Digital Discourse / Software / Cloud Computing

SIIA Member Saugatuck: ISV Partnering for Innovation and Speed

April 20, 2012 By

New Saugatuck Thought-leadership Papers on ISV Partnering for Innovation and Speed

ISVs developing and/or migrating their business and offering portfolios to compete in today’s constant-innovation, Cloud-speed marketplaces may be interested in a series of thought-leadership papers just developed and published on behalf of Wipro Technologies.

Based on Saugatuck’s years of working with and guiding ISVs through the planning and transition from traditional software business to new, innovation-driven capabilities, opportunities, and offerings, each paper looks at an important aspect of what makes ISVs successful in today’s fast-changing, ultra-competitive markets, including the most important challenges faced by ISVs, and how these challenges are being overcome through new ways of approaching and resolving business and technology needs.

The bottom line: Successful ISVs rely increasingly on trusted technology and service provider partners to enable the most innovative and fastest time-to-market offerings and capabilities possible. Technology, business, and market innovation and success become more cost-effective than ever before.

Links to the three papers can be found as follows:

This blog post was contributed by Bruce Guptill, SVP and Head of Research at Saugatuck Technology.  More from the Saugatuck blog, Lens360.

Katie CarlsonKatie Carlson is Program Manager for the SIIA Software Division.

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Filed Under: Cloud Computing, Software, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,

This Week in the Federal Cloud: April 16-20

April 20, 2012 By

This week, DOD and Intelligence officials speaking at the AFCEA conference highlighted the need to match acquisition policy with the speed of technology. As we have seen over many years, governments consistently struggle to change their culture and mindset, as well as the underlying acquisition policy, to keep pace with changing technology. As governments plan for and begin to move to cloud computing, this issue will continue to be a point of debate.

This week we also saw the release of an insightful survey by Serena Software, highlighting the views of federal IT officials on a number of key topics. Agile development – a software development process focused on delivering results quickly in small increments – was a priority for only 22 percent of the 225 federal IT professionals surveyed. The same study also reported that only 19 percent of those surveyed listed cloud computing as a priority despite the push by the Administration for “Cloud First.”

The drumbeat around continuous monitoring also continued this week, as lawmakers began debate on Rep. Issa’s FISMA 2.0 legislation. The bill, H.R. 4257, known officially as the Federal Information Security Amendments Act of 2012 passed the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee earlier this week by voice vote and is expected to be considered on the House Floor next week. The key to continuous monitoring, which is seen by many as an alternative to compliance audits, is making sure the underlying control environment you are monitoring is secure. Simply monitoring a weak system won’t achieve the desired results.

Michael Hettinger is VP for the Public Sector Innovation Group (PSIG) at SIIA. Follow his PSIG tweets at @SIIAPSIG.

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Filed Under: Cloud Computing, Cloud/Gov, Government, Policy, Policy - Cloud Computing, PSIG, Software Tagged With: ,

Google, Oracle Execs & Pulitzer Prize Finalist Nick Carr to Keynote All About the Cloud

April 19, 2012 By

Executives from Google Enterprise and Oracle, along with Pulitzer Prize finalist Nick Carr, a columnist and celebrated author of “The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains,” have been announced as keynote speakers for the 2012 All About the Cloud conference. The seventh annual event will take place May 8-10 at San Francisco’s Palace Hotel.

All About the Cloud is the software industry’s most comprehensive ISV conference on cloud computing and is presented by the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA)—the principal trade association for the software and digital content industries—in partnership with OpSource, a Dimension Data Company—the leader in enterprise cloud and managed hosting.

This year’s conference will focus on a range of emerging trends and critical issues—including mobile, security and compliance, big data, and more. Through keynote speeches, panels and product demonstrations, the event will explore how the cloud is revolutionizing the way software is developed, consumed and delivered.

Keynote speakers include:

• Chris Baker—Senior Vice President, Global ISV/OEM Sales for Oracle Corporation
• Nick Carr—Author of “The Big Switch” & “The Shallows” and Columnist for the Guardian
• Michael Lock—Vice President, Americas for Google Enterprise

Rhianna Collier is VP for the Software Division at SIIA.

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Filed Under: All About the Cloud, Cloud Computing, Events, Software, Software Events Tagged With: , ,

This Week in the Federal Cloud: April 9-13

April 13, 2012 By

The run up to FedRAMP continued this week, with an announcement on Friday morning by Dave McClure, GSA Associate Administrator for the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technology, that the first FedRAMP 3PAOs would be announced in May.  This represents a slight delay from what we had been hearing over the past few months, namely that the initial accredited 3PAOs would be ready to go by mid-April.  As anyone who has been following the FedRAMP process knows, without the first set of accredited 3PAOs it’s difficult to get the process of provisional authorization for CSPs under FedRAMP going.

Also this week, SIIA member McAfee hosted an exciting and insightful Public Sector Summit this week at the Ritz Carlton in Pentagon City.  The event attended by more than 300 government and industry participates had a heavy focus on cybersecurity, cloud and mobility and featured keynotes from Howard Schmidt, the White House Cybersecurity Advisory and General Steven Smith, Director of the Army Cyberspace Task Force.

In other cloud news:

Michael Hettinger is VP for the Public Sector Innovation Group at SIIA.

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Filed Under: Cloud Computing, Government, Policy, Policy - Cloud Computing, PSIG, Software Tagged With: ,

Which Next Gen Companies Are Transforming the Cloud? Find Out at All About the Cloud

April 9, 2012 By

SIIA today announced that 4 early stage cloud computing companies have been selected to participate in the NextGen showcase at SIIA’s All About the Cloud conference. All About the Cloud-the software industry’s most comprehensive ISV conference on cloud computing-will be held May 8-10 in San Francisco.

Much of the discussion about cloud computing has focused on large, brand name businesses, but there is tremendous innovation taking place at companies that get little attention. All of the firms selected as NextGen companies are young businesses that offer innovative online software and services. The CEOs of these companies will participate in the “Next Generation of Cloud” panel during All About the Cloud.

“The goal of All About the Cloud, and of our NextGen Program, is to spotlight emerging trends, best practices and innovation in the cloud computing marketplace,” said Rhianna Collier, Vice President of the SIIA Software Division. “The NextGen companies we’ve selected represent the next step in the evolution of cloud computing. All About the Cloud attendees will get a glimpse at cutting edge technologies, as well as opportunities for investment and strategic partnerships with these innovative businesses.”

More information about All About the Cloud is available www.siia.net/aatc/2012. To register for the conference, members of the media should contact Beth Dozier at bethdozier@rational360.com , or register online at: www.siia.net/AATC/2012/press.asp

The 2012 SIIA All About the Cloud NextGen companies are as follows:

• Indicee is an innovative cloud BI platform that’s leading the shift away from complex and expensive on-premise BI software, towards agile, cloud-based alternatives.
• NuoDB is a 21st century operational database that addresses the challenges of Web scale applications for the cloud.
• Real Status‘ 3D modeling and visualization software, Hyperglance, reveals every dimension of inter-dependence between applications and infrastructure-all at the same time and on a single screen.
• The Resumator is a SaaS recruiting platform that helps employers hire with confidence. Over 900 fast-growing employers across all industries trust The Resumator to save time, reduce cost, and build strong teams.

Rhianna Collier is VP for the Software Division at SIIA.

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Filed Under: All About the Cloud, Cloud Computing, Software, Software Events Tagged With: ,

This Week in the Federal Cloud: April 2-6

April 6, 2012 By

As it does every spring, Federal IT took center stage in Washington, DC this week, as the Washington Convention Center hosted the annual FOSE Conference and Trade Show.  This year featured tracks on mobility, cybersecurity and cloud & virtualization, as well as keynotes from Federal CIO Steven Van Roekel and former U.S. Senator George Mitchell.  A lot of buzz in the halls on innovation, the future of federal IT, security in the cloud and the upcoming FedRAMP certification process.

This week in Federal Cloud also saw contract awards for the Army Private Cloud (APC2) and more talk about the need for acquisition to evolve to support cloud deployment.

  • FOSE Conference brings together hundreds of government IT leaders from around the country
    (Federal Times, April 3)
    (Washington Technology, April 4)
    (Federal Computer Week, April 3)
  • US Army awards $250 million private cloud contract to HP (ITProPortal, April 4)
  • McClure says acquisition officers must retool for cloud (Fierce Government IT, April 4)
  • Australia:  Federal government opens up to smaller cloud deals.  Aim is to make sure technology can be acquired as it becomes available (IT News Australia, April 3)

Michael Hettinger is VP for the Public Sector Innovation Group at SIIA.

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Filed Under: Cloud Computing, Cloud/Gov, Government, Policy, Policy - Cloud Computing, PSIG, Software Tagged With: ,

An Interview with SIIA Member The Resumator

March 30, 2012 By

SIIA recently welcomed The Resumator to our community. I had a chance to chat with their Marketing Director, Laurie Barkman, to learn a bit more about the talent acquisition space. Read my interview below.

Rhianna: Welcome to SIIA! Tell me a little about The Resumator and what makes you unique.

Laurie: The Resumator is a recruiting platform to help fast-growing businesses confidently manage their hiring. We’ve made the system easy to use, easy to learn, and easy to implement, so small-to-medium sized businesses can save time and money hiring great people.  Our software provides tools that simplify hiring tasks, processes that any company can adapt, and the data to assist in making informed hiring decisions.

Rhianna: You are experiencing tremendous growth. In fact, I heard you are looking to almost double your staff this year. To what do you attribute the rapid growth rate?

Laurie: That’s true – we’re currently 18 people strong and we’re on track to end the year at about 30. We’ve built an talented core team. It’s because of their hard work, talent, and creativity that we’ve been able to achieve success in a relatively short time.

It’s also proof that the inspiration behind our product is sound. Our team has done a tremendous job executing on the vision of a simpler, more socially intelligent hiring solution. Since 2009, The Resumator has helped more than 900 companies develop their hiring process and attract over 1 million applicants.  Leading companies across all industries including Evernote, Atari, Mashable, IGN, ThinkGeek, Pinterest, and Klout use The Resumator to ramp up their hiring.

Rhianna: You recently announced a partnership with StartUp America, helping to fuel entrepreneurs. What is the significance of this partnership?

Laurie: We believe that the future lies in entrepreneurial solutions to everyday problems. Startup America is doing a great job of empowering entrepreneurs and generating excitement around their members.

The partnership with StartUp America gives us a chance to connect with a large number of people on the front lines of building innovative new companies. We offered StartUp America members about $12 million in free access to The Resumator to help ramp-up their teams and launch their businesses.

Rhianna: The talent acquisition for cloud service providers seems so intense right now. Are you seeing that as well? Are there other specific industries facing similar challenges?

Laurie: Looking at the hiring activity of employers using The Resumator, we have a few observations. Most notable is the strong demand for software engineers, which is common amongst technology companies including cloud service providers.  Additionally, there is strong hiring activity in other industries including marketing services, e-commerce, and health care. There is a growing demand for account managers, designers, customer support representatives, and nurses.

Rhianna Collier is VP for the Software Division at SIIA.

 

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Filed Under: Cloud Computing, Software Tagged With: , , ,
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