Google Apps Poster Child Switches to Microsoft BPOS

Just a little more than a year after touting its move from Microsoft Exchange to Google Gmail, Serena Software has decided to make the switch back to Microsoft and dump its Google Apps support.

Unlike the University of California, Davis, which dumped Gmail over security and privacy concerns earlier this month, Serena's reason was much more old school and basic. In short, it all came down to cost. Microsoft came back to Serena with an offer the ALM (application lifecycle management) software company could not afford to refuse, sources said.

Indeed, sources close to the situation said Microsoft offered Serena a price point for its enterprise software that included on-premise software, Microsoft's new Business Productivity Online Service Suite (BPOS) and migration services. The deal was simply too good to pass up. Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite is a set of messaging and a collaboration solution hosted by Microsoft, and consists of Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Live Meeting and Office Communications Online.

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http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Cloud-Computing/Google-Apps-Poster-Child-Switches-to-Microsoft-BPOS-171445/

Appirio Bets On The Cloud ... And Wins

Appirio gets it.

The company steps into the ring, gloves laced and ready for battle. When the bell rings, it strikes with speed, agility and precision.

In the world of cloud computing solution providers, consider Appirio the Manny Pacquiao: pound for pound one of the best in the biz.

In less than four years, San Mateo, Calif.-based Appirio has grown from its four founding fathers to more than 200 strong and has done so with a jarring one-two cloud partner punch with Salesforce.com and Google (NSDQ:GOOG). Add other key vendors such as Workday and Amazon (NSDQ:AMZN), and Appirio is a leader in offering myriad products and professional services in the cloud.

But to hear Ryan Nichols, Appirio's head of cloud sourcing and cloud strategy, tell it, the cloud sort of formed around Appirio.

"When Appirio was founded three years ago, even we didn't call it the cloud," said Nichols.

Appirio first signed on with Salesforce.com when it launched in 2006. Shortly thereafter it built a Google practice around Google Apps. With those two powerful partners in its corner, Appirio made the move from Software-as-a-Service to what are now known as cloud platforms. Appirio marries consulting and product development with cloud technologies to help customers forge a new business path.

Today, the biggest part of Appirio's business is building custom applications on top of those cloud platforms, Nichols said. Appirio is credited with building a good number of the best-selling applications in Salesforce.com's AppExchange and for devising applications that tie together Salesforce and Google Apps and Salesforce and Facebook.

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All About The Cloud: Microsoft Reaffirms Cloud Computing Commitment

The investment and the drive to capture cloud mindshare with Windows Azure and Office 2010, Hauger said, proves Microsoft is serious about the cloud and that it can attack the five key dimensions of cloud computing head on.

“There are some dimensions of the cloud that have become fairly apparent,” he said. Hauger said those dimensions are:

• The cloud creates opportunities and responsibilities.
• The cloud learns and helps you learn, decide and take action.
• The cloud enhances your social and professional interactions.
• The cloud wants smarter devices.
• The cloud drives server advances that drive the cloud.

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Microsoft Brings Desktop Management To The Cloud

Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) Monday rolled out a limited beta of Windows Intune, a new cloud desktop management service aimed specifically at midmarket firms that need to remotely manage and secure PCs in branch offices. 

Midmarket firms -- which Microsoft defines as having between 25 and 500 PCs -- don't often have large IT teams, and they usually scrape by with just one or two employees. In Microsoft's view, this makes them logical candidates for cloud services.

Microsoft says it's seeing a solid trend of midmarket customers migrating to cloud services, so the software giant is moving desktop management to the cloud as well.

"Windows Intune is a complete desktop infrastructure management solution-in-the-cloud that simplifies management and security of PCs, no matter where users are located," said Sandrine Skinner, a product marketing manager on the Windows Client team, in an interview.

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IBM Links Salesforce.com And LotusLive, Launches $7 Cloud Bundle

IBM (NYSE:IBM) wants to break down the silos of cloud services and has revealed plans to integrate a host of cloud applications into its LotusLive Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) collaboration suite. IBM on Wednesday said LotusLive will now integrate with cloud-based services from Salesforce.com, shipping giant UPS, Skype and Silanis e-signature.

Along with the integrations, IBM unveiled a new cloud computing bundle of enterprise-class e-mail and social networking tools that Big Blue promises for only $7 per user, per month. The bundle wraps together the capabilities of the LotusLive iNotes Web-mail, messaging and calendar offering, and the LotusLive Connections social networking and collaboration platform. Combined, the bundle offers businesses file storage and sharing, activity management, instant messaging and social networking services. IBM said the bundle takes advantage of the cloud by letting users work with anyone from anywhere over the LotusLive collaboration suite.

The cloud-focused moves by IBM are the computing behemoth's attempt at breaking down the barriers between cloud applications and streamlining business processes by enabling access to various business-necessary apps directly through its LotusLive offerings.

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http://www.crn.com/software/224400261

10 Cloud Tips From NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson

"Companies are not failing when they make the leap, they're failing when they don't make the leap. If you don't make this leap you are definitely going out of business. I don't know what's going to happen if you do it, but if you don't you're definitely going out of business. I think they see that writing on the wall."

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Why The iPad Changes Everything For Business Computing

For those of you that have missed how the iPhone is being used to deliver private and public clouds, go right to Wyse Technology and check out the company's PocketCloud for the iPad and the iPhone.

Wyse's $30 app downloadable from the Apple (NSDQ:AAPL) App Store is right now being used on 10,000 Apple smartphones to access cloud applications of all kinds.

Tarken Maner, the hard-driving president and CEO of Wyse, sees that number growing by an order of magnitude with the release of Wyse's iPad PocketCloud application. "We will be on every iPad," boasts Maner. "This is the killer application. This is a Tablet business PC running Windows 7 on a Mac OS! How crazy is that."

Maner says that VARs that don't get on board and start moving customers to thin clients like iPad and smartphone are going to miss out on a major shift in how business is done in corporate America.

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http://www.crn.com/mobile/224201232?cid=nl_crn