announces Record Growth for 2009

2010-02-22T06:47:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Ensim Corporation, the leading provider of user provisioning and change management software for enterprises and service providers, today announced record revenue and profits for 2009, saw significant growth in customers and users, expanded its market segments, and completed several major advances in technology, despite the current, challenging economic environment.

Ensim’s major achievements for 2009 include:
• Doubled total revenue over 2008
• Enabled largest Microsoft Unified Communications enterprise deployment in North America
• Extended Oracle identity management framework to support fine-grain entitlement controls to Microsoft applications
• Partnered with Microsoft and BroadSoft on global rollout of complete, turnkey Unified Communications solution for telecom service providers

Ensim also grew its reseller network with the addition of seven new partners, including PI Services, TranscendIT, Nippon Data Systems, Intrface Worldwide, Infotronics, ID Integrated Data SA, and TELNET S.A., and significantly expanded its international presence in Europe, India, Japan, South America, and the Middle East.

Entering 2010, Ensim will announce several new products to help enterprises ensure a secure and compliant IT infrastructure, as well as integrate access and identity administration across multiple systems for organizations looking to adopt hosted applications and/or manage cloud services.

“To achieve this record growth in this economic climate is a great accomplishment for our team,” said David J. Wippich, Chairman and CEO of Ensim Corporation. “As we look to the year ahead, we see even greater potential for growth in the market by offering solutions that will allow our customers to improve their IT efficiency, bolster their security and reduce their compliance risk through enforcing policy and automating manual processes.”

http://www.gawkwire.com/business/ensim_corporation_announces_record_growth_for_2009.html

Telehouse America to Host Free Networking Breakfast

2010-02-22T06:47:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) TELEHOUSE America (www.telehouse.com), the United States’ leading provider of dedicated data centers, international Internet exchanges and managed IT services, announces the line-up of its latest Breakfast on Broadway event, a popular, bi-monthly conference series. Its first event of 2010 will be held on Thursday, February 25, 2010. The free networking event will feature speakers from AboveNet, a high bandwidth connectivity provider and Digital Edge, a specialist in IT back-end technologies. Since 2005, the TELEHOUSE Breakfast on Broadway series has offered informative and timely discussions on what's hot in the technology marketplace, as well as interactive networking opportunities for attendees and partners.

AboveNet, an event co-host, will be addressing high-bandwidth Ethernet trends and solutions, while Digital Edge will lead a discussion on virtualization implementations. The seminar is being held from 8:30am to 11:30am at 25 Broadway in Manhattan, New York. “Our Breakfast on Broadway series is designed to be an interactive forum for our clients, partners and leaders in the technology marketplace to come together and discuss the growing trends in our sector,” commented Vincent Corley, Sr. Marketing Manager for TELEHOUSE America.

Links to all presentations will be available on the TELEHOUSE website events page.

For more information on TELEHOUSE America's future events and total solutions for data centers, colocation, infrastructure management and global communications services, please visit www.telehouse.com or email sales@telehouse.com.
http://www.gawkwire.com/events_html/telehouse_america_to_host_free_networking_breakfast.html

Global Financial Network Added to EOReach SM Program

2010-02-22T06:45:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Switch and Data announces today that Hibernia Atlantic’s Global Financial Network (GFN), a next generation multi-gigabit, high-speed exchange connectivity platform, has become part of Switch and Data’s GeoReach Program in North Bergen, New Jersey. Hibernia’s GFN provides a fiber network which is dedicated to global capital markets across all asset classes in the U.S., Canada, Europe and the Pacific Rim.

Built to meet the demanding performance and reliability requirements of the financial community, Hibernia's GFN unites hundreds of financial exchanges and global banks with a single connection. GFN offers robust, diverse connectivity to its state-of-the-art, Trans-Atlantic network, including access to key exchanges, banks and counterparties. This network provides secure and redundant fiber connectivity to multiple facilities in strategic locations so that financial customers can access multiple providers with one single point of connectivity.

“As a part of Switch and Data’s GeoReach Program, we will be able to provide further connectivity throughout North America and Europe from Switch and Data’s New York EcoCenter in North Bergen,” states Joe Hilt, Vice President of Sales, North America for Hibernia Atlantic GFN. “Our network will provide the companies colocated there with low-latency and secure global connectivity, all with one dedicated point-to-point service. Additionally, Hibernia offers industry-leading rapid installation, notably five days from signature to service, guaranteed. Our GFN platform combines operational excellence and innovative engineering to provide speed and accuracy to the financial community.”

Switch and Data's GeoReach program is a select group of providers, such as Hibernia Atlantic, who have engineered their networks to meet the needs of the high-frequency trading community. GeoReach participants have engineered optimum paths from Switch and Data’s Financial EcoCentersSM to each of the regional liquidity providers to satisfy the requirements of the most latency-sensitive infrastructures. Firms can focus on their core operations and add each new alternative trading system (ATS) or exchange using a cost-effective, minimal footprint, while still maintaining ultra low-latency communication across the financial markets.

“Hibernia’s GFN is a great addition to our program as it provides our customers with access to global banks and the world’s leading exchanges,” continues John Panzica, Vice President of Switch and Data’s Financial Services Practice. “Providing secure, large-bandwidth capacity is crucial for our EcoCenter clients.”

GeoReach participants are a critical element of Switch and Data’s Financial EcoCenters, which provide mission-critical infrastructure to meet the security, volume and low-latency requirements of the electronic trading community. Switch and Data’s Financial EcoCenters aggregate an ecosystem of the pre- and post-trade service providers, buy-side and sell-side communities into the geographic centers of the major markets of New York and Toronto.

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

Codero Provides Computers to Elementary School in Need

2010-02-19T11:21:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Codero, a dedicated and managed hosting provider, has donated 100 computers from its San Diego data center to the San Luis Rey Elementary School, located in Oceanside, California. The Board of Education will formally accept the gift at its regular board meeting scheduled for March 23, 2010.

“Our students and staff derive great benefit from gifts such as yours, and on their behalf and that of the school board, I am pleased to extend to you our appreciation and gratitude,” stated District Superintendent, Larry Perondi. “Your generosity and thoughtfulness will help us provide the best possible experience and environment for the young people we serve.”

The donation and preparation of the computers was facilitated by Dave Stanford, Director, Data Centers and Provisioning for Codero at its San Diego data center. “At Codero, being a good steward to the communities in which we work and live in is an ongoing focus. By providing technology to the youth of today, we know that we are contributing to the future of our community.”

The computers were exchanged with the Oceanside Unified School District on February 16, 2010. With an estimated value of $20,000, Codero is pleased to assist the School District by means of this technology donation.

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

Applied Innovations and Microsoft Partner to Deploy WebsiteSparkr

2010-02-19T11:20:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Applied Innovations, a Microsoft Gold Certified Windows hosting provider, announced today it has partnered with Microsoft Corp. to deploy 500 Hyper-V-based Managed Virtual Private Servers (VPSs) for small businesses in Microsoft’s popular WebsiteSpark Program.

The Microsoft WebsiteSpark Program ignites success in Web businesses by helping Web Professionals, from designers and developers to small business owners, to drive new business opportunities through connections with partners and customers around the world. WebsiteSpark also provides Web Professionals with free Microsoft software and solutions, as well as support and training opportunities. Through their participation in the Microsoft WebsiteSpark Program, potential partners can grow their own business and customer base by gaining exposure as a Microsoft partner and participating in an ecosystem that includes not only Web developers and designers, but also their customers.

As part of the deployment for Microsoft, Applied Innovations has not only completed one of the largest-ever single client infrastructure build-outs in its more than 10-year history, but also deployed one of the largest all-Dell hardware based deployments on Hyper-V to date.

Applied Innovations created the Hyper-V cluster exclusively with Dell hardware, including robust server configurations and a fully redundant, high-performance Storage Area Network (SAN). By using virtualization technologies, Applied Innovations was able to create a solution that comes at a mere one-fourth of the cost of a traditional, dedicated server solution.

“Virtualization technologies, which only in the past year have begun to resonate in the Windows hosting community, are key to our ability to deliver next-generation hosting solutions for today’s Web developers and Web designers. We’re able to create rapid, high-performance solutions in configurations that were simply not possible just a few years ago,” said Jess Coburn, founder and CEO of Applied Innovations. “Microsoft’s decision to select Applied Innovations reflects not only our close working relationship, but also our ability to leverage the latest in Microsoft virtualization technologies to solve pressing business needs, which has become an important competitive advantage in recent months.”

“Applied Innovation is one of our key hosting partners for the WebsiteSpark Program and has a strong ongoing relationship with Microsoft, based on a shared commitment to innovation, quality and affordability. Their usage of Hyper-V to dramatically improve value and reduce cost for their customers hosting on the Microsoft Web Platform is a great example of this partnership,” said Mark Hindsbo, General Manager of Developer & Platform Evangelism at Microsoft.

Through the Applied Innovations partnership, Microsoft will select up to 500 WebsiteSpark Program participants to additionally receive enterprise-grade managed Windows Server hosting at no cost for one year. After the first year, participants are able to renew their hosting through Applied Innovations directly at a special discounted rate. Each WebsiteSpark VPS comes fully managed and monitored by Applied Innovations, and includes a variety of other key features already available to existing customers of the company. Additionally, each WebsiteSpark VPS includes failover protection – virtually eliminating the possibility of Web site downtime in the event of a hardware failure or required system upgrade.

As a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, Applied Innovations works closely with Microsoft to roll-out Windows hosting-related marketing campaigns and support the software giant’s other hosting initiatives. In fact, Applied Innovations was among the first hosting companies invited to partner with Microsoft when it initially launched the WebsiteSpark Program in September 2009.

To learn more about Applied Innovations, please visit http://www.appliedi.net.
To learn more about the WebsiteSpark Program from Applied innovations, please visit http://www.appliedi.net/websitespark.

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

Google Penalizes 'Green' Server Users

2010-02-19T06:33:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) As businesses across the globe are urged to reduce their carbon footprints, it seems Google, the company founded on the principle ‘don't be evil’, currently penalises UK websites hosted on foreign servers powered 100% by green energy. Epicado, a UK web marketing company based in Stroud, Gloucestershire has created an online petition to persuade the company to change its policy.

Whilst websites, email and other web services can reduce the need for the printing of paperwork and junk mail; web hosting inevitably consumes massive amounts of electricity, and the generation of this power produces carbon emissions.

Google uses many criteria in ranking web pages, one of which is the geographic location of the web page’s “IP” address. This is the address of the location where the website is hosted. The UK’s alternative energy sources are still too unreliable to provide a consistent service so the best way for UK businesses to have their websites hosted on servers using 100% green energy is to choose a hosting service based outside the country. If they do this, their rankings in Google’s UK search results are likely to fall because Google infers that a site hosted in the US is less 'relevant' to a UK search.

Given that Google’s share of UK searches is now in the region of two thirds, this could have potentially disastrous effects on any UK business that decides to cut its carbon emissions.

UK based web marketing company, Epicado helps its clients to promote their sites in the search engines. It offers a 100% green hosting service, but faces a dilemma.

Director, Paul Lock, said, “It may be the law of unintended consequences, but the fact is that Google is effectively preventing UK businesses from exercising their environmental responsibilities. We would urge government, businesses and anyone concerned about global warming to lobby Google on this issue. Businesses can sign our petition here."

“They’re clever people,” says Lock, “and it can’t be beyond their capabilities to adjust their ranking algorithm so that UK businesses aren’t penalised for cutting their emissions. We know that Google wants to rank only the most relevant and trustworthy sites and you could argue that businesses willing to invest in 100% green hosting are more likely to be trustworthy and ethical. It seems that Google needs to catch up with the times and live up to its founding ethical principles.”

Epicado already offers its clients the ability to reduce their carbon footprints by hosting their sites on carbon neutral servers in the UK. It works with hosts who have partnered with the International Tree Foundation, Britain’s longest standing tree planting charity, to create a package that provides sufficient tree planting to offset the carbon emissions produced by each customer’s hosting needs.

However, off-setting carbon use is not as environmentally friendly as using none at all. Epicado has launched a 100% carbon-free service with servers based in California, but until Google adjusts its ranking algorithm, it can’t recommend the service to clients who need to preserve their Google rankings – and help reduce their carbon footprint.

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

WHOIS Receives $10,000 in Government Grants

2010-02-19T06:32:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) www.whois.com.au, one of Australia’s fastest growing webhosting and domain name registration companies, today announced that it had secured $10,000 of Govt. funding in the latest round of Tomorrow Grants. Tomorrow Grants are a competitive grant administered under the Creative Industries Program, a digital media initiative of the South Australian Department of Trade and Economic Development.

“We’re very pleased that Whois is one of the companies chosen by DTED to receive a Tomorrow Grant.” said Whois CEO, Mike Russell.

Whois Pty Ltd. is an Australian company committed to making domain names and webhosting easy. Whois helps clients achieve their online goals by providing them with a range of easy to use, best of breed, products and services. Whois Pty Ltd. headquarters are found at the new South Australian Digital Media Initiative, The Tomorrow Studio. To learn more, visit www.whois.com.au.

http://www.gawkwire.com/business/whois_receives_10_000_in_government_grants.html

SoftLayer Moves corporate Offices and Data Center to New Dallas Facility

2010-02-19T06:31:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: DLR), the world’s largest wholesale datacenter provider, has completed a multi-faceted lease agreement with SoftLayer® that combines its headquarters and data centers in a Digital Realty Trust property in the Dallas area. SoftLayer Technologies, a leading provider of on-demand IT services, has signed a lease for office and data center space in a Digital Realty Trust building with the option to occupy the entire building to meet the company’s future expansion requirements. SoftLayer also has naming rights for the standalone building, which will serve as the company’s global headquarters and operations center.

“We were running out of office space and data center capacity in our current facilities, so we needed to find a solution that could accommodate our growth. The Digital Realty Trust property gives us tremendous flexibility to expand over time and enables us to house our offices and IT operation under the same roof. That has tremendous efficiencies for our operations and benefits for our customers,” said Lance Crosby, CEO of SoftLayer. “The Digital Realty Trust building allows us to expand our IT operations incrementally and cost effectively as our business grows.”

“We are pleased that SoftLayer selected a Digital Realty Trust property as the new home for its corporate headquarters and IT operations,” said Brent Behrman, Vice President, Global Sales of Digital Realty Trust. “SoftLayer was looking for a standalone property that would provide first-rate office space as well as technical space for its IT service operations. We will convert part of the facility whose lease was expiring into a state of the art datacenter with ample power and fiber connectivity to support SoftLayer’s datacenter operations. This lease demonstrates our ability to add value to our existing properties through our redevelopment program.”

Mr. Crosby of SoftLayer added: “This is a first step in an aggressive growth plan for SoftLayer in 2010. Adding capacity in Dallas is a first priority, but we will continue to expand both our data center and network capabilities in the coming months to satisfy the needs of our growing customer base.”

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

PowerDNN Partners with SmarterTools to Become Authorized Software Provider

2010-02-19T06:29:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Enterprise DotNetNuke hosting provider PowerDNN is proud to announce its continued partnership with SmarterTools Inc. to distribute SmarterTools software as an authorized bundle provider.

Under the terms of the partnership, PowerDNN will provide the SmarterBundle software suite to qualified dedicated server clients at no additional cost. Valued at $800, the SmarterBundle includes professional editions of SmarterMail 6.x, SmarterTrack 4.x, and SmarterStats 5.x.

“We are very excited about our partnership with SmarterTools." said Tony Valenti, CTO of PowerDNN. "By combining DotNetNuke with the SmarterMail, SmarterStats, and SmarterTrack products, our customers have everything needed to run the online portion of their business: DotNetNuke for their website, SmarterMail for their email, SmarterStats for website analytics, and SmarterTrack for their helpdesk."

SmarterMail provides the best-in-class alternative to Microsoft Exchange, with a wide variety of enterprise features, including Smartphone synchronization (through Exchange ActiveSync, SyncML, and SmarterMail Sync technologies) and 97% anti-spam out-of-the-box that delivers comprehensive protection from spam and phishing messages.

SmarterTrack customer service software transforms customer service efforts into a multi-channel communications portal. Features include a Ticket system, Live Chat, WhosOn, branding and language support, cost analysis, data mining, reporting, surveys, and a Knowledge Base.

SmarterStats Web log analytics and SEO software allows businesses to manage website statistics and SEO efforts in a single application, providing them with the tools needed to make informed decisions and run their online business at maximum efficiency.

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

Colocation America Upgrades Site with Adrecom Web Portal CMS Platform

2010-02-19T06:29:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Colocation America (www.colocationamerica.com, "CLA") recently transformed its web presence and updated its legacy web site with the Adrecom Web Portal CMS Platform (www.adrecom.net). The upgrade gives CLA a cutting edge web solution that improves collaboration among its mobile workforce and enables it to quickly enter new markets.

Although ColocationAmerica.com (CLA) had been expanding its business for over 10 years, its web presence had not kept up with its corporate identity as a premium Internet Service Provider with data centers across the United States. The Adrecom platform, which enables companies to improve legacy web sites and develop a next generation web presence, was an ideal solution for CLA’s requirements.

Through Adrecom’s rapidly deployable multi-user solution and content management system (CMS), CLA now can make immediate changes to web pages, blogs, videos, and other online elements. The Adrecom platform gives CLA complete control over its web strategy, delivers measurable performance efficiencies, and prevents the company’s site from becoming quickly outdated. Moreover, the solution helps CLA avoid the high costs of external webmasters and design firms while bringing critical web maintenance functions in-house.

"We delayed new web deployments because of the complexity and costs involved in transforming a legacy web site,” noted Sean Jacobs, Director of Marketing at CLA. "With Adrecom, however, we did not get distracted unnecessarily by the fine tuning and adjustments required by less capable and less flexible web solutions. Ultimately, Adrecom helped us completely upgrade our site at lower costs and with fewer headaches,” he added.

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

The Challenges of Business Continuity Discussed at Data Centre World

2010-02-19T06:27:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Telehouse today announced its platinum sponsorship of Data Centre World at the Barbican, London on the 23rd-24th February.

Data Centre World, the largest free Data Centre exhibition and conference in the UK, will examine the issues surrounding the selection, outsourcing, building and running of a data centre for UK data centre professionals.

Jean-Marc Mutzig, Senior Sales and Marketing Manager at Telehouse Paris, will discuss business continuity in the context of how data centre providers protect technology infrastructure in relation to its criticality to the customer. Mutzig will emphasise that data centres must focus on cost effectiveness, resulting from a selective and gradual protection of IT systems based on the appropriate flexibility and availability requirements.

The session, entitled “Telehouse Meets Business Continuity Challenges” will take place at 11.30am on Tuesday 23rd February in Theatre 2.

Almost twenty years after establishing a major IT and Telecommunications hub in London (Telehouse North), Telehouse has continued its commitment to reliability and customer service by offering complete end-to-end ICT solutions on a global scale.

“Telehouse continues to make significant investment in its data centre facilities and managed ICT services to help ensure business continuity for our customers. As part of our mission to constantly improve the products and services we take to market, we recently launched our new global ICT services offering. Furthermore, we have expanded our global presence with the opening of two data centres in South Africa: Telehouse Cape Town and Telehouse Johannesburg. In March this year, our £80million state-of-the-art facility, Telehouse West, will open in London.” commented Michelle Reid, Sales and Marketing Director, Telehouse.

Telehouse regards its facilities not only as providing physical "walls" and power, but more as an Infrastructure As A Service (IAAS) provider, combining physical and virtual IT environments located across multiple sites. This enables Telehouse’s customers to meet their demanding IT requirements, backed with appropriate recovery points, all in the fast paced timescale they need to work in.

Telehouse launches its 35th facility Telehouse West based in London’s Docklands in March 2010. The 19,000m² facility will offer access to over 400 ISPs, ASPs and carriers.
Senior Telehouse representatives will be present at stand 48 on both days to speak with delegates and discuss market trends, industry issues and business opportunities. If you would like to meet with a Telehouse representative or book a tour of the new Telehouse West data centre please contact: marketing@uk.telehouse.net or visit the Telehouse West online portal.

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

SoftLayer Powers Enterprise Cloud Services With Isilon IQ

2010-02-18T07:20:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Isilon® Systems (Nasdaq: ISLN) today announced that SoftLayer has deployed Isilon scale-out NAS to power its enterprise cloud infrastructure, providing global, on-demand data center and hosting services for thousands of customers. Using Isilon IQ, featuring its OneFS® operating system, SoftLayer has unified all of its file-based cloud operations onto a single, high performance, highly scalable, shared pool of storage, streamlining data management and increasing efficiency across three different, geographically disparate data center facilities. With Isilon scale-out NAS, SoftLayer can scale its storage resources in lockstep with customer demand, reducing capital expenditures while delivering more robust, flexible and responsive services to its worldwide customer base.

“Our cloud services address customers' need for enterprise-class data center resources, meaning our network, servers and storage must always be available on-demand,” said Jacob Linscott, director of IT systems, SoftLayer. “Isilon IQ fits the bill perfectly—an easy-to-use single file system that allows us to buy what we need, when we need it, and then scale capacity and performance in-line with business growth. With Isilon, we've improved service functionality and flexibility without having to add any headcount.”

SoftLayer's global, on-demand data center and hosting services deliver fully automated solutions from facilities across the United States, providing enterprises with complete access, control, security and scalability. Prior to deploying Isilon IQ, SoftLayer's traditional SAN system was incapable of cost-effectively scaling to meet the high I/O and data growth requirements of its rapidly expanding customer base, preventing SoftLayer from fully capitalizing on market demand. By deploying Isilon scale-out NAS, SoftLayer's cloud infrastructure can now service a broad spectrum of enterprise applications—including server and desktop virtualization, highly transactional workloads and disaster recovery—improving its ability to address mainstream data center requirements. With Isilon IQ, SoftLayer has unified all of its file-based cloud operations onto a single, easy-to-use, “pay as you grow” file system, decreasing both capital and operational expenditures, while accelerating business growth.

“As businesses enlist cloud service providers to reduce costs and increase efficiency, the providers' most immediate challenge is how best to manage the rapid data growth and high performance requirements of their expanding customer base,” said Sam Grocott, vice president of marketing, Isilon Systems. “SoftLayer is setting the example for enterprise cloud services by using Isilon scale-out NAS to broaden its service offering, minimize costs and maximize its market opportunity.”

The names of companies mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

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

MachSol Inc. Introduces Exchange 2010 Support

2010-02-18T07:19:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) MachSol Inc. (www.machsol.com) developer of MachPanel an emerging leader of SaaS enabled Hosted Services Delivery Platform, appreciates its customers for showing faith in us and making us the premium Hosting Control Panel. In our continuous endeavor for giving our clients the best, we are glad to announce that our new build is available, through which we become one of the first Control Panel supporting Exchange 2010.

Latest release also addresses bug fixes alongside performance improvements and new features, to name a few are:

• Provision for Exchange 2010 Server Groups
• Intelligent segregation through automated configuration of segregation steps
• Interfaces included for Exchange 2010 Support

You may visit http://kb.machsol.com/Knowledgebase/Article/50188 for details.
“MachPanel v.4, uncovers manifold characteristics encompassing a stable, secure, reliable, robust and performance efficient modern platform. Newly released offering unleashes Exchange 2010 that provides complete functionality of Exchange, alongside extending unlimited options for SaaS offerings comprising SharePoint, CRM 4.0 and providing mobile exchange automation to its value added clients.

Your customers need efficient and secure access to email, calendars, contacts, and more—wherever they are, on any device they use. With Exchange 2010, deliver the advanced protection, anywhere access, and the operational efficiency your customers need.

MachPanel has been in active development ever since its launch and the story doesn’t end here. Office Communication Server is the next milestone in our sight and will be available in coming weeks. Now, you can make the most of your business by utilizing sound platform of MachPanel's v.4, A Complete Windows Control Panel for your hosting business needs." says Max Roosenbrand, CEO and Chairman of MachSol Inc.

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/machsol_inc_introduces_exchange_2010_support.html

Wikimedia Foundation announces $2 million grant from Google

2010-02-18T07:18:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) The Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit that operates Wikipedia, today announced that it has received a $2 million (USD) grant from the Google Inc. Charitable Giving Fund of Tides Foundation. This is the Wikimedia Foundation's first grant from Google. The funds will support core operational costs of the Wikimedia Foundation, including investments in technical infrastructure to support rapidly-increasing global traffic and capacity demands. The funds will also be used to support the organization's efforts to make Wikipedia easier to use and more accessible.

"Wikipedia is one of the greatest triumphs of the internet," offered Google co-founder Sergey Brin. "This vast repository of community-generated content is an invaluable resource to anyone who is online."

Wikipedia founder and Wikimedia Foundation board member, Jimmy Wales, also commented on the Google gift. "We are very pleased and grateful. This is a wonderful gift, and we celebrate it as recognition of the long-term alignment and friendship between Google and Wikimedia. Both organizations are committed to bringing high quality information to hundreds of millions of individuals every day, and to making the Internet better for everyone."

The two organizations have a long-standing working relationship. Most recently, Google and the Wikimedia Foundation have partnered to support translation of Wikipedia content into key languages with relatively small Wikipedia editions. Google's Translation Toolkit supports direct online translation of Wikipedia articles, and has been used by Google in Wikipedia translation pilot projects with speakers of Arabic, Hindi, and Swahili.

Sue Gardner, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, offered: "It is wonderful that Google has stepped forward as a major supporter of a global, non-profit information commons. With this generous grant, we will be able to fund additional operations and development work to increase access and contributions to our free knowledge projects globally."

Wikimedia's support comes primarily from individual donations made by regular users of Wikipedia. The Wikimedia Foundation completed its 2009-10 fundraiser in January. During the drive, 240,000 individuals donated more than $8 million, representing three quarters of its planned revenue for the fiscal year.

http://www.gawkwire.com/business/wikimedia_foundation_announces_2_million_grant_from_google.html

Colocation America Transforms Web Site With Adrecom Web Portal CMS Platform

2010-02-18T07:15:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Colocation America (www.colocationamerica.com, “CLA”) recently transformed its web presence and updated its legacy web site with the Adrecom Web Portal CMS Platform (www.adrecom.net). The upgrade gives CLA a cutting edge web solution that improves collaboration among its mobile workforce and enables it to quickly enter new markets.

Although ColocationAmerica.com (CLA) had been expanding its business for over 10 years, its web presence had not kept up with its corporate identity as a premium Internet Service Provider with data centers across the United States. The Adrecom platform, which enables companies to improve legacy web sites and develop a next generation web presence, was an ideal solution for CLA’s requirements.

Through Adrecom’s rapidly deployable multi-user solution and content management system (CMS), CLA now can make immediate changes to web pages, blogs, videos, and other online elements. The Adrecom platform gives CLA complete control over its web strategy, delivers measurable performance efficiencies, and prevents the company’s site from becoming quickly outdated. Moreover, the solution helps CLA avoid the high costs of external webmasters and design firms while bringing critical web maintenance functions in-house.

As Adrecom is upgrading customers to version 7 of its multi-user Ecommerce & Corporate Portal Suite, clients like CLA can easily update outdated and legacy web sites at a lower cost to market. The Ecommerce & Corporate Portal Suite features advanced prebuilt modules and toolsets that are designed to propel businesses in record time to the next level in web site functionality, flexibility, and performance.

“We delayed new web deployments because of the complexity and costs involved in transforming a legacy web site,” noted Jane Doe, CEO of CLA. “With Adrecom, however, we did not get distracted unnecessarily by the fine tuning and adjustments required by less capable and less flexible web solutions. Ultimately, Adrecom helped us completely upgrade our site at lower costs and with fewer headaches,” she added.

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

Server Intellect Awarded Top Hosting Company

2010-02-18T07:13:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Server Intellect , a leader in cloud services, managed dedicated servers, and the global hosting market, was honored as one of the Best Dedicated Server providers by HostReview’s award panel. The HostReview Annual Web Hosting Awards, started in 2006, is one of the most prestigious hosting awards of its kind.

“The entire team at Server Intellect is honored to be recognized as one of the Top Dedicated Server providers from hostreview.com. This award further highlights our dedication and commitment to providing outstanding products and services.” said Eric Pratt, President and CEO of Server Intellect. “This award is great recognition for our outstanding team here at Server Intellect.”

Server Intellect offers a wide variety of Managed Dedicated Servers and Windows Cloud Hosting Solutions, coupled with unparalleled Customer Support. This latest achievement for Server Intellect, a company that is recognized in the web hosting industry as the pinnacle of quality and value, demonstrates their commitment to providing the best hosting experience to its customers all over the world.

“The Best Dedicated Server Package awards showcase those companies that offer outstanding performance and value for dedicated servers. Included in the reviewing process are the prices, technology, reliability and overall performance of the hosting company. We are proud to present the Best of 2009 Awards winners who are some of the world's most innovative web hosting companies and have proven to be the leaders with an outstanding contribution to the industry.” – HostReview.com, about the award.

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

Parallels Small Business Panel Attracts Biggest Names in the Industry

2010-02-17T14:19:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Cloud-enablement leader, Parallels, announced today that Parallels Small Business Panel has attracted some of the biggest names in the industry within months of release.

Go Daddy, the world’s largest domain name registrar and leading Web hosting provider, began offering Parallels Small Business Panel to its more than 7.5 million customers, many of whom are small businesses.

Other successful adopters of Parallels Small Business Panel include The Planet, Softlayer, Softcom, Codero, Layershift, ServeInt, Arsys, Network Group Europe and Host Europe.

“This has been one of our most successful product releases and delivers profitable services to small businesses. To have such a quick uptake of our product by some of the largest companies in the industry is a testament to how Parallels Small Business Panel fills the growing IT needs of small businesses,” explains Jack Zubarev, President of Worldwide Service Providers at Parallels. “Parallels really values partnerships like Go Daddy and is committed to delivering products that enable cloud services providers to move beyond basic hosting services and offer value-added applications and services.”

Parallels Small Business Panel features a game-changing control panel designed for small businesses, offering simple wizards and productivity tools for collaboration, file sharing and business management. This makes self-service possible for all employees using the solution.

“Offering Parallels Small Business Panel at Go Daddy helps small to mid-sized businesses receive the advantages larger companies do with similar, advanced products for a cost small businesses can afford,” said Go Daddy President and Chief Operating Officer Warren Adelman. “These businesses don’t need an IT administrator to take advantage of the Small Business Panel because of the easy wizard-driven interface. Parallels understands what small businesses need and Go Daddy is pleased to offer their Small Business Panel to our customers.”

Parallels Small Business Panel 10.1 gives users an intuitive interface designed to connect employees to the right applications, which can be installed with a single click with no need for special training or technical knowledge. In addition, Parallels Small Business Panel incorporates the functionality of additional Parallels solutions for free, including Parallels Sitebuilder and Parallels Power Pack.

Users also have access to over 200 applications that increase productivity, efficiency and creativity but require no prior knowledge of the product to utilize the benefits. Some of the top applications available for free include Wordpress, SugarCRM, Droopal and Mumbo.

Go Daddy is a world leader that enables people to build and maintain an online presence. Go Daddy offers domain names, Web hosting, Web design tools, SSL certificates among many tools to get online. To learn how to easily and affordably build an online presence, visit www.GoDaddy.com.

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

DedicatedNOW Achieves 100% Uptime in 2009

2010-02-17T14:17:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) DedicatedNOW, a leading provider of managed dedicated servers, announced today its 100% uptime core network and power status for the entire year of 2009.

DedicatedNOW maintains a state-of-the-art data center in Clifton, New Jersey, just 12 miles from New York City, with easy access to major backbone providers for optimum network bandwidth. “The success of DedicatedNOW’s 100% uptime in 2009 is due to our investment in data center infrastructure, engineering support, and backbone providers,” said Josh Ewin, Director of Sales and Marketing at DedicatedNOW. “Our multi-homed network is fueled by premium tier 1 carriers such as Sprint, Saavis, Telia, NLayer, Global Crossing, and Level3.”

Additionally, DedicatedNOW uses redundant power systems including an inline power backup, using industry standard Liebert UPS systems and onsite Caterpillar generators with four days of standby fuel. In the event of a power outage, DedicatedNOW’s power management system kicks in the UPS systems and within seconds and the generator is automatically fired up to power the facility. The Liebert UPS systems control and constantly monitor the quality of power so that all equipment receives filtered and clean power for 100% uptime reliability. DedicatedNOW’s engineers also test the UPS and generators weekly to ensure maximum reliability.

“Our facility is safeguarded by redundant Libert CRAC units that are kept at an optimal temperature to ensure hardware and network components are consistently running properly,” said Jason Silverglate, CEO. “And our cooling systems offer an accurate and reliable control of humidity, airflow, and room temperature that improves the working conditions for delicate electronic equipment.”

In the same facility of the Clifton, NJ datacenter, DedicatedNOW also maintains over 5,000 sq ft of corporate office space, including conference rooms, reception area, and space for onsite staff to work seamlessly with the network, hardware, and software.

“DedicatedNOW’s network runs on our own dark fiber ring connecting our two redundant pops in 111 8th NYC and 165 Halsey (Equinix) NJ,” said Silverglate. “Our core consists of Dual Cisco 6509 SUP720-3BXL routers, fully meshed to multiple aggregation switches for maximum uptime.”

Each fiber leg is capable of handling our entire networks traffic in case of a failure. Each leg can be upgraded to provide transport capacities up to 320Gbps, totaling 640Gbps of available transport capacity. “What wins the day however, is the fact that our entire network is redundant, right down to the switch port level,” quipped Ewin.

“The Clifton01A data center guarantees protection of your system through an efficient double pre-action fire suppression system,” said Ewin. “Our fire suppression system incorporates double interlock pre-action dry fire suppression with of heat, flame, smoke and critical detectors placed strategically around the facility..”

DedicatedNOW encourages current and prospective customers to view the data center. Visitors can also test DedicatedNOW’s fast network connection by using visiting http://speed.fortressitx.com/ or using IP address 65.98.0.42 to ping the network.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/dedicatednow_achieves_100_uptime_in_2009.html

The IMA Announces Speakers for Its 2010 Las vegas Conference

2010-02-17T14:16:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) The Internet Merchants Association (IMA) today announced its final line-up of presenters who will be teaching educational seminars at its 2010 Conference, which will be held in conjunction with the ASD/AMD show in Las Vegas in March. Key speakers include (all times PST):

At the ASD/AMD Show:

“Navigating the Amazon” by Jennifer Artabane, ChannelAdvisor (an IMA Gold member), from 9:30 – 10:30 am on Monday, March 1;

“The ABCs of Web Design” by Rick Wilson, MIVA Merchant (an IMA Diamond member), from 12:30 – 1:30 pm on Monday, March 1; and

“Build an Ecommerce Site in One Day” by Michael Levit, Vendio (an IMA Gold member), from 11 am – 12 pm on Tuesday, March 2.

At the IMA Conference:

“The Perfect Match: Ecommerce and Social Media” by Shashi Bellamkonda, Network Solutions, from 11 – 11:50 am on Tuesday, March 2;

“Don’t be a Sellout: Stocking Your Items Wisely” by Michael Levit, Vendio (an IMA Gold member), from 11 – 11:50 am on Wednesday, March 3; and

“Strategic Web Estate Development for your E-commerce Properties,” by Joe Perez, Zealous Marketing, from 3:10 – 4 pm on Wednesday, March 3.

“With just about two weeks to go, seats are fast filling up for the conference,” said Cynthia Lizana, IMA president. “From past experience, I know this is because of the extremely high educational value of the seminars we present, as well as the unique networking opportunities for e-commerce merchants from around the country. If you’re an etailer, this is one conference you don’t want to miss.”

In addition to its educational seminars, the IMA will have a hospitality suite open from 6 pm on March 1st, 2nd and 3rd; an excellent opportunity to network with and learn from other ecommerce merchants and experts in the field. The full schedule of seminars is available at www.imamerchants.org/2010.

Registration for the IMA conference is open: conference registration is now $299/$399 for members/non-members respectively. For the first time, attendees who are short on time can also attend specific seminars a la carte, by picking and paying for specific sessions rather than the entire conference. Non-members are welcome to register; those interested can learn more about the benefits of IMA membership here.

http://www.gawkwire.com/events_html/the_ima_announces_speakers_for_its_2010_las_vegas_conference.html

Interoute extends pan-European fibre optic to Ireland

2010-02-17T06:53:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Interoute, owner operator of Europe’s largest next generation network, today announced that it has extended its pan-European network into Ireland to meet demand from multinational enterprises looking for connectivity in the region. The new Dublin point of presence (PoP), which is live and fully operational, provides businesses with resilient, high quality voice and data services and a fast and reliable bridge to the rest of Europe.

Despite the global recession, the number of multinational companies investing in Ireland rose by 11 per cent in 2009 [1]; attracted by a well educated workforce with one of the top productivity ratings in Europe and the low corporation tax rate on offer. [2] Interoute felt some of the effects of this in 2009, with orders for connected sites in Ireland rising by 43 per cent compared with 2008.

Lee Myall, UK Regional Director at Interoute, said: “Ireland is a highly attractive location for businesses. Not only is it well known as a hub for innovation and technological development, but it also offers favourable financial incentives. Over the last twelve months we have seen increasing demand for our services in the region and this extension of our network into Ireland further strengthens our European footprint.”

Interoute’s Dublin PoP is fully integrated into Interoute’s pan-European network, providing businesses with key managed services such as IP connectivity, VPN services, managed hosting and unified communications solutions. http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/interoute_extends_pan-european_fibre_optic_to_ireland.html

Nimbuzz Selects Interxion to Support Growth

2010-02-17T06:52:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Interxion, a leading European operator of carrier-neutral data centres, has been selected by Nimbuzz, the mobile social VoIP and instant messaging application provider, to house its mission-critical application infrastructure. With over 20,000 users a day worldwide signing up to use their application, Nimbuzz had an urgent requirement for a best-in-class, highly connected facility which also offered them flexibility, support, and room to grow.

The Nimbuzz servers have already been installed in the recently constructed Interxion AMS5 data centre in Amsterdam. This 7,000 m2 highly secure facility provides 2N UPS redundancy and N+1 backup generators, and gives direct access to 30 carriers and ISPs as well as the AMS-IX and NL-IX Internet Exchanges. While providing high-density power configurations to customers as standard, it also features numerous energy-efficient design and operation measures and runs on a mixture of wind, biomass and hydroelectric-generated energy.

The Nimbuzz application supports social networks including Facebook, Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, ICQ, Skype, and local social networks such as Hyves in the Netherlands. As well as providing one-stop access to social networks, since November 2009 Nimbuzz has also offered its own VoIP service.

"Nimbuzz is growing at a rate way beyond expectation both in terms of users and product features. We therefore needed a state of the art datacenter to handle such demands. We are confident that Interxion will provide the capacity and service to cope with our rapid development, enabling us do more and grow faster,” said Evert Jaap Lugt, founder and CEO of Nimbuzz. “Although we only moved to Interxion recently, we have already noticed significant improvements in service and performance levels. Interxion is a thoroughly professional partner with a high level of in-house expertise, and they have provided us with a secure, high-performance environment in which to grow.”

"We are delighted to be supporting a Dutch success story like Nimbuzz, and are well placed to expand with them, whatever their future needs,” said Michel van den Assem, Interxion Netherlands Managing Director. "Nimbuzz is an extremely innovative company, and we specialize in providing secure, connected state-of-the-art infrastructure that supports and facilitates the latest and best applications.” http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/nimbuzz_selects_interxion_to_support_growth.html

HostDime Announces the Launch of HostDime India

2010-02-17T06:50:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) HostDime today officially launched HostDime India, its sixth international division based outside of the United States. The new division will provide Shared, Dedicated, VPS, and Reseller Web hosting and Colocation to clients in India and surrounding Asian countries.

The new Indian division operates out of offices in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India and hosts clients in both HostDime’s central data center in Orlando, Fla., and the division’s data center in Mumbai, India. Transaction currency and sales/support operations are native to India, giving HostDime an edge over many other hosting companies that do not maintain a local presence in the country. All HostDime international divisions follow a similar strategy.

“India is in every sense a global marketplace of tomorrow. With more than 60 million Internet users and growing, and a highly educated, largely English-speaking population, India holds the promise of significant online growth and an emerging opportunity to deliver hosting solutions for individuals and small to medium sized businesses,” said Sherimon Alamar HostDime India's Director. “Asia represents the latest strategic frontier for HostDime, and India is an ideal launching pad.”

HostDime India enables clients to host locally in the India Data Center or choose to have their sites hosted in the United States, at a lower rate. This flexibility allows HostDime India to serve a wide variety of customer needs, and work with customers who want a partner for India based hosting or in any of the other six branch locations where HostDime has Data Center operations.

HostDime India is HostDime's latest international division. HostDime operates six international divisions in total, with operations based in Haifa, Israel (HostDime Israel), Joao Pessoa, Brazil (HostDime Brazil), Ibague, Colombia (HostDime Colombia), Monterrey, Mexico (HostDime Mexico), and now Kerala, India. The United Kingdom division is run out of the company’s United States headquarters, in Orlando, Fla.

As part of today’s anniversary announcement, HostDime India is offering a 100% discount off the first invoice, enabling new clients to try the service without any financial commitment. New clients can take advantage of the promotion with coupon code “HDIN”.

To learn more about HostDime, please visit http://www.hostdime.com/international.
To learn more about HostDime India, please visit http://www.hostdime.co.in.

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

VISI Expands Minnesota Data Center to Accommodate Customer Demand

2010-02-17T06:48:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) VISI has recently begun the expansion of its Saint Paul, Minnesota Data Center. This expansion will allow VISI to meet the needs of recent new customer additions.

“This expansion in our Saint Paul Data Center is well under way and will be complete in less than two months,” said Mike Sowada, CEO of VISI. “We are confident that our customers, both present and future, will benefit from the growth of our Saint Paul facility. With HIPPA and other regulatory requirements becoming more strict, VISI’s Saint Paul Data Center is one of the few in the Upper Midwest that offers SAS 70 Type II certification.”

Sowada commented that one of the major benefits of the data center is the high level of security. “We have a security guard present 365 days a year, video surveillance, and three-token authentications including a biometric hand scan.”

VISI currently occupies 11,000 net square feet of data center space at 180 East 5th Street in downtown Saint Paul. After the expansion to 18,000 net square feet, VISI will still have room for over 150 additional cabinets along with space to continue expanding the data center.

Sowada added that VISI is also investing substantially to equip VISI’s Eden Prairie Data Center with additional raised floors, high-density power capacity and environmental and security controls.

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

Record Growth in ISP Customer-base at SpamTitan

2010-02-17T06:46:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Virtualized security software appliances are playing a vital role in helping Internet Service Providers (ISPs) combat ever increasing levels of spam according to SpamTitan Technologies, the makers of powerful yet easy-to-manage spam and web filtering software. SpamTitan’s sales for the financial year ended 31 December 2009 showed a clear trend among ISPs for Cloud-, VMware- and ISO image-based anti-spam appliances.

Levels of spam account for 19 out of every 20 e-mails sent according to the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) in its third annual spam report just published. The report urges ISPs to make a more "dedicated effort" to get spam under control. ENISA says that a third of the largest service providers spend millions of Euros every year on anti-spam measures while one in four small ISPs has an annual spam-fighting budget in excess of €10,000 / $13700.

“As levels of spam accelerate ISPs are under pressure to apply increasingly costly resources to stopping malicious mail reaching customer inboxes,” says Ronan Kavanagh SpamTitan CEO. “But ISPs have to balance this against the need to manage costs and win new business. SpamTitan is proving increasingly popular with ISPs for its ability to help them derive increased efficiencies by moving to a virtualized, Cloud-based model and as well as for its accurate filtering and very low false positive rates.”

In 2009 the ISP sector accounted for 30 per cent of SpamTitan’s customer base and this is expected to rise to 45 per cent in 2010. SpamTitan’s ISP customer profile ranges from the small local providers to the very large industry providers supporting tens of thousands of users. ISP customers moving to SpamTitan recently include HBC Networks and PageOne Communications.

‘SpamTitan's pricing actually came as quite a shock to us - it had more features than many of the other products we looked at, but cost substantially less,” explained Jim Brown, Network Analyst with HBC Networks. “Since we installed SpamTitan, it has blocked over 4.5 million junk emails that would otherwise have placed a serious drain on our customer's mail servers.”

“For me, the real winner with SpamTitan is its unlimited user licensing model at a realistic price,” commented Gavin Lowle, Principal Information Technology Engineer, of PageOne. “Other advantages are its compatibility with VMware and how easy it is to deploy. We had SpamTitan up and running in minutes. It also has an extremely small footprint and uses minimal resource overhead. The multiple instance and clustering options in SpamTitan for VMware, in conjunction with VMware Vmotion, Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) and High Availability (HA), ensure our e-mail infrastructure remains highly resilient at all times.”

SpamTitan has been designed from the ground up to meet the complex scaleability and management needs of ISPs and other managed email service providers. .More and more this means operating in a virtualized environment as ISPs seek to optimize their server usage. “SpamTitan is one of the few virtualized security solutions to offer an extensive set of tools that are specifically tailored to the needs of ISPs,” said Kavanagh. “Features such as cluster management help increase total system capacity, provide enhanced monitoring and automatic failover capabilities. ISPs also have the ability to add domains directly into the SpamTitan API to automate the process of adding new clients to an ISP’s mail-filtering service. This flexibility along with the product’s reliability, capacity and tracking abilities is invaluable to dynamic environments such as ISPs where customers subscribe and unsubscribe on a continuous basis.

ISPs have to ensure customers do not experience delays when trying to use their server. This can happen if bandwidth is being swamped by useless and potentially harmful spam. SpamTitan takes care of all this for ISPs freeing them to concentrate on other areas of the business. The January 2010 Virus Bulletin test cemented this fact voting SpamTitan No 1 in blocking the most spam ahead of many of the best known industry brands. According to Kavanagh, ”SpamTitan provides ISPs with all the bells and whistles at a fraction of the cost. We see a large number of our new ISP customers moving from existing big brand names. ISPs are under a great deal of budgetary and service level pressure and we are delighted that more and more are turning to SpamTitan as their best option.” http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/record_growth_in_isp_customer-base_at_spamtitan.html

DiscountASP.NET Updates ASP.NET 4.0 Hosting Sandbox

2010-02-17T06:43:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) DiscountASP.NET and Microsoft have recently partnered and announced the updating of their ASP.NET 4 hosting sandbox with the recently released .NET Framework 4 RC. This free hosting sandbox program has been extended until April 2010 to allow Visual Studio 2010 RC users to experience 1-Click publishing, the next-generation in web application packaging and deployment.

The free sandbox hosting program is a limited program offered as an open beta for developers on a first come first serve basis. The.NET 4 beta hosting account comes with 50 MB of disk space and 50 MB of SQL Server 2008 database space. The program ends April 16, 2010.

Interested developers are welcome to sign up at http://labs.discountasp.net while space is available.
“With the release of the new RC versions of .NET 4 and Visual Studio 2010, we wanted to make sure developers get early experience with the newest update and have the opportunity to provide Microsoft with feedback on their experience,” said Takeshi Eto, VP Marketing and Business Development at DiscountASP.NET. “The official launch of ASP.NET 4 and Visual Studio 2010 is coming soon and we hope that the beta program will help the developer community get a jump start with ASP.NET 4.”

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/discountasp_net_updates_asp_net_4_0_hosting_sandbox.html

Neptuny Announces Oracle Network Gold Partnership

2010-02-15T09:31:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Neptuny recently announced that it has become Gold Partner of the Oracle Partner Network, a network designed to enable independent software vendors (ISVs), systems integrators, developers, reseller and consultants to work collaboratively together to effectively meet customer needs and to deliver superior solutions.

Neptuny has chosen the Oracle database technology as the best foundation for Caplan, the most complete Capacity Planning and Data Center Optimization solution available on the market. Oracle high-performance and scalability features provide Caplan customers with the ability to automate their Capacity Planning tool for (very) large environments. This translates both in terms of reduced operational costs and the ability to proactively identify optimization opportunities and reduce capacity risks for the whole data center (i.e. including physical and virtual servers, databases, storage, networks, facilities and other components). Caplan ROI has been validated by Neptuny customers in several market segments, such as Finance (Unicredit, Julius Baer), Telco (Vodafone, Pirelli Broadband Solutions), Retail (Expedia) and Energy (ENI).

"Our decision to join the Oracle Partner Network reflects our decision to enhance our support and provide a better integration of our product to Oracle technologies." said Giuseppe Nardiello, Business Development Manager, Neptuny. "This partnership is also part of a larger initiative aimed at further developing our technology partner network, which already includes leading vendors such as HP, IBM, VMware and Red Hat". http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/neptuny_announces_oracle_network_gold_partnership.html

ReliableSite Integrates Microsoft Web Application Gallery in Control Panel

2010-02-15T09:30:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) ReliableSite.Net LLC, a Web host serving individuals and small to medium sized businesses, announced today it will provide control panel integration with Microsoft’s Web Application Gallery, offering 1-click installation of a variety of free Web applications.

Through the integration, hosting users will be able to instantly install any applications from the Microsoft Web Application Gallery, without having to download or upload any files or configure the scripts. Users will be able to complete the entire process without leaving the ReliableSite control panel.

“As a Microsoft Windows hosting provider, it’s important we make available to our customers the wide variety of Web tools and technologies created by Microsoft. The Microsoft Web Application Gallery is an opportunity to save time and effort by utilizing a central repository of pre-configured, open source scripts,” said Radic Davydov, owner of ReliableSite.

In addition to Microsoft Web Application Gallery, ReliableSite also offers a multitude of pre-configured scripts that can be installed instantly. These scripts are also available at no additional charge in the ReliableSite control panel.

ReliableSite offers a wide-range of hosting solutions, including shared hosting, semi-dedicated servers, dedicated servers, and reseller hosting.

To learn more about dedicated servers form ReliableSite, please visit http://www.reliablesite.net/v3/dedicated.asp.

To learn more about ReliableSite, please visit http://www.reliablesite.net.

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

Surpass Hosting Announcces Fourth-Annual 'One Love' Promotion

2010-02-15T09:29:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Surpass Hosting, a leading provider of Shared, Reseller, Dedicated and Virtual Private Server hosting solutions with over 45,000 customers, today kicked off its well-known, fourth-annual One Love promotion, offering a flagship shared hosting plan for only $1 per month the entire first year, and a reduced price for the life of the account thereafter.

Lasting only until Thursday, February 18, One Love 4 is focused on the company’s most popular shared hosting plan, boasting 500GB of storage space and unlimited monthly data transfer. All shared hosting plans include a strong portfolio of features and are hosted on servers powered by Dual-Core Technology. After the first year, users pay only $3.99 per month for the life of the account.

“This year is our best yet," said Kayla Selans, vice president of sales, Surpass Hosting. "We first launched ‘One Love’ in 2007 as promotion to reward our loyal customer base. Since then, it’s become an iconic part of our brand, and is responsible for one of the most active periods of new account signups throughout the year. In 2010, we’ve sweetened the deal with new incentives and a new pricing structure.”

In celebration of the more than 5,000 OneLove accounts have been ordered since 2007, Surpass Hosting is giving away a new Google Nexus One smartphone. Only One Love 2010 customers are eligible to win.

Both new and existing customers are eligible to take advantage of the One Love 4 promotion. Some terms and conditions apply. More details are available at http://www.getonelove.com.

To learn more about Surpass Hosting, please visit http://www.surpasshosting.com.

http://www.gawkwire.com/promotions/surpass_hosting_announcces_fourth-annual_one_love_promotion.html

Lessons that should have been learned from Microsoft

2010-02-15T06:28:00-05:00

(WebHost Blog) I am not sure how many have been reading the Microsoft Confessions at Beta News, but they have been quite interesting. As a quick synopsis, Joe Wilcox at Beta News talked to some people who were layed off from Microsoft and the stories were interesting. Judging from the comments I can tell that a lot of people are missing the point of the articles.
First off we can assume that Wilcox, as a reporter, talked to people who were not harboring angry feelings of loss, remorse, and bitterness (we can tell this from the stories themselves as well, I have seen bitter layoffs and these people are nothing like it). However, the point we get from the stories doesn’t really hinge on emotional distress anyway. They could be bitter, they could be relieved, either way doesn’t really matter to the point.

The bulk of the comments though have been focused on this non-issue. They have said things such as who cares they are bitter employees or this is how all large businesses are deal with it, or this is a waste of time because of a or b. And again not the point.

Anyone who has ever worked in a large organization knows a lot of these stories are in fact common place. How many people have been screwed over by mismanagement, failed deadlines due to too many chiefs, badgering by several bosses, etc.? Fact of the matter is, this is the sort of business culture that is normally considered typical of large enterprises (which really depends on the industry and the management in place and etc.).

Now the point, all five stories sing the same refrain. Essentially, what we have is a business whose overall culture changed as the company matured. Microsoft became larger, a little slower, grew a gut (middle management.. yes pun intended), and slowly the small, agile, culture of the SMB mindset vanished.

There is a wrong and a right way to change the atmosphere, the working environment of a business. Judging from the articles, I think it is safe to assume that instead of an actual focused change, Microsoft just sort of drifted to its current state. A few of the articles say the company doubled in size since they were working there so I think the next assumption is that the new employees brought with them a piece from their previous employment.

A company’s culture is more than just the social norms of a business. It is its work ethic. It determines practices, protocols, how a business solves problems, etc. It is the framework from which everything that runs within a company is based off of. It is up to management to ensure new employees become integrated into this system.

There are times when the culture needs to change such as when integrating new systems or tools, switching to a new focus, branching out into new products, making up for company weaknesses, etc. Changing the culture of a company is a delicate matter and requires a sound plan and it also helps to let your employees know why you are doing it.

For my own subjective commentary on Microsoft, I don’t think the change was a part of a focused plan, it just sort of happened. And honestly I think Microsoft is trying to do way too much. They have been trying to chase after Apple and Google with relatively little success. They have been increasing their product line and the number of employees to find a means to win in all these different categories and in doing so has greatly affected the quality of their products. With the great influx of employees they have watered down their own corporate identity and its now biting them in the bum. They traded up the business culture of a market leader and innovator for those of a company who is trying to play catch-up to their betters.

The lesson found in these Microsoft stories is a simple one. A company’s business culture is important to the success of the company. If change is needed then do so in an organized and focused fashion, allowing old and new employees the chance to gradually make the switch. Do not let the business culture get watered down, nor should you just leave its fate to chance.

About David Dunlap
Over the past ten years David has been a prolific author of hundreds of blogs, commentaries and reviews found here on WebHostBlog.com, as well as WebHostMagazine.com and other sites around the Internet. David manages the daily operations at both WebHostBlog and Web Host Magazine & Buyer's Guide, and as the head editor, David uses his unique analytical skills to ensure that both sites maintain their integrity and tough, but fair minded, reputations. Prior to his active career analyzing the Web Host industry, David specialized in networking and communications for the U.S. government. David's expertise in traditional and search engine marketing has helped boost companies both inside and outside of the Web Host industry.

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

PRAKTIK Hosting Announces Free Source Control Migration

2010-02-15T06:27:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) PRAKTIK Hosting recently announced it has streamlined the source control migration process to enable small businesses to move from legacy Visual Source Safe to Microsoft Team Foundation Server (TFS). PRAKTIK Hosting is now providing free source control migration with their most popular TFS hosting offerings -- Team 5 and Team 10 bundles.

Change is easy for once -- the experts from PRAKTIK handle the entire migration process and customers can be up-and-running on the new platform in as little as 48 hours. The benefits for the customer -- hosting means no hardware to buy, no software licenses or support personnel and better yet, no implementation delays or variable costs. For a fixed monthly budget, the entire migration process as well as the post-migration support is simply taken care of.

The release of Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2010 will take the Application Life-cycle Management (ALM) market to the next level. In today’s fast-paced world, companies need to be more agile and consistent in their development process. “We are helping small companies gear up and position themselves to be the first at the starting line of the who-gets-to-release-first race. You don’t have to be left behind just because this year’s hardware budget has been cut."

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

VantagePoint Offers Training to Combat Corporate Security Breaches

2010-02-15T06:26:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) VantagePoint Security, a leader in information security, today launched a series of web-based eLearning courses aimed at helping companies add a third line of defense toward protecting their confidential data. By training all staff members in an organization on the essentials of security awareness – whether its information security, customer data and payment information, or mobile computing – companies of all sizes can greatly increase their security measures and lessen the chances of a catastrophic breach.

“Most corporate IT teams implement strong hardware and software solutions to fortify a company against security leaks and potential data loss. This is a great line of defense, however studies indicate that more than 70% of data loss can be attributed to human error,” said Terry Zajic, VantagePoint Security’s Managing Partner. “Every individual within the organization unknowingly is a potential breach for the security measures IT has instilled.”

Designed by leading security consultants and industry experts, the VantagePoint Security eLearning courses provide a cost-effective way to educate staff on the many areas where a company’s information security may be breached. The courses help employees to understand their role in the company’s security measures, and give them the tools they need to develop good data protection habits and recognize potential threats.

“Our eLearning courses are based on our real-world experience working with international companies to address their security concerns. Each course is designed to help organizations of all sizes better safeguard their data through awareness training,” stated Zajic.

The first two courses in the eLearning series are available immediately. Introduction to Information Security arms staff with the critical knowledge they need to help protect data, networks and confidential information from unintentional or deliberate security breaches by addressing security vulnerabilities that occur in the course of everyday business computing from weak passwords to network-based attacks. Secure Mobile Computing builds on this by delving into the crucial security vulnerabilities staff faces while working out of the office —lost or stolen laptops, compromised confidential information, and unsecured networks. Both courses are intended for the non-technical audience. All eLearning courses are SCORM compliant and meet the regulatory compliance requirements for security awareness training. More information can be found at http://www.vantagepointsecurity.com/elearning.html

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

Rackspace Launches Hosted Microsoft SharePoint

2010-02-15T06:25:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Rackspace® Hosting today announced the launch of hosted Microsoft SharePoint, the popular collaboration and file sharing platform, uniquely backed by Rackspace’s 24x7x365 Fanatical Support®. With the addition of hosted Microsoft SharePoint, Rackspace's suite of cloud applications now includes business-class collaboration, email and storage solutions.

“With SharePoint, Rackspace is offering businesses the most powerful file sharing and collaboration software on the market today,” said Pat Matthews, General Manager of Rackspace Email & Apps. “With our cloud delivery model, businesses can take advantage of all the power Microsoft SharePoint has to offer without the hassle of having to manage the software in-house. Microsoft SharePoint backed by Fanatical Support is the recipe our customers have been asking for.”
The Rackspace offering includes an intuitive control panel that allows administrators to quickly initiate SharePoint, add/remove users, and create SharePoint sites with only a few steps. The control panel also gives administrators the ability to manage Rackspace Email & Apps’ full suite of applications, including hosted Microsoft Exchange, Rackspace Email, Email Archiving, and Rackspace Cloud Drive and Server Backup, in one dashboard.

With SharePoint from Rackspace, employees can become better equipped to collaborate on projects and share ideas across the organisation, with a centralised place to store, organise, and access documents. Specific features and benefits include:

• Collaboration and Social Computing – Allows teams to work together effectively, collaborate on and publish documents, maintain task lists, implement workflows, and share information through the use of wikis and blogs.
• Document Management – Organise your files and share with team members in one central location. Files are easy to locate when you need them.
• Team Organisation – Easily customize for each team with workflows that fit your projects. Automatic alerts keep team members up to date.
• Microsoft Office® Integration – Smoothly integrate with the software you love. SharePoint works with Outlook®, Word®, Excel®, and PowerPoint®.
• Enterprise Search – Quickly and easily find people, expertise, and content within the organisation.

In addition to the new hosted SharePoint offering, Rackspace continues to offer Dedicated SharePoint through its managed services division for customers who require higher levels of customisation or control. Dedicated SharePoint is a single tenant solution, supported by a team of certified Rackspace SharePoint engineers who design, deploy, customise and fully manage the solution. http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/rackspace_launches_hosted_microsoft_sharepoint.html

Domains Guru Now Offering Domain Consultation & Brokerage Services

2010-02-15T06:24:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Domains Guru, Inc. has recently launched a new domains consultation company. This new company provides a variety of services that relate to the complex management issues of domain names in today’s marketplace.

DomainsGuru.com understands that in the competitive business world, having a strong and protected domain name is an integral part of a company’s success. As CEO Abdu Tarabichi explained, his team can walk you through the entire process of acquiring, managing and selling domains.

The company deals with the complex issues that people and businesses face every day when navigating the domain name industry, which has been called e-real estate in our changing world. As Mr. Tarabichi stated, "Just as a person would consult with an attorney when legal issues become complex, DomainsGuru.com can provide expert level consultation for this very specific industry. For example, we have consulted with companies who have had domains used or secured by their competitors. We assist our clients with weighing out their options, which can include alternative names that represent their brand, or explaining the actions that are within their rights if they feel someone has infringed on a company's brand inappropriately."

“We feel that the Domain industry is much like a new frontier for businesses to explore. Businesses need to look at domain names as online real estate, and ensure they make wise purchases that will put them in the right neighborhood and ahead of the competition online.” said Mr. Tarabichi.

The detailed services offered support clients from beginning to end. If you are planning your business, and want to secure the best domain name to drive potential customers to your site, or if you require monitoring of your existing domains to ensure no one infringes on your brand, DomainsGuru.com has the expertise. And, when it comes to managing your e-real estate, DomainsGuru.com understands the complexities of domain brokerage and recovery.

"To the inexperienced, buying, selling and recovering lost domain names can be confusing. Our team understands what fair market values are, and the processes of negotiation to ensure smooth transactions for our clients." Abdu stated.

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

Openwave Introduces Management Solution for Increasing Video Demand

2010-02-15T06:23:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Openwave Systems Inc. recently announced Openwave Media Optimizer, an intelligent, scalable, and policy-aware video delivery solution. Openwave Media Optimizer enables the reduction of data transmission costs and works to improve the online video experience across any device. Openwave Media Optimizer is part of Openwave’s Traffic Mediation solution and can be delivered pre-integrated with Openwave® Smart Policy, also announced today.

“Data demand, specifically driven by video, is on a path to quickly outstrip network capcity. According to a recent report from Cisco Systems[1], video traffic is projected to be roughly two thirds of the world’s mobile data by 2014,” said Ken Denman, CEO, Openwave. “With the advent of game-changing devices such as the iPhone and potentially the iPad, the growing popularity of video on smartphones and other non-phone devices is putting a tremendous strain on operator networks. An immediate way for operators to manage skyrocketing bandwidth consumption is by deploying in-network software optimization solutions like Media Optimizer to control data transmission costs and dynamically optimize video for an optimal viewing experience.”

“Video traffic is rising and operators are looking for ways to reduce costs while monetizing the opportunities as well,” said Chetan Sharma, president of Chetan Sharma Consulting. “The ability to optimize video traffic without impacting the user experience is an important piece of the operator’s overall traffic management portfolio.”

Key benefits of Openwave Media Optimizer include the following:

• Content-aware Bandwidth Compression uses a video encoding algorithm to potentially compress data by 30 percent, thus potentially reducing bandwidth consumption with minimal impact to the visual quality of the video.
• Dynamic Content Inspection can eliminate the need to manually identify video contents using a “white list.” This feature allows video content to be accurately identified regardless of their source and packaging.
• Smart Caching works to reduce core network traffic and to improve the user experience through faster video delivery. It also can perform offline optimization on popular videos, resulting in multiple versions of videos pre-encoded according to device profiles and pre-configured optimization levels.
• Dynamic Bandwidth Shaping – enables the adjustment of the video bit-rate according to real-time network conditions to ensure continuous video playback without any stalls or jitters.
• Just-In-Time Video Delivery works to deliver just enough content for smooth playback, preventing wasted bandwidth when users do not watch an entire video.
• Device- and Network-Aware Optimization takes into consideration a device’s capabilities and encodes media content in a bit-rate suited for each device.
• Optimized Codecs include one that is tuned for speed for real-time transcoding and delivery, and another that is tuned to produce the best video quality for cached videos during offline optimization.
• Policy-Aware Optimization works to ensure that users receive the quality of service they expect – or paid for – with a configurable optimization level that is based on attributes such as subscriber profile, device characteristics, data plan, and time of day.

Openwave Media Optimizer is expected to be generally available at the end of the first calendar quarter of 2010. http://www.gawkwire.com/video_tv/openwave_introduces_management_solution_for_increasing_video_dem.html

Half of Designers Using Unlicensed or Pirated Software

2010-02-11T12:49:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) New reasearch is now showing that an overwhelming number of web design professionals are using pirated and unlicensed software to create and maintain websites according to reasearch released by Fasthosts Internet Ltd. The poll of 500 web designers(1) conducted with .NET magazine (www.netmag.co.uk) found that more than half of web designers and developers admit to having worked in an environment where they used unlicensed web design software. As licences for web design software can often cost small agencies thousands of pounds, recent economic pressures are a likely factor in the problem. Fasthosts recently announced its work with Microsoft to promote the WebsiteSpark program – an initiative that provides eligible users with free licenses for Microsoft Expression® and Visual Studio® software. The initiative is a good example of how web professionals can access software through legitimate schemes and so avoid the risks of using unlicensed software.

According to Fasthosts’ survey of .NET magazine readers, the use of unlicensed software by web professionals is rife in the UK. 59 per cent of those surveyed have placed themselves, their colleagues and their work at risk by using unlicensed software to create websites. If a worker uses software without a license number, or if the license only entitles its use for an individual machine and it is copied and installed on multiple computers, the company is likely to be breaking the law – often punishable with a substantial fine. In a recently reported case, a London-based website design agency was fined a 5-figure sum for its use of illegal software.

There is also strong evidence that the use of unlicensed software can be a false economy – users often face bugs and do not benefit from access to support services which can result in downtime and delays. Comments from those who took the poll suggest that the use of illegal software is a common cause of frustration and concern for the web design community. A number of those affected describe tensions between those responsible for IT budgets and licences, and creative staff expected to use the software.

Steve Holford, CMO Fasthosts Internet Ltd., said, "Great web projects can often rely on the latest software and at times businesses may be tempted to cut corners with their software licenses. Web designers should not struggle with sub-standard software or more importantly jeopardise their future by using illegal software”.

Dan Oliver, Editor of .NET magazine, comments, “With tight deadlines, and tighter budgets, it's understandable - though clearly not recommended - to hear of people being asked to use pirated software. It's unrealistic to put the onus on employees, the message needs to get through to employers. We're hoping that technologies such as SaaS can go some way to lessening the problem of pirated software in the web design industry”.

FAST (Federation Against Software Theft) has an ‘employee whistle-blowing’ campaign to tackle employers who pressurise staff into installing illegal software. John Lovelock, Chief Executive of FAST, comments, “The software industry is a vital part of the economy and deserves the same protection as counterfeit consumer goods. We want workers to know there is support and the means to combat any illegal behaviour by contacting us via our website www.fast.org, and have protection in law under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (Whistleblower Act). We hope that by raising awareness of the laws protecting employees, the number willing to blow the whistle will increase and reduce the illegal use of software,” added Lovelock.

Nowadays there are industry schemes that can provide eligible web pros with free access to fully licensed professional software. For example, Microsoft’s WebsiteSpark program offers support for web design and development agencies with up to 10 employees. Eligible Fasthosts customers gain an immediate financial benefit – saving £240 per year with a free Windows Server license and saving even more with a free MSSQL license. Upon enrolment, members gain access to free Windows Expression® Studio 2 (1 user license), Expression® Web 2 (2 user licenses), Visual Studio® 2008 Professional Edition (3 user licenses) and DotNetPanel control panel.

Holford added, "Smaller web agencies, perhaps more prone to budget constraints, should be aware that there are schemes out there designed to help. WebsiteSpark is an apt example that delivers exactly what they need most – free tools and practical help. Your web host can be a good source of advice on the latest initiatives available”.

As a long-standing expert for MS web hosting, Fasthosts is a trusted partner to thousands of web professionals. Combined with Fasthosts’ current price reductions on Windows Server packages, now is an opportune time for users to refresh their access to Microsoft web development solutions. Free support and training opportunities from the WebsiteSpark program include unlimited access to technical newsgroups on MSDN, unlimited program support and two technical support consultations per membership, as well as relevant events and activities. More details can be found at www.fasthosts.co.uk/dedicatedservers/microsoft-websitespark-program or by calling 0844 583 0777.

As a leading web host, Fasthosts offers a comprehensive range of web solutions including domain name registrations, email solutions (including mobile email services), shared web hosting, dedicated servers, online payment 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/web_design/half_of_designers_using_unlicensed_or_pirated_software.html

LeaseWeb R&D Team Launches Ultra Green Dedicated Servers

2010-02-12T05:00:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) LeaseWeb (www.leaseweb.com), business hosting provider among the world’s top-20 of hosting providers, has tested and implemented an ‘extremely energy-efficient’ dedicated server environment in collaboration with Dell, Microsoft and data center EvoSwitch. The dedicated server environment is currently in the beta stage. LeaseWeb clients can already try these Ultra Green Dedicated Servers at a discount.

LeaseWeb’s R&D team has installed the energy-efficient dedicated server environment in a private suite of the green data center EvoSwitch (www.evoswitch.com). The implementation was carried out in collaboration with EvoSwitch engineers.

Energy-friendly hosting
“The dedicated server setup, according to our calculations, could have a Power Usage Effectiveness of 1.1, which is considerably less than the current PUE of 1.5 within the overall data center environment of EvoSwitch,” says Thorsten Einig, Product Manager at business hosting provider LeaseWeb and member of the R&D team. “A PUE of 1.1 means that the server setup is 90% more energy-efficient in its operation than a conventional server setup with ‘standard’ cooling.”

One key basic ingredient for the innovative server setup is a cooling solution that uses Free Cooling (cooling with outside air) and Aisle Containment (separating hot and cold air).

“While these ingredients for cooling at such are nothing new, the design of the Total solution is completely different from what is common in the market,” says Einig. “It is not a cooling solution with a traditional design, and it is completely different from the current cooling setup at EvoSwitch or other data centers. Airflows travel differently from what we are used to, and cooling equipment and control systems are specifically coordinated. We have also chosen extremely energy-efficient server equipment that has been specifically programmed and tuned to the cooling system.”

The result is a server environment that allows the compressor to remain fully switched off throughout the year. Einig: “Free Cooling, or cooling with outside air, normally cannot be used throughout the year because temperatures in the Netherlands sometimes are too high. The current cooling setup, the decision to use specific server equipment and the specific coordination between individual systems entirely eliminates the need to use the compressor.”

Discount during beta stage
The new server environment has undergone extensive testing over the past six months. “And the results were amazingly good,” says Einig. “Due to our presence at EvoSwitch, we fortunately already have many servers that are quite energy-efficient in their operation, but this separate environment with its own cooling design allows us to achieve significantly higher energy savings. In the coming period, we will need to further increase the number of clients in this environment in order to achieve the pre-calculated PUE of 1.1. It is known that the PUE drops as the server volume increases.”

Einig: “While the solution runs stably within the stable preconditions of data center EvoSwitch, we have now entered a stage in which we want to increase the number of clients in that environment in order to further optimize the energy benefits. It is common knowledge that the benefits increase as the number of users increases. We now need to take that step. We have therefore decided to temporarily offer the servers in this specific environment at reduced prices. This means that clients entering during the beta stage will receive a discount.”

Innovative hosting
LeaseWeb’s R&D team continuously works to further improve the efficiency of products and work processes. “Innovation is necessary in order to guarantee our continued ability to offer products with a competitive price/quality ratio,” says Einig. “To deliver high-quality hosting at competitive prices, our products and processes must be organized in the best possible manner. With energy costs being an increasingly major factor in hosting, we are forced to take action. Considering the size of our server park, including more than 22,000 servers in our hosting network, a slight reduction in energy use would allow us to obtain significant purchasing benefits.”

LeaseWeb sets great store by a competitive price/quality ratio since the company acts as a wholesale supplier in the hosting market. LeaseWeb is at the top of the chain of hosting companies and its clients include many resellers such as system integrators, web designers, and application developers. In addition, LeaseWeb primarily serves media companies and corporate IT departments who use LeaseWeb’s hosting products as a foundation for developing their own applications. http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/leaseweb_r_d_team_launches_ultra_green_dedicated_servers.html

Interxion Awarded New Amsterdam Internet Exchange Data Centre Certificate

2010-02-12T05:00:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Interxion, a leading European operator of carrier-neutral data centres, is the first data centre colocation provider to be awarded the new Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX) data centre certificate. The certificate was awarded to Interxion’s recently completed 4,500 m2 AMS 5 data centre in Amsterdam, following an audit of the facility’s standards for technical implementation, operational resilience and business continuity management.

The new AMS-IX certificate was developed in 2009 to resolve issues encountered by AMS-IX and it’s members in the past and to eliminate any possible ambiguity about acceptable colocation standards in the future. It involved a full independent audit by consultants, Capitoline LLP. The audit evaluated location-related aspects such as flood protection and building quality – and scrutinised security and access control, fire precautions, power supplies, cooling and ventilation, cabling and management systems and monitoring. Also assessed were operating procedures and protocols that ensure operational continuity and timely, reliable customer communication in the event of outage.

“Our new certificate is designed to clarify the minimum standard of colocation services for AMS-IX and to simplify the decision-making process for exchange members looking for a maximum-availability data center environment.” said Job Witteman, AMS-IX CEO. “Until now there has been no standard tailored 100% to professional, high-end Internet exchanges and their users, and with the successful launch and accreditation of leading operators like Interxion, we hope the new standard will be adopted more widely by the industry.”

“We are delighted to be first in line to receive the new AMS-IX certificate,” said Michel van den Assem, Managing Director, Interxion Netherlands. “Any certificate that clearly demonstrates the value to customers of rigorous security, service and business continuity standards improves the overall quality of the industry, and in this case the endorsement comes from one of the largest Internet exchanges in the world. We provide our customers with direct access to 18 leading Internet exchanges in 11 countries, and we hope that where AMS-IX has shown the way, other Internet exchanges that connect to our footprint will follow.”

The new certification covers many of the areas already addressed as part of Interxion’s pan-European accreditation for ISO 27001. The ISO 27001 audit and certification process focuses on every aspect of the business, including physical infrastructure, site security and access management, personnel capabilities, communications and operations, legal compliance criteria, and back-up and disaster recovery.

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

Launch of Virgin Media Business Set to Shake Up Industry

2010-02-12T05:00:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Virgin Media Business launched today, outlining plans to shake up the UK business telecoms market. The company has set out an ambitious strategy to capitalise on a track record of double digit growth over the last three years. By growing business data and bringing the Virgin philosophy of innovation and brilliant customer service to the business telecoms market, the company is positioned to become a compelling alternative to BT.

With 40 offices located across the UK, Virgin Media Business will deliver a highly personalised service to mid-sized, nationally-oriented enterprises and the public sector. It plans to set new standards for the business telecoms market by building on the service heritage of the Virgin brand. Each customer will be provided with access to a dedicated account team to manage their needs. Combining outstanding customer service with continued financial commitment to enhance its technically superior network will enable Virgin Media Business to effectively target revenue opportunities, such as the demand for Ethernet in the corporate world as well as the PSN initiative in the public sector.

Mark Heraghty, managing director of Virgin Media Business, said: “We have big ambitions for Virgin Media Business. Our main goal is to grow the company, but we can only do that if the market likes what it sees. We’ve got to be better than anyone else and that means delivering the basics brilliantly, as well as matching customer needs with our technology and great service. Over the last three years we’ve invested heavily to put the building blocks in place, which means we’re more than fit to wear the Virgin badge.”

“In the last 12 months in particular, we’ve started to reap the rewards of that focussed investment. Projects such as working with the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Partnership (HIOW) to deliver a cutting-edge £90 million network that will transform public services in the region are testament to our ability to drive and underpin radical growth. And the good news for our customers is that there is more to come,” he said.

Virgin Media Business intends to focus on a number of core technology areas to achieve its goals. This includes expanding its extensive Ethernet portfolio, which already offers everything from simple point-to-point Ethernet circuits for the Metropolitan area through to national point-to-point and point-to-multipoint Ethernet services as well as any-to-any Ethernet VPNs.

In addition Virgin Media Business will expand the capability of its customer portal by integrating all services into one single application, putting enterprises firmly in the driving seat of their operations. The improvements will allow for fault and order management, online billing and performance management and, ultimately, support customer self-provisioning.

Neil Berkett, CEO of Virgin Media, said: “There is a significant opportunity to leverage the full power of our fibre optic network in the business telecoms market. Virgin Media Business will take our strong customer-centric approach to a growing and under-served market in which there is a need for a compelling and distinctive alternative to BT.” http://www.gawkwire.com/business/launch_of_virgin_media_business_set_to_shake_up_industry.html

NapaTech Releases Monitoring Technology for Mobile Data Networks

2010-02-11T12:38:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Napatech recently announced the release of a monitoring and troubleshooting technology for IP-based mobile data networks. According to market research firm Infonetics, by 2010, data traffic will surpass voice traffic on mobile networks. This is driving investment in 4th generation all-IP mobile data networks, such as LTE, which will extend the need for IP network monitoring, analysis and troubleshooting appliances.

“Mobile networks have traditionally been based on telecom protocols with significant management overhead built into the protocol itself. This is not the case with IP, which allows IP networks to be more flexible, but means that network management needs to be handled differently. For example, for performance monitoring, analysis and troubleshooting of IP networks, dedicated network appliances are required. These solutions already exist in enterprise networks where they have proven their value many times over. Now this technology can be applied to the challenges of mobile data networks”, said Erik Norup, President of Napatech Inc.

Napatech has recently added key features to its widely deployed intelligent real-time network analysis adapters to support mobile data networks. These include full and comprehensive support for IPv6 including relevant extension header, a requirement for LTE, which will require an IPv6 address in each hand-held device. Napatech has also included support for automatic recognition of key tunneling protocols used in mobile data networks, such as SCTP, GRE and GTP. This allows intelligent flow definition based on which tunneling protocol is being used. It also allows these flows to be intelligently distributed to multiple CPUs allowing parallel processing of mobile data.

These features enable real-time network and application performance monitoring of mobile user data as well as analysis of control data. With 10 Gbps capture-to-disk, it is also possible to capture mobile data traffic for later forensic analysis and troubleshooting.

Napatech will be demonstrating its intelligent real-time network analysis adapters at the Mobile World Congress from the 15th to the 18th of February in Barcelona, Spain on stand 2G28. http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/napatech_releases_monitoring_technology_for_mobile_data_networks.html

New Managed Dedicated Server Line Unveiled at Webhostuk Limited

2010-02-11T12:36:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Webhostuk Limited (http://www.webhost.uk.net), one of the UK's leading web hosting companies, has today unveiled a new range of dedicated servers. The new servers which are managed Dell servers, use Intel Dual Core and Quad Core processors. The servers are designed for excellent and robust performance, faster response times and improved scalability. With the new Quad Core Xeon processors, powerful RAM and high capacity SATA hard drives, a user can run the most complex programs/applications with relative ease. The new Dual Quad Core server delivers eight processing cores in two physical processors which in effect offer a substantial increase in performance over its previous generation of single quad-core processors.

The launch of this new range of managed servers will now give the best dedicated hosting experience to small, medium and large business models. The company now offers free managed services along with all their dedicated server series to make things simple and easy to manage for their end user clients.

The servers reside in one of the finest World-class data centers and are connected by redundant gigabit connections. All servers come with generous bandwidth allocations and superb network backbones supported with Webhostuk Limited's commitment to offer unmatched service and support, which helps the customers to deliver superior level of service and consistency to their end-users and achieve greater profitability. All servers are available in both Linux and Windows configurations with the choice of award winning control panel - WHM/cpanel and Parallels Plesk. A range of additional services and features such as dedicated IP's, additional drive storage, RAID arrays, SSL certificates etc, can be added by the customer to suit their exact requirements.

Abbie Clayton, Head of Business Development, Webhostuk Limited, says "Big, small, short, tall; Webhost.uk.net continually strives to offer the best possible server solutions, equipped with the latest processing power. Our robust series of managed dedicated servers are capable and ready to meet the ever growing needs of web hosting customers and their business. We now offer managed services free of charge so that our customers can solely concentrate on the productivity of their business and revenues.

Webhostuk Limited's dedicated servers range (http://www.webhosting.uk.net) is backed by 24x7 technical support (Email and Live Chat), offering a 100% SLA network uptime guarantee.

To get more details please visit: http://www.webhosting.uk.net/windows_dedicated.html http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/new_managed_dedicated_server_line_unveiled_at_webhostuk_limited.html

topseos.com Launches Scam and Fraud Alert Department

2010-02-11T12:34:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Topseos.com has recently launched it scam and fraud department according to the independent authority on search vendors. The department specifically investigates any potential scam or fraud complaints from businesses that have worked with internet marketing vendors. The topseos scam and fraud department seeks to mediate any situations, if possible, as an independent authority.

Jeev Trika, Managing Partner with topseos.com, explains, "We often times take a mediator role to try to resolve such situations where the buyer feels they have been ripped off. The agencies are not always at fault, and sometimes the buyer needs to be educated on the service that was purchased. However, it is often times in the interest of both parties to use us as a mediation party to resolve any disputes."

topseos.com began in 2002 with the mission in mind of helping businesses connect with the best in the internet marketing industry. Every month, thousands of internet marketing vendors are put through an extensive evaluation process by experienced research team that specializes in the various categories ranked by topseos.com. On the first of each month the information is compiled from the month and updated rankings of the best internet marketing vendors are released.

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

Jason Judge Named CEO of SpectorSoft

2010-02-11T12:33:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Today SpectorSoft Corporation has announced that it has appointed Jason Judge as the new Chief Executive Officer. Jason carries more than 17 years of executive leadership experience, with a strong track record of bringing world-class corporate solutions to market and delivering real value to customers, partners and shareholders.

“Jason is a proven leader—he understands the company’s business goals and objectives, and brings extensive leadership experience to our senior management team,” said C. Douglas Fowler, President and Founder of SpectorSoft. “Jason is the right choice to further advance SpectorSoft’s growth and position as the industry leader in the PC and Internet monitoring market.”

Prior to joining SpectorSoft, Jason served as Chairman and CEO of ScriptLogic, a leading provider of systems lifecycle management solutions for Microsoft Windows-based networks. There, he successfully led ScriptLogic through its acquisition by Quest Software in 2007, and remained on board as CEO for two more years. Jason also served as CEO of POPspace Corp. and vice president of business development at WesTower through its merger with SpectraSite in 1999. His executive leadership career began in 1993 when he founded and served as president of Omni Communications.

“SpectorSoft’s corporate products let business executives, managers and IT administrators keep a daily pulse on all computer activity or quickly get to the root of a situation as it unfolds, versus trying to retrace a user’s behavior days or weeks after an incident. SpectorSoft gives management all of the tools and visual evidence they need to address and resolve employee issues efficiently, saving them time and making their organizations more productive,” said Jason Judge, CEO of SpectorSoft. “I look forward to working with customers, partners, and our exceptional team to broaden SpectorSoft’s market share and best-in-class product portfolio of PC and Internet monitoring, reporting and surveillance products for business and home use.”

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

OpenDNS Helps Education Customers Combat Academic Fraud

2010-02-11T12:31:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) OpenDNS, provider of the world’s leading Internet navigation and security services that make networks safer, faster, smarter and more reliable, today announced it has added a new category, Academic Fraud, to its cloud-based Web content filtering service. OpenDNS is the first Web content filtering service that does not require an appliance to provide the highly important category.

OpenDNS Web content filtering services are today used by more than 25,000 school districts around the world, including some of the United States’ largest like Baltimore City Public Schools, Detroit Public Schools and San Diego Public Schools, to make the Internet safe and achieve CIPA compliance. In addition, thousands of colleges and universities rely on OpenDNS to secure their networks and keep their students and staff safe online.

Academic Fraud – including plagiarism, the buying and selling of papers and reports and other forms of cheating – is a problem plaguing academic institutions around the world. By preventing students from accessing the fraud sites on the school networks, academic institutions can add a simple and effective first line of defense to their effort to prevent academic fraud of all kinds.

“OpenDNS is firmly committed to listening to our 15 million users around the world and providing first and foremost the features and functionality they want. This is particularly true for our education customers, who are faced with the challenge of keeping students safe online,” said OpenDNS CEO David Ulevitch. “We’re proud to be first to market with the Academic Fraud Web content filtering category delivered through the cloud and invite school districts, colleges and universities using appliances from Blue Coat and Websense to compliment their existing solutions and add OpenDNS for a more secure network.”

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

PayPal Founder Matches Donations to Seasteading Institute

2010-02-10T04:43:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Peter Thiel, president of Clarium, technology investor, and libertarian philanthropist, has renewed his financial support of the Seasteading Institute (TSI) for 2010. He has pledged to match every donation to TSI made before July 24th, 2010 dollar-for-dollar up to $100,000. In addition, he is giving TSI a $250,000 grant.

“I think seasteading is not just possible, or desirable, but necessary,” said Thiel in his keynote address to the second Seasteading Conference, held September 2009 in San Francisco, CA. “Seasteading is one of the few technological frontiers that has the promise to create a new space for human freedom.”

“Peter Thiel is one of the most rigorous and effective defenders of liberty. His vision and generosity challenge us all to think big in what we can do to expand the frontiers of freedom,” said TSI founder and executive director Patri Friedman. “Thanks to his support, we will stay on track to launch the first seastead in 2015 and to keep building our large, diverse community.”

About the Seasteading Institute
The Seasteading Institute, established in 2008, is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. TSI seeks to further the establishment and growth of permanent, autonomous ocean communities, enabling innovation with new political and social systems. For more information, visit www.seasteading.org.

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

OpenOffice.org Announces Release of Version 3.2 Software

2010-02-11T06:40:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) At the start of its tenth anniversary year, and with over three hundred million downloads recorded in total, the OpenOffice.org Community today announced the release of the latest version of its personal productivity suite. OpenOffice.org 3.2 gets to work faster, offers new and improved features and functionality, gives better compatibility with other office software, and fixes bugs and potential security vulnerabilities.

OpenOffice.org 3 is the world's leading free personal productivity software. The basic components, which include word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, graphics, formula and database capabilities, can easily be supplemented by extensions downloaded from the OpenOffice.org extensions repository. In just over a year from launch, OpenOffice.org 3 had recorded over one hundred million downloads from the central download site alone, and the number continues to rise. Users range from individuals with a single PC to corporates with many tens of thousands of users.

OpenOffice.org 3.2 new or improved features include:

faster start up times
improved compatibility with open standard (ODF) and proprietary file formats
improvements to all components, particularly the Calc spreadsheet, with over a dozen new or enhanced features
the Chart module (usable throughout OpenOffice.org) has had a usability makeover as well as offering new chart types

Chris Goddard of Affiliorama.com is looking forward to the new release: "Four years ago we were an entrepreneurial start up, and the zero-cost OpenOffice.org was an obvious choice purely on financial grounds. We continue to use OpenOffice.org now for other reasons: its stability and functionality has kept up with our fast paced work environment; and because it's open source, finding good troubleshooting advice, or customizing the program is incredibly straight forward. We regularly promote OpenOffice.org as a viable Microsoft alternative to our more than 30,000 members, and we hope the new version encourages many more to follow our successful example."

Florian Effenberger, Marketing Project Lead of OpenOffice.org, explains: "Some people are currently locked in to other personal productivity tools - maybe by corporate IT policy, or by tie-in to other legacy software. For everyone else, we want OpenOffice.org to be the 2010 office software of choice, and 3.2 takes us another step towards that goal".

All users are encouraged to upgrade to the new release. Anyone still using OpenOffice.org 2 should note that this version was declared 'end of life' in December 2009, with no further security patches or bugfixes being issued by the Community. Enterprise support with longer lifecycles might be available from distributors as well as commercial vendors, like Oracle, the project's main sponsor. For details, see here.

A full guide to new features is available at here. The security bulletin with full details of the potential vulnerabilities fixed will be published here one day after this announcement.

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/openoffice_org_announces_release_of_version_3_2_software.html

WordPress Plugin Now Available with Free Link Building Campaign

2010-02-11T06:35:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Members of the Receive Links Network now have the option to integrate a simple plugin into their WordPress site. Those who have joined the Receive Links-Link Exchange Network, as well as new members, now have the option of installing a client on their WordPress blog by simply downloading and installing the plugin.

Receive Links is an automated service that allocates a certain number of link spaces to a website owner. In return, Receive Links will display that website owner’s link to other members within the Receive Links network. Anyone can join, as long as they can provide a high quality website that can provide a place for ads or links to be displayed. Building links is one of the most important factors for a successful website. Link building is a powerful technique that can significantly increase traffic to a website, improve visibility in the search engines, as well as provide an added resource to a website.

While building quality links is extremely important to a website’s success, it can be a frustrating, time consuming, and costly task. This is where the Receive Links network can help. Joining Receive Links is a way to display ads and inbound links without the cost. In fact, Receive Links has developed a system that will help contribute to the success of a website, and this system is absolutely free! Quality links is the goal for Receive Links. Receive Links takes this goal seriously. While anyone can join Receive Links, they must provide good quality websites. Each website that is submitted is thoroughly examined by a “real” person before it is accepted into the Receive Links network. This will not only ensure quality links, but will also ensure all guidelines are being followed, which will eliminate Spam or Porn sites from being displayed.

Many have discovered the importance of utilizing a blog for link building. Receive Links understands the importance of blogs, as well. This is why they have chosen to team up with WordPress to make the process of link building a much easier process. Simply add a site by selecting the WordPress Plugin option, then install the word press plugin on your site which you can get from here get links to your own URLs with deep linking or links to your home page. Receive Links is continually upgrading to ensure their members have the most up-to-date technologies for building links; therefore, increasing traffic to websites. Contact the Receive Links Support Center for more details.

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

TurnKey Internet Purchases Datacenter in New York’s Tech Valley

2010-02-11T06:34:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) TurnKey Internet, Inc. recently announced the purchase of a former federal government building in Colonie, New York as the site for a new datacenter, as it expands operations to meet growing demand. The facility will securely house TurnKey Internet’s infrastructure, increasing its capacity by 12,000 servers. Slated to go live for traffic in the 3rd quarter of 2010, the increased capacity will expand TurnKey Internet’s operations in New York and will bring new business to the region.

The acquisition represents a multi-million dollar investment for the company that has seen tremendous growth from businesses looking to control costs for web-enabled applications and IT services.

“We are very excited to continue to expand here in New York. New York has been a great location, providing access to the best qualified staff, reliable green-friendly power sources and high-speed fiber optic Internet connectivity. It has provided us with the ideal centralized geographic location to meet the demands of our clients across the globe,” said Adam Wills, President and CEO of TurnKey Internet and 15+-year resident of New York’s Capital Region.

Currently undergoing upgrades to increase power and cooling capacity, the new building will protect TurnKey Internet’s infrastructure behind 1-foot-thick concrete walls, built to federal government specifications. The 10,000+ square foot facility will feature redundant, green-friendly electrical systems, multiple high-capacity fiber optic Internet connections, video surveillance, and state-of-the-art biometric security protocols. In addition to the 12,000 new TurnKey Internet servers, the datacenter will also include fully-managed colocation suites for businesses looking for secure, reliable, enterprise-class connectivity for their own servers and equipment.

With the acquisition of the new building and multiple new hires in the past 60 days, TurnKey Internet is starting 2010 with record growth. The new tier 1 datacenter will be consistent with TurnKey Internet’s industry-leading standards for power availability, environmental control, high-performance web application hosting and 100% network uptime.

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

SoftLayer Now Offers Citrix Essentials for XenServer

2010-02-11T06:31:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) SoftLayer Technologies® today announced it has begun offering Citrix Essentials™ for XenServer®, Enterprise Edition. The new service can be added on top of Citrix XenServer virtual machines to extend server virtualization management, providing integration with native storage services, workload balancing, high availability, and performance monitoring and reporting.

Essentials provides IT administrators with advantages throughout the application delivery lifecycle. Intelligent workload placement capabilities optimize computing resource usage, and rapid provisioning streamlines the creation of new virtual machine resources on demand. The solution also simplifies virtual environment storage management with easy backup and maintenance features that integrate with existing storage platforms.

Key benefits include:
 Optimized use of computing resources
 Accelerated provisioning
 Reduced sprawl and energy consumption
 Simplified maintenance and minimize downtime

“At SoftLayer, we are proud to consistently offer our customers the newest and greatest features. Citrix Essentials is yet another product that gives our customers increased control over management of virtual server environments,” said Nathan Day, SoftLayer Chief Technology Officer. “Citrix Essentials adds on features such as high availability to ensure uptime and dynamic workload balancing that helps to distribute workloads intelligently across available resources.”

Citrix XenServer Essentials can be provisioned with a server order and is available on order forms as an OS add-on. As with all SoftLayer services, management is available through SoftLayer’s leading Customer Portal, where customers will also now be able to view their daily virtual machine count statistics.

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

The Planet Joins Commission Junction Affiliate Network

2010-02-11T06:29:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) The Planet, the global leader in IT hosting, today continued the expansion of its Partner Plus Program by joining the Commission Junction affiliate network. A leading provider of affiliate marketing solutions, Commission Junction’s extensive network of publishers expands The Planet’s visibility among Web-based buyers.

With the increasing popularity of cap-ex-free IT and cloud computing, The Planet offers Web content publishers the ability to profitably reference the company’s broad range of solutions. The Planet advertiser program through Commission Junction offers solutions that range from affordable dedicated servers to fully managed hosting. The Planet pays affiliates an industry-leading, one-time $150 commission for each newly referred customer who completes a Web purchase.

“With this partnership, we’re enhancing our visibility among the Web’s biggest influencers,” said Tom Blair, vice president of global sales for The Planet. “Consumers look to these sources for input and advice on IT and hosting solutions, and The Planet will be front and center in this community. Last week we expanded our partner program for resellers, and combined with today’s announcement, we’re making it easier than ever for customers and partners to do business with us. Throughout 2010 we plan even more additions that will set The Planet apart as the industry’s best partner program.” (See http://www.theplanet.com/PR/reseller-enhancements.)

To learn more about The Planet’s affiliate program or to sign up, visit the Web site at http://www.theplanet.com/affiliate-program. To see the full range of partner programs available with The Planet, please visit http://www.theplanet.com/partner-program.

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

Codero Announces Free cPanel Promotion

2010-02-10T09:10:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Codero is currently offering customers cPanel for free during the first three months on dedicated and managed hosting plans when they obtain a new cPanel license. With this promotion, users will be able to discover how the integration of cPanel's control panel can make it easy to automate server tasks such as account setup, servers, alerts, spam monitoring and more.

“The cPanel promotion is a great opportunity for those who have wanted to try a control panel in the past, but were unsure of the added value delivered,” stated Shelby Garlock, Director, Marketing for Codero. "By offering a simple and intuitive interface, cPanel allows users to operate their servers and domains with ease, as well as set up complex configurations without having to know code."

Designed to automate website and server management, the cPanel control panel will ease the process of web page creation, activation of email accounts, as well as the installation of applications required for blogs, forums and shopping carts. For server administrators and web hosts who need features such as server alerts, spam monitoring or even want to set up white-label reseller accounts, cPanel combined with Web Host Manager (WHM) provides an easy-to-use and versatile alternative for managing servers.

For more information on cPanel and WHM, please visit the cPanel website at www.cpanel.net.

For full details on the cPanel promotion and other current promotions, please visit www.codero.com/specials/.

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

RegistryPro Releases Plans for .PRO Names

2010-02-10T09:14:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) RegistryPro today announced plans for the highly anticipated release of one- two- and three-character .PRO domain names over the course of the coming weeks and months.

“Many well-qualified and committed professional organizations, companies and individuals will soon have the privilege of owning some of the most prime real estate on the Internet, “said Lucas Roh, CEO of RegistryPro. “We’re excited to offer these names to an eager public.”

In June 2009, RegistryPro received approval from the board of directors of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to release these unique and highly recognizable names, which have been reserved since the registry was launched in 2004.

According to the release schedule posted on RegistryPro’s corporate Web site, www.registry.pro/123, the first phase of the release and allocation process is Request for Proposals (RFP), which will begin on February 10th when .PRO begins accepting and evaluating RFPs for all one- two- and three-character .PRO names.

Interested parties have the opportunity to distinguish themselves as candidates by submitting detailed FPs about their qualifications and how they intend to use and promote a name if awarded. The primary objective of the RFP process is to develop long-term relationships with and secure firm commitments from individuals, businesses and professional organizations that evidence an honest, well mapped out understanding of this opportunity as well as their place in the .PRO space.

According to the release schedule, names not awarded through RFP will also be made available through two additional allocation methods: auction and first come, first served general availability.

“With our three-step process, prospective registrants will have several ways to acquire these ultra-premium names,” said Roh. “With names like i.pro, ny.pro and 777.pro coming on the market in such a short period of time, we expect to see a flood of interest in .PRO in Q1 of 2010.”

“Easily identifiable alpha-numeric three-character names just don’t come on the retail market that often,” said Roh. “.PRO has over 43,000 available, so we’re very excited about our growth potential in 2010!”

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

Network Redux Sponsors Nonprofit Portland Startup Weekend

2010-02-10T09:15:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Network Redux, LLC is pleased to announce their sponsorship of the nonprofit Portland Startup Weekend.

As an entrepreneur enthusiast, Network Redux is proud to support Portland Startup Weekend.This will provide a one year VPS One account and registered domain name to each new business developed within the 54 hour event.

Startup Weekend is a national event that provides resources and opportunities and brings together a community to establish their ideas into reality. "What an incredible method for help those with an idea or invention get going in today's economic climate," says Network Redux President, Thomas Brenneke. "We are active participants in the startup and entrepreneurial components within Portland and are pleased to be able to provide one of the most essential tools for any new business, reliable managed web hosting. Our engineers will work with each of these startups to build, configure and pro-actively monitor their environments to meet their specific and unique requirements. We're also proud to be working with our friends at NedSpace. Josh and team are doing more for local startups than any other privately held organization in the Portland metro area."

Network Redux is a developer-focused provider of Managed Linux hosting solutions, with operations in Portland, Oregon.

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

Ensim Enhances Security and Compliance Capabilities for SharePoint 2010

2010-02-10T07:27:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Ensim Corporation, the leading provider of change management, user provisioning and access control software, today announced the addition of SharePoint Manager to its Ensim Unify Enterprise Edition’s suite of integrated tools. Ensim Unify SharePoint Manager supports both SharePoint 2007 and the upcoming SharePoint 2010 release, providing enhanced provisioning, management and compliance capabilities for SharePoint Server 2010.

Managing the functionality of SharePoint while effectively meeting security and compliance requirements has become increasingly critical, particularly within large organizations. Ensim Unify SharePoint Manager ensures that when users are provisioned and managed, business and policy objectives are met on a secure, cost-effective basis.

“Large enterprises are constantly looking for ways to cut costs, improve security, and meet compliance goals when it comes to SharePoint and other elements of their Unified Communications infrastructure,” said Jeff Teper, vice president, Office Business Platform at Microsoft. “With the addition of SharePoint Manager, Ensim continues to deliver management tools that ensure customers meet these goals.”

Key features of Ensim Unify SharePoint Manager include:
• Automated provisioning of SharePoint sites, including site collection and sub-sites - allows administrators to centralize administration of SharePoint and implement chargeback mechanisms as appropriate

• Permissions management - managing user permissions on various SharePoint sites enables users to meet compliance goals by providing a complete picture of who has access to each area

• SharePoint group management- allows employees to add themselves to SharePoint groups based on IT policy
• Real-time user and resource reporting

“Organizations are taking a more holistic approach to user provisioning and application management by aiming to meet security and compliance objectives without disrupting ongoing business processes,” said Scott Young, vice president of marketing and product management at Ensim. “At the same time, our customers expect management software to quickly connect to existing infrastructure, including existing identity management solutions, while eliminating out-of-compliance manual updates. Ensim Unify easily connects to existing ID management solutions and policy engines to ensure that security and compliance goals are met throughout the provisioning / de-provisioning and management processes.”

For more information on Ensim Unify SharePoint Manager, visit http://www.ensim.com/products/ensim_unify/unify_enterprise_edition/sharepoint_manager.html or call 1-877-MY-ENSIM or 1-408-496-3700 from outside North America.

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

Start a Kindness Revolution at Work This Valentine's

2010-02-10T06:20:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) It's that time of year again—when hearts become the decoration of choice and there seems to be pink and red everywhere you turn. The time of year when heart-shaped candy abounds, and we are all encouraged to show some love to those we love—our spouse, significant other, secret crush, family members, coworkers, etc. Wait. Even our coworkers? Yes, says Liz Jazwiec. She points out that the one group we often neglect to show much love to could use a dose in these hard times, and Valentine's Day provides the perfect opportunity to spread some kindness around the workplace.

"Maybe it's because of those tiny little cards we used to hand out at school, but I always think of my coworkers on Valentine's Day," says Jazwiec, author of Eat That Cookie!: Make Workplace Positivity Pay Off...For Individuals, Teams and Organizations (Fire Starter Publishing, 2009, ISBN: 978-0-9840794-4-5, $28.00). "Obviously it's great to show love to your sweetie, kids, family, and friends but infusing some kindness where we spend much of our time—work—can go a long way."

Unfortunately, at a time when many are worried about doing everything they can to keep their jobs, the general mood at many workplaces is pretty somber. Jazwiec suggests that kindness can make our work a little easier, the days go just a little faster, and everything just a little bit better.

"It's crazy to think just how unkind we can be to our coworkers," says Jazwiec. "After all, if you are all working in the same place, even if you might be in different departments, you are essentially on the same team. You are all working toward the same goals. The in-fighting and just general nastiness or indifference for one another that can pop up in workplaces affects everyone negatively. It breaks us down as individuals and as teams. It is impossible to think that our lack of kindness doesn't affect the work environment. The reason most people leave jobs is either because of their boss or their coworkers. Trust me, kindness can make a difference with team members."

If kindness is lacking at your workplace, here are a few simple ways you can start a kindness revolution at your organization:

Lead by example. If you are the leader at your organization, you need to heed the call. Tell your team that you are making kindness a focus. Pledge to be kind to everyone you encounter from vendors to clients to colleagues. Give your permission to call you on it when you forget your pledge. "Note that if a lack of kindness has been a problem at your organization for a while, you might have to slowly introduce the practice," says Jazwiec. "After all, you wouldn't want your coworkers to walk in one day and think that you've been brainwashed. Try one kindness initiative at a time—for example, regularly saying thank you or offering to help a coworker at least once a day—and see if you can get the kindness bug to spread."

Put an end to petty criticism. Boy, are we tough on each other! We criticize just about everybody and everything. We talk about one another's hair, clothes, cars, etc. We scrutinize every little word and laugh at each other's mistakes. "Isn't it time we give each other a break?" asks Jazwiec. "I think too many of us slip into negativity as a default behavior at work. We hear others being negative so we join in to stay out of the crossfire. We all need to remind ourselves to stay out of that negativity and instead be kind, nice, and thoughtful.

"Laurie Round, a good friend of mine and a nursing director in a large hospital, came up with a great way to do just that," continues Jazwiec. "She got tired of hearing all the negative talk from the team members reporting to her, and after hearing her pastor speak one Sunday about the consequences of an untamed tongue, she decided to do something about it. And being that she works at a hospital she found she had a great tool right at her fingertips...tongue depressors!

"She wrote scripture on a few of them that pertained to the tongue and/or negative words and showed them to her staff and pointed out that there seemed to be an accepted culture of unkindness within the unit. Then she asked her staff members to write their own messages regarding the power of negative words on blank tongue depressors. Whenever they felt an unkind comment coming to the surface, they could pull out their tongue depressor and stick it in their mouth or give it to a coworker who had failed to tame her tongue. And slowly but surely, the culture of the unit began to change. Eventually it became one of camaraderie and mentorship. And the unit's associate satisfaction scores rose to the top percentile the next quarter survey. It's amazing what a tongue depressor can do!"

Welcome new employees with open arms. Often it's the new guy who gets the most abuse at work. It's interesting that organizations can be short-staffed with everyone putting in extra time and effort, just praying the boss hires someone to lessen the burden, and then when the new guy does start, he is welcomed with less than open arms. What is up with that? "Try to remember what it was like on your first day," says Jazwiec. "Then extend a little kindness the new person's way. Ask him about himself, his family, background, etc. Try to find things that he has in common with other team members. Sharing common experiences is a great way to bring someone into the fold.

"Or follow a practice lauded by bestselling author Quint Studer," adds Jazwiec. "He suggests that you ask new employees about the difference between their old workplace and your organization. After 30 or 60 days, ask new employees if there are things they see that could be done differently. Remember, fresh eyes see new things. Consider the new member of a home improvement store who noted that the bathroom display rooms were not lit from the inside. He asked why and of course the answer was, 'Well, we've just never done it that way.' So the new guy got the go ahead and wired a light fixture in the display room. Not only did it bring more attention to the display, but it also made the showers and sinks look better. See, listening to the new guy can help!"

Recognize one another's strengths, not weaknesses. In many workplaces, kindness goes out the door when younger and older employees must work together. Young employees get frustrated when their older colleagues can't use the latest technology quickly and efficiently. And older workers become frustrated with their younger counterparts' different work ethic. The problem is that the parties on both sides of the age gap are focusing on what they view as the other's weakness. Leaders should encourage all of their employees to value what their teammates bring to the table. Remind everyone that there is a reason each of them was hired.

"A great example for this is the case of Frannie Frugal," says Jazwiec. "She was an older woman at a place where I used to work. That's a coworker-appointed nickname by the way! For years the business was very successful, and most of the people working there didn't worry about cost or expense. But Frannie, however, clipped coupons for office supplies, saved large mailing envelopes to reuse for interoffice mail, and turned down the thermostat at the end of the day. Her coworkers used to joke that she still lived in the Depression.

"Then 2009 happened, and the business began to struggle. Next thing you knew everyone was looking for ways to cut costs. Suddenly, Frannie Frugal was the star. When asked for her thoughts on what could be done, she had a list a mile long (in addition to everything she was already doing). Her frugality was invaluable. My point is that if we quit snarking and actually pay attention, we can all learn a little from each other, which is sure to make for a kinder, more productive workplace."

Be nice to the "others." Many organizations suffer from intra-office turf wars. What results is departmental teams that are sometimes outright nasty to one another—the Sales team can't stand Purchasing. Purchasing can't stand the Warehouse. No one gets along with IT and on and on!

"Teams seem to think that anyone not working in their department is sitting in their office, feet up on the desk, eating bon-bons," says Jazwiec. "It's hard to work well together when you have such negative views of the other party's work ethic. But the reality is everybody works hard. Try a little kindness with the people who work in other divisions. You might be surprised how it actually makes things better for you.

"I heard a story once about an IT team that used to provide keyboard clean-ups for all departments at its organization. They divided the organization up amongst their staff and devised a schedule whereby every department would be visited quarterly for a good, safe cleaning of all the keyboards in their area. People were delighted, and pretty soon, they started thinking of the crew from IT as actual human beings instead of geeks, nerds, or arrogant know-it-alls. Once people started chatting face-to-face, great things happened. People were nicer when they called the IT help desk, and the IT people were more patient when listening to their coworkers' problems. So instead of assuming no one is working as hard as you and your team, assume everyone is working just as hard as you are. Soon your attitude about them will start to change and you will all be able to work together more cohesively and effectively."

"My dad gave my sister the best marriage advice, when he reminded her on her wedding day, 'Be kind to each other,'" says Jazwiec. "I think it is the best relationship advice ever spoken.

"Kindness is not difficult," says Jazwiec. "It doesn't require any money, any training, any real effort, and you can start right away either individually or as a team. That is the beauty of it! We spend around 2,000 hours a year with our coworkers. Given how much time we spend with them, a little bit of kindness can really go a long way. By committing ourselves to kindness, starting today, we can really make a difference where we work. So this Valentine's Day, be kind!"

About the Author:
Liz Jazwiec is author of the new book Eat That Cookie!: Make Workplace Positivity Pay Off...For Individuals, Teams and Organizations, a nationally renowned speaker, strategist, and consultant who has shared her passion for leadership, engagement, and service with audiences across the country.

About the Book:
Eat That Cookie!: Make Workplace Positivity Pay Off...For Individuals, Teams and Organizations (Fire Starter Publishing, 2009, ISBN: 978-0-9840794-4-5, $28.00) is available at bookstores nationwide and all major online booksellers.

For more information, please visit www.studergroup.com/EatThatCookie.

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

Interxion Announces Platinum Sponsorship of Data Centre World Conference and Expo

2010-02-10T06:19:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Interxion, a leading European operator of carrier-neutral data centres, today announced its platinum sponsorship of the annual Data Centre World Conference and Expo event, taking place on the 23rd - 24th February, 2010 at the Barbican Exhibition Halls in London.

Data Centre World is the largest free exhibition and conference for data centre professionals in the UK, examining, in detail, the issues surrounding the selection, outsourcing, building and running of a data centre. The free-to-attend conference covers the latest trends and technologies and includes case studies from the UK’s top companies and leading outsourced operators.

As part of its support for the event, Interxion will be fielding two of its executives to deliver keynote addresses on the latest challenges facing the sector. Kevin Dean, Interxion’s Chief Marketing Officer’s presentation, entitled ‘Where the Cloud Lives – The Carrier Neutral Datacenter’, looks at how the carrier-neutral data centre is one of the four key enablers of cloud computing and how they can be leveraged to optimise the delivery of cloud computing services. Kevin will also take the opportunity to highlight the importance of a reliable network infrastructure for cloud computing and how organisations can build highly resilient, scalable cloud-computing data centre environments.

In addition, Lex Coors, Interxion’s VP Engineering & Technology Group, will be presenting ‘The Future of PUE’, which looks at the likely impact of the impending Carbon Reduction Committee legislation on organisations that operate or outsource their data centre infrastructure. He will also take the opportunity to outline potential developments in energy efficiency measurement based on his involvement with the Uptime Institute Europe, European Commission DG Joint Research Committee on Sustainability, The Green Grid and the European Data Centre Code of Conduct Metrics Group.

The Data Centre World Conference and Expo provides a vital forum for sharing best practice on current challenges like low latency and the green issue,” said Kevin Dean, Chief Marketing Officer Interxion. “By sharing the experience we have gained serving our customers across Europe, we aim to help attendees meet these challenges while improving their application availability and connectivity.” http://www.gawkwire.com/events_html/interxion_announces_platinum_sponsorship_of_data_centre_world_co.html

ISA Presents Melissa Hathaway With Award For Vision in Cyber Security

2010-02-10T06:16:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) The Internet Security Alliance presented Melissa Hathaway with its annual award for vision in cyber security Tuesday during an event at the National Press Club.

Hathaway, the Obama Administration’s former acting cyber security chief, received the McCurdy Award on the one-year anniversary of when she began her 60-day review of the government’s cyber security program.

Her work culminated in a landmark report titled, “Cyberspace Policy Review: Assuring a Trusted and Resilient Information and Communications Infrastructure,” which the Obama Administration released in May 2009.

“That effort was in our opinion the most sophisticated effort to date of a government entity analyzing the uniquely 21st century problem of cyber security and outlining a path forward,” ISA President Larry Clinton said. “It is primarily for this groundbreaking work that the Internet Security Alliance has decided to honor Melissa today.”

ISA believes that Hathaway’s work, if implemented, would result in the establishment of a modern partnership between the public and private sectors, which is necessary for an effective and sustainable system of cyber security.

“The Cyberspace Policy Review is the first government document that raises the issue of managing the economics of cyber security -- including the consideration of market incentives to fill in the gaps between investments that are justified by existing business plans and those that are required for national security -- simultaneously with the technical and operational issues that have been government’s traditional focus,” Clinton said.

After receiving the McCurdy Award, Hathaway reflected on the work that has been done in cyber security and pushed for the efforts to continue.

“A lot of important staff work has been done over the last several months,” Hathaway said. “But, in many ways, I feel like we have lost the sense of urgency of this situation. A full spectrum threat requires a full spectrum response, and it requires a mobilization of all of the resources that this country can bring to bear and it requires strength, leadership and bold steps moving forward.”

The McCurdy Award is named for the ISA’s founder, Dave McCurdy, the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. McCurdy launched the ISA 10 years ago in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University as a mechanism to stimulate and facilitate enhanced cyber security in the private sector.

“Dave understood from the very beginning that cyber security was not simply a technical issue, but simultaneously an economic and security issue,” said J. Michael Hickey, the ISA’s first vice chair.

*To view this news release as a PDF, please see the attachment. http://www.gawkwire.com/business/isa_presents_melissa_hathaway_with_award_for_vision_in_cyber_sec.html

Twitter Prank Grows Small Business

2010-02-10T06:13:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) In the age old tradition of marriage, there stands an even older tradition: the prank pulled off by the best man on the bride and groom. While the practice is ancient, it has taken on a new twist in the viral microblogging world of Twitter.

Enter the online magazine, Staggered (www.iamstaggered.com), which was designed to answer men's pre-nuptial questions and assist grooms with their weddings, stag-dos and honeymoons. In December the online magazine was alerted by a reader to a Twitter account named Newlywedsontjob set up by a ''Anon Bestman''.

Staggered's editor Andrew Shanahan explained, ''The account was set up by an anonymous best man who was made to promise before the wedding that he wouldn't pull any pranks on the groom. However, while housesitting when the newlyweds were away on honeymoon he finally got the chance to play his joke. He rigged up the bed using a pressure pad so that it tweets every time the newlyweds started some amorous activity. The pressure pad logs weight, duration and even the frenzy! It's an amazing prank and it made the Staggered team laugh a lot. Scores of other people seemed to think so too and before long this guy had over 22,000 followers on Twitter.''

''We nagged the best man with direct messages to try and get an interview,'' said Mr. Shanahan. ''At first he didn't want to do an interview so we asked about sponsoring the account, which he eventually agreed to. So everytime the newlyweds are on the job we pay a fee. As a condition we also made him promise to give us an interview when he was going to reveal the joke to the newlywed couple, which he did. When the interview went live, the best man tweeted it and traffic on the site suddenly spiked.''

Leveraging the viral nature of the prank was a coup for Staggered, which was launched in August 2009 and has grown organically to the point where its readership is in the tens of thousands. The deluge of traffic, however, created an unforeseen issue - the traffic load was too extreme for the company's web server.

Mr. Shanahan continues, ''The Twitter link to the interview was incredibly popular and over 7,000 people tried to access it simultaneously. As you can guess the server wasn't prepared for it and the site was quickly pulled to stop any damage to the server. Obviously, that meant that we were potentially without a site and missing a great opportunity. Within 10 minutes our web hosting company 34SP.com had moved us to our own virtual server and had us back online. It was a masterstroke of customer service, after all if we can't provide a constant service for our readers then they'll get annoyed and might not come back. That means we have to trust 34SP.com with a lot, and we do.''

So for now, the Staggered website continues to reap the benefits of the anonymous Twitter prank and has used it to introduce new readers to their brand. The lesson for other small businesses? A viral Twitter campaign can rapidly grow your awareness with customers. As for the bride and groom, Anon Bestman says in his exclusive interview that he'll most likely reveal the prank to the newlyweds on the groom's birthday which is February 26. Stay tuned.

To view the exclusive interview with Anon Bestman please visit:http://www.iamstaggered.com/featured/the-newlywedsontjob-interview-anonbestman-speaks-exclusive.

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

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

Venali Chooses The Planet to Host its IT Infrastructure

2010-02-09T10:56:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) The Planet, the global leader in IT hosting, today announced that Internet messaging company Venali, Inc. (http://www.venali.com) has chosen the company to host its IT infrastructure. Headquartered in Miami, with offices in the United Kingdom, Germany and Singapore, Venali provides desktop and production fax solutions – including fax to e-mail conversion services – that streamline sending, receiving and managing fax communications.

To support its global presence, Venali requires a geographically redundant infrastructure, robust network and solid uptime. The company made a strategic decision to move its infrastructure to a hosted solution, rather than managing it in-house. Following an extensive evaluation, Venali chose The Planet’s private racks solution, load balancers, gigabit switches and private networks to fulfill its requirements. For redundancy purposes, Venali operates in data centers located in Houston and Dallas.

“The decision we made to host with The Planet wasn’t singularly based on financials, but on the fact that it’s a smart business decision,” said Venali Chief Executive Officer John Poncy. “Just because we’re an IT services company doesn’t mean we can’t outsource. Our IT team and developers who work closely with customers took time to understand the IT hosting model. The Planet team provided both the cost-effective solutions we required and strong operational excellence. By outsourcing our IT infrastructure, we’re able to work on strategic initiatives in our company, expand our portfolio and grow our business.”

“In today’s economic environment, our customers tell us they want to focus more closely on their business, adding new products and services that are important to their long-term growth,” said Tom Blair, vice president of global sales with The Planet. “We deliver scalability, reliability and value, so they can do what they do best in their own companies, rather than worrying about their IT operations.”

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

KEMP Technologies Introduces Feature-rich Load Balancing Solution

2010-02-09T10:55:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) KEMP Technologies today announced the most affordable feature-rich load balancer in the industry. Introducing a price point of $1,590, the KEMP LoadMaster 2000 includes first-year support and high-performance features optimized for IT web and application infrastructure. Businesses today are looking for reliable and affordably-priced IT solutions that can deliver speedy ROI, KEMP has responded with a new price point unmatched in the market.

Many businesses, especially smaller businesses, that see the need for assuring availability and performance of their websites and services, have held off purchasing a load balancer because the price was out of reach. The LoadMaster 2000 removes the price barrier and offers the same core features and support as KEMP’s higher-end products such as integrated SSL acceleration, caching, compression and Layer 7 functionality.

“Current economic conditions have caused smaller businesses to ignore the hazards associated with website outages and loss of revenue,” notes Kevin Mahon, KEMP Technologies CEO. “Lowering the price on the LoadMaster 2000 reflects our commitment to help business get better use of their networks and applications with an obvious quicker return on investment. It wasn’t easy, but we are able to deliver an affordable load balancer without compromising on the feature set, performance or support.”

The LoadMaster 2000 intelligently and efficiently distributes user traffic among web and application servers to ensure users gain the best experience possible. IT administrators’ obtain greater control to easily adapt to network changes by providing a resource optimization layer in front of applications and servers. KEMP’s LoadMaster 2000 optimizes web infrastructure as defined by 24/7 availability, high-performance, flexible scalability, and secure operations - while streamlining IT costs. Additionally, the LoadMaster optimizes and accelerates user access to diverse servers, content and transaction-based systems to improve customer satisfaction.

http://www.gawkwire.com/business/kemp_technologies_introduces_feature-rich_load_balancing_solutio.html

TeamSupport.com Releases 'Live Chat'

2010-02-09T10:54:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) TeamSupport.com (http://www.TeamSupport.com) – a trend setting provider of SaaS-based customer service and help desk tools – today announced the release of “Live Chat,” a fully integrated enhancement to the company’s flagship customer support application.

The Live Chat module permits TeamSupport users to engage their customers in real-time online problem solving ”conversations.” Integration with existing web sites and applications is a straightforward process; the chat buttons and user interface can be individually customized.

All support requests, no matter what channel they come through, are tracked, stored and follow common workflow rules. TeamSupport unifies the support process, giving customers the same high level of service no matter how they choose to communicate with the company.

“Today’s customers demand the ability to receive timely support by whatever means is most convenient: phone, e-mail, web, or online chat,” emphasized Robert C. Johnson, President of Muroc Systems. “TeamSupport gives our clients all the communication tools necessary to satisfy their customers’ support needs!”

Live Chat integrates with the customer database, so agents can access user information and past history. Other powerful features include the ability to transfer the session to another agent, conference multiple agents into a single chat, and the ability to link chat transcripts to a new or existing trouble ticket.

Used by customer support and corporate help desks worldwide, TeamSupport is easily configured and customized; the application is offered in several reasonably priced, upgradeable versions. TeamSupport is scalable from a simple help-desk application to a 100+ seat enterprise-wide customer support and product defect tracking system.

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

Cloud VPS Hosting Lauched at eUKhost Ltd.

2010-02-09T10:53:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) After thorough testing, UK web hosting provider eUKhost (http://www.eukhost.com) has launched its new Cloud VPS Hosting service, powered by its new cloud environment that is based on VMware virtualization platform.

According to its Monday announcement, eUKhost's Cloud VPS Hosting offers one of the best solutions available for delivering 100 percent uptime in a virtual server environment. VMware's Fault Tolerance and High Availability features help eliminates even the smallest disruptions in the event of hardware failures along with its Distributed Resource Scheduler feature that continuously monitors virtual machines and physical servers.

"At eUKhost, our intention was to make the Cloud Hosting Service generally available to all users worldwide after successful testing of the product late last year," eUKhost business development manager Ryan Watson said in a statement. "We received numerous requests from users wanting to test our cloud hosting environment and test VPSs were provided to some of our existing customers. These tests assessed the speed, functionality and reliability of our Cloud Hosting environment. Based on the results of these tests and feedback received, we decided to go ahead with the full launch of Cloud VPS Hosting, a service that will deliver peace of mind and satisfaction to our valued customers."

Hosted in its Milton Keynes data center facility, the current Cloud Hosting environment features highly available and fault tolerant clusters with multiple hardware nodes, while preserving the flexibility to choose between any type of OS, application and hardware. If any single node experiences failure for any reason, VMware will automatically move the affected websites to a backup node, eliminating the possibility of any downtime.

With plans starting as low as £30 (or about $47) per month, customers can get enterprise-class hosting that delivers superior performance, reliability and scalability. Cloud VPS hosting plans are available for both Microsoft Windows and Linux OS. Each plan includes pre-installed software, including ASP.NET and SQL Server on Windows and PHP, Perl, and MySQL on Linux. Additionally, Cloud VPS plans feature 24×7x365 expert technical support and a 100 percent uptime guarantee.

More information at: http://www.eukhost.com/cloud-vps-hosting.php

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

Ksplice Eliminates the Need to Reboot

2010-02-09T10:52:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Ksplice Inc. today announced the general availability of its Uptrack service, eliminating the need to restart Linux servers when installing crucial updates and security patches.

Based on technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ksplice Uptrack is a subscription service that allows IT administrators to keep Linux servers up-to-date without the disruption and downtime of rebooting.

Before Uptrack, system administrators had to schedule downtime in advance to bring Linux servers up-to-date, because updating the central part of a computer's software — known as the kernel — previously required rebooting the computer. Until a system can be updated, it remains vulnerable to security flaws. By allowing IT administrators to install kernel updates without downtime, Uptrack dramatically reduces the cost of system administration.

"We've been thrilled with how Ksplice makes us more secure and available while saving us time and hassle," said Dallas Kashuba, the co-founder and chief technical officer of DreamHost, an early adopter of Ksplice Uptrack. "Using Ksplice has improved our response time to critical kernel exploits from a few days to only minutes," Mr. Kashuba said.

Ksplice Uptrack is now available for users of six leading versions of
Linux: Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Ubuntu, Debian GNU/Linux, CentOS, Parallels Virtuozzo Containers, and OpenVZ. The subscription fee starts at $3.95 per month per system, after a 30-day free trial. A free version is also available for Ubuntu.

In 2009, major Linux vendors asked customers to install a kernel update roughly once each month. Before Uptrack, each such update required a reboot.

"Why reboot if you don't have to? Reboots are disruptive and require costly supervision," said Jeff Arnold, Ksplice's chief executive officer. "Now system administrators can keep their systems up to date without coordinating outages, and they don't need to come in Sunday at
2 a.m. to take everything down. They can avoid the biggest headache of server maintenance, with better availability and a smaller window of vulnerability than ever before."

More than 40 leading Web hosting and IT infrastructure companies have deployed Ksplice Uptrack as early adopters of the service, which has successfully saved tens of thousands of reboots to date.

"Like other hosting providers, we've needed this capability for a long time, but we didn't think that it was possible to apply these updates without a reboot until we saw Ksplice in action," said Joshua Barratt, chief technical officer of Media Temple, an early adopter of Ksplice Uptrack. "This is an exciting change in how we run our systems."

"Ksplice is superb," said David Collins, chief technical officer of HostGator, an early adopter of Ksplice Uptrack. "It reduces one of the biggest costs associated with any server — system administrator maintenance time — and helps us improve the quality of service we can provide to our customers," Mr. Collins said.

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

SMX West Announces Networking Activities for Conference

2010-02-09T06:08:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Networking activities for Search Marketing Expo – SMX West have been announced. They include events hosted by Bing.com and Ask.com.

SMX West 2010 - March 2-4, Santa Clara Convention Center, Silicon Valley, CASMX West is the leading conference for search engine marketing education, focusing on topics such as paid search advertising (PPC), search optimization (SEO), social media marketing, and local & mobile search marketing.

SMX West will be held March 2-4 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Silicon Valley. Registration is now open. There are pass options to fit every budget, including free Expo Hall passes. Details on available passes are located at http://searchmarketingexpo.com/west/2010/benefits

“Exchanging ideas and tactics with colleagues is a value-driver for conference attendees. Search marketers are incredibly generous, which makes the networking at SMX conferences exceptionally valuable,” said Chris Sherman, SMX West co-chair.

Networking begins before the conference on SMX Connect, the SMX West social networking site. Registered attendees can post their profile, arrange meetings, create and print custom itineraries and schedule lunches with others who share their interests at birds-of-a-feather tables.

In-person networking activities include:
- SMX Meet & Greet opening reception, March 1 beginning at 6PM, open to All Access and Networking pass holders
- Daily birds-of-a-feather lunches where attendees discuss topics of interest, open to All Access and Networking pass holders
- SMX Expo Hall Reception, March 2 beginning at 5:45, sponsored by Ask.com, open to All Access and Networking pass holders
- Ignite SMX, an evening of high-energy presentations about search and technology, open to all
- SMX After Dark, an evening of food and fun, March 2 beginning at 9PM, sponsored by Bing.com, open to all

Further details and additions to the networking activities are available at http://searchmarketingexpo.com/west/2010/in-person

About Search Marketing Expo – SMX West and Third Door Media
SMX West features sessions just for you, whether you are just starting out in search or looking for advanced tactics, work on an in-house SEM team, hail from an agency, or own your own business.

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

WebBoar Now Available To Sniff Out Domain Secrets

2010-02-09T06:07:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) After an extensive production period, WebBoar.com is finally being made available to the public. This free online service offers users a unique way to explore their competitors, learn and implement the tricks and tactics of top-ranked websites, and generally see what goes on ‘behind the scenes’ of search engines. These vital tools assist in improving website rankings – and therefore online success.

The primary service offered is website analytics, which is available on a one-click basis. WebBoar.com users can now see where their visitors are coming from, what they typed into search engines to get to the site, which site pages are most popular and much more crucial information. Having the most comprehensive IP network database available online also allows WebBoar.com to offer IP analytics, which makes searching for all domains on an IP address or IP subnet much simpler than it ever was before.

Additionally, the service employs a series of complex algorithms to estimate website values and SEO scores. When users insert the WebBoar.com code into their website text, they will be provided with the latest information on how their backlinks are operating, and can also have their HTML code checked - invalid site programming is one of the key reasons for bad rankings.

Finally, WebBoar.com offers advice on choosing a hosting plan: an up-to-date list of all major hosting providers and a series of easy-to-use comparison charts show users the best options for their individual situations.

With the launch of WebBoar.com , the internet’s not a mystery any more.

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

Telmap Partners with GyPSii for Location-Enabled Social Media Solution

2010-02-09T06:06:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) GyPSii, the market-leading mobile digital lifestyle application and geo-mobility social media platform, and Telmap, the mobile search, mapping and navigation pioneers, jointly announced today a partnership to develop and introduce advanced location-based social networking as part of Telmap’s Mobile Location Companion.

As part of the cooperation, Telmap will introduce social networking and user-generated content, to the Telmap5 Mobile Location Companion using GyPSii’s Open API, OpenExperience™. Telmap5 will offer users access to all their networks of friends across social networks including Facebook and Twitter. The integration with GyPSii’s Open API empowers Telmap5 mobile users to connect the real world with the digital world: accessing and contributing location-aware content, sharing locations, reading and posting recommendations, videos, pictures, finding friends, events, and places, geo-blogging, and more—all in one app.

Ultimately, the new Telmap5 offers mobile operators an opportunity to introduce a richer location-enabled solution to their subscribers, as today’s end users are hungry for social technologies and are active on multiple social networks. A single app combining key social media, navigation, search, and mapping features provides a compelling experience for users.

GyPSii’s Open API, OpenExperience™ offers Telmap transparent integration of its patented technologies in mobile user generated content creation, friend-finding and a robust suite of development toolkits that support rapid development, fast-track product enhancements, and easy app localization. OpenExperience™ also delivers a contextual advertising solution for ultra-targeted commercial messages including advertisements and coupons with a high value to the end user.

“The Telmap-GyPSii enabled offering is fully supportive of people’s desire to explore their surroundings and interact with friends around them not only while at home, but also while on-the-go,” said Oren Nissim, Telmap CEO. “GyPSii and Telmap share a vision to offer operators the ultimate location companion they need in order to maintain their subscriber’s loyalty through an excellent solution and a superior user experience, and we are sure that this new cooperation will open up additional opportunities for operators to achieve just that.”

“We’re excited to provide our Open API, OpenExperience™ to Telmap to build social media into their navigation companion,” said Dan Harple, Founder and Chairman of GyPSii. “This agreement inspires innovation while contributing across the value chain: creating revenues for GyPSii, Telmap, and the mobile operators. The deal also underscores GyPSii’s API as the premier source for the next generation of mobile social networking and contextual advertising. Our Open API is a widely adopted platform converging location technologies, social media, search, and targeting advertising. The partnership with Telmap is a natural fit.”

For a demonstration of the new offering, please stop by at either the Telmap or the GyPSii booths at Mobile World Congress next week.

Telmap’s booth: C42 in Hall7. GyPSii’s booth: H7B68 in Hall7.

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/telmap_partners_with_gypsii_for_location-enabled_social_media_so.html

DiscountASP.NET and /n software Partner to Provide Developers Access to Software

2010-02-08T17:05:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) DiscountASP.NET has announced a partnership with /n software to provide .NET developers access to /n software E-business Integrator components on their shared Windows 2003 and Windows 2008 hosting platform. This new service will come at no additional cost to the customer.

The /n software E-business Integrators provide small and medium-sized companies with enterprise-class software components for business integration. These components focus on the integration of Internet payment, accounting, management, and other common E-Business services into their web applications.

The following E-business Integrators are available on all DiscountASP.NET web servers at no additional cost: QuickBooks Integrator, E-Payment Integrator, PayPal Integrator, USPS Integrator, FedEx Integrator, UPS Integrator, and Amazon Integrator.

"With this partnership, we updated older versions and introduced new E-business Integrators and made them available on all our Windows hosting servers, including our Windows 2008 platform.” said DiscountASP.NET's Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, Takeshi Eto. "Our customers now have access to over $3500 worth of e-commerce and business components at absolutely no cost to them. This is the type of value add that we strive to offer to our customers.”

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

The Planet Plans for $7 Million Network Investment in Core Operating Cities

2010-02-08T12:33:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) The Planet, the global leader in IT hosting, today outlined plans to spend more than $7 million to enhance the network infrastructure in Houston and Dallas, its core operating cities. The company plans capital investments in network capacity upgrades, expanded infrastructure for its Private and Virtual Rack solutions, new routers and switches, and robust test platforms to evaluate custom solutions. To increase network resilience and capacity, the company plans to double the number of 10 Gig-E links connecting its data centers with its Internet Service Providers. Also planned are capacity and functionality upgrades to meet the unprecedented traffic utilization demands of its colocation and managed hosting customers.

The Planet operates seven data centers – two in Houston and five in Dallas – with 179,000 square feet of raised floor, and additional capacity in London for virtual rack customers. Approximately 44 percent of the company’s business originates from outside of North America, and it operates network points of presence on the East and West Coasts to enhance network performance and reduce latency.

“Our network and data centers are core to the value we provide customers, and over the past three years, we’ve made significant investments to improve speed, reduce latency and ultimately provide the best customer experience,” said The Planet’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Douglas J. Erwin. “Even with these investments, our growth has outpaced requirements as customers place more demands on our network. Ultimately we’ll deliver improvements in orders of magnitude that offer increased capacity, and even more resilience and fault tolerance.”

The upgrades will be completed in phases, beginning in March, with completion expected by year-end 2010.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/the_planet_plans_for_7_million_network_investment_in_core_operat.html

SEO Consult Australia Ranked Number One For Fifth Month Running

2010-02-08T06:37:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) SEO Consult Australia has recently been ranked as the number one SEO agency in Australia for the fifth month running by TopSEOs. This latest prize means that SEO Consult Australia has been regarded by TopSEOs as the best website optimisation company in the country since October 2009.

TopSEOs are independent search vendors who compile a monthly list of the best Search Engine Optimisation companies in Australia based on how they meet their comprehensive criteria. SEO agencies are scored on the entire services offered, from initial website and needs analysis, all the way through to the timescale of achieving results and the way in which campaign information is reported back to clients. In February 2010, SEO Consult achieved an overall score of 96%, securing them the top spot yet again.

“We’re delighted that we have retained the number one position in Australia again this month and it shows that we are fulfilling our core aims or providing effective and creative website optimization solutions to our clients across Australia.” Says Matt Bullas, Managing Director of SEO Consult. “We are always looking at new ways in which to help our customers achieve and maintain the results that they want and we believe that this attitude of innovation helps to set us apart in the Australian SEO industry.”

For more information or to find out more about SEO Consult Australia, please visit www.seoconsult.com.au

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

DCL Group Announces Participation at ICT Spring Europe 2010

2010-02-08T06:36:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Datacenter Luxembourg, EuroDNS and voipGATE, all three part of the DCL Group, are proud to announce their participation and support at the first ICT Spring Europe taking place on March 15th and 16th in Luxembourg.

Marco Houwen, founder of DCL Group and Managing Director of Datacenter Luxembourg, explains, "The idea of having such an international and technologically oriented conference is a plus for Luxembourg and will benefit all players on the ICT market, whether national or international. The three companies within DCL Group are truly leaders in their own markets and we are proud to share our best practices and knowledge during these 2 days of conference".

Datacenter Luxembourg (www.datacenter.eu) is an independent datacentre service provider operating out of the Grand Duchy since 10 years now. The services comprise among others a diversified and carrier independent datacentre infrastructure, international Internet & Telco connectivity, managed e-commerce and managed housing solutions. Datacenter Luxembourg offers quality bandwidth and IP through a unique international looped dark fibre backbone as well as managed services on all servers and connectivity needs.

Created in 2002, EuroDNS (www.eurodns.com) is a leading Domain name Registrar specialized in International Domain extensions. Based in Luxembourg with branch offices in Europe, the USA and Asia with AsiaDNS, EuroDNS serves a large variety of clients ranging from SMEs to some of the world's largest Domain Investors and offers dedicated naming solutions to Trademark holders. By strongly participating in leading industry forums including ICANN and the International Trademark Association, EuroDNS seeks to promote e-Commerce and wider Internet adoption.

voipGATE (www.voipgate.com) was founded in 2004 and operates locally and worldwide as one of the unique and leading Operators in Voice over IP by offering telecommunication services and local Phone Numbers across the world. voipGATE has strong partnerships with PBX key brands (i.e: Siemens, Avaya, Cisco, Nec-Philips, Patton, Mitel,…) and various mobile devices (i.e: Nokia, Grandstream…), to ensure and offer its customers both flexibility and ease of use. voipGATE's major objectives are to promote and contribute to the VoIP market and to offer reliable and high quality services. voipGATE is present in the B2C and B2B (SME/SMI) local and International market as well as in wholesale (Callcenter,...).

Xavier Buck, founder of DCL Group and CEO of EuroDNS, states "it is really the first time we promote ourselves as a group and the ICT Spring is a first for us as well. We have worked hard since 10 years and having managed to achieve a leading position for all three companies within their own field of expertise is important. We are very excited to share our know-how and experience with all international and national players at the show".

ICT Spring Europe has announced a panel of 60 international speakers from Absolu Telecom, ArcelorMittal, Clearstream, Deutschland Online, eBay, Forrester, Gartner, Microsoft, Paypal, Philips, RTL, SES Astra, TomTom and many more. For more information on the event, please go to: www.ictspring.com.

http://www.gawkwire.com/events_html/dcl_group_announces_participation_at_ict_spring_europe_2010.html

Soldiers in Afghanistan Recieve Satellite Internet

2010-02-08T06:41:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) TS2 Satellite Technologies company is introducing new broadband services on Eutelsat EB4 & W6 satellites to the Afghan market.

These types of telecommunication products are mainly used by the companies that execute contracts in Asia, as well as by the soldiers that are stationed in Afghanistan. Purchased bands gives TS2 unlimited possibilities of configuration and setting any telecommunication connections from the Near East region and South-Western Asia.

The broadband service offer two-way high-speed Internet access with no phone lines, no cable, no dial-up modem. It's always online, available virtually anywhere, and affordable. The offered satellite system is ideally suited for broadband requirements such as Internet and VPN access to enterprise networks, as well as real-time VoIP and video conferencing.

The Internet connection can be shared with other users via wireless or wired network. Most soldiers deploy with a laptop in hand and a hookup to the Internet in their barracks. This is especially important for the many who are married, and have young children. The Internet access has resulted in major morale improvements. Troops no longer feel cut off from home.

Not all the Internet connectivity is just for staying in touch with the folks back home. The troops in Afghanistan use the Internet a lot for professional tasks, and not all of them are official business. Some troops blog, and many other stay in touch with military friends and associates in other parts of the world. The Internet has made possible many online communities composed of military professionals.

Without the new satellite system, large numbers of Soldiers will be without regular communications for much or most of their time in Afghanistan. The infrastructure is Spartan to non-existent.

More information on http://www.ts2.pl/en/Internet-in-Iraq-and-Afghanistan

Eutelsat's W6 (formerly W3) satellite is located at 21.5 degrees East featuring 28 simultaneously active transponders. This satellite is ideal for applications such as VSAT networks, broadband Internet and data broadcasting. It is most suitable for companies that require communications between Europe, North Africa, the Sahara, the Middle East and the Gulf region.

The EUROBIRD 4, also called as EB4, is Eutelsat's one of the satellites that provides coverage from 4 degrees East of Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and central Asia in Ku-band frequencies.

TS2 Satellite Technologies specializes in providing global satellite access services. Our core business is broadband access to the Internet in areas with poor telecommunications infrastructure and mobile satellite phones communication. The main medium of used transmission is a two-way satellite transfer system, which provides good access to the satellite network in even the least accessible areas. It not only provides a broadband connection but also a wide range of additional data and voice services.

Website: http://www.ts2.pl

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

More Than 1 in 10 ‘Top Search’ Results Categorized as Malware

2010-02-05T07:38:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Websense, Inc. (NASDAQ: WBSN) today revealed the findings from its bi-annual research report Websense Security Labs, State of Internet Security, Q3-Q4 2009. The full report can be downloaded at http://www.websense.com/threatreport. Major findings from the report include:

• Websense® Security Labs™ identified 13.7 percent of searches for trending news/buzz words (as defined by Yahoo! Buzz & Google Trends) led to malware. Search engine optimization poisoning attacks target the top searches enabling hackers to drive traffic to their sites.

• In contrast to the first half of the year where mass injection attacks like Gumblar, Beladen and Nine Ball promoted a sharp rise in the number of malicious Web sites, Websense Security Labs has seen a 3.3 percent decline in the growth of the number of Web sites compromised. Malware authors have replaced their traditional scattergun approach with focused efforts on Web 2.0 properties with higher traffic and multiple pages.

• Overall, comparing the second half of 2009 with the same period in 2008, there has been an average growth of 225 percent in malicious Web sites.

• Malware authors continue to capitalize on Web site reputation and exploiting user trust with the second half of 2009 revealing 71 percent of Web sites with malicious code are legitimate sites that have been compromised.

• Web 2.0 sites allowing user-generated content are a top target for cybercriminals and spammers. Websense Defensio™ technology enabled Websense Security Labs to identify that 95 percent of user-generated comments to blogs, chat rooms and message boards are spam or malicious.

• Websense Security Labs found that 35 percent of malicious Web attacks included data-stealing code, demonstrating that attackers are after essential information and data.

• The Web continues to be the most popular vector for data-stealing attacks. In the second half of 2009 the Websense Security Labs found that 58 percent of data-stealing attacks are conducted over the Web.

• Tens of thousands of Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo! email accounts were hacked and passwords stolen and posted online which resulted in a marked increase in the number of spam emails.

• Websense Security Labs identified that 85.8 percent of all emails were spam.

• During the second half of the year, 81 percent of emails contained a malicious link.

Every hour, Websense Security Labs ThreatSeeker™ Network scans more than 40 million Web sites and ten million emails for unwanted content and malicious code. Using more than 50 million real-time data collecting systems, ThreatSeeker Network monitors and classifies Web, email and data content —providing Websense with unparalleled visibility into the state of content on the Internet and in email.

Quote:
Websense Chief Technology Officer Dan Hubbard -- “Malicious hackers are really focusing their efforts to ensure they’re driving their victims straight to them. By poisoning search results and focusing on Web 2.0 sites, their efforts are often more efficient and effective. The blended nature of today’s threats combined with compromised legitimate sites, takes full advantage of an increased perception of trust when using search engines and interacting with friends or acquaintances online.”

Links:
• Full Report: http://www.websense.com/threatreport
• Webinar: http://connect.websense.com/system/content/folder/listing?date=2010-02-03T22:12:53.750%2B00:00&sco-id=10596123&set-lang=en
• Archived Webinars: http://www.websense.com/content/ProductResources.aspx
• Video:
• State of the Internet video recap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tih6hLNu5S8
• Websense Security Labs on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/wslabsutube
• Websense YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/WBSNMKTG http://www.gawkwire.com/reviews/more_than_1_in_10_top_search_results_categorized_as_malware.html

SEO/SEM Training Program and Workshops Announced at Pubcon South

2010-02-05T07:37:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) PubCon has announced a one-day, two track SEO/SEM Training Program and Workshop to take place Tuesday, April 13th, a day before its PubCon South at Dallas conference April 14 - 15, 2010 at the Richardson Conference and Civic Center, Dallas, Texas.

The PubCon South Training Program and Workshops will have two simultaneous tracks of in-depth sessions, led by some of the industry’s most respected professionals. Track one will be on Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Pay-Per-Click (PPC), and Paid Search Marketing, with track two on Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Brett Tabke, PubCon’s organizer said, “I’m delighted to announce the return of these workshops after the fantastic success of the event at PubCon Las Vegas. That event was a sell-out, and we expect these sessions to sell out, too. These are the industry’s leading experts presenting hands-on, practical, educational and topical content. It really is one of the best ways to train and educate for in-house specialist or external consultants.”

Brian Massey heads up the track dedicated to the paid search landscape. Brian is from Conversion Sciences, and teaches businesses the science of turning Web traffic into leads and sales. Also on the SEM and Paid Search side of the isle will be noted author Tim Ash, the president and chief executive of SiteTuners.com. Tim is the author of Amazon.com e-commerce bestseller ‘Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide To Testing and Tuning for Conversions.’

The topics in this track will include: - Define and Understand Your Audience. Landing Page Conversion Best Practices. Live Audience Case Study, and Ask The Experts. Covered within that will be advanced PPC ad creation and optimization, landing page optimization, multivariate testing and optimization, understanding your quality score, click fraud identification, landing pages that convert, and specific hands-on time with the students.

The SEO and Organic Search Workshop is in the second track of sessions, headed by Joe Laratro, president of Tandem Interactive, an experienced training professional and PubCon's lead moderator, who has written and spoken extensively about SEO content. Joe is joined by Michael Gray, president of Atlas Web Service, and Carolyn Shelby, the director of natural search at Cshel.com.

Shelby will present SEO Basics: Architecture, Content, and Linking. Laratro will be teaching Intermediate SEO Methods. Gray will focus on Advanced SEO: The latest and greatest tactics. The topics will include: - keyword targeting and long tail targeting, advanced link building campaigns to increase link popularity, traditional on-the-page SEO for 2010, social media campaigns - what's new and hot, bleeding edge SEO, and leveraging twitter.

Want to know more about PubCon? Check out the PubCon testimonials.

Conference registration for the SEO/SEM Training and Workshops is at www.pubcon.com

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

Partnership provides an FDA approved Electronic Signature Solution

2010-02-05T07:36:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) GlobalSign Inc. (www.globalsign.com), one of the longest established Certification Authorities (CA) and specialists in Digital Identities for securing PDF documents, has today announced the success of GlobalSign’s digital signature solution, DocumentSign in the pharmaceutical industry. Euthymics, a start-up biotechnology company has implemented a joint GlobalSign and SafeNet solution not only designed to meet the requirements of FDA regulated activities, but to solve Euthymics’ need for a streamlined, improved, and standardized documenting process deploying electronic signatures.

Before the introduction of digital signatures Euthymics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on neuroscience, was required to hand-sign documents and manually manage the process of distribution, storage, and retrieval of all signed records. This manual process extended project schedules and deadlines and increased cost due to the overhead of archiving, mailing, and faxing documents. Recognizing the cost and time saving advantages of using electronic signatures over hand signatures, Euthymics required a solution that automated the streamlined exchange of documents from remote locations, and critically complied with Federal Regulations for electronic signatures and electronic records (Title 21 CFR Part 11). Title 21 CFR Part 11 of the Code of Federal Regulations establishes criteria under which electronic records and electronic signatures are considered trustworthy, reliable, and equivalent to paper records.

GlobalSign is an authorized participant in Adobe’s Certified Document Services (CDS) program. Its CDS offering, branded as DocumentSign is a joint solution that incorporates a USB token or PCI crypto card manufactured by SafeNet, a global leader in information security. These hardware devices are used to protect the DocumentSign Digital ID and allow fast, secure creation of digital signatures for PDFs. The USB device is SafeNet’s industry-leading iKey™ 2032 ), a two-factor authentication token that is FIPS 140-1 level 2 certified. SafeNet iKey authenticators enable the digital signature process to meet all regulatory requirements and criteria for securing electronic information in the pharmaceutical industry. The combination of GlobalSign’s DocumentSign solution and SafeNet’s hardware allows users to add certifying and approved signatures to PDFs using the trust model incorporated into Adobe Reader 6.0+. This process is the virtual equivalent to sealing a document and adding a wet-ink signature and assuring the recipient that the document is authentic, comes from a verified source and the contents have not been tampered with since being published.

The DocumentSign solution ensures strong, two-factor authentication by combining a physical USB iKey token (something you have) with a password to protect access (something you know), “delivering both security and convenience to end users” according to Anthony McKinney, President and CEO of Euthymics. Says Mr McKinney, “having secure digital signature hardware for use on a widely supported Adobe Acrobat platform is very helpful. By using a program such as Adobe Acrobat any recipient receiving the digitally signed document can open the PDF document as they normally would and the digital signature will display the name of the signer and a timestamp.”

Reaction from both authors and recipients of electronically signed documents has been positive. Since Euthymics’ deployment of DocumentSign, it has been widely accepted and adopted both internally throughout the company and externally through third party partners. Euthymics customers, employees, and third party partners quickly adapted to the new electronic signatures due to their integration with Adobe Reader. Mr. McKinney says simply, “people understand it”. Adobe Reader is a free product that does not require the purchase of any third party applications, technical experience, or knowledge. McKinney describes Euthymics as on the “pointed end of the leading edge” in terms of implementing electronic signatures in their field. The Euthymics experience proves that other companies can transparently incorporate electronic signatures and go paperless allowing businesses to better manage documents in their workflow and across their physical boundaries.

The successful collaboration of GlobalSign and SafeNet’s solutions to deploy document based digital signatures has provided Euthymics with a streamlined portable process to expedite and improve current document sharing and security workflows. This streamlined process has significantly reduced the cost, time and complexities of existing processes, including the reduction of overheads associated with document storage, security, transportation, delivery and archiving, and reducing approval cycle times, handling and distribution of documents from remote locations.

For more information on GlobalSign Document Sign solutions, please visit : http://www.globalsign.com/document-security/adobe-cds/index.htm

For more information on SafeNet’s authentication solutions, please visit:
http://www.safenet-inc.com/products/tokens/ikey.asp

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

Hayneedle's EV SSL certificate From Comodo Helps Fuel the Companies Growth

2010-02-05T07:35:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Security-conscious shoppers have made online retailer Hayneedle.com an astonishing success since the brand was introduced in August, 2009. The site's Extended Validation SSL certificate from Comodo has helped it build trust, according to Hayneedle's Chief Technical Officer Steven Dee.

"People shopping on Hayneedle are looking for something very specific," said Dee. "They're used to dealing with some mom and pop shops. At times they're not sure whether a site can be trusted or not. Part of the Hayneedle brand is that we are a trusted place to shop."

"We get a lot of people who don't want to enter their credit card. While we have a customer care center for those situations, the green browser bar, available thanks to the Comodo EV SSL certificate, helped to win over and educate customers that our site is safe," said Dee, as did displaying Comodo's trust logo across the site.

Hayneedle's customer care staff explains the significance of the green browser bar to telephone customers, to increase trust in online transactions. "It's nice that when I'm looking at the green bar, we can have our customer service agent say, ‘You don't have to worry about the transaction; it's certified.' It builds the trust by word of mouth. It's something that they can visually see; it's something that changes in their browser to let them know that they can trust us."

"It's all about trust--the EV SSL certificate instills trust in our customers. They can look up there, if they're unsure they can click on it across our sites," Dee said.

"It has been wonderful working with Comodo because they focus on our needs and help us, instead of only focusing on what they need," he continued.

"What separated Comodo from the others was that Comodo was very customer-friendly and focused. Comodo worked with us to make sure that all of our needs were met. Comodo pointed out issues that we might not have seen on our own. It ended up being a better experience for our customers."

"We were only focused on one point on our checkout," Dee said for an example. He added that Comodo offered a valuable suggestion to build trust with shoppers. "If you want to display our logo across the site you can, that will reassure them when they are thinking about buying, not necessarily in the buying phase." Hayneedle adopted that suggestion, reassuring its security-conscious consumers."

Comodo's Extended Validation SSL certificate has helped Comodo build trust with its rapidly-growing customer base. For more information about Hayneedle, visit www.Hayneedle.com. For more information about Comodo, visit www.Comodo.com http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/hayneedle_s_ev_ssl_certificate_from_comodo_helps_fuel_the_compan.html

New Correlation Between IT Usage and Business Growth

2010-02-03T17:35:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Microsoft Corp. today released its global SMB IT and Hosted IT Index 2010,1 which investigates how small and midsize businesses (SMBs) across multiple segments fared during the recession and how they use technology. The research finds that businesses that value IT as an enabler for better business productivity and effectiveness and those that use hosted services performed better fiscally than those that do not.

IT Critical to Revenue Growth
Despite the global recession, more SMBs surveyed in 2010 reported an increase in revenue than in 2008. Those that reported growth view IT as critical to their business success.

• In the past 12 months, 52 percent of SMBs reported an increase in revenue, up from 39 percent in 2008.2

• Increasing 20 points since 2008, 55 percent of SMBs view IT as critical to their business.

• Of the SMBs that view IT as critical, 60 percent saw revenues grow over the past 12 months. In contrast, among SMBs that stated IT is not important, less than 29 percent saw revenue increase.3

SMBs Moving Toward Cloud Computing
The 2010 index indicates SMBs are beginning to see the benefits of cloud computing; more than 40 percent of the respondents that use hosted or cloud technology reported revenue rises of 30 percent or more compared with 90 percent of respondents not using hosted technology that saw decreases in revenue. The advantages of hosted or cloud technology are viewed as reduced cost and IT management and maintenance, as well as increased business value, productivity and competitiveness.

• Awareness of hosted services is increasing with 65 percent of SMBs using hosted software to some extent, while 73 percent of the remainder have considered it, compared with only 44 percent in the 2008 Index.

• SMBs are beginning to understand the value of “renting” IT as a service — 36 percent said a pay-as-you-go model would be attractive.

Cloud computing has become a watchword for the IT industry as software and services such as e-mail, Web sites and e-commerce are increasingly available in an on-premises, off-premises or hybrid model depending on business need.

“Over the last five years, we have seen nearly 40 percent growth in usage of hosted services,” said Michael Korbacher, director of EMEA Software plus Services in the Communications Sector at Microsoft. “Using pay-as-you-go cloud technologies, small and midsize businesses can now afford and easily have access to enterprise-class, secure services across any platform.”

Correlating Business Performance With Technology Usage
The findings from the research were concluded by analyst firm Freeform Dynamics Ltd., which independently assessed the SMB IT and Hosted IT Index 2010 to ascertain to what degree IT adoption is driving revenue growth specifically within the SMB community.

The SMB IT and Hosted IT Index 2010 commissioned by Microsoft researched 3,193 SMBs in a cross section of private industries in 15 countries. Overall, the findings show greater awareness of the benefits of IT among SMBs and a high reliance on IT across all industries and geographies. The findings indicate a clear path toward better financial performance than for those not currently taking advantage of IT advances such as hosted services.

“Our assessment of the report tells us that an increased focus on IT correlates with good performance in all of the size categories surveyed,” said Dale Vile, research director of Freeform Dynamics. “This whole picture corroborates the notion that technology and hosted services can provide tangible business advantage, even for smaller companies, and it’s not surprising to see that investment in IT and hosting goes hand in hand with good financial performance.”

Role of IT Within Business and Revenue Change

It’s critical to our business; we cannot work without it.
•         14.38 percent - Revenue up more than 30 percent
•         34.01 percent - Revenue up 10 percent to 30 percent
•         11:56 percent - Revenue up less than 10 percent
•         25.49 percent - No change in revenue
•         14.55 percent - Decrease in revenue

It’s very important for the majority of our activities.
•         8.86 percent - Revenue up more than 30 percent
•         28.32 percent - Revenue up 10 percent to 30 percent
•         8.65 percent - Revenue up less than 10 percent
•         40.16 percent - No change in revenue
•         14.01 percent - Decrease in revenue

It’s important but not essential to the running of the business.
•         8.21 percent - Revenue up more than 30 percent
•         18.48 percent - Revenue up 10 percent to 30 percent
•         8.21 percent - Revenue up less than 10 percent
•         46.33 percent - No change in revenue
•         18.77 percent - Decrease in revenue
It complements our business but is by no means essential.
•         7.41 percent - Revenue up more than 30 percent
•         13.89 percent - Revenue up 10 percent to 30 percent
•         7.41 percent - Revenue up less than 10 percent
•         42.59 percent - No change in revenue
•         28.70 percent - Decrease in revenue

The IT Services Outlined in the Research Are as Follows

E-mail
•         67 percent SMBs have on site
•         29 percent SMBs have hosted
•         4 percent SMBs don’t have

File sharing/collaboration
•         56 percent SMBs have on site
•         23 percent SMBs have hosted
•         21 percent SMBs don’t have

Backup
•         71 percent SMBs have on site
•         22 percent SMBs have hosted
•         7 percent SMBs don’t have

CRM
•         52 percent SMBs have on site
•         31 percent SMBs have hosted
•         17 percent SMBs don’t have

Webconferencing
•         40 percent SMBs have on site
•         39 percent SMBs have hosted
•         21 percent SMBs don’t have

Web site
•         49 percent SMBs have on site
•         39 percent SMBs have hosted
•         12 percent SMBs don’t have

Server
•         59 percent SMBs have on site
•         28 percent SMBs have hosted
•         13 percent SMBs don’t have

E-commerce
•         46 percent SMBs have on site
•         33 percent SMBs have hosted
•         21 percent SMBs don’t have

About the Research
The Microsoft Small Business Technology Index 2010 research report was executed by Vanson Bourne (http://www.vansonbourne.com) between November 2009 and January 2010. The research questioned 3,193 small and midsize businesses (up to 500 employees) across 15 countries worldwide: Australia, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S. A copy of the full research report is available through mscsemea@webershandwick.com.

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

The Green Grid Announces New Tools for Data Centre Efficiency

2010-02-03T17:24:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) The Green Grid, the IT industry’s leading voice for advancing energy efficiency in data centres and business computing ecosystems, today introduced new tools and announced new industry alliances at its Third Annual Green Grid Technical Forum and Members’ Meeting. Attendees of the Forum will learn first-hand how these new tools and alliances are designed to address the global needs of data centre operators and foster greater collaboration among key stakeholders in industry and government. With the theme, “Get Connected: Drive Change with Global Strategies for Efficient IT,” the Forum also features a keynote address by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

“At this year’s Technical Forum, the membership of The Green Grid is demonstrating its commitment to improving data centre energy efficiency through the hands-on development of tools, standards and global alliances that make it easier for end-users to drive practical improvements,” said Christian Belady, Microsoft representative and Treasurer of The Green Grid. “Leveraging Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s inspiring efforts, we welcome new voices to join the hundreds of volunteers in our unique organisation who are working to develop new programs to assist data centre managers and end-users advance energy-efficiency.”

The Green Grid, which creates a unique opportunity for worldwide industry collaboration, is actively working on dozens of both strategic and tactical projects to improve data centre energy efficiency. As a result of these efforts, the organisation today announced new, free, online tools that extend the benefits of the widely-used free cooling tools introduced in 2009:

• Power Efficiency Estimator
The new Power Efficiency Estimator is designed to help data centre operators compare different scenarios of power topologies and technologies inside of their facility. It takes factors such as workload, availability, and space constraints into consideration and generates a report that is designed to improve decision-making in a facility. The Power Efficiency Estimator will be available by the end of the first quarter of 2010.
• PUE Calculator
The new PUE Calculator allows data centre operators to easily input their facility’s specific data at regular intervals to determine their PUE. Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), a metric created by The Green Grid, determines the amount of energy used by the facility and the IT gear inside of it. The PUE Calculator will be available by the end of the first quarter of 2010.
• New White Paper: Impact of Virtualisation on Data Centre Physical Infrastructure
This new paper provides guidance on how data centre professionals can maximise power and cooling equipment electricity savings in a data centre environment that is using virtualisation to achieve its consolidation strategies. The paper is available to members and non-members in the “Library & Tools” section of The Green Grid’s Web site.

• New Online Course from The Green Grid Academy
The Green Grid Academy has launched its latest self-directed online course, “Data Centre 101: Constrained Capacity,” to help data centre managers and operators get familiar with industry lexicon and solutions to everyday data centre challenges.

In addition to these tools, The Green Grid also announced significant progress with its previously-announced Data Centre Design Guide. With an outline and draft chapters now posted for member comment, The Green Grid encourages all members to participate in this groundbreaking opportunity to define a new data centre architecture, specifically to define the capabilities to allow native optimisation and policy management for maximum energy efficiency.

New Publication from ASHRAE and The Green Grid
The Green Grid and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) have co-authored a book titled “Real Time Energy Consumption Measurements in Data Centres” that focuses on energy consumption measurements for the determination of energy efficiency, along with exposure of key IT/Facilities interfaces in the data centre. The book is free to member companies of The Green Grid and is available for purchase or download through the ASHRAE bookstore for $54.00.

Alliance with Data Centre Pulse
In addition to introducing new tools for the industry, The Green Grid has signed an alliance agreement with Data Centre Pulse, a global end user community of data centre owners and operators focused on influencing the industry through the eyes of the customer. The agreement is designed to ensure consistency in addressing the energy-specific needs of the IT community.
“The Green Grid’s annual Technical Forum has become a unique information exchange for data centre managers and technology providers,” said Dean Nelson, Chairman and Founder, Data Centre Pulse. “The data centre operators representing the Data Centre Pulse Community are encouraged by the progress The Green Grid has made, and we’re looking forward to working together to expand the reach of metrics such as PUE and DCiE.”

A full list of organisations that The Green Grid has formed alliances with, including government entities across the globe, can be found on the Alliances page at The Green Grid’s Web site.

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

MailChimp Adds Geolocation to its Toolbox

2010-02-04T06:23:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Today MailChimp released the latest version of its email marketing software, adding several new tools that allow users to target their subscribers with location-based technology free of charge.

Geotargeting gives users the ability to send segmented campaigns based on subscribers' locations. Users just choose a city, define the size of the radius around the city, and MailChimp automatically sends the campaign to subscribers in that area. "We're excited to offer our customers an easier and more powerful way to promote local initiatives like events and sales without having to do any work on their lists. We already have all the data," says MailChimp CEO Ben Chestnut.

Time Warp is another new feature that sends email campaigns in the local time zone of the subscribers receiving it. For example, if a campaign with a list that includes subscribers in every time zone in the United States were set to be delivered at 9 a.m., Time Warp would automatically segment the list by time zone and send the campaign to each segment at 9 a.m. local time. "One of the issues facing users with large lists is finding the most effective time of day to send campaigns," says Chestnut. "Our split-testing tool evaluates how campaigns perform at different times of day, but if subscribers are in different time zones, the results of split testing may be misleading because emails are reaching their inboxes at different local times. Time Warp adds a new level of insight for those users."

MailChimp's auto-translation tool allows users to create campaigns in one language and send them in another. Users can either select a language they want to use, or have MailChimp automatically detect each subscriber's language and translate the email on the fly. This feature makes it easier for users with international lists to communicate with subscribers, no matter where they're located.

Other features in the release include Delivery Doctor, a tool for prediagnosing delivery issues with ISPs and spam filters; an integration with Flickr; and a redesigned template directory.

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

Northwest Computer Support Expands into Idaho

2010-02-04T06:21:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Northwest Computer Support is hosting a March 11th “Technology Showcase” at the Idaho Independent Bank Building in Boise, located at 401 W. Front Street, Suite 400. The event begins at 8:30 in the morning and ends at 5:00 in the afternoon. Those registered for the showcase, which will feature state-of-the-art technology presentations from several technology vendors, including Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, WatchGuard Firewalls, and Citrix, will be eligible to win a $50,000 technology makeover for their small-to-medium size business.

The prizes included in the showcase include:
Hewlett-Packard G6 Server
Microsoft Server, including Exchange Licensing
Symantec Antivirus Licensing
WatchGuard XTM Firewall
D-Link GB Switch
Barracuda Backup Server and Offsite Storage
Hewlett-Packard Multi-function Printer, and Scanner
Hewlett-Packard Document Management Solution
Northwest Computer Support Installation Services
Northwest Computer Support One Year of Support Services (Includes: helpdesk, network, server, security, application support and much more…)

James Watson, CEO of Northwest Computer Support, says “We are really looking forward to expanding into the Boise area and developing a strong, loyal customer base, just like we’ve done in Seattle. We see a lot of growth potential in the Boise area and look forward to doing business there.”

The showcase will give Boise businesses the opportunity to meet with industry leading vendors face-to-face and discuss ways to improve business processes through emerging technologies. Additionally, there will be informal discussions scheduled throughout the day presented in a classroom style by industry experts.

After the event, the winner of the $50,000 Extreme Technology Makeover will be announced.

In order to be eligible for the “Extreme Technology Makeover”, businesses must go to http://www.nwcsupport.com/boise to register for the showcase and fill out an entry form for the contest.

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

VisualSVN Server 2.1 Now Available to Users on Windows Platform

2010-02-04T06:20:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) VisualSVN Team is delighted to announce VisualSVN Server 2.1. This release builds on the reliability and functionality of previous versions with the addition of the Integrated Windows Authentication feature. Thanks to this feature, single sign-on and two-factor authentication now become available for Subversion users.

With Integrated Windows Authentication support in VisualSVN Server, users gain access to Subversion repositories without being prompted for a username and password. The current Windows credentials on the client computer are supplied through a cryptographic exchange involving hashing with the VisualSVN Server. Either NTLM or Kerberos V5 authentication protocols can be used.

Additionally, any standard Subversion client (such as svn.exe or TortoiseSVN) can be used to work with VisualSVN Server. In other words, there is no vendor lock-in.

Before the VisualSVN Server 2.1, Subversion users on the Windows platform were forced to use the Basic authentication method. Despite its simplicity, Basic authentication has obvious limitations:

- Security weaknesses: Passwords are transmitted in plain text making them vulnerable if intercepted. Passwords are also cached on disk (on the client side) which provides another opportunity for unwanted access.

- Additional authentication step: Users are forced to re-enter their username and password to access Subversion repository.

- Incompatible with smart cards: Since users are always requested to provide their username and password, the Basic authentication method is inherently incompatible with two-factor authentication systems.

Because of the above limitations, Basic authentication has been a serious obstacle to the adoption of Subversion in the corporate world. Integrated Windows Authentication, which is available in VisualSVN Server 2.1 Enterprise Edition, removes all of the above limitations and brings the following clear benefits:

- Optimal security: Authentication is always performed in a secure manner and credentials are never cached on disk.

- Single sign-on: Users' Windows credentials are automatically used to access VisualSVN Server, saving them the hassle of additional authentication steps.

- Two-factor authentication: Compatibility with two-factor authentication systems (e.g. smart cards) ensures that VisualSVN Server can be easily integrated to a secure enterprise environment.

Integrated Windows Authentication support in VisualSVN Server is another significant reason for enterprise customers to adopt Subversion. VisualSVN Server Enterprise Edition also provides other enterprise-grade features such as Remote Server Administration and Access and Operational Logging.

For further details please visit:

http://www.visualsvn.com/server/
http://www.visualsvn.com/server/licensing/

Subversion (SVN) is an open source Version Control System initiated in 2000. It is well-suited to maintain current and historical versions of files such as source code, Web pages, and documentation. Subversion is also being adopted in the corporate world. In a 2007 report by Forrester Research, Subversion was recognized as the sole leader in the Standalone Software Configuration Management (SCM) category and a strong performer in the Software Configuration and Change Management (SCCM) category.

Products under the VisualSVN brand were introduced on the market in 2006.

"Thanks to the fact that highest quality and clean design are our basic principles since the beginning, our products are greatly appreciated by customers," said Ivan Zhakov, technical director of VisualSVN and Subversion committer. "Both VisualSVN and VisualSVN Server products are trusted by thousands of organizations around the world, and across Fortune 500, public enterprise, education and open source sectors."

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/visualsvn_server_2_1_now_available_to_users_on_windows_platform.html

Are Your Donations Reaching Haitian Victims?

2010-02-03T08:28:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) From intact homes with running water and electricity, people around the world power up their electronic devices. Instantly, seeing the faces of Haitians deprived of every comfort, they are flooded with pity. They rush to share their abundance with the unfortunate victims of back-to-back earthquakes. Confidence artists know that, warns a new video from Comodo.

"Do your homework," warns the video. Hasty donations may end up in the hands of criminals, especially through social networks.

To learn more about making online donations that benefit the organizations they are supposed to help, see the video at Comodo TV by clicking the link below.

http://www.comodo.tv/home-computing/how-to-feed-the-needy-starve-the-cyber-criminals/

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

Peak 10 Named Stevie Award Finalist in Three Categories

2010-02-03T08:25:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Peak 10 Inc., a managed services company with world-class data centers, announced today it has been named a Stevie Award finalist in the Front-Line Customer Service Team of the Year category. Additionally, two members of its customer service team were named finalists in the individual categories of Customer Service Manager of the Year and Customer Service Leader of the Year.

The awards are presented by the Stevie® Awards, which organizes several of the world’s leading business awards shows including the prestigious American Business Awards. Nicknamed the Steviesfor the Greek word “crowned,” winners will be announced during a gala banquet on Monday, Feb. 22 at the Eden Roc Renaissance Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. Nominated customer service and sales executives from the U.S.A. and several other countries are expected to attend.

“Being named a finalist in the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service is an important achievement,” said Michael Gallagher, the president of the Stevie Awards. “It means that independent business executives have agreed that the nominee is worthy of international recognition. We congratulate all of the finalists for their achievement and wish them well in the competition.”

More than 500 entries from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted in this year’s competition. Of the various award categories for customer service professionals, Peak 10 was selected for three. Peak 10’s senior vice president of service delivery, Dan Wixon, is a finalist in the Customer Service Leader of the Year category. Jeffrey Brooks, senior manager for Peak 10 Support, is a finalist in the Customer Service Manager of the Year category and lastly, Peak 10’s Support team is named a finalist in the Front-Line Customer Service Team of the Year category.

“Because we place such a high priority on impeccable service delivery to our customers, we are very pleased that our Support team has been nationally recognized for their outstanding work,” said David Jones, the president and CEO of Peak 10.

Members of the Awards' Board of Distinguished Judges & Advisors will select Stevie Award winners from among the Finalists during final judging, to take place Jan. 25 through Feb. 3, 2010. Finalists were chosen by business professionals worldwide during preliminary judging.

Details about the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service and the list of finalists in all categories are available at www.stevieawards.com/sales. http://www.gawkwire.com/business/peak_10_named_stevie_award_finalist_in_three_categories.html

Cyber Host Pro Opens New Data Center

2010-02-03T08:24:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Cyber Host Pro, a top-rated, UK-based http://www.cyberhostpro.com/reseller-hosting/ [hosting reseller, has opened a new data centre in Manchester, near its existing centre.

The new facilities and new technology have sharply cut expenses for Cyber Host Pro, which they are passing on directly to their customers by way of upgraded and enhanced hosting packages.

“Overall, we’ve more than doubled their resources on our servers,” says Chris Danks, president of Cyber Host Pro. “We’ve doubled the bandwidth and disk space for all our packages, and we now provide more than twice as many databases and sub domains for most packages. Website hosting has never been more economical, especially when you consider the extensive range of new services we provide.”

Those new services include Smartermail 6 Enterprise Edition. This is an industry-leading Webmail interface for managing email, calendars, contacts, tasks and notes. It enables drag-and-drop, keyboard shortcuts, pop-up windows, snapping panes, splitters and tab controls. Smartermail also supports full collaboration, with shared calendars, tasks, notes and folders, as well as reminders and alerts.

“Essentially, Smartermail 6 is a viable, lower-cost alternative to Microsoft Exchange, and we are delighted to be offering it,” says Danks.

All of SmarterMail's features are available using any browser and standard internet access and can synchronise with Microsoft Outlook, Blackberry, iPhone or Windows Phone, using readily available, free tools. Cyber Host Pro also provides an easy-to-use tool for migrating email accounts from other providers, such as Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo!, Excite, Lycos and others.

Danks says Cyber Host Pro has also expanded its online and phone support to round-the-clock support for customers in the UK, Europe and in the United States. And, Danks notes, his company is also now the UK’s most economical source for domain names, ranging from 5% to more than 30% below prices charged by rivals 123-reg and Ukreg.

Another benefit of the new facility with its faster servers is that Cyber Host Pro now offers an expanded range of website hosting, including VPS and VDS -- Virtual Dedicated Server – hosting. With VDS, you enjoy similar flexibility to having a dedicated server, but because one physical server is shared among several users, the costs are dramatically lower.

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

Next Level Internet Launches Private, Secure, Virtual Co-location service

2010-02-03T08:20:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Next Level Internet, Inc., California’s leading mission critical Internet access provider, today announced the launch of their private, secure, virtual co-location service. This new green virtualization service offers a multitude of benefits that enable IT professionals the ability to grow and extend their network while maintaining the highest level of security.

Next Level Internet Private Cloud ComputingThe private virtual co-location service has many benefits, including reduced costs, improved security and performance, increased availability, reduced management overhead and server provisioning time, simplified budgeting, and built-in disaster recovery, all with 24/7 USA-based support. Additionally, computing power and other services can be accessed on demand and in a manner that is much more efficient and greener than owning racks of computers and stacks of software that almost never run at peak efficiency

"As a service provider, our job is to always make our customers look good,” said Jerry Morris, Founder of Next Level Internet, “we accomplish this by building our private cloud computing solution (“Cloud as a Service” CaaS) on branded hardware and software such as Dell, EMC storage, Cisco networking, Microsoft, and VMware and backing it with meticulously monitored, highly redundant, very secure data centers.”

"As an IT solution provider, we needed a flexible virtualization service that was extremely secure and highly scalable," said Tim Doscher, President/CEO of Computer Support of San Diego. "Next Level Internet delivered the perfect private cloud computing solution for our company while continuing to under promise and over deliver as they always do. Their support and service are top-notch and their A+ Better Business Bureau (BBB) rating is proof in itself of their impeccable service.”

The CaaS private cloud computing structure is built upon Next Level Internet's Clear Channel Internet connectivity, which provides businesses with a cost effective alternative to building and managing their own facility. The uniqueness of this private virtualization infrastructure offering creates an extremely low-latency and high quality end-user experience designed to maximize a company’s uptime. Additionally, private virtual co-location services can help companies pass important audits such as SAS70, Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPPA, ISO and others.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/next_level_internet_launches_private_secure_virtual_co-location_.html

Search Engine Strategies Appoints New Representatives to the SES Advisory Board

2010-02-03T08:17:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Search Engine Strategies (SES), the leading global search engine marketing (SEM) conference and expo series, announced today that they have appointed two new members to the SES Advisory Board. Jon Myers, Head of Search/Associate Director for MediaVest Group Ltd., has been appointed as the U.K. representative for SES London, and Thomas Bindl, Founder and CEO for Refined Labs GmbH, has been appointed as the Germany representative for SES Berlin.

Myers and Bindl will join 15 other SEM luminaries and SES staff in identifying resources to address the industry’s latest issues and trends and professional development resources – all with the goal to ensure SES conference attendees receive the latest industry information and training.

“With the addition of Jon and Thomas, we ensure that our EU attendees will be exposed to the most up-to-date industry content in each country we’re currently invited to present SES,” said Mike Grehan, Vice President and Global Content Director for Incisive Media’s Interactive Marketing Group. “The board will grow with international representatives in tune with our global expansion plans.”

About Jon Myers
Myers, who worked with the SES Advisory Board to secure programming for the upcoming SES London conference to be held February 15-19, is a recognized expert in SEM throughout the U.K. and Europe with over 11 years experience. He was one of 10 experts selected by Overture (Yahoo) to help create their SEM accreditation scheme, and is a regular member of search product improvement panels with all of the major search engines within paid search. Myers has actively been involved over the years with industry bodies such as SEMPO, IPA and the IAB as a Search Task Force committee member, and is a respected moderator and speaker at all major industry SEM events globally.

About Thomas Bindl
Bindl founded Refined Labs in 2007 to develop a next-generation online marketing toolbox with a focus on cross-channel and cross-campaign optimization, as well as a leading PPC bid management solution called “Refined Ads.” Prior to founding Refined Labs, he was a consultant for major online companies in Europe, North America and Asia to optimize their performance marketing strategies. Having started multiple successful online companies since 1999, he was chosen as one of the top 50 Internet people by Internet World Business in 2007. He is an active speaker at search conferences worldwide, published numerous articles and contributed to SEM books.

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

Cloud Services Certification Program Launched at Parallels

2010-02-03T08:14:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Worldwide cloud enablement leader, Parallels, today launched its new Cloud Services Certification Program to help its Partners become more profitable.

The Partner Certification Program is available to all Parallels partners and individuals and will provide dedicated training for its panel, virtualization and automation products.

“We are proud to be one of the first Cloud enablement companies to offer a Certification program and believe this is critical to increasing our Partners credibility and knowledge of our products. We believe that with this training and certification program, we will help partners reduce their operation and support costs,” said Jack Zubarev, President of Worldwide Service Providers at Parallels.

Attendees to the Parallels Summit 2010 can receive a discount of up to 30% on the costs of training depending on the level of Partnership.

“I found the training to be very thorough. It provided in depth knowledge that was useful for veteran Plesk users. If you want to know the ins and outs of Parallels Plesk, this course will certainly deliver,” said Joe Pavoncordero, Training Manager at Media Temple.

Parallels Certification training will provide many benefits including:

• Tier 2 Support that delivers faster response times from professional engineers;
• More Highly-Skilled Employees trained as self-sufficient Parallels product experts;
• Expert Recognition through the placement of the Parallels Certified logo, website badges and icons ensuring companies are validated as leaders in hosting and cloud services.

Registration is limited to 15 students per class and will be held at the Fontainbleu Hotel, Miami Beach on February 25 2010 so sign-up today and take advantage of this special offer.

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

Codero Launches Diversified Server Portfolio

2010-02-02T10:09:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Codero, a dedicated and managed hosting provider, unveiled its new server portfolio today, adding nine new server options to its service offering. “In an ongoing effort to provide customers with the best server solutions possible, we recognize the importance of keeping a fresh and updated portfolio,” stated Ryan Elledge, Chief Operations Officer for Codero. “The changes to the server offering arm our customers with technology solutions to increase their performance, efficiency and ultimately their business potential.”

With a continued focus on making dedicated hosting more affordable, Codero has expanded its entry level product offering, with all servers in the Webmaster Class being priced competitively at or under $100 per month. This lineup includes Celeron 430 (1.8GHz, 1GB RAM), Pentium Dual Core (2.6GHz, 1GB RAM), Core 2 Duo E6300 (1.86GHz, 1GB RAM) and the Core 2 Duo E8400 (3.0GHz, 1GB RAM).

Updates to the Professional Class include the introduction of Intel processors using the Nehalem microarchitecture, which include the Core i5 Quad Core (2.66GHz, 2GB RAM) and the Core i7 Quad Core (2.8GHz, 2GB RAM). Both processors provide increased performance and Intel’s Turbo Boost technology, allowing up to 3.2GHz on the Core i5 and 3.46GHz for the Core i7.

The Enterprise Class has been revamped to include three new 2x Xeon Quad Core servers ranging from 2.13 – 2.66GHz with 2GB RAM. These Quad Core servers are not only energy efficient for those green hosting conscience businesses, but they also provide an increase of up to 50% in performance when compared to Dual Core processors in the same power range.

Additionally, the Dell lineup has been completely refreshed with the PowerEdge R-Series of servers, and includes the PowerEdge R410, R610 and R710 rack servers. PowerEdge servers strike the perfect balance of power, price and expandability for all types of businesses and are built for speed and security.

For more information, view the complete server line-up at www.codero.com.

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

The Planet Announces Permanent Price Reductions Across Product Portfolio

2010-02-02T10:08:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) The Planet has recently announced sweeping price reductions across its product portfolio. From domestic and international servers in London, to CDNs, bandwidth, services, and hard drive and RAM upgrades, the company is lowering pricing and taking deliberate steps that enable customers to extract more value from their hosting investments.

Prices on new server orders are reduced from 7 to 30 percent, while RAM and hard drives are reduced by 50 percent.

Today’s price reductions come on the heels of recently announced bundles that come with every new server (http://www.theplanet.com/about/news-events/press-releases/2010/The-Planet-Now-Offers-Free-Control-Panel,-Cloud-St/). The bundle includes Symantec business-class antivirus software, 10GB of Storage Cloud, the company’s robust cloud storage solution, and the choice of either Parallels Plesk Panel or cPanel/WebHost Manager (WHM).

“We’re focusing on value and how we deliver even better, more responsive customer experience from every vector of our business,” said The Planet’s Chairman and CEO Douglas J. Erwin. “We want to make The Planet an easier company to do business with across the board, backed by the quality of our data centers, network and an 86 percent customer satisfaction rating. During the course of the year we’re planning additional programs, seminars and education opportunities that will underscore why we’re the uncontested value leader in the industry.”

To learn more about The Planet’s new pricing, visit the Web site at http://www.theplanet.com or contact Sales at 1-866-325-0045.

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

Children Spending Time Online More than Ever

2010-02-02T10:07:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) In 2009, children spent more time than ever hooked in to their electronic devices. During their time online, they need protection from two kinds of threats: targeted one-on-one danger from online predators, and automated menaces, said Melih Abdulhayoglu, CEO of Comodo.

A January 10 report from the Kaiser Family Foundation surveying more than 2000 youngsters found that children age 8-18, especially minority children, are increasing their use of entertainment media dramatically. Children's computer use has grown from 27 minutes in 1999 to little over 1-1/2 hours a day in 2009. Top online activities include social networking, online games and video sites.

"When children visit these kinds of sites they may encounter two kinds of danger," said Abdulhayoglu. "First, predators look for them on those sites because those sites attract children. This predator is willing to invest both time and money in gaining a child's trust. Children online need good sense, at a time when they are still trying to develop it. Comodo strongly recommends that parents take time to discuss what their children are doing online, to guard children from online predators. A very helpful resource is the FBI's Parent's Guide to Online Safety."

At the same time, children online face the same hazard as netizens everywhere: malware. Just like grownups, they may unthinkingly open email attachments containing viruses, or they may visit infected websites. "In fact, because they are not as worldly, they probably do this more often," said Abdulhayoglu. Doing so causes malicious software to install itself on their computers.

"Malware has evolved," said Abdulhayoglu. "Once it installs, even a grownup may not even know that it's there. It sits in the background and sends out spam emails. Or it tracks the keystrokes that Mum or Dad types into the computer, including their online banking password and other confidential information."

"The good news about malware is that it goes out to thousands or millions of people in hopes that a small percentage of them will take the bait, without the elaborate ruses that online predators use. This means that security software can protect against most malware."

Just as malware has evolved, security software has evolved as well. "The best protection is a whitelist," he said. Whitelists are lists of safe software. If the software that tries to install itself is not on the list, security software such as Comodo Internet Security will not permit it to install. "Most security software uses the outdated blacklist approach. When a child meets today's threat, but your blacklist only includes yesterday's threats, you can see that there is a gaping hole in your security. Instead of letting it install because the file is not on the blacklist, a whitelist prevents it from installing until a responsible adult can check it out."

Today's youth are especially fond of mobile devices according to the Kaiser Family Foundation report. "Those mobile devices are computers—totally capable of running applications," Abdulhayoglu said.

"All criminals have to do is trick us into opening up their application. If you download or install the application, you've just given them full access to everything that's in your mobile device. And, again, kids do not have the judgment and discrimination that adults have."

The Internet offers vast amounts of valuable information for people who can use it wisely, he said. But when children venture online, he recommended "responsible supervision when possible, and reliable security software at all times." http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/children_spending_time_online_more_than_ever.html

Google, Search Market Leader, and Lying Evil Empire

2010-02-02T06:13:00-05:00

(WebHost Blog) I hope everyone had a delightful holiday season. For myself I had a variety of projects that ended up taking more of my time that I had planned, but now I am here again providing more useful commentary than a well-trained yak. Which is fairly considerable considering how considerate the abilities of a well-trained yak can be.

So it should come as no surprise that Google accounted for 72.25% of the total searchers in last December, according to HitWise. A jump from 71.57% in November. For the most part, the stats don’t show much of a change since it can be considered within the bias, but it does reinforce the notion that Yahoo and Bing are not doing enough, especially when you consider both took hits (ever so minor) to their search traffic.

What is more interesting to me is the comments made by Steve Jobs and the somewhat odd photo of him in Wired. In fact looking at it makes me think that Google may suffer the consequences for edging into Apple territory. Steve Jobs called Google’s don’t be evil motto is a load of crap. What is funny is the apparent uproar from Google fanboys who fired back by saying Job’s ego is on the rise. But lets take some time to look at this.

How many personal computer companies have made successful forays into media players and cell phones and even produced market leaders in either market? How many PC companies have built a tablet PC thingy that gives them roughly 50% profit per piece? I am not a fan of Jobs on a personal level, but I look at what he has done with his company and how he focuses on looks and customer interface and I have to give the man his due. If someone were to have an ego in this industry it would be Jobs.

Besides it is his job hmmmm duty (narrowly avoiding the pun patrol) to ensure his competitors are are not given aid and comfort. If that means unleashing a torrent of slurs that would make Larry Ellison’s rants look G-rated (overlooking the fact that that would have been much more entertaining then the somewhat subdued comment of its a load of crap) so be it. For the most part the comment is justified, simply look at Google’s track record with business “partners” and companies they have purchased.

Don’t be evil, is very open ended statement and doesn’t mean, don’t be evil to only customers, or don’t be evil to the next door neighbors. It means don’t be evil period and an awful lot of Google’s actions through the years are fairly questionable.

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

Majority of Wireless Internet Users Have Enabled Security

2010-02-02T06:12:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Cisco research that was released today reveals that 87% of respondents surveyed across 10 European countries with a wireless internet connection at home said that they have security enabled on their wireless home network. The online survey, commissioned by Cisco and carried out by YouGov, shows how consumers in ten countries access and use the internet at home. Across all the countries, the resounding finding is that most people use their wireless connections in their living room. The second most popular room is the bedroom, followed by the office and dining room.

The findings reveal that there are vast differences in wireless internet usage in homes across Europe. Only 52 per cent of internet users in Germany connect to the internet wirelessly at home, in contrast to 74 per cent in Spain. The majority of people in Germany that have a wireless internet connection at home (96 per cent) make sure that their wireless network is secured, whereas no more than 80 percent of respondents do the same in France.
To help consumers with securing their home network Cisco ships Network Magic with its latest Linksys by Cisco routers. Network Magic helps consumers with setting up and securing their home network. Cisco encourages all consumers to secure their wireless home networks with 5 tips to secure home networks.

Internet users in 10 European countries were asked whether they have a wireless internet connection, with an average of 64 per cent of respondents answering ‘yes’ across all countries. Individual countries were ranked as follows:

1. Spain – 74%
2. Italy – 71%
3. UK – 71%
4. Denmark – 69%
5. Netherlands – 66%
6. France – 63%
7. Belgium – 63%
8. Poland – 57%
9. Sweden – 52%
10. Germany – 52%

From these 64 per cent of respondents with a wireless internet connection at home the following percentage answered positive on the question if their wireless network security is enabled:

1. Germany – 96%
2. UK – 92%
3. Denmark – 89%
4. Netherlands – 89%
5. Sweden – 87%
6. Spain – 85%
7. Italy – 84%
8. Poland – 83%
9. Belgium – 82%
10. France – 80%

Across all but one of the regions the youngest group of respondents (18-24) have the highest percentage of secure wireless networks and the lowest percentage of security enabled wireless networks can be found in the 55+ age group.

Wireless Internet Activities

Social networking is a frequent activity for internet users in most countries, most notably the UK, Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Spain and Sweden. But surprisingly, internet users in Germany, France and Poland are more likely to be viewing videos than social networking, when asked which activity they do at least once a month. Similarly, online shopping features highly amongst internet users in the UK, Netherlands, Germany, France, Poland and Denmark, but does not rank in the top four online activities for Italy, Spain and Belgium. E-mailing and surfing the web were by far the most popular activities across all the countries surveyed.

Key facts/findings :

• Computers/laptops are by far the most common devices connected to wireless networks (84%), followed by printers (32%) and games consoles (22%)
• The survey found that emailing (95%) and surfing the net (91%) were the most popular activities respondents did at least once a month
• 74 per cent of people online used their connection to shop at least once a month, compared to average of 61 per cent of people across all countries surveyed
• Over half (56%) of the internet users surveyed used social networking sites at least once a month
• Increasingly, TVs are being sold with integrated network/Internet connectivity. 31 per cent of respondents said they would consider buying a TV that can be connected to your home internet network and a further 22% would consider this if it was wireless.

Supporting Quote:

Gareth Jones, Regional Sales Manager UK, Cisco, commented:
“This study lifts the lid on wireless internet usage across Europe, revealing big differences in how people access the internet and what they do once they are online. It’s interesting to see the UK leading the way in adopting wireless connections and making sure that those wireless networks are secured. We expect to see more and more people convert from fixed line to wireless internet access during 2010, with even more wireless-enabled devices connecting to those networks, such as games consoles”.

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

PoweredbyCloud 2010 Conference Attracts International Audience

2010-02-02T06:11:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) The 2nd PoweredbyCloud 2010 and the first international Cloud Law Summit taking place in London over three days, 8-9-10 February 2010 has attracted a wide international audience, particularly from the enterprise sector (www.poweredbycloud.com).

The PoweredbyCloud conference has established a reputation for providing strategic insight into the evolution of cloud services and business models that work. With a speaker academy comprising of experts and front line players from Europe and North America, the event is positioned as the key content platform for providers and users.

In addition to the 2-day content driven conference, a special summit will focus on emerging Cloud Law will draw on experts from the US and Europe to discuss the implications of the Patriot Act in the United States, and EU Data Directive for enterprises. Other topics covered included Privacy in the Cloud, Open Law, financial services, Cloud content and liability, negotiating contracts for Cloud Services, and how Cloud law might be framed in future.

“What emerges from this important conference in terms of creating a commercial and technological perspective of cloud services and infrastructure in Europe will be of key interest to enterprises,” commented Philip Low, managing director at BroadGroup, the conference researchers and producers. “The added dimension of how potentially a wide range of cloud issues will be treated legally represents the first such initiative across the region, and is also being observed from Brussels to Tokyo.”

The summit follows the second annual PoweredByCloud conference, also hosted by BroadGroup, which will take place in London, February 8-9 2010 at the America Square Conference Centre and features industry leaders from Amazon, BT, Cisco, HP, IBM, and Intel among others.

PoweredByCloud has established itself as the market leading cloud computing conference for business leaders and strategists. With representation from both sides of the Atlantic, the summit offers both content insight and an outstanding opportunity to network with senior legal advisers, government officials, professional intermediaries, experts, technologists and enterprise leaders. http://www.gawkwire.com/events_html/poweredbycloud_2010_conference_attracts_international_audience.html

1&1 Unveils New Logo for 'Green Hosting' Companies

2010-02-02T06:10:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) 1&1 Internet Ltd, www.1and1.co.uk, the world's largest web host by known servers, today introduced a logo that its customers can use to promote that their website is eco-friendly.

A recent study released by 1&1 found that half of British shoppers now look for 'green' credentials when choosing online retailers. 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 also revealed 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. 37 per cent of Britons now expect online shops to reduce their environmental impact to the same degree as high-street
stores.

1&1 encourages customers to join 1&1's green movement by using the logo on their website. In such a way, consumers can be made aware that the website owner is committed to lowering their environmental impact from their technical infrastructure upwards. The "Green Hosting Logo" can be downloaded from the Marketing Tools section of the 1&1 Customer Control Panel or from the 1&1 Press Image Archive (http://press.1and1.co.uk/xml/images).

Since December 2007, 1&1 has supplied all its European data centres with electrical power from renewable resources like wind, water, or solar energy. In 2008 its data centre in Lenexa, Kansas, also became fully green-certified. With all of its worldwide data centres powered by green energy, 1&1 is the first globally green Web host in the market.

1&1's green-hosting efforts will offset emissions of over 30,000 tons of
CO2 per year. As the world's largest Web host, 1&1 is well placed to deliver a high quality service to its customers. The company currently holds over 9 million customer contracts and manages over 10 million domain names.

For more information on 1&1 hosting visit the website at www.1and1.co.uk

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/1_1_unveils_new_logo_for_green_hosting_companies.html

GoDaddy Commercial Banned from Super Bowl

2010-02-01T06:28:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) What is offensive about a retired football star transitioning into a career as a successful Internet entrepreneur? That’s the question Go Daddy is asking viewers about the one Go Daddy Super Bowl commercial that was not approved to air in this year’s big game.

“Of the five commercial concepts we submitted for approval this year, this NEVER would’ve been my pick for the one that would not be approved,” exclaimed Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. “This is about a guy who starts an online business and hits the jackpot. I just don’t think “Lola” is offensive, in fact we didn’t see this one coming – we were absolutely blindsided!”

The thirty-second commercial is narrated by Go Daddy Girl Danica Patrick and features a character named “Lola,” who launches a new career as a fashion designer with an online store.

Parsons is revealing “Lola” online to see what the public thinks. “I predict most people will say “Lola” is hilarious! To critics I would say, we finally produced a Super Bowl commercial that speaks to our core business – helping people be successful online.”

You can see “Lola” and share your opinions right now at www.GoDaddy.com.

A Focus on the Family commercial has been approved to air in this year’s Super Bowl and sparked controversy because it advocates a politically motivated message. The conservative watchdog organization, Media Research Center, however, defends the Christian group’s commercial saying networks have approved “Go Daddy ads, which typically feature big-breasted women,” and are presumably more offensive than a religious-oriented message.

“Lola is not a ‘big-breasted woman’ – Lola is a big, flamboyant, effeminate, lovable man,” Parsons replied.

The domain name registrar and Web hosting provider purchased slots in the first and fourth quarters of the Super Bowl. Go Daddy’s “Movies” spot has already been selected and approved as one of this year’s Super Bowl commercials, but now Go Daddy needs to declare which other ad it intends to air. Go Daddy Productions shot five different concepts with a variety of endings.

“We’ve accepted we have to go with another option – one that’s been approved and one that is still 100 percent GoDaddy-esque,” Parsons promised, referring to a term the media coined to describe Go Daddy commercials as “fun, edgy and slightly inappropriate.”

In 2006, Go Daddy helped pioneer the practice of pushing Super Bowl viewers to the Web. Last year, Go Daddy drove more Web traffic than any other Super Bowl advertiser, according to comScore. Once again this year, Go Daddy will invite viewers to “See More Now” with unrated “Internet-Only” versions to be unveiled at www.GoDaddy.com on Super Bowl Sunday.

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

Christian Belady of Microsoft To Keynote At 6th Data Centres Europe 2010

2010-02-01T06:18:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) The organizers of the 6th Data Centres Europe 2010 recently announced that Christian Belady, Principal Infrastructure Architect at Microsoft, will keynote at the event. Data Centres Europe is the premier regional networking hub for service companies engaged in the sector, and enterprise IT leadership. The event will take place at the Espaces Antipolis, near Nice, France 22-23 April 2010.

The 6th Data Centres Europe 2010 will include a special focus on enterprise customers of data centres and their evolving outsourcing needs as emerging private clouds, new technologies and market shift impact across the sector. Uniquely the conference is provided each year with results of new research conducted by BroadGroup Consulting. Special workshops will cover Data Centre Security, Architecting and Building new Data Centres and the implementation of the European Code of Conduct.

“I see events like Data Centres Europe 2010 as a huge opportunity for the data center industry to come together and collectively drive improvements in environmental sustainability, security, and operational excellence for our customers. I am honored to have been invited and look forward to the dynamic discussions with all of the participants,” remarked Christian Belady.

“We are especially delighted by the participation of Microsoft at the 2010 event,” commented Philip Low, ceo of BroadGroup. “Supported by an all-industry steering group, our own research programmes and unique content, and an exciting line-up of star speakers, data centre players are ensuring they secure presence at the flagship networking event”.

Data Centres Europe provides a networking platform for end users, services and solution providers, investors, and professional intermediaries. The event includes the conference, special workshops, exhibition and the annual Awards Ceremony. http://www.datacentres.com/dce/

Patron of the event is APC by Schneider Electric. Sponsors of the event are: Interxion, TelecityGroup, XKL LLC, Euclyde SA, Strategies/CadwinFM, Lamda Hellix Datacentres, APL, CB Richard Ellis. Keynote/Participating Organization: Microsoft. Industry Partners: Colocation Exchange, Noodlesoft Technologies, TMT Consultants, Media Partners: IX News Search, Data Centre News, Telecom Deal Alert, IT One. PR Partner: VP Communications. http://www.gawkwire.com/events_html/christian_belady_of_microsoft_to_keynote_at_6th_data_centres_eur.html

Austria4U Renews Partnership with SmarterTools for Client Software

2010-02-01T06:17:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Austria4U is proud to announce it has renewed its partnership with software developer SmarterTools, Inc. Under the terms of the partnership, Austria4U will provide qualified customers with a suite of SmarterTools software at no additional charge. 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.

"Our partnership is a win-win situation for all—for our clients, for Austria4U, and for SmarterTools,” said Gerhard Schurz, CIO from Austria4U – NET POOL.

SmarterMail is a cost-effective Microsoft Exchange alternative, bringing enterprise-level functionality to businesses, ISPs, and Web hosting environments. Features include a rich Webmail interface, detailed reporting, events/notifications, throttling, email archiving, intrusion detection/prevention, advanced synchronization (Microsoft Outlook, Pocket PC, and smartphones), out-of-the-box antispam and antivirus, and optional add-ons for Exchange ActiveSync, Commtouch Premium Antispam, and Commtouch Zero-Hour Antivirus.

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. The latest release adds support for distributed log files, competitor analysis reporting, SEO campaigns, and a keyword suggestion tool.

SmarterTrack is a powerful help desk application built for tracking, managing, and reporting on customer service and communications, including sales and support issues. Features include a Ticket system, Live Chat, WhosOn, branding and language support, cost analysis, data mining, reporting, surveys, and a Knowledge Base.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/austria4u_renews_partnership_with_smartertools_for_client_softwa.html

The New York NOC Aquired by Steadfast Networks

2010-02-01T06:16:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) Steadfast Networks announced earlier today that it has acquired hosting provider, The New York NOC. This acquistion allows Steadfast Networks to continue its expansion in the Northeast region of the US by offering dedicated server, colocation, and VPS hosting services to customers in New York and surrounding areas.

"To continue our growth, we decided to acquire a hosting company in New York that focuses on dedicated server, colocation, and VPS hosting," said Karl Zimmerman, CEO of Steadfast Networks. "Although we already offered colocation hosting services in New York, acquiring The New York NOC gives us better economies of scale by allowing us to offer more services and reduced pricing for the New York hosting market."

Steadfast Networks has been offering colocation hosting services out of the New York metro area since Q3 2009. The acquisition of The New York NOC enables Steadfast Networks to continue growth throughout the US by offering new locations and services. The New York NOC provides dedicated server hosting, colocation hosting, VPS hosting, and content delivery network (CDN) services, enabling Steadfast Networks to expand its offerings to more customers in the Northeast region of the US.

"The purchase of The New York NOC helps Steadfast Networks to firmly establish a presence in the New York metro area, where we only previously offered colocation hosting services," said Zimmerman. "The New York NOC acquisition also offers Steadfast Networks customers additional options for geographic hosting distribution and redundancy."

In addition to colocation hosting services, dedicated server hosting, and VPS hosting services, Steadfast Networks can now include content delivery network (CDN) services as part of its hosting portfolio. Steadfast Networks and The New York NOC powered content delivery network services are ideal for websites that host large amounts of content to be distributed in multiple locations around the world.

"Steadfast Networks has established itself as a leading network for hosting services including colocation hosting, dedicated server hosting, and is quickly becoming a leading game server provider," said Zimmerman. "Now with the ability to extend our dedicated and colocation hosting services to include content delivery network services, we can utilize our existing network infrastructure in multiple places to ensure content is readily available to our customers’ end users."

With Steadfast Network’s acquisition of The New York NOC, New York website hosting customers will have access to better support, faster responses, and more service offerings. The New York NOC now has the resources to become a leading hosting company in New York. Customers located in New York and the surrounding areas are encouraged to visit thenynoc.com to view all The New York NOC website hosting services. http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/the_new_york_noc_aquired_by_steadfast_networks.html

cPanel Releases Free Conference Session Videos

2010-02-01T06:14:00-05:00

(Gawkwire.com) cPanel recently announced the release of select sessions of videos from their 2009 Conference. The videos are repeat performances of some of cPanel’s most popular and informative Conference sessions.

“We decided to offer video recordings of some of our sessions, in response to user demand,” said Eric Gregory of cPanel. Slated for release on a monthly basis, these videos will provide a sample of the detailed knowledge that flowed freely at the cPanel Conference in Houston, back in October, 2009. Future video releases will cover the most important and attended sessions from cPanel’s 2009 Conference.

“cPanel places a high value on sharing tips, techniques, and knowledge with our customers to help grow their businesses,” said Aaron Phillips, Vice President of Operations at cPanel. The first video will be available for online viewing, free, with slides, January 29. Over the next few weeks, cPanel will provide information about future video releases. Videos will released monthly and can be viewed at:

http://www.cpanel.net/conference/10/session-videos.html

The first video release will center around the updated cPanel::Locale system. cPanel::Locale makes it easier for hosting providers and server owners to cater to an international customer base. Languages and character sets for many languages work seamlessly within the updated cPanel::Locale system to provide a great user experience, no matter what the language. Further locale information can be found here: http://docs.cpanel.net/twiki/bin/view/CpanelLocale/LocaleIntroduction http://www.gawkwire.com/video_tv/cpanel_releases_free_conference_session_videos.html