New Release of SAP Business ByDesign Solution Advances Cloud Computing Portfolio From SAP

February 7, 2011 · Filed Under Software News · Comment 

Feature Pack 2.6 of On-Demand Solution Supports iPad and BlackBerry Devices

Subsidiaries’ Integration Scenarios Answer Enterprise Customers’ Calls for On-Demand Financial Process Integration

Software Development Kit Opens Further Opportunities for Vibrant Ecosystem

SAP AG announced a major update in its portfolio of on-demand solutions: Feature pack 2.6 for the SAP Business ByDesign solution has been generally available since February 1, 2011, offering a slate of new capabilities. The new release serves as an open platform on which a broad ecosystem of partners can further customize the software, and on which SAP will develop new on-demand offerings for various lines of business. Further features include enhancements to usability, support for additional mobile devices and on-demand integration of subsidiary operations into on-premise installations at headquarters. In addition, SAP Business ByDesign is now also being made available in Austria, Canada and Switzerland.

With the new release, SAP takes another significant step in executing its cloud computing strategy and further delivers on its product strategy to extend the availability of business software across on-premise installations, on-demand offerings and a wide variety of popular mobile devices. Read more

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Microsoft study reveals small and midsize businesses using hosted services have better financial performance

February 4, 2010 · Filed Under Business Software, Internet Software, Productivity Software, Software News · Comment 

Research suggests correlation between IT usage and business growth.

Microsoft released its global SMB IT and Hosted IT Index 2010,(1) which investigates how small and midsize businesses (SMBs) across multiple segments fared during the recession and how they use technology. The research finds that businesses that value IT as an enabler for better business productivity and effectiveness and those that use hosted services performed better fiscally than those that do not.

IT Critical to Revenue Growth

Despite the global recession, more SMBs surveyed in 2010 reported an increase in revenue than in 2008. Those that reported growth view IT as critical to their business success.

– In the past 12 months, 52 percent of SMBs reported an increase in revenue, up from 39 percent in 2008.(2)
– Increasing 20 points since 2008, 55 percent of SMBs view IT as critical to their business.
– Of the SMBs that view IT as critical, 60 percent saw revenues grow over the past 12 months. In contrast, among SMBs that stated IT is not important, less than 29 percent saw revenue increase.(3)

SMBs Moving Toward Cloud Computing

The 2010 index indicates SMBs are beginning to see the benefits of cloud computing; more than 40 percent of the respondents that use hosted or cloud technology reported revenue rises of 30 percent or more compared with 90 percent of respondents not using hosted technology that saw decreases in revenue. The advantages of hosted or cloud technology are viewed as reduced cost and IT management and maintenance, as well as increased business value, productivity and competitiveness.

– Awareness of hosted services is increasing with 65 percent of SMBs using hosted software to some extent, while 73 percent of the remainder have considered it, compared with only 44 percent in the 2008 Index.
– SMBs are beginning to understand the value of “renting” IT as a service — 36 percent said a pay-as-you-go model would be attractive.

Cloud computing has become a watchword for the IT industry as software and services such as e-mail, Web sites and e-commerce are increasingly available in an on-premises, off-premises or hybrid model depending on business need.

“Over the last five years, we have seen nearly 40 percent growth in usage of hosted services,” said Michael Korbacher, director of EMEA Software plus Services in the Communications Sector at Microsoft. “Using pay-as-you-go cloud technologies, small and midsize businesses can now afford and easily have access to enterprise-class, secure services across any platform.”

Correlating Business Performance With Technology Usage

The findings from the research were concluded by analyst firm Freeform Dynamics Ltd., which independently assessed the SMB IT and Hosted IT Index 2010 to ascertain to what degree IT adoption is driving revenue growth specifically within the SMB community.

The SMB IT and Hosted IT Index 2010 commissioned by Microsoft researched 3,193 SMBs in a cross section of private industries in 15 countries. Overall, the findings show greater awareness of the benefits of IT among SMBs and a high reliance on IT across all industries and geographies. The findings indicate a clear path toward better financial performance than for those not currently taking advantage of IT advances such as hosted services.

“Our assessment of the report tells us that an increased focus on IT correlates with good performance in all of the size categories surveyed,” said Dale Vile, research director of Freeform Dynamics. “This whole picture corroborates the notion that technology and hosted services can provide tangible business advantage, even for smaller companies, and it’s not surprising to see that investment in IT and hosting goes hand in hand with good financial performance.”

Role of IT Within Business and Revenue Change

It’s critical to our business; we cannot work without it.
– 14.38 percent – Revenue up more than 30 percent
– 34.01 percent – Revenue up 10 percent to 30 percent
– 11.56 percent – Revenue up less than 10 percent
– 25.49 percent – No change in revenue
– 14.55 percent – Decrease in revenue

It’s very important for the majority of our activities.
– 8.86 percent – Revenue up more than 30 percent
– 28.32 percent – Revenue up 10 percent to 30 percent
– 8.65 percent – Revenue up less than 10 percent
– 40.16 percent – No change in revenue
– 14.01 percent – Decrease in revenue

It’s important but not essential to the running of the business.
– 8.21 percent – Revenue up more than 30 percent
– 18.48 percent – Revenue up 10 percent to 30 percent
– 8.21 percent – Revenue up less than 10 percent
– 46.33 percent – No change in revenue
– 18.77 percent – Decrease in revenue

It complements our business but is by no means essential.
– 7.41 percent – Revenue up more than 30 percent
– 13.89 percent – Revenue up 10 percent to 30 percent
– 7.41 percent – Revenue up less than 10 percent
– 42.59 percent – No change in revenue
– 28.70 percent – Decrease in revenue

The IT Services Outlined in the Research Are as Follows

E-mail
– 67 percent SMBs have on site
– 29 percent SMBs have hosted
– 4 percent SMBs don’t have


File sharing/collaboration
– 56 percent SMBs have on site
– 23 percent SMBs have hosted
– 21 percent SMBs don’t have

Backup
– 71 percent SMBs have on site
– 22 percent SMBs have hosted
– 7 percent SMBs don’t have

CRM
– 52 percent SMBs have on site
– 31 percent SMBs have hosted
– 17 percent SMBs don’t have

Webconferencing
– 40 percent SMBs have on site
– 39 percent SMBs have hosted
– 21 percent SMBs don’t have

Web site
– 49 percent SMBs have on site
– 39 percent SMBs have hosted
– 12 percent SMBs don’t have

Server
– 59 percent SMBs have on site
– 28 percent SMBs have hosted
– 13 percent SMBs don’t have

E-commerce
– 46 percent SMBs have on site
– 33 percent SMBs have hosted
– 21 percent SMBs don’t have

The Microsoft Small Business Technology Index 2010 research report was executed by Vanson Bourne  between November 2009 and January 2010. The research questioned 3,193 small and midsize businesses (up to 500 employees) across 15 countries worldwide: Australia, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S.

(1) 3,193 SMBs surveyed in France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, South Africa, Spain, U.K., U.S., Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and Singapore in a cross section of different industries. Microsoft Small Business Technology Index 2010 available on request.

(2) Microsoft Small Business Technology Index 2008. Available on request.

(3) Table showing correlation between the role of IT within businesses and revenue change

Source: Microsoft Corp.

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Trend Micro 2010 Future Threat Report

December 14, 2009 · Filed Under Internet Software, Security Software, Software News · Comment 

Virtualization, Cloud-Computing and a Shifting Internet Infrastructure Will Widen the Scope of Cybercrime

Using news headlines and the latest technological trends, cybercriminals are brilliantly agile at exploiting whatever is trendy for cash and profit. Now, the growing popularity of cloud computing and virtualization among companies is likely to catch the attention of criminals scheming for the next hot cyber-swindle.

According to the Trend Micro 2010 Future Threat Report, cloud computing and virtualization — while offering significant benefits and cost-savings — move servers outside the traditional security perimeter and expand the playing field for cybercriminals. The industry already witnessed Danger/Sidekick’s cloud-based server failure that caused major data outages in November 2009, highlighting cloud-computing risks that cybercriminals will likely abuse. Trend Micro believes cybercriminals will either be manipulating the connection to the cloud, or attacking the data center and cloud itself.

The Internet infrastructure is changing, opening more opportunities for cybercrime

The “next-generation” protocol designed by the Internet Engineering Task Force, Internet Protocol v. 6, is still in the experimentation stages of replacing the current IPv4, now 20 years old. As users start to explore IPv6, so will cybercriminals, and we can expect to see proof-of-concept elements in IPv6 start to materialize in the upcoming new year. Possible avenues for abuse include new covert channels or C&C. But don’t expect active targeting of IPv6 address space–at least not in the very immediate future.

Domain names are becoming more internationalized and the introduction of regional top-level domains (Russian, Chinese, and Arabic characters) will create new opportunities to launch age-old attacks through look-alike domains for phishing – using Cyrillic characters in place of similar looking Latin characters. Trend Micro predicts this will lead to reputation problems and abuse that will challenge security companies.

Social media and social networks will be used by cybercriminals to enter the users’ “circle of trust”

Social engineering will continue to play a big role in the propagation of threats. But given the increasing saturation of social media with content intended to be shared via online social interactions, cybercriminals will definitely try to penetrate and compromise popular communities more than ever in 2010.

Social networks are also ripe venues for stealing personally identifiable information (PII). The quality and quantity of data posted openly by most trusting users on their profile pages, combined with interaction clues, are more than enough for cybercriminals to stage identity thefts and targeted social engineering attacks. The situation will worsen in 2010, with high-profile personalities suffering from online impersonators or stolen bank accounts.

The extinction of global outbreaks, and the growth of localized, targeted attacks

The threat landscape has shifted and we are no longer seeing global outbreaks like Slammer or CodeRed. Even the much covered Conficker incident of 2008 and early 2009 was not a global outbreak by its true definition; rather it was a carefully orchestrated and architected attack. Moving forward, localized and targeted attacks are expected to grow in their number and sophistication.

More key forecasts for 2010 and beyond:
– It’s all about money, so cybercrime will not go away.
– Windows 7 will have an impact since it is less secure than Vista in the default configuration.
– Risk mitigation is not as viable an option anymore-even with alternative Browsers /alternative operating systems.
– Malware is changing its shape – every few hours.
– Drive-by infections are the norm – one Web visit is enough to get infected.
– New attack vectors will arise for virtualized/cloud environments.
– Bots can’t be stopped anymore, and will be around forever.
– Company/Social networks will continue to be shaken by data breaches.

Source: Trend Micro Incorporated

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