RIM Launches BlackBerry Business Cloud Services for Microsoft Office 365

BlackBerry Business Cloud Services for Microsoft Office 365

Waterloo, ON – Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced general availability of BlackBerry® Business Cloud Services for Microsoft Office 365 – a new service for business and government organizations that extends Microsoft Exchange Online to BlackBerry® smartphones and allows customers to manage their BlackBerry deployments in the cloud. The service is available at no additional charge to current medium-sized or enterprise subscribers of the Office 365 suite or standalone Exchange Online and works with BlackBerry smartphones on business or consumer data plans.

“RIM is pleased to launch BlackBerry Business Cloud Services for Microsoft Office 365. This new cloud-based option allows customers to cost-effectively support mobility across their organizations and easily manage and secure their BlackBerry deployments,” said Alan Panezic, Vice President, Enterprise Product Management and Marketing at Research In Motion. “We continue to build upon the end-to-end BlackBerry solution for our business and government customers with both on-premise and cloud-based solutions, a range of technical support options to suit any size organization, and a growing ecosystem of apps and services for users.”

“Microsoft’s partnership with RIM exemplifies our commitment to providing customers with the best productivity experience across the PC, browser and phone,” said Julia White, Senior Director of Microsoft’s Exchange Product Management Group. “The availability of BlackBerry Business Cloud Services is great news for Office 365 and BlackBerry customers who want to get the maximum benefit from these two business collaboration services.”

BlackBerry Business Cloud Services offers advanced administration and flexible smartphone self-service features to support an organization’s BlackBerry deployment in the cloud. Key features include:

  • Wireless synchronization with Microsoft Exchange Online email, calendar and organizer data from a BlackBerry smartphone
  • BlackBerry® Balance™ technology, which presents a unified view of work and personal content on a BlackBerry smartphone while keeping the content separate and secure
  • An intuitive web-based console for IT administrators to provision, manage and secure BlackBerry smartphones from anywhere
  • Online access to employee self-service smartphone security functions, allowing users to easily reset a device password or remotely lock or wipe a device in the event of loss or theft

Managed service providers, systems integrators, carriers, resellers and other partners can also use the cloud service to manage BlackBerry deployments on behalf of their customers.

The service is available today in over 50 countries. Customers can go to www.blackberry.com/cloudservices to get started.

Canada's Pioneering eLearning Company Goes Public

Canada's Pioneering eLearning Company Goes Public

Bluedrop Performance Learning Celebrates First Day of Trading on the TSX Venture Exchange

Quote start“The combination of technology, people and experience that we now have around the table means great things for Bluedrop. We will reduce our product roadmap for CoursePark® by one year and gain immediate access to markets in South America,”Quote end

St. John’s, NL (PRWEB) January 30, 2012

Bluedrop Performance Learning started a new era of business when the TSX Venture Exchange opened this past Friday. A recently completed business transaction with Serebra Learning Corporation will see Bluedrop, long recognized as a pioneer and thought leader in eLearning, become Canada’s largest full service eLearning company. It becomes one of the few technology companies from Atlantic Canada to cross over the Public trading threshold.

Emad Rizkalla, President and CEO, said the timing for the business was just right. “Bluedrop and Serebra shared a similar vision. We were both interested in changing the world and determined to make a positive impact by combining innovation with a passion for accessible learning that helps individuals and companies succeed.”

Bluedrop now has over 100 employees in five (5) offices throughout Canada. This number is expected to increase dramatically over the next 18 months as new projects are kicked off and opportunities are realized.

“The combination of technology, people and experience that we now have around the table means great things for Bluedrop. We will reduce our product roadmap for CoursePark® by one year and gain immediate access to markets in South America,” said Rizkalla.

The company will keep the name Bluedrop Performance Learning and trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol TSX-V: BPL.

About Bluedrop

Bluedrop Performance Learning (TSX-V: BPL) is an innovator in online eLearning applications and a developer of custom courseware.

Through the development and implementation of pragmatic learning technologies and content, Bluedrop improves opportunities for employees and the overall performance of corporations. CoursePark® (http://www.coursepark.com) is Bluedrop’s cloud based learning management solution and contains over 5000 third party online courses from MS Excel to Leadership to Health and Safety. The CoursePark platform is barely out of beta testing and already has almost 50,000 users in 100 countries. Bluedrop is also a recognized leader in producing mission critical training solutions for Defence and Aerospace, and provides custom online courseware, virtual training devices and virtual reality simulation for international military and commercial aviation clients.

Founded in 1992, Bluedrop has over 100 employees and is based in St. John’s NL with offices in Halifax, Fredericton, Ottawa and Vancouver.

This Year's Most In Demand IT Jobs and the Skills That Will Help You Advance

This Year's Most In Demand IT Jobs and the Skills That Will Help You Advance

Randstad Technologies/IBM Study reveals an IT skills shift towards Project Management, Security and Architecture.

TORONTO, Jan. 26, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - Wondering what the most in demand IT jobs are, and which skills will best advance your IT career? According to a recent survey of Canadian business decision-makers commissioned by Randstad Technologies and IBM Canada, companies in 2012 are looking for IT professionals with project management, security and architecture skills, as well as strong interpersonal abilities.

According to the results, for both large and small companies, Project Management and Business Analysis continue to be the talent requirements most in demand within the IT industry. These two skills sets have remained in steadily in demand since 2009.

Additionally, both small and large comanies report similar demands when it comes to IT talent requirements.  Both smaller and larger companies have an increase need for Infrastructure Support and Wireless Support and a decrease need for Business Analysis, Web Development and Database Management.

But in terms of the most in demand infrastructure skill sets, small and large companies have differing needs. Smaller companies saw an 8% increase in demand for Server Virtualization Specialists (39% total) where as larger companies report a higher demand for Technical Project Managers (36% total).

Similarly this years' results indicate companies with 1,000 employees or less, and CIOs/VPs also rank Server Virtualization Specialists on the top of their most wanted list. While Technical Project Managers remain in high demand for larger companies and by Directors/Managers.

Nationally, the demand for Security & Privacy Specialists has increased in all regions. Western Canada predicts a minor increase of 1%, Ontario shows a 6% increase in demand, with Quebec seeing the highest increase of 11% to 36%, compared to the previous year.

Overall, Quebec has shown the higest demand for infrastructure skill sets in 2012. The demand for Technical Project Managers (57%), Network Architects & Specialists (50%), Server Virtualization Specialists (50%), Technical Team Leaders (43%) and Security & Privacy Specalists (36%) have all seen increases of more than 20% when compared to the previous year.

This year, Ontario reports an increased demand for Security & Privacy Specialists (up 6% from last year) and Systems Management/Operations Specialists (up 8% from last year). The region also saw a steep decline in the demand for Technical Project Managers, Network Architects & Specialists and Web Hosting System Administrators.

While Western Canada indicates an increased demand for Technical Project Managers (up 7% from last year) and Technical Team Leaders (up 2% from last year). A decrease in demand for Network Architects & Specialists, Server Virtualization Specialists and Network Analyst & Performance Specialists was also reported in the region.

About the Randstad Technologies/IBM Canadian IT Staffing Outlook
The study is the third annual survey and covered over 200 top-level business decision makers, from organizations of all sizes, for information regarding IT staffing trends and projections. The study was conducted between October 4, 2011 and November 18, 2011. To obtain a copy of the full report contact your Account Manager today.

About Randstad Technologies: Sapphire Canada is the country's largest provider of IT staffing solutions, offering permanent and contract opportunities across all roles, levels and platforms. To find out what it's like to work with a staffing partner that really delivers, call 1.800.540.3594 or visit randstadtechnologies.ca.

About Randstad Canada: Randstad Canada is the Canadian leader for staffing, recruitment and HR Services. As the only fully integrated staffing company in the country, we understand the recruitment needs and demands of employers and job seekers across all levels and industries. Through our insightful knowledge of local markets, employment trends and global network of recruitment experts, we are shaping the Canadian world of work. Visit randstad.ca

About IBM: For more on IBM please visit www.ibm.com/ca

For further information:

Dayana Moreno
Marie-Noelle Morency

Telephone

416.962.9578 x2317
514.350.5309 x233

iPhone Accounted for One in Four Shipments during Q4, with Samsung seeing Phenomenal Growth, says Juniper Research

·         Apple ships 37 million iPhones in Q4, a quarter of total

·         Samsung keeping pace as market share quadruples since Q1 2010

·         470 million smartphones shipped worldwide in 2011

HAMPSHIRE, UK – 30th January 2012: Data from leading mobile analyst firm Juniper Research shows that Apple has overtaken Samsung again during the last quarter of 2011. Almost 25% of the 149 million smartphones shipped worldwide in Q4 were iPhones. While Apple overtook Samsung to reach no.1, the Korean giant has increased its market share four-fold since Q1 2010: from 4.7% to 21.7%. Samsung’s rise is forcing Apple to continue offering older models to keep ahead according to Juniper.

3GS + 4 + 4S = Success

While Apple sold 4 million iPhone 4Ss within three days of launch, the company’s return to top spot was partly driven by continuing to offer the iPhone 3GS –first launched in 2009 – at rock-bottom prices. Juniper believes this an effort to shore-up its defences again a bombardment of standard and premium smartphones from Samsung. Daniel Ashdown, Research Analyst with Juniper Research notes: “The scale of Samsung’s product range is saturating the market. Apple has had to counter Samsung’s products like the Galaxy Ace in order to maintain the visibility of its brand.”

Battle of the Brands Drowns Out Competition

While Apple and Samsung have traded places for the past three quarters, results of other OEMs were more muted. Taiwan-based HTC was the only other member of the top five to see significant year-on-year growth. Juniper estimates, prior to official data, that the company shipped 12.1 million smartphones in Q4. Elsewhere troubled Blackberry-maker RIM’s woes will be soothed somewhat as shipments remained steady year-on-year at 14.4 million, down just 0.7%. 2012 will be an important year for Nokia as it looks to fight back with a full-year of Windows Phone 7 launches. The Finnish OEMs smartphone shipments were down 31% y-o-y in the fourth quarter.

A free smartphone whitepaper and further details of Juniper’s ‘Smartphone Evolution Strategies’ report are available at www.juniperresearch.com

Alternatively, contact Jessica Hanslip at jess.hanslip@juniperresearch.com

Telephone +44(0)1256 830001.

Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.

2012 AQT Barometer - Annual Index of the State of the Quebec ICT Industry


2012 AQT Barometer - Annual Index of the State of the Quebec ICT Industry


MONTREAL, Jan. 30, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - The Quebec Technology Association today launched its extensive annual survey of executives of Quebec Information and Communications Technology (ICT) companies. The AQT Barometer, the only one of its kind in North America and already an inspiration to other groups, provides a picture of business practices and key issues, while also highlighting the growth requirements of a strategically important sector of the Quebec economy.

An Annual Index Built on 4 Performance Indicators
The AQT Barometer provides a detailed profile of Quebec ICT companies and identifies indicators that serve as benchmarks to track the sector's progression. These indicators also serve to develop the AQT Index, which is designed to measure the annual growth of the ICT sector on the basis of human resources, innovation, income, and marketing data.

Survey Goals
"The 2012 questionnaire was expanded to further refine some of the data collected in the inaugural year. More specifically, data pertaining to marketing methods, income sources, and various funding sources, including R&D tax credits and the Refundable Tax Credit for the Development of E-Business, explained Nicole Martel, Chief Executive Officer of AQT. It will be interesting to see if companies are following through on their plans to increase recruitment through immigration."

Why do companies take part in this survey?

  • Participating companies receive a personalized report from SOM, giving them more than 30 indicators to gauge their performance relative to similar companies.
  • The results help identify trends in the Quebec ICT industry.
  • The analysis provides an overview of the progression of business practices.
  • The aggregated data helps define the orientation of presentations to be made to governments.

Data Collection Period/Publication of the Results
Information on business issues and practices was collected from more than 650 companies through the 2011 AQT Barometer initiative. Over the next few weeks, SOM, a survey firm, will independently collect data from 2,000 Quebec ICT companies. AQT members will have premiere access to the overall results in May 2012 and then the AQT Index will be made widely available to the media.

The Performance Indicator information sheets issued in 2011 and distributed in collaboration with McCarthy Tétrault are currently available on the AQT Web site. The 2012 edition of the survey was made possible through the support of the ministère du Développement économique de l'Innovation et de l'Exportation (MDEIE).

ICT companies wishing to be heard by taking part in this ten-minute online survey are invited to write to info@aqt.ca to obtain a password.

About the Quebec Technology Association (AQT) www.aqt.ca
The Quebec Technology Association (AQT) www.aqt.ca represents the leaders of growth-oriented small and medium-sized Quebec Information and Communications Technology (ICT) companies with between 4 and 1,000 employees. The AQT Growth Accelerator gives them access to best practices in management and marketing, and connects them with a vast business network. The AQT is a self-sustaining entity with more than 500 member companies and affiliate members.

For further information:

AQT - Valérie Danger, 514 874 2667, extension 118, or vdanger@aqt.ca


NFB introduces educational resource CAMPUS


 

NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA INTRODUCES CAMPUS

An innovative media solution for today’s classroom,

CAMPUS offers educators 2,500 films online

 

Montreal, January 27, 2012―The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) is launching CAMPUS <nfb.ca/campus>, a new online resource that provides educators with innovative ways to incorporate NFB films in the classroom.

 

Canada’s public film producer and distributor, the NFB has been a trusted source of quality educational resources for Canadian students for over 70 years.

 

Now, with a subscription to CAMPUS, educators have access to a large collection of NFB films and interactive titles online—along with new, easy-to-use educational tools designed for their needs.

 

CAMPUS is designed specifically with educators in mind, offering easier access and better resources, to support over 2,500 Canadian productions, in both English and French, including 500 new titles added just for classroom use. It features new search functions: by subject, and soon, by age group. CAMPUS also enables educators to prepare clips in advance online―selecting excerpts, labelling them and adding comments and questions―while chapters and playlists make it easier than ever to present media in class.

 

The NFB has worked with teachers to develop resource descriptions and discussion starters that allow teachers to determine at a glance whether a film is a good fit for their classes. It’s also currently working with educators across Canada to develop additional study guides, online learning modules, educational playlists, virtual classroom experiences and more, to ensure CAMPUS is an outstanding resource for Canadian students.

 

The NFB currently has agreements in place with many school boards and provincial and territorial ministries of education. Teachers who already have access through these agreements can easily upgrade to CAMPUS online. If they don’t currently have a subscription, they can purchase one online, or contact an NFB sales agent.

 

The NFB’s Education team is also offering workshops in Canadian communities. Upcoming dates are:

 

February 1–3: Charlottetown and Moncton

February 9–15: Edmonton and Calgary

February 20–25: Winnipeg and Flin Flon

February 27–March 6: Whitehorse and Dawson City

March 8–15: Regina and Saskatoon

 

Workshops available in Ontario throughout February and March.

 

For more information on these workshops, e-mail <c.sicondolfo@nfb.ca>.

 

 


About the NFB

 

Canada’s public producer and distributor, the National Film Board of Canada creates interactive works, social-issue documentaries, auteur animation and alternative dramas that provide the world with a unique Canadian perspective. The NFB is developing the entertainment forms of the future in groundbreaking interactive productions, while pioneering new directions in 3D stereoscopic film, community-based media, and more. It works in collaboration with emerging and established filmmakers, digital media creators and co-producers in every region of Canada, with Aboriginal and culturally diverse communities, as well as partners around the world. Since the NFB’s founding in 1939, it has created over 13,000 productions and won over 5,000 awards, including 4 Webbys, 12 Oscars and more than 90 Genies. Over 2,000 NFB productions can be streamed online, at the <NFB.ca> Screening Room as well as via partnerships with the world’s leading video portals, while the NFB’s growing family of apps for smartphones, tablets and connected TV delivers the experience of cinema to Canadians everywhere.

 

 

– 30 –

 

Media relations:

 

Jennifer Mair, NFB Publicist

Telephone: 416-954-2045

Cell: 416-436-0105

E-mail: j.mair@nfb.ca

Twitter: @NFB_Jennifer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BC Film Industry gets Cloud-Powered as Scalar Decisions launches RenderCloud hub for the digital media community


BC Film Industry gets Cloud-Powered as Scalar Decisions launches RenderCloud hub for the digital media community


VANCOUVER, Jan. 30, 2012 /CNW/ - Today, Scalar Decisions, the Canadian IT solutions integrator, announced the launch of their RenderCloud project, which will see a number of British Columbia digital media studios move to a high-performance cloud computing model to render their digital productions, availing of Scalar's centralized IT facilities at the Centre for Digital Media on the Great Northern Way Campus in Vancouver, BC.

RenderCloud is a farm of high-performance servers manufactured by technical computing company SGI and supported by an ultra-fast 10GB Ethernet built on Brocade networking technology. The project, which is the first of its kind in Canada, will allow studios to not only pay for server technology on an "as-needed" cost-per-day model, but also to connect and collaborate on projects by leveraging the high-speed network interconnectivity. The project is set to scale to over 1500 servers by the middle of this year and will allow BC film studios to compete with US counterparts through reduced budgets and increased performance.

Darren Sharpe, General Manager of Scalar's Western Division, said, "As an experienced managed services provider, Scalar is proud to bring this service to the digital media studios of BC and beyond. This innovative project is the culmination of over a year of infrastructure design by our most experienced architects, and we look forward to delivering more value-add services to the digital media community in the coming months."

The RenderCloud project received input from a number of key stakeholders throughout its development. BC studios Rainmaker, Image Engine and Digital Domain were the first to sign up for the project and will have the added advantage of being able to sub-lease their resources to other studios as required. The actual server farm is located at the Centre for Digital Media on Great Northern Way Campus, an emerging digital media district in Vancouver, BC.

"RenderCloud - which sits next to the Centre for Digital Media and the future home of Emily Carr University— is a key piece of infrastructure in our redevelopment plan to build Vancouver's digital district.  Whether it's the digital and creative businesses, academic institutions or the artists' studios and galleries that call this Vancouver neighborhood home, Great Northern Way Campus is the ideal location for a visual effects and animation processing centre tapping into B.C. power and internet grids," said Matthew Carter, president, Great Northern Way Campus.

"RenderCloud will help all of us to keep Vancouver firmly positioned as the epicentre for production whether that's feature films' special effects, animation, or gaming," said Catherine Winder, President and Executive Producer of Rainmaker Entertainment, who serves as the spokesperson for the Vancouver Studio Group.  "The opening of RenderCloud makes us competitive with such cities as London and New Zealand, and puts Vancouver into consideration for the next generation of Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings productions."

About Scalar Decisions
Scalar Decisions, headquartered in Toronto with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa, and Southwest Ontario, is an IT solutions integrator focused on data centre automation and cloud enablement, and has been operating a significant managed services division since 2007. In 2010 and 2011, Scalar was named on the PROFIT list of the fastest-growing companies in Canada. For further information on Scalar's RenderCloud, see www.scalar.ca/rendercloud

About Great Northern Way Campus
Great Northern Way Campus is a joint venture between the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, Emily Carr University of Art + Design and the British Columbia Institute of Technology transforming an 18-acre industrial site in the heart of the city into Vancouver's hub for the digital economy.  Currently home to the Centre for Digital Media and future home of Emily Carr University, the neighbourhood will also offer office space for digital and creative sector firms, artist studios, housing and amenities.  It is emerging as Vancouver's creative sector neighbourhood.

About Rainmaker
Rainmaker Entertainment Inc., a multifaceted animation studio, is one of Canada's largest producers of CG animation. With an innovative history that spans over 18 years, Rainmaker today continues to tell engaging stories and create compelling characters for all media. The studio's 200 creatively-inspired artists and storytellers are currently in development on the company's first slate of proprietary projects and in production on the 3D animated family comedy Escape From Planet Earth, voiced by Brendan Fraser, Rob Corddry, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jessica Alba, James Gandolfini and Craig Robinson. The film, to be distributed by The Weinstein Company in 2012, is directed by Cal Brunker (Despicable Me). Rainmaker has also produced the award-winning short LUNA.  Originally established as Mainframe Entertainment, the company broke ground by producing the first ever CGI animation series ReBoot. In addition to developing its own properties, Rainmaker also produces feature length DVD's for many top international brands including Barbie, Max Steel and Tony Hawk, and more. Rainmaker's clients include Mattel, The Weinstein Company, Lionsgate, Sony, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts and MTV. Circle of Confusion, the leading management firm, is repping the company in Hollywood.  For more information, go to www.rainmaker.com

For further information:

Aoife Mc Monagle
Scalar Decisions
Ph: 416.202.0014/416.731.9351
E: aoife.mcmonagle@scalar.ca

Matthew Carter
Great Northern Way Campus
Ph: 778.370.1002
E: matthew_carter@gnwc.ca

Catherine Winder
Rainmaker Entertainment
E: cwinder@rainmaker.com


The G-20's Internet Economy Is Set to Reach $4.2 Trillion by 2016 -- Up From $2.3 Trillion in 2010

The G-20's Internet Economy Is Set to Reach $4.2 Trillion by 2016 -- Up From $2.3 Trillion in 2010 -- As Nearly Half the World's Population Become Web Users, Says Report by The Boston Consulting Group

Every Business Needs to "Go Digital" If It Is to Capitalize on the Dramatic Transformation of the Internet Across the World's Biggest Economies Over the Next Five Years, While Governments "Should Let the Market Sort Out the Winners and Losers"

DAVOS, SWITZERLAND--(Marketwire - Jan 27, 2012) - The Internet economy of the G-20 is projected to reach $4.2 trillion in 2016 -- nearly double the size it was in 2010 -- providing companies and countries with a vital source of growth as they battle to thrive in an era of uncertainty, according to The Boston Consulting Group (BCG).*

The biggest driver is the dramatic increase in the number of users around the globe -- from 1.9 billion users in 2010 to a projected 3 billion users in 2016, about 45 percent of the world's population. The rise of the emerging markets, the popularity of mobile devices, especially smart phones, and the growth of social media are also compounding the economic impact of the Internet.

In The Digital Manifesto: How Companies and Countries Can Win in the Digital Economy, BCG makes the case that businesses will be fundamentally transformed over the next five years. It also urges action by companies and countries, recommending the creation of a "digital balance sheet" and offering an agenda for chief executives and policymakers to build their digital advantage. The Digital Manifesto, the latest in a series of BCG reports on the rise of the Internet, was launched today during the Annual Conference of the World Economic Forum at a discussion cohosted by BCG and Google.

"No company or country can afford to ignore this development. Every business needs to go digital," said David Dean, a coauthor of the report and a senior partner at BCG. "The 'new' Internet is no longer largely Western, accessed from your PC. It is now global, ubiquitous, and participatory."

The Rise of the New Internet

The BCG report charts several major shifts that are not well understood by many corporate executives and policymakers. These include the following changes in the use and nature of the Internet:

  • From a Luxury to an Ordinary Good. Twenty years ago, at the Internet's commercial birth, its use was restricted to the relatively wealthy. Today it is almost everywhere, with half the G-20's population expected to use the Internet by 2016.

  • From Developed to Emerging Markets. By 2016, nearly 70 percent of the Internet users in the G-20 will be from emerging markets, up from 56 percent in 2010. China will have nearly 800 million Internet users -- about the same number as France, Germany, India, Japan, the U.K., and the U.S. combined. The contribution of emerging markets to the G-20's Internet economy will grow from less than one-quarter in 2010 to more than one-third in 2016.

  • From PC to Mobile. By 2016, mobile devices -- increasingly, smart phones -- will account for about 80 percent of all broadband connections in the G-20 nations.

  • From Passive to Participatory. Social media are changing global communication patterns. Countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, and Mexico are going straight to social, with more than 90 percent of Internet users engaged in social media. In these countries, social media are used more extensively than in developed markets in the creation and sharing of content.

This report expands on BCG's detailed analysis of the impact of the Internet in 14 countries commissioned by Google.

At the Davos discussion, Patrick Pichette, Google's senior vice president and chief financial officer, said, "Understanding the economic potential of the Web should be an urgent priority for leaders. The Digital Manifesto makes a powerful case for countries and companies to get online and reap the rewards of an age of data."

Why Every Business Needs to Go Digital

Consumers are starting to derive extraordinary value from the Internet, according to the BCG report. Across the G-20, $1.3 trillion of goods was researched online before being purchased offline -- representing 2.7 percent of GDP, or more than $3,000 per connected household. In the largest G-20 economies, the perceived value that consumers place on the Internet, above what they already pay, is $1.9 trillion, or $5,000 per connected household.

Likewise, companies that make extensive use of the Internet -- including social media -- to sell, market, and interact with their customers and suppliers grow faster than those that do not. Over the past 18 months, BCG surveyed more than 15,000 small and medium-size enterprises around the world.

In the U.S., businesses with a medium or high Internet presence expect to grow by 17 percent over the next three years, compared with 12 percent for other companies. In the U.K., the overall sales of businesses with a medium or high Internet presence rose by 4.1 percent each year from 2007 to 2010 -- about seven times faster than so-called low-Web and no-Web businesses. This trend is consistent across all the countries surveyed, underscoring the Internet's contribution to economic growth and jobs creation.

An Agenda for Chief Executives and Policymakers: Focus on the Digital Balance Sheet

According to the report, the uninterrupted growth of the Internet economy is not a foregone conclusion. Businesses need to take an adaptive approach to strategy, manage their legacy businesses while creating new ones, and develop new capabilities, organizational structures, and cultures.

"We are still only at the beginning of realizing the potential of the Internet," said Paul Zwillenberg, another coauthor of the report and a partner at BCG. "To compete, companies need to strengthen what we call their digital balance sheets by building their digital assets and reining in their digital liabilities to create digital advantage."

The report also urges governments to take actions that support rather than impede progress. "In setting policies, government should be guided by what is needed to encourage growth, innovation, and consumer choice rather than by dogma," said Zwillenberg. "In most areas, governments should let the market sort out the winners and losers."

A copy of the report can be downloaded at www.bcgperspectives.com.

To arrange an interview with one of the authors, please contact Eric Gregoire at +1 617 850 3783 or gregoire.eric@bcg.com.

About The Boston Consulting Group

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a global management consulting firm and the world's leading advisor on business strategy. We partner with clients from the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors in all regions to identify their highest-value opportunities, address their most critical challenges, and transform their enterprises. Our customized approach combines deep insight into the dynamics of companies and markets with close collaboration at all levels of the client organization. This ensures that our clients achieve sustainable competitive advantage, build more capable organizations, and secure lasting results. Founded in 1963, BCG is a private company with 74 offices in 42 countries. For more information, please visit bcg.com.

About bcgperspectives.com

Bcgperspectives.com is a new website -- available on PC, mobile phone, and iPad -- that features the latest thinking from BCG experts as well as from CEOs, academics, and other leaders. It covers issues at the top of senior management's agenda. It also provides unprecedented access to BCG's extensive archive of thought leadership stretching back almost 50 years to the days of Bruce Henderson, the firm's founder and one of the architects of modern management consulting. All of our content -- including videos, podcasts, commentaries, and reports -- can be accessed via PC, mobile, iPad, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

* The G-20 includes Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the EU, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the U.K., and the U.S.

VMware Opens Online Virtualization and Cloud Solutions Marketplace

January 25, 2012 08:00 ET

VMware Opens Online Virtualization and Cloud Solutions Marketplace

The VMware® Solution Exchange Enables Customers to Discover, Evaluate and Expedite Buying Process for Joint Solutions Through Direct Engagement With Partners and Developers

PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwire - Jan 25, 2012) - VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), the global leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure, today unveiled the VMware Solution Exchange, an online virtualization and cloud solutions marketplace where customers, partners and developers can converge to help simplify the process of evaluating and selecting business solutions through a centralized, self-service portal.

A New Way to Find Solutions for the Private and Public Cloud

  • VMware has a robust community of more than 2,000 technology partners who have built more than 3,500 applications and 6,000 infrastructure products that are compatible with VMware's portfolio of products.
  • The VMware Solution Exchange offers partners and developers who complement, integrate or interoperate with VMware's portfolio of products a one-stop location to market and sell their solutions to potential customers.
  • The proliferation of social media tools has evolved the way many people use the Internet to search, share and discover information, with user-generated feedback and community engagement playing an important role.
    • The VMware Solution Exchange looks to provide this familiar experience, by empowering customers to utilize search tools, explore rich multimedia content, and directly engage with partners and developers to help ease the process of finding the right solution for their businesses.

Additional VMware Solution Exchange features include:

  • Partners and developers can feature their solutions and supplement their listings with rich multimedia content, including the ability to embed YouTube videos, provide product overviews, select technology categories, downloadable trial software, screenshots of their products, downloadable whitepapers, architecture blueprints and other marketing collateral.
  • Each partner and developer will be able to provide an overview of their solution, with VMware and third party software version compatibility, VMware certification details, including their VMware Ready logo and contact information.
  • Customers of all sizes, from small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), to enterprise buyers, will be able to discover new solutions and directly engage with partners and developers with inquiries for licenses, trials, support and sales requests.
  • In addition, the VMware Solution Exchange provides customers with the opportunity to use a five-star rating system and provide a written review about their experience with the solution. They can also vote on a particular version of a partner's solution.

User interface

  • The home page of the VMware Solution Exchange showcases featured and popular listings from VMware partners and developers.
  • Solutions from partners and developers are categorized by technology type and industry type, along with the VMware product with which they are compatible or integrated with.

Executive Quote

Parag Patel, vice president, Global Strategic Alliances, VMware
"With the VMware Solution Exchange, we are offering our robust partner network a new and centralized marketplace to promote their solutions and directly connect with customers to help expedite the sales process. For customers, our goal is to empower them to quickly and easily find the resources they need to make purchasing decisions to accelerate their journey to the cloud, while also helping our technology partners deliver and manage joint solutions in a single, self-service location."

Industry Support

Quote sheet

Additional Resources

Visit the VMware Solution Exchange
Follow VMware on Twitter: @VMware
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Giant Tiger Selects Fortinet Enterprise Network Security Solution to Protect and Securely Connect Nationwide Stores

Giant Tiger Selects Fortinet Enterprise Network Security Solution to Protect and Securely Connect Nationwide Stores

Retail Giant Boosts Security by Deploying Fortinet’s Wired and Wireless Network Security Solutions

SUNNYVALE, Calif., January 25, 2012 - Fortinet® (NASDAQ: FTNT) - a world leader in high-performance network security- today announced that Giant Tiger, a leading Canadian family discount retailer, has deployed FortiGate® appliances, FortiAP wireless appliances as well as Fortinet’s analysis appliance, FortiAnalyzer™. The FortiGate appliances are being used for core and distributed network security protection by helping to provide firewall, IPSec VPN, SSL VPN, antivirus, intrusion prevention, application control and web content filtering protection. FortiAnalyzer is also being used to analyze network usage at the headquarters and at the more than 200 retail stores.

Giant Tiger is a family discount retailer offering recognizable basic products at low everyday prices and operates under the brand names: Giant Tiger, GTXpress, Scott's Discount and Chez Tante Marie. With more than 7,000 employees working at more than 200 retail locations, it was important for the retailer to provide secure virtual private network (VPN) connections between the stores and headquarters as well as to protect the infrastructure from harmful network attacks.

Previously using a Juniper network security solution, Giant Tiger was having difficulty managing disparate security appliances. Working closely with Fortinet partner, INSA, a Canadian-based service and consulting firm specializing in IT Network Security, Giant Tiger looked at Fortinet, Juniper, Websense and SonicWall when it came time to refresh its network infrastructure. Fortinet was selected for many reasons including the no per user licensing needed. Additionally, the FortiGate appliances’ virtual domain (VDOM) ability reduced the amount of appliances needed at each location which would ultimately reduce capital costs.

“The simplicity of the configuration and management of the Fortinet appliances was far better than the competitors,” said Eric Boudreau, senior network operations manager & information security strategist at Giant Tiger. “The FortiGate platform offered the virtualization option via VDOMs which is enabling us to replace a mix of transparent and routed firewalls with a single FortiGate appliance at every one of our store locations. With Fortinet, we’re saving time, money and valuable space within each store location.”

A FortiGate appliance is located at Giant Tiger’s central hub and is being used to inspect traffic traversing the network, including the traffic coming in and out of the retail locations. In addition, the company has given SSL VPN access to more than 200 Giant Tiger employees who need to connect remotely to the corporate network.

Within the stores, FortiGate appliances are being used as a site-to-site IPSec termination point and with Fortinet’s VDOM capability, the company has the ability to have a second virtual firewall deployed in transparent mode at the stores. Additionally, all Giant Tiger stores have a FortiAP thin access point deployed which replaced Motorola APs. Because the FortiGate appliance acts as a wireless controller, Giant Tiger was able to eliminate the need for a separate wireless controller device at each store, thereby further saving time, money and space.

Giant Tiger can also allow specific parts of Web 2.0 applications and not others. For example, they can allow for instant messaging, but not for file transfer within IM. This helps the company maintain productivity with its employees and third party vendors but reduces the risk of the network being infiltrated by botnets and other types of malicious attacks.

To easily manage and analyze data traversing the corporate network and the network of the 205 retail stores, Giant Tiger has deployed a FortiGate FortiAnalyzer solution. The solution allows the IT staff to easily run reports on network usage while also being able to remotely make network changes.

“One of the benefits of the Fortinet solution is the detecting of malicious traffic and blocking it so we prevent infection at the endpoints. As a distributed enterprise, this is critical for us,” said Mike Lewis, Executive Vice President & CIO for Giant Tiger. “Since deploying the Fortinet enterprise network security solution, our systems are now streamlined because we have only one central location where we set our policies, one place to look at if we want to understand why traffic isn’t passing and we now have just one place to look when we need to troubleshoot.”

“Retailers are under constant scrutiny to make sure that their networks are secure – both at the core and at the endpoint,” said Graham Bushkes, Vice President for Fortinet Canada. “The FortiGate enterprise network security solutions meets the needs of retailers by providing security to help protect against network and content level threats, superior ease-of-management and multi-threat protection.”

About Fortinet (www.fortinet.com)

Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT) is a worldwide provider of network security appliances and the market leader in unified threat management (UTM). Our products and subscription services provide broad, integrated and high-performance protection against dynamic security threats while simplifying the IT security infrastructure. Our customers include enterprises, service providers and government entities worldwide, including the majority of the 2010 Fortune Global 100. Fortinet's flagship FortiGate product delivers ASIC-accelerated performance and integrates multiple layers of security designed to help protect against application and network threats. Fortinet's broad product line goes beyond UTM to help secure the extended enterprise - from endpoints, to the perimeter and the core, including databases and applications. Fortinet is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., with offices around the world.