Red Hat Marketplace and the private, more personalized Red Hat Marketplace Select, are operated by IBM and deliver an ecosystem of software from a range of independent software vendors built on Red Hat OpenShift to provide clients with modern, consistent solution discovery, trial, purchase and deployment, the companies said in a press release.

OpenShift is Red Hat’s open source container application platform based on Kubernetes for enterprise application development and deployment. It allows for the portability of mission-critical workloads across secured hybrid cloud environments with certified enterprise software to help companies avoid vendor lock-in, according to the press release.

Red Hat Marketplace is designed to help companies building cloud-native infrastructure and applications and make the most out of their cloud investments.

“We believe that removing the operational barriers to deploy and manage new tools and technologies can help organizations become more agile in hybrid multicloud environments,” said Lars Herrman, senior director of technology partnerships at Red Hat. “The software available is tested, certified and supported on Red Hat OpenShift to enable built-in management logic and streamline implementation processes. This helps customers run faster with automated deployments while enjoying the improved scalability, security, and orchestration capabilities of Kubernetes-native infrastructure.”

Red Hat, now owned by IBM, touts a “growing ecosystem” of independent software vendors that have embraced the marketplace. The growing list of more than 50 commercial products includes solutions across 12 different categories, like artificial intelligence/machine learning, monitoring, security, storage, big data, developer tools and more.

Independent software vendors include Anchore, Cockroach Labs, CognitiveScale, Couchbase, Dynatrace, KubeMQ, MemSQL, MongoDB, and StorageOS.

All products are certified for Red Hat OpenShift and come with commercial support. They can run on OpenShift like a cloud service with capabilities like automated install and upgrade, backup, failover, and recover.

The post Red Hat, IBM Launch Red Hat Marketplace appeared first on My TechDecisions.

The Boston-based company is now part of Francisco Partners and Evergreen Coast Capital — private equity firms that led the transaction that is expected to close in the middle of next year.

“Together, Francisco Partners and Evergreen are committed to addressing the unique needs of both our core and growth assets,” said Bill Wagner, President and Chief Executive Officer of LogMeIn. “We believe our partnership with Francisco Partners and Evergreen will help put us in a position to deliver the operational benefits needed to achieve sustained growth over the long term.”

LogMeIn offers a variety of enterprise products, including GoToMeeting, which it acquired in a merger with Citrix’s GoTo business in 2016. That product is up against the likes of other videoconferencing platforms like Zoom, WebEx, Google Hangouts and others.

Read More: LastPass Free On New HP Convertible Laptop

LogMeIn, which says it’s one of the world’s 10 largest publicly traded software-as-a-service companies, also offers other tools like remote access and password management.

In a statement, Francisco Partners co-founder and CEO Dipanjan Deb said the investment builds on the strength of its infrastructure and security software franchise. According to the firm’s website, that includes Mitel, Sandvine, SonicWall and others.

“LogMeIn has a compelling product portfolio and leadership in the Unified Communications and Collaboration, Identity, and Digital Engagement markets,” said Andrew Kowal, Senior Partner at Francisco Partners. “We look forward to working with Bill and the leadership team at LogMeIn to accelerate growth and product investment organically and inorganically.”

The agreement includes a 45-day period in which LogMeIn can solicit other acquisition proposals and enter negotiations with other interested parties.

This spring, LogMeIn launched its first ever unified communications and collaboration product, GoToConnect, which offers audio, video and screen-sharing capabilities combined with cloud-based telephony.

The post LogMeIn To Be Acquired By Private Equity for $4.3B appeared first on My TechDecisions.

The increasing adoption of SaaS CRM by SMEs will be one of the major drivers in the global market, predicts their report.

The integration of analytics into SaaS CRM will have a positive impact on the market and contribute to its growth significantly over the forecast period, says Technavio.

The integration of analytics into SaaS CRM will be one of the critical trends in the global market.

Customer data from e-mails, social media, and other platforms can be captured and analyzed using SaaS CRM. Moreover, SaaS CRM incorporated with analytics helps to build strategic marketing decisions by providing critical insights about consumer behavior patterns, says the company.

The use of analytics in SaaS CRM helps enterprises in gaining a complete business overview, which can accelerate business agility and innovation.

“Therefore, the integration of analytics into SaaS CRM is one of the key SaaS customer relationship management market trends, which will drive its growth in the coming years.”

More from the research:

This market research report segments the global SaaS CRM market by end-user (retail, BFSI, manufacturing, telecom and IT, healthcare, and others) and geographical regions (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and MEA).

The North American region led the market share in 2018, followed by Europe, APAC, South America, and MEA respectively. During the forecast period, the North American region is expected to maintain its dominance over the global market. This is due to the use of public cloud services by enterprises, increasing need for analysis of customers’ information, and the presence of large cloud service providers in the region.

Read Next: What is Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS)?

The post The Market for Global SaaS Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is Growing appeared first on My TechDecisions.

McDermott joined the firm in 2002 as head of North America, where he worked to increase the company’s market share on the continent and helping to grow the company into a $156 billion software conglomerate.

He joined the executive board in 2008 as he began to lead customer operations worldwide. He’s served as CEO for the last decade.

McDermott is credited with the company’s growth, including expanding its portfolio and overseeing a major shift to cloud computing. Market value, revenue, profits, employee engagement and environmental sustainability have all strengthened under McDermott, the company said.

SAP Executive Board members Jennifer Morgan and Christian Klein have been appointed co-chief executive officers while McDermott remains in an advisory capacity until the end of the year.

“Now is the moment for everyone to begin an exciting new chapter, and I am confident that Jennifer and Christian will do an outstanding job,” McDermott said. “I look forward to supporting them as they finish 2019 and lay the foundation for 2020 and beyond.”

Read Next: Report: IBM, SAP Are Cloud-Based Enterprise AI Leaders

According to a company press release, the move has been at least a year in the making.

Prof. Hasso Plattner, chairman of the company’s supervisory board, said in a statement he and McDermott began grooming Morgan and Klein over a year ago to be SAP’s next generation of leaders.

“We are confident in their vision and capabilities as we take SAP to its next phase of growth and innovation,” Plattner said.

Bloomberg Opinion Columnist Alex Webb said Klein, the chief operating officer is expected to deliver on profit goals while Morgan — the former president of the Cloud Business Group —has the cloud experience necessary to push the tech behemoth into more cloud-based technologies.

“Having been later than some U.S. competitors to pivot toward a cloud-based business, SAP is now migrating its customers away from software run on their own premises, and into its cloud offerings,” Webb wrote.

Simultaneous to the company’s announcement, SAP released preliminary third-quarter results, which reflected an improved cloud revenue base. New cloud bookings were up 38% and cloud revenue was up 37%.

The post SAP CEO Bill McDermott To Step Down appeared first on My TechDecisions.

IntelliGO CEO Khaled Mansour attributes this recognition to several factors.

AI cybersecurity solution is response-focused & includes vuln. MGMT

“Our operation is incredibly response-focused, given the advantages afforded by the proprietary technology we developed. These factors played a pivotal role in our inclusion in the guide; its discussion on choosing a ‘pure-play’ MDR provider validates that,” said Mansour.

“Another factor is the multifaceted nature of our offering, which includes the ‘extras’ of Vulnerability Management and Log Management. Our complementary services, like Incident Response and Virtual CISO, solve problems beyond cybersecurity threats. These features differentiate us within the market because we help organizations mitigate more risk.”

The company notes that 41% of Canadian businesses with >250 employees are impacted by cybersecurity incidents, according to a 2017 Statistics Canada survey. Mansour says there are further technological advancement critical to scaling IntelliGO’s operation to reduce that number.

“Our investments in artificial intelligence and machine learning continue to improve our accuracy and efficiency in combating threats,” he said.

Read Next: 9 AI, Analytics, and Automation Products at InfoComm 2019

Mansour expects inclusion in the guide to drive further business growth.

“Recognition by experts like Gartner has been key to our expansion on both sides of the border. We just opened a Data Center in Sunnyvale, CA, last May to accommodate the increased influx of data from our American clients. We expect that growth to continue as risk-sensitive leaders turn to Gartner for expert advice, because their recommendations align with the outcomes of our service.”

The post Why IntelliGO, an AI-Cybersecurity Company, Received Recognition Two Years in a Row appeared first on My TechDecisions.

From raw data sources to fully interactive dashboards, Bold BI bridges the gap between data and actionable insights in record time, the company says.

“We are excited to announce the immediate availability of the Bold BI platform. We’ve been focusing our efforts on building world-class software libraries since we started in 2001,” said Daniel Jebaraj, vice president of Syncfusion.

Related: Augmented Analytics to Play a Vital Role in Converting Big Data to Smart Data

“Our libraries are used in many of today’s leading business intelligence solutions. Syncfusion’s nearly two decades of experience with business intelligence solutions makes Bold BI unique. We offer a solution that no longer requires companies to dedicate an individual or a team to making sense of their data. It allows the average mid-sized company access to data insights that can transform their business.”

Syncfusion’s Bold BI platform offers integration with over 80 of the most common data sources, including Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Microsoft SQL Server, and Oracle, as well as generic access to any data source through support for REST.

Additional features of Bold BI cloud-based business intelligence:

• Data collection from multiple sources to derive insights across entire data sets
• End-to-end support from onboarding to finished product
• Drag-and-drop design features
• Real-time collaboration on dashboards
• Integration with Office 365 and Active Directory

“It’s easy to write off human support as an extra feature, but we consider it essential to what makes Bold BI unique and useful,” said Daniel Jebaraj.

“Bold BI users who encounter challenges in their implementation can turn to Syncfusion’s support teams to get help with their projects. Syncfusion wants its customers to succeed, and we are committed to offering not just tools, but expertise.”

The post Syncfusion Bold BI is Business Intelligence With a Complete Data Integration Platform appeared first on My TechDecisions.

While SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS are different, they are not competitive. In fact, most software-focused companies use some form of all three. So, let’s consider these main categories, and because I like to understand things by company name, I’ll include a few of the more common SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS providers in market today.

SaaS: Software as a Service

Software as a Service, also known as cloud application services, represents the most commonly utilized option for businesses in the cloud market. SaaS utilizes the internet to deliver applications, which are managed by a third-party vendor, to its users.

Many SaaS applications are run directly through the web browser, and do not require any downloads or installations on the client side.

Prominent providers: Salesforce, ServiceNow, Google Apps, Dropbox and Slack (and ParkMyCloud, of course).

PaaS: Platform as a Service

Cloud platform services, or Platform as a Service (PaaS), provide cloud components to certain software while being used mainly for applications. PaaS delivers a framework for developers that they can build upon and use to create customized applications.

All servers, storage, and networking can be managed by the enterprise or a third-party provider while the developers can maintain management of the applications.

Prominent providers and offerings: AWS Elastic Beanstalk, RedHat Openshift, IBM Bluemix, Windows Azure, and VMware Pivotal CF.

IaaS: Infrastructure as a Service

Cloud infrastructure services, known as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), are made of highly scalable and automated compute resources.

IaaS is fully self-service for accessing and monitoring things like compute, storage, networking, and other infrastructure related services, and it allows businesses to purchase resources on-demand and as-needed instead of having to buy hardware outright.

Prominent Providers: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure (Azure), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and IBM Cloud.

SaaS vs. PaaS vs. IaaS

SaaS, PaaS and IaaS are all under the umbrella of cloud computing (building, creating, and storing data over the cloud). Think about them in terms of out-of-the-box functionality and building from the bottom up.

IaaS helps build the infrastructure of a cloud-based technology. PaaS helps developers build custom apps via an API that can be delivered over the cloud. And SaaS is cloud-based software companies can sell and use.

Think of IaaS as the foundation of building a cloud-based service — whether that’s content, software, or the website to sell a physical product, PaaS as the platform on which developers can build apps without having to host them, and SaaS as the software you can buy or sell to help enterprises (or others) get stuff done.

SaaS, PaaS, IaaS Market Share Breakdown The SaaS market is by far the largest market, according to a Gartner study that reported that enterprises spent $182B+ on cloud services, with SaaS services making up 43% of that spend.

While SaaS is currently the largest cloud service in terms of spend, IaaS is currently projected to be the fastest growing market with a CAGR of 20% plus over the next 3 to 4 years. This bodes very well for the “big three” providers, AWS, Azure and GCP.

Where Is The Cloud Services Market Going?

What’s interesting is that many pundits argue that PaaS is the future, along with FaaS, DaaS and every other X-as-a-service. However, the data shows otherwise. As evidenced by the reports from Gartner above, IaaS has a larger market share and is growing the fastest.

This is because IaaS offers all the important benefits of using the cloud such as scalability, flexibility, location independence and potentially lower costs.

In comparison with PaaS and SaaS, the biggest strength of IaaS is the flexibility and customization it offers. The leading cloud computing vendors offer a wide range of different infrastructure options, allowing customers to pick the performance characteristics that most closely match their needs.

Read Next: ‘Essentials As a Service,’ Or Why EaaS Is the Acronym to Look For Going Forward

In addition, IaaS is the least likely of the three cloud delivery models to result in vendor lock-in. With SaaS and PaaS, it can be difficult to migrate to another option or simply stop using a service once it’s baked into your operations.

IaaS also charges customers only for the resources they actually use, which can result in cost reductions if used strategically. While much of the growth is from existing customers, it’s also because more organizations are using IaaS across more functions than either of the other models of cloud services.

The post The Future of Cloud Services: A Comparison of SaaS, PaaS and IaaS appeared first on My TechDecisions.

In its simplest but broadest sense, UC (unified communications) can encompass all forms of communications that are exchanged via a network.   UC is an evolving set of technologies that automates and unifies human and device communications in a common context and experience.  UCCaaS is unified communications with collaboration capabilities added in.

There are many ways to collaborate; however, in today’s world, collaboration tools should be all inclusive for any size business.  Sure, video conferencing, white-boarding and/or messaging added to your telephone call is pretty cool, but is it enough in today’s world?

With UCCaaS set to continue to grow, many vendors are trying to jump on the “collaboration” bandwagon; yet serious providers of collaboration solutions will not be claim-jumpers, but instead will offer a complete product with features comparable to these:

• Management of files and documents in folders, binders or conversations that can be securely shared with the collaboration group or team, whether inside or outside of the organization
• An ability to compress files, open files, view files, annotate on files and manage files (including e-mail and voicemail) related to conversations, projects, customers, vendors, departments, etc.
• Private and group threaded chat and messaging
• Notifications for conversation or folder updates, project add/change/deletes, meetings & to-dos
• Record/Edit/Playback/Storing of MP4 recordings and clips embedded on top of documents
• Task tracking by member or team and management of projects/conversations/folders/etc.
• Web meetings with integrated audio, video, screen sharing & remote desktop control
• Mobile & Desktop (all platforms and operating systems) – Emphasis on Mobile and wireless
• Military-grade security, end-to-end
• eSignature
• Reporting, analytics & easy management
• Full or Limited Suite
• Integrated audio, VoIP and whiteboarding
• Integrated to cloud storage and other storage systems
• Free and unlimited storage
• Bots and AI
• API & SDK integrations-for communicating with in-house or 3^rd party apps, CRM, accounting, etc.
• Private-labeling & branding
• And yes, hosted via cloud or in-house

Why would I need these features?

Examples:

1. Made-for-Mobile design approach and available on every platform. New generations expect it.
2. Companies that have two or more remote workers or team(s) and/or 3^rd parties that might need to work together on a project or conversation in real time.
3. Any business or government that wants to keep all related information together, accessible and auditable from one place, even if multiple applications are being used. E-mail, chat, messaging and voice messages are good examples, but other documents, files and app integrations should be considered as well.

Also, the projects, conversations or folders could be related to:

• Sales project (collecting info, strategizing, preparing quotes, proposals, closing, CRM, coordination)
• Closing document (real estate, property management, loan package, contracts, e-signatures)
• Business project (planning, purchasing, developing, branding, meetings, stockholders, HR, assets)
• AR or AP lists and details (customer, vendor, account, audits, collections, development, resources)
• Professional or specialist on-call (doctor, lawyer, CPA, manager, architect, engineer, teacher)
• Advertising (planning, branding, events, results, ads, strategizing, budgets, messages)
• Tax/Accounting (customers, GL, stockholders, managers, audits, tax & financial planning, budgeting)
• Legal (history, communications, statues, director meetings, minutes, contracts, advice, e-signatures)
• Training (K-12, CPE, training management, remote worker, new employee, software, procedures)
• Field service (communication, tracking, preparation, documents, e-signatures, experts, pics, schematics)
• Customer or vendor tracking (doc management, competitive options, data base, history, meetings)
• Transportation and logistics (tracking, bill of lading, delivery, e-signatures, history, vehicles)
• Human resource (HR) (onboarding, offboarding, policies, documents, payroll, reviews, emp. manual)

What good is a collaboration solution to a salesperson that can’t get his order signed when the prospect is ready?  How can you collaborate with a specialist or team member when he/she is always out of the office?  A complete collaboration solution can help to solve many business problems, accommodate remote workers and dispersed companies and keep business conversations and projects from stalling.  With a good product, companies can replace a portfolio of overlapping services, reduce the number of vendors, simplify processes and save money.

Resellers can create more opportunity by leveraging their understanding of clients’ businesses, rather than focusing on just delivering what is easy or generates a quick profit.  Provide a solution that focuses on a client’s full needs, rather than only on technology and service delivery.  Get paid residually for your efforts, and with the right solution, you too can possibly be rewarded for decades.

The post What is Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS)? appeared first on My TechDecisions.

IOBOT is a software-defined security device (SDSD) with the baseline functionality of a network router, plus configurable internal modules for customization according to the application. That includes phone and intercom, access control, security, network, automation, persistent communications and more, according to the company.

The AlwaysON platform couples an AlwaysON operating system, cloud and mobile app to provide a single dashboard for installation, service, support and end user control. IOBOT with AlwaysON enables dealers to monitor and manage any customer IP network — even when that network is down.

And here’s the clincher: AlwaysON enables dealers to develop a software as a service (SaaS) business model through subscription revenue.

“With the abundance of new security and smart home devices entering the market, we saw a need for dealers to provide an intelligent network platform that could be customized by market application with recurring revenue opportunities based on their services,” says Abe Schryer, president and CEO, Observables.

How IOBOT with AlwaysON Works

Each IOBOT comes with USB, Ethernet and WiFi connectivity. There are two additional modular slots inside each IOBOT that allow for custom configuration — one communication module (to add Cellular and soon Z-Wave and LoRa) and one personality module that handles physical connections (Analog Phone, Alarm panel, Controllable GPIOs, Relays, Wiegand interface, Z-Wave, RF and other application sensors/standards).

The USB interconnect Bus provides the ability to quickly add third party devices, expansion modules and the optional satellite Unit for global connectivity both on and off grid. There are numerous configurations that customize the IOBOT; dealers can easily add multiple applications to each IOBOT through a wizard-based interface on the AlwaysON Cloud.

The AlwaysON Cloud proactively manages all IP devices on a network, and continuously checks system health to alert dealers if the system is down or a network is breached. If any devices on the network report an error, the AlwaysON Cloud diagnoses and troubleshoots the issue and notifies the dealer, resulting in reduced truck rolls and higher profitability.

AlwaysON Mobile is a smartphone app that boasts an easy-to-use dashboard, eliminating the need for an end user to toggle between various device apps to manage and customize control for each connected device on the network. End-users also receive messaging and notifications on the app.

IOBOT is available with dealer-only pricing starting at similar costs to a typical alarm panel. Observables offers dealers a customizable recurring revenue model that can be sold on a SaaS subscription to customers.

This article was originally published on Security Sales & Integration.

The post Observables Launches IOBOT Router with AlwaysON Service Portal appeared first on My TechDecisions.

And while the growth of SaaS is beneficial to organizations if each of those systems works well together, it can cause great concern to CIOs and IT departments when they don’t have proper visibility into or control over the technologies its employees are using. In this scenario, these executives are right to be concerned about security matters and sensitive customer or employee data.

The concept of Shadow IT isn’t a new concept for enterprise organizations, but as more and more employees and teams are empowered to purchase SaaS software on their own or for their departments—either through a traditional contract process or even via a company or personal credit card—the more Shadow IT can pose a threat to data stored in third-party cloud environments. However, Shadow IT is a “normal” for organizations that is very difficult to control (and sometimes impossible altogether). For IT executives, it’s best to cast a light on applications purchased in the shadows and embrace them with a SaaS optimization solution. Afterall, most Shadow IT purchases by employees or departments aren’t made out of malice or to hide purchases, but rather to expedite internal processes and avoid long and drawn out procedures.

Below are five trends facing today’s CIOs and IT departments along with suggestions for how they can face Shadow IT and third-party cloud environments.

The SaaS model is shifting the way organizations conduct business.

The rise of the subscription economy is continuing to shift the way organizations conduct business. Because of SaaS and the subscription economy, stakeholders across an organization are better connected and have more information and data at their fingertips. These innovations have allowed everyone across the spectrum of an enterprise—whether B2B or B2C—to operate more efficiently and with better accuracy.

Employees and departments are skipping the procurement process.

SaaS applications are incredibly easy to purchase and implement into current business processes as usually a transaction can be completed even without speaking to a sales person, often requiring just a few clicks of a button and a credit card. Employees and departmental leaders are skipping the procurement process as they can easily evaluate and purchase new software on their own, all while avoiding internal red tape. Employees and teams are making seemingly innocent and small purchases on their own with the intent of expediting the process.

As a result of Shadow IT, sensitive customer and internal information can be stored in third-party environments.

Results from The 2016 Global Cloud Data Security Study suggest that, “Many of these problems stem from the growth in shadow IT taking action beyond the reach of corporate governance. According to the survey, nearly half of cloud services are deployed by departments other than corporate IT, and an average of 47 percent of corporate data stored in cloud environments is not managed by the IT department.”

Because such a large portion of organizational data is unmanaged and unknown to IT departments, these critical teams are losing visibility and control of their organizational tech stacks, removing the ability to protect sensitive data and information that may be stored in third-party environments without their knowing.

Shadow IT can result in compromised data, redundant systems, underutilization, and over spending.

For IT teams without complete insight into the applications its organization is using, Shadow IT can cause issues in the form of compromised data, redundant systems, underutilization, and over spending. In addition, confusion can arise as employees have multiple options of systems to use for their daily tasks—each able to accomplish a similar result. Without protocols for each system, data can be stored in numerous locations.

IT departments that have complete visibility into all SaaS applications can prevent Shadow IT issues.

CIOs and IT departments need visibility and control into their entire SaaS tech stacks, not to own the procurement and decision process for new applications and renewals, but to help guide individuals and departments during the purchase process. When IT departments gain complete visibility into the technologies each department, team, or individual is using, it helps everyone across the organization make more economical decisions, but most importantly double down on important security measures to ensure that no sensitive information is stored in third-party cloud environments without proper oversight.

The post 5 Shadow IT Trends Facing Today’s CIOs appeared first on My TechDecisions.