Solace Networks

BloomBox – The Next Big Thing In Energy?

senriquez — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:25:57 +0000

“ In the world of energy, the Holy Grail is a power source that’s inexpensive and clean, with no emissions. Well over 100 start-ups in Silicon Valley are working on it, and one of them, Bloom Energy, is about to make public its invention: a little power plant-in-a-box they want to put literally in your backyard.

You’ll generate your own electricity with the box and it’ll be wireless. The idea is to one day replace the big power plants and transmission line grid, the way the laptop moved in on the desktop and cell phones supplanted landlines.

It has a lot of smart people believing and buzzing, even though the company has been unusually secretive – until now.”

[source CBS]

Solace Networks Brings You Clear Peace of Mind

senriquez — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:44:21 +0000

Solace Networks has teamed with Clear in order to offer the latest in 4G WiMax technology to its customers in the DFW Metroplex and beyond. The emerging wireless technology allows 3-6Mbps download speeds and 1 Mbps uploads for your business. Depending on your area, we recognize that this technology may be a viable supplement to your existing Internet connection for either backup purposes or a needed speed boost. With the Service Level Agreements in place with Clear, it may also be a welcome replacement for some as their primary connection to the Internet. Still curious as to how WiMax works? Click HERE for a WiMax Diagram that will help.

DropBox: Sync to the Cloud

senriquez — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:38:43 +0000

Syncing files between two computers or more became an easy endeavor when DropBox was initially released. In a nutshell, DropBox is an application that runs on your desktop and links your other DropBox installs across the Internet. DropBox resides as a folder on your desktop where you can place files that you would like to keep synchronized. This allows you to work on documents at one location and have the changes propagated automatically across all locations. Since you get 2GB’s of free storage, it is a great secondary backup of your important documents where there is also an added benefit of accessing them from the web in a pinch. DropBox is a great tool that also has other great advantages depending on how you choose to use it. Storing your iTunes in your DropBox account is one option that I researched. Imagine being able to sync your iPod with any of your computers instead of having to wait to get home or to work to sync!

Google Slashes Prices for Online Photo Storage – Picasa

senriquez — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:09:01 +0000

Google recently announced a price cut for their online storage for Picasa, in effect cutting the cost by 75% and increasing the storage capacity that it buys by 50%. Some of the reasons are due to the decline of hard drive storage costs and a beefed up infrastructure that makes it more manageable. They are currently pricing 20GB of storage space at $5.00 per year, 80GB for $20 and if you really take a lot of pictures, there is always the 16TB option for $4096 per year!

The free and popular Picasa tool runs on Windows-based machines and on Apple Macintoshes since January. The application allows users to move photos from a camera to the cloud for storage and sharing. The upgrade also applies across their platform of other products as well.

Demystify Cloud Computing

senriquez — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:56:53 +0000

When we mention cloud computing, we get many questions regarding the technology and how it differs from the typical in-house network that most companies are accustomed to. In the article below, Novell VP and CEO explains “5 Things Every CEO Should Know” about Cloud Computing:

Everyone is talking about cloud computing these days, but what is it really, and why should chief executives care? When you boil it down, cloud computing is merely the ability to use computing resources–applications, business services and others–on a pay-as-you-go basis in real time over the Internet. With cloud computing, you get instant access to data and applications from any device with Internet access. It can enable businesses to instantaneously and temporarily tap into additional resources when they need it most, without having to invest in new machines or build new data centers. [More]

Office 2010 Enters Beta

senriquez — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:22:43 +0000

Microsoft has finally released for download, the Beta version of Office 2010. It is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 and is available in 32bit and 64bit versions. If you’d like to get a feel for the new version, you can download it HERE. Apparently, the Beta version is good until October 2010, so you have plenty of time to kick the tires and see if it is something you just can’t live without.

SaaS Sales Up 18% in 2009

admin — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:00:34 +0000

Worldwide software-as-a-service (SaaS) revenues are expected to defy the tough economy and grow 18 percent in 2009, to reach $7.5 billion, research firm Gartner predicts.

Gartner says the SaaS market will show consistent growth through 2013, when worldwide revenues are expected to top $14 billion for the enterprise application markets.

“The composition of the worldwide SaaS landscape is evolving as vendors continue to extend regionally, increase penetration within existing accounts and ‘greenfield’ opportunities, and offer more-vertical-specific solutions as part of their service portfolio or through partners,” Gartner research director Sharon Mertz said in a statement.

Mertz added that adoption of the on-demand deployment model has experienced strong growth as vendors like Salesforce.com extend their services through alliances, partner offerings, and by promoting user application development through a platform.

The content, communications and collaboration (CCC) market and the customer relationship management (CRM) market continue to capture the largest share of SaaS dollars. The CCC market is estimated to generate $2.6 billion in 2009, up from $2.14 billion in 2008. The CRM segment is estimated to garner $2.3 billion in 2009, up from $1.9 billion in 2008.

The CRM market has been a primary driver of the SaaS industry over the last four years, with revenues climbing from less than $500 million in 2005 to the $2.3 billion forecast for 2009. Gartner expects the strong growth to continue with SaaS representing almost 24% of the CRM market’s total revenue in 2009.

“The rapid adoption of SaaS and the marketplace success of Salesforce.com have compelled vendors without an on-demand solution to either acquire smaller niche SaaS providers or develop the solution internally in response to increasing buyer demand,” said Mertz.

The following are the top SaaS market segments for 2009:

via [CIOZone]