Google Friday reportedly shelled out somewhere between $25 million and $30 million for DocVerse, the almost three-year-old start-up that was obviously born to go to Google. TechCrunch expected the deal to close in December.

DocVerse will let Google Apps users share, edit, collaborate on and save offline-created Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel documents in the cloud. It syncs the online and offline documents so all modifications are in parallel and allows users to make running comments.

Google Apps needs such widgetry, although users sometimes complain of it being dicey, if it hopes to strike a more even balance between its two million business users and Microsoft's 500 million-600 million Office users.

However, Microsoft's own free Office Web Apps, promised for the first half, are due out soon and should take a lot of steam out of DocVerse. The company will be rolling out Office 2010 on May 12 and said the launch includes SharePoint 2010, Visio 2010 and Project 2010.

Google has taken DocVerse's plug-in off the market and suspended monthly billings while it goes off and integrates its technology. Current DocVerse users can keep on using it.

Article by Cloud Computing Journal

Dell Corporation (Thailand) grasps the opportunity of virtualisation and cloud computing trend to pioneer launch its broad portfolio of Software as a Service (SaaS) applications through cloud-based services.

According to Anothai Wettayakorn, Dell Thailand managing director, technology has transformed from mainframe to mini computer, PC and client server, Internet to today's era of virtualisation and cloud computing where it's no longer an option, but is a must.

Citing Merrill Lynch, Anothai said cloud computing will triple by 2012, with current worldwide spending of around $42 billion, or 25 percent of overall IT spending, increasing to $95 billion in 2015. The growth of cloud computing in Thailand will coincide with the global trend.

He added that public cloud will be an early adopter, especially SMBs and mass customers, while the private cloud is still restricted to large enterprises.

The initial phase will be the public cloud that is not related to core business, he said, pointing out that the users will move to cloud with email services, or with their non-core data or the applications where they can control confidentiality such as infrastructure and CRM.

Corporate private cloud customers of Dell's data centre include ASK.com, Microsoft and Facebook.

Thailand is now at the beginning stage of cloud, users are studying and evaluating its benefits and there will be a frog-leap by the year-end. Cloud leverages economies of scale as it helps businesses lower the total cost of ownership of their IT infrastructure with fewer dedicated staff while reducing the complexity of the operations, Anothai said.

He said Dell has extended it existing global data centre to be hyper-scale and the company can provide SaaS or on-demand applications to customers with cloud-based applications.

Dell has announced the new SaaS applications across three IT infrastructure management areas including Client Device Management, Remote Infrastructure Monitoring and Continuity and Compliance Management. The applications and services include asset management, patch management, software distribution, anti-virus management, laptop data encryption, online backup and restore, software inventory and usage management, email continuity, crisis management and email security.

Mid-market and SMBs are the initial target groups of Dell's cloud-based services. Meanwhile, the company will design a service package for individuals.

"No other vendors in the industry have contact with customers as much as Dell because we are the only direct business model who have customers from large enterprises to SMBs and now we are going to expand to channel business," Anothai said.

The growth of cloud computing in Thailand last year was around one percent, but it's expected to grow very much this year with the value of around 10 percent of overall computer services.

Dell Thailand has run a pilot project of cloud computing with a manufacturing company which owns its IT business as Anothai noted that once it implements the Client Device Management in cloud computing, customers can save a lot in terms of costs as they need not pay for the software license but for the service and they can forecast their costs. The service helps them to be able to maintain costs and profitability.

"We don't have a one-size-fits-all approach, but we customise the services to customers with our open technology," Anothai said.

The new Dell SaaS applications add cloud-based IT services to the existing consulting, managed and support service capabilities under Dell Services business group, an organisation recently formed by the acquisition of Perot Systems.

While most of the IT sector last year had a flat growth, computer services are expected to increase by 18 percent this year.

Article by Bangkok Post

City of Ocean Springs turns to BasicGov software to help with rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina

Like the rest of the Mississippi Coast, the City of Ocean Springs was severely affected by the strong wind and huge surge of Hurricane Katrina. Today the City is rebuilding, preserving historical buildings, parks and green areas and adding commercial districts.

The City of Ocean Springs’ Community Development & Planning Department has seen a significant increase in permits and inspections volume as a result of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, whether replacing shingles or rebuilding a lost home. In addition to rebuilding the City, they are also busy with hospital renovations, two new subdivisions and other commercial additions.

To keep up with the demand they turned to software and implemented BasicGov Permits & Inspections. In less than two months the Building Clerks were up and running on the new system. The web-based software, accessible by multi-departments, allowed the entire department to move to laptops for more mobility in the office or out in the field.

Article by BasicGov

Workbooks.com, the leading provider of CRM and Business applications delivered via Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) to the small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs), and InvisibleCRM, a technology provider of tools engineered to bridge the gap between enterprise and personal productivity applications, announced today that they have signed a partnership agreement. The two firms will jointly create a new Outlook integration offering for Workbooks.com based on InvisibleCRM’s InvisibleSync Bridge and OutlookBridge technology platform.
The new offering will allow users of Workbooks application suite to integrate contacts, appointments and emails with Microsoft Outlook increasing usability and productivity even when they are offline.

Additional enhancements will more fully integrate Workbooks CRM and Outlook, allowing Workbooks users to manage their core CRM data from within the Outlook client.
“By providing our users instant access to the CRM data and components of Workbooks from within the Microsoft Office suite, we can dramatically increase their productivity, data quality and adoption rate,” said John Cheney, Workbooks.com CEO. “By partnering with InvisibleCRM, we can deliver World class Outlook integration to our customers quickly and effectively.”
“We are proud to partner with Workbooks.com. They have a remarkable SaaS business suite that provides incredible value to the SME marketplace,” said Vlad Voskresensky, CEO of InvisibleCRM. “Our partnership focus is to extend that value by providing a single place to manage ALL of a client’s CRM data within Outlook and an elegant approach to melding customer information found in email into the Workbooks.com environment. Access offline means taking Workbooks.com with you anywhere and anytime.”

SpringCM, a provider of high-impact cloud content management solutions, and Acumen Solutions, a leading business and technology consulting firm with a public sector cloud computing practice, has  announced a partnership to help government agencies get started with their cloud-computing initiatives. Cloud computing has gained increasing visibility in the Federal government, including the Fiscal Year 2010 Budget of the United States Government that calls for agencies to begin pilot projects using cloud computing in areas such as content, information, and records management; workflow, and case management.

With SpringCM, government agencies can quickly and cost-effectively deploy content management solutions to better serve constituents and improve efficiency in areas such as citizen services, correspondence management, Electronic Freedom of Information Act (EFOIA), and case management. Acumen Solutions has successfully completed hundreds of enterprise-class cloud computing and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) projects and helped numerous Federal and State agencies weave cloud computing strategies into their enterprise architecture. Acumen Solutions brings commercial content management best practices to Federal agencies from experience with clients such as CableOne, Smithsonian Museum, Sprint/Nextel, and others.

"Public Sector agencies need new solutions to unlock the treasure trove of information that they keep on file. Cloud applications enable swifter availability for constituents and easier to use solutions for government employees," said Jay Tansing, Managing Director of Acumen Solutions Public Sector Practice. "Together, SpringCM and Acumen Solutions enable government entities to deploy applications faster, and realize value more quickly while keeping the total cost of ownership to a minimum."

"The pressure is on to deliver effective services, and President Obama's budget calls for greater focus on less expensive IT alternatives in government agencies as mandated through the Office of Management and Budget," said Steve Maier, General Manager of SpringCM Government Solutions Division. "Our partnership with Acumen helps these agencies to adhere to the new mandate, and get the benefit of improved efficiencies to meet increasing demands at lower costs."

Hyland Software has purchased privately held eWebHealth, a leading provider of hosted medical records workflow solutions. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“We’ve significantly reinforced our already strong healthcare presence over the past several months,” said A.J. Hyland, president and CEO of Hyland Software. “Acquisitions are accelerating our entry into key markets. They’ve also allowed us to add more people with specific healthcare expertise. Combined with our new products and important certifications, acquisitions have helped us to take our offerings and knowledge to new levels.”

“Purchasing eWebHealth does several key things for us. Among them, it increases our domain expertise in the areas of coding and revenue cycle workflow solutions. This acquisition also adds a customer base that has already embraced software-as-a-service (SaaS). It’s a delivery model that’s a key part of our business strategy, and something we offer in the form of OnBase OnLine.

eWebHealth delivers workflow solutions by a SaaS model for clinical, administrative and financial environments. It also automates specialty areas such as physician coding, signature completion and compliance. Nearly 100 small and mid-size hospitals and healthcare facilities located across the country are eWebHealth customers.

“For a lot of reasons, SaaS-delivered content management has become a solid, sensible option for more healthcare organizations than ever before,” said Hyland. “Budgets are tight, IT resources are spread thin and staffs are being forced to handle increasingly large workloads. Many providers aren’t in a position to even consider anything but SaaS products right now. This sets Hyland apart. We offer customers SaaS, on-premise and hybrid options – and the choice to switch deployment methods as needs change.”

According to officials, the Ontility EcoTech Platform is built on a software as a service (SaaS), web 2.0, cloud architecture, with NetSuite, SuiteApps and SuiteCloud. The EcoTech Platform features five EcoTech Modules and portals that combined, provide technology and tools for residential and commercial scale solar projects.

"As we have seen our business model grow and listened to our clients and partners, we realized there was a need for a complete end-to-end software platform that is dedicated towards helping move solar projects from analysis to design to quote to installation to utility interconnection more efficiently. We also witnessed a need for a complete solar platform that can also function as both a solar industry specific Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) application. Our EcoTech platform offers a process driven, unified way to speed up the solar system installation process from beginning to end, while managing both clients and resources effectively. The best part of our new EcoTech platform is that our platform is offered via a cloud, so we can set up new clients, partners and dealers/installers in a few minutes. After a quick set up, users can log into the EcoTech platform directly from our website. Lastly, we also offer flexible pricing packages starting at $125 per user, per month. With no initial invest and quick deployment, our platform can help even the smallest solar integrator look and conduct business like SolarCity in a matter of minutes," explained Tom Pash, CEO of Ontility.

Hosted via cloud architecture, EcoTech is accessible via the internet and supports all devices, including smart phones and tablet computers. It also has real-time Inventory and Pricing, real-time project visibility, dashboards, includes financial and production modeling, and personalized login.

Council CIO John Holley says that the adoption of Objective Corporation's community and collaboration applications was fast, with only two weeks from purchase to go-live, largely because there were no infrastructure costs or special skills required.

“We were spending a lot with publication houses -- from $10,000 to $50,000 at a time -- so the system paid for itself in under a year,” Holley says.

The applications, uCreate and uEngage provide a platform for producing and disseminating information to constituents.

“It provides government a single point of view for citizen consultation including tracking changes [and] does a better job for collaborative management of documents,” Holley says. “It's easy to make sure who’s doing what and once people move past the idea of working in track changes they don’t want to go back.”

Holley says the soft ROI is also compelling because there are significant business process improvements.

“As a council, how do I track what consultations I’m doing? Someone has to chase around Word documents, and there is the cost of production. The time it takes is an order of magnitude harder than with this system,” he says.

Holley says using the Web is fundamentally different to traditional enterprise document management, but people who had always used Microsoft Word caught on quickly.

For ARC the software was always about managing the citizen consulting process, but Holley says it is a powerful collaborative document management process that can also be used for technical publications.

“There is full accountability internally so you don’t have to worry about people saying 'I didn’t see that',” he says, adding people producing highly professional documents with no knowledge of publishing.

Holley says CIOs need to provide leadership with emerging Web 2.0-style technologies.

“For me part of its was leading the organisation to change. It’s about process improvement and the government 2.0 stuff,” he says. “How do we more efficiently engage with the public? And how do I get the Gen Y people to engage with issues like transport?”

“For the CIO in a council it is how do I open the council to more engagement with the community?”

Holley says the software could be used for internal documents, but it represents a change in the way the organisation “thinks”.

“You are not going to get the absolutely pretty documents, but we are producing high quality documents for a fraction of the cost, and it's all in HTML.”

Objective's general manager of marketing, Adrian Rudman, says local governments need to produce documents that go to the public, but the cost of production is high.

“Our solution is a SaaS offering that does production and proofing of documents and people can comment on the document and engage in a forum of a particular part of the document. Instead of letters organisations get a data-driven response.”

Rudman says the fact that the solution is SaaS is of particular interest to CIOs, as it provides the ability to deliver new features to users as soon as they are developed.

According to Objective Corporation research, each local council in Australia could save some $3 million per year through more efficient document production processes.

Article by ComputerWorld Australia

Dubbed GoToManage, the new service lets Citrix Online tap into the growing demand for software-as-a-service (Saas)-based IT management, a market Forrester Research predicts will reach $4 billion in 2013. Citrix Online is positioning the latest addition to its online services portfolio as an affordable alternative to premise-based software.

According to IDC, Citrix Online was the remote support market leader in 2008 with a 34.7 percent global share via its GoToAssist services. IDC also pegs Citrix Online as the third largest SaaS vendor in the world based on 2007 revenue, but Citrix Online needed Paglo-like log analysis technology in order to offer its customers the next puzzle piece in its full SaaS picture.

Paglo has made a name for itself providing SaaS-based IT search and management services. In short, Paglo helps companies harness and analyze the information explosion coming from all their computer, server, network and log data. Paglo helps companies improve operating efficiencies, gain a clearer understanding of true IT costs and meet compliance requirements.

Now, Paglo serves as the foundation for GoToManage. GoToManage creates an IT “system of record” to give businesses with the ability to discover and identify all network devices, monitor critical servers and applications in real-time, manage network usage, and track configuration changes. Like other Citrix Online products, GoToManage can be accessed from anywhere, and doesn’t require costly server infrastructure.

Article by ZDNet