Cloud services provider GlobalOne (www.globalone.com) announced on Tuesday that it has acquired FLOW thru LOGIC, an application development company specializing in cloud computing and telecom systems. The terms of the acquisition has not been disclosed.
GlobalOne says this acquisition is the first move in its plan to expand its vertical solutions capability. It will also increase GlobalOne’s geographical footprint with a physical presence in Central Florida, according to the press release.
This move comes a couple months after GlobalOne secured a funding commitment of more than $25 million from Columbia Capital. The WHIR did an email Q&A with CEO David Northington about the announcement in September.
According to the press release, GlobalOne’s solutions speed integration between disparate architectures and SaaS enabled sales and CRM platforms.
GlobalOne says it will leverage FLOW thru LOGIC’s expertise developing solutions to connect legacy telecom systems with SaaS-based CRM platforms.
“With the acquisition of FLOW thru LOGIC we are delivering on our commitment to expand GlobalOne capabilities in targeted verticals,” David Northington, GlobalOne CEO said in a statement. “Telcoms are burdened with legacy systems and struggling to move to the cloud. FLOW thru LOGIC cracked the code for solving these issues with applications that enable rapid integration between legacy systems and SaaS offerings. FLOW thru LOGIC’s technical expertise and process knowledge will allow GlobalOne to better serve clients as we drive our growth worldwide.”
According to the press release, FLOW thru LOGIC provides custom application development, CRM integration and IT professional services to companies in the telecom industry.
FLOW thru LOGIC’s founders will bring deep telecom experience to the company, GlobalOne says.
“Transforming business operations for our clients is what defines us,” Matt Blocha, president, FLOW thru LOGIC stated. “We’re pleased to become part of the GlobalOne family. The close match between our company cultures, and the shared belief that every client engagement must enable transformation in business operations to meet the goals of the client, will deliver immediate benefits to our customers.”

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Cloud Services Provider GlobalOne Acquires App Developer FLOW thru LOGIC

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Hosting specialist UKFast has scooped the title of Innovator of the Year at The Greater Manchester Chamber Innovation awards.

The Chamber’s panel of judges cited UKFast’s ability to create scalable software as a key reason for the technology company’s sustained growth.

The judges referred to UKFast’s collection of in-house-developed systems and applications known as Orpheus. Its primary function is to reduce the administration needed in everyday working by automating processes. This allows the business to run efficiently and respond quickly to client demand.

Orpheus, built by UKFast’s research and development team, consists of core systems including sales, accounts and technical databases. These integrate with a click-and-dial telephone system, training and exam packages and an HR and holiday management system amongst others.

Collecting the award UKFast communications director Jonathan Bowers, thanked the chamber for recognising in-house development. He said, “As a very small business, in fact, as soon as UKFast could afford it, we created an R&D team. Nine years later we continue to place 25% of our resource into technology development.”

Clive Memmott, chief executive of the Chamber, commended the evolution and flexibility of UKFast’s software. “UKFast has shown continued growth over the past decade which has come hand in hand with the development of their Orpheus system. Importantly, this has allowed employees to focus on the most important person – the customer.”

UKFast’s MD Lawrence Jones is thrilled to receive the award. “It is fantastic for our research and development team to receive the recognition they deserve. Orpheus is our central nervous system and is constantly evolving to meet the needs of running a Sunday Times Tech Track business.

“Businesses should not be drawn into buying off-the-shelf packages if they are not right for their needs. Our R&D team has proved that anything is possible. With the right vision and attitude they constantly evolve Orpheus to meet the needs of our business which has grown from 5 to 135 people in the last decade.

“Thanks to Orpheus, customers can get server details within 40 minutes of ordering. They also control their solutions through MyUKFast, where a ‘widget system’ allows them to access support and outs power into their own hands.”

The award comes as UKFast celebrates a bumper awards season as the company is shortlisted for seven prestigious awards including two National Business Awards, and was recently named in the Sunday Times Tech Track.

Read the full article here:
UKFast Champions Innovation for Greater Manchester

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Greetings from beautiful Macinac Island. Yes – I’m on vacation. My wife and I came up here for the proverbial get-away. It’s a quiet place (since there are no automobiles on the island) and a relaxed pace. This is outside the busy tourist season. So it’s even more relaxed. A little cool. But well worth that small price to relax in this peaceful and picturesque community.

So why am I writing a newsletter while vacationing and celebrating our wedding anniversary? It simply has to be done. While I had this scheduled time off for awhile, we never decided internally on what to do on newsletter day if I was gone. iNET was OK with not sending a newsletter, and cleared that with advertisers. But I wasn’t OK with not making arrangements. Besides, I enjoy sharing bits of my life with my fellow WHT members. So we re-cleared it to go out today.

Not to mention, it’s the slow season here. Some places have already closed in anticipation of the harsh winter weather that will soon be upon the island. But there’s still plenty to see and do. And there’s still time to simply relax at the cozy and charming bed and breakfast we’re staying at. I’m writing this as other vacationers are milling around the lobby enjoying coffee, breakfast, and conversation. It’s a little distracting, but it helps me focus on what’s in front of me.

Our first featured thread below talks about the seasonally slow time of web hosting.

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Web Hosting Talk Insider – Slowing Down

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Big Brother, the reality television phenomenon showing for the first time on Channel 5, is successfully being supported by a scalable, high availability hosting and management service from Claranet, the managed service provider.

Using a hybrid cloud environment, Claranet’s service enables the dedicated Big Brother website www.channel5.com/bigbrother to cope with surges in demand, while the service’s scalability ensures Channel 5 only pays for the capacity they need and use at any given time. Although the addition of Big Brother online has doubled Channel 5’s total web traffic, the applications have experienced 100 per cent uptime. Further details of the project are available in a new case study, launched today.

Channel 5’s digital offerings are centred around two dedicated Big Brother services: a standalone Big Brother site providing Video on Demand (VoD), live updates and editorial content, as well as a Big Brother 2011 Facebook app, both of which are hosted and managed by Claranet

The deal to bring Big Brother to Channel 5 was signed with production company Endemol in April, leaving just five months before the first episode was to be broadcast. Claranet successfully implemented and tested the application hosting and management in only six weeks.

Paul Thornton-Jones, head of digital media at Channel 5 said: “The Big Brother audience is one of the most demographically valuable in the TV marketplace. Given the predominantly young audience’s preference for social media, our core strategy rests upon driving additional on-demand video viewing from audiences for the catch up-programmes and clips from the Big Brother House. The aim was to achieve this by encouraging user engagement through social media, which involves pushing news, content and interaction to Twitter, Facebook, and via the dedicated Big Brother website www.channel5.com/bigbrother.

“If a Big Brother story breaks, it breaks online first; there is no way to predict when the next big story might occur. The application hosting therefore needs to be able to cope with huge traffic spikes. To be affordable, however, this capacity needed to be scalable so that Channel 5 is not paying considerable sums during periods of low demand,” said Thornton-Jones.

Claranet’s managed application hosting, based in its own facilities, was complemented by using Amazon Web Services’ Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) platform, enabling dynamic provisioning so Channel 5 only pays for the burst capacity it uses.

Martin Saunders, Product Marketing Director at Claranet said, “The Big Brother website needs to be hosted separately from Channel 5’s other online properties to limit the risk of impact on main revenue generating sites such as Demand 5, Channel 5’s TV catch-up service.

“The service is designed to handle 45,000 page impressions per second, so it can deal with the sudden surges of interest that is part and parcel of Big Brother. Factoring in the very unpredictability of the programme, the application hosting design gives Channel 5 the ability to scale the service to their needs in real time, and burst into the Cloud at times of peak demand, while the resilience of the service is evident in the 100 per cent uptime that has been achieved,” concluded Saunders.

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Claranet allows fans to keep an eye on Big Brother

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Small businesses are leaving customer data open to hackers – despite encrypting databases – allowing even long passwords to be cracked in as little as 7 seconds.

Testing by hosting specialist UKFast has revealed that using industry-standard hashing algorithm MD5 to protect data still allows for a seven character password (of lower alphabet and numbers) to be cracked in 7 seconds. Using a more secure encryption method such as SHA 256, it would take up to seven times longer to brute force crack the same password.

The tests call into question the security of customer data stored by SMEs, who often do not have the luxury of in-house IT teams or the technical knowledge to properly secure their customer databases.

Neil Lathwood, technical director at UKFast, explained: “Many small companies are trying to protect their customer data on their own or outsourcing their IT and relying on the skills of another company to secure their customer data. What these companies may not be aware of is that some methods of encryption are significantly less secure than others.

“With the emergence of brute force password cracking using Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) for extra fire power, the need for strong encryption algorithms has become more important than ever. The MD5 algorithm is so weak that no one should be using it as their only encryption method – a normal PC without the extra GPU fire power could even crack the MD5 code.”

Despite the many different encryption algorithms available for SMEs to use, with this method of brute force cracking and the extra boost of the GPUs, no encryption is complete secure. Making it as difficult as possible to crack information is the key.

Lathwood said: “Using an encryption method like SHA256 rather than MD5 would still allow the hacker to decrypt the information but it takes significantly longer. For example, a seven character password (of any digit, letter or symbol) would take 1 hour, 40 minutes to crack when encrypted with MD5 but would take 12 hours, 53 minutes when encrypted with the S/HA256 method.

“It is also possible to ‘salt’ encrypted information where random figures are added, making it more difficult to crack the code.

“Businesses that encrypt their own data or outsource their IT must ensure that they are aware of what encryption is used and how safe their customer data is. Relying on the expertise of others is often the best method for smaller companies but they must stop burying their head in the sand over data security – if their database is hacked it is their reputation on the line and many businesses are oblivious to the chances that they are taking not by properly protecting their data.”

Read the full article here:
Lack of Encryption Knowledge Feeding Hackers

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SpamExperts, the leading provider of e-mail security products from Amsterdam, happily announced today that Cartika has joined their Hosting Partner Program (HPP). Cartika, founded in Toronto, has established itself as a leader in Application Hosting and Hosting Technologies. As their home grown solutions and several appliances did not solve the predicaments caused by spam emails, Cartika implemented SpamExperts’ centralized solutions which seamlessly integrated into their existing systems.

SpamExperts concentrates specifically on providing professional email security solutions for ISPs and webhosts. With over 6 years experience and determination, SpamExperts is safeguarding more than 50 million inboxes and is filtering more than 1.2 million domains worldwide. SpamExperts’ services include Incoming -and Outgoing Email Filtering and Email Archiving, which are available in the cloud or on premises.

According to Andrew Rouchotas, CEO of Cartika Inc., „SpamExperts is very intriguing for webhosts. „The Spamexperts product is a very intriguing one for service providers. It is delivered in a manner which demonstrates their understanding of this market. Key value adds such as high availability between our facilities, ability to install this solution on our existing hardware standards, a massive API to allow seamless integration into our systems and IPv6 support make this solution a no brainer for the service provider industry.“

„We are happy to join forces with such an innovative company such as Cartika.“ says Sam Renkema, CEO of SpamExperts. „Cartika shares our dedication to value creation for our clients. We both clearly understand our market which makes it very favorable for us to work together in order to increase the satisfaction of Cartika’s clients. We expect that our joint partnership with Cartika will be one to last for many more years.“

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Cartika IT Solutions Joins SpamExperts’ Hosting Partner Program

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Today’s websites almost always use web applications of some form. The days of static HTML pages are long gone. We depend on scripting languages, databases, and other tools to dynamically generate our websites as they are requested. As a result, a new type of security threat has emerged, one that targets vulnerable scripts, database weaknesses, and web application security flaws. The following tips may help you prevent unwanted visitors from doing damage to your website.

1. Keep software updated – If you are running your own server, make sure the OS and all software is patched and up-to-date. Even if you are using shared hosting, make sure that any third-party scripts are updated with the latest versions.

2. Use an application firewall – There are tools, such as ModSecurity, that can help you tighten the screws on your web server. This type of firewall will not save you from poorly written code or unpatched software, but it may prevent an attack when someone happens to find a weak spot.

3. Run vulnerability scans – If you really want to protect your website, find the vulnerabilities and security holes before a would-be attacker has the chance. Vulnerability scanners can often pick up on weaknesses you would never notice otherwise.

4. Stay informed – This is especially important if you are using third-party web applications. Major security concerns are usually widely published with fixes and/or workarounds made immediately available. Subscribe to security news feeds and be prepared to act when necessary.

Web applications provide a lot of benefits over traditional static web pages, but as the saying goes, “With great power comes great responsibility.” You must be proactive and keep a regular security routine to make sure your server stays healthy.

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4 Web Application Security Tips

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Web host Online Tech (www.onlinetech.com) announced on Tuesday that it is hosting a three-part series of free webinars on achieving HIPAA compliance.
This announcement comes about a month after Online Tech completed HIPAA compliance in its Michigan data centers.
According to the press release, the webinars titled “A to Z to Achieving HIPAA Compliance” are running from October 25 – November 8, 2011. The series is intended for healthcare organizations that interact with patient information or vendors that need guidance on becoming HIPAA compliant, Online Tech says.
In the first webinar of the series, guest speaker Joe Dylewski will discuss HIPAA enforcement and penalties in the event of a HIPAA violation and how to prevent a HIPAA breach. “Cost-Effective Protection Against HIPAA Enforcement” will be held Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 2 p.m. ET.
Online Tech says Dylewski is a Certified HIPAA Security Specialist and Certified HIPAA Professional. He has 23 years of professional IT experience, eight years of which were spent exclusively in the healthcare industry. Dylewski is the current president of the ATMP Group, which offers HIPAA risk assessments and HIPAA compliance remediation solutions.
The second webinar of the series, “Impact of HIPAA Compliance on Business Associates – Changes to Company Policies and Day-to-Day Operations” features Online Tech’s risk management and security officer Jason Yaeger. According to the press release, he will speak about his experience of going through a HIPAA audit. Yaeger will discuss the impact of HIPAA certification on his role, company policies and day-to-day operations for employees of a HIPAA compliant data center. This webinar will take place on Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 2 p.m. ET.
The third webinar of the series guest speaker Tatiana Melnik will cover legal implications of Business Associate Agreements when patient information is shared, processed or stored between companies. “Sharing PHI Data? Legal Implications of BAAs & Avoiding HIPAA Pitfalls” will start at 2 p.m. ET on Tuesday, November 8, 2011.
Melnik is an attorney with the Dickinson Wright law firm. Melnik’s practice focuses on information technology, healthcare information technology and intellectual property and privacy issues. She is a member of the Michigan Bar Information Technology Law Council and Automation Alley Information Technology Committee. Melnik has a JD from the University of Michigan Law School and a BS in Information Systems and BBA in International Business from the University of North Florida. In addition to the webinar, she will be presenting at the upcoming Midwest HIMSS conference in November and the Annual HIMSS conference in February, according to the press release.

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Web Host Online Tech to Host Webinar Series on HIPAA Compliance

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SoftLayer®Technologies, the innovation leader in cloud, dedicated, and managed hosting solutions, today announced a partnership with OS Nexus and the launch of QuantaStor™ Storage Servers. The offering provides dedicated mass storage appliances with exceptional cost-effectiveness, control, and scalability. It is ideal for a range of high performance storage solutions (including private cloud storage), eliminating CAPEX requirements that often hinder deployments.

QuantaStor Storage Servers offer the OS NEXUS QuantaStor Storage Appliance OS, the industry’s first virtual storage solution designed for global manageability, on SoftLayer Mass Storage dedicated servers. The SAN (iSCSI) + NAS (NFS) storage system delivers advanced storage features including, thin-provisioning, and remote-replication. These capabilities make it ideally suited for a broad set of applications including VM application deployments, virtual desktops, as well as web and application servers.

“When you need massive storage, having the right amount is just one part of the equation,” said Nathan Day, Chief Scientist for SoftLayer. “The more storage you have, the more you need location independence, global access, and robust tools to manage it. The QuantaStor Storage Server provides the perfect combination of performance economics, scalability and manageability that our customer’s deserve.”

“Data storage requirements will grow 4400% over 9 years according to IDC, and budgets are tight,” said Steven Umbehocker, CEO and Founder of OS NEXUS. “The use of virtual machine technology has driven down application deployment costs. We are thrilled to partner with SoftLayer, the leader in cloud infrastructure services, to deliver the same economics for storage.”

Additional features of the solution include:

Hard Disk or Solid State Drive support
Powerful storage management through an easy interface
iSCSI support for 1GbE and 10GbE Client support for Windows XP, 7, 2003 Server, 2008 Server; VMware ESX/ESXi; Windows Hyper-V; Macintosh OS X; XenServer 5.x; and Linux (all major distributions, open-iSCSI, and hardware initiators)
NFSv3 and NFSv4 support
Thin Provisioning/Over Provisioning to allocate volumes without having to dedicate storage until needed
QuantaStor Mass Storage Servers start priced at $1,039/month for up to 12 drives and $1,139/month for up to 24 drives. Visit softlayer.com/dedicated/specialty-mass-storage/ to order.

About OS NEXUS

OS NEXUS develops next-generation storage management technologies to meet the needs of cloud computing and virtualised environments. The company’s flagship product, QuantaStor, is a storage appliance OS built from the ground up to be easy to use, low cost, and scalable. QuantaStor enables organisations to convert commodity servers and storage into enterprise-grade storage appliances quickly and easily. Beyond the advanced iSCSI and NFS capabilities QuantaStor offers a number of unique features including the ability to easily and quickly build ‘public or private storage clouds’ enabling administrators to reduce their workload by delegating storage and its management to end users. For further information please visit www.osnexus.com.

About SoftLayer Technologies

Headquartered in Dallas, SoftLayer is the innovation leader in cloud, dedicated, and managed hosting and is the largest private hosting company in the world. SoftLayer provides cloud, dedicated, and seamlessly integrated computing environments, with world-class data centers in Dallas, Houston, San Jose, Seattle, Washington D.C., Asia-Pacific (via Singapore), and Europe (via Amsterdam) and has network Points of Presence worldwide. The company integrates and automates all elements of its platform, empowering enterprises of any size with complete control, security, scalability, and ease-of-management via a leading Customer Portal and Open API. For more information, please visit softlayer.com or call 866.398.7638.

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SoftLayer Launches QuantaStor??? Storage Servers

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This article is about the Cologix Launches to Meet Market Demand, a network neutral interconnection and colocation company, today formally announced the launch of its company to the market, Cologix has established itself as a major North American provider with Meet-Me-Rooms in nine strategically located facilities in the United States and Canada. Mr. Grant van Rooyen, President and CEO of Cologix said Carriers are increasingly using Meet-Me-Rooms in network-dense locations as their primary on-ramps to meet demand, and network customers recognize the flexibility and cost-saving benefits from broad network provider choice, To date, Cologix has acquired: (1) the Navisite Datacenter located in the Dallas Infomart, (2) Canix Colo located in Montreal, Canada, (3) Telehouse Centre Canada located in Toronto and Vancouver, Canada and (4) Standard Connections located in Toronto, Canada. Each of the acquired companies’ leadership and operating staff has joined the Cologix team and are equally committed to the Cologix vision. Cologix currently operates nine facilities in Dallas, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, Cologix operates a data center and Meet-Me-Room in the Dallas Infomart, which is the preeminent carrier hotel in one of the most robust communications markets in the United States. In Toronto, Cologix supports over 150 customers in Canada’s preeminent telecommunications hub, 151 Front Street, where Cologix is one of the largest providers of connectivity, colocation space and power. Cologix has strong financial backing from a premier group of equity sponsors, including Columbia Capital, Greenspring Associates and vR Equity Partners. Cologix’s banking partners include the Royal Bank of Canada and JPMorgan Chase, finally in this articel there is a description about Cologix, Inc. It is a network neutral interconnection and colocation company headquartered in Denver, Colorado, that provides massively scalable interconnection services and secure, reliable colocation services in densely connected, strategically located facilities.

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Cologix Launches to Meet Market Demand

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