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MUMBAI, INDIA: Apical, distributor for solution based product line, today announced that over 200 third party apps are available in newly launched Thecus App center.

NAS systems have evolved through the years from simple storage solutions to fulfilling a diverse array of roles. This has been possible due to two reasons.

Firstly, the hardware has grown and has been able to provide the necessary processing power for additional performance. Secondly, due to the active and constant feedback of the IT community on NAS software modules.

The Thecus App Center supports not only newest Thecus models, but also the older models as well. Thecus App center supports these third party apps for the other devices from Thecus as well.

Some of the apps available on Thecus App center are Joomla, McAfee antivirus, Plex Media Server.

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BANGALORE, INDIA: IBM found that style and design along with price accounted for the majority of the social buzz when it comes to purchasing preferences, indicating Indian consumers shift from being highly price conscious.

In the era of Big Data, with the continued explosion of blogs, online forums and other social media channels, social listening analyzes unfiltered attitudes and actions, distinguishes between sincerity and sarcasm and even predicts trends as they surface online.

"A deep analysis of social media provides sign posts of the critical hits and misses. Marketers can use this data to have a view of how customers can be understood as individuals," said Sivaramakrishnan Narayanan, director, Business Analytics and Optimization, Global Business Services, IBM.

IBM's latest report points out consumers' sophisticated way of leveraging social media; researching products, prices, promotions and reviews to decide on purchasing decisions.

IBM identified top categories and sub-categories of products based on consumers wishes recorded in iWish which was created by IBM, inviting consumers to record their product wish-lists. The wish-lists were then mapped to discussions and sentiment on various popular social media platforms to understand and analyze conversations. In all, 151,000 conversation strings were tracked. Further, predictive modeling analytics was applied to analyze key influencing factors that prompted consumers to buy a particular product.

Following are the key trends that emerged from the IBM Social Sentiment Index for consumer shopping preferences:

Top consumer purchases- Out of the top 10 products on consumers wish list, over 75 percent had wished for smartphones, laptops, bikes and SUVs.

Looking beyond price tags- Underscoring Indian consumers move away from being price conscious, style and design emerged as the single most important variable governing preferences for formal wear. Price had very limited impact in this segment.

Top consumer preferences- Quality and price accounted for almost three quarters of influencing attributes when purchasing consumer electronics. Style, design and price jointly drove decisions for consumer durables - together impacting 46 percent of preference decisions. Style and design was also an important determinant for purchase of automobiles.

Automobile deals- Customer care and price featured above style and design for preferences of four-wheelers. Nearly half of the consumer preferences for two-wheelers were influenced by size and space of the vehicle. Price was a criterion for only 26 percent.

Affinity quotient - Notable amongst the various conversations were affinity between words - design and consumer durables; loan and travel and hospitality, perhaps indicating consumer's preference to purchase various travel packages customized to accommodate the festive holidays.

"Upon studying the commentary on social media, it was found that users' and prospective users' of products and services were conversing more about style whereas recommenders were mostly focused on price in their commentary," added Narayanan.

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BARCELONA, SPAIN: Avnet Technology Solutions, the global IT solutions distribution leader and an operating group of Avnet, Inc. recently unveiled its Healthcare Analytics Platform which will initially run HP's HAVEn big data architecture.

Developed by Avnet Services, the Healthcare Analytics Platform will provide a flexible solution to help healthcare providers rapidly integrate medical, operational and financial data from multiple systems to create a single, unified and secure view of patient information.

"We drew upon our deep healthcare and systems integration expertise to develop a platform to help healthcare providers drive efficiency to lower costs while improving patient care," said Pat Stewart, vice president and general manager, IT Solutions for Avnet Services in the Americas.

"Avnet's new Healthcare Analytics Platform speeds the integration of disparate data to deliver useful analysis, visualizations, reports and information. By building the platform to run on HP HAVEn, we were able to provide the powerful analytics that healthcare providers need to obtain intelligence from this data to save lives."

Avnet's Healthcare Analytics Platform enables a cohesive view of a patient, regardless of where the data is stored within a healthcare provider's infrastructure.

For healthcare providers, the combination of the Healthcare Analytics Platform and HP HAVEn delivers the ability to rapidly integrate systems across multiple operational and clinical areas such as cardiology, oncology, orthopedics, geriatrics and neurosciences.

"With the introduction of the Healthcare Analytics Platform, Avnet is turning our vision into a reality and providing a complete solution that channel partners can use to solve one of the most challenging IT issues facing healthcare providers," said Harry Gould, vice president of WW Alliances and Channel, Software, HP.

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LONDON, UK: The fight to ensure Google cannot evade British justice goes before the English High Court on Monday, when a group of British internet users take action against the internet giant.

The claimants argue that Google breached their privacy in England and should be held to account here too.

In their claim, filed in London, the group of claimants, known as Safari Users Against Google's Secret Tracking, have accused Google of bypassing security settings on the Safari internet browser in order to track their online browsing and to target them with personalised advertisements.

But Google has said that the claim should have been brought in the United States, where it is based, and will argue against it being heard in England at a jurisdiction hearing on Monday.

Judith Vidal-Hall, one of the claimants argues that Google should answer to British justice. "Google is very much here in the UK. It has a UK specific site. It has staff here. It sells adverts here. It makes money here. It is ludicrous for it to claim that, despite all of this very commercial activity, it won't answer to our courts. If consumers are based in the UK and English laws are abused, the perpetrator must be held to account here, not in a jurisdiction that might suit them better. Google's preference that British consumers should travel all the way to California to seek redress for its wrongdoings is arrogant, immoral and a disgrace. We will fight this attempt to dismiss the case robustly."

Google was sued for the same privacy breach in the United States in August last year, and had to pay a fine of $22.5 million to the US Federal Trade Commission for violating its order that the company would not misrepresent "the extent to which consumers can exercise control over the collection of their information." Google did not admit to wrongdoing in the FTC case, but said the tracking was accidental.

Despite this, the Attorney General of New York announced last month that the company had agreed to pay $17 million to settle charges that it secretly tracked some consumers' activities on the Web, even after promising such tracking had been blocked.

Across Europe, data regulators are considering steps to reign in Google's continued gathering and use of private data, but so far Google has not be held to account in Europe for its breach of users' privacy. Olswang's Dan Tench represents the claimants:

"British users have a right to privacy protected by English and European laws. Google may weave complex legal arguments about why the case should not be heard here, but it has a legal and moral duty to users on this side of the Atlantic not to abuse their wishes. Google must be held to account here, even though it would prefer to ignore England."

The Google Governance Campaign has been set up by campaigners associated with the Safari Users Against Google's Secret Tracking group. Its mission is to campaign for better corporate behaviour by Google in the UK, respecting Britons' right to privacy and Britain's right to taxation on any profits generated in the country.

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PALO ALTO, USA: Space Systems/Loral (SSL), and Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited (AsiaSat) today announced the signing of a construction agreement for a high power, multi-mission satellite, AsiaSat 9, to be used for television broadcast, private networks and broadband services across the Asia Pacific. The satellite is expected to be launched in 2016.

"SSL and AsiaSat have developed a successful working relationship based on our mutual focus on quality, reliability and value," said John Celli, president of SSL. "This is our fifth satellite contract award from AsiaSat since 2006, and we feel there is no better endorsement of our success than this repeat business."

Designed to operate in C, Ku, and Ka-band, AsiaSat 9 will be located at 122 degrees East Longitude where it will replace AsiaSat 4. AsiaSat 9 will provide service to multiple markets with more active transponders and higher power performance than the current satellite.

"We can depend on our trusted partner SSL to build the highly reliable satellites that have helped us earn a reputation for quality service and technical excellence," said William Wade, president and chief executive officer of AsiaSat. "We are very pleased that the AsiaSat 9 project is underway and once launched, it will greatly expand our ability to serve the Asia-Pacific region with higher power and multi-beam coverage."

The satellite is based on the SSL 1300 space-proven platform, which has a long history of reliability and provides the power and flexibility to support a broad range of applications and technology advances. The AsiaSat 9 spacecraft is designed with the flexibility to include a weather sensor, at a future date.

AsiaSat's two new satellites AsiaSat 6 and AsiaSat 8, scheduled for launch in the first half of 2014, are also built by SSL.

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BANGALORE, INDIA: Riversand Technologies Inc., Master Data Management (MDM) solution provider, Product Information Management (PIM), and Data Quality Solutions, today announced that its customer Schneider Electric's Building Business (SEBB), part of the $22 Billion Schneider Electric company, has added Riversand's Media Asset Management (MAM) Module to its license of Riversand's MDMCenter.

Schneider Electric's Building Business has been using for Riversand's MDMCenter for Product Information Management (PIM) since 2010, said a press relase.

By deploying Riversand's MAM module, Schneider Electric now has the ability to access related documents and other Media assets such as images, documents, drawings, flyers, audio and video clips associated with a product directly from the MDMCenter record, it added.

"Riversand's MAM module is a highly effective web-based application for management, manipulation and distribution of media assets," said a senior Schneider Electric Buildings Business representative. "It allows us to centrally catalog, store, retrieve, enhance and distribute large collections of our media assets."

"Increasing the scope of our Product Information Management (PIM) capabilities powered by Riversand allows us to scale for future growth, whether organically or through acquisition. Riversand's MDM system is part of a larger strategy supporting tools and other systems in the future," he added.

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LOS ANGELES, USA: With the holidays in full swing, it's only natural for businesses to focus on consumer sales and the year-end bottom line.

However, Southern California Internet marketing company Cyberset Corp. is suggesting that businesses keep track of long-term goals when it comes to web marketing, especially regarding their web site's traffic.

"Even many web sites operated by very successful businesses are underutilized and may fail to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by national, international, and local Internet marketing," said a company release.

To put it simply, these are sites that are not fully optimized for search engines and are failing to attract as many potential customers as they could over the long-term. That's where the farsighted online marketing services offered by Cyberset have made a tremendous difference for a very wide variety of clients.

Of course, businesses may seek a shorter term burst of attention during the holidays and throughout the year. Cyberset frequently manages pay-per-click ad campaigns and has proven that they can be extremely useful for attracting a large burst of targeted visitors to a web site, with highly lucrative results.

No matter how successful, however, pay-per-click ads have limited long-term power. Cyberset's approach to search engine optimization (SEO), on the other hand, has been proven to produce solid long-term results simply by providing search engines with the kind of quality unique content they are looking for, and lots of it.

Such highly touted algorithms as Google's Hummingbird are essentially set up to determine that web pages answer the queries posed by users by running tests of quality, originality, and relevance. Cyberset employs a team of outstanding web marketing experts, web developers, content writers, and graphic designers, all of whom are dedicated to providing a steady stream of content that meets the exacting criteria enforced by search engine algorithms and the web crawlers they send out in search of high quality content. This is no quick fix, but a long-term process which can gradually move an under-visited site toward the top of its category.

Cyberset's content driven approach to SEO has proven effective over the long-term for countless clients in nearly all areas of business. Nevertheless, the company also provides a full range of web and marketing services that includes web development, video marketing, graphic design, as well as social media and mobile marketing. Observers agree that, for good results in the both the short-term and the longer-term, Cyberset's marketing techniques have been unmatched.

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BANGALORE, INDIA: Yahoo India today announced its 2013 Year in Review, a look back at the biggest trends of the year in India, based on millions of searches users did on Yahoo as well as the editorial selection of what users read, recommended and shared on the Yahoo network.

Yahoo's Year in Review is an annual release in India since 2008, reflecting trends and nuances that captured the imagination of online India through the year.

The 2013 wrap is a medley of incredible newsmakers, historic milestones, box-office dramas, tumultuous finances, contested policies, sporting greats, shocking revelations, nature's fury and enduring celebrities, said a press release.

The trends this year clearly indicate all-consuming interest in Politics, not surprising given the upcoming general elections. BJP's prime ministerial candidate and Gujarat CM Narendra Modi or NaMo as he is being increasingly referred to, quite predictably tops the ‘Newsmaker of the Year' list, dislodging contender Arvind Kejriwal, who was the top newsmaker of 2012.

Lines blurred between politicians and celebrities, when Narendra Modi featured in the list of the ‘Most Searched Personalities' category, coming in the tenth position, while the other nine were held by Bollywood leading ladies.

For a nation obsessed with cricket, 2013's ‘Biggest Cricketing Moment' was our very own ‘Master Blaster' Sachin Tendulkar hanging up his boots. The historic moment had the nation in thrall, and of course netizens read, shared and searched all they could on one of the greatest cricketers in the history of sports.

In a rather ironic flip, the same year saw the IPL spot fixing scandal tarnish some of the most promising, and well-known cricketers in the country. In the midst of all the emotion and the controversies, Virat Kohli continued his stellar run to establish himself as the ‘Cricketer of the Year'.

Finance and economics ruled several debates this year, placing Raghuram Rajan, the newly appointed Governor of Reserve Bank of India, bang in the spotlight. He not only topped the Finance Newsmakers of list, but also featured as one of the Top Newsmakers of 2013.

The politics of policies seem to be on the minds of netizens with the Food Security Bill, the Land Acquisition Bill and the Pension Bill featuring in the ‘Most Widely Discussed Financial Events Online' this year. The Top Newsmakers list, which usually moves around Politics, Cricket and Entertainment, featured another surprise entry with CNR Rao, Head of the Prime Minister's Scientific Advisory Council, whose Bharat Ratna award and the ensuing row on the comment on politicians ‘nonchalant attitude towards science' earned him his space in the lime light.

Indians turned out to be very enthusiastic about travel as searches on Yahoo revealed. Users searched for offbeat destinations, along with the usual suspects placing Tranquebar at Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu and Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh amongst Most Searched Destinations in 2013.

Other themes which dominated the daily habits of online users in India include International sports, Scams and controversies, Most shocking photos and videos of 2013, Video themes of 2013, Cuisine moments amongst others.

Click here for more details!

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ARMONK, USA: IBM today announced a definitive agreement to acquire Emeryville, CA-based Aspera, Inc. Aspera's technology helps companies securely speed the movement of massive data files around the world. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Licensed to clients and partners either in the cloud or on premise, Aspera's high-speed transfer technology reduces transmission times for large files or data sets by up to 99.9 percent - potentially cutting a 26 hour transfer of a 24 gigabyte file, sent halfway around the world, down to just 30 seconds.

Aspera's patented fasp technology overcomes inherent bottlenecks in broadband wide area networks that slow the transfer of extremely large files, such as high-definition video or scientific research files, over distance.

Companies today are struggling to manage increasing volumes of structured and unstructured data created by everything from sensors to social media. They must accelerate the velocity of sending and receiving this data to improve competitiveness in a variety of ways - including the ability to more quickly uncover valuable business insights, bring products to market faster and improve employee productivity.

This becomes even more critical with the growing adoption of cloud computing, where companies need a more effective way to transport extremely large files to and from cloud platforms. Aspera moves Big Data to, from and within the cloud faster than traditional methods while providing security, bandwidth control and predictability.

"Our experience working with thousands of clients on Big Data projects tells us that companies can better compete and win when they can quickly extract value from massive volumes of data," said John Mesberg, vice president, B2B and Commerce Solutions, IBM.

"With this acquisition, IBM addresses a key challenge for globally integrated enterprises by allowing them to move large data files much faster to the individuals who need them, wherever in the world they may be," added Mesberg.

"Our team has redefined how the world's biggest data can be moved quickly, securely and reliably around the world," said Michelle Munson, president and co-founder, Aspera. "By tapping into IBM's innovative capabilities and global resources, we will solve ever expanding data movement challenges for our customers now and in the future."

Aspera advances the transfer of large files where traditional network protocols limit speed and reliability. Typical data transfers over TCP/IP are hampered by network delays or packet loss, even over the fastest broadband networks.

By combining Aspera with the power of cloud computing, customers have a practical way to transport big data files to and from the cloud. Aspera makes cloud computing even faster, more predictable and more cost effective for big data transfers such as enterprise storage backup, sharing virtual images or bursting to the cloud for increased computing capacity.

Its fasp technology is licensed to many leading cloud computing services and will be integrated with IBM's recently acquired SoftLayer cloud infrastructure later next year.

This acquisition builds on IBM's Smarter Commerce initiative by allowing businesses to accelerate their digital supply chains between partners and suppliers.

This also extends IBM's market-leading capabilities in Managed File Transfer with a complementary set of capabilities to help enterprises further gain control and oversight of their data transfers.

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MOUNTAIN VIEW, USA: Companies are recognizing the value of social media as a marketing and brand management tool, as well as customer service and support channel.

Social media is also becoming a core consumer and business-user forum. Consequently, social media analytics emerged as a popular tool to measure social-site traffic, but more importantly, to obtain meaningful, actionable and timely insights, said a report released by Frost & Sullivan.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan's Analyzing Customers' Social Voices research finds the most important trend in social media analytics is cross-channel integration. Organizations are beginning to integrate social media analytics with speech, text and Web analytics to cover all customer touch points.

"Social media analytics can uncover unique or otherwise difficult to obtain information on consumer behavior and the broader market," said Frost & Sullivan information and communication technologies industry analyst Brendan Read.

"It is gaining further acceptance as companies execute omni-channel strategies to provide a consistent, high quality, profitable customer experience across channels."

Social media analytics is also used by businesses to shape other corporate functions that impact marketing and customer services, such as network security. For instance, banking and insurance firms are listening for signs of fraud and hacking, such as when individuals brag on social media about duping a particular company or cracking their network security.

However, certain issues may prevent companies from employing social media analytics solutions. The most critical matters are whether and to what degree social media sentiment accurately reflects the broader customer base. Moreover, customers' stated sentiments can be swayed by the desire for explicit rewards and by competitors who want to negatively impact other brands.

In addition, social media budgets remain small as enterprises do not fully understand the value of social analytics. Some social analytics tools are too expensive, which deters uptake. Frost & Sullivan expects this to change as more firms realize the importance of using social media in marketing initiatives.

Another challenge is the small size and lack of training of the social media teams in companies. While social media managers are skilled in the art of social communication, few of them have the analysis skills to understand the vast amounts of social data generated or to connect that data to other channels.

"Social media analytics solutions must be intuitive to use and must generate reports rapidly to help companies detect, assess and act quickly on issues and opportunities," concluded Read. "The solution should present synthesized reports, encompassing summaries of key topics from all sources, but with the added ability to filter out each feedback channel."

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COCONUT CREEK, USA: VUE Software, provider of distribution and producer management solutions for the insurance industry announced today that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont (BCBSVT) has gone live with VUE Software's latest version of VUE Distribution Management Suite to update their technology systems and meet new demands of financial reporting requirements for PPACA.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont is the state's oldest and largest private health insurer providing coverage for about 180,000 Vermonters, and a long-standing client of VUE Software. BCBSVT selected VUE Software and went live in 2008 with a licensed version of VUE Producer Management, VUE Producer Compensation, and VUE Benefit Summary Tool solutions.

In order to automate the 2011 PPACA reporting requirements for reporting medical loss ratio (MLR) by market type they chose to upgrade to the newest and more robust VUE platform that included the functionality necessary to calculate and report commission payments by market type.

BCBSVT chose to upgrade to the latest VUE platform in order to take advantage of the web based technology, integration with the ancillary VUE systems (Benefit Summary Tool) and a more user friendly interface for maintaining broker license, payments, and commission schedules.

The new version provides increased flexibility and improved SmartVUE tools, document management, workflow and rules engines, along with a robust integration management. BCBSVT no longer has to manually calculate the inputs for medical loss ratio by market type in accordance with the new guidelines for PPACA.

"BCBSVT has been using VUE Software's solutions since 2008 including VUE Benefit Summary Tool. They trust VUE Software because of our domain expertise and hands-on approach to service. The transition was easy since we basically speak the same language", said Rajasekhar Jarubula, implementation manager for VUE Software.

VUE Software's platform was able to tie everything together needed for BCBSVT to effectively reach their business goals with one thing in mind: to satisfy their customers' needs and assist in promoting success.

Ellen Yakubik, chief marketing officer, says: "BCBSVT has been a long-time VUE customer when we implemented our initial VUE Commission application to automate the organization's broker commission and maintenance process. Since that time, VUE Software has supported our changing business needs to ensure that commissions are calculated, reported and paid accurately to our broker community."

"This new version of VUE Compensation Management enables us to fully support PPACA reporting, while streamlining the broker maintenance and commission processing activity on the latest version of SQL and web server technology. VUE's support staff continues to be an extension of our internal staff that we rely on often to assist with solutions to our changing business needs," added Yakubik.

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WASHINGTON, USA: Modus, a leading Discovery Intelligence Firm, today announced the release of Modus Operandi, the most recent addition to its advanced suite of Discovery Intelligence solutions.

Integrated directly within the review tool, Modus Operandi is an advanced workflow system that enables enterprise customers and law firms to quickly target relevant data sets, visualize critical data in graphical format and make intelligent business decisions prior to review.

"Many of our customers spend considerable hours and millions of dollars in eDiscovery costs because of the complexity and fear associated with data targeting. Customers are often stuck with ‘out of the box' data retrieval and review processes that encumber the flexibility that data should afford them," said Abtin Buergari, CEO of Modus.

"In response to countless customer requests, we created Modus Operandi. Modus Operandi seamlessly integrates ECA with flexible review workflows, while providing customers a clear view of case disposition early on in the eDiscovery process through advanced visualization of data retrieval and text analysis techniques," added Buergari.

As the volume of electronically stored information continues to dramatically grow, mastering the process, evaluating review practices and correctly applying technology is more critical than ever. Modus Operandi gives users control of the eDiscovery process by providing the environment, training, and information necessary to make smart decisions at each step of the process through a single easy-to-use interface.

Modus Operandi benefits:

* Ability to Target Data Sets to Promote Relevant Information with Modus Promote Technology
* Visualize Data Quickly and Easily Via Enhanced Interface Tools and Reports
* Gain Ongoing Transparency and Continual Case Assessment
* Conduct Efficient Search Term, Email, and Metadata Analysis
* Ensure Data and Process Defensibility

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HOBOKEN, USA: A new article from eMazzanti Technologies, an IT support and computer consultant in the New York City area, articulates the business rationale for choosing external IT help from a Managed Services Provider (MSP). The article is called, "Why you need a managed services provider."

"Managed services can be generally defined as outsourcing day-to-day management responsibilities," said Jennifer Mazzanti, president, eMazzanti Technologies. "In the computer world, the definition is more specific and usually means the 24x7 monitoring and the day-to-day IT administrative duties of a whole network."

Why a managed services provider is needed

Information technology (IT) systems are expected to meet high standards of operation, while offering 24/7 availability, security, and performance. In today's environment, a business has to keep pace with the constant changes in IT, performance demands, and pressure to deliver competitive IT functionality. To meet these challenges, many organizations consider outsourcing their IT activities to be an attractive option.

What is a managed services provider?

A Managed Services Provider (MSP) lets a company delegate specific IT operations to them. The MSP is then responsible for monitoring, managing and/or problem resolution for the IT systems and functions.

Managed services providers offer services such as:

* Alerts for virus and malware attacks; potential hardware and software issues
* Data backup and recovery for different devices (desktops, notebooks, servers, etc.)
* Software Patch management
* Data Security

Basic services often start with a monitoring service, which notifies a company of problems, but the company must resolve them on its own. More intensive services cover everything from alerts through problem resolution.

MSPs act as an extension of your IT department, taking care of routine IT infrastructure monitoring and management around the clock and freeing up your IT staff to focus on more important projects. An MSP proactively monitors and maintains your systems in order to help you avoid problems and downtime.

Outsourcing IT is not like outsourcing other services: the company maintains control of its IT. It decides what it wants the provider to take care of and what is handled internally by the company. In addition, the MSP subscription model gives the company more budget predictability.

Internal IT vs. MSPs

Sometimes it appears the easiest way to handle IT needs is by dedicating resources to having an in-house team of IT professionals. While this may seem like the most fiscally responsible move, it can end up costing more than hiring an MSP.

A technology professional with five years of experience may be worth $70,000+ a year. That $70,000 salary only gets one person, not a team of professionals with expertise and knowledge.

When a company hires its own IT staff, there are also challenges scheduling around vacation, training, and illness. An MSP provides full time IT coverage, but vacations, illness, and other absences don't affect needed support.

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MANCHESTER, USA: Dyn, leader in Internet performance solutions, announced today it has acquired ReadyStatus, a tool that notifies customers of planned and unplanned service interruptions, thereby creating improved communication between end users and companies.

The company has many plans for this new service, one of which includes integrating ReadyStatus with Dyn Managed DNS advanced feature Traffic Director, so if a company's site goes down, their homepage can automatically failover to a status update page and end users won't be left in the dark. Dyn customers should expect general availability and complete integration into the future product suite in the next year.

"We are committed to helping our customers manage the performance of their service delivery platforms," said Scott Hilton, Dyn EVP, Product. "Dyn technology focuses on optimized user experience: reliability, speed, and control. In today's transparent digital age, we believe monitoring, reporting, and proactive and automated communications are a necessity."

The acquisition continues Dyn's laser-focused commitment to Internet performance, emboldened throughout 2013 by a brand repositioning effort, two additional company acquisitions, and a recruiting strategy of the best and brightest minds behind today's Internet infrastructure.

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LAS VEGAS, USA: Social Media Gateways, Inc. (SMG), has declared 2013 as a banner year for their sSnapp! social commerce (sCommerce) platform. sSnapp! has already become the social commerce tool of choice for over 100 companies and major brands this year.

Across the country, businesses are experiencing increased revenue, greater customer loyalty, and a broader customer base as a direct result of using sSnapp!

"We are thrilled by the quick results our clients are achieving within their businesses through utilization of the sSnapp! platform," states SMG CEO and founder, Moses Kusasira. "Our proven technology provides the best enterprise platform for social commerce and big data analytics that companies require for determining the ROI of their advertising and marketing dollars."

Teaming with brands primarily in the retail and hospitality sectors, and with companies such as New Jersey's Performance Marketing, sSnapp! technology is the best of breed system with multi-enterprise, omnichannel capabilities. In addition, it offers real time business rule configuration and sophisticated analytics with data that is actionable.

Moving into 2014, SMG will be introducing major enhancements to the sSnapp! technology and brand positioning. To learn more about Social Media Gateways, visit SocialMediaGateways.com. To learn more about sSnapp!, visit sSnapp.com.

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BANGALORE, INDIA: Tally Solutions Pvt. Ltd., India's leading business management software company, has collaborated with the National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBUD) under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India to offer a three-month ‘Computer Accounting' course covering all facets of Tally.ERP 9.

Both the organizations aim to enhance India's skilled manpower by providing a real time experience of Tally.ERP 9 to students. On getting placed, these trained students would in turn empower enterprises and make them more competitive.

Commenting on the development, Shoaib Ahmed, president, Tally Solutions said, "At Tally, our focus has always been to make the youth job ready and this would be one of our initiatives in that direction. The programme shall cater to the need to create skilled IT professionals in the SMB sector thus leveraging the tremendous potential that the Tally product has generated across the industry, contributing to economic growth at macro level. Our collaboration with NIESBUD is strong evidence to that commitment"

Over the past few years, there has been an increasing demand for Tally trained professionals across India. These training programs would cater to the immediate demand for Tally trained professionals across the country. Apart from the above, Tally Solutions will conduct ‘Train the Trainer' programmes for the faculties at NIESBUD who in turn would educate students across the country. NIESBUD has identified 200 locations under the said training programme.

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FAIRFAX, USA: By four-to-one margin organizations in the electronic payments industry believe that the U.S. payment system should begin migrating to "real-time" settlement of transactions.

That's the conclusion of a recent member survey conducted by the Electronic Funds Transfer Association, a leading trade group representing financial institutions, processors and others within the payments industry.

Real-time settlement is generally acknowledged to be settlement of electronic financial transactions without any waiting period following the processing of the transactions.

The 12 regional banks that comprise the Federal Reserve System are currently engaged in an effort with the payments industry to determine if moving to real-time settlement is feasible.

Among the other findings in the EFTA survey:

* 87 percent of respondents believe that achieving real-time settlement is a realistic goal.

* 70 percent of respondents believe the industry can modify existing, legacy systems to achieve real-time payments, rather than creating new infrastructure.

* 60 percent of respondents support the idea of developing a centralized directory of account and routing numbers to expedite settlement.

More than half of respondents believe that the Fed banks should set deadlines for industry to convert to real-time settlement.

"Real-time payments will increase the efficiency of our payment systems," said Kurt Helwig, president and CEO of the Electronic Funds Transfer Association. "It is important for us to work with the Fed Banks in order to adapt to changing technology in order to remain competitive within the global markets."

While EFTA members were overwhelmingly supportive of the concept of moving to real-time payments, the survey did reveal some concerns over fraud, cost and control.

More than 60 percent of respondents expressed concern over the ability to manage fraud within a real-time settlement framework.

By a like percentage respondents thought that the electronic funds industry, not government, should lead the migration to real-time settlement, and that the Fed should conduct a cost-benefit analysis prior to moving forward.

"We support the Fed in its effort to determine the feasibility of this concept," said Helwig. "However, there are a lot of details in the areas of fraud abatement, ROI and control to work out before you can get from concept to sub-second settlement."

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