SMB Nation Blog

D&H Distributing, a computer products and consumer electronics distributor, announced today it appointed Peter DiMarco as the vice president of VAR sales in the computer products division, a newly-created executive position. 

DiMarco, whose experience includes companies such as EarthLink and Ingram Micro, will oversee sales teams working with value-added resellers that provide products through the CPD division, among other responsibilities.

“We’re thrilled to bring on Peter DiMarco in this new capacity, to help D&H generate new sales and make inroads with a larger customer base of mid-market solution providers, as well as help our current resellers migrate to higher sales,” said Davis. “Peter’s breadth of expertise is substantial, delivering decades of industry acumen to support D&H’s latest initiatives.  We’re proud to take him into the fold, to accommodate our growth strategy and create an enhanced level of opportunities for our customer base.”

In addition, D&H appointed Fred Eddy as the vice president of sales for the retail, e-tail and direct market reseller segment within the CPD division.

Lenovo announced today the ThinkCentre Chromebox, an addition to its ThinkCentre Tiny business desktop family designed for education and SMB users.

Based on Chrome OS, the ThinkCentre Chromebox offers security, easy management and flexibility, key for businesses and industries with few IT professionals or minimal training. Through Google Chrome, users can access myriad applications designed for learning, sharing and collaboration.

“Lenovo was the first to introduce a one litre commercial desktop and ThinkCentre Chromebox is a testament to our commitment to the continued evolution of the desktop and our promise to push the boundaries on innovation for our education and business customers.” said Ouyang Jun, vice president and general manager, Desktop and Visuals, Lenovo. “Combined with the ThinkCentre Tiny-in-One, the new Chromebox illustrates our belief in more flexibility for teachers and IT managers to continue to offer desktop solutions in a modern day environment.”

ThinkCentre Chromebox will be available in June.

P.S.: Be sure to attend our online Office 365 connected conference, June 2-3. No travel, no hotel, no traffic! Sign up at http://getconnected.o365nation.com.

IBM announced yesterday SoftLayer opened a second cloud data center in the Netherlands to meet rapid growth of IBM Cloud in the region.

The new center, located near Amsterdam, provides more regional options for redundant data storage and geographically isolated services. One of several locations in Europe, the new center provides customers with geographic diversity able to mitigate business risk by replicating data or creating redundant oprtations in multiple locations.

"This new facility demonstrates the demand and success IBM Cloud is having at delivering high-value services right to the doorstep of our clients," said James Comfort, IBM General Manager of Cloud Services. "We're reaching customers in a way that takes all the guess work out of moving to the cloud. They can build and scale applications, run the toughest big data workloads, have the level of security they need, all in country and connected to a truly global platform."

According to IBM, it plans to continue worldwide expansion of SoftLayer and IBM Cloud.

As companies struggle to create strategies engaging diverse age groups from millennials to baby boomers, HR Policy Foundation released today at the White House Upskill Summit its “Talent Sustainability Report: The CHRO View From the Front Lines of the War on Talent.”

The foundation found almost 70 percent of respondents indicated innovation and transformation occur more quickly today than normal, and, while this fits millennials, it increases challenges with older employees. With 40 percent of millennials missing soft skills in communication, though, they still have much to adapt to in the workforce.

"While skill life cycles are shortening, and competitive advantage is increasingly transient, it has never been more critical for companies to align their talent strategy with their business strategy,” said Jaime Fall, vice president of workforce and talent sustainability at HR Policy Foundation. “This report includes eye-opening future implications from CHROs and survey data that we hope will be used to encourage frank discussions about how employers, educators and policymakers can work together to develop the skills of future and current workers who are prepared for success in the workplace."

The report, compiled from yearlong research conducted by the HR Policy Foundation, included surveys of more than 100 large companies in fall 2014.

Washington-based Paladin Data Systems announced today its Advanced Skills Management Industrial qualification and certification management product is now the platform for Strategic Systems Programs’ Watch Bill, Qualification and Certification Management Software tool for sailors and marines assigned to SSP Security Forces.

ASMi, a personnel readiness tool, is an authorized software application within the U.S. Department of the Navy Application and Database Management System and is designed to manage, maintain and forecast workforce knowledge, skills and abilities.

“SSP does such important work for our nation, and we were glad that they chose to deploy our technology to support their security forces mission,” Paladin CEO Jim Nall said. “The SSP organization was great to work with, and the SSP and Paladin ASMi team successfully completed the software deployment on-time and on-budget. It was a tremendous effort by the entire team.”

Paladin’s products are used nationwide by myriad government agencies.

ECi Software Solutions announced today Grant Howe, newly named chief technology officer, will be responsible for product and technology strategy and execution across the ECi family of companies.

“It’s exciting to be part of the ECi team and to support the entrepreneurial spirit of independent business owners,” Howe said. “I am looking forward to offering a growing variety of products and services that help them compete effectively in today’s market. I am always intrigued and challenged by the technology development that goes on behind the scenes but, at the end of the day, it’s the customer-facing benefits of improved efficiency, growth and profitability that truly bring value.”

Howe served as a senior technology executive at companies including Abila and NetIQ, and ECi CEO Ron Books said Howe’s knowledge in research and development and his team-building skills will fuel ECi solution development.

The Managed Service Provider Consortium, an open consortium built by MSPs for MSPs, is a platform that leverages the MSPC platform tool designed to help MSPs eliminate licensing fees, improve business performance and increase revenues.

Its platform tool combines remote management and monitoring and professional services automation, and is free to use, just as MSPC is free to join.

“A huge advantage of the MSP Consortium is that it has been designed by MSPs specifically for MSPs – giving members the ability to leverage a community of IT and security experts to help solve any technical or business challenges they are facing in building their business,” said Amy Rutt, MSPC board president and CEO of Ciracom. “The ability to quickly and easily tap into the knowledge of your peers will give members unique insight, tools and resources – all free of charge. No one in the entire IT industry is doing anything like this today for MSPs.”    

Organizational operations are led by committees surrounding central MSP concerns, such as technology and compliance, and a board of directors, which includes representatives from Ciracom, Comodo and LazoTek Computer Solutions, among others.

Membership information and registration is available here.

Logicalis US asserted successful CIOs have realized the importance and advantage of a converged infrastructure, yet CI’s purpose is changing to face critical industry issues with shadow IT.

Logicalis released “Converged Infrastructure for Targeted Workloads: Using Converged Infrastructures to Catapult your IT Environment into the Future of Computing,” a downloadable white paper with strategies and principles surrounding the new nature of CI.

AppRiver, LLC, a provider of email messaging and Internet security solutions, announced today a new version of SecureSurf Web Protection, a multi-layer cloud-based adaptive solution which continues to defend against existing and emerging threats and now includes an critical threat notification capability.

“Unfortunately for online users today, it’s no longer a question of ‘if’ you will encounter Web-based malware, but ‘when,’” CTO Joel Smith said.  “Our SecureSurf solution was built to put businesses at ease.  It’s secure, reliable and delivers the protection a business needs without the complexity and costs often associated with enterprise-grade IT security.”

SecureSurf works as both a stand-alone solution and in tandem with AppRiver secure messaging products. Features of the SecureSurf product include continuous updates, minimal footprint and availability of 24-hour customer service.

D&H Distributing celebrates the five-year anniversary of its “Go Green” initiative in 2015, as Earth Day marks its 45th year Wednesday, April 22.

It sold 46,809,568 ecologically-conservative products between 2010 and 2015, with an increase of more than 7.5 million items ordered year-over-year since April 2014.

“Earth Day is a great time to brainstorm on how else we can preserve resources, to review how efficient our current policies have been, and to assess how they impact reseller business,” said Jeff Davis, senior vice president of sales at D&H. “On Earth Day’s 45th anniversary and the fifth anniversary of D&H’s Go Green program, it’s especially appropriate to take stock, noting how to keep ecological endeavors top of mind, and encouraging a more eco-friendly channel through the proliferation of these products and practices.”

In addition to increased availability of eco-friendly products, it made headway in recycling and conservation programs, including installing a field of solar panels in one of its Pennsylvania parking locations and the collection of 17 pallets of material for recycling from a June 2014 recycling day event.

Despite $4.1 billion in 2014 revenues, market intelligence firm ABI Research predicts the market for broadband modems used in non-smartphone mobile computers, tablets and CE devices could fall as fewer people purchase aftermarket USB modems or update notebook PCs.

 Hauwei continues to dominate the modem market, according to ABI Research, with a 62 percent share of 2014 worldwide modem unit volume.

“The vendor landscape changed significantly in 2014 with several suppliers exiting the computing modem business, changing strategic focus to exclusively M2M / IoT, or being acquired,” said Sr. Practice Director Jeff Orr. “OEMs are seeing greater demand for mobile broadband in tablets as well as ultraportable PCs. The plan could be foiled, however, if pricey mobile broadband service contracts deter potential buyers.”

These findings are part of ABI Research’s “Mobile Broadband Routers and Modems Market Research,” available here.

Webroot, a provider of intelligent security for endpoints and collective threat intelligence, announced it will showcase a self-learning platform designed to protect the Internet of Everything at the RSA Conference 2015, April 20 to 24 in San Francisco, Calif.

According to Webroot, its platform is the most accurate threat intelligence network developed to protect IoE, and it can identify unique threats by examining actions, locations and association with malicious matter.

Hal Lonas, Webroot CTO, and David Dufour, Webroot senior director of security architecture, will host a speaking session April 22 and 24, respectively. Webroot security professionals will also provide live intelligent cybersecurity presentations and technology demonstrations in booth 4114 in Moscone North.

During the conference, Webroot research, RSA conference coverage and cybersecurity tactics will be available in Webroot social media activity and through following #GetSmarter.

Cybersecurity solution developer Comodo announced today the next generation of Comodo MyDLP, a software solution with a single user license that monitors, discovers and prevents company data leakage from endpoints networkwide.

"The endpoint is the most volatile security risk for data loss in networks today, as IT administrators struggle to balance security needs without hindering employee needs and performance," said Burak Akin, product manager for MyDLP, Comodo.   "MyDLP helps ensure regulatory compliance and limiting access to those who can move information, helping enterprises manage and control data leakage from both controlled and uncontrolled endpoints."  

MyDLP can be upgraded through on-premise or SaaS offerings at no additional cost. Those interested can view a demonstration of MyDLP at RSA 2015 in booth 815 at the Comodo pavilion in South Hall.

Lenovo announced today it opened its North American Enterprise Briefing Center, a space on the Lenovo Research Triangle Park campus that offers customers a space to access and experience its portfolio of enterprise products and services.

“There’s no better way to understand the game-changing benefits of our data center technologies than to see them in action,” said CJ Bruno, Intel vice president and general manager for the Americas.

The center, which leverages knowledge and skills of companies including Intel, Samsung Semiconductor, QLogic and Emerson Network Power, will provide general solution meetings and themed briefings to give customers a one-stop-shop to test Lenovo products.

With nearly completed Beijing and Stuttgart Briefing Centers, Lenovo will have briefing centers in three major regional markets to provide more access to more customers worldwide.

Lenovo customers interested in coordinating a solution briefing or lab tour can contact their Lenovo sales representative.

EarthLink Holdings Corp. announced earlier this week the launch of its managed IPsec VPN service, which was developed to support secure data exchange and connect multiple locations on a high-bandwidth PCI-compliant network.

IPsec VPN, short for Internet protocol security for virtual private networks, is the newest addition to Earthlink’s wide-area networking portfolio and best suited for retail, healthcare, financial or professional business operating at multiple locations.

"The addition of IPsec VPN to EarthLink's WAN portfolio positions us to design and implement right-size networks that are the best fit for each business," said Rick C. Froehlich, EarthLink Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer. "Our network diagnostic expertise will also help the customer determine whether a pure IPsec VPN, pure MPLS or a combination of the two is ideal for their custom-tailored network."  

Digital security provider Gemalto released today the findings of the 2015 Data Security Confidence Index, which revealed a deepening gap between the perception and reality of perimeter security effectiveness as the number of global data breaches increases.

“With the number of sophisticated breaches on the rise, relying on perimeter security systems alone is no longer enough. Traditional security staples such as firewalls and anti-virus should be part of a much greater security strategy. IT decision makers need to take into account that if someone is motivated enough they will breach a network, no matter how well it is protected,” said Tsion Gonen, vice president of strategy for identity and data protection at Gemalto.

Though 72 percent of IT decision makers surveyed indicated increased investment in perimeter security in the past five years, 30 percent said their company had experienced a breach in the past 12 months; these results suggest the need for changing security strategies.

More than 900 security and IT executives were polled by Vanson Bourne on behalf of Gemalto to develop the report, which is available in full here.

Security-as-a-Service provider My Digital Shield announced today Caleb Sima, executive chairman co-founder of Blueblox Security, has joined MDS’ advisory board.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Caleb to our advisory board and are confident that his unparalleled expertise in web security technologies will be a significant asset to our team,” MDS CEO Andrew Bagrin said. “His understanding of the field and insight into emerging trends will be a driving force in helping expand MDS’ growth.”

Sima has more than 20 years of experience in the web security industry, and was chosen for his ability to expand MDS’s expertise within the security space and accelerate growth in IT channel and SMB markets.

Information and biographies on MDS advisory board members are available here.

Avnet Technology Solutions announced today it expanded its portfolio of cost-effective cloud-ready solutions to include Office in the Cloud services from Intermedia.

“Avnet’s new alliance with Intermedia further enables our Avnet Cloud Solutions team to supply our partners with strategic guidance, resources and packaged offerings to quickly build and grow subscription- and consumption-based cloud solutions for their customers,” said Tim FitzGerald, vice president of Cloud Solutions, Avnet Technology Solutions, Americas. “The addition of Intermedia to Avnet’s ecosystem of world-class cloud providers and unmatched training and enablement make it easier, more efficient and more cost-effective than ever for partners to transition their customers to cloud-based environments.”

The Office in the Cloud suite includes email and phone systems, file sync and share, identity and access management, archiving, security and mobility. More information about the partnership is available here.

Intel Security commissioned the report “Tackling Attack Detection and Incident Response” from Enterprise Strategy Group, examining companies’ security strategies, cyber-attack environment, incident response challenges and needs.

Almost 30 percent of security incidents are targeted attacks, and a slow or inadequate response results in loss of sensitive data.

“Just as the medical profession must deliver heart-attack patients to the hospital within a ‘golden hour’ to maximize likelihood of survival, the security industry must work towards reducing the time it takes organizations to detect and deflect attacks, before damage is inflicted,” said Chris Young, General Manager at Intel Security. “This requires that we ask and answer tough questions on what is failing us, and evolve our thinking around how we do security.”

The survey found respondents are calling for better integration between security tools, improved analytics, help to contextualize data captured, increased expertise and automation to enhance action.

The survey, available here, included 700 IT security professionals at mid-market and enterprise organizations.

Altera Joins Industrial Internet Consortium

Altera Corporation announced today it joined the Industrial Internet Consortium, an industry organization focused on facilitating development of an Internet of Things global ecosystem.

"Altera technology will enable the IIC to look at innovative ways to support accelerated intelligent cloud and gateway platforms that collect and process the input from a wide variety of 'things' at the edge of the network," said David Moore, director, Industrial Business Unit at Altera. "These platforms can benefit significantly from Altera's hardware and software programmability, which can flexibly service fragmented application needs while offering the performance to cost-effectively accelerate analytics and security in the data center and IoT infrastructure."

Altera brings to IIC its FPHA and SoC products and experience, which offer designers the ability to securely bridge wired and wireless interface standards across a range of IoT applications. It will work with other consortium members to build out the Industrial Internet, a network of intelligent devices and sensors.

Powerstorm ESS announced today mobile technology expert Rich Lane joined its board of advisors.

Lane, president of Entrepreneurial Ventures and general partner of Radio Spectrum Partners, has honed startup management and consulting skills after spending more than 30 years building businesses and maximizing shareholder value in the mobile technology industry.

"We are happy to have Rich as part of the team to grow our company," Powerstorm CEO Mike Freni, said. "He has the wisdom that comes with many years of business experience, and I'm confident that he will use that to help Powerstorm most effectively provide power to those people in the world currently living in energy poverty."

Lane said he looks forward to using his skills and experience to assist Powerstorm.

“The work that this company is doing, utilizing their innovative energy storage technologies to enable wireless communications for people who have been previously power-deprived, is full of potential and possibility,” Lane said.

Enterprise Management Associates, an IT and data management research and consulting firm, released today “What is the Future of IT Service Management?,” a report that found IT service management is needed more than ever as the IT industry becomes increasingly service-centered.

“Research is always an exploration—you never know for sure just what you’ll find. So it was exciting to see how strongly this research data reinforces the value of a more progressive and transformative approach to ITSM technologies, processes, and organizational interactions across all of IT,” vice president of research Dennis Drogseth said.

With almost 50 percent of ITSM organizations set to grow, the research suggests a progressive or reactive track for ITSM teams, with separate profiles and investment platforms.

The full report is available here, and journalists can request a complimentary copy This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Energy management specialist Schneider Electric announced the release of PowerChute Network Shutdown v4.0, which includes advanced redundancy capabilities and a new Uninterruptible Power Supply configuration option.

The UPS configuration option enables IT personnel to manage and monitor multiple groups of redundant UPSs and add increased redundancy for IT equipment when necessary.

“Due to the growing trend of virtualization, IT architectures have evolved into increasingly complex systems, with many IT managers struggling with how to not only manage but protect their multiple servers across varying locations,” said Paul Bohan, vice president, network management, IT business, Schneider Electric. “PowerChute Network Shutdown v4.0’s seamless integration, migration and shutdown capabilities give IT managers the peace of mind that their entire virtualized and physical IT infrastructure is protected from potential power events or outages – no matter their location.”

The software provides IT managers with control of movement of virtual machines and can be integrated with VMware vCenter and Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager.

PowerChute Network Shutdown v4.0 is available for download here.

Unisys Corporation announced today its Forward! Model 4150B server is now certified for operating the SAP HANA platform, giving clients the ability to deploy real-time data analytics applications.

"This certification is the latest step in Unisys' initiative to provide clients with real-time analytics solutions based on SAP software on the Forward! platform," said Rob Cashman, vice president, Mission-Critical Servers and Solutions, Unisys. "We are excited to deliver solutions running on SAP HANA that enable clients to benefit from the superior performance, reliability, availability and security that Forward! offers."

The single-node, bare-metal server configuration will enable clients to run SAP HANA in the bare-metal environment, with other application workloads running in a partitioned environment managed by Unisys’ secure partitioning software.

This certification complements the existing suite of Unisys programs supporting SAP software.

Mavenir Systems, a software-based networking solutions provider, announced today its virtualized VoLTE application solution was launched by Vodafone Germany.

“We are pleased to have partnered with Vodafone to successfully launch such a critical service,” said Pardeep Kohli, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mavenir Systems. “Mavenir’s VoLTE solution provides the foundation for the transformation to a low-cost, consolidated all-IP network that will enable service innovation, as well as converged consumer and enterprise features across mobile and fixed market segments.” T

his solution, according to Vodafone Germany, will allow Vodafone to offer fast connection and high-quality HD voice to its customers. Vodafone Germany CTO Eric Kuisch said the company plans to add new features to enhance the service experience.

Aria Systems completed its inaugural global conference on recurring revenue, Monetize2015, and amassed seven tips it believes are key to moving from basic billing into monetization.

First, Aria Systems suggests successful programs place emphasis on customer lifetime value, working to cultivate long-term relationships.

Encouraging retention is important, and Aria offers focusing on long-term retention and upsell and customizing the dunning experience.

A leaked link to Dropbox’s developing Hackpad-like note-taking application allowed some users to test the new product before it was pulled, PC Magazine freelance writer David Murphy said.

According to TechCrunch, Murphy wrote, Dropbox isn’t quite ready to release information on its “Project Composer.”

Users who accessed the link to “Project Composer” found on Product Hunt were pleased with the appearance of Composer, noting its typography and clean interface.

This variant, Murphy said, is said to be more closely tied to Dropbox than the Hackpad online note-taking service.

Murphy’s full article is available here.

Autopilot announced today more than 1,000 companies have created personalized marketing journeys on its multi-channel marketing automation platform one month after its launch.

Autopilot’s platform allowed these businesses to create customized emails, texts and postcards and track more than 1.3 million user activities from 1.7 million contacts in real time.

“Our early traction makes it clear that businesses of all sizes want to realize the original dream of multi-channel marketing automation,” said co-founder and CEO Mike Sharkey. “These types of tools no longer need to be confined to the tech elite. We’re leveling the playing field for marketers everywhere by delivering software that’s easy yet powerful.”

Industries served include consulting, e-commerce, technology and financial services.

EarthLink Holding Corp. announced today it has appointed Gerard Brossard as executive vice president and managing director of managed services and information technology, replacing current executive VP Michael Toplisek. Brossard’s previous employment includes Visa Inc. and HP.

Executive vice president and CFO Bradley Ferguson will move to executive vice president and managing director, small business and consumer, and Louis Alterman, executive vice president of strategy, operations and transformation will fill Ferguson’s role.

"Mike Toplisek has been a great asset to EarthLink. We are very grateful to him for his dedicated service to EarthLink and we will miss his talent and enthusiasm,” CEO Joseph Eazor said, "Gerard Brossard is a fantastic addition to our management team and Louis and Brad are ideally experienced for their new positions.  I look forward to working with them in their new roles as we continue with our strategy to be a leading managed network, security, and cloud service provider. And while I will have much more information to share on our earnings call in early May, I am pleased with how our first quarter results are demonstrating our continuing progress in executing this strategy." 

The perception gap between how effective businesses think their marketing strategies are and the customer’s experience is wide, with 80 percent of consumers saying the average brand doesn’t understand them as an individual.

IBM today announced results of the IBM and Econsultancy study, “Listening to the Customer: 7 New Research Findings,” which discovered deep divides between consumers and companies. The gap between the two results in costly loss of revenue for shopping websites and service providers, among others.

Successful marketers will combine the online and offline presence of the company, creating a continuous, exceptional experience. Investing in marketing innovations, IBM Commerce general manager Deepak Advani said, will give teams the ability to gain insight to demographic and experience information vital for personalizing consumers’ experiences and retaining business.

“The fundamental thinking behind digital marketing has shifted. The goal of providing the right message to the right person at the right time is now just a part of the larger puzzle. The real challenge is providing the right experience for the right person at a time that’s right for them,” said Stefan Tornquist, Vice President Research for the Americas at Econsultancy. “At the center of it all is the marriage of marketing and technology and a commitment to innovation that’s driven by individual customer needs.”

Two parallel online surveys including marketers from more than 275 consumer companies and 1,135 consumers, respectively, contributed to the development of the report, available in full here.

Cloud4Wi, a cloud-based Wi-Fi engagement platform, announced today the launch of Cloud4Wi Mobile Management, which provides remote access to its platform to control Wi-Fi marketing campaigns remotely.

“Consumers today expect a great mobile experience. Around half of customers will search for deals and coupons online before making an in-store purchase, about the same amount that will use a Wi-Fi enabled mobile device to do so,” CEO Andrea Calcagno said.. “Brands not leveraging Guest Wi-Fi are missing out when it comes to creating an enhanced experience for shoppers. Cloud4Wi Mobile Management means retailers are always up-to-date on the latest in-store trends even when on the go. This allows them to make changes to their Guest Wi-Fi strategies, create a more customized marketing experience for shoppers and increase loyalty to positively impact their bottom line.”

Cloud4Wi Mobile Management is designed to provide retailers with information on customer Wi-Fi usage and demographics to capitalize on connected customers.

SMB Security-as-a-Service provider My Digital Shield announced today Jason Graf joined its executive team as vice president of operations, a role in which Graf will provide operational oversight for implementation, management and support of MDS services.

“My Digital Shield has offered me the opportunity to leverage my background in IT security, particularly within the SMB space, to aid both partners and their customers in maximizing usage of MDS’ security solutions,” Jason Graf said. “I look forward to helping grow our team’s expertise within the always intriguing world of IT security.”

Graf most recently worked at The IT Company LLC as director of project services, and MDS CEO Andrew Bagrin said his extensive experience in IT and project management is vital to the growing MDS executive team.

Continuum released today Continuity247, a fully-managed backup platform built on the IBM cloud and supported by its Network Operations Center that proactively ensures smooth backups for SMB clients.

“Continuum has been answering the critical call for a backup solution in the market since 2011, but the market has evolved considerably, and we understand that our partners and their clients need more today in serving the complete SMB market,” said Michael George, CEO of Continuum. “Backup continues as an essential component of our partners’ businesses, so it continues as a core component of Continuum’s IT services model. Continuity247 is the backup solution for today and for the future, enabling MSPs to own and control cloud backup as the strategic on ramp to the cloud.”

ThreatTrack Security, a cyber-threat prevention solution provider, published today “Negotiating with Cybercriminals,” a study that revealed 30 percent of security professionals recommend negotiating with cybercriminals for return of stolen data or restoration of files.

"ThreatTrack research reveals a surprising number of security pros would concede to cybercriminal demands to avoid the consequences of data compromise, loss or misappropriation," said ThreatTrack Senior Vice President Stuart Itkin. "Whether data is stolen by sophisticated Advanced Persistent Threats or targeted attacks, or lost due to ransomware infection, enterprises need to reevaluate their cybersecurity strategies to incorporate the latest advanced threat defenses and become obsessive about backing up their data. Rapid detection and elimination of threats, and the ability to restore encrypted data, will neutralize the incentives that are driving cybercrime extortion and help ensure security professionals will not have to face this difficult choice."

ForensicSoft announced it released today SAFE Block for Windows 8, a software write-blocking product that facilitates quick and safe acquisition and analysis of disk or flash storage media attached to a Windows PC. The Win8 edition also protects users from the SSD TRIM/UnMap/Sanitize functionalities Windows 8 natively supports.

SAFE Block is designed to provide protection for myriad fields including law enforcement, military, forensic examiners and IT security and litigation support professionals. Notable features include its speed, convenience and affordability, according to ForensicSoft.

NetSuite, Inc. , an industry provider of cloud-based financials, enterprise resource planning and omnichannel commerce software suites, announced today its NetSuite OneWorld unified cloud business management suite was implemented at Netbiscuits, a provider of multiscreen web analytics tools for digital marketers.

OneWorld is replacing Sage Finance and Order Processing solutions, as well as multiple Excel spreadsheets. Netbiscuits chose OneWorld for its scalability, flexibility and agility, according to NetSuite.

Appcara’s turnkey software-defined application platform AppStack has been renamed App360 with inclusion of enhanced CloudStack and OpenStack capacity limit controls in version 3.12.

"The name App360 better communicates the holistic, 360-degree nature of our product," said John Yung, Appcara CEO and founder. "App360's deep integration with cloud computing platforms like OpenStack and CloudStack, along with its end-to-end feature set, allows users to deploy and manage mission-critical applications in the cloud with complete visibility and control."

Pervasip Corp. announced today it closed agreement to acquire 90 percent of the issued and outstanding equity of Canalytix LLC, an energy and resource solutions provider.

"We are excited to complete this transaction and leverage our historical technology development experience to gain entry into an exciting and rapidly growing business," Pervasip CEO Paul Riss said. "Canalytix is positioning its offering to meet the specific needs of indoor grow facilities, and the company has allied itself with a Denver-based distributer of hydroponic equipment to integrate and provide the Canalytix technology to existing clients."

CompTIA recognized yesterday Mike Brogan, past president and owner of Erb’s Technology Solutions in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for his contributions to the IT channel community with the 2015 “Lifetime Achievement Award.”

Brogan has more than 40 years of experience in the IT industry, and is recognized nationwide as an expert in how SMBs can use IT for a competitive advantage.

“Mike is a well-respected IT services pioneer and true channel ambassador who has built a successful career and exceptional company by staying focused on building meaningful relationships, giving back to his community, peers and future leaders, and delivering exceptional service and technical expertise to small businesses,” CompTIA CEO Todd Thibodeaux said. “We are pleased to honor his legacy and applaud his efforts and continued passion for making the IT channel a strategic business partner, and a great place to build a career.”    

Sales engagement platform ClearSlide announced today release of ClearSlide Engagement and Follow, new capabilities that allow sales and marketing staff to follow specific engagement-level activities.

“ClearSlide Engagement and Follow gives Sales leaders the insights they need to know where to focus their time to close business faster,” said Raj Gossain, VP of Product at ClearSlide. “We designed these features with busy Sales and Marketing execs in mind, giving them unprecedented visibility into seller activity and buyer behavior. ClearSlide Engagement and Follow add to our market-leading Sales Engagement Platform, enabling ClearSlide to deliver the most comprehensive set of tools to accelerate sales performance and continually improve sales strategy.”

Crowdfunding and other alternative funding methods have expanded exponentially, yet a Manta survey revealed about two-thirds of small business owners don’t think enough funding options are available and believe the funding environment has not improved in the past 12 months.

"Small business owners have more diverse options today than ever before when it comes to funding their business," Manta CEO John Swanciger said. "However, we're seeing a gap between what's available and the perception among small businesses that the lending environment has not improved. Even though traditional bank loans are difficult to secure, small businesses are still apt to rely on them."

LogMeIn, Inc . introduced today Rescue Lens, a video-aided support capability that will join the features of LogMeIn rescue in April 2015.

“Remote support has been a tried and true solution for tech service providers due to its ability to help companies quickly resolve issues, boost customer satisfaction and reduce costs. What’s impressive about Rescue Lens is that it opens the doors for virtually every type of service organization to realize the same benefits – to quite literally see and solve customer problems from anywhere,” said John Ragsdale, vice president of technology and social research for the Technology Services Industry Association. “In an industry looking to reimagine how we serve businesses and customers, innovation like Rescue Lens is a welcome breath of fresh air.”     

DataCore announced today client Colby-Sawyer College achieved its business continuity goals through use of DataCore SANsymphony-V.

Key benefits of its adoption of DataCore’s software-defined storage platform include performance and productivity gains, high-level redundancy to reduce downtime and lowered overall cost.

Unitrends, an enterprise-level cloud recovery solution provider, announced today it was awarded a 5-star rating for the second consecutive year in The Channel Company’s CRN 2015 Partner Program Guide.

The Partner Program Guide serves as the directory for technology vendors that service solution providers or provide products through the channel, with 5-star partners comprising an elite subset of companies.

Microsoft Corp. announced today its expanded global partnership with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. Samsung plans to pre-install Microsoft services and applications on its portfolio of Android devices and will deliver business productivity apps including a new Microsoft Office 365 and Samsung KNOX Business pack.

"Great things happen when you converge services and devices," said Peggy Johnson, executive vice president of business development, Microsoft. "Our partnership with Samsung is emblematic of our efforts to bring the best of Microsoft's productivity services to everyone, on every device, so people can be productive wherever, however and whenever they want."

Polycom, Inc. and Microsoft Corp. announced today expansion of their relationship through Polycom Roundtable, a new series of video collaboration solutions for Skype for Business.

The first device to be released in the RoundTable series will be RoundTable 100, a video solution for huddle rooms designed to allow SMBs to enjoy rich collaboration experiences through their Skype for Business account.

D&H Distributing announced today enhanced offerings to support K-12 education vertical resellers as Common Core standards increase the need for technology in the classroom. Its additional assets include increased training opportunities, resources and materials to increase VARs’ profit.

“The education market is unique. Complicated guidelines and government regulations have a strong influence on the VAR’s ability to capture business.  We work closely with our vendors to develop programs to support these VARs and present products that are expressly selected and priced for this market,” said Larry Staub, director of the D&H education division.  “It’s an area where resellers often require a lot of guidance and knowledge before they can compete.  But for those who prepare and stay informed on the latest technologies and developments, there are a lot of K-12 sales to be made.  We want our customers to be on that forefront.” 

The winner of the coveted CODE_n award was announced last night by its jury at CeBIT in Hannover.

Berlin-based startup relayr won the award and a prize of € 30,000, with a business model paving the way to IoT for app developers. relayr’s “WunderBar” product allows software developers without electrical engineering knowledge to design applications that can access and analyse measured data.

Technology market research firm Infonetics Research, part of IHS, reported today LTE was key in pushing mobile infrastructure revenue to $46.8 billion worldwide, up 10 percent from 2013.

"We have consistently said that LTE was supposed to pull the entire mobile infrastructure market out of the funk, and so far it has. LTE revenue grew 69 percent in 2014 from the previous year," said Stéphane Téral, principal analyst for mobile infrastructure and carrier economics at Infonetics Research. "That said, we've reached the peak of LTE buildouts on this planet, and we believe market dynamics will cause the mobile macro infrastructure industry to enter a long-tail decline beginning in 2016 until 5G eventually kicks in."

Rich communication service Voxox announced today its wholesale SMS delivery has tripled in volume since the same time last year.

Voxox attributed the sizable increase to new customer contracts and expansion of usage of its end-to-end offering. It provides both one-way SMS notifications and two-way communication with SMS-enabled DIDs.

Broadview Networks , a provider of cloud-based communication and IT services, announced today TMC awarded its MyOfficeSuite solution as a 2015 Unified Communications Product of the Year.

MyOfficeSuite, an online portal, centralizes communications and hosted services into one website and integrates with Broadview’s OfficeSuite product portfolio.

Snom Technology AG announced today the start of a major deployment of Lync 2013 with its Snom 710 and 760 UC edition phones for Chula Vista Elementary School District.

According to Chula Vista, which serves 45 schools and more than 29,000 students, the goal of the project is to invest in next-generation IP technology and the cloud to better communication and reduce costs.

Snom was selected for its features and the flexibility of its firmware.

Unify Square , a software, services and support provider for Microsoft Lync and Skype for Business, today announced availability of service offerings, support and operational framework designed for enterprise movement to Skype for Business.

An additional, specialized version of the UC RightTrack service focused on Skype for Business will also be available. These announcements follow a recent investment by Microsoft, and further deepens their partnership.

Pacific DataVision, Inc., a mobile workforce management solution provider, announced today adoption of a new business name, pdvWireless.

pdvWireless also unveiled its upcoming two-way radio solution, DispatchPlus, a push-to-talk product integrated with pdvWireless’ proprietary cloud-based mobile resource management solutions.

Pure Storage , an independent solid-state array vendor, announced today Shutterfly, Inc., which delivers photo products and services, deployed 17 FlashArray 420 arrays as part of data center migration.

“We are increasingly seeing forward-thinking market leaders like Shutterfly turn to all-flash storage to drive real value within their business,” said Matt Kixmoeller, vice president of products at Pure Storage. “Whether that's improving conversion rates and reducing abandoned shopping carts for e-Commerce companies or reducing the cost of service delivery while speeding new, differentiated services to market for online infrastructure service providers – the flash revolution is underway.”

Level 3 announced today further enabling of enterprise cloud adoption by adding unified communications and collaboration applications into its Cloud Connect ecosystem.

SaaS provider AppRiver, LLC announced today a year-over-year 30 percent increase in channel growth, solidifying 2014 as the company’s strongest year yet.

More than half of AppRiver’s revenue is now driven by the channel, and its growing relationships with partners and Microsoft led to a 21 percent increase in active partners and 350 percent increase in number of partners engaged to sell Office 365.

OutSystems , a Rapid Application Delivery platform provider, announced today analyst firm Ovum named OutSystems Platform as a market leader in the 2015 Ovum Decision Matrix for Mobile Application Development Platforms.

“Ovum is impressed with OutSystems because of the complete end-to-end nature of their solution for the rapid development and delivery of mobile and web applications,” said Michael Azoff, principal analyst, IT Infrastructure Solutions for Ovum. “Its enterprise-grade features and functionality cover the entire mobile app lifecycle, in addition to providing a complete platform for delivering custom applications across all devices.”

Telecommunications and IP equipment distributor Novus LLC announced its partnership with Numonix, which will allow Numonix to resell Novus’ Microsoft Lync-qualified RECITE software solution.

“We are glad to partner with Numonix, an innovator in this space,” said Chris Meehan, managing partner at Novus. “We have seen businesses deploy Lync and Lync qualified applications to enhance their communications capability. Adding RECITE to our portfolio enables Novus to expand the company’s network of resellers. Enterprise, midsized and small businesses will see their immediate daily needs met swiftly in day-to-day Lync transactions.”

IT firms that highlight expertise and innovation will be most successful with small and medium business customers, which choose and maintain relationships with IT for these qualities, a CompTIA study showed.

More than 70 percent of SMBs used an IT firm at least occasionally within the last year, but they don’t always view their provider as a “trusted adviser,” according to CompTIA, which suggests providers still have room to improve.

 “IT firms that want to maintain their relevance with SMB customers must move from the management of isolated technology pieces to management of the overall structure,” said Seth Robinson, senior director, technology analysis, CompTIA. “By doing so they are better positioned to drive technology decisions that align with the customer’s business needs.”

“Enabling SMBS with Technology,” CompTIA’s study, surveyed 500 SMB executives and professionals in the United States in December 2014. The complete report is available here.

Kirkland, Wash.-based Greater Intell announced today the addition of integrated solution giDocs to its line of software products.

giDocs is the fifth Greater Intell solution to integrate with Kaseya VSA, according to Kaseya, and the program is focused on protecting data and content.

Connectivity to websites and applications as well as customer reach continues to improve with the installation of 20 new points of presence by CDNetworks.

CDNetworks focuses on emerging markets, with continued expansion into China and Russia. New PoPs were also placed in Ireland and Europe.

The channel’s largest cloud computing event will include strategic discussion on building success in the cloud from Zentera Systems, an emerging partner focused on cloud network infrastructure and security.

"Global enterprises are all seeking technologies to migrate their corporate datacenters to a hybrid cloud environment. One of the challenges that the industry faces is that corporate IT must untangle the complexities of existing network infrastructure and extend it to the cloud," said Jaushin Lee, CEO of Zentera Systems. "Zentera brings a next-generation overlay network platform to specifically address this issue."

In its third year on FORTUNE magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For,” TEKsystems is ranked 43^rd, up six positions from 2014.

TEKsystems provides IT staffing solutions, IT talent management expertise and IT services, earning its position on the list for company culture and values.

DCT Telecom Group, Inc. announced today addition of a network field engineer and field technician to its in-house network and engineering team.

Rob Hendricks and Justin Morse join the team as a network field engineer and field technician, respectively. Hendricks has nine years of experience in the communication and IT industries, and Morse is coming to DCT with more than five years of network and field engineering experience.

Intronis, Inc., a backup and data protection solutions provider, announced today the Winter Release ’15 of ECHOplatform, which offers the broadest range of backup and disaster recovery for SMBs

“Intronis is continually looking for ways to simplify the backup and recovery processes our partners use, and the 2015 Winter Release is another dramatic step forward,” says Chuck DeLouis, vice president, product management, Intronis.  “The Intronis ECHOplatform offers one of the fastest recover time objectives in the industry, while at the same time offering channel partners greater flexibility in how and what they recover.  This combination of speed, flexibility, and reliability enables our partners to rapidly and efficiently get their clients back up and running in just minutes – when they need it most.”

The Winter Release ’15 introduces business-building features and core functionalities designed to help channel partners support complex cloud, virtualized and physical IT environments and grow their customer base. 

New features include: Hyper-V rapid recovery, imaging rapid recovery, object-level restore from physical and virtual local image-based backups, and preparedness for release of VMware 6.0.

Technology provider Insight Enterprises, Inc. today released a list of businesses’ top five concerns as they consider moving to the Cloud.

“Businesses are asking the right questions about how the Cloud will work across infrastructure, platforms, and applications, and many are starting to embrace the efficiencies and potential benefits from improved agility, greater employee collaboration, and reduced IT complexity,” said Harish Krishnamurthy, senior vice president, Insight Cloud Services. “However, we are still seeing adoption apprehension because of concerns surrounding security and data management. The benefits the Cloud offers are immense, however, and clients are reporting that Cloud options can be faster, safer and a better value than traditional IT. Because of this, we believe that Cloud services will increasingly become the norm for businesses, not the exception.”

DataMotion announced today results from its third annual survey on corporate email and file transfer habits, revealing a significant amount of security risk occurring within organizations.

Though almost 90 percent of respondents affirmed they have security and compliance policies in place, policies often aren’t enforced and more than 75 percent of respondents said employees at least occasionally violate policy.

“Though the survey shows us there is year-over-year growth in the number of companies putting security and compliance measures in place, the widespread security risks occurring are of great concern,” said Bob Janacek, chief technology officer at DataMotion. “Particularly at a time when a number of organizations – both large and small – have experienced serious data breaches, it is essential that companies have strong security and compliance policies in place and that they ensure their employees fully understand and diligently follow them.”

The full survey report is available here.  A healthcare-specific report is available here.

After four weeks of beta testing, Autopilot announced today a multi-channel marketing platform designed to help companies automate customer touchpoints and create personalized buyer experiences in online, offline and mobile channels.

Digital marketing is currently divided between email software solutions and marketing automation solutions, a division that makes solutions inaccessible or ineffective for marketers and their consumers.

Technology solutions provider Corporate IT Solutions announced today general availability of pCloud Workspace, a desktop-as-a-service offering that combines cloud flexibility and agility with stability and management of an enterprise application.

“With the rapid growth of mobile technologies and remote workforces, easy and secure access to enterprise applications and data from any device has become essential to organizational productivity,” CIO Jeffrey Boardman said. “Existing virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) offerings have failed to meet many organizational needs due to their high cost and complex deployments.  Additionally, most of the desktop-as-a-service offerings available today are being outsourced to third parties. This creates significant reliability, security and compliance issues.”  

 Frost & Sullivan announced today it will host a complimentary webinar about the trends set to impact the Latin American IT industry.

The webinar will be held at 8 a.m. PST tomorrow, March 3. Speaker Guilherme Campos, a Frost & Sullivan IT industry analyst, will explain Latin American developments in investing and adoption levels of security, cloud computing and big data.

Charter Communications, Inc. announced today Charter Business is now Spectrum Business, which will leverage an all-digital network to deliver full-featured solutions at a low price to SMBs and larger organizations.

"Spectrum Business is more than just a new name. Over the past 12 months we have invested in our advanced fiber network, completed our transition to all-digital, and made enhancements to our product suite, including a doubling of entry Internet speeds from 30 to 60Mbps," said Jonathan Hargis, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Charter Communications.

Germany-based snom technology AG and GSMK Cryptophone are expanding their existing collaboration to develop highly secure encrypted telephones.

GSMK, a developer of protected operating systems and encryption solutions, and snom, a developer of professional and enterprise VoIP telephones, are working on desktop IP telephones that will be secure, encrypted, tap-proof and immune against attacks.

GFI Software released today the findings of a study examining business and societal impacts of cyber security issues, which revealed growing concerns of personal risk and potential for physical retaliation.

“Cyber attacks have profound consequences for the business community, whether companies are the target, or the victim of an attack elsewhere. In the last few months alone we’ve seen major corporations targeted in systematic acts of espionage and geopolitical retaliation, as well as hundreds of thousands – potentially millions - of individuals affected by the fallout of data being stolen and misused,” said Sergio Galindo, general manager of GFI Software. “Usernames, passwords, credit card data, health records – malicious use of this data by criminals can quickly create financial hardship and significant stress for affected individuals, while the negative fallout for organizations the data was stolen from can range from loss of reputation to fines, falling sales, civil and criminal legal proceedings and more.”

Tadiran announced today it was awarded 2015 Unified Communications Product of the Year by TMC, a global, integrated media company, for its Unified Communications and Collaboration solution, Aeonix.

"It gives me great pleasure to honor Tadiran Telecom as the 2015 recipient of TMC's Unified Communications Product of the Year Award for their innovative product, Aeonix," said Rich Tehrani, CEO, TMC. "Our judges were very impressed with the ingenuity and excellence displayed by Tadiran Telecom in their groundbreaking work on Aeonix".

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. announced today multi-protocol Serializer/Deserializer (SerDes) PHY IP for PCI Express 2.0 and PCIe 3.0 technology for TSMC's 16nm FinFET Plus (16FF+) process have passed PCI-SIG compliance testing.

"PCIe 3.0 and PCIe 2.0 compliance was achieved with first 16FF+ silicon. The early availability of these products enables our customers to tapeout their leading-edge mobile, storage and enterprise designs sooner and with reduced risk," said Osman Javed, product marketing director at Cadence. "These flexible multi-protocol solutions provide customers a unique combination of SoC differentiation and future proofing.

LogicNow announced today the release of version 15.0 of its MAX Backup hybrid cloud backup and disaster recovery solution, a key part of MAXfocus, its MSP and IT support platform.

“MSPs want to be able to provide more value to their customers. Backup can easily be seen as a business continuity box-ticking exercise – as long as everything is safe if the worst happens, then all is well,” said Chris Groot VP, Sales, MAX Backup & Recovery. “But we and the MSPs we work with know that with disaster recovery, the speed of backup and the speed of recovery is vital. The new features and new direction of MAX Backup v15.0 mean that MSPs can offer disaster recovery services where downtime will be measured in minutes rather than hours, positioning them as the best provider of this mission-critical service to their clients.”

Mavenlink , a global provider of integrated business management software, today announced it garnered $19 million in growth capital, composed of $15 million contributed by shareholders and a $4 million credit facility. The round of funding was led by Carrick Capital Partners and Silicon Valley Bank.

Seattle-based SkyKick, a cloud migration company specializing in Microsoft Office 365, announced today Computer Reseller News, a brand of The Channel Company, named Peter Labes as a 2015 CRN Channel Chief.

Labes, SkyKick’s vice president of development, joined SkyKick in October 2014 and has increased international reach through agreements with distributors, IT solution providers and channel service organizations.

Portal Architects, Inc., creator of SkySync, announced today it joined the Internet2 NET+ portfolio to enable higher education institutions to integrate their on-premises storage platforms with cloud-based storage services.

SkySync’s offering is designed to open up flexible storage options for higher education institutions and increase file, folder, sites and file structure mobility.

Developer component provider GrapeCity today announced its Xuni product, a collection of cross-platform UI controls for iOS, Android and Windows Phone, is out of beta and has been released to the web.

"Now that Xuni is generally available for purchase, developers will be able to utilize the product to provide native experiences in Android, iOS and Windows Phone using the same API across all platforms," said Greg Lutz, product manager of Xuni.  As Lutz shared in the company's original beta announcement, "With Xuni and Xamarin.Forms, developers can code once in C# and XAML to create enterprise-level apps for all devices."

snom technology AG confirmed today appointment of Nadahl Shocair as CEO, following an announcement last week that HeidelbergCapital Private Equity Fund II had become its anchor investor.

“As snom's new CEO, I am proud to lead a great team of professional, talented, motivated and truly inspiring men and women who will continue to add value to our customers, partners, suppliers and shareholders,” Shocair said.

Continuum, a provider of fully-integrated managed IT services solutions, announced today it will offer Webroot SecureAnywhere Business- Endpoint Protection in its Remote Monitoring and Management platform to its MSP partners through a partnership with Webroot.

“Webroot SecureAnywhere is a smart, fast and very effective choice in antivirus and antimalware protection, using cloud data centers to instantly protect all users from new threats with endpoint security in real-time,” said Dee Zepf, Vice President of Products and Technical Services at Continuum. “Continuum has chosen to bundle Webroot with its RMM product because it saves time and helps partners to operate more efficiently and most importantly, our partners have asked for it.”

Bizzabo, a networking platform and event app, announced today the launch of Bizzabo Event Success Platform, its all-in-one management platform designed for event organizers.

“The Bizzabo Event Success Platform is the next step in the natural development of our product – a comprehensive system where event organizers can actually take more ownership of their event branding and overall event experience,” CEO Eran Ben-Shushan said.  “After working closely with thousands of organizers we understood the need for a holistic event software that works. We wanted to free the industry from a reliance on multiple siloed tech solutions that increase an event organizer’s workload, minimize their ability to measure success and limit productivity. By evolving our current product offering we are able to provide a one stop shop for all event technology needs, delivering the same quality we’re known for through a much more enhanced and complete experience from start to success.”

The platform is designed to streamline the planning and execution of events, offering tools to help event organizers measure success and tailor products and campaigns for their event. 

Bell Techlogix, an IT managed services and solutions provider, announced today it has joined Microsoft’s Microsoft Surface Affiliate Partner Program.

Its participation in the program will allow Bell Techlogix to resell Surface tablets to public sector and education clients, further expanding their education and public sector service offering portfolio.

Vocalcom today announced ITV, a client using its Omni-channel Customer Service Solution, was awarded “Best Customer Services in Telecom & Media” by United Business Media.

“We selected Vocalcom because they could provide everything we needed in one single package,” said Stephen Morris, ITV head of viewer services.  “We were looking for a ‘one-stop-shop,’ a truly unified communications provider who could supply us with a real omni-channel customer management portal that incorporated everything from voice, email, white mail, SMS and socials networks. Vocalcom provided just that and were instrumental in the seamless transition between customer management systems.”

BATS Wireless today announced the release of version 3.0 of its Automatic Aiming and Tracking Software.

"We are excited to roll out the newest version of our AATS software," says Phillip Cramer, VP – Sales & Marketing, BATS. "Version 3.0 gives end clients the ability to monitor, alter, maintain and coordinate their BATS systems in a truly user-friendly interface with ease and efficiency, leaving more time to focus on mission-critical tasks."

Columbus and SaaSplaza announced today a partnership to provide Microsoft Dynamics Cloud solutions to their North American clients.

Joe Zarrehparvar, Columbus executive vice president of sales, said Columbus selected SaaSplaza because of its experience with Microsoft Dynamics and its ability to meet client needs.

A survey from Robert Half Technology of Chief Information Officers shows a majority plan to take a multipronged approach to protecting company security in 2015. 

"We live in an era where information security threats are a real business risk," said John Reed, senior executive director of Robert Half Technology. "CIOs are attacking the problem from all sides, but there is a strong emphasis on employee-driven measures. Vigilant IT teams and security-savvy individuals throughout the organization are a valuable and fundamental defense; without both, other courses of action will be less effective."

Imitation announced today availability of HGST’s 8TB Ultrastar hard disk drives with its Nexsan E-Series data storage solutions, bringing rack storage capabilities in a standard rack to 4.9PB.

“Users in media and entertainment, high performance computing and many other industries struggle today with how to deliver adequate storage for the exponential data growth in their organizations using limited budgets and resources,” said Mike Stolz, vice president of marketing and global services for Imation’s Nexsan solutions. “They also are challenged by how to properly archive and protect their high-value data through both primary and backup storage. With HGST’s 8TB drives, we can deliver more capacity to users and lower their operating expenses – but even more, we offer them new flexibility and options for architecting their data centers and deliver new levels of value.”

snom technology AG , an IP telephone developer and manufacturer, announced today acquisition of HeidelbergCapital as its new majority shareholder.

HeidelbergCapital, by using its private equity fund II, purchased shares from Beaufort Capital GmbH in July 2014. André Deloch, partner at HeidelbergCapital and Chairman of the Board at snom, said it was important to HeidelbergCapital to support expansion and development of new products and software at snom. 

Xamin, Inc. announced today it named Aaron Scicluna, EVP, as its chief business development officer. In his new position, Scicluna will work to strengthen delivery of services to Xamin clients and oversee new business channels.

“Fraud has always continued to evolve, but we are witnessing an accelerated rate of change that demands organizations adopt enhanced levels of cybersecurity,” Scicluna said. ”Xamin is committed to proactively working with our clients to simultaneously safeguard their critical data and support their compliance with the latest guidelines, and I am excited to lead our efforts in identifying opportunities to maximize the impact of our solutions within the marketplace.”

England-based TeamUltra announced today the launch of a six-part webinar series covering the lifecycle of enterprise service management.

According to TeamUltra, the webinars will aim to compensate for an industry lack of qualitative examples and information surrounding the ESM journey, showing webinar viewers real-world case studies

Satmetrix, a cloud-based solutions provider, announced today immediate availability of its newest customer experience management software, Satmetrix NPX.

“To deliver successful customer experience management, you need three things: robust software, quality data, and the expertise to make sense of it all,” Satmetrix CEO Richard Owen said. “Satmetrix NPX is a complete and intuitive technology solution that manages the customer experience process and delivers truly valuable and actionable insights to key stakeholders throughout your organization. Satmetrix NPX is a game changer that allows companies to be pragmatic, proactive and responsive with their customer experience programs in ways that give them a competitive advantage.”

Insite Software, an eCommerce platform and data product provider, and Agency Oasis, a full service digital agency, announced today a strategic partnership intended to compliment Agency Oasis’ partnership with experience management platform Sitecore.

"Commerce is exploding, and we have always been at the forefront of helping companies provide a better customer experience," said Bob Naughton, chief revenue officer, Agency Oasis. "We have been custom building .NET eCommerce applications for more than ten years, and we are proud to partner with Insite Software to enable its InsiteCommerce customers the ability to execute on their direct selling processes."

Voice software provider Green Key Technologies announced today it hired Steve Van Deusen as director of compliance technology.

"I am excited to be a part of this stellar development team with such an innovative telephony solution," Steve Van Deusen, Director of Compliance Technology, said. "The voice network is rapidly growing and I look forward to helping brokers and traders achieve the highest compliance capabilities possible."

DCIM provider Raritan announced today its fifth consecutive recognition for The Channel Company’s annual CRN Data Center 100 list.

"We are delighted that CRN editors have recognized Raritan once again for its ground-breaking technologies and solutions," said Ashley Fox, Channel Sales Director-Americas at Raritan.  "Working together with our outstanding channel partners, we are advancing data center infrastructure management and helping customers reduce power and cooling costs, better manage assets and capacity, and improve productivity.  Our solutions are designed to meet the diverse needs of data centers around the world."

Adobe announced today Adobe Experience Manager was recognized by Forrester Research as a Leader in “The Forrester Wave: Web Content Management Systems, Q1, 2015.”

“Forrester’s latest Wave report, in our opinion, underscores the rapid evolution in Web content management,” said Aseem Chandra, vice president, Adobe Experience Manager and Adobe Target, Adobe. “We believe our ranking as a Leader validates that Adobe Experience Manager makes it incredibly easy to deliver content consistently and with speed across all channels and connected screens. The innovations we are working on will continue to position our customers well ahead of the competition.”

SolarWinds announced today enhancements to its security information and event management product, SolarWinds Log & Event Manager.

Enhancements to SolarWinds LEM, designed for resource-constrained IT organizations, include the introduction of new Configuration and Rules Wizards.

Passportal , a password management software provider, announced a strategic integration with ConnectWise PSA , which develops service management software for IT service providers, VARs, ISVs and MSPs.

“IT security is a top priority for any channel partner that wants to ensure their customers’ success and protect the businesses they serve and own from data breaches, network vulnerabilities and cyber security threats,” says Knox. “By seamlessly integrating our purpose-built password security software with ConnectWise PSA we’ve made it easier for channel partners to use these two technologies together and proactively protect and serve their clients with confidence.”