Dimension Data news today: new Managed Service for Video Communications

 

DIMENSION DATA UNVEILS WORLD’S FIRST TRULY GLOBAL MANAGED SERVICES OFFERING FOR VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS

NEW YORK – November 7, 2011 – Dimension Data, the $4.7 billion global ICT services and solutions provider, today announced the launch of the world’s first truly global Managed Service for Visual Communications. User adoption of visual communications is accelerating exponentially, and the drive to collaborate seamlessly across a broadening variety of environments is increasingly becoming a necessity. As a result, visual communications are quickly becoming a top priority for IT departments because corporations – particularly global organizations – realize it is transformative to their business based on its ability to improve workforce productivity, increase real-time collaboration and reduce expenses by eliminating unnecessary travel.


For organizations investing in video systems, user adoption is the number one challenge many face. There is an increasing need for the support and guidance of an experienced partner to drive adoption and ongoing usage of video solutions − a key requirement to generate a positive return on technology investment. 

 

“Visual communications should be viewed as an integral part of the overall technology landscape,” said Scott Cruikshank, director of converged communications at Dimension Data. “Dimension Data’s unique insight and experience allows us to align these solutions with our client’s individual business needs.  Although it is possible for organizations to handle video in-house, it can be very costly, time consuming and extremely burdensome for companies to do so. Our new Managed Service for Visual Communications provides a solution for clients to not only implement and manage their technology investment, but to also address the challenges associated with user adoption.”

 

Dimension Data’s visual communications solutions span the entire services continuum – from consulting services, to deployment and integration, to maintenance and managed services. Its Managed Service for Visual Communications is aimed at a wide range of enterprises, from mid-sized companies to multinational and global corporations – including the Global Fortune 100, of which 79% are clients, and the Global Fortune 500, of which 60% are clients. Dimension Data is equipped to provide clients with a single service provider that can understand – and deliver upon – their video infrastructure and business needs with flexible delivery options spanning on-premise, managed cloud or public cloud video solutions. Additionally, Dimension Data’s global reach provides the unique capability to offer visual communications services and end user support across 140 countries globally.

 

“In the past 18 months, the interest in video solutions for communication and collaboration has skyrocketed,” continued Cruikshank. “Many of Dimension Data’s clients are re-evaluating their video strategies and beginning to plan and deploy large-scale visual communications solutions.  We offer a complete portfolio of services, which includes video help desk assistance for end users to make sure employees can use the devices, conduct point-to-point video conferencing, and/or join video bridges easily and reliably. This goes a long way to help drive usage and adoption, and return on investment for our clients.”


Research

Research carried out in 2010 by Dimension Data among 809 U.S.-based respondents revealed that most organizations (66.6%) are choosing to manage video on-premise. The same research also showed that nearly half (49%) of these companies have no strategic roadmap or framework in place to drive usage of their visual communications solutions.

When asked what challenges they expected to face if their company implemented visual communications, 57% said cost justification; 55.7% said budget; 43.5% said user adoption; and 62.5% said bandwidth.   Other reasons included executive support (27.1%); IT support (20.1%); and network readiness (36.7%).

 

The benefits for organizations wanting to use managed videoconferencing services are compelling:

·         Focus on Core Technologies:  In most organizations, visual communications is not seen as a mission-critical technology.   The adoption of managed video services enables IT departments to focus on core business-critical technologies and out-task management of visual communications to a third party in a cost-effective manner.

·         Reduce Operational Cost:  The adoption of managed video services negates the requirement to recruit, train, manage and retain visual communications specialists globally.

·         Improved User Experience:  Traditionally, users have found visual communications to be unreliable and difficult to use.  Managed services utilize the providers’ expertise to ensure that reliability issues are identified and dealt with, and ease of use is optimized to such a level that calls are pre-launched by Dimension Data’s Video Network Operations Center (VNOC).  Users just need to show up and meet.

 

Future of Video

As organizations continue to invest in visual communications, finalize their global video strategies and tie up their sustainability initiatives, they will need the support of an experienced partner to ensure adoption and enhance their return. Dimension Data’s new Managed Service for Visual Communications has been launched to meet the fundamental challenges that exist for businesses looking to deploy video technologies today.


-ENDS-


About Dimension Data

Founded in 1983, Dimension Data plc is an ICT services and solutions provider that uses its technology expertise, global service delivery capability, and entrepreneurial spirit to accelerate the business ambitions of its clients. Dimension Data is a member of the NTT Group. www.dimensiondata.com

 

McKesson Canada brings RelayHealth to Canada: new web-based service will transform the way health care providers and patients collaborate and exchange information

 

McKesson Canada brings RelayHealth to Canada: new web-based service will transform the way health care providers and patients collaborate and exchange information

Web-based service accelerates access to information and decreases health care costs

TORONTO, Nov. 7, 2011 /CNW Telbec/ - Today at the Ontario Hospital Association's HealthAchieve 2011 Conference, McKesson Canada announced the launch of RelayHealth, a new web-based service that provides complete and secure information flow between patients and all of their health care providers coast to coast.  Focused on the patient point of care, RelayHealth will accelerate information exchange, facilitate collaboration between health care providers, advance patient quality of care, and reduce overall health care costs.

"We live in a world where information can be shared openly and securely, regardless of location. When it comes to health care, a patient's quality of care can be jeopardized if their physician or specialist cannot access the most current and accurate information," says Dale Weil, Senior Vice President, Integrated Healthcare Solutions and Pharmaceutical Solutions, McKesson Canada. "By enabling information exchange among practitioners, laboratories and specialists, RelayHealth reduces duplication, provides faster diagnosis, decreases wait times and ensures that patient data is accessible anywhere, at any time. RelayHealth takes a patient-centred approach and puts the focus where it is needed - on the patient."

As noted by both Canada Health InfoWay and the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), Canada lags in the adoption of technology in health care. In its report "Healthcare Transformation in Canada", the CMA noted that health care information technology (HIT) must shift from multi-billion dollar investments at the hospital level to a renewed emphasis at the patient level (family physician consults) where the majority of Canadian patients interact with the health care delivery system. The report states that existing top-down investments have not yet resulted in significant benefits to providers or patients, due to the fact that all jurisdictions have focused their investment on large-scale HIT systems and architecture, with very little investment being made at the points of care where the actual benefits of HIT will be realized.

"RelayHealth promises to quickly automate and connect all ambulatory points of care to support clinicians, providing timely clinical value to patients and providers," says Diane Salois-Swallow, CIO at York Central Hospital, Southlake Regional Health Centre/ Stevenson Memorial Hospital within the Central Local Health Integration Network. "This service puts patients in the centre of care, with the potential of them becoming more self-sufficient and being able to make more informed decisions about their health and those of their family members."

RelayHealth is intended to be made available at no cost to patients through their health care systems and providers. It provides patients with the tools they need to better manage their own health and that of their dependents. All they need is a computer, Internet access and a password.  It allows physicians and other health care providers, as well as patients to: share lab and diagnostic test results; make physician referral requests; book appointments; make prescription and refill requests; and reduce duplicate testing and medical errors.

"This innovative service truly fosters proactive collaboration between the different medical providers allowing patients to have one touch-point for all of their health needs," says Joseph Galli, Director and Co-founder of the Canadian Loeys-Dietz Syndrome Foundation in Montreal, Quebec. "RelayHealth will help health organizations, governments and institutions to improve patient health outcomes, integrate health information, and deliver accessibility and cost efficiencies."

"RelayHealth can send and receive information by integrating with current provincial systems and databases which reduces complexity," adds Dale Weil of McKesson Canada. "The advantage of using this service is that it achieves savings in the shorter term for the health care system and it will help increase patient satisfaction. Also, because RelayHealth is delivered as a service, it accelerates implementation at a lower cost than other major health information technologies and it requires less maintenance. It is a convenient service that provides the same view, same patient information across the entire health network."

About McKesson Canada
Founded more than 100 years ago, McKesson Canada is dedicated to delivering vital medications, supplies and information technologies that enable the health care industry to provide patients better, safer care. Our solutions empower pharmacies, manufacturers, hospitals and other health care institutions by enabling them to get closer to 12 million patients they serve every single day, while contributing to the quality and safety of care in Canada.  For more information on RelayHealth, visit www.relayhealth.ca.

For further information:

Toni Tiemens, CASACOM, 905-895-1786toni.tiemens@sympatico.ca
Martine Venne, CASACOM, 514-286-2145, ext. 228mvenne@casacom.ca


PEER 1 Hosting launches new public cloud division Zunicore

 

PEER 1 Hosting launches new public cloud division Zunicore

Zunicore Cloud Hosting provides simplicity, affordable flexibility and control to business customers

VANCOUVER, Nov. 7, 2011 /CNW/ - PEER 1 Hosting (TSX:PIX), the global IT hosting provider, announced today that it has launched its public cloud division Zunicore offering Zunicore Cloud Hosting. Built with the business professional in mind, this solution offers users a high degree of control and flexibility, and leverages the established infrastructure of PEER 1 Hosting's wholly-owned FastFiber Network™.

Zunicore's professional-grade cloud service allows users to benefit from customizable resource pools versus preset virtual machines, hands-free auto-scaling, and transparent pricing. FairPlay Pricing™ guarantees that customers pay only for what they use and are never locked into a long-term contract. The complexities of managing the cloud have driven many businesses away from the public cloud. Now, with Zunicore's simple dashboard that show the user the resources being used, the amount of resource remaining, and options to increase or decrease resources, it is easier for companies to migrate to the cloud.

"Zunicore Cloud Hosting is built on the principle that a company should be able to focus on controlling its core business, rather than on its IT delivery vehicle," said Greg Rusu, General Manager of Zunicore. "Zunicore provides users with a pool of resources and easy to use tools that let users quickly and efficiently manage their cloud hosting business needs."

The core features of Zunicore Cloud Hosting include:

  • User-controlled environment: Customizable resource pools that allow users to increase or decrease the size of their pool, or add virtual machines based on their business needs. This type of control also provides Overdraft Protection against the users hosting cost.

  • Data reliability: Unlike other cloud environments that utilize local hard drives for storage at an additional cost, Zunicore offers persistent storage area network (SAN) storage, which is more reliable, less susceptible to data loss and offers higher performance - all at no extra cost.

  • Scalability: Hands-free autoscaling allows users to specify by how little or much they want to scale their resources, based on user-defined thresholds such as technical resources, cost, or both.

  • Minimized downtime risk: Several features help limit Zunicore's risk of downtime: availability in PEER 1 Hosting's three geographically dispersed datacenters on two continents, AnyCast DNS across PEER 1 Hosting's FastFiber Network, persistent SAN and a Zero Downtime Network service level agreement (SLA).

"Zunicore gives us advanced feature capabilities that allow us to meet the specific and changing demands of our customers," said Douglas Cebik, director of business development for Sorenson Media, the global leader in video encoding and publishing.  "In particular, we fully appreciate the ability to scale our use of the Zunicore cloud and create our own customized pool of resources, which allows us to optimize the cloud resources for a given video encode preset and priority. In addition, we can add and change any pool of resources in real-time without interrupting an encode job.  So, when we need processing power to accelerate a video encode job, we can dynamically change any given resource pool, in real time."

Zunicore Cloud Hosting is now available on the Zunicore website where early users can sign up for a free 30-day trial. For more information and to purchase Zunicore Cloud Hosting, please visit: www.zunicore.com or come check out Zunicore's booth (#622) at this year's Cloud Expo from November 7 to November 10 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, California.

About PEER 1 Hosting
PEER 1 Hosting is one of the world's leading IT hosting providers. The company is built on two obsessions: Ping & People. Ping, represents its commitment to best-in-breed technology, founded on a high performance 10Gb FastFiber Network™ connected by 18 state-of-the-art datacenters, 21 points-of-presence and 10 colocation facilities throughout North America and Europe.  People, represents its commitment to delivering outstanding customer service to its more than 10,000 customers worldwide, backed by a 100 percent uptime guarantee and 24x7x365 FirstCall Support™. Info-Tech Research Group recently named PEER 1 Hosting as a "Champion" in its Canadian colocation and managed services Vendor Landscape report, recognizing the company's strength in product offerings and enterprise strategy in the global IT marketplace. PEER 1 Hosting's portfolio includes Managed Hosting, Dedicated Servers under the ServerBeach brand, Colocation and Cloud Services through Zunicore. Founded in 1999, the company is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, with European operations headquartered in Southampton, UK. PEER 1 Hosting shares are traded on the TSX under the symbol PIX. For more information visit: www.peer1.com or www.peer1hosting.co.uk.

For further information:

Media Contact:
Kristin Sawyer
MAVERICK Public Relations
(416) 640-5525 x228
kristins@maverickpr.com


Softchoice to Acquire Unis Lumin, Accelerates Services and Cloud Infrastructure

 Softchoice to Acquire Unis Lumin, Accelerates Services and Cloud Infrastructure

 

TORONTO, ONTARIO—(Nov. 3, 2011) - Softchoice Corporation (TSX:SO) announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the business of UNIS LUMIN, one of Canada's most highly regarded Cisco networking and managed services companies. The acquisition strengthens Softchoice's professional services capabilities while providing the technology foundation to support the Company's future cloud offerings. Softchoice has agreed to pay approximately $17 million in cash for substantially all assets of UNIS LUMIN, subject to balance sheet adjustments. The transaction is subject to approval by the Competition Bureau of Canada and is expected to close before December 31st, 2011.

Benefits from the transaction include the following:

·         A new, highly qualified sales and professional services team with a reputation for technical excellence in solution design and delivery.

·         Substantially deepens Softchoice's expertise in server virtualization and the implementation of private cloud infrastructure.

·         Provides a recurring revenue stream and technology foundation for Softchoice's future public cloud offerings through UNIS LUMIN's Keystone managed services.

·         Strengthens Softchoice's ability to support the integration of Microsoft technologies through UNIS LUMIN's Microsoft Gold Partner certification.

·         Increases Softchoice's geographic coverage of the Canadian marketplace with an office in Atlantic Canada and an increased presence in the west.

Softchoice intends to retain the UNIS LUMIN team in its entirety, including all Sales, Pre-sales, Professional Services, Managed Services and related operational functions.

"We are delighted to welcome the newest members of our team and to mark another great milestone in our progression as a comprehensive provider of end-to-end technology solutions," said David MacDonald, President and CEO of Softchoice. "We have witnessed unprecedented change and growing complexity in the technology landscape these past few years. Yet with our internal investments and acquisitions like this, we have never been more confident in our ability to assist customers in tackling their most complex projects – from the desktop, to leveraging private and public cloud infrastructure."

UNIS LUMIN's rapid growth is a reflection of the company's technical expertise and focus on earning the loyalty of its customers. For its most recent fiscal period ended June 30th, 2011, UNIS LUMIN recorded revenues of approximately $74 million. Over half of UNIS LUMIN's business is derived from its services offerings. Management believes the combination of the two firms will be accretive to Softchoice's earnings in calendar year 2012.

"As a high-growth company we have been in the fortunate position to be selective about finding the organization that would provide the right focus and resources to build on our work and value to customers," said John Breakey, CEO of UNIS LUMIN. "Softchoice more than met our criteria for continued success – above all, a strong culture and focus on people."

Vercap Corporate Finance acted on behalf of UNIS LUMIN. Softchoice Corporation was represented by Martin Wolf Securities.

UNIS LUMIN Acquisition Conference Call

Softchoice will be hosting a conference call to discuss the acquisition of the UNIS LUMIN business at 8 am on Friday November 4th, 2011. David MacDonald, Softchoice's President and CEO, and David Long, Softchoice's Chief Financial Officer will host the call. The call will begin with a brief presentation followed by a-question-and-answer session.

Local dial-in number: 416.800.1066

Toll free dial-in number: 1.866.212.4491

To ensure participation, please dial in at least 10 minutes prior to the start of the conference at 8:00 am EDT.

For those unable to attend the call, a link will be made available on the Softchoice website to an archived web and audio version on November 5th, 2011.

About UNIS LUMIN

Established in 1990, UNIS LUMIN is a fast-growing organization with deep expertise in technical consulting, Cisco networking solutions and Managed Services delivery. UNIS LUMIN is also a Gold Certified Microsoft Partner, a NetApp Gold Authorized Reseller, an EMC Velocity Partner and a VMware Enterprise Solutions Provider and authorized consultant. UNIS LUMIN has approximately 130 employees with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto (Oakville), Montreal and Halifax.

About Softchoice

As a leading North American provider of technology solutions and services, Softchoice combines the efficiency and reliability of a national IT supplier with the personal touch and technical expertise of a local solutions provider. Softchoice's holistic approach to technology includes solution design, implementation and asset management services, as well as access to one of the most comprehensive and cost-effective technology distribution networks in North America. With over 950 employees located in more than 40 branch offices, Softchoice manages the technology needs of almost 15,000 corporate and public sector organizations across the United States and Canada.

Softchoice stock is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the trading symbol "SO." The common shares of Softchoice are not registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 and are not publicly traded in the United States.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements relate to expectations, intentions and plans contained in this press release that are not historical fact. When used in this press release, the words "anticipate", "expect", "will" and similar expressions generally identify forward-looking statements. These statements reflect our current expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, change in technology and general market conditions, many of which are set out or incorporated by reference in the Company's latest Annual Information Form. Due to the many risks and uncertainties, Softchoice cannot assure that the forward-looking statements contained in this press release will be realized.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tech Data Launches accessTD

Tech Data Launches accessTD

Mobile App Now Available for Free Download in Apple(R) App Store

CLEARWATER, Fla., Nov. 3, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tech Data Corporation (Nasdaq:TECD) today announced the initial launch of its accessTD mobile application for the Apple iPhone®, iPod touch® and iPad® at the Company's TechSelect Partner Conference in Orlando, Florida. accessTD includes much of the functionality of techdata.com, including product searches, pricing and availability information, order tracking, quoting and ordering, providing one-touch access to Tech Data inventory while enabling resellers to provide instant pricing to their end-user customers.

"The accessTD mobile app underscores our commitment to constantly provide valuable, time-saving opportunities for our customers, enabling access to Tech Data's product inventory anytime, anywhere," said Pete Peterson, Senior Vice President of U.S. Sales at Tech Data. "Our customers asked for a mobile solution, and we listened. This is an important step for Tech Data and we are proud to offer accessTD to our channel of resellers to simplify sales and improve customer service."

In keeping with its core strategy of innovation, Tech Data has expanded its presence in the mobility space by enabling e-business customers to use their techdata.com login and password information to sign into accessTD, which enables resellers to add items to a quote and email it to their customers, complete with their own markup and logos. The application's simple checkout process also allows resellers to quickly fill orders with one touch.

accessTD is now available in the United States via free download in Apple's App Store and is expected to be available in Canada next month.

About Tech Data

Tech Data Corporation is one of the world's largest wholesale distributors of technology products. Its advanced logistics capabilities and value added services enable 125,000 resellers in more than 100 countries to efficiently and cost effectively support the diverse technology needs of end users. Tech Data generated $24.4 billion in net sales for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2011, and is ranked 109th on the Fortune 500®. To learn more, visit www.techdata.com.

The Tech Data Corporation logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=10666

CONTACT: MEDIA CONTACT Brian Kosoy Public Relations Manager (727) 299-8865 brian.kosoy@techdata.com

N-able Technologies(R) and Ingram Micro Expand MSP Cloud Services Relationship Internationally

Nov. 3, 2011, 5:00 a.m. EDT

N-able Technologies(R) and Ingram Micro Expand MSP Cloud Services Relationship Internationally

Leading RMM Innovator and the World's Largest Technology Distributor Set to Replicate Channel Partner Success in Europe and the U.K.

OTTAWA, Nov 03, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Accelerating its international growth, N-able Technologies(R) today announced it has expanded its sales alliance with Ingram Micro Inc. /quotes/zigman/169453/quotes/nls/im IM +3.11% from regional to global.

As part of the new global agreement, N-able's N-central remote monitoring and management (RMM) automation software and complementary tool sets are now available to Ingram Micro value-added resellers (VARs) and managed service providers (MSPs) throughout Europe and the U.K., as well as North America.

Together, N-able and Ingram Micro are providing MSPs around the globe with the technology, resources and expertise required to earn recurring revenue, reduce service costs and increase customer satisfaction by offering proactive managed services to their end customers in a cloud, software-as-a-service or on-premise model.

"Our growing success in North America with the Ingram Micro Services Division and Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace paved the way for our international expansion with Ingram Micro Europe," says JP Jauvin, president and COO, N-able Technologies. "With the addition of Europe and the U.K., we are extending our reach into two growing markets that are home to thousands of high-performance channel partners eager to generate more services revenue and profits through advanced IT automation, managed services and cloud. Ingram Micro Europe provides our MSPs with a broad portfolio of cloud services and solutions, combined with European-wide coverage and a great reputation. It's a natural fit with N-able's growth objectives."

To build greater awareness and ignite sales, Ingram Micro is joining N-able's upcoming international MSP Roadshow, which takes place throughout Europe and the U.K. Nov. 7 - 16.

Kicking off in Utrecht, Netherlands on Nov. 7, the MSP Roadshow will bring together N-able, Ingram Micro and professional services automation (PSA) provider Autotask to show channel partners step by step how to leverage managed services to meet all their customers' requirements and grow their businesses exponentially. Dates, locations and registration for N-able's European and U.K. MSP Roadshow can be found here: www.n-able.com/roadshow/europe .

"The European marketplace is hungry for the proven business model acumen and managed IT services expertise N-able brings to the table," says Jason Beal, senior director, software and services, Ingram Micro EMEA. "By aligning our sales teams to better meet the needs of our mutual channel partners, Ingram Micro and N-able are empowering VARs and MSPs to lead versus follow in this new era of IT services. N-able's expertise in managed services, combined with our leadership as the IT industry's master aggregator of cloud services, delivers a powerful value proposition that is relevant and game changing to emerging and established MSPs."

For more information about how to purchase N-able's N-central RMM platform and complementary tool-sets from Ingram Micro Europe, VARs and MSPs should contact their Ingram Micro sales representatives.

MSPs interested in becoming an N-able reseller, please visit www.n-able.com or contact 1-877-655-4689 ext. 331 or +00 800 6225 3000 ext. 331.

Follow N-able on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NableTechnologies or Twitter at www.twitter.com/NableMSP .

About N-able Technologies N-able Technologies is the global leader in remote monitoring and management automation solutions for managed service providers (MSPs) and IT departments. N-able's award-winning N-central(R) software and complementary toolsets are proven to reduce IT support costs, improve network performance and increase productivity through the proactive monitoring, management and optimization of IP-enabled devices and IT infrastructure. N-central features an industry-first freemium model that drives down the cost of remote management and accelerates the mass adoption of managed services. With offices in North America, the U.K., the Netherlands and Australia, N-able is 100% channel-friendly and maintains strategic partnerships with Microsoft, Intel, IBM, CA, Cisco and APC, among others.

Press Contacts: Marie Rourke Channel PR WhiteFox Marketing (for N-able Technologies) marie@whitefoxpr.com Cell: 1-714-292-2199  Derik Belair Vice President of Marketing and Business Development N-able Technologies Office: 613-592-6676 x304 Toll Free: 1-877-655-4689 x304 (US/Canada) 00-800-6225-3000 (outside US/Canada)

IBM Advances its Security Intelligence Portfolio with New Analytics

IBM Advances its Security Intelligence Portfolio with New Analytics

Tools and Services help Clients Better Prevent Security Breaches

 
 

N.Y., Nov. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) is extending its proven security services portfolio to include enhanced analytic tools and services to provide deeper, real-time analysis of advance threats. By detecting outlying behavior and threading together diverse contextual data, these services can help organizations make rapid decisions to prevent security breaches from impacting the business.

(Logo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO)

IBM's new intelligence tools and services enable enterprises to analyze complex data from multiple sources to determine in real-time how to adjust or change their security strategies.  Today, critical information that can affect a company's security profile comes from a variety of sources – including the Cloud, social media networks, and mobile computing applications.

With these new tools and services, business leaders can more clearly map their security, risk and compliance requirements to business needs while allowing for growth and innovation.  

Today's announcement strengthens IBM's offerings around advanced security analytics -- following IBM's acquisition of Q1 Labs, a provider of security intelligence software, and the creation of the new IBM Security Systems Division in October. Q1 Labs will join the more than 10 strategic security acquisitions IBM has made in the last decade and the more than 25 analytics-related purchases.

"IBM recognizes a client's need to get ahead of the threats in today's complex security landscape," said Marisa Viveros, vice president, IBM Security Services. "We are applying our nearly five decades of security experience to help clients move from a reactive position to a proactive one, using analytics to anticipate threats as they appear instead of after the fact."

The IBM analytics tools and services include:

  • New Suspicious Host Dashboard provides real-time identification of advanced threats, such as botnets. By using in-and-outbound firewall logs, threat intelligence feeds, intrusion detection and prevention events and geographic Internet Protocol (IP) location data, IBM automatically identifies and prioritizes the most severe threats —before they impact business functionality.

  • New IP Intelligence Report provides on-demand analysis of individual IP addresses in the form of a consolidated, one-page report that contains a deep dive analysis on the threats posed, vulnerabilities that exist and remediation activities under way.  The consolidated report gives clients and IBM Threat Analysts increased visibility while reducing the time and complexity of analyzing multiple data sets.

  • Enhanced Automated Intelligence (AI) correlation engine enables IBM to chain together alerts from multiple service offerings to identify sequences of activity that equate to higher severity security incidents.  These correlated alerts validate the severity of threats by lowering the rate of false positives and streamlining the identification of advanced threats that target individual customers or attack activities across the entire managed security services (MSS) customer data set.

  • New IP Center Dashboard provides IBM threat analysts enhanced query capabilities across the MSS customer data set, enabling faster profiling of suspected attackers, returning a breakdown of the customers and industries affected, the attacks delivered as well as a threat score.  Just as the police can check a driver's license number for information including prior arrests and felony convictions, IBM threat analysts can perform checks to validate the severity of circumstances, streamlining the prioritization of remediation activities.

These new and enhanced capabilities will be offered as part of six subscription services that feed results from firewall logs, intrusion detection and prevention events and vulnerability scans into the X-Force Protection System and its cloud-based analytic engine.  When used together, the data sets from the subscription services provide superior visibility into an IT environment, strengthening enterprise security and enabling more rapid remediation of advanced threats.

IBM is also announcing a new managed security information and event management (managed SIEM) solution, coinciding with the October acquisition of Q1 Labs.  This solution uses analytics tools to provide a powerful around-the-clock security monitoring and reporting system that can proactively identify and help prevent threats.  This customer premise equipment-based solution, which utilizes IBM Tivoli, Q1 Labs and other multivendor SIEM systems, can improve system uptime and performance and add value to existing SIEM investments.  

IBM operates the world's broadest security research and development organization, comprising nine security operations centers, nine IBM Research centers, 11 software security development labs and an Institute for Advanced Security, with chapters in the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific.  IBM monitors 13 billion security events per day in more than 130 countries and holds 3,000 security patents. IBM has been in the security business for nearly 50 years dating back to the security innovation in its mainframe systems.

For more information on IBM security, please visit: www.ibm.com/security

IBM Media Contact
Darcy Hansen  
IBM Media Relations
917-472-3692
hansenda@us.ibm.com

SOURCE IBM

Canada's Top 100 Research and Development Corporations Invest $9.4 Billion in Total Research and Development Initiatives

Canada's Top 100 Research and Development Corporations Invest $9.4 Billion in Total Research and Development Initiatives

Canada NewsWire

TORONTO, Nov. 2, 2011

RIM, BCE and IBM Canada report more than $500 million in R&D spending

TORONTO, Nov. 2, 2011 /CNW/ - Research Infosource, Canada's source of Research and Development intelligence, is proud to announce that RIM, BCE and IBM Canada lead the country in spending valuable resources on research and development initiatives.

Total research income for Canada's Top 100 R&D Corporations was $9.4 billion in Fiscal 2010, down from $10.4 billion in Fiscal 2009, a 9.4% decrease over Fiscal 2009. According to Canada's Top 100 Corporate R&D Spenders List 2011, released today, this continues a negative trend in R&D spending for the 5th consecutive year.  However revenues increased among the 92 companies that reported by 4.7%.  This year's revenue-bucking trend is not unique.  In 6 out of the past 9 years, R&D spending dropped, while revenues increased. In Fiscal 2010, 48 companies posted R&D spending increases, 48 declines and 4 companies remained flat over the period.

"An interesting twist to the results this year has Nortel Networks Corporate (still active in 2010) and TELUS Corporation both posting significant drops in their R&D spending in Fiscal 2010, unduly skewing the results, said Ron Freedman, CEO, Research Infosource. "After adjusting for this, the overall R&D spending by the 98 remaining companies posted a respectable 3.5% increase in Fiscal 2010. One bright spot is that according to Statistics Canada, the number of companies performing research jumped from 8,741 companies in 1997 to 22,314 in 2007. At least more firms are playing in the game."

Research in Motion (RIM) remains Canada's top corporate R&D spender, devoting nearly $1.4 billion to research, an increase of 26.3% over Fiscal 2009. RIM's spending on research expanded slightly faster than its revenues (up 20.1%).

Twenty-two companies qualified for Research Infosource's elite $100 Million Club, firms that reported $100 million or more in research spending in Fiscal 2010.  Together these companies spent $6.67 billion in Fiscal 2010, accounting for 71% of total spending. Among the 20 companies in the Club both years, 9 companies increased their spending, while 10 posted decreased and 1 remained flat between Fiscal 2009 and Fiscal 2010.

"2010 is not unique. In the past 10 years Research Infosource has documented spending drops over 7 years. Yet, during that period, company revenues have increased in all but 2 years," added Freedman. "So, there does not appear to be a strong relationship between R&D spending and corporate revenues. Clearly, other factors are at play in the anemic performance."

Certainly, government incentive programs play a role.  So too do global trends; for example, the migration of manufacturing activity to the Far East.  Also contributing is the changing nature of corporate R&D itself.  In decades past most R&D was performed by in-house corporate research labs, whereas today those labs have largely disappeared. The economy is facing new headwinds in the form of a global slowdown. It remains to be seen how deep this will be and what its effect will be on the corporate R&D scene.

Canada's Top 100 Corporate R&D Spenders List 2011 is available on the Research Infosource website,  www.researchinfosource.com/latestlist.

About Research Infosource Inc.
Research Infosource Inc., a division of The Impact Group, is Canada's source of R&D intelligence.  Drawing from a proprietary database, Research Infosource Inc. publishes Canada's Innovation Leaders which includes Canada's Top 100 Corporate R&D Spenders List, Canada's Top 50 Research Universities List and new this year - Canada's Top 40 Research Hospitals List. As well, Research Infosource publishes specialized reports and is the producer of The Innovation Atlas of Canada™ - a web-based research and innovation mapping and data information product.

 

Logicalis to CIOs: Occupy the Cloud!

Logicalis to CIOs: Occupy the Cloud!

Five Trends Prove There’s No Need to Protest Moving Mission-Critical Data into the Cloud

Quote startThe cloud has become an expectation moreso than a novelty in IT today, so it’s not surprising that discussions among top IT pros are taking a new turn, focusing on the type of cloud solution that can be of most benefit to a company.Quote end

Farmington Hills, MI (PRWEB) November 01, 2011

The “Occupy” movement and the impact of cloud computing are both gaining significant traction worldwide, albeit for different reasons, says Logicalis, an international provider of integrated information and communications technology (ICT) solutions and services (http://www.us.logicalis.com). Politics aside, Logicalis says CIOs and CTOs are becoming so comfortable with the cloud that some important trends are emerging with respect to CIOs’ cloud usage.

“The cloud has become an expectation moreso than a novelty in IT today, so it’s not surprising that discussions among top IT pros are taking a new turn, focusing on the type of cloud solution that can be of most benefit to a company, the best ways to deploy a cloud strategy and the kinds of value-added services that can be bundled with that cloud offering,” says Vince DeLuca, COO, Logicalis.

Such discussions have led to a series of emerging trends that bear further scrutiny by the entire cloud community – vendors and users alike. To help clients quickly identify important topics for discussion in the cloud, Logicalis has compiled a list of five trends that prove there’s no reason to protest moving mission-critical data into the cloud any longer.

Five Emerging Cloud Trends

1.    Private cloud deployment is fast and furious. There has been a rapid rise in private cloud adoption among large enterprises. This isn’t really a surprise as there are a fairly robust set of infrastructures and applications that enterprise IT staff manage and they want to take advantage of the tools and technologies available in the private cloud space – such as multi-tenancy, service automation and self service portals. IT staffs think in terms of three core capabilities or “services stacks” that cloud computing can provide their organizations: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and the familiar Software as a Service (SaaS). Private Clouds provide a framework to streamline the delivery of these IT services to internal customers, enabling business agility while reducing cost.

2.    The hybrid cloud is here to stay. Across all sectors in both large and mid-size enterprises, it’s clear that the hybrid cloud computing model – linking an internal, premises-based private cloud with the capabilities and bandwidth of public clouds – is here to stay. Companies are looking at application stratification when making decisions. Certain types of CRM, collaboration and messaging applications are seen as appropriate for public clouds, while applications with more sensitive or private information – such as those with industry or government compliance requirements – are being architected to reside within private infrastructures or application spaces that exist within the four walls of the enterprise. “We can appreciate that separation and the reasons for it,” DeLuca says. “The Logicalis Enterprise Cloud offers a shared, multi-tenancy environment that enables us to consult and build a roadmap for our customers. We leverage ITSM and business processes to allow customers to take their existing private cloud infrastructure and build a blueprint that addresses application cloud awareness, connectivity, and security in building one’s hybrid cloud strategy.”

3.    Consolidation is inevitable. Every technology and industry has gone through cycles of consolidation and while the trend isn’t new, it seems to be one that is gaining traction in the cloud. Customers are seeking to deploy applications in different ways creating demand for consolidation of the cloud delivery models – IaaS, PaaS and SaaS – in the form of a unified stack as a service delivery model. This may be a harbinger of consolidation of cloud service providers as well, in order to provide greater economies of scale to customers. Today a provider may be focused on infrastructure, but with no linkage to the applications. Or a provider may be focused on software, but with no capabilities to manage their cloud-based infrastructure. There is a customer requirement for these capabilities going forward and an effort needs to be made to consolidate infrastructure and platform, bridging these two areas where integration makes the most sense. Doing so allows customers to take advantage of an elastic infrastructure with platform hooks for building and running custom applications.

4.    Application-specific cloud communities are forming. In public space in particular, discussions around application-specific cloud communities are on the rise, particularly so in three central areas:

  •     Application Performance Communities – These are communities formed around the capabilities of specific processor platforms, such as Intel-based platforms and Unix-based platforms, which handle application workloads differently.
  •     Regulatory Communities – These are communities formed around the requirements of specific regulations and compliances, such as HIPAA in healthcare.
  •     Location-Based Services Communities – While the cloud is location independent, there are often many requirements and regulations to protect data that affect where it is located geographically. Multi-national companies may find that it makes sense for specific data to reside within a specific geography, for example.

5.    Managed Services get a cloud twist. Cloud computing has refueled interest in “outsourcing” tasks and organizations are again looking to managed services as they reassess their resource strategies. They are not focused on the ability to utilize a virtual machine, but are focused on the management of infrastructure and taking advantage of the services that cloud computing offers. So, the cloud has become the trigger for discussion and a renewed interest and demand for managed services.

Want to learn more?

Logicalis recently analyzed more than 35,000 online forum and social media posts by CIOs and CTOs and found that the overwhelming majority of their cloud comments were positive, outweighing negative comments 23:1. Want to know more? See Is the Cloud Living Up to CIO Expectations?

What is Cloud Computing? Find out all about public, private and hybrid options.

What are the five common mistakes companies make most often in their cloud strategies?

About Logicalis
Logicalis is an international provider of integrated information and communications technology (ICT) solutions and services founded on a superior breadth of knowledge and expertise in communications & collaboration, data center, and cloud computing and managed services.

Logicalis Group employs nearly 2,500 people worldwide, including highly trained service specialists who design, specify, deploy and manage complex ICT infrastructures to meet the needs of over 6,000 corporate and public sector customers. To achieve this, Logicalis maintains strong partnerships with technology leaders such as Cisco, HP, IBM and Microsoft.

The Logicalis Group has annualized revenues of over $1 billion, from operations in the UK, US, Germany, South America and Asia Pacific, and is fast establishing itself as one of the leading IT and Communications solution integrators, specializing in the areas of advanced technologies and services.

The Logicalis Group is a division of Datatec Limited, listed on the Johannesburg and London AIM Stock Exchanges, with revenues of approximately $5 billion.
For more information, visit http://www.us.logicalis.com .

Hitachi Data Systems Enhances IT Operations Analyzer with Expanded Monitoring Capabilities

 

 

NEWS RELEASE: Hitachi Data Systems Enhances IT Operations Analyzer with Expanded Monitoring Capabilities

 

Adds Change Monitoring, Scheduled Monitoring and Application Monitoring Capabilities to Further Simplify IT Infrastructure Management

 

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — November 3, 2011 — Hitachi Data Systems Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT / TSE: 6501), today announced a new version of Hitachi IT Operations Analyzer, an integrated availability and performance monitoring software solution. The new IT Operations Analyzer includes automated root cause analysis, simplified network path view, agentless architecture, an award-winning intuitive web-based interface, proactive alerting, multivendor platform support and an open platform. New features include change monitoring, scheduled monitoring, application monitoring and event forwarding.

 

“IT departments must be proactive and responsive in managing the health of the devices in their IT infrastructure,” said Frank Amato, director, Global Sales and Marketing, IT Operations Software, Hitachi Data Systems. “They realize that if an IT system fails or becomes unavailable, it impacts business and revenue can be lost. The enhancements in IT Operations Analyzer improve its ability to provide preemptive awareness of IT infrastructure problems so that critical instances can be avoided.  It is well known that a high percentage of unscheduled downtime can be attributed to changes made to devices in the infrastructure.  Change monitoring helps give clear visibility to where and when changes are made and the devices that are impacted. The new enhancements provide our customers with uncomplicated, thorough monitoring capabilities and end-to-end visibility into the performance and availability of their infrastructure.”

 

New Features of Hitachi IT Operations Analyzer

IT Operations Analyzer is an integrated availability and performance monitoring tool that can help reduce complexity, streamline operations, and increase IT staff efficiency in heterogeneous and virtualized data center environments. The software provides essential capabilities to efficiently and cost-effectively monitor the availability and performance of heterogeneous physical and virtual server stacks, applications, network and storage devices on a single screen. New features include:

 

  • Change Monitoring: Tracks configuration changes across the entire infrastructure and displays changes for a specified time range in the tool’s topology view. By monitoring changes to the infrastructure such as adding or removing hardware and software, or making configuration changes to network and storage devices, IT managers can significantly reduce the mean time to diagnose problems when troubleshooting. Change monitoring combined with root cause analysis can rapidly identify problems caused by changes to the infrastructure.
  • Scheduled Monitoring: Allows IT administrators to set two different threshold levels. For example, they may set one threshold for monitoring during regular business hours and another threshold level for off-peak hours. This prevents unnecessary alerts from being sent.
  • Application Monitoring: In addition to its integrated server, network and storage monitoring capabilities, Hitachi IT Operations Analyzer now monitors applications, including Microsoft® Exchange Server and Microsoft SQL Server—all from a single interface.
  • Event Forwarding: Enables IT Operations Analyzer to collaborate with other tools (such as CMDB and IT Help Desk)
  • Third Party Reporting Capability Extended: IT Operations Analyzer access for third-party reporting tools now includes ODBC connections for use with applications like Excel.

 

Hitachi IT Operations Analyzer software won the prestigious 2010 International Design Excellence Award (IDEA) Silver Award in the Interactive Product Experiences category under the Business, Communications and Productivity division. The IDEA competition celebrates the most inventive, creative product and product concept designs of the year as judged by an international panel of design experts.

 

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About Hitachi Data Systems

Hitachi Data Systems provides best-in-class information technologies, services and solutions that deliver compelling customer ROI, unmatched return on assets (ROA) and demonstrable business impact. With a vision that IT must be virtualized, automated, cloud-ready and sustainable, Hitachi Data Systems offers solutions that improve IT costs and agility. With more than 5,300 employees worldwide, Hitachi Data Systems does business in more than 100 countries and regions. Hitachi Data Systems products, services and solutions are trusted by the world’s leading enterprises, including more than 70 percent of the Fortune 100 and more than 80 percent of the Fortune Global 100. Hitachi Data Systems believes that data drives our world – and information is the new currency. To learn more, visit: http://www.hds.com.

 

About Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT / TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 360,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2010 (ended March 31, 2011) consolidated revenues totaled 9,315 billion yen ($112.2 billion). Hitachi will focus more than ever on the Social Innovation Business, which includes information and telecommunication systems, power systems, environmental, industrial and transportation systems, and social and urban systems, as well as the sophisticated materials and key devices that support them. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com.

 

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© Hitachi Data Systems Corporation 2011. All Rights Reserved. Hitachi is a registered trademark of Hitachi, Ltd. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries. Hitachi Data Systems is a registered trademark and service mark of Hitachi, Ltd. in the United States and other countries.