Sarnen, Switzerland 29. November 2016 - Leading live collaboration solutions company unblu will showcase pioneering full suite solution developed specifically for the banking industry.

The showcase will demonstrate how unblu enables banks to create an in person experience for their clients through digital channels. While there are various live collaboration solutions on the market, unblu is the only one offering a full suite solution (including co-browsing, liveView chat, document sharing, chat and video chat all) within an environment secure enough for banks.

The system also offers a plethora of agent desktop configurations to rival any call center solution for outbound sales use cases and will be available in its mobile version as of February next year.

Finovate is the most esteemed Fintech event of the year, and the demo there is a premiere for unblu despite their software already being implemented at over 80 banks internationally. The Swiss based company have gained invaluable insight into the needs of the finance industry through working with and consulting numerous banks since their launch and have developed their product in accordance with their growing experience of the sector.

Luc Haldimann, CEO of unblu inc. said, “We are thrilled to be accepted on first application and excited to demonstrate our collaboration suite to such a tightly focused target audience”.

“We are excited to have the launch of the mobile co-browsing solution on stage at FinovateEurope. We selected unblu because of the innovative work they’re doing in the financial services space and the way their solution enables banks to drive their digital transformation forward” said Greg Palmer, VP Finovate.

The demonstration will take place on the main stage and at the unblu booth at FinovateEurope, Old Billingsgate Market Hall in the financial district, London on 7 February 2017.

BaySand, Codasip, Codeplay and UltraSoC accelerate IoT development with “silicon-to-intelligence” RISC-V platform

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA, 29th November 2016: BaySand, Codasip, Codeplay and UltraSoC today announced an integrated IoT development platform based on the RISC-V open processor instruction set architecture (ISA). The platform offers an open-standards-based solution that allows designers of systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) for IoT applications to get from concept to silicon with a high level of software integration in record time and substantially de-risks the entire product development process.

This new collaboration will be formally announced at the 5th RISC-V Workshop (Google Quad Campus, Mountain View, CA, 29th November), and combines the following partnership:

- BaySand’s foundational IP and Metal Configurable Standard Cell (MCSC) technology
- Codasip’s extensible Codix Bk RISC-V-compliant processor implementation
- Codeplay’s ComputeSuite software development tools for open standards middleware, and
- UltraSoC’s on-chip debug and analytics architecture

The result is an end-to-end development flow that supports the rapid evolution of IoT systems, enabling timely market entry, in-market feature enhancement and on-going usability and cost optimization, all at the price points demanded in this highly cost-sensitive market.

“RISC-V adoption is accelerating, and the IoT is clearly an arena where an open, independent processor architecture offers very powerful advantages,” said Caroline Gabriel, Research Director of ReThink Research. “But as with any processor architecture, the RISC-V ISA needs a healthy, co-operative ecosystem surrounding it: an ecosystem that puts designers in control and empowers innovation.”

Rick O’Connor, Executive Director of the RISC-V Foundation, commented: “A key part of our mission at the RISC-V Foundation is to bring technology developers together, in a standards-based environment, to build a robust ecosystem around the RISC-V ISA. We’re delighted to see these four leading firms in the RISC-V community coming together to offer such a powerful solution.”

The new platform leverages BaySand’s patented MCSC technology which delivers the power, performance and density advantages of standard cell ASIC technology while reducing NRE and time to market (TTM) and dramatically increasing design flexibility. The company’s UltraShuttle multi project wafers (MPW) and MetalCopy FPGA porting technology help to bring new designs to market quickly, with low risk: they combine with a proven and predictable design flow and a rich IP library to create an ideal solution for IoT class designs.

At the IP level, Codasip’s Codix-Bk IP cores are the industry’s first commercially available RISC-V compliant processors, and are at the heart of the new joint platform offering. They are available in multiple configurations and can be quickly and easily customized to the exact needs of IoT designs via unique application analysis technology and a model-based IP structure.

UltraSoC contributes silicon IP and software tools that enable secure, non-intrusive monitoring and analysis of IoT device behavior. These powerful features ease the task of writing and debugging the software that is intrinsic to the operation of complex ICs; they accelerate first-time bring up of new devices; and the same IP allows robust hardware-based security features that can detect unexpected behavior caused by bugs or by malicious interference (Bare Metal Security™).

At the highest level within the new platform, Codeplay provides developers with an open standards based programming model that extends from device-specific functionalities all the way up to highly abstracted machine learning paradigms such as Google’s TensorFlow. ComputeSuite extends the RISC-V platform with OpenCL™ and SYCL™ allowing applications to target the underlying hardware for highest performance, using standard APIs.

Partner quotes
Rupert Baines, CEO, UltraSoC: “We’re delighted to be coming together with three of the other key players in the RISC-V arena, BaySand, Codasip and Codeplay. Our aim in this collaboration is to enable accelerated product development cycles, lower costs and more agile development, in particular for IoT designs. Our technology helps SoC developers across the chip and throughout the development flow, and this partnership reinforces the strength of that offering.”

Karel Masarik, CEO, Codasip: “This collaboration is an important one for our customers as they look to replace proprietary ISA’s with RISC-V. It allows them to quickly bring new SoCs to life, while providing functionality that exceeds what they have had access to in the past. Our Codix-Bk series of RISC-V processor IP, with its LLVM-based development environment, make integration quick and low risk, demonstrating the power of commitment to open standards.”

Ehud (Udi) Yuhjtman, EVP marketing and Sales at BaySand: “BaySand is a supporter of open source hardware and we are excited to be part of this great team that brings together an open source ISA complete solution. This RISC-V implementation with the UltraSOC tools is a game changer that will enable designers and companies to design at an affordable budget their own efficient IoT ASIC and system. We are working on the ASIC implementation which will be available for evaluation to our customers and partners. The complete solution and technology provides the ability to build custom designs with BaySand special UltraShuttle MPW and the Metal Configurable Standard Cell (MCSC)”.

Andrew Richards, CEO, Codeplay: “Codeplay is excited to see RISC-V gaining in popularity and we are keen to ensure software developers are correctly equipped to host their software applications on it. Codeplay is working extensively with machine learning solutions such as Google with TensorFlow, and we will bridge the gap on RISC-V with the open standards OpenCL and SYCL.”

Is Your Security Software Secure? Not So Much. One Reason? Vulnerable Open Source Components

New Flexera Software Vulnerability Update included 11 security products – many of which used open source components containing vulnerabilities

Maidenhead, U.K. – Nov. 29, 2016 – With security software serving on the front line – protecting individuals and enterprises from hacker threat – it may come up as a surprise that between August and October of 2016 – 11 security products were included on a list of products with the most software vulnerabilities.

Flexera Software, the leading provider of Software Vulnerability Management and open source security solutions, just released its Vulnerability Update[1] covering the Top 20 products with the most vulnerabilities in August, September and October, 2016. According to the report, of the 46 products appearing at least once in the list of top 20 products with the most vulnerabilities during those months, 11 were security-related products from vendors such as AlienVault, IBM, Juniper, McAfee, Palo Alto and Splunk.

Security Products Are Not Immune to Software Vulnerabilities
A vulnerability is simply a flaw in application code that, if left unpatched, can be exploited by hackers with malicious intent. Today’s report underscores the reality that all applications can contain vulnerabilities – even security software.

“It is important for organisations to understand that there will always be software vulnerabilities, and there will always be hackers with malicious intent, working to exploit those vulnerabilities,” said Kasper Lindgaard, Director of Secunia Research at Flexera Software. “The good news is that the vast majority of vulnerabilities have patches available on the day they are made public. This means that companies and individual PC users that implement a Software Vulnerability Management solution can minimise their risk of attack – and the consequences of stolen data.”

Open Source Components Pose Significant Software Vulnerability Risk
Flexera Software’s Secunia Research team reviewed the vulnerabilities in the security products named in today’s report. They found that many of the vulnerabilities within those security products were actually imbedded in open source components used within those products.

According to Jeff Luszcz, Vice President of Product Management for Flexera’s Software Composition Analysis solutions, software producers and Internet of Things (IoT) manufacturers routinely use open source components within their software code. “Open source components constitute as much as 50 percent of the global code base. And, as the Heartbleed open source vulnerability reminds us, vulnerable open source components built into software products can cause global disruption if they are not discovered and patched prior to delivering software products to customers,” said Luszcz. “Every software and IoT producer must understand these risks, and leverage technology to automate open source component scanning, governance and vulnerability management.”

You can download the Vulnerability Update here: http://www.flexerasoftware.com/vulnerability-update-oct2016?utm_source=Marketwired&utm_campaign=VulnUpdateAug-Oct2016&utm_medium=PR

[1] The Vulnerability Update is a recurring report based on data from Flexera Software’s Vulnerability Database. It provides a Top 20 per month of products with the most vulnerabilities recorded over a three month period, along with brief comments from Secunia Research at Flexera Software.

Star Micronics partners with iZettle to provide London’s licensed taxi drivers with TfL approved Card Payment Bundle

High Wycombe, UK, 29 November 2016: International POS printer manufacturer Star Micronics is pleased to announce that its SM-L200 mobile printer has been selected by iZettle to provide London’s licensed taxi drivers with a TfL approved card payment bundle that offers a range of key features and benefits. Following the requirement for taxi drivers to accept card and contactless payments as well as provide receipts for those payments upon request, iZettle has partnered with Star to provide the following bundle:

• iZettle Card Reader Pro Contactless
• Star SM-L200 Bluetooth receipt printer
• Card reader mount for passenger compartment
• Receipt printer mount for driver compartment

With iZettle Card Reader Pro Contactless, taxi drivers can accept all major credit cards (including American Express) as well as contactless payments through Apple Pay, Google Wallet and others. For receipting, the super compact lightweight SM-L200 Bluetooth printer from Star offers a high print speed, LCD display and 1.2m drop test capability. Beyond a low power usage, the advantages of BLE technology with this printer include simple installation given its auto pairing facility with multiple Bluetooth 4.0 Apple iOS devices.

As Annette Tarlton, Marketing Director, Star Micronics EMEA, states: “Star is delighted to be partnering with iZettle to provide London’s licensed taxi drivers with a reliable and cost effective card payment and printing bundle.”

Computacenter Increases Customer Proximity With Launch Of New China Service Center

Follows successful launches of 29 other service desks worldwide

London - 29 November, 2016: Computacenter, Europe’s preferred IT provider to enable users and their businesses, today announced the launch of a new International Service Centre based in the port city of Dalian in China’s north-eastern Liaoning Province.

The launch is part of Computacenter’s global right-shoring strategy and customer-centric DNA, launching Service Centres where customers most need them.

Mark Peter, Head of International Operations, Computacenter said: “This launch marks a new milestone for Computacenter and continues our ongoing roll-out of Service Centres and processes that not only improve our proximity to our customers, but also reduce cost, and increase efficiency. Our aim is to build and expand where our customers need us most.”

The customer-specific desk has been set up for a global healthcare leader in partnership with Beijing-based Gamutsoft Corporation - one of China's leading IT outsourcing service providers – leveraging Computacenter’s standard infrastructure and Shared Services Model. Support will be provided in native Mandarin, and adds to Computacenter’s existing support in the region, which includes a Shanghai-based Service Manager, and the International Service Centre in Kuala Lumpur (which remains the primary Service Centre for the APAC region).

Paul Anderson, Global Service Desk Director, Computacenter added: “The service desk will meet the demands of our global pharmaceutical customer and their 8,000 users in China. In the first day of service, we took over 750 calls with a total team of 40 service desk agents.”

Anderson explains “the new service desk uses Computacenter systems and processes and is measured by our KPIs and management operating system. This investment, combined with our self-service and knowledge management tools, ensures we can deliver highly scalable and highest quality services that flex to match peaks in demand.”

This latest service desk adds further capacity to Computacenter’s responsive IT support infrastructure which currently handles 750,000 incidents and requests each month, and 12.1 million emails and calls per year.

Computacenter global service centres deliver end-to-end user support to over 4.18 million users worldwide, helping organisations balance quality, cost and proximity. By providing seamless services from onshore, offshore and nearshore locations, Computacenter help customers maximise quality and minimise risk.

The focus on digital is set to remain the key trend in the IT industry for the next 12 months

London, UK – 29 November 2016 - Dimension Data, the global ICT solutions and services provider, today published its top IT predictions for 2017, and the focus on digital is set to remain the key trend in the industry for the next 12 months.

Dimension Data’s Chief Technology Officer, Ettienne Reinecke says digital is about building truly customer-centric business models on IT including the network, data centre, applications, and other infrastructure - which may be on-premise, or cloud-based. “Today, there’s no such thing as a digital strategy – just strategy in a digital world. And while the digital age is creating a degree of uncertainty for some organisations, it’s also opening the doors to exciting possibilities and ushering in an era of infinite potential.”

Reinecke cites ownership and access to data – and metadata – as a key theme. “In the year ahead, control and ownership of data and metadata will emerge as a point of discussion - and indeed contention.

That’s because data and metadata are the ‘gold dust’ that allow organisations to glean rich insights about customer behaviour. In addition, metadata allows organisations to identify specific behavioural patterns, derive business intelligence, and make informed business decisions,” Reinecke explains.

As a result, organisations are becoming increasingly protective of their metadata, and wary of who has access to it. “Organisations don’t just want ownership and control of their data for compliance reasons: they want it to perform analytics. We expect that this will trigger some interesting discussions between businesses and their cloud providers. For example, where are the boundaries with respect to ownership, especially around metadata. We foresee this issue resulting in a bit of ‘push and pull’ among the various parties.”

Other IT trends that Dimension Data predicts will make their mark in 2017 include:

• Intelligence is driving the predictive cybersecurity posture
Cybercrime is big business. Over the last few years, cybercriminals have been re-investing much of the ill-gotten gains into developing more sophisticated capabilities, using more advanced technologies. Despite ongoing innovation in the cybersecurity industry, much of the effort remains reactive. Cybersecurity will become more predictive, rather than proactive.

• Machines are being embedded in the workspace for tomorrow
A new generation is starting to show up at work, and they’re not millennials, or even Gen Z: they’re machines. And it won’t be much longer before holographics, augmented reality, and virtual reality begin to move from B2C into B2B. Also, over the next two to three years these technologies will drive a fundamental transformation of the workspace.

• The Internet of Things is delivering on the promise of big data
IoT will deliver on the promise of big data. Increasingly, big data projects are going through multiple updates in a single year – and the Internet of Things (IoT) is largely the reason. That’s because IoT makes it possible to examine specific patterns that deliver specific business outcomes, and this has to increasingly be done in realtime. This will drive a healthier investment, and faster return in big data projects.

• Container technology is the new disruptor in the data centre and a key enabler for hybrid IT
In 2017 we’ll see more widespread adoption of containers, but the transition to a fully containerised world will take few more years. In addition, we’ll see increasing adoption of network function virtualisation (NFV) when cloud-enabling existing networks, and for new networks to be architected with hybrid cloud in mind.

Visit dimensiondata.com to read more about Dimension Data’s 2017 IT predictions.

Panasonic partners with B2M Solutions to expand service offering through launch of Toughbook Smart Service

Panasonic provides enterprise clients with advanced analytics tools to improve mobile device performance, increase user productivity, and maximise ROI

Bracknell, UK. 29th November 2016: Panasonic Computer Products Solutions (“Panasonic”) and B2M Solutions, a software company whose products deliver valuable insights and actionable analytics for enterprise mobility customers, today announced a best of breed collaboration to expand Panasonic’s service offerings.

Powered by B2M Solutions, Panasonic’s Toughbook Smart Service, a scalable, cloud-based, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution, will provide organisations with the unique ability to gather and analyse data from mobile devices and proactively manage the devices’ health and utilisation in real time. Delivering unapparelled visibility of a business’ mobile estate, Toughbook Smart Service will capture, aggregate, analyse and report on device behaviour enabling better utilisation and maximising the return on investment. The service will also monitor data on network performance, application usage, disruptive events and battery life to help identify productivity improvements and cost savings.

“Through our partnership with B2M Solutions, we will be able to give customers valuable and actionable business intelligence collected in real-time from their mobile devices in the field,” said Rob Blowers, GM of Panasonic Computer Products Europe. “Mobile device performance analytics will enable organisations to identify root causes of issues and implement corrective actions. Real-time alerts to issues as they happen will correlate to the event that caused them, giving users the opportunity to find a solution before an issue becomes significant. Customers can choose to manage their estate through Toughbook Smart Service themselves, or utilise Panasonic to manage it on their behalf.”

Compatible with any mobile device management/enterprise mobility management (MDM/EMM) solution, Toughbook Smart Services benefits include:

Utilisation
The provision of full status visibility of each and every device enables businesses to identify under-utilised devices which can be redeployed to other parts of the organisation.

Network Monitoring & Data Usage
Businesses can monitor WLAN data activity to identify high usage areas and applications which could impact on device performance. Mobile data can also be monitored and measured highlighting heavy-use applications and users, and enabling mobile data contracts to be increased if required reducing heavy data coverage costs.

Application Usage
Mobile device performance analytics give companies a better understanding of applications installed on the deployed device advising them of which applications are being used the most and how this affects device performance and worker productivity.

Disruptive Events
Continuous analysis of device behaviour and real time alerts notify the customer of statistically relevant events in real-time, offering unprecedented insight into device disruptions and reboots. These analytics will identify devices experiencing the most disruptions and reboots, review real-time feedback on software patches and bug fixes and isolate user issues versus software or hardware faults, thus reducing the number of ‘no fault found’ repair requests.

Battery Monitoring
Battery monitoring provides information on battery performance, discharge rates, charging cycles and life expectancy based on learned patterns. This critical information allows customers to discover root causes of rapid battery discharges, proactively resolving battery issues to avoid unplanned downtime and the resulting impact on productivity.

B2M Solutions’ Global VP Sales & Marketing, Ron Caines, said, “As more companies shift business applications into the hands of workers in the field, they are looking beyond standard Mobile Device Management tools to gain improved visibility of how and where their devices are being used and how they are performing to enable them to maximise their return on investment. Our mobile device analytics software will help Panasonic meet this demand delivering better control to its customers’ existing hardware investments. We are excited to collaborate with such a well-established company that has a strong reputation in the mobile space.”

Toughbook Smart Service software will be available both at point of sale and at any time during the Toughbook or Toughpad devices’ lifecycle. Available within Panasonic’s existing line of distribution channels across the European Economic Area, in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish, Panasonic Toughbook Smart Service software will also be available as a fully managed service with monthly reports provided by Panasonic, or as a self-service portal for an estate of devices.

For details of Panasonic Toughbook and Toughpad solutions visit www.toughbook.eu

Colt House is new headquarters in centre of London’s tech hub

London, 29th November 2016 – Colt Technology Services’ continued transformation into a disruptive force, delivering high-bandwidth network services and a best in class customer experience, requires a refocus not just of strategy and culture, but also of location. As a result the business has moved to a newly refurbished headquarters in the heart of East London’s Tech City.

Born almost 25 years ago as City Of London Telecom, Colt has traditionally had a base close to the capital’s financial district. Surrounded by legal firms, financial services businesses and consultants, the company proved itself by serving the City, before looking further afield into Europe and Asia.

2016 has been a year of great change. In January, Colt welcomed Carl Grivner as CEO, and in November announced a major, system-wide network upgrade enabling customers to future proof their connectivity with 100Gbps bandwidth. The new premises at 20 Great Eastern Street allows Colt to move with the times, positioning itself close to London’s Silicon Roundabout, the heart of East London Tech City and UK home of tech start-ups.

London’s Deputy Mayor for Business, Rajesh Agrawal, commented on the move, saying: "Colt's decision to expand to new premises in the heart of Tech City is further evidence that London's strength as a tech hub keeps on growing. The capital's vibrant tech scene is the envy of Europe and Colt's continuing commitment is another sign that London is open to talent, innovation and entrepreneurship from around the world."

The move will also allow Colt to grow. The company is in the process of hiring over 300 new sales people, some of which will join the existing 700 UK employees at Colt House.

Carl Grivner, Colt CEO, said: “Colt has made a quarter of a century of investment in the City of London and for evidence of this you don’t have to look any further than in the streets where we have built our fibre.

“Colt recognises that the technological development incumbent on network operators is not just about reliability or meeting today’s needs. Our task is to prepare the world for enormously greater need for bandwidth through enabling the digital transformation of business. The future is about enabling gigabit speeds and high quality connectivity, across the city, the country and the world.”

Clear progress in being made. Until recently, City of London business tenants faced long negotiations with various parties each time they wanted to get broadband fibre installed. But earlier this year the City of London Corporation in partnership with Colt and other providers significantly reduced the time and cost it takes to get London businesses online, further driving the growth of digital enterprise.

Confirmit, Fine Research and Reckner Healthcare Partner to Assist Hurricane Matthew Victims

2,870 blankets and water supplies donated to Save the Children

London, UK, New York, NY, and Oslo, Norway: 29 November, 2016 – Fine Research, the Latin American fielding agency, in collaboration with Confirmit and Reckner Healthcare, launched an initiative to assist victims of Hurricane Matthew in Haiti. 2,870 doctors in the Americas, from Canada to Argentina, were surveyed about the preparedness of these countries for a natural disaster. For every completed survey, the equivalent of a blanket and a drum of water was donated to the victims through Save the Children mission in Haiti.

Confirmit, the leading global solutions provider for Customer Experience, Voice of the Employee and Market Research, donated its comprehensive end-to-end management platform, Confirmit Horizons, to fuel this programme and boost the number of surveys that could be completed within the initial investment from Fine.

“The Confirmit Horizons platform was easy for our team to use and the doctors taking the survey,” said Diego Casaravilla, managing partner at Fine Research. “User friendliness was a key need when searching for partners for this initiative. We wanted to make sure there were no technology issues that could hinder participants from completing the survey. We’re extremely grateful for Confirmit’s contribution.”

Key findings from the survey include:

• According to their fellow doctors, no country is well prepared to face a natural disaster.
• While Chileans, Americans and Canadians are slightly less negative about their own capabilities, Mexicans rate in the middle, and Brazilians and Argentinians are the most pessimistic.
• Consistent with this regional perception, a majority of physicians surveyed in each country have not received any specific training to cope with natural disaster events. Additionally, most hospital doctors stated no such training has been held at their workplace.

“We are absolutely delighted to help Fine Research with its initiative with Save the Children,” said Henning Hansen, Confirmit President and CEO. “While we typically are devoted to helping our clients’ businesses succeed, this donation is focused on helping those in need. We are proud to support Fine Research in its Haiti relief efforts by providing critical resources that would otherwise not exist for these children.”

For free access to the full report you may write to Diego Casaravilla, [email protected] or review a summary of the report on Confirmit’s blog.

Aachen/Germany, 28 November 2016 – Aspera, one of the world’s leading providers for Software Asset Management (SAM) solutions, has been named “Tool Provider of the Year 2016” by an independent jury as part of the ITAM Review Excellence Awards 2016. There were over 200 nominations from 25 countries for this year’s awards.

Aspera were recognized by the judging panel “for their relentless focus on customer value and innovation in the SAM space, continually striving to help customers assess cost and risk within their IT environments.”

Aspera has led the SAM industry over the last 16 years, continuously developing new SAM solutions. Its flagship product, SmartTrack, is the leading SAM platform on the market. Intended for large organizations with complex IT networks, SmartTrack’s product development is always evolving. Aspera is the only provider to organize annual roundtables on specific topics, giving customers a real opportunity to influence product development.

With a range of new solutions including License Control for SAP, Optimization, Simulation, and SAM Intelligence, Aspera helps its customers to achieve compliance and underpin cost-intensive decisions regarding software asset management while ensuring meticulous data quality.

“Congratulations to Novartis and Hoffmann-La Roche from Switzerland for also earning recognition at the awards,” said Olaf Diehl, Managing Director of Aspera. “I am very happy and proud Aspera is Tool Provider of Year. It shows that our expertise and detailed solution designs work are recognized as leading the SAM industry.”

Redgate SQL Clone beta brings the thinking behind Dolly the sheep to the database

Cambridge UK, 28 November – Redgate, the Cambridge UK based software company that develops trusted SQL Server tools, has launched the beta of its new database cloning tool, SQL Clone. The release marks a step-change in database provisioning by enabling databases to be cloned in seconds while saving up to 99% of disk space.

The new technology resolves a long-standing issue in software development, where developers need copies of production databases for use in development and test environments. Typically, this involves database administrators having to provision a copy of the database for each request, which takes up valuable time as well as disk space.

The result? Teams end up working on outdated versions of the database in a shared environment, rather than having the freedom to work on isolated local versions that can be created – and deleted – in seconds.

Given the growing size and complexity of databases, this has been regarded as a problem that simply has to be worked around. SQL Clone changes the landscape completely by enabling developers to have their own local copy of the database, and testers to have realistic versions of what the production database actually looks like.

Instead of spending hours provisioning different copies of the database for development, testing or diagnostics, SQL Clone creates a single data image of a live SQL Server database or backup, which is used as the source data from which the clones are derived. Clones can then be created almost instantly, time and again, with each clone taking up only about 40MB, even for databases of 2TB in size.

The clones work just like normal SQL Server databases and can be connected to and edited with any program. They can thus be used for accurate development and testing, or to diagnose issues in production, with developers having a realistic server environment and data set that doesn't waste disk space.

While SQL Clone is a new approach to replicating databases, it uses the virtualization technology built into 64-bit Windows, which is already tried, tested, and trusted. "That's probably its biggest advantage, even at beta stage," says Richard Macaskill, Product Manager. "This isn’t new technology, it's a new way of using the technology already out there."

The magic comes when developers make changes to the cloned database. Data is accessed from the original data image, and changes are saved locally. Nothing actually touches or affects the original database or backup file and the data image is also immutable. Instead, changes made to clones are stored in a local differencing file where the clone is located.

"That's where SQL Clone comes into its own," adds Richard Macaskill. "It means that, rather than developers having to share a copy of a database - with all the overhead and friction that entails - they can work with the database as they do with code, free to experiment, reverting changes at will, and sharing work when it's ready."

The development team at Redgate is now enhancing the tool so that when it's fully launched, users will be able to automate jobs using PowerShell.

• Independent analysis conducted by NBS System and ESV Digital confirms Intershop’s top position as e-commerce solutions provider
• Intershop Commerce Suite comes in first for B2B features, internationalization capabilities, and performance

Jena, Germany, November 28, 2016 – The latest benchmarking report for e-commerce solutions by NBS System and ESV Digital has ranked Intershop Communications as leader in the area of e-commerce solutions in France. Key findings based on the quantitative assessment of functionality across key business capabilities include:

• B2B: Intershop Commerce Suite is the best solution in the field of B2B e-commerce activities, offering specific features such as the ability to handle different payment periods and methods, recurring orders and catalog management according to order volumes or client requirements. It is able to handle almost any architecture complexity thanks to its flexibility.
• Internationalization: Intershop Commerce Suite offers the strongest state-of-the-art internationalization and localization capabilities supporting multi-store business models, seamlessly scaling to business abroad. It allows business a fast and easy setup and rollout of new regions, countries, brands, touchpoints and customer segments - all without IT involvement.
• IT: Intershop Commerce Suite scores best due to its performance capabilities in back-office and front-office stability in a multi-user set up and front-office speed for page rendering.

Jochen Wiechen, CEO at Intershop comments: “Even though it’s no surprise to see our Commerce Suite scoring best when benchmarked, we are always happy to see it resonating well in the market, be it among analysts, customers, or partners. This study confirms once more the proven strengths of our software and will serve those organizations well that look for a future-proof platform for their digitalization strategy.”

The independent analysis has been conducted with nearly 200 respondents including e-commerce solution users, integrators, and consultants. The results of the study have been published in the whitepaper “Choosing your e-commerce solution”, which aims to help decision makers choose the best e-commerce platform to support their business needs, whether they are a retailer, brand, pure player or B2B player. A free copy is available for download at http://www.intershop.com/nbs-esv-whitepaper.

Washington, D.C., USA. 28 November 2016: The Dynamic Spectrum Alliance today announced a new phase in its history, with the appointment of Kalpak Gude as the Alliance’s President. This exciting development comes at a time when the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance is witnessing continued growth, including the recent addition of 11 new members across four continents. At the same time, policy makers and regulators are recognizing the critical role that spectrum sharing now plays in helping them increase universal access, accommodate wireless data growth, and enable the Internet of Things.

Previous Executive Director, Professor H Nwana, has become Executive Director Emeritus, with the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance continuing to leverage his expertise as he will remain a spokesperson for the Alliance.

Having held several high-profile positions and gaining substantial insight into spectrum policy over an 18-year career, Mr. Gude is poised to lead the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance in the role as President.

“Kalpak’s deep and broad experience in government and the private sector means that he deeply understands the opportunities and challenges faced by spectrum policy makers, regulators, and the industry around the world. The wealth of experience Kalpak has to offer will enable the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance and its 50+ members to partner with governments on critical spectrum policy matters,” said Paul Garnett, Dynamic Spectrum Alliance Chairman of the Board and Director of Affordable Access Initiatives at Microsoft.

Prior to his appointment as President, Mr. Gude was responsible for all spectrum and government affairs as Vice President of Legal, Regulatory, at OneWeb, an organisation tackling the issue of affordable global connectivity. In this role, Mr. Gude worked with government regulators to accommodate a new global network through spectrum sharing techniques that protect incumbent services.

This international experience – coupled with time spent as Associate Bureau Chief at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in Washington, D.C., where he gained insight into complex political and regulatory areas – will be crucial for the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance as it drives policy forward whilst building business depth.

“Kalpak understands the direction the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance wants to take, and more importantly, he knows how to get us there,” added Garnett. “Over the coming years, Kalpak will play an integral role in the growth of the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance.”

Prior to his appointment at the FCC, Mr. Gude spent almost 14 years at Intelsat, (which acquired PanAmSat in 2002), where he led government and regulatory affairs and spectrum engineering departments in his role as Vice President and Deputy General Counsel.

“As the demand for wireless data grows yet the digital divide remains ever present and persistent, the need to find spectrum policy solutions continues to rise in urgency for regulators,” commented Mr. Gude. “In my role as President, I will endeavour to ensure that the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance will support regulators’ efforts for more robust and efficient use of spectrum. We are passionate about innovative solutions to global issues and believe in utilising spectrum efficiently to address spectrum demands and ease the digital divide.”

One of Kalpak Gude’s important tasks will be leading the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance’s fifth annual Global Summit, which takes place 9-11 May 2017, in Cape Town, South Africa.

For more information about the Global Summit, please visit http://dynamicspectrumalliance.org/global-summit/.

Openet launches Openet Accelerate: a new business unit for immediate virtualised services

Openet Accelerate offers an adjunct approach to virtualisation and key software components for automated networks

DUBLIN, Ireland - November 28th 2016 - Openet, a global leader in the supply of real-time BSS (business support systems), today launched Openet Accelerate, a dedicated business unit focused on delivering service capability using automated, virtualised and cloud based networks. Located in Openet’s Dublin headquarters, the new unit will harness the latest technological innovation while developing disruptive, virtualised next generation services including VoLTE and IoT.

Openet Accelerate is providing an adjunct approach to virtualisation for service providers through its pioneering Service Capsule offerings. These pre-integrated, pre-tested solutions enable CSPs to take advantage of NFV and cloud like deployments today, without the risks inherent with the massive transformation, procurement and organizational changes normally involved when adopting NFV.

Automated service provisioning, enabled by the business unit, will give service providers virtualisation benefits such as service agility and improved time-to-market for new services. This also allows providers to target new markets that were previously impossible due to the cost and difficulty of deployment.

Karin O’Shea, Executive Director of Openet Accelerate, “This new business unit is focused on the intelligent, business aware management of dynamic, automated software-centric networks to deliver end-to-end services. “Apart from our Service Capsule offerings, we provide the building blocks to enable CSPs, MVNx, enterprises, system integrators and virtual network functions vendors to solve specific problems when building their own solutions for automated software-centric networks”. In addition Openet Accelerate will provide strategic consultancy specialising in the business aware management of automated software-centric networks in areas such as use case innovation, NFV automation and VNF on-boarding.

To find out more about Accelerate, visit accelerate.openet.com