Acronis today announced a backup and data protection reference architecture to enable the seamless and secure integration of data from the Apple® Mac^® in the enterprise.

The new solution, based on ExtremeZ-IP® and Acronis Backup & Recovery^®, eliminates the business continuity and compliance risks of Mac use without disrupting the user or administrator experience. Mac integration is an important step in Acronis’ move beyond traditional backup and disaster recovery to encompass a broader strategy for secure data availability, accessibility and protection.

Mac use within the enterprise is growing at an extraordinary rate as executives and workers alike expect the freedom to choose their preferred workstation and operating system. However, if Mac files are not protected and available within the enterprise, they will introduce IT management headaches and increased financial and legal risk profiles. Acronis addresses this technology gap by using proven technologies, including those enabled by its recent acquisition of GroupLogic, to integrate Mac backups into the corporate data protection strategy.

Acronis’ new architecture uses ExtremeZ-IP to seamlessly integrate Mac files into typical IT environments powered by Windows® servers and Active Directory®. It then enables the OS X® backup tool Time Machine® to send Mac archives to a corporate file server, protected by Active Directory access rights. Backups from multiple clients are stored in a single server without the risk of compromising access rules. Acronis Backup & Recovery then centrally protects the Time Machine vaults within the enterprise infrastructure with the flexibility to store files to disk, SAN, tape or the cloud.

Andy Purvis, General Manager, ANZ for Acronis, said: “Macs are a reality in the enterprise, and IT organisations must have workable solutions to avoid the serious legal and financial risks presented by unprotected Mac data. Our architecture allows IT to finally say ‘yes’ to Macs with confidence, providing them with seamless integration of Mac files into existing data protection policies, processes and technologies – all without any negative impact on the end user or administrator. Regardless of where data originates, IT must ensure it is available, accessible and protected, making Mac file integration absolutely essential.”

The reference architecture can be downloaded here: http://www.acronis.com.au/backup-recovery/enterprise.html#overview

For pricing details for the combined solution or download a free trial please visit:http://www.acronis.com.au/solutions/enterprise/backup-mac.html

About Acronis

Acronis is leading the next wave of data availability, accessibility and protection solutions to simplify today’s complex IT environments. Acronis technology enables organisations of all sizes to manage the always-on anywhere data access demands of users, reducing risk against the loss of valuable corporate data, and controlling management and storage costs. With proven technology for data migration and disaster recovery for physical, virtual and cloud environments, and secure enterprise file-sharing and synchronisation regardless of type or platform, Acronis is enabling organisations to embrace new IT strategies and options such as BYOD and Mac in the enterprise.

For further information please contact:

Shuna Boyd                                        BoydPR                                              02 9418 8100

Lis Walters                                          Acronis                                                02 8458 0845

AtTask has set a new bar for enterprises with its new Enterprise Work Cloud.

It is no secret that organizations are dealing with an ever-increasing amount of chaos caused by disconnected tools, random input processes, inefficient use of time and poor visibility.

“The AtTask Enterprise Work Cloud^TM is a solution for enterprise teams to take control of their work chaos,” says Eric Morgan , AtTask CEO. “We enable them to manage all of their structured and ad-hoc work with social collaboration built into the fabric of their work processes, which delivers significant improvements in worker and team productivity.”

The AtTask Enterprise Work Cloud consists of the following key capabilities:

Enterprise Work Management to Control the Chaos

AtTask helps enterprise teams manage and control the chaos of all types of enterprise work. Enterprise teams need a single, central place to manage work requests and improve visibility and productivity by eliminating the wasted time caused by disconnected tools and processes. The AtTask Enterprise Work Management solution provides that single system of truth.

Enterprise Social Collaboration to Enhance Productivity

Collaboration is most impactful when it is in the context of the work that matters. While stand-alone business social systems are about the conversation, AtTask is about the work, turning social into a productivity enhancer, not a distracting time-suck.  The AtTask Enterprise Work Cloud incorporates social with the workflow to make work go faster and better, including contextual collaboration on requests, priorities, ideas, projects, tasks, documents, approvals, and more.

Enterprise-Grade Platform to Meet Demanding Requirements

With its most recent release, AtTask introduced significant enhancements to its enterprise grade solution to better meet the needs of the largest enterprises and the most security- and compliance-conscious enterprises (such as those in Healthcare, Financial Services, Government, and others.). This includes capabilities such as:

• Data Encryption at Rest— AtTask is unique in the industry with its offer of 256-bit encryption at rest (as well as in transit), required for regulatory compliance for HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOX, FISMA, and many others.
• Performance Guarantees—In addition to critical uptime Service Level Agreements, AtTask guarantees that the Enterprise Work Cloud will meet or exceed defined performance standards in load times and response times.
• Audit Governance—AtTask shares its internal and 3^rd party audits with its customers and also ensures peace of mind by offering customers the ability to perform their own annual AtTask audit.
• Enterprise-Class Functionality—New enhancements also include a configurable sandbox that can be used as a production copy or a preview of early release functionality and SAML 2.0 support for single sign-on (SSO).

“In my previous roles in large organizations, I experienced firsthand the frustration of cloud-based solutions not being able to support the needs of security-conscious enterprises,” said Ted Hoy, Chief Technology Officer for AtTask. “In building the AtTask Enterprise Work Cloud we delivered a solution that overcomes compliance and performance issues by providing top-notch security and in-depth visibility so teams can solve their enterprise work management problems.”

For more information on AtTask Enterprise Work Cloud visit http://www.attask.com/product

AtTask will showcase the AtTask Enterprise Work Cloud at the HIMSS Annual Conference on March 3-7, 2013, in booth #2059.

Additional Resources:

• Hear how AtTask helps its customers improve work processes and visibility: http://www.attask.com/it-pmo/hospitals/webinars/increasing-demand-for-hospital-it-projects?o=70160000000MkmOAAS
• Learn more about Enterprise Work Management: http://www.attask.com/enterprise-work-management
• Learn more about the AtTask Enterprise Work Cloud: http://www.attask.com/product

About AtTask

AtTask is the only provider of cloud-based Enterprise Work Management solutions for enterprise teams. This provides a single, central place to better manage and control the chaos of enterprise work, which improves visibility and productivity by eliminating wasted time dealing with fragmented, siloed tools and processes. With AtTask, teams, managers and executives receive visibility into work planning, prioritization, resourcing and sequencing to help everyone work more efficiently toward achieving the organization’s goals. AtTask has a broad range of Global 500 and other enterprise customers, such as Nike, Cisco, ABC, ESPN, 3M, and Trek. To learn more, visit www.AtTask.com or follow us on Twitter @AtTask.

Contact:

Shelbi Gomez
[email protected]
801-477-9813

Recognizing a serious shift in enterprise needs for data protection, Acronis today announced that it has expanded beyond the traditional backup and disaster recovery market to encompass a broader strategy for delivering secure data availability, accessibility and protection.

The widespread adoption of virtualization and cloud computing, alongside tablets, smartphones and the Apple® Mac® within businesses significantly increases the risk of data loss and leakage, which cannot be prevented with conventional approaches using outdated technologies from legacy vendors. With its focus on the protection and movement of data, regardless of platform or environment, Acronis is presenting further expansion of its comprehensive platform to address this risk, easily, simply, and reliably for organizations of all sizes.

In 2012, Acronis’ virtualization data protection business grew by nearly 60 percent worldwide. This, alongside Acronis’ continued cloud business growth, is strong evidence of the demand for a more innovative, comprehensive platform that eliminates IT complexity and allows companies to establish one set of data protection policies, using one technology, across all environments. The increase in hybrid IT environments require new approaches to solve the data protection and availability problems these complex environments create.

“Companies are adopting new technologies faster than they can plan effective data protection strategies. Yet IT is responsible for data protection across all technologies and environments. After all, data can only be utilized if it can be securely accessed, protected and available regardless of platform or environment, tablet or smartphone,” said Alex Pinchev, president and CEO, Acronis.

“Acronis is delivering a comprehensive platform strategy that allows customers to more simply and reliably mitigate the risk to data in today’s world, in ways no legacy vendor can. By keeping data at the center of our development effort, we focus on removing the constraints of hybrid environments by enabling the secure, protected movement of data while reducing risks of data loss and leakage.”

The most recent developments include a new seamless architecture that enables organizations to integrate protection for data created on an Apple® Mac® platform, which was also announced today, as well as the extension of the Acronis Unified Platform to include new plugins for data-intensive applications such as Microsoft® SQL Server™ which are increasingly moving to virtual environments.

“We see the forces of Big Data, virtualization, cloud and the growing population of workers with three or more disparate devices changing the landscape of data protection forever,” commented Laura DuBois, program vice president for the Storage practice at IDC. “Our research shows that with the next wave of virtualization users will increasingly embrace multiple hypervisors in their environments. Organizations will be facing an increasingly complex management and security burden.”

From the initial imaging product development in 2002, Acronis has always focused on the protection of data, regardless of platform or environment, enabling seamless movement and greater efficiency. The imaging technology central to Acronis innovation enables the granular availability of every object, file, machine or system — regardless of location. Acronis’ Unified Platform, which supports all major hypervisors, has been on the market for nearly two years and is proven in thousands of networks worldwide. These latest extensions will bring greater flexibility to an organizations’ ability to move, access and protect critical data.

About Acronis

Acronis is leading the next wave of data availability, accessibility and protection solutions to simplify today’s complex IT environments. Acronis technology enables organizations of all sizes to manage the always-on anywhere data access demands of users, reducing risk against the loss of valuable corporate data, and controlling management and storage costs. With proven technology for data migration and disaster recovery for physical, virtual and cloud environments, and secure enterprise file-sharing and synchronization regardless of type or platform, Acronis is enabling organizations to embrace new IT strategies and options such as BYOD and Mac in the enterprise.

Media Contact

Meredith L. Eaton
March Communications
Tel: +1 617-960-9877
Email: [email protected]

The 2013 network priorities for typical midsized (500-5000 seat) organisations are an exercise in ‘pragmatic intelligence’ according to Exinda, as CIOs and senior network managers wrestle to simplfy, streamline and consolidate in order to embrace the next phase of network innovation.

Exinda is a leading global supplier of WAN Optimization and Network Control solutions, with more than 3,000 midsized enterprise customers spanning industries such as manufacturing, retail, government and education. The following are the five most common networking objectives within their network plans:

1. Simplify network toolset and spend by identifying waste
Simplifying the use of networking tools – and the tools themselves – is the most frequently cited objective for 2013. Many customers are explaining about the need to remove wasted systems and redundant monitoring and intelligence sources across the IT management estate.

2. Reduce integration overhead through network service consolidation
The burden of managing so many complex and isolated systems is becoming untenable, say CIOs and network managers. With IT budgets barely increasing this year, focus is shifting from bringing in new independent tools toward introducing converged or integrated solution suites.

3. Empower managers with greater intelligence through network dashboards
The CIO and network manager of the typical midmarket company is deeply concerned about how to create simple, business-centric network dashboards that help to resolve bottlenecks faster and monitor and diagnose user issues more easily. A recurring sentiment is the need for richer user experience scoring, and a more direct connection among performance data, best practice benchmarking and problem resolution.

4. Measure and control the growing ‘social enterprise’, keeping the user as the focal point
Midsized organisations are focused on striking the right balance between unleashing the power of social media/collaboration, and assuring network SLAs and compliance. Their challenge is to maintain visibility of the user across all his/her devices and locations and to control the way in which network resources are used for social media and collaboration. This means tracking why the user is accessing applications and devices, prioritising that activity from a business perspective, and then allocating resources intelligently to meet the need.

5. Set five-year strategy for network virtualisation/SDN
The last objective is to take the first steps toward adoption of software-defined networking (SDN). In previous discussions, Exinda heard repeatedly about the need to avoid repeating the mistakes made with server virtualisation as companies embark on network virtualisation over the next three to five years.

A full examination of the 2013 network priorities, developed in consultation with the Exinda community, is available in the Exinda white paper: “5 Easy Tips from Top CIO Network Plans for 2013”

“The same objectives come up time and time again in discussions with our community; it’s clear that few if any are intent upon a ‘business as usual’ approach to managing their networks,” said Brendan Reid, VP Product Marketing at Exinda. “Rationalising infrastructure, streamlining processes and consolidating spending are the target outcomes, and these are very much in line with the expectations of analyst firms such as Gartner.”

About Exinda®

Exinda is a leading global supplier of WAN optimization and Network Control solutions. Exinda enables organisations to assure a predictable user experience for strategic business applications through policy-based WAN optimization and Network Control that intelligently allocate network bandwidth and optimize traffic based on the priorities of the business. The company has helped more than 2,500 organisations in over 80 countries worldwide assure application performance, improve the end-user experience, contain recreational applications and reduce network operating costs for the IT executive. For more information, please visit http://www.exinda.com/.

IT departments at educational institutions are well along in their planning for the 2013-2014 academic year, and some persistent management issues are becoming increasingly problematic as network managers deal with the continued rise of both strategic and recreational Internet traffic from high-bandwidth applications and P2P traffic crossing the network, according to Exinda.

Add in BYOD / BYOA (bring your own device/bring your own applications), new compliance regulations for digital copyright infringement, and the move of some critical applications to the cloud, and education IT staff have a complex set of issues to resolve.

“The issues that educational institutions are facing really illuminate the challenges that are facing enterprises as a whole,” saidBrendan Reid , Vice President of Product Marketing at Exinda. “Because they serve three distinct user groups – administration, faculty and students – the requirements of one group is always seemingly at odds with the others for the use of precious network resources. Most educational institutions do not have the visibility they need to see who is using the network, and for what. Until they have policy-based Internet control in place, many educational institutions will continue to struggle with the issues that an accelerating convergence of strategic and recreational Internet traffic is placing on their networks.”

According to Exinda, the top 5 IT challenges for education institutions are:

1. Distinguishing strategic traffic from recreational traffic: The more students, faculty and staff rely on learning and administrative resources served from the cloud, the more difficult it will be to decipher what web traffic should be optimized and what should be contained. How do you tell when YouTube is being used as part of a marketing class and when it’s being used to watch the complete library of Taylor Swift music videos?

2. Managing the impact of BYOD / BYOA: If students are consistent about one thing, it’s how much they love their devices: the more, the better. But more devices equal more applications being run across the network, and that’s a big issue for educational institutions with limited capacity. At the same time, they want to stay cutting edge and introduce new learning tools and applications to their students. How can they embrace BYOD / BYOA without negatively impacting their network?

3. Controlling real-time video and collaboration content: Whether it’s Netflix, YouTube or Skype, the use of video at educational institutions is exploding and must be controlled. But what about the strategic collaboration video, voice, etc., served up by Learning Management Systems, such as Blackboard and Moodle? This content needs to be protected and presents an emerging and complex challenge for managing these strategic, real-time Internet collaboration applications.

4. Having the user data required to meet regulatory compliance: More and more burden is being put on education IT departments in the effort to curb digital copyright infringement by students. How can educational institutions best act to reduce piracy and prevent the dissemination of copyrighted material, music and other intellectual property, and be able to react quickly when it does occur?

5. Maintaining SLAs for newly migrated cloud applications: What will the network impact be as more learning applications move to the cloud? Learning institutions will struggle to accurately model and maintain application SLAs through the process. How do we model how SLAs need to change for an application once run on-premise to now running in the cloud?

For more information about how educational IT departments can overcome their network challenges, download Exinda’s Education whitepaper.

About Exinda

Exinda is a leading global supplier of WAN optimization and Network Control solutions. Exinda enables organizations to assure a predictable user experience for strategic business applications through policy-based WAN optimization and Internet Control that intelligently allocate network bandwidth and optimize traffic based on the priorities of the business. The company has helped more than 2,500 organizations in over 80 countries worldwide assure application performance, improve the end-user experience, contain recreational applications and reduce network operating costs for the IT executive. For more information, please visit http://www.exinda.com.

At the eTail West Expo, Monetate (Booth 304/306) will showcase how etailers can leverage Big Data to drive real-time, customer-centric experiences on digital sites to generate increased customer engagement and revenue.

The Monetate team will demonstrate the latest advances in dynamic merchandising for customer segments based on customer purchase history, device, demographics, in-session browsing behavior and more.

“Ecommerce as an industry is ready to embrace the next phase of the Big Data evolution, garnering insights from data and using those insights to create personalized experiences in real time,” said Kurt Heinemann , CMO of Monetate. “This customer-centric approach takes what has been learned about a customer through data and uses that information to present them with the most relevant online experience. At eTail West, we’ll be sharing best practices in this area and giving etailers a peak into the future of personalization and segment discovery.”

The eTail West Expo will be held in Palm Desert, Calif., February 25-28, 2013. To request a meeting with Monetate at eTail West, email [email protected].

About Monetate

Monetate empowers marketers to leverage Big Data to create more personalized and engaging online customer experiences. By providing a more relevant web experience, leading brands are able to anticipate and react to consumer preferences to generate stronger customer relationships and significantly increase profits.

Monetate drives billions of dollars of revenue every year for some of the best-known brands in the world, including Best Buy, Frontier Airlines, Aeropostale, The Sports Authority, and PETCO. The company’s solutions and conversion expertise enable marketers to deliver a more relevant customer experience with unprecedented agility.

Leading marketers rely on Monetate’s cloud-based browser technology to achieve a new level of speed and control, allowing them to run 16 times more optimization campaigns compared to industry averages. The Monetate technology includes advanced products for testing, merchandising, targeting and cross-channel consistency, providing an opportunity to bypass IT restraints and react in real time to customer demands. Monetate also helps marketers implement best practices and drive online revenue through its expert strategic services and content publishing teams.