Dell today announced it has agreed to acquire Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) integration leader Boomi to help businesses reap the full value of cloud computing. Powered by its revolutionary AtomSphere technology, Boomi offers the industry’s only pure SaaS application integration platform that takes the cost and complexity out of integrating applications by allowing easy transfer of data between cloud-based and on-premise applications with no appliances, no software and no coding required.

Boomi Industry Leadership

Headquartered in Berwyn, Pa., Boomi’s technology solutions are widely used with the world’s leading cloud-based applications, including Salesforce CRM, as well as marketing, financial, human resources, content management and service-desk management.

Dell has just announced it has agreed to acquire Software-as-a-Service integration company Boomi. Terms of the deal were not disclosed and, as usual, the purchase is subject to customary closing conditions. Dell did not say when it expects to complete the purchase of the startup.

Dell chairman and CEO Michael Dell had yesterday teased the press about an impending acquisition in the cloud computing space (see Reuters).

The comment, made at an event in Hong-Kong, sparked a guessing game among tech reporters, but it turns out Dell is picking up a rather small company – Boomi has raised only $4 million in venture capital according to CrunchBase. Nevertheless, it’s a startup that does offer a compelling SaaS platform for many a company.

Optaros Intros E-Commerce SaaS Solution

written by Raju Shanbhag, TMCnet Contributor

Optaros has announced OCentric e-commerce SaaS, which makes use of Amazon Web Services “AWS,” to provide unique client solutions at the same price point as one-size-fits-all e-commerce SaaS vendors, according to company officials.

OCentric provides functionality traditionally found in e-commerce, Web content management and community platforms all in one package so companies can implement new retail concepts that are popular today, such as group buying, private sales, deal-a-day and more.

Boomi Founder and CTO Rick Nucci explains to IT Business Edge's Loraine Lawson how competition, APIs and more involvement from IT departments are changing the cloud integration market.

 Lawson: When we talked in 2008, your CEO, Bob Mule, said Boomi was betting on integration being packaged by SaaS providers, rather than sought out by individual clients. Has that changed?
Nucci: It absolutely still is packaged. What has evolved is we’ve gotten more knowledgeable about what ISVs (independent software vendors) are really good at and what they aren’t. Absolutely, the number-one driver is ISVs want to be able to just say, “Here’s a pre-built integration to this application and here’s what it does.” They know that their sales cycle will get shorter, their implementation will be shorter, and the renewal rate will be higher because their app will be integrated.

I’ll give a couple of examples. Taleo uses Boomi to sell a packaged ADP integration. They use Boomi to sell a packaged Workday integration. They use Boomi to sell a package NetSuite Talio integration. Our Marketo partnership is to sell a packaged NetSuite integration, much like what they built for Salesforce.

Boomi, an on-demand integration vendor, announced that it has partnered with Zuora to enable Software-as-a-Service integration for Zuora’s on-demand billing application with financial and customer relationship management (CRM) applications.

Using Boomi On Demand, Zuora’s customers can integrate Z-Billing with QuickBooks, for example, by selecting the prepackaged integration from a menu, and the integration is complete — no data mapping, coding, software downloads or hardware purchases. If the end customer wants to integrate Z-Billing with other applications, the integrations are built, deployed and managed by Boomi On Demand using only a browser.

Source

I ran across an informative article from Appirio ( www.appirio.com) - a cloud solution provider, predicting that innovation from cloud ecosystems next year will remove many of the remaining barriers to enterprise adoption of cloud. With so many clear demonstrations of business cases from 2009 (Avon, Japan Post, Starbucks) Appirio believes that the success of the cloud will continue its course to become mainstream in 2010, here's why-

 

Appirio’s 2010 predictions include:

1. Cloud developer community grows faster than open-source. Today's vendor-specific developer communities will be complemented by a community dedicated to the general discipline of building applications on the cloud, disrupting existing on-premise developer communities. The combination will launch a new generation of 'cloud developers.'
2. Cloud standards won't (and shouldn't) happen. The pace of innovation is so rapid in the cloud that the emergence of truly open cloud standards won't yet be possible, except at the lowest levels of infrastructure. Traditional vendors will attempt to muddy the waters across layers and claim the 'standards high ground' with efforts like the Open Cloud Manifesto.
3. Cloud providers tackle lock-in. Platform lock-in remains one of the major concerns keeping CIOs from building applications on PaaS. In 2010 we expect to see major initiatives from cloud providers to overcome this objection, either revolutionary (e.g., Force.com supporting other languages) or evolutionary (e.g., application migration frameworks or platform 'porting' toolkits.)
4. Cloud integration will get an enterprise poster-child. Boomi and Cast Iron have had a fantastic 2009 and we expect one will land a major enterprise customer in 2010 that replaces on-premise integration technology with a cloud-based alternative.
5. Enterprise apps get Googled. Google's investments in its cloud platform will transform Google Apps from a simple Exchange/Sharepoint replacement into a legitimate front end for enterprise applications (e.g., Google Web Toolkit, Secure Data Connector, and the Google Gadget Framework.)
6. Enterprise collaboration is a feature, not a business. Salesforce Chatter and Google Wave have shown the value of real-time collaboration that is seamlessly integrated with business applications. Standalone enterprise collaboration offerings will have difficulty competing.
7. Microsoft lets Azure cannibalize a global account. Microsoft has shown that it's serious about Azure at this year's Professional Developers Conference. We predict that Azure will cannibalize Microsoft's on-premise footprint at a global account.
8. Cloud computing consolidation. With 2000+ providers, the cloud ecosystem is ripe for consolidation. Salesforce.com and Google are likely to continue with point acquisitions, but they won't be alone. Having missed the first wave of innovation in cloud computing (and lacking any other on-premise technology to acquire) we expect Oracle to buy into the industry that Larry Ellison has dismissed as 'water vapor.' Maybe they'll finally snap up NetSuite.
9. Global Systems Integrators will do nothing more than cloud marketing. The most innovative thing we expect from Accenture next year is a replacement for its Tiger Woods ad campaign.
10. The real innovation will be in the business of cloud computing, not the technology. Cloud providers will become dramatically easier to do business with (e.g., Amazon Spot Markets) and new business models will emerge to make the cloud more consumable (e.g., cloud insurance providers, cloud security auditors, cloud brokerages.)

To weigh in on Appirio's 2010 picks, provide comment, or see those predictions that didn't make the cut, please visit www.appirio.com/predict10.

On-Demand Talent Management Company Expands Relationship With Boomi for Embedded Application Integration, Customer Data Migration and Internal Systems Integration

Boomi, the market and technology leader for on-demand integration, has announced it has expanded and deepened its relationship with Taleo, the leading provider of on-demand talent management solutions. Taleo will directly enable Boomi integration technology in its Taleo Business Edition(TM) applications for small and medium-sized businesses. In addition, Boomi will now support data migration for Taleo customers moving from their existing talent management systems to Taleo Business Edition.

Taleo already leverages Boomi AtomSphere, the industry's first integration platform-as-a-service, to seamlessly integrate Taleo Business Edition with its customers' SaaS or on-premise financial management, human resources and ERP applications. Existing joint customers include Siemens, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Fund, PECI and Blackstone Group, among others. With this announcement, Taleo Business Edition will leverage Boomi's technology to embed pre-built integrations, known as Boomi Widgets, to greatly simplify integration with popular business applications, such as QuickBooks, ADP and NetSuite, and significantly accelerate the time to value for end customers.

Rick Nucci of Boomi sat down with us today at SIIA's OnDemand '09 and gave us his thoughts on integration.  Keep in mind, this is just a sneak peek so be sure to check back with us for the full length interview!

http://www.boomi.com