Posts Tagged ‘Google Apps’

Microsoft is stepping up efforts to get more partners and customers adopting its cloud-based Office 365 productivity suite by expanding commissions on referred accounts. The goal: Stop Google Apps in its tracks and recapture lost customers.

Dell Boomi’s Rick Nucci talks about the growing success of AtomSphere integrations, a new global alliance with Wipro Technologies and the future of middleware.

Microsoft unleashes Office 365 Home Premium to the consumer market, giving users access to Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Skype and Skydrive on up to five devices for $99 a year. With more competitive pricing for students, Microsoft may be looking to create consumer demand that catalyzes the business world. Success is critical, as Office may be Microsoft’s last shining star.

Google believes it can capture 90 percent of Microsoft Office users paying a premium for features they don’t use. The overt goal: a direct assault on Microsoft’s cash generator and potential future business cornerstone, as Windows 8 continues to struggle.

Cloud Sherpas inks a deal to acquire CloudTrigger, bringing Salesforce.com CRM capabilities to the table with another round of investments, netting Cloud Sherpas $40 million in capital. With Google Apps and Salesforce.com popularizing cloud capabilities, Cloud Sherpas is the poster child for cloud services brokerage.

E-mail security firm Spam Soap is launching a competitive displacement program targeting Google Postini customers. Aerohive Networks is doing the same with Meraki. Like department store sales, these promotions come and go, but how effective are they?

IBM launches SmartCloud Docs, a new cloud-based office suite complete with social business and collaboration capabilities. The SmartCloud Docs is also a direct competitive effort against Google Apps and Microsoft’s Office 365 as IBM seeks to expand into the midmarket.

Spiceworks launches the Spiceworks Cloud Program, creating a platform that will help cloud vendors deliver their wares directly to the SMB communities that need them. Solution providers with cloud-based developmental efforts may find this an ideal on-ramp to market.

Apple’s iPad mini sets the stage for an expansion of tablets in the enterprise, likely requiring channel partners to support more devices. But as devices expand, the real focus won’t be on the tablets themselves, but the protection of data therein.

CloudLock brings its flavor of firewall technology to the Google Apps ecosystem, providing a simplified way to protect critical Google App data from 3rd party web-apps that live in the Google Apps ecosystem. Google App resellers and cloud solution providers can leverage CloudLock to bring a built-in layer of security to the Google Apps domain.