COMPUTERLINKS and Exinda Launch Multi-Region Distribution Relationship

by OpenView

COMPUTERLINKS, the next-generation distributor of IT security and Internet technology solutions, today announced it has entered into an agreement with Exinda, a global provider of next-generation WAN Optimization and application performance assurance solutions incorporating the Exinda 360 Dynamic Policy Engine.

This partnership will enable Exinda to better satisfy growing market demand for its suite of solutions and further reinforces its commitment for global growth.

As the leading value-added distributor, COMPUTERLINKS will help Exinda increase its channel footprint in North America and significantly extend the reach of Exinda’s sales, service and support capabilities as it seeks to enter new markets and increase market share.

Exinda enables organizations to assure the performance of their strategic business applications through policy-based WAN optimization that intelligently applies acceleration and containment based on the priorities of the business. Exinda is the first vendor to bring to market an integrated suite that delivers application assurance as part of its core WAN optimization offering.

“The partnership with Exinda is an outstanding opportunity for both our companies,” said Russell Zientek, CEO of COMPUTERLINKS North America. “We are excited to finally bring a truly outstanding and competitive WAN Optimization and Application Assurance solution to our reseller partners. No other solution provides visibility, QoS, and acceleration within a single suite, which sets Exinda apart from the legacy WAN optimization providers. Our resellers will appreciate being able to address multiple customer needs with a single solution.”

COMPUTERLINKS will be offering evaluations, pre-sales technical resources, and a fully certified sales team to assist North American resellers in their development.

“Exinda is setting the standard for WAN Optimization 2.0 solutions with the addition of user, application, and contextual profiling and containment in addition to traditional WAN optimization services,” said Kevin Kirksey, Global VP of Sales for Exinda. “COMPUTERLINKS has a proven track record in bringing next-generation solutions to market and building momentum in the channel. We’re excited about the future of this relationship.”

About COMPUTERLINKS

COMPUTERLINKS is one of the leading value added distributors for international top manufacturers in information technology. As the link between the manufacturers and resellers, COMPUTERLINKS smooth the path for the successful distribution of intelligent IT solutions from the areas of e-security and e-business. The COMPUTERLINKS product portfolio is geared to the growing needs of customers for security in the field of ever more complex, global IT structures. With branches in 18 countries COMPUTERLINKS reach is constantly expanding to cover new territories and strive to retain its position as a leading VAD for international IT manufacturers, who are all market leaders in their fields. For more information, please visithttp://www.computerlinks.com.

About Exinda

Exinda is a proven global supplier of next-generation WAN Optimization and application performance assurance products. The company has helped more than 2,500 organizations in over 80 countries worldwide improve the end-user experience, manage application performance, manage congestion over the WAN and reduce network operating costs for the IT executive. For more information, please visit http://www.exinda.com.

Instructure Releases Canvas Analytics

by OpenView

Instructure released learning analytics for customers of the Canvas® platform at InstructureCon, the company’s annual user conference.

Canvas Analytics delivers intuitive dashboards for students, educators and administrators to aid in making data-driven decisions that improve learning.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120201/SF45541LOGO)

“We’ve focused on the learning side of analytics and made the dashboards immediately usable,” said Brian Whitmer, VP of Product Management at Instructure. “We wanted to give the data to the user quickly without requiring report building knowledge.”

Students, instructors and administrators can view Canvas Analytics and drill-down on specific areas unique to their role. Students can see a dashboard of their performance, course activity and how they’re doing in comparison to their class. Teachers can monitor a course as a whole, compare courses side by side, identify at-risk students and proactively intervene to help their students.

Administrators can access the same information teachers have and can make side-by-side comparisons between programs or departments. Administrators can also export all the analytical data via the Canvas API, allowing institutions to use the data in the way that makes the most sense for them.

Instructure followed the same pattern for software development to create Canvas Analytics that it used to create the Canvas platform. The founders began listening in the fall of 2011 to K-12 and post-secondary educators about their greatest learning analytics needs. In February 2012, Instructure began a beta program with 12 institutions.

Bay Path College participated in the early beta program and over time added more than 40 courses and 800 students to Canvas analytics. Sarah Bombich, Instructional Designer at Bay Path College first evaluated individual-level analytics and later reviewed course-level analytics.

“We love the Instructure approach to development,” Bombich said. “By evaluating parts of the product, we engaged in a more collaborative experience and felt Instructure listened intently to our feedback.”

Canvas Analytics is available to Instructure customers at no additional cost. Rather than taking the traditional learning management systems approach of charging for each component, Instructure includes analytics in Canvas. Instructure customers benefit from this approach by having a system that is always up to date without having to deal with patches, upgrades and scheduled maintenance.

“Canvas Analytics is very easy to use,” said Kim Munzo, Director of Online Education at Ross Education. “You no longer have to jump to the grade book or other places in the system. Everything you need to know about that course is right in front of you.”

For more information on Canvas Analytics visit: http://www.instructure.com/analytics

About Instructure:

Instructure is a technology company committed to improving education. We provide instructors and students modern tools and resources to empower the learning experience. Founded by graduate students in collaboration with educational institutions, Instructure provides Canvas – the open, easy-to-use, cloud-native learning platform.

Contact Info:

Devin Knighton
Director of Public Relations
[email protected]/
(801) 722-8187
www.instructure.com

ExactTarget Launches MobileConnect Application, ‘Democratizing’ Mobile for Marketers Worldwide

by OpenView

Global interactive marketing provider ExactTarget (NYSE:ET) launched its new MobileConnect application today, providing marketers a cloud-based application to power SMS alerts and mobile marketing messages worldwide.

Available as a standalone application or fully integrated into the ExactTarget Interactive Marketing Hub, MobileConnect is the next generation of ExactTarget’s mobile marketing application and features intuitive message templates, easy-to-use reporting, advanced enterprise management of short/long codes and keywords and cross-channel integration with campaigns across email, social media and the web.

“With the launch of MobileConnect, ExactTarget is democratizing mobile marketing, providing a new approach that makes mobile more accessible and easier to use than ever before,” said Scott Dorsey, ExactTarget co-founder and chief executive officer. “Our revolutionary approach to mobile enables marketers across all segments of the market to easily create and integrate SMS into interactive campaigns across email, social media and the Web – all through an intuitive user interface that serves both beginners and highly technical marketers.”

Key features of ExactTarget MobileConnect include:

  • Self-Service Interface: Easy-to-use application provides a wide variety of SMSmessaging templates, real-time tracking, shortcode and longcode management and easy-to-use step-by-step message and campaign creation.
  • Cross-Channel Integration: Seamless integration into the Interactive Marketing Hub allows marketers to associate SMS programs with ExactTarget-powered email, social media and Web campaigns to create a single view of each customer’s interactions and message preferences.
  • Enterprise-level Scalability: Built on ExactTarget’s FUEL software as a service platform, MobileConnect easily scales to meet enterprise messaging needs from delivering relevant marketing messages to powering highly transactional mission-critical messaging, including real-time data-driven SMS alerts such as travel updates, banking alerts and order confirmations.

Launched at the Mobile Marketing Association Forum in New York City, MobileConnect is generally available to all ExactTarget clients starting today. The application is the next generation of the company’s mobile marketing solution, which debuted in 2007.

“Just as marketers focused on the 30-second spot when consumers flocked to their TVs en masse, now is the time to embrace mobile phones as the next marketing frontier,” wrote Melissa Parrish, senior analyst at Forrester Research, Inc. in the February 2012 report entitled “Mobile Marketing: Three Principles For Success”. “More people own smartphones than ever before, and they’re using them more often too. This makes a mobile marketing strategy crucial for any interactive marketer.”

Nearly 70 percent of U.S. online consumers use text messaging weekly and of those 16 percent have made a purchase after receiving a text (SMS) marketing message, according to ExactTarget’s recent 2012 Channel Preference Survey. The survey of nearly 1,500 consumers also found a quarter of consumers prefer text messaging over all other channels for real-time channel alerts. To download the research, click here.

MobileConnect is the latest interactive marketing application launched by ExactTarget. In the past year, the company has introduced new innovations across its cross-channel interactive marketing suite, including:

  • SocialEngage – Provides next generation social media management functionality for Twitter and Facebook with expanded capabilities including outbound editorial workflow, RSS integration, exporting conversations, SSL security and cross-channel integration.
  • SocialPages – Provides Facebook page publishing and analytics with integrated real-time engagement features, such as polling and email acquisition.
  • Audience Builder – Provides a powerful solution to consolidate, analyze and take action on customer data in real time through an intuitive drag-and-drop interface to create targeted audiences for campaigns across email, mobile, social media and the Web.
  • Automation Studio – Provides drag and drop automation to plan and power messages across email, mobile, social or Web campaigns based on consumer behavior, time or custom attributes.

The MobileConnect launch follows the Mobile Marketing Association naming ExactTarget Chief Marketing Officer Tim Kopp to its North America board of directors. MMA, the leading global trade association for the mobile industry, named Kopp to the board alongside experts from leading global companies to help shape the future of mobile marketing.

About ExactTarget

ExactTarget is a leading global provider of email marketing and cross-channel interactive marketing software-as-a-service solutions that empower organizations of all sizes to communicate with their customers through email, mobile, social media and websites. ExactTarget’s powerful suite of integrated applications enable marketers to plan, automate, deliver and optimize data-driven interactive marketing and real-time communications to drive customer engagement, increase sales and improve return on marketing investment. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana with offices across North America and in Europe, South America and Australia, ExactTarget trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “ET.” For more information, visit www.ExactTarget.com.

Contacts

Media Contact:
Finn Partners
Margaret Hoerster, 312.329.3980
[email protected]

Savills Chooses Exinda to Enhance Computer Network

by OpenView

Exinda, a global provider of next-generation WAN optimization and performance assurance solutions, has been deployed by global real estate services provider Savills to prioritize and control business critical traffic across its branch network and primary Internet circuit.

With over 100 sites across the UK and Europe, all requiring instant access to bandwidth intensive applications such as Citrix, it was critical that Savills deployed the very best WAN optimization solution that could not only control the immense amount of traffic, but prioritize in the most efficient way possible.

Rayden King, Network Manager at Savills, explains, “The standout benefit of the Exinda solution was its ability to support multiple circuits, enabling us to control the traffic from one central location out to over 100 UK and mainland Europe branches. This has not only been a highly cost effective approach, but also given us the granular control we desired to prioritize specific traffic on a need by need basis. We have also been very impressed with the reporting functions, which have enabled us to analyze the traffic in a detailed way, improving our ability to consistently enhance network performance.

“Furthermore, with an unprecedented ‘summer of sport’ ahead of us, we are also aware of the potential increased pressure on the network and the Exinda solution will allow us the capability to be flexible and scalable in order to manage this effectively.”

Adam Davison, VP EMEA at Exinda, adds, “Savills has a wide area network that brings together multiple branches in multiple countries. Thanks to our unique Performance Assurance solution and utilizing Exinda’s visibility and control capabilities, Savills is benefiting from a more selective approach to enabling Application Assurance, as well as a scalable network that will be able to react quickly and efficiently to the demands placed on it.”

About Exinda®

Exinda is a proven global supplier of next-generation WAN optimization and application acceleration products. The company has helped more than 2,500 organizations in over 80 countries worldwide improve the end-user experience, manage application performance, manage congestion over the WAN and reduce network operating costs for the IT executive. For more information, please visit http://www.exinda.com.

About Savills

Savills plc is a global real estate services provider listed on the London Stock Exchange. It has an international network of more than 200 offices and associates throughout the Americas, the UK, continental Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa and the Middle East, offering a broad range of specialist advisory, management and transactional services to clients all over the world.

Exinda and the Exinda logo are trademarks of Exinda. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

ShareStream and Instructure Partner to Integrate the ShareStream Video Platform into Canvas

by OpenView

ShareStream and Instructure partner to leverage the ShareStream video extension for instructional technology on the Canvas® platform.

ShareStream will showcase its new media solution for Canvas at Instructure’s annual user conference, InstructureCon, June 14th 2012 in Park City, Utah.

“ShareStream is very pleased to partner with Instructure to provide our mutual customers with ShareStream’s video solution tightly integrated with Canvas”

ShareStream’s video solution for Canvas enables faculty, staff and students to easily upload video, perform online video editing and submit video assignments to instructors. Additionally, users can browse instructional-media collections for the courses in which they are enrolled, tag content with metadata and deliver rich media securely via a robust and scalable video streaming server.

“ShareStream is very pleased to partner with Instructure to provide our mutual customers with ShareStream’s video solution tightly integrated with Canvas,” stated David Weinstein, ShareStream’s CEO.

The use of video and other forms of media, such as audio, images and lecture capture files, has skyrocketed at educational institutions over recent years, particularly for teaching and learning.

“We’re just starting to see the huge value for today’s classroom in having seamlessly integrated video,” said Brian Whitmer, Co-Founder and Vice-President of Product at Instructure Canvas. “Instructure’s partnership with ShareStream will enhance the experience of both the teacher and the student.”

The ShareStream Video Platform—a turnkey system for the full lifecycle of media, complete with digital rights management—is designed specifically to fulfill rising demand from educational institutions for integrating media into online courses and campus communications.

ShareStream’s video extension for Canvas allows universities, colleges and K-12 schools to fulfill rising demand for video streaming services. These services aid in instructional technology, distance learning, library’s media reserves, student video assignments and more.

Availability and Demonstrations

ShareStream’s video extension for Instructure Canvas is now available. For more information on the ShareStream Video Platform and ShareStream’s interoperability with Canvas, contact [email protected].

ShareStream and Instructure will also hold a joint webinar on Wednesday, July 25th, which will include a demonstration of ShareStream’s integration points with Canvas. To register for the webinar, click here.

About ShareStream:

ShareStream provides secure, enterprise-wide rich-media management platforms and online video solutions designed specifically for the unique needs of educational institutions. The ShareStream Media Platform for Education, developed in collaboration with higher education at Georgetown University, provides educational institutions with the technological tools specific to their workflow to allow them to operate as state-of-the-art educational media organizations to achieve the maximum benefit from their content, on campus and beyond. For more information, please visit www.sharestream.com or follow ShareStream on Twitter at @ShareStreamVid to receive the latest company updates.

About Instructure

Instructure is a technology company committed to improving education. We provide instructors and students modern tools and resources to empower the learning experience. Founded by graduate students in collaboration with educational institutions, Instructure provides Canvas – the open, easy-to-use, cloud-native learning platform.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50309169&lang=en

 

Contacts

ShareStream
Gayraud Townsend, 917-658-3845
[email protected]
or
Instructure Canvas
Devin Knighton, 801-722-8187
Director of Public Relations
[email protected]

Monetate CEO David Brussin Named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2012 Finalist For Greater Philadelphia

by OpenView

Monetate, a leader in online marketing technology, today announced that its CEO, David Brussin, has been chosen as a finalist in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2012 program for the Greater Philadelphia region.

The award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and success in innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.

Under Brussin’s leadership Monetate achieved exceptional growth in 2011, with a yearly revenue increase of 278%. Fueled by its ability to empower brands to deliver a more relevant online customer experience, Monetate’s strong growth trend has continued in 2012 as the company strengthened its roster of top clients, adding more than 30 enterprise brands including OfficeMax and the Container Store. Comcast,QVC, Brooks Brothers, and Urban Outfitters are existing customers with documented ROI achieved through use of Monetate’s merchandising, testing, targeting, and site customization solutions.

“New technologies and experiences in the ecommerce world have led to customer demand for a highly personalized online experience,” said Monetate CEO David Brussin. “Helping our clients deliver a more relevant experience that meets these evolving expectations is Monetate’s focused goal and at the core of our growth. By using data and behavior indicators to tailor the online experience to individual preferences, we enable our clients to build successful, long-term relationships with their customers.”

(click here to see David Brussin and Monetate customers discuss the end of the “one-size-fits-all” web)

Now in its 26th year, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Program recognizes business leaders who create the products, services and jobs that help our economy and communities grow. The Philadelphia-area finalists, who represent companies in the technology, biotech, healthcare, and other industries, were chosen by an independent panel of judges. Awards will be presented at a gala event on June 21 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia.

“Philadelphia is one of the most vibrant entrepreneurial communities in the country, with a number of companies leading the next wave of innovation,” Brussin continued. “It is a great honor to be recognized as a finalist for this prestigious award along with so many other worthy entrepreneurs.”

About Monetate

Monetate drives billions of dollars of revenue every year for some of the best-known brands in the world, including Best Buy, QVC, Urban Outfitters, Aeropostale, The Sports Authority, and PETCO. The company’s comprehensive product suite 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 Agility Suite 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. For more information visit http://monetate.com/ or follow us on Twitter @Monetate.

About Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year®

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year is the world’s most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The unique award makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential, and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global award of its kind, Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 140 cities in more than 50 countries.

About Ernst & Young

Ernst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. Worldwide, our 152,000 people are united by our shared values and an unwavering commitment to quality. We make a difference by helping our people, our clients and our wider communities achieve their potential.

Ernst & Young refers to the global organization of member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information about our organization, please visit http://www.ey.com.
This news release has been issued by Ernst & Young LLP, a US client-serving member firm of Ernst & Young Global Limited.

ExactTarget Chief Marketing Officer Named to Mobile Marketing Association’s Board of Directors

by OpenView

Global interactive marketing provider ExactTarget (NYSE:ET) announced today that its Chief Marketing Officer Tim Kopp has been named to the Mobile Marketing Association’s North America board of directors.

The Mobile Marketing Association, the leading global trade association for the mobile industry, named Kopp to the board alongside experts from Google, Microsoft, ESPN and Target to help shape the future of mobile marketing.

“The MMA board of directors plays a pivotal role in setting the agenda for the mobile marketing industry and shaping the future of our organization,” said Michael Becker, North America managing director of the Mobile Marketing Association. “Tim has been a pioneer in interactive marketing for more than a decade, and I am thrilled to work with him and the full board to fulfill our mission of making mobile an indispensable part of the modern marketing mix.”

Kopp joined ExactTarget in 2007 as chief marketing officer and leads all aspects of the company’s global marketing worldwide, including branding, interactive, field marketing, corporate communications, advertising, thought leadership and strategic partnerships with technology leaders including Microsoft, Salesforce and Adobe. Prior to ExactTarget, Kopp served as the chief marketing officer at web analytics provider Webtrends and as vice president of global interactive marketing for Coca-Cola. He began his career in 1997 with Procter and Gamble where he pioneered interactive marketing and ultimately led interactive marketing worldwide for the company’s Beauty Care division.

“Consumers’ rapid adoption of mobile is fueling a transformation in marketing that requires a new approach for everyone in the mobile value chain – from carriers and technology providers to marketers themselves,” said Kopp. “I am humbled by the opportunity to work with the incredible team of experts on the Mobile Marketing Association board to help shape the future of the industry.”

The news of Kopp being named to the board of directors follows the launch of ExactTarget’s latest research on consumer’s adoption of mobile and interactive marketing technologies. Featured in ExactTarget’s 2012 Channel Preference Survey, the study found 68 percent of online consumers use text messaging at least weekly and 16 percent have made a purchase after receiving a text (SMS) marketing message.

About ExactTarget

ExactTarget is a leading global provider of email marketing and cross-channel interactive marketing software-as-a-service solutions that empower organizations of all sizes to communicate with their customers through email, mobile, social media and websites. ExactTarget’s powerful suite of integrated applications enable marketers to plan, automate, deliver and optimize data-driven interactive marketing and real-time communications to drive customer engagement, increase sales and improve return on marketing investment. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana with offices across North America and in Europe, South America and Australia, ExactTarget trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “ET.” For more information, visit www.ExactTarget.com.

About the Mobile Marketing Association

The MMA is the premier global non-profit trade association established to lead the growth of mobile marketing and its associated technologies. The MMA is an action-oriented organization designed to clear obstacles to market development, establish mobile media guidelines and best practices for sustainable growth and preserving privacy, and evangelize the use of the mobile channel. 

MMA includes more than 700 member companies, representing nearly 50 countries across the mobile marketing industry including hardware providers, marketers, software developers and more. MMA global headquarters are located in the U.S., with regional chapters in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific. For more information, visit www.mmaglobal.com.

Contacts

Margaret Hoerster (Finn Partners for ExactTarget)
312.329.3909 or [email protected]
or
Emily Kutner (for the Mobile Marketing Association)
212-486-7070 or [email protected]

Open-E announces Rackserver as First Dutch Silver Partner

by OpenView

Open-E, Inc., a leading developer of innovative storage management software expands its co-operation with Dutch partner Rackserver, who is now the first Silver Partner in the Netherlands.

Through its partner program Open-E co-operates with a large number of leading storage solution providers. The authorization as an Open-E Silver Partner guarantees compatibility and quality and endorses leading hardware manufacturers on the market. Silver marks a high-level partnership, dedicated to rapidly growing partners with a focus on achieving success by offering Open-E’s products. Partners at that level are interested in extending their market position by getting higher profits from a long term relationship with Open-E.

Rackserver delivers both server and storage solutions, as well as power and server management solutions for the cloud and data centres. Headquartered in Tilburg the company delivers its solutions directly through its website and a network of solution partners.

“Rackserver has long been a reliable partner in the Netherlands”, says Todd Maxwell, Director of Technical Sales at Open-E. “This justifies the recognition to the next level of partnership with Open-E. Both our companies are able to assure customers with a qualified supplier of high quality storage products that is needed in today’s data demands.”

“We are very pleased to have gained the Silver Partner status of Open-E”, states Halvard Woei-a-Sioe, Technical Manager at Rackserver. “With this it is immediately visible to our customers that we have a great expertise of the Open-E DSS V6 platform. The Silver Partner status also ensures that we offer storage products with highest functionality, performance and scalability.”

More information about Open-E and its Partner Program is provided on the Open-E Website.

About Open-E

Open-E, Inc. is a pioneering leader and developer of IP-based storage management software with headquarters in the United States and Europe. Founded in 1998, the company sells its line of storage management software exclusively through a world-wide network of system integrators and reseller partners. The Open-E DSS V6 line of products are aimed at the SMB and SME markets and enjoy a reputation for best-in-class performance, flexibility, reliability, scalability and return-on-investment.

With an extensive network of Open-E certified partners, customers have the flexibility to work with the hardware solution provider of their choosing, allowing Open-E to focus on its core competency of storage software development. With over 25,000 customer installations since 2003 in over 90 countries, Open-E Data Storage Software is used by Fortune 500 customers world-wide.

For further information about Open-E, its products and partners, visit http://www.open-e.com/.

About Rackserver

Rack Server is a provider of server and storage solutions. The company delivers both server and also storage solutions as well as power and server management solutions for the cloud and data centers. Since the middle of 2010 Rackserver is part of the EyeTi Group. Headquarters of Rackserver are located in Tilburg, the modern and brand new assembly space and warehouse in Amsterdam. The company delivers its solutions directly through www.rackserver.nl and a network of Solution Partners. For more information: www.rackserver.nl.