Archive for the ‘Enterprise IT’ Category

CA Technologies leads in User Authentication

Thursday, February 9th, 2012

Gartner has positioned CA Technologies in the Leaders Quadrant of the Magic Quadrant for User Authentication.

CA Technologies has a range of User Authentication security solutions.

CA Technologies has a range of User Authentication security solutions.

Gartner estimates the overall growth in the market by customers to be approximately 30 percent year-over-year.

“By 2017, more than 50 percent of enterprises will choose cloud-based services as the delivery option for new or refreshed user authentication implementations, up from less than 10 percent today,” writes Ant Allan, Gartner Research Vice President.Because of the shift toward lower-cost authentication solutions, the overall growth by revenue is estimated to be approximately only 20 percent.

Considering Gartner’s user authentication market growth estimate, and the forecast that half of the implementations will be cloud services, CA Technologies is confident it is in a solid position for success in this sector.

“With more than 14,000 organizations leveraging our authentication solutions and more than 85 million identities protected by our cloud-based authentication services we should be on the short-list for anyone considering a cloud authentication solution,” said Vic Mankotia, Vice President of Security, Asia Pacific, CA Technologies.

Get a complimentary copy of the report here.

CA Technologies was also positioned by Gartner in the Leaders Quadrant of two Gartner reports: Magic Quadrant for Identity and Access Governance (IAG), and Magic Quadrant for User Administration/Provisioning.

CA ERwin solutions enable collaborative modeling for cloud and on-premise data

Monday, February 6th, 2012

Support for SQL Azure, new Web Portal helps stakeholders visualize data assets across the business.

ERwin solutions from CA Technologies

ERwin solutions from CA Technologies

Today’s resource-strapped organizations struggle to manage data complexity and share accurate information as new platforms and increasing volumes of data are added to their IT environments.

With CA ERwin data modeling tools, business and technical users can reap the benefits of a centralized, common view of business data in context.

This enables them to better understand and enforce critical data definitions and more easily leverage information as a strategic asset.

The products are described in more detail below:
(more…)

Telecom industry leaders join forces to form Global Meeting Alliance

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

Tata Communications and nine other telecom leaders (including Telstra and Sprint) pledge their commitment today to interconnect their business video communities – driving global cross-network collaboration.

Tata Communications and nine other telecom leaders form Global Meeting Alliance

Tata Communications and nine other telecom leaders form Global Meeting Alliance

The Global Meeting Alliance is an open ecosystem that allows any service provider to connect to enterprises and institutions on all major continents, irrespective of carrier, following a similar business model to the airline alliance networks.

Peter Quinlan, Vice President, Integrated Business Video Services, Tata Communications, highlighted his company’s commitment towards “… facilitating an open, global ecosystem that moves business video from an intracompany experience to a collaboration tool with worldwide reach.”The community aims to solve shared-industry challenges to make business video available globally, simple to connect, and affordable for all.

The launch represents the largest functioning global collaboration between service providers in business video services.

Launch members include Safaricom in Africa, Telstra in Australia, Etisalat, Qtel and Mobily in the Middle East, Neotel in South Africa and Sprint, Glowpoint and TELUS in North America.

Leveraging Tata Communications’ large number of intercarrier agreements, customers of the Global Meeting Alliance members now have access to an international Telepresence network of 3rd party video endpoints, as well as the largest global public Telepresence room network consisting of 40 public Telepresence suites in 20 countries.

(more…)

CA Technologies announces CA Private Cloud Accelerator for Vblock Platforms

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

The new solution enables enterprises and managed service providers to offer automated self-service delivery of Infrastructure as a Service.

CA Technologies Announces CA Private Cloud Accelerator for Vblock Platforms

CA Technologies Announces CA Private Cloud Accelerator for Vblock Platforms

CA Private Cloud Accelerator for Vblock Platforms drives Business Service Innovation by enabling IT to provide rapid, predictable and secure provisioning and delivery of cloud infrastructure and critical IT and business services.

“We continue to work with VCE to help customers improve business agility, reduce risk and lower the costs of operating private clouds,” said Anna Gong, Vice President, Coud, Virtualization & Service Automation, Asia Pacific, CA Technologies. “CA Private Cloud Accelerator for Vblock Platforms can help enterprises and MSPs rapidly deliver services in a private cloud environment, maximizing their investment in VCE Vblock Platforms and driving Business Service Innovation to deliver speed, performance and improved cost efficiencies.”This is the company’s fifth solution certified for use with VCE Vblock Infrastructure Platforms, all of which are based on CA Technologies Unified Automation solutions.

Enterprises and managed service providers (MSPs) use cloud management software to enable their Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offerings.

Many organizations are evaluating and testing converged private cloud architectures, such as Vblock Platforms, that allow IT resources to be dynamically pooled and shared across multiple physical and virtual computing environments.

CA Private Cloud Accelerator for Vblock Platforms promises to offer standardization, a rapid provisioning process and performance predictability.

CA Private Cloud Accelerator for Vblock Platforms leverages CA Process Automation and CA Service Catalog to provide customers with a single, unified view and point of control across virtual and private cloud resources.

CA Technologies Vblock platformsOut-of-the-box standardized processes allow IT organizations to deliver Vblock Infrastructure Platforms as a service.

CA Service Catalog, accessed through a secure, online portal, empowers users to quickly select and provision the resources they need.

“The latest CA Technologies integration with Vblock platforms enables IT to transform its converged infrastructure into a true platform for delivering private cloud services,” said John Ross, CTO, GreenPages. “By combining our Integration and Managed Services with CA Private Cloud Accelerator for Vblock Platforms, customers can enable private cloud capabilities in days versus months, and realize a rapid return on their VCE investment.”CA Process Automation helps ensure that pooled resources are provisioned quickly, with minimal effort.

Service usage is metered and associated to departments, cost centers, or users for billing or chargeback.

Every organization is different when it comes to process.

CA Private Cloud Accelerator for Vblock Platforms is built on top of an extensible platform that allows IT to easily customize the solution to meet its needs and provide the flexibility to respond dynamically to changing business requirements.

CA Private Cloud Accelerator for Vblock Platforms is available today from CA Technologies and its partners, including GreenPages Technology Solutions, a national IT consulting and integration company.

Tata Communications Q3 consolidated EBITDA up by 61% YoY

Friday, January 27th, 2012

Singapore Headquartered Tata Communications maintained strong revenue growth across operations (for the quarter ended 31 December, 2011), with gross revenues increasing 19% year-on-year (YoY).

The main takeaways from the report are summarised below:

  • Core Business remains profitable
  • Neotel sees further enhancement in operating profitability
  • Focused cash management program on track
  • Capex programme is aligned to demand and is pursuing predictable & strategic growth-oriented opportunities

Commenting on the performance of Q3 FY2012, Mr. Vinod Kumar, CEO and MD, Tata Communications, said, “We are very pleased to report a healthy improvement in the operating performance of the business. Global voice has demonstrated continued improvement in volumes and revenues. The company’s global data business is scaling up as planned. Complementing our leadership in the enterprise data segment within India, we have been growing our international revenues as reflected in the enhanced uptake of our customised offerings and managed services.”For the quarter ended 31 December, 2011, consolidated gross revenues were at Rs. 36,041 million.

This is against Rs. 33,736 million in the previous sequential quarter and Rs. 30,180 million in the same quarter last year.

The Core Business accounted for Rs. 31,648 million – against Rs. 29,079 million in Q2 FY2012 and Rs. 28,535 million in Q3FY2011.

The Startup Business, primarily Neotel, posted revenues of Rs. 4,394 million in the quarter ended December 31, 2012.

This is against Rs. 4,657 million in Q2 FY2012 and Rs. 1,645 million in Q3 FY2011.

Read the detailed presentation of details from the report here.

CA Technologies reports Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2012 Results

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

CA Technologies today reported financial results for its third quarter of fiscal year 2012, which ended on 31 December, 2011.

Third Quarter
FY12 vs. FY11
(in millions, except share data)
FY12 FY11 Percent Change Percent Change CC**
Revenue $1,263 $1,144 34% 24%
GAAP Income from continuing operations $263 $196 34% 24%
Non-GAAP Income from continuing operations* $319 $256 25% 18%
GAAP Diluted EPS from continuing operations $0.54 $0.38 42% 39%
Non-GAAP  Diluted EPS from continuing operations* $0.65 $0.50 30% 28%
Cash Flow from continuing operations $396 $492 (20%) (19%)

* Non-GAAP income and earnings per share are non-GAAP financial measures, as noted in the discussion of non-GAAP results below. A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to their comparable GAAP financial measures is included in the tables following this news release.

**CC: Constant Currency

The main takeaways from the report is summarised below:

  • Revenue $1.263 billion: Up 10% in constant currency and as reported.
  • GAAP EPS $0.54: Up 39% in constant currency and 42% as reported.
  • Non-GAAP EPS $0.65: Up 28 Percent in constant currency and 30%as Reported
  • Single license payment contributes 3 percentage points to revenue growth and $0.05 to GAAP and Non-GAAP EPS growth.
  • Cash flow from continuing operations $396 Million: Down 19 Percent in constant currency and 20% as reported.
  • Raises full year outlook for GAAP and non-GAAP EPS and adjusts revenue guidance to high end of range; maintains cash flow from continuing operations outlook.
  • Enhances capital allocation program, targeting return of $2.5 billion to shareholders through fiscal year 2014.

Read the full report below:

(more…)

CA Technologies positioned in Leaders Quadrant of two of Gartner’s Magic Quadrants

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

The two Magic Quadrants are: User Administration/Provisioning and Identity and Access Governance.

Source: Gartner (December 2011)

Source: Gartner (December 2011)

CA Technologies has been positioned by Gartner in the Leaders Quadrant of two Gartner reports: Magic Quadrant for Identity and Access Governance (IAG), and Magic Quadrant for User Administration/Provisioning.

Magic Quadrant for Identity and Access Governance

“As data moves to the cloud, identity and access management grows in importance within organizations. Our team is working to ensure we deliver the functionality, ease of use, and multiple choices of delivery – on premise or cloud – that simplify IAM adoption for our customers,” said Vic Mankotia, VP, Security, Asia Pacific at CA Technologies.According to the report, Magic Quadrant for Identity and Access Governance, “The IAG market addresses customer requirements that are beyond identity administration. IAG tools seek to deliver IAM directly to the business or end user, rather than the operational IT administrator.”

Gartner analysts anticipate, “The growing need for identity and access management governance will cause identity and access governance solutions to become the lead focus of two out of three IAM projects by 2013, up from one in three today.”

CA Role & Compliance Manager was evaluated for this report. Get a complimentary copy of the report here.

Magic Quadrant for User Administration/Provisioning

“We consider our positioning in two IAM-related Leaders quadrants confirmation that we are delivering on our mission to take our rich and broad portfolio of security technologies and deliver unique and transformative IAM capabilities for our customers,” added Mankotia.“User administration solutions manage identities and their attributes across systems, applications and resources. Buyers seek to demonstrate regulatory compliance while reducing project deployment times and costs,” analysts wrote in the Magic Quadrant for User Administration / Provisioning.

“By 2016, user administration solutions will expand functionally to include a subset of identity and access governance (IAG) functionality as well as multiple means of delivery (that is, cloud computing).”

Gartner analysts evaluated the following CA IAM solutions for this report: CA Identity Manager, CA Role & Compliance Manager and CA User Activity Reporting Module for this report.

Get a complimentary copy of the report here.

Management shakeup at RIM

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

BlackBerry maker – Research In Motion (RIM) – has named Thorsten Heins as President and CEO of the company.

Mike Lazaridis remains Vice Chair of the Board while Jim Balsillie takes on a Director role at the company. This is effective immediately.

Outgoing Co-chairs and Co-CEOs Jim Basillie and Mike Lazaridis

Outgoing Co-chairs and Co-CEOs Jim Basillie and Mike Lazaridis

Heins was also appointed to RIM’s Board. He joined RIM from Siemens Communications Group in December 2007 as Senior Vice President for Hardware Engineering and became Chief Operating Officer for Product and Sales in August 2011.

I believe Heins does not have time on his side, given BlackBerry’s rapid loss of market share to rival Android devices and Apple iOS products.

“We have a strong balance sheet with approximately $1.5 billion in cash at the end of the last quarter and negligible debt. We reported revenue of $5.2 billion in our last quarter, up 24% from the prior quarter, and a 35% year-to-year increase in the BlackBerry subscriber base, which is now over 75 million.” – Thorsten Heins, new President and CEO of RIM.RIM’s market share of smartphones in the US declined from a market leading 44% in 2009 to 10% in 2011, according to market researcher NPD Group.

BlackBerry has been growing outside of America but it is facing similar challenges from its competitors in those markets as well.

Coming from within RIM instead of outside, the natural question will be whether Heins will be doling out “more of the same” at RIM.

I’m not sure having been in RIM since 2007 is necessarily something that will be seen as positive for Heins.

Investors will be keen to know if he had his own ideas but could not act on them because he was not the CEO.

Heins will have a very short time to show how different he is from his predecessors, that he has his own vision and roadmap to bring RIM back to its previous success.

Thorsten Heins, new President and CEO at RIM

Thorsten Heins, new President and CEO at RIM

I’m hoping his “I don’t think that there is a drastic change needed” spiel during his first press conference as CEO is merely paying due respect to his predecessors.

The succession plan was submitted by the two Co-Chairs and co-CEOs, Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie. RIM’s Board of Directors acted on their recommendations after conducting its own own due diligence.

Investors had forced RIM to consider a change in company leadership in 2011 and was stalled with the company’s promise to study the matter.

RIM promised a resolution in January 2012 and I’ve been wondering if they were going to make the move, after their closed-door meeting in mid December.

Mike Lazaridis, who co-founded RIM with Doug Fregin in 1984, has become Vice Chair of RIM’s Board and Chair of the Board’s new Innovation Committee.

As Vice Chair, he will work closely with Mr. Heins to offer strategic counsel, provide a smooth transition and continue to promote the BlackBerry brand worldwide.

Barbara Stymiest, who formerly served as a member of Royal Bank of Canada’s Group Executive and has been a member of RIM’s Board since 2007, has been named the independent Board Chair.

John Richardson, formerly Lead Director, will remain on the Board.

Prem Watsa, Chief Executive Officer of Fairfax Financial Holdings, also was named to the Board, expanding it to 11 members.

CA Technologies brings holiday to children from disadvantaged backgrounds

Thursday, December 29th, 2011

Volunteers from CA Technologies host children as part of CA Together in Action initiative.

Glad to see the staff volunteers having as much fun as the children.

Glad to see the staff volunteers having as much fun as the children.

Following its donation to the Mainly I Love Kids (MILK) fund earlier this year, CA Technologies hosted the “Kids’ Day Out” event during the festive season at their new office in Collyer Quay.

“Every year, staff at CA Technologies offices around the world make the commitment to come together to make a difference to the lives of those who are less fortunate,” said Mr. Lionel Lim, President, Asia Pacific, CA Technologies.Volunteers had worked overnight to transform the premises into a fairytale carnival with different game stations featuring child slides, child-sized cars, a ball play pen, handicrafts and creative balloon art.

49 preschoolers, aged six years and under and from disadvantaged backgrounds enjoyed themselves, and were treated to a festive lunch.

The preschoolers are from Beyond Social Services, a partner of Mainly I Love Kids (MILK).

49 preschoolers, aged six years and under and from disadvantaged backgrounds were at premises of CA Technologies.

49 preschoolers, aged six years and under and from disadvantaged backgrounds were at premises of CA Technologies.

The company also invited staff to “grant” the children’s wishes which had been hung on a “Wishing Tree” placed prominently by their reception area.   All the children’s wishes were fulfilled.

Akamai to acquire Cotendo

Tuesday, December 27th, 2011

Expected to happen in the first half of 2012, the combined technology and teams from the merger is expected to help accelerate pace of innovation in cloud and mobile optimisation.

Akamai has announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Cotendo, a company that offers an integrated suite of Web and mobile acceleration services.

“By combining our innovative technology and employees with Akamai, we expect our customers and partners will gain access to a comprehensive, global platform and wider portfolio of leading-edge services supported by some of the most experienced providers in the industry,” said Ronni Zehavi, CEO and co-founder of Cotendo.Helping to mitigate the challenges of operating in a hyperconnected world, Akamai provides a secure platform over which businesses can engage users across the Web, mobile, cloud, or a mix of public and private network environments.

Cotendo, on the other hand, offers an integrated suite of Web and mobile acceleration services.

Founded in 2008, Cotendo is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA, with a technology center in Israel. Cotendo currently has approximately 100 employees, with over 50 based in Israel.

The combination of the two companies’ technologies and teams is expected to increase the pace of innovation in the areas of cloud and mobile optimization.

Under terms of the agreement, Akamai will acquire all of the outstanding equity of Cotendo in exchange for a net cash payment of approximately $268 million, after expected purchase price adjustments, plus the assumption of outstanding unvested options to purchase Cotendo common stock.

The closing of the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, is expected to occur in the first half of 2012.