Tuesday, November 25, 2008
McAfee Expands Through Acquisition
McAfee and Secure Computing has reached an agreement to merge. I follow McAfee because I strongly recommend their hosted security package, Total Protection Service. I and McAfee believe that this acquisition will enhance their product offerings and base. Secure Computing has developed appliances and hosted services for filtering email and limiting Internet access.
A controversial portion of the company's business is providing software to the countries of Iran and Saudi Arabia. They use the software to block Internet access to pornography, political dissent, and religious dissent. The Dallas Morning News has a great story about the struggle between censoring Internet access and circumventing those roadblocks in tyrannical regimes.
Limiting Internet access has become paramount for nearly every business large or small. With the amount of entertainment and distractions available on the Internet it is a valid concern. A couple of years ago it was concerns about pornography and shopping. Today with the quick adoption of online applications the distractions could range from banking to paying bills to catching up on TV shows.
A controversial portion of the company's business is providing software to the countries of Iran and Saudi Arabia. They use the software to block Internet access to pornography, political dissent, and religious dissent. The Dallas Morning News has a great story about the struggle between censoring Internet access and circumventing those roadblocks in tyrannical regimes.
Limiting Internet access has become paramount for nearly every business large or small. With the amount of entertainment and distractions available on the Internet it is a valid concern. A couple of years ago it was concerns about pornography and shopping. Today with the quick adoption of online applications the distractions could range from banking to paying bills to catching up on TV shows.
Labels: mcafee, Secure Computing, security
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Present.ly - Another Business Version of Twitter
A reader posted a comment to our recent Yammer post about another option Present.ly. I loved the question feature and the ability to attach files to messages. Present.ly looks like a good alternative to Yammer for businesses and other groups. Like Yammer, Present.ly has a good over view video on their site.
I did not include this possibly controversial point in my yammer post. I debated about including it, but I am going to go for it. You could run into problems in getting users for these services dependent upon the age of your coworkers. I discovered that older workers are generally not interested in these types of communications platforms. You may hear the same comments that I heard such as, "Why don't I just walk over and talk to these people or call a meeting?" I hope that your mileage will vary in your company. I think that this type of platform could assist coworkers in sharing information and resources which could help a company grow and compete more effectively.
I did not include this possibly controversial point in my yammer post. I debated about including it, but I am going to go for it. You could run into problems in getting users for these services dependent upon the age of your coworkers. I discovered that older workers are generally not interested in these types of communications platforms. You may hear the same comments that I heard such as, "Why don't I just walk over and talk to these people or call a meeting?" I hope that your mileage will vary in your company. I think that this type of platform could assist coworkers in sharing information and resources which could help a company grow and compete more effectively.
Labels: micro-blogging, present.ly, social networking, twitter, yammer
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Yammer - The Business Version of Twitter
You may or may not be familiar with Twitter. Twitter is what is called a micro-blogging site. It allows you to post short messages that answer the questions - what are you doing? You can access twitter via the Twitter web site, your mobile phone, or a number of desktop applications. The messages called tweets are received by your followers and you receive messages from those that you have chosen to follow.
Twitter does have some shortfalls. It is by no means private which rules it out for business. Anyone can choose to follow your twitter activity. Twitter also does not have function to create groups.
Yammer answers these problems. You sign up for Yammer using your corporate email account. The only people allowed to follow you are those with the same email domain extension such as yourcompany.com. You can also create groups and easily follow threads. Yammer is accessible via their web site, applications for various smartphones, and standard cell phones. They also offer a desktop application.
The Yammer web site has a great introductory video that demonstrates how to use the site in real world applications. The application is free unless you want more advanced features.
Twitter does have some shortfalls. It is by no means private which rules it out for business. Anyone can choose to follow your twitter activity. Twitter also does not have function to create groups.
Yammer answers these problems. You sign up for Yammer using your corporate email account. The only people allowed to follow you are those with the same email domain extension such as yourcompany.com. You can also create groups and easily follow threads. Yammer is accessible via their web site, applications for various smartphones, and standard cell phones. They also offer a desktop application.
The Yammer web site has a great introductory video that demonstrates how to use the site in real world applications. The application is free unless you want more advanced features.
Labels: micro-blogging, social networking, twitter, yammer
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Rackspace Aquires Jungledisk
Rackspace which is a large provider of rented servers and hosting has acquired Jungle Disk. Jungle Disk is a software program that we have referenced in the past for performing low-cost data backups online to Amazon's data storage solution.
Jungle Dave indicates that his reasons for entering the agreement was to continue to innovate and grow in a more challenging economy. The acquisition allows Rackspace to grow usage of their cloud computing initiative.
Dave is going to stay with the Jungle Disk product as it moves into the Rackspace domain. I hope that the product remains to be innovative and affordable.
For information see Dave's blog...
Jungle Dave indicates that his reasons for entering the agreement was to continue to innovate and grow in a more challenging economy. The acquisition allows Rackspace to grow usage of their cloud computing initiative.
Dave is going to stay with the Jungle Disk product as it moves into the Rackspace domain. I hope that the product remains to be innovative and affordable.
For information see Dave's blog...
Labels: Cloud Computing, Jungle Disk
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