The new cloud-based mobility services is the first step for the Group to provide a rich suite of end user compute (EUC) services
Kuala Lumpur, 03 June 2014 – Dimension Data, the USD6 billion global ICT solutions and services provider, today announced it will launch Enterprise Mobility-as-a-Service (EMaaS), signalling its intent to provide a suite of cloud-based end-user computing services on a global basis. EMaaS establishes the platform for the Group’s future initiatives that will see Dimension Data announce increased functionality and feature sets that assist enterprise clients to deal with their rapidly changing end user computing requirements.
Dimension Data’s EMaaS offering is an integrated enterprise mobility management service that provides organisations with the ability to deliver comprehensive policy-based, device-independent, mobile device management, mobile expense management, integration to the enterprise and underpinned by true cloud principles of automation and consumption-based commercials.
The service, which utilises a cloud-based consumption model, enables organisations to rapidly scale deployments while easily managing the complex environment of mobile devices, data access and expense management. Due to the complex nature of mobility deployments, the EMaaS offering is complemented by Dimension Data’s Systems Integration and Professional Services competencies and addresses the full spectrum of an organisation’s enterprise mobility needs.
Neville Burdan, Dimension Data Asia Pacific’s General Manager, End-user Computing says, “The launch of EMaaS is an important step for Dimension Data as it marks the establishment of the platform that we will use to rapidly evolve to deliver enterprises with a suite of services that addresses their emerging user-centric end-user computing requirements.”
Burdan says EMaaS was designed to address an immediate requirement of enterprise clients around mobile devices, smart devices and how to ensure these new devices can be incorporated into their business in a rapid, yet controlled and secure way. “EMaaS is an integral component of the Group’s combined strategy to support a truly user-centric computing model through our Cloud, Enterprise Mobility and End-user Computing groups,” he explains.
“In the bring-your-own-device environment of today’s enterprise, users want access to corporate information from any device, anytime, anywhere,” says Manish Pratap, General Manager, Cloud Business Unit at Dimension Data Asia Pacific. “EMaaS enables businesses to remove the cost and complexity from their mobility deployments while gaining visibility and control across the entirety of those deployments. With this service, mobile-enabled organisations will benefit from increased staff productivity, responsiveness and decision-making speed as well as rapid issue resolution and satisfaction for mobile workers.”
EMaaS provides enterprise clients with:
• An extensive policy framework and secure access to corporate information from any device, ensuring appropriate authentication and corporate governance adherence
• Rapid provisioning, automation and user self-service via the cloud-based principles gained from Dimension Data’s globally recognised cloud services investments over the last four years
• The ability to upload corporate mobile invoices for analysis, enabling clients to gain insights into the costs associated with their mobility fleet
• Extensive reporting and analytical capabilities that deliver a comprehensive view across all enterprise mobility usage patterns
• Pay-for-use consumption pricing that benefits from the economies of scale delivered by cloud-based deployments
Dimension Data has successfully completed numerous mobility engagements globally, utilising a consultative-led approach via its Enterprise Mobility Development Model (EMDM). This approach has enabled Dimension Data to provide context to clients that addresses the multiple facets associated with complex mobility projects. EMaaS has been developed as a cloud-based solution, based on the experience gained and results achieved from these global managed mobility customer engagements. The Group has over 30 years’ experience in delivering successful ICT solutions and services to over 6,000 clients worldwide with Dimension Data clients comprising 73% of the global Fortune 100 and 59% of the global Fortune 500 companies.
Availability and Pricing
Dimension Data’s EMaaS is commercially available in the next half of this year via a self-service client portal that provides ease of management, rapid on-boarding and deployment.
For more information on Dimension Data’s cloud computing services, please visit www.dimensiondata.com/cloud.
SCCyberworld
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
DIMENSION DATA LAUNCHES ENTERPRISE MOBILITY-AS-A-SERVICE SIGNALLING INTENT TO PROVIDE A SUITE OF CLOUD-BASED END-USER COMPUTING SERVICES GLOBALLY
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
NEW IBM CLOUD TECHNOLOGY PUTS ANALYTICS INTO THE HANDS OF MORE DECISION MAKERS ACROSS THE ORGANIZATION
-- New discovery and analytical capabilities help employees visualize, understand and act on insights to improve business outcomes --
ORLANDO -- 20 May 2014: IBM (NYSE: IBM) is introducing new cloud-based software that puts analytics into the hands of more business users and decision makers across the organization.
The new IBM analytics software brings together task personalized lists, dashboards, analysis, and reporting in the cloud, making it easier for employees to interact with data and understand it to do their work, collaborate with others, and make better business decisions – anywhere and anytime.
A sales manager, for example, can now use a PC, Smartphone or tablet to manage sales compensation-related activities while collaborating with peers, resulting in faster and more accurate payments to sales reps.
Gartner predicts that analytics will reach 50 percent of company employees by 2014. By 2020, that figure will be 75 percent*.This represents a tremendous opportunity for ROI and organic growth for organizations. A 10% increase in data accessibility, for instance, translates into an additional $65.7 million in net income for a typical Fortune 1000 company**.
Organizations today are challenged to capture and make sense of data in real time, while enabling better, faster decisions and actions by more users. Today's news helps take analytics out of the IT department and making it accessible to frontline staff through visualization tools and dashboards.
At Vision 2014, IBM’s global conference for finance, risk management, and sales compensation professionals in Orlando, Florida, IBM is previewing new analytic discovery software on cloud that lets everyday business users visually interact with and apply advanced analytics to big data without needing the specialized skills of a data scientist. As a result, line of business professionals in sales, marketing, finance and other areas can get and easily interpret predictive insights from data in minutes.
“Analytics can improve almost any business process -- what products to make, what risks to take, which customers to target and how to make them stay. But to maximize impact, analytics also needs to be available to all the people making decisions, wherever they are, “said Alistair Rennie, General Manager, Business Analytics, IBM. “By offering these new solutions in the cloud, IBM is helping organizations drive stronger employee engagement and gain real-time insight into how their business is performing.”
New Software Speeds Analytic Decision-Making in the Cloud
IBM Concert is now offering new cloud-based analytics software available on IBM Cloud Marketplace that can manage the increasing volume and complexity of processes and tasks, support an increasingly mobile workforce, and emphasize social collaboration as an integral part of decision making. By accessing this technology in the cloud, business users can now easily view, understand and interact with specific performance insights to more easily determine what actions to take and when. Remote employees can also contribute and update data immediately via mobile devices, improving accuracy and providing real time planning and forecasting.
For example, a sales manager looks at the Concert dashboard and sees that sales for one product line are running behind plan for the current quarter. The manager immediately recommends an additional sales incentive for the quarter, attaches a few comments, and asks for senior management approval as part of an established process. The CFO, who is out of the office, can use a Smartphone to access the expense alert, read all the comments, and review in-context metrics to approve the request.
IBM Previews Advanced Analytic Solutions
Project Catalyst Insight is a new analytic discovery solution that makes analytics more automated, approachable and accessible to business users. Catalyst Insight automatically builds predictive models and presents those results as interactive visuals with plain language descriptions. Using Catalyst Insight, a marketing manager could use advanced analytics to better understand the drivers of marketing campaign effectiveness without having to wait for a data scientist to prepare the information, develop predictive models and interpret the results.
IBM also announced plans to make its OpenPages enterprise governance risk and compliance family available as a managed service on IBM Softlayer. OpenPages allows businesses to develop a comprehensive compliance and risk management strategy across a variety of domains including operational risk, financial controls management, IT risk, compliance and internal audits. Using OpenPages on Cloud, for example, a compliance manager will be able to quickly identify and analyze the potential effects of a large-scale, serious incident and make recommendations for corrective action to management. This new deployment option will provide a flexible, reliable, enterprise-grade system that can grow as OpenPages expands across the enterprise.
Project Catalyst Insight and OpenPages on Cloud will join 100-plus IBM software-as-a-service offerings for line of business supported by SoftLayer. SoftLayer is fast becoming the foundation of IBM's cloud portfolio, adding more than 1,000 new clients since IBM acquired the company last year.
IBM Big Data & Analytics
IBM has established the world’s deepest portfolio of Big Data and Analytics technology that spans research and development, solutions and software. IBM has invested $24 billion to build its capabilities in Big Data and Analytics, through R&D and more than 30 acquisitions. IBM has also built a strong ecosystem of partners and VCs in Big Data. Today, more than 10,000 analytics consultants, 6,000 industry solution business partners, and 4,000 IBM mathematicians and are helping clients use big data to transform their organizations.
For more information about IBM Big Data & Analytics, visit http://ibm.co/bigdataanalytics.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Citrix Synergy in Los Angeles New Innovations to Equip People with Mobile Workspaces
May 20, 2014, Tuesday - Citrix Synergy, held in Los Angeles, California this year, concluded on a successful note.
The annual flagship industry conference by Citrix, held from 6 – 8 May at the Anaheim Convention Center, unveiled new mobility technologies and strategies that will provide support for people to work better from anywhere with mobile workspace solutions. The latest solutions also promise IT teams comprehensive control and management capabilities across the entire enterprise’s IT infrastructure.
The IT industry is witnessing a rapid explosion of new and heterogeneous devices and app platforms, coupled with the rising trend of consumerization, BYOD and an increasingly digitally-savvy generation who prefer to work whenever, wherever and however they choose.
Citrix Synergy focused on the four key aspects of solutions that businesses need in order to equip their people with mobile workspaces to enhance productivity and achieve strategic differentiation in today’s dynamic and mobile world.
Virtualization: Synergy discussed state-of-the-art mobility solutions for enabling IT to transform any Windows app or a complete desktop into a secured, on-demand cloud service. Major focus areas included how to optimize user experience on any device with new approaches to desktop and app virtualization, Windows app migration, virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), remote desktop session (RDS) and client virtualization, including administration, service delivery, security and mobility.
Mobility: Synergy provided in-depth coverage of the latest mobility trends and how innovations and technologies are able to empower people to work from anywhere, all while providing IT with full configuration, security and management control of apps, data and devices. Key topics included mobile app and device management, app stores, mobile security, social and real-time collaboration, mobile data access and workshifting.
Networking: Synergy covered the latest developments in network virtualization, load balancing, software-defined networking, disaster and site recovery, app security and multi-tenancy in private and public clouds. Key topics included how businesses can be ensured of the best mobility, performance and availability by accelerating and securing enterprise applications across LANs, WANs, the internet and cloud.
Cloud: Synergy explored an extensive range of topics from automation, orchestration, and networking, to access and management for compute and application services.
Key focus was on automated, elastic, “anything-as-a-service” clouds that enable businesses to ensure the best security, performance and reliability, be it running off an on premise enterprise datacenter, or in an external cloud.
This month’s news update from Citrix highlights new and innovative ways for customers to advance and mobilize their businesses and employees by delivering desktops, apps, data and services to any user, on any device, over any network or cloud, via a single solution and in a secure fashion.
Citrix Workspace Suite
Citrix Workspace Suite is a new, single, flexible solution that unites virtualization, mobility, networking and cloud services technologies to improve employee productivity, simplify IT and fully secure enterprise content. The full suite of solutions supports multiple corporate or personal devices per user and provides instant secure access to all apps, desktops, data and services over any network, while simplifying how organizations manage their end user computing environment. Various technologies, such as application and desktop virtualization, mobile application and device management, native mobile productivity apps, enterprise file sync and share, WAN optimization and access gateway enable comprehensive management of application, desktop and mobile infrastructures. According to Gartner, the mobile workspace market is expected to grow 15 times in the next three years as organizations embrace business mobility. With the spurt of new devices and app platforms, combined with the rapid growth in consumerization, mobility and BYOD initiatives, organizations are driven to find a way to manage and secure the diversity of today’s IT environments. With Citrix Workspace Suite, businesses can enable their people with comprehensive, secure and personalized mobile workspaces, and empower them with an unprecedented level of freedom, flexibility and choice in the way they work.
Citrix XenMobile enterprise mobility management and mobile productivity apps
The new release of Citrix XenMobile enterprise mobility management (EMM) solution is accompanied with new workflow-driven mobile productivity apps -- WorxNotes, WorxEdit and WorxDesktop. The EMM solution offers significant enhancements in user experience, platform security and support, as well as management integrations that improve scalability and speed time to value for business. The new workflow-driven mobile productivity apps are key business apps with intelligent integrations that seamlessly work together, resulting in a simple and intuitive user experience. Today, mobility is a top priority for organizations from healthcare providers to government institutions. Organizations recognize the need to securely deliver mobile workspaces that provide all the business tools and information their employees need, whether they are in the office, or on the move, in order to stay agile and drive business growth.
New ShareFile Connectors
The new ShareFile StorageZone Connectors help businesses by establishing direct and secure mobile access to data in its original location behind the corporate firewall. In addition, the new ShareFile Personal Cloud Connectors allow users to access their Box, Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive accounts from ShareFile itself, providing enterprises with the flexibility to determine how and where users store files. In a nutshell, the new and enhanced Citrix ShareFile delivers the broadest storage access for users and gives users the ability to access and edit files from multiple data sources on their mobile devices with a single access point. At the same time, businesses have more control over their data encryption keys. This results in increased productivity and security.
Citrix NetScaler MobileStream
The now available NetScaler MobileStream technology delivers the most advanced cloud and mobile networking capabilities, significantly improving mobile network and application performance, along with network visibility, while tightening security for both the enterprise and the end user. IT teams have started to embrace a mobile-first agenda, with the explosion of mobile devices in business and the exponential growth of consumerization. The technology improves mobile performance by virtually eliminating the impact of sporadic connectivity caused by legacy communication technologies and website designs, and transparently leverages wireless and cellular connectivity with intelligent dual network mode technology. This results in mobile apps loading and running five times faster, enabling employees to maximize productivity as well as enhance user experience.
Citrix Advances Innovation in Business Mobility
At Citrix Synergy™, Citrix unveiled advancements toward its vision of providing ways for people to work better from anywhere with mobile workspace solutions. At this week’s conference, attendees will learn about how new offerings based on Citrix virtualization, mobility, networking and cloud services technologies can further enable secure delivery of apps, desktops, data and services to any user, on any device, over any network or cloud.
Citrix Announces Workspace Services, Cloud-based Platform for DaaS, Virtual App Delivery and Mobility
At Citrix Synergy™, Citrix announced Citrix Workspace Services™, the first platform for designing, building and delivering mobile workspaces. The cloud-based platform allows both partners and customers to rapidly build and offer desktops-as-a-service (DaaS), virtual application delivery and mobility services from any cloud. Citrix leads the DaaS market today serving over 350,000 subscribers, growing 50 percent annually, through over 1,500 service providers who offer hosted desktops and applications. Building on this momentum, Citrix is introducing new capabilities for its partners and customers. Citrix Workspace Services is a cloud-based platform that enables partners, enterprises and independent software vendors (ISVs) to quickly and simply design and deliver mobile workspaces that allow people to work better and increase business productivity, agility and efficiency. Workspace Services builds upon a full range of Citrix technologies including the open architecture of Citrix XenApp® and Citrix XenDesktop® virtual app and desktop delivery, the market-leading user experience of Citrix HDX™ technologies, the most robust mobility solution with Citrix XenMobile®, a comprehensive data fabric with Citrix ShareFile® and a global customer care service with Citrix GoToAssist®.
Citrix ShareFile Secures Files for Today’s Mobile Workspaces
At Citrix Synergy™, Citrix announced new Citrix ShareFile® features that deliver the broadest storage access for users and the most choice for IT. The new features give users the ability to access and edit files from multiple data sources on their mobile devices and businesses more control over their data encryption keys, resulting in increased productivity and security. These capabilities are available in the company’s secure file sync and sharing solution ShareFile, Citrix XenMobile® and the new Citrix Workspace Suite.
Citrix and Cisco Join Forces to Power Mobile Workspaces
At Citrix Synergy™, Cisco and Citrix announced they are bringing their industry-leading technologies together in a tested and validated enterprise mobility infrastructure solution. The Cisco® Mobile Workspace Solution with Citrix – including the new Citrix Workspace Suite™ also announced today at Synergy – simplifies how organizations provide highly secure and optimized access to apps, data, communications and services on any device from networked locations.
Quest and Citrix Collaborate to Deliver DaaS for Business
At Citrix Synergy™, Citrix announced that Quest, one of the first and largest desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) providers, has aligned with Citrix to offer services using Citrix market-leading DaaS technologies, including Citrix XenApp® and Citrix XenDesktop® virtual app and desktop delivery, to provide workspaces-as-a-service for businesses. Citrix technology provides a complete mobile workspace solution that securely delivers apps, desktops, files and services to any user, on any device, over any network. Quest brings a deep understanding of managed and cloud services to its customers, providing customizable services to the healthcare, financial services, higher education, government, and manufacturing industries. Quest services are built on the Cisco Desktop® as a Service solution, which includes Citrix technology and brings scalability, performance advantages and simplified management to the Quest platform.
At Citrix Synergy™, Citrix announced a new release of its Citrix XenMobile® enterprise mobility management (EMM) solution and a technology preview of new WorxNotes™, WorxEdit™ and WorxDesktop™ workflow-driven mobile productivity apps. The new XenMobile release includes significant enhancements in user experience, platform security and support, as well as management integrations that improve scalability and speed time to value for business. The new workflow-driven mobile productivity apps from Citrix are key business apps with intelligent integrations that seamlessly work together, resulting in a simple and intuitive user experience. For example, people can join a meeting directly from their calendar, take notes and distribute them to all participants with just a few simple taps. As a result, mobile employees can be more productive on their tablets and phones, while IT retains control.
Citrix Introduces Industry’s Most Comprehensive Mobile Workspace Solution
At Citrix Synergy™, Citrix announced the new Citrix Workspace Suite, which unites its market-leading virtualization, mobility, networking and cloud services technologies to make it even easier for people to work anywhere. Providing instant, secure access to all apps, desktops, data and services from any device over any network, Citrix Workspace Suite enables businesses to empower people to choose when, where and how work gets done, giving them a new level of freedom, flexibility and choice.
Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop Extend Lead in Mobile Workspaces
At Citrix Synergy™, Citrix is providing an early view of upcoming releases of Citrix XenApp® and Citrix XenDesktop®, the company’s industry-leading solutions for delivering Windows in the mobile-cloud era. New versions of XenApp and XenDesktop were released in March 2014, and Citrix is continuing a brisk pace of innovation in its flagship products to drive even higher levels of security and user experience for mobility and cloud on the unified platform for virtual Windows apps and desktops. At the conference, Citrix will provide an early view of refinements that enhance security capabilities, provide high-performance HTML5 browser-based access from any device, enable fast log-ons, simplify roaming apps across multiple devices and support for the latest USB 3.0 peripherals, as well as many more real-world, customer-driven features. In addition, Citrix is releasing a private technology preview of tools that will facilitate migration to the latest releases for existing customers. XenApp and XenDesktop are cornerstones of the new Citrix Workspace Suite, which unites its market-leading virtualization, mobility, networking and cloud services technologies to make it even easier for people to work anywhere.
Citrix Unveils NetScaler MobileStream Technology
At Citrix Synergy™, Citrix announced the availability of NetScaler® MobileStream™ technology, which significantly improves mobile network and application performance along with network visibility, while tightening security for both the enterprise and the end user. With the explosion of mobile devices in business and the relentless growth of consumerization, IT has started to explicitly embrace a mobile-first agenda. In fact, according to industry analysts, 77 percent of enterprises state that providing mobility support for employees inside and outside the office is a strategic network priority. NetScaler MobileStream improves data security and mobility support, delivering the most advanced cloud and mobile networking capabilities in the industry. Coupled with the broader Mobile Workspace Suite, only Citrix offers the purpose-built mobile networking functionality that creates a complete end-to-end solution for truly empowering mobile workstyles.
Autodesk Wins 2014 Citrix Innovation Award
At Citrix Synergy™, Autodesk was announced as the winner of the company’s 9th annual Innovation award, designed to recognize visionary customers who are using Citrix solutions for delivering mobile workspaces to drive business innovation and IT simplicity. Autodesk used Citrix solutions to harness virtualization technology and create a new cloud-based development environment that has resulted in a faster, lower-cost, and higher quality process. Autodesk engineers now have access to on-demand development resources via self-service; and without the need for physical hardware, engineers are able to work from anywhere. In addition, as Autodesk accelerates the development of next-generation, cloud-based tools for design, engineering, and entertainment; engineers can work on multiple projects in parallel and easily collaborate between different locations.
Citrix Podio Gives Users More Power to Design and Customize Their Workflows with the New ‘Creator’ Release
Citrix announced significant enhancements to Podio, the popular productivity and work management tool in its mobile workspace portfolio. The platform’s redesigned look and feel empowers any user to dramatically reimagine the way they organize their everyday work. Improvements include a faster user interface, intuitive new drag-and-drop design and more powerful ways to automate and link tasks within Podio.
SEA Emerging Markets to Continue Accelerating Hitachi Sunway Revenue Growth
Japan-Malaysia JV company expects to ramp up overseas business by 25 percent by fiscal 2015;
Expands technology solutions portfolio to support Malaysian business market’s evolution
KUALA LUMPUR, 19 MAY 2014 — Hitachi Sunway Information Systems Sdn. Bhd (“Hitachi Sunway”), a leading IT services and solutions provider in Southeast Asia (SEA), today outlines its business strategy for the next two years to achieve its targeted revenue of RM137 million (JPY 4billion) by fiscal 2015.
Established in April 2013, Hitachi Sunway is a joint venture (JV) between Japan’s Hitachi Systems, Ltd. and Malaysia’s Sunway Technology Sdn Bhd. In its first fiscal year (FY 2013), the JV reported RM91 million (JY2.9 billion) in revenue –namely fuelled through its business expansion efforts to strategic geographical markets in SEA.
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“For Hitachi Sunway, the three markets that are fuelling our regional business growth are mainly Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand. We identified significant opportunities to extend our system integration (SI) expertise across in these three countries across industries to support demand for large IT infrastructure developments.”
Cheah shares, “Global research shows that more than half of the world’s growth over the next few years will come from emerging markets. Cheah concurs with the research saying, “We see continued high demands for IT solutions and SI services, in parallel with the business and national developments within these emerging economies — especially as organizations seek to improve their IT infrastructures to support business modernization and higher productivity for better competitiveness.”
He adds that many multinational companies, especially Japanese-owned groups of companies, are becoming the large investors in SEA market, “These companies are eager to establish their footprints in these SEA markets, and they are looking for ideal IT partners like Hitachi Sunway that has an on-site presence in multiple ASEAN countries to comprehensively support their regional expansion, operations and IT needs.”
The first stage of Hitachi Sunway’s SEA business expansion plan kicked off in 2013 started with Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Hitachi Sunway is now in the second stage focusing on three markets including Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, to continue fuelling the regional business growths.
Cheah shares, “Currently our businesses in most of these countries have already been established with steady demands for IT projects. We expect this to ramp up our overseas business by 25 percent in fiscal 2015 and continue contributing to our combined regional revenues for moving forward.”
Making Inroads into Vietnam’s Booming Economy
Last month, Hitachi Sunway officially launched its latest business base in Hanoi, Vietnam with the aim to further capitalize the country’s surging IT demands in the local market.
“Vietnam’s economy is growing on a spectacular basis in the country due to its large domestic market and is becoming the go-to destination for outsourced manufacturing. Hitachi Sunway expects this to drive the demands for our IT solutions and services by multinationals, enterprises and Japanese companies operating in Vietnam.”
In line with the JV’s overall growth fueled by regional business expansions, Hitachi Sunway has raised its employment headcount by 21% with 200 employees based across Malaysia and other offices in SEA.
Strengthened IT Solutions Portfolio to Meet Malaysia’s Next-level of IT Demands
In bid towards its mission as a truly end-to-end ICT solution provider in SEA, Hitachi Sunway has made several strategic collaborations to strengthen its solutions portfolio. Its recent partnership with SAP Ariba is an example to quickly and effectively offer breakthrough Cloud solutions in delivering simplified IT services.
He highlights, “Today, for most enterprises in Malaysia, IT systems infrastructure is already a given basic foundation for their business operations. However, with the advent of Big Data and Mobility, they are now focused into optimizing their existing IT infrastructure to improve productivity and lower cost to meet the fast changing market dynamics.”
“Hitachi's fee-based Cloud offering facilitates this by allowing an effective delivery of IT solutions and services on a fixed monthly fee rather than usage-based billing. Through this model, our customers can be freer in acquiring the IT solutions that they need without worrying over capital expenditures,” he explains.
In Malaysia, for fiscal 2014, Hitachi Sunway will remain focused on incremental business opportunities in Financial Services as the No.1 development sector, followed by Oil and Gas, Manufacturing, and Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC) as the other major business areas.
Friday, May 16, 2014
Acer Unveils New Visual Identity for its BYOC™ (Build Your Own Cloud) Brand
TAIPEI, TAIWAN (May 15, 2014) Acer today unveiled its new visual identity for BYOC™ (Build Your Own Cloud). As previously announced, and under the direction of the new Acer leadership team, Acer is transforming from a hardware company into a “hardware + software + services” company as it embraces new opportunities in the cloud technology era.
This change is being accomplished through championing the foundation and spirit that the company was built on. Acer has always believed that sustainable success comes from balancing the interests of consumers, shareholders, business partners, employees and communities. And its mission has been to break down barriers between people and technology.
Acer Chairman Stan Shih said, “Acer is continuing its decades-long tradition of challenging convention by completely redefining the meaning of the cloud for consumers and businesses; it is therefore highly appropriate that the new, powerful and distinctive visualization of BYOC conveys this message.”
For consumers, BYOC is a differentiated solution which allows you to create a cloud that lives on your own device wherever you are, yet with ultimate privacy and security. This means that the storage capacity of your cloud can be as big as you want. With BYOC your digital life is synced wirelessly and simultaneously across your entire ecosystem of devices regardless of the network connection, operating system or brand of device. As part of BYOC, Acer is also introducing a suite of software products to help organize personal content, such as music, photos and files.
For businesses, BYOC is also truly breaking down barriers. Now any company, in any industry, can create a cloud-based solution with Acer’s open platform. By using BYOC, companies can build a multi-network, cross-platform, multi-device cloud without a significant investment in time and resources. Any company with an idea can build their own cloud for all connected devices in the new PC world and the Internet of Things (IoT). Simply put, better solutions get in the hands of end users faster.
In creating the new BYOC logo, it is important to convey the key message that this is Acer’s vehicle to leap over current technology and introduce a new era of cloud computing. To this end, Acer has been inspired by the ancient Chinese novel, Journey to the West, in which the character Sun WuKong travels on a cloud and uses it to cross thousands of miles in one leap. The stylized cloud of the BYOC logo represents more than technology, it symbolizes Acer’s heritage and desire to do things differently.
Cloud technology is a revolutionary concept, yet the industry has only begun to realize its capabilities. With BYOC, Acer is accelerating progress by putting the power of the cloud in the hands of all people. Combined with Acer’s powerful and intuitive products, BYOC creates a new ecosystem of “hardware + software + services” to break down barriers between people and technology and to enable everyone to stay a touch more connected anytime, anywhere.
On May 29th, Acer will be opening its BYOC experience center in Taoyuan, Taiwan to showcase new BYOC solutions.
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Ascendas works with Citrix to roll out Citrix XenMobile Enterprise Mobility Management solution
The implementation of Citrix XenMobile allows Ascendas to leverage the enterprise mobility management solution to drive mobility for its employees, while achieving data security and compliance
Malaysia – May 7, 2014 – Citrix, a leader in virtualization, networking and cloud infrastructure, partnered with Asia’s leading provider of business space solutions, Ascendas Pte Ltd (Ascendas), to roll out Citrix XenMobile. The mobile device and application (app) management solution enables Ascendas and its employees to achieve greater productivity and mobility, while attaining data security and regulatory compliance.
Ascendas, headquartered in Singapore, has a total workforce of more than 1,000 people across its operations in Asia. The company serves a global clientele of over 2,400 customers in 25 cities across 10 countries. To manage its business efficiently, Ascendas recognized the need to ensure that its databases and applications are always secure, and accessible by all employees, regardless of time zone, geographical location or device type. Asiasoft Solutions, a leading IT solutions provider and a Citrix Platinum partner, completed implementation of Citrix XenMobile for Ascendas in January 2014. The solution is designed to enable Ascendas employees with seamless and quick access to the company’s Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) at all times. Employees are empowered to work from anywhere, any time and on the device of their choice, maximizing productivity.
According to Charles Reed Anderson, Head of Telecoms & Mobility of IDC Asia/Pacific, Singapore organizations will leverage Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) more than other countries in the ASEAN region. Citrix XenMobile simplifies access to apps and data, whilst ensuring the security and compliance of corporate data on personal devices. With the Citrix XenMobile solution, Ascendas employees are equipped with a single-click access to all their mobile, Software as a Service (SaaS) and Windows apps, seamlessly integrating their email and data sharing. The solution provides employees with a rich and consistent user experience across all different locations – be it at the office, at home or on business trips. Employees are now able to access corporate information from the Ascendas system, such as project and HR documents, on-demand. The ease of accessibility to information promotes tighter collaboration among local and regional employees. For example, a project manager off-site is able to submit and share real-time reports through secure file sharing and synchronization, enhancing operational efficiency. The ability to work from anywhere, anytime also increases employee productivity as they work on-the-go.
As more smart devices enter the workplace today, Ascendas needed a technology solution to help manage potential corporate data breach risks, while better supporting employees’ mobile access to information. The Citrix XenMobile solution ensures enterprise-grade security for Ascendas’ corporate information, as the IT department is able to blacklist or whitelist corporate apps, and selectively wipe corporate data in a device that is lost, stolen or out of compliance. This secures corporate content on employees’ device, preventing any compromise to confidential data, addressing security concerns that come with a mobile workforce. With a flexible, robust and centralized control of corporate data, Ascendas employees enjoy greater access to even the most sensitive corporate information on a wide array of mobile devices and applications.
In addition, utilizing Citrix XenMobile’s role-based management and support capabilities, IT control is streamlined and simplified as new apps for employee devices can be instantaneously and easily installed, and managed from a single point. This gives the IT department more comprehensive control of Ascendas’ IT infrastructure, while ensuring regulatory compliance is met.
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Oracle Introduces New Solaris Platform for Cloud
Oracle Expands Investment in Infrastructure to Deliver Modern Cloud Platform
Kuala Lumpur, 01 May 2014 – Oracle Corporation, the world’s leading IT solutions and services provider, today introduces Oracle Solaris 11.2 as a complete, integrated and open platform engineered for large-scale enterprise cloud environments.
The new Solaris platform combines OpenStack, software-defined networking (SDN) technology, clustering, and virtualization with a proven enterprise-class Operating System, all in a single product.
With Oracle Solaris 11.2, customers can simplify their IT infrastructure and deliver reliable, high-performance, efficient, compliant and secure cloud services to their end customers at low cost.
He adds, “It’s a complete platform for simple, efficient, secure, compliant and open enterprise cloud deployments that can help customers accelerate their businesses and capitalize on the potential of cloud computing while reducing cost.”
Al Gillen, Program VP, Servers and System Software, IDC also says, “Cloud computing is creating an entirely new set of expectations for enterprise-class infrastructure software. With Oracle Solaris 11.2, Oracle offers an enterprise-ready solution that includes OpenStack based management, and makes enterprise cloud deployments easier and more affordable.”
Oracle Solaris 11.2 allows IT organizations to now deliver services from “zero to cloud” in minutes rather than weeks, with enterprise-grade reliability, security, and performance. In addition, it introduces application-driven Software Defined Networking that integrates with Oracle Java, Oracle Database and Oracle Applications in order to deliver application-level quality of service.
Thousands of customers worldwide are running Oracle Solaris 11 on Oracle servers and Engineered Systems today.
Customers can now seamlessly upgrade to Oracle Solaris 11.2 within minutes and take full advantage of the new cloud capabilities. Oracle Solaris 11.2 Beta is now available for download via Oracle Technology Network (OTN).
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Latest Version of Sophos Cloud Unveiled: The Only Cloud Security Solution to Manage Windows, Mac and Mobile Devices Together
Friday, April 18, 2014
Canon Delivers Greater Service Level Offerings with Revamped MDS Fleet Management
MALAYSIA, 18th April 2014 - Canon, a leader in digital imaging solutions and document services, today unveiled a revamped, end-to-end program to deliver Canon Managed Document Services (MDS). The core highlight of this new program is the availability of MDS Cloud platform, which provides higher level of professional fleet management capabilities as well as enhance the overall service experience for customers. This update was delivered as part of Canon’s continued efforts and commitment to innovation, and to develop and further enhance its services as a market leader to cater to its clients’ evolving needs.
Complementing the current MDS service, the MDS Cloud as a total fleet management platform enhances device availability, provides valuable management information in a timely manner, and facilitates a higher degree of fleet optimization and service consultancy.
This translates into increased flexibility in delivering made-to-measure solutions in resolving existing print usage issues, managing the existing printer fleet with precision, reducing down time and in turn maximizing productivity. With a wider spectrum of services provided by the Canon MDS Cloud, enterprises may now experience greater peace of mind and thus focus on their core business functions such as maximizing profitability.
“In the face of a competitive and constantly evolving business environment, corporations are increasingly evaluating ways to improve and ensure consistent business workflow and process efficiency across business units and physical locations” said Mr Ooi Chik Hoe, Director, Business Imaging Solution (BIS) of Canon. “Canon recognizes the need for business responsiveness and cost efficiency and has responded with an improved MDS service offering – streamlining document workflows and business processes to reduce the total cost of ownership and operation”.
Designed to help clients stay focused on their core business while removing the resources and time required to manage their print infrastructure, the enhanced MDS program that utilises the MDS Cloud platform delivers additional values for organisations as follows:
Auto discovery of devices
The MDS Cloud detects network devices automatically and facilitates the prompt addition of those new devices into the overall fleet that that is being managed.
Remote Monitoring and Management
This helps reduce reliance on internal IT or support resources by automating numerous functions that would otherwise typically require multiple systems or manual processes to manage. The functions that can now be automated include counter data, supply level monitoring and error notifications for both Canon and non-Canon devices1.
Usage Analytics and Reports for Better Productivity and Optimisation
Analyses fleet information to gain greater insight into the print usage and performance of the fleet. The intuitive and visual dashboard provides information at a glance for the identification of trends, while the professional reports provide administrators valuable input to identify equipment, supply and usage pattern changes that are necessary for higher productivity, continuous optimization and cost reduction.
Service Improvement for Optimal Value
Service performance of the fleet can be benchmarked against the agreed service level metrics. This ensures that every customer’s fleet is consistently managed for optimal service value.
Fleet Intelligence for Future Business Alignment
Fleet intelligence can be provided to customers through periodic service review engagements to stay constantly aligned and attuned to customers’ changing needs. Comprehensive reports will be provided and the Canon MDS service consultant will analyse device and printing trends. Through studying the trending or changes in device mix, placement, print volume and service performance, Canon is able to pinpoint issues swiftly and accordingly devise or adapt fleet management strategies for customers, which not only meet existing requirements, but also ensures alignment with the customer’s future needs and direction.
Availability
The Canon enhanced MDS program with Cloud MDS is now available in Malaysia. For more information on the MDS program please call Stewart Chan MDS Manager at 03-7844 6000/ 7845 0055.
佳能升级版企业管理方案
提供更卓越超群的服务水平
马来西亚，2014年4月18日 - 今天，佳能公司(数位影像解决方案及文件管理服务方案领导者)推介佳能文件管理服务解决方案(简称MDS)的升级版端对端系统。MDS云端平台是这个新系统的核心重点，不仅能提供更高水平的专业流量管理功能，同时也为用户提供更完善的整体服务体验。这项系统的强化升级是佳能秉持创新承诺、继续改进的部分成果，同时也是佳能作为市场领导者持续发展及提升服务素质的努力，以满足客户不断变化的需求。
MDS云端平台是一项强化设备功能的全方位作业流量管理平台，让现有的MDS文件管理服务方案更趋完善，及时提供更有价值的资讯管理方案，同时促进更高水平的工作流量优化方案和咨询服务。
这也意味着MDS在按照用户需求提供相关服务方面变得更灵活弹性，帮助用户解决打印流量问题、精确管理现有的打印机工作流量、减少停机时间，进而达到最大程度优化生产率的成果。现在，有了管理服务内容更多元广泛的佳能MDS云端服务平台，企业可以高枕无忧专注于核心业务发展，例如：提高企业盈利。
“面对竞争激烈、瞬息万变的商业环境，越来越多企业不断在寻找改善文件管理的方案，确保企业营运流程稳定一致，维持各个部门和资源流程管理效率。”佳能商业影像解决方案(BIS)部门总监Ooi Chik Hoe表示：“佳能了解用户在业务互动与经济效益方面的需求，因此，我们推出了升级版的MDS管理服务方案，简化文件处理过程和业务流程，减少维持企业所有权和营运的总成本。”
此产品设计是为了帮助用户摆脱管理文件打印设施的繁杂事务及节省时间，增设MDS云端平台的升级版MDS文件管理服务方案，能为企业提供以下的额外服务价值：
自动搜寻功能
MDS云端服务能自动侦测网络讯号，即时在整体流程管理方案中增设额外的新设备。
远程监控和管理
自动执行多项功能以减少内部资讯科技或支援性资源，这些功能通常需要多重系统或手动处理过程才能完成。现在，这些功能都可设定为自动执行，其中包括：数据流量统计、采购阶段管理和错误通知等等，此服务适用于佳能和非佳能产品。
提供流量分析和报告，提高生产率及优化管理
分析流量资讯以更全面了解打印用量和流程效能。一目了然的图像视觉型仪表板能提供趋势分析，专业报告则为管理者提供富有价值的资讯，辨识出设备、供应和用量模式的变化，这是都是提高生产率、持续优化管理方案及降低成本的必要因素。
改善服务以优化管理价值
流量服务效能可以超越服务水平协议基准，确保每位客户的流量管理能与时并进，达到最理想程度的服务价值。
精明流量管理方案，适应未来业务需求
透过阶段性服务评估为客户提供精明流量管理方案，与时并进适应顾客不断更新变化的需求。此管理服务方案将会提供完整的报告，佳能MDS服务顾问将会分析评测设备和打印趋势。透过研究分析设备混合使用、业务位置、打印流量和服务效能的趋势或变化，佳能能够迅速辨识出问题、根据情况设计及调整出适合顾客的流量管理策略，这不仅能满足现有的管理需求，同时也可以确保管理服务方案能适应顾客未来的需求和业务方向。
产品供应情况
佳能MDS文件管理整合服务方案(MDS云端升级版)已在马来西亚推出,欲了解更多MDS详情，请联络MDS经理，联络号码是03-7844 6000/ 7845 0055.
Thursday, April 10, 2014
MDeC – IDC Partnership Launches Second Volume of the CIO Survival Guide Series
KUALA LUMPUR, 10 April 2014 – The Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) today announced the second volume of the CIO Survival Guide educational workshop series in partnership with technology market intelligence firm, International Data Corporation (IDC). This continuous effort is aimed at helping Malaysian CIOs to cope with the rapidly changing technological landscape and to better equip them to be more efficient in addressing challenges associated with surviving and thriving in a rapidly changing and competitive marketplace.
Themed "Survival of the Cloud Fittest", the second workshop will examine different stages of cloud development among Malaysian IT organizations and provides solutions to improving the assimilation rate of new services into leading companies. Selected Malaysian CIOs will work with both MDeC and IDC to participate at the workshop which is set to take place on 22 May 2014, Thursday at Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur.
Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, MDeC Chief Executive Officer said “The cloud continues to radically modify technology engagement and uptake among enterprises through a highly accessible and flexible internet-based technology. Malaysian SMEs are also starting to embrace the idea of subscription-based business solutions delivered over the Internet. While cloud adoption in Malaysia is on the upward trend, countries such as Singapore and South Korea are still ahead of us. Thus, it is important for us to step up our efforts. This is the fundamental goal of the second volume of the CIO Survival Guide. MDeC, via MSC Malaysia, and Digital Malaysia, will continue to provide avenues for both enterprises and local SMEs to seek the right type of cloud services that are suited to their needs as we migrate into a digital economy.
According to IDC, the rapid acceptance of the four key technologies (Cloud, Big Data, Mobility and Social Media) that change the delivery, control, management and security of the IT environment is one of the challenges face by most CIOs. The key for enterprises to effectively overcome the challenge is the need to use these new technologies effectively and to adopt a new delivery model that is flexible, scalable and cost effective rapid deployment. Cloud models fulfill the underlying needs of enterprises; however, many CIOs are ill-prepared for the new challenges that come with cloud.
“For Malaysian enterprises, a rapidly expanding range of cloud services are readily available – from those that replace basic infrastructure through to advanced mobile apps. However, IDC has observed a gap between the often extensive potential of the available cloud services and the legacy app-focused capabilities of Malaysian IT groups,” said Chris Morris, Associate Vice President, Services Asia Pacific, Lead Analyst, Cloud Services & Technologies, IDC Australia.
Morris further elaborated, “The gap is apparent as a lack of experience and skills to implement and manage cloud environments effectively. To overcome this capability gap, it is necessary to invest not just in technology, but in people and processes too. With Line-of-Business (LoB) managers now frequently funding 50% of a cloud project, their different expectations must be met; they're indifferent to the technology and only seek improvement in their business results. Cloud services must be managed and optimized for the target business environment to deliver full value.”
The first CIO Survival Guide workshop, "The Information Enabled Enterprise Summit" was held in June last year and participated by 59 senior ICT decision-makers. The summit focused on the improvement of organizations’ ability to be more strategic with IT investments and ensured the IT strategies aligned to business strategies and goals.
Friday, April 4, 2014
Getronics Achieves Cisco Cloud and Managed Services Advanced Certification
MALAYSIA, Kuala Lumpur, 4 April 2014 - Getronics announced today that it has achieved the Cisco®Cloud and Managed Services Advanced Certification. This certification recognises Getronics as having the capabilities to sell and deliver cloud and managed services to help accelerate time to market and time to revenue.
The certification also rewards partners for their expertise and investments in creating, selling and delivering cloud and managed services with financial incentives and go-to-market benefits in all countries of legal presence.
Jason Flanagan, Chief Executive Officer, Asia Pacific and Japan at Getronics comments, “Getronics continues to invest in its portfolio, delivering unrivalled service and innovation to our customer base. We demonstrated deep expertise in implementing Cisco technologies in order to achieve the cloud and managed service programme accreditation, and look forward to delivering cutting edge solutions and first-class service to our shared customer base.
“Getronics customers and prospects now have the additional confidence that the solutions provided by us are endorsed by Cisco. Our online implementation has gone beyond the Cisco CMSP requirements and we have implemented all Cisco recommended best practices. The business process automation component of our solution is the key element of the application, providing process visibility and control, and this puts Getronics in a leading position in the market.”
The Cisco Cloud and Managed Services Advanced Certification is part of the Cisco Cloud and Managed Services Program, focused on helping partners such as Getronics to envision, build, market, and sell cloud and managed services with business acceleration tools and services, sales training and the Cisco Cloud Marketplace to address the varied needs of its customers. For existing Getronics’ customers such as Alpha LSG, the accredited Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platform delivers a reduction in IT complexity, faster deployment of new products and services and reduced license spend. Customers also benefit from increased innovation with new Getronics’ services being incorporated onto the platform.
As a Cisco Cloud and Managed Services Advanced Certified Partner, Getronics will offer at least one Cisco Powered service (either a managed or a cloud service with the Cisco Powered services designation), built on the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) framework, and provide basic management capabilities that support Cisco technologies.
In addition, Getronics has achieved Cisco Powered services designations in Cisco Powered Cloud (IaaS).
Cisco Powered services allow customers to connect with confidence to achieve faster time to value by minimising technology lifecycle complexity to reduce cost and risk. Customers also experience assured performance through superior service, security, and 24/7 support from Cisco and its certified partners while taking advantage of continuous innovation based on open standards and Cisco’s extensive R&D investment.
Friday, March 28, 2014
New Autodesk 2015 Design Suites Drive Unsurpassed Value for Subscribers
Expanding Portfolio Combines Tighter Integration with Autodesk 360 Cloud Services & Powerful AutoCAD Enhancements with Convenient, Flexible Subscription Options
MALAYSIA, March 28, 2014 — Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) today announced the release of the new Autodesk 2015 Design Suites, which are more tightly integrated with Autodesk cloud services than ever before – offering customers the ability to collaborate, simulate, analyze and more, many with just one click from within the suite.
Each Autodesk 2015 Design Suite includes AutoCAD 2015, the most advanced AutoCAD yet. A new interface and enhanced productivity tools enable customers to experience a new standard in design and documentation. Additionally, Autodesk Subscription offers customers even more convenient, flexible ways to access the tools they need, when they need them, to help grow their business. Autodesk subscription connects customers with software updates, services and support that help get the most out of their investment in Autodesk software now and in the future.
“The Autodesk portfolio now has something for everyone involved in making products and projects come to life, in addition to designers and engineers,” said Amar Hanspal, senior vice president of platform products, Autodesk. “Users will notice a difference in how much easier it is to get their work done with the Autodesk 2015 Design Suites.”
Productivity-Boosting Enhancements for All Suites
New features and functionality have been added to the 2015 family of Autodesk Design Suites:
• Autodesk AutoCAD Design Suite offers a refined visual interface, better point cloud support to bring the real world into the AutoCAD canvas, and easier ways to work with online maps and other geographic location information.
• Autodesk Building Design Suite delivers better integration with BIM 360 cloud services, enhanced point cloud capabilities, and numerous customer requested improvements for Autodesk Revit, including a new sketchy lines feature, ability to include imagery in schedules, enhanced hidden lines capability and more.
• Autodesk Factory Design Suite introduces easier moves from 2D AutoCAD drawings to 3D factory layouts with streamlined transitions from legacy workflows; point cloud support for “as is” facility capture; extended use of Factory Design data; and enhancements to Factory Design Mobile app.
• Autodesk Infrastructure Design Suite includes major enhancements to AutoCAD Civil 3D software, including improved user interface, greater flexibility for corridor modeling, more efficient creation of profiles layouts, better production drafting, and simplier ways to create custom subassemblies.
• Autodesk Plant Design Suite rolls out significant enhancements to AutoCAD Plant 3D software, including center of gravity, bill of materials (BOM), fixed length pipe modeling, piping and instrumentation drawing (P&ID), and isometric improvements.
• Autodesk Product Design Suite launches with exceptional modeling capabilities, a new user experience, and workflow enhancements.
Actual features and functionality vary by edition (Standard, Premium, Ultimate) of each suite. Visit the In the Fold Autodesk blog for more in-depth details on the 2015 Design Suites for Autodesk manufacturing, architecture, engineering and construction, infrastructure and oil and gas industry customers.
Cloud Services Just a Click Away
Customers in the architecture, engineering, and construction, and infrastructure markets can expect to see significant productivity improvements through one-click access to BIM 360, cloud-based building information modeling (BIM) software for collaboration and management of construction projects. Autodesk InfraWorks 360, which offers civil engineers additional cloud services for collaboration and analysis at the early stages of infrastructure design, includes an updated user interface, support for more data formats, enhancements to Roadway Design for InfraWorks 360 and a new application Bridge Design for InfraWorks 360. The Design Suites for these fields also feature full integration of the Autodesk 360 Rendering service, which uses the virtually infinite computing power in the cloud to create high-resolution renderings efficiently.
Manufacturing industry customers gain easy access to new offerings such as Process Analysis 360, a cloud-based service that helps engineers and system designers model, study, and optimize manufacturing processes. This accessibility – combined with other feature enhancements and refinements – removes the barriers to entry so that everyone can design and engineer great products.
“One of my favorite features of the cloud services specifically is access to Green Building Studio,” said Andrew Watkins, associate principal, Ayers Saint Gross Architects. “Architects are much more in tune with doing energy analysis early on in the design process, so even in the early concept stages we are able to analyze multiple versions of our building design directly from Revit through the cloud and get immediate data points back for making design decisions based on energy usage through the life the building. That’s been one of the best benefits of the cloud for us.”
It’s Never Been Easier to Access Autodesk Software
Autodesk Subscription offers the most convenient, modern, and flexible way for customers to purchase and access the software and services that they need to grow their business, and new purchasing options allow customers to choose the plan that best fits their current project needs and budget.
“We like the subscription program with Autodesk because it provides predictability and stability; it simplifies our licensing, and it gives us a lot of flexibility,” said Gene Evans, Autodesk subscription administrator for Woolpert, a US-based design, geospatial and infrastructure management firm. “In addition, upgrades on subscription are pretty much a no-brainer. We budget a static sum every year, and it’s been easy to predict our costs, we can upgrade at any time, whenever it works for us. Subscription also allows us to explore cloud services and evaluate where they will benefit us as a company and make better informed decisions. Subscription is the only way to go for us.”
Autodesk Subscription customers gain access to the latest Autodesk software releases and cloud services, technical support, and flexible licensing rights from the following options:
Maintenance Subscription is the most cost effective way to maintain and maximize long-term investment in purchased Autodesk software and services.
Desktop Subscription offers pay-as-you-go plans. Customers can choose from monthly, quarterly, and annual options for using Autodesk Design and Creation Suites and select software products.
Cloud Service Subscription can have a dramatic effect on the way customers work. A broad selection of cloud-based services offer access to virtually infinite cloud computing power that significantly reduces visualization and simulation processing times and frees up desktop resources for greater productivity, mobility and collaboration.
Availability
Autodesk 2015 Design Suites will become available starting March 28, 2014. Availability varies by country. See details and purchasing options at www.autodesk.com/subcription
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Southeast Asia DataCenter and Cloud Congress Unlocks Malaysia as an Ideal Destination for Data Centre Growth
MDeC and global key industry players share insights on the business value of the Malaysian data centre industry within the region
Johor Bahru, 26 March 2014 – The Multimedia Development Corporation today held the Southeast Asia DataCenter and Cloud Congress, featuring key global players from the data centre industry. The congress aims to establish Malaysia as a world class data centre hub with Iskandar Malaysia being one of its primary regions. This is one of the key projects that are part of Malaysia’s Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).
Now in its third iteration, the two-day event highlights Asia Pacific as a growing region for the data centre industry while showcasing Malaysia’s potential as a preferred data centre destination. MDeC, working with the Iskandar Regional Development Authority is confident that Iskandar Malaysia can become the region’s data center hub due to a number of factors such as infrastructure, talent, and geography.
Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, Chief Executive Officer of MDeC said, “Creating and enhancing the data centre industry is an integral part of Malaysia's digital economy aspirations. Our nation’s data centre industry continues on an upward trend, recording over RM630 million in revenue in 2013, a 40% increase from the previous year. With such positive growth within a short period of time, we are confident of Malaysia achieving the world class data centre hub status by 2020”
He added, “As the lead agency for this project, MDeC’s role is to boost the marketability of our data centre infrastructure and service providers through various platforms. This increases the opportunity for industry players to showcase their services and value propositions. We are currently spearheading the establishment of data centre parks, with Cyberjaya and Iskandar Malaysia earmarked as locations for these new facilities.”
There are now 23 data centre providers in Malaysia under the ETP’s Entry Point Project 3 (EPP3), which generated RM630 million in revenues for the year 2013, surpassing the targeted projection of RM563 million by 12%.
2013 was a good year for the data centre industry – it attained five more International Data Centre Organisational Certifications, in addition to the eight certifications that were achieved in the previous year.
The Malaysian Data Centre Directory was also launched in September, as a one-stop guide to Malaysia’s data centre industry players and providers, while October saw the formation of the Malaysian Data Centre Alliance (MDCA). This was a timely effort as it provides the industry with a unified voice and further drives the growth of Malaysian data centre services.
Based on the above initiatives as well as other ongoing activities to support the EPP3’s objective, the data centre industry is set to contribute a total of RM2.462 billion to the country's GNI, RM7 billion in private investments and create 13,290 jobs by 2020. For 2014, the EPP3 is targeting to achieve RM787 million in revenues.
Beyond discussing the growth of the industry in Malaysia, the two-day congress will also look at issues surrounding cloud services, finance and investment, as well as new technological innovation, and data centre megatrends. The line-up of speakers include Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, CEO of MDeC, Steve Wallage, Managing Director of BroadGroup Consulting, Bob Sharon, Founder and CEO of Green Global Solutions, and Markku Lepisto, Technological Evangelist, APAC, and Amazon Web Services amongst other business leaders.
The event sponsors include MDeC, Iskandar Malaysia, Basis Bay, Digital Realty, and Vads Berhad as well as Malaysian Data Center Alliance as the official partner organisation.
For more information on the Southeast Asia Data Center and Cloud Congress, please visit http://www.datacentersasia.com
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Jamie Lerner to Join Seagate as President of Cloud Systems and Solutions
MALAYSIA — March 06, 2014 — Seagate plc today announced that Jamie Lerner will join the company as President, Cloud Systems and Solutions. Lerner most recently held the position of Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Cloud and Systems Management Technology Group at Cisco Systems.
Lerner has spent nearly two decades in executive management positions in high-tech, primarily focused on enterprise level management software and services. He has a deep technology and business background, founding and successfully growing two technology companies, XUMA, Inc. and CITTIO, Inc. Over the last five years at Cisco, Lerner built the company’s Service Provider and Network Management businesses, ultimately leading to the creation of the company’s expanded cloud and systems management division.
Lerner will join Seagate on March 10 and will report directly to Seagate Chairman and CEO Steve Luczo.“The transitions happening in cloud computing represent significant changes for the storage industry and we are expanding Seagate’s opportunities by advancing our technology portfolio for greater capacity and efficiency in hyperscale deployments,” said Steve Luczo, Seagate Chairman and CEO. “With Jamie’s substantial expertise in this space, combined with his proven business acumen, we believe he can leverage our unique position as a storage leader and scale our business for new growth initiatives in cloud computing. We are confident Jamie is the right leader to drive this important next chapter for Seagate.”
“Seagate has been delivering innovative technology for decades and over that time has built a highly respected brand in the storage industry,” added Lerner. “I look forward to leading Seagate’s cloud strategy in this exciting time for the company.”
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
IBM Builds On Growing Client and Partner Momentum for Social Business in the Cloud
ARMONK, N.Y., January 29, 2014 – IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced strong momentum for its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) based social business offerings from partners, clients and developers. As part of today's news, IBM is also highlighting its continued investment with new innovations in its social business and cloud technologies.
According to a recent IBM study of more than 800 business decision makers worldwide, organizations that use software delivered as a service through the cloud (SaaS) reported two and a half times higher profit than their peers. In addition, organizations that adopt cloud-based solutions are 79 percent more likely to drive increased collaboration across their organization, and twice as likely to leverage analytics to unlock greater insight about their business.
A growing list of businesses such as Codorniu, Princess Cruise Lines, SIKA, SafeGuard, Shanks and Verisure have taken their business into the cloud, extending the benefits to millions of users around the globe.
“We’ve seen amazing demand over the past year as clients adopt and partners extend the capabilities we’ve been delivering through the cloud,” said Jeff Schick, Vice President of Social Software, IBM. “Over this period, we have spurred new innovation by integrating social capabilities into an organization’s business processes. This has been made possible through our open and extensible APIs that have let us unleash the power of cloud and help organizations collaborate and increase workforce productivity.”
Connections in the Cloud and Next Generation Web Mail Experience
IBM today announced the rebranding of its mail, chat, meetings, office productivity and content capabilities, making them part of IBM’s Connections brand in 2014. As part of this effort, IBM plans to expand the Connections portfolio to include high-fidelity, high definition video based on its Sametime 9 technology.
In addition, IBM is also announcing its next generation web mail experience. In the age of information overload, workers must be able to quickly access and effectively manage the information most vital to their job, much of which resides in their inbox. This new mail offering, planned for availability in both the cloud and on-premises, will use analytics to deliver powerful task-level focus and inbox management capabilities that let employees easily track the content and messages needed to do their job.
"IBM’s new web mail experience is very intuitive and integrated with key social business capabilities. This will help our people be more efficient in prioritizing and managing daily work, including tracking requests and follow-ups in a powerful yet simple experience," said Berry van der Schans, Information and Communication Technology Manager for Shanks Group Plc.
IBM also plans to introduce Domino Applications in the cloud through a ready-made Platform as a Service offering built on IBM SoftLayer. As a result, customers will be able to build on the investments they have made in custom applications and enhance them with new mobile options. Partners will also have a faster path for bringing their new Domino applications to cloud and getting them to market more quickly.
Growing Ecosystem Drives Demand for a New Social Business Software
IBM is teaming with business partner Parallels to integrate with their innovative cloud automation platform, making it easier for partners that distribute IBM products to assemble and sell unique cloud offerings. For example, a telecommunications company can use IBM’s new plug-in to easily combine and provision its cloud offerings from IBM and other Parallels-ready vendors, such as Sugar CRM. This streamlines the business process of delivering cloud services through a reseller channel.
IBM is also introducing a new certified set of global partners that provide on-boarding services that make it easier than ever for clients to deploy their mail to the cloud.
Furthermore, IBM’s independent software provider (ISV) partner ecosystem continues to grow. To date, hundreds of unique Connections-based applications have been developed using APIs from the IBM Social Business Toolkit. For example ISVs, such as AppFusions, Flow, HootSuite and Kaltura and Shoutlet have built entirely new applications on the IBM Connections platform -- both in the cloud and on premises.
HootSuite, for example, created a new social application integrating IBM Connections capabilities and content into the HootSuite dashboard. This allows data from corporate social networks to be viewed alongside social media data from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other networks so employees can be even more empowered, connected, and informed.
The Social Software Leader
In 2013 IBM was named the number one provider of enterprise social software for the fourth consecutive year by IDC1.. In addition Forrester Research recognized IBM as a leader in file sync and share platforms according to the July 2013 report, The Forrester Wave™: File Sync And Share Platforms, Q3 2013*. Today 75 percent of the Fortune 100 have IBM enterprise social software
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
New IBM Kenexa Talent Suite Taps Big Data To Energize Today’s Workforce
Cloud-Based Software to Combine Social Business Capabilities, Watson Foundations and Workforce Science to Modernize Human Capital Management
ARMONK, N.Y., January 28, 2014 –IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the software-as-service (SaaS)-based IBM Kenexa Talent Suite that allows Chief Human Resources Officers (CHROs) and C-Suite executives to gain actionable insights into the deluge of data shared every day by their workforce. As a result, organizations can now streamline, modernize and add precision to hiring practices, increase workforce productivity and connect employees in ways that impact business results.
Organizations around the world today are on a mission to identify and hire top talent. By hiring precisely the right employees and then arming them with powerful social tools, businesses can more effectively manage and develop their workforce and put them into the position to succeed.
With the IBM Kenexa Talent Suite, HR professionals can look at large volumes of employee data – such as work experience, social engagement, skills development and individual interests – to identify the qualities that make top performers successful. Organizations and teams can then use those models to pursue candidates through additional targeted social marketing on social recruiting sites, where job seekers matching the profile are automatically connected with opportunities matching their skills.
Customers can accelerate the onboarding and the integration of new hires through IBM Connections capabilities. This helps employees share information and find the right experts to accelerate learning and increase productivity and engagement, while at the same time providing a way for leaders to more effectively manage their teams. Through analytics and reporting, line of business leaders can better understand emerging employee trends and more effectively manage each individual career path in areas like skill attainment, performance appraisals, compensation, succession planning and more.
“We know people are the lifeblood of an organization, and business success on today’s stage requires not just talent but social capabilities that can energize, empower and nurture each team member so they can reach their full potential,” said Craig Hayman, General Manager, Industry Cloud Solutions, IBM. “By combining social, behavioral science and analytics in the cloud, we give businesses a clear path to empower their most valued asset – employees.”
Interested customers can complement the Suite with Watson Foundations, a comprehensive, integrated set of Big Data and Analytics capabilities that enable clients to find and capitalize on actionable insights. Watson Foundations provides the tools and capabilities to tap into relevant data – regardless of source or type – and apply a full range of analytics to gain fresh insights in real-time, securely across an enterprise.
Using Watson Foundations customers will be able to conduct a deeper level of analysis on key workforce-related data, identify trends within the workforce, predict future trends and proactively take action. Executives can also look at the profiles and work performance of their top employees and determine the appropriate type of rewards needed to keep them engaged.
According to an upcoming IBM C-Suite study that surveyed 342 CHROs representing 18 industries, many businesses are not taking full advantage of the insights delivered by workforce big data and analytics. The study found that just over half of organizations are using workforce analytics, with far fewer applying predictive analytics to optimize decision making and outcomes in areas such as sourcing and recruiting (7 percent), employee engagement and commitment (9 percent) and talent development (10 percent), retention (13 percent).
The CHRO study also found that human resources executives are in the early stages of applying social approaches within the organization. Currently, 66 percent are regularly using social for their recruiting efforts, but only 31 percent are using it for knowledge sharing and 41 percent for learning.
Today leading businesses such as AMC are benefiting from IBM talent management software. AMC, one of the world’s premier entertainment companies, uses recruitment technologies from IBM to gain a deep understanding through data analytics of what it takes to succeed at the organization. AMC then uses that knowledge to attract candidates who are more likely to succeed once they're hired.
“Harnessing the power of data gives us a better picture of what top talent looks like in our industry. IBM’s talent management solutions allow us to use data in new ways so we can make better informed decisions that have a greater impact on our business,” said Heather Jacox, Director, Diversity, Recruitment & Development at AMC.
The IBM Kenexa Talent Suite includes the following:
· Talent Acquisition: Includes recruitment, skill and behavioral science-based assessments and onboarding. These integrated functions are designed to provide a deep understanding of what the best talent looks like and then how to attract, hire and engage them.
· Talent Optimization: Includes performance management, succession planning and compensation planning to empower and get the most out of employees.
· Social Networking: Increases productivity with expertise identification and knowledge discovery – connecting employees and accelerating the time to productivity.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Five Trends that will Shape IT Decisions in 2014
By: KT Ong, general manager, Consumer and Commercial Business, Dell Malaysia
At Dell, we are uniquely positioned to help customers address any challenges and deliver real value to businesses with our end-to-end IT solutions and services. Through four key themes, Transform, Connect, Inform and Protect, we hope to help customers improve their IT agility through transformation in the data center; increase productivity by enabling the next generation workforce to connect securely to the corporate data anywhere, anytime and on any device; gain control of the data deluge and use this information to gain competitive advantage; and protect their organization from external or internal IT security threats. These themes will become even more relevant in 2014 as we encounter further impact from cloud computing, BYOD, social media, big data analytics and security.
1. One Cloud Does Not Fit All
In the past, most organizations jumped on the cloud computing bandwagon, adopting cloud services with no regard towards their company size or nature. However, cloud computing has reached an inflection point, and as Forrester predicts in its Cloud Computing Playbook, enterprises today recognize that they need a comprehensive strategy before partaking in the cloud.
In 2014, organizations will increasingly realize that one cloud does not fit all. There will be more interest on the options available, including the type of cloud – public, private or hybrid, as well as how to ensure the security of data moving in and out of the cloud. Security will naturally remain a primary concern, especially with employees leveraging free cloud services and social media sites to transfer corporate files.
2. CYOD, the new BYOD
Enterprises across Asia Pacific have been experimenting with the concept of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), allowing employees to bring their personal computing or mobile devices to work. BYOD, however, comes with its own set of challenges. CIOs continue to fret over the loss of control over devices, and worry about allowing corporate networks to become vulnerable to employees’ personal data, viruses, apps, open ports and cloud services.
An alternative mobility business model that Dell sees businesses exploring in 2014 is Choose Your Own Device (CYOD). CYOD bridges the gap between employee choice and CIOs’ need to manage and secure the organization. It enables organizations to offer their employees a choice of a company-approved device with the appropriate security and standardization. With CYOD, CIOs can easily manage the deployment of multiple device options with the right security configurations.
3. Moving Beyond Transactions to Digital Relationships with Social Media
Today’s connected consumers are individuals, with unique interests. Social media makes it easier for organizations to understand, connect and deliver to their target audience in more relevant and personalized ways. This real-time strategy is gaining popularity, especially since customers often have the best ideas and insights, being the end-users of various products and services.
Dell is a firm believer of learning from customer feedback. Social media has helped us deliver the precise products and services our customers need to be successful. Social media will continue to become more than a tool for companies in 2014 – it will become an extension of any brand and their relationships with their customers.
4. Big Data Analytics Gets Simpler to Deploy
Big data analytics are used by organizations in an effort to better run their operations and understand their businesses, their customers and constituents and the environments in which they operate. Influenced by others who have successfully used big data, organizations are keen to find out how they can leverage insights from big data analytics to benefit their business.
However, converting data to decisions is made difficult when you consider the increase in data volumes, velocities, varieties and volatility. There is also the added consideration from the growth of event and machine-generated data. Unfortunately, not all organizations are ready to make the capital-intensive investments in hardware nor have the in-house skill sets to build and maintain a complex big data analytics infrastructure.
There is thus business opportunity to develop new analytical models and supporting tools to help organizations deal with big data and leverage analytics simply, and this will be more apparent in 2014. Options to leverage big data analytics will increase - from outsourcing data analytics to cloud-based service providers to purchasing simple data analytics start-up kits.
5. Security at the Core of Business Strategy
The major challenges impacting IT today make it crucial for organizations to move away from managing security in silos. Organizations will increasingly embrace a holistic strategy focused on connecting security to the infrastructure, information and applications that are critical to the organization.
In this age of increasing risk, organizations can no longer have security as just a component of its IT strategy. Instead, they have to learn that security is very much the business strategy in 2014. The aim is to protect data wherever it resides – on the network, in the cloud, or on mobile devices.
Friday, January 24, 2014
Major Update to Adobe Photoshop CC Brings 3D Printing to the Design World
First 2014 Creative Cloud Release Also Includes Amazing Perspective Warp Capability in Photoshop CC
KUALA LUMPUR – Jan. 24, 2014 – Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE) has unveiled new 3D printing capabilities in Adobe® Photoshop® CC. By radically simplifying the 3D print process, Photoshop CC will become the go-to tool for anyone who wants to print a 3D model. Available immediately, as part of a major update to Adobe Creative Cloud™, the new 3D printing capabilities integrated in Photoshop CC enable Creative Cloud members to easily and reliably build, refine, preview, prepare and print 3D designs, setting the stage for explosive growth in the 3D printing market.
“The new 3D print capabilities in Photoshop CC take the guess work out of printing 3D models for everyone,” said Winston Hendrickson, vice president products, Creative Media Solutions, Adobe. “Before today there was a gap between the content produced by 3D modeling tools and what 3D printers need in order to deliver high quality results. Now, by simply clicking ‘Print’ in Photoshop CC, creatives can bring 3D designs to the physical world.”
Photoshop CC Turbocharges Emerging 3D Print Ecosystem
With today’s release of Photoshop CC, designs can be printed to a locally connected 3D printer or via built-in access to popular online 3D print services. Photoshop CC supports the most popular desktop 3D printers, such as the MakerBot Replicator, and also supports the full range of high quality materials available on Shapeways -- the 3D printing community and marketplace -- including ceramics, metals, and full color sandstone. Additionally, Photoshop users can now directly upload their 3D models to the Sketchfab 3D publishing service, and embed them in their Behance profile using Sketchfab’s interactive 3D viewer.
• “We’re thrilled to partner with Adobe to help kick-start the delivery of 3D content to their highly creative users," said Peter Weijmarshausen, CEO and Co-Founder, Shapeways, the world’s leading online 3D printing marketplace and community. "We’re focused on making 3D printing accessible and affordable for people all over the world. By teaming up with Adobe, we're making it easy for designers and creatives to turn ideas into reality, using Shapeway's highest quality 3D printing technologies."
• "With the huge adoption of Adobe Photoshop CC, this announcement means that a massive influx of people will now have access to 3D modeling tools,” noted Bre Pettis, CEO, MakerBot. “I can't wait to see what they design with Photoshop CC and create with their MakerBot Replicator 3D printer!"
Stunning 3D Creations Now In Reach For Designers
Printing in 3D enables the production of accurate and compelling prototypes and finished designs and is used in many creative fields, including architecture, jewelry, film and animation.
• Paul Liaw, jewelry designer and sculptor: “My design process is so much easier with the new 3D printing support options in Adobe Photoshop CC. I can make my jewelry designs look beautiful and automate the process of using the least amount of material without going under the printable threshold—this back and forth used to take about 80 percent of my time!”
• Veronica De La Rosa, industrial designer, FATHOM, a product development company and 3D printing specialist: “At FATHOM, we work with some of the most innovative companies to help produce their next generation of products. Using Photoshop CC, the new 3D printing features reduce file troubleshooting and ensure that our client's 3D models are accurately represented before final printing. This is extremely helpful to us as it will speed up customer communication, saving time and money for both us and more importantly our clients."
Adobe Kicks Off 2014 With Innovations Across Essential Design Tools
Adobe today also shipped new features across its flagship design applications and services, as part of a major Creative Cloud release. Additional new features in Photoshop CC include the groundbreaking Perspective Warp, which changes the viewpoint from which an object is seen, and linked Smart Objects that radically improves collaboration – updating the final design automatically if the reference file is changed. Also, new features in Adobe Illustrator® CC and InDesign® CC revolutionize how designers work with type by seamlessly connecting to the Adobe Typekit® font service. It’s now possible to integrate Typekit fonts into print projects, PDF files, DPS apps, and more, while new functionality in InDesign CC reduces the frustration of missing font errors by automatically searching the Typekit desktop font library for options. Dozens of new and enhanced features and services in today’s update will help designers and other creative professionals work more intuitively and efficiently.
To find out more about Photoshop CC, visit http://www.adobe.com/sea/products/photoshop.html and http://tv.adobe.com/go/21862.
