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VersionOne, recognized by agile practitioners as the leader in agile project management tools, today announced that it has added a new lightweight product edition to its suite of agile project management tools.

VersionOne Catalyst Edition is an all-in-one agile management tool built from the ground up to support and reinforce agile development processes. Catalyst Edition delivers improved visibility across projects, automated reporting and an easy path for teams ramping up their agile adoption to start small and scale with VersionOne as their needs evolve.

Built with the same intuitive UI as VersionOne’s Enterprise and Ultimate Editions, Catalyst Edition allows organizations to adopt a right-sized solution and then easily upgrade to more feature-rich editions at a natural pace as their agile adoption matures. Catalyst is designed for agile development teams with up to 20 users who have outgrown starter agile management methods – such as spreadsheets, whiteboards and sticky notes or agile plug-ins – and need to extend visibility beyond the team to include project stakeholders.

VersionOne Catalyst Edition benefits include:

• Simplified agile process flow and UI navigation to accelerate agile adoption
• Ability to manage all processes and work items within a single tool
• Centralized backlog management with automated calculation of burndown, velocity and estimate trends
• Effortless setup/administration – import backlog and get started in minutes
• Easy upgrade path for investment-smart scaling of agile

VersionOne Catalyst is the only lightweight agile project management tool on the market that aligns intuitively with a team’s agile processes, reinforcing and guiding teams through each step of the agile methodology. Agile development teams can customize the tool to mirror their workflow processes and continue to modify and adapt them as they evolve.

“Catalyst is unique in that customers do not have to choose between what features are useful now and what their teams will need later,” said VersionOne President and CEO Robert Holler. “Many of today’s organizations are less than two years into their agile adoption. They haven’t yet evolved into a comprehensive solution, but have hit a wall with traditional starter tools. Catalyst brings real-time visibility, simplified planning and tracking, and on-demand reporting beyond the team level with an affordable entry point.”

Catalyst Product Info: http://www.versionone.com/Product/Compare_Editions/Catalyst/
Catalyst Product Tour: http://www.versionone.com/webcasts/Catalyst_Tour.asp

About VersionOne

VersionOne is recognized by agile practitioners as the leader in agile project management tools. By simplifying the planning and tracking of agile projects, we help teams deliver better software faster. Since 2002, companies such as Adobe, Boeing, bwin, Intuit, Lilly, Lockheed Martin, Oppenheimer, Qualcomm, Sabre and Siemens have turned to VersionOne. Today more than 50,000 teams around the world use VersionOne. Agile Made Easier @ VersionOne.com. For daily VersionOne and agile development news follow us on Google+, Twitter, Facebook and our blogs.

Exinda is reaching out to the branch office with Exinda Edge, its latest addition to its WAN optimization lineup.

Edge will allow the company’s intelligent routing technology to be deployed on physical or virtual servers in branch offices, following Exinda’s plan for the evolution of WAN optimization.

“WAN optimization 1.0 was all about making a faster and more optimized pipe. WAN optimization 2.0 is business-centric and focusing on the user experience,” explains Brendan Reid, senior director of product marketing at Exinda.

The Exinda Edge software ships with application packs preconfigured for different types of businesses. These use a template approach to specify the priority of different classes of applications and scheduling. For branch-office networks, this might mean Salesforce.com, Skype or WebEx. In an educational environment, it might mean that e-learning applications like Blackboard and Moodle receive priority, while social applications like Facebook receive measured resource allocation.

The performance of specific applications classes can be adjusted according to a schedule. For example, a university might slow down social networking and Xbox applications during the day to give priority to education applications. At night, when classes are out of session, the recreational applications can get higher priority.

“Branch networks are rapidly becoming more complex,” says Joe Skorupa, VP and a distinguished analyst at Gartner. “The proliferation of recreational applications, consumer devices and Internet-based services puts increased pressure on the network. As a result, WAN optimization suppliers must place a greater emphasis on application assurance, not just acceleration, and must apply user, application and usage profiles of the business to drive a more intelligent approach to optimization.”

Reid says Exinda’s approach is different from traditional content and Web filtering tactics, which are more binary in nature. Exinda Dynamic Policy Engine, a key component of the company’s offerings, allows network managers to assign quality-of-service properties to specific applications, and can be utilized to dial down problematic apps to improve the performance of other apps.

“The application estate in the network has become more complex. You cannot just accelerate everything,” he explains. “You have to take a more intelligent approach as to what you optimize. In some cases, full acceleration approach on all applications makes sense. But in others, that approach is no longer prudent.”

Exinda Edge can be deployed as a virtual appliance, which can help branch offices consolidate file, print and WAN optimization services onto a single box. The virtual appliance will run on the most prevalent hypervisors, including ESX, Hyper-V, XenServer and KVM. “We see an aggressive move in branch offices from physical servers for print, file and email to create a more consolidated IT footprint,” Reis says.

Edge is the latest addition to Exinda’s WAN optimization lineup, which includes products focused on data centers, cloud applications and mobile networks.

News Facts:

• Zmags, the rich-media mobile and social marketing platform provider, today announced that The Container Store, the nation’s original and leading retailer of storage and organization products, has selected Zmags Professional to create interactive digital catalogs that will deepen customer engagement across all channels.
• Using Zmags, The Container Store will create and publish new Web-based digital catalogs every six weeks, with plans to expand into mobile and social channels, and integrate additional features such as video and audio.  Zmags helps brands and retailers easily publish themed content, so they can target specific audiences or shopping seasons, and generate fresh appeal – a best practice when designing for digital. 
• The Container Store’s newest catalog, “Go Organized! Travel Sale” can be found at: http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/a0f1deaf#/a0f1deaf/1
• Serving marketing and e-commerce executives at 2,000 of the world’s most progressive companies in industries including retail, consumer brands, direct selling, publishing, automotive and travel, Zmags’ Professional makes rich-media marketing come to life on the Web as well as on tablets, smartphones and social media, appealing to the unique needs and preferences of today’s connected consumer.

Supporting Quotes:

• “We are in the business of making our customers’ lives more simple by offering products that are well designed and ultimately save time,” said Catherine Davis, direct marketing director, The Container Store. “Using Zmags, our ecatalogs mirror the time-saving, life-simplifying shopping experience we provide in-store. Zmags helps us create a more dynamic and discovery-based ecommerce experience, especially for the growing number of customers shopping with us via their tablets.”
• “The Container Store came to Zmags with a goal of creating captivating digital experiences that would deepen their engagement with customers across all commerce channels, while also reinforcing their brand,” said Sean Ford, COO and CMO of Zmags. “Using Zmags, The Container Store has been able to provide their customers brilliant and carefully curated digital experiences that stimulate the impulse to buy and ultimately drive purchases.”

About The Container Store

Visit containerstore.com for more information about store locations, the product collection and services offered.  The Container Store’s employee-first culture has landed the retailer on FORTUNE magazine’s annual list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” for the past 13 years.  Sales for fiscal year 2012 are expected to exceed $700 million.  The Container Store is privately held.

About Zmags

Zmags is redefining the online content and shopping experience across Web, tablet, mobile, and social channels with our cloud-based rich-media marketing platform. We provide marketers and e-commerce teams from many vertical industries with a deeply engaging and fluid online presentation capability that lets them tell highly captivating stories through curated digital experiences, such as digital catalogs. With Zmags, leading brands have measurably and dramatically increased customer engagement, conversion rates, order size and brand loyalty without the burden of IT constraints. Zmags is among the fastest growing technology companies in North America, ranking #70 on the Deloitte 2011 Technology Fast 500. Zmags is headquartered in Boston, MA. with European offices in London and Copenhagen. For more information about Zmags, please visit www.zmags.com.

Exinda, a global provider of next-generation WAN optimization and application performance assurance solutions incorporating the Exinda 360 Dynamic Policy Engine, today announced the launch of Exinda Edge, a new standard of application performance assurance solutions architected specifically for the increasing demands of branch office networks.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120508/CL02292LOGO )

Nearly 90% of the global workforce operates from branch offices, yet they have been woefully underserved, struggling with limited on-site IT resources, scarce bandwidth resources, and a reliance on private and public cloud applications. As companies endeavor to get closer to their customers, these branch offices — whether commercial branch offices or satellite structures found in education, government and other industries — are becoming increasingly strategic, and their network performance critical.

“Branch networks are rapidly becoming more complex,” said Joe Skorupa, VP distinguished analyst at Gartner Inc. “The proliferation of recreational applications, consumer devices, and Internet-based services puts increased pressure on the network. As a result, WAN optimization suppliers must place a greater emphasis on application assurance, not just acceleration, and must apply user, application, and usage profiles of the business to drive a more intelligent approach to optimization.”

“For years, branch offices have been given lip service by IT departments and treated as an expensive necessity,” said Nolan Rosen, CMO of Exinda Networks. “Enterprises require a WAN optimization approach that understands the strategic importance of their branch offices.  Exinda Edge uses an innovative performance assurance approach which focuses on assuring strategic branch applications and delivering a quality user experience where it’s needed most: on the customer front lines.”

Exinda Edge is an all-in-one optimization suite designed specifically to deliver a complete solution for branch networks. Actionable performance insights, policy-based service level assurance, and profile-driven application optimization are delivered in an easy-to-use package across a variety of powerful hardware and virtual appliances. More than 11,000 global branch offices now collaborate on the Exinda Branch Network.

Exinda Edge utilizes Exinda’s patented 360 Dynamic Policy Engine, which adds user, application, and contextual profiling and containment in addition to traditional WAN optimization services. The 360 Engine makes Exinda the only WAN optimization solution on the market offering complete Audit to Assurance capability.

Exinda Edge features agile application packs that are targeted collections of Layer 7 application signatures optimized for the applications that have the greatest impact on the business. For branch office networks, this might mean Salesforce.com, Skype or WebEx.  In an educational environment, it might mean e-learning applications like Blackboard and Moodle receive priority while social applications like Facebook receive measured resource allocation. Exinda is the first and only company on the market to take this strategic application approach to WAN Optimization. Exinda Edge has packs covering over 2,500 strategic applications available today to help enterprises across a variety of industries meet their unique network needs.

Exinda Edge boasts several other key differentiators for branch office networks:

Precision Profiling:  The only WAN optimization solution on the market with Active Directory integration. Performance reporting and optimization policies are driven based on deep user, usage pattern, context and location profiles, in contrast to conventional approaches which focus on  IP addresses and traffic protocols. This means optimization is more closely tied to the business.

3-Point Optimization: The industry’s most accurate optimization engine is designed to intelligently apply a mix of acceleration, containment and caching technologies to deliver the optimal WAN experience based on business priorities, policies and fluctuating network conditions.

Branch Value Packaging:  All-in-one optimization solution designed specifically to deliver a complete solution for branch networks within a branch-level budget. Pragmatic performance insights, policy-based service level assurance, and profile-driven application optimization delivered in an easy-to-use package across a variety of powerful hardware and virtual appliances.

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.

Sonian™, the pioneer in cloud-powered archiving and search, today announced that it has secured $13.6 million in Series C funding.

New strategic investor OpenView Venture Partners led the round, which included participation from existing investors Summerhill Venture Partners, and Prism VentureWorks. The investment — which marks nearly $27 million raised to date — will be used to scale sales and marketing, and accelerate innovation of the company’s flagship cloud archiving products. In addition, Scott Maxwell, OpenView’s Founder and Senior Managing Director, will join Sonian’s Board of Directors.

Following four consecutive quarters of record growth and a doubling of its customer base in each of the past two years, Sonian’s innovative approach to cloud-based information archiving helps companies of all sizes overcome the many storage and operational challenges inherent in managing data in today’s digital world. The volume of e-mails alone grew by 500 percent over the last decade and Gartner expects the e-mail archiving market to reach $2.2 billion by 2014 — a 20 percent annual growth rate — with cloud-based solutions accounting for more than 50 percent of total market revenue.

Addressing this tremendous market opportunity, Sonian already supports more than 9,000 customer organizations with its single reference architecture running across multiple public clouds. The company has quickly established itself as a public cloud pioneer and innovator for its scalable, channel-ready solution for storage management, regulatory compliance, and eDiscovery.

By pairing its innovative solutions with one of the strongest channel partner networks in the cloud industry, Sonian enables its rapidly expanding customer base of Fortune 1000 enterprises and small- and medium-sized businesses in financial services, healthcare and other information-intensive sectors to accelerate their transition to the cloud. Other recent highlights include:

• Key partnerships with Independent Systems Integrators (ISI) and Tech Data Corporation (NASDAQ: TECD)
• The January 2012 acquisition of Webroot’s Email Archiving business, extending the company’s email archiving capabilities
• Industry accolades and recognitions including anAlwaysOn OnDemand Top 100 award and inclusion in the December 2011 Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Information Archiving by Gartner, Inc.
• Expanding its global reach and support with the opening of its EMEA office in the UK

“We are excited to work with Sonian,” said Maxwell. “It’s a dynamic company that is capitalizing on the opportunities that Big Data presents by offering a cost-effective, scalable e-mail archiving solution that maximizes the benefits of the cloud. Almost every company faces challenges regarding mailbox management and many of them are looking for a cloud-based solution like Sonian’s.”

“Sonian has enjoyed a very successful year, as validated by our customers, partners and industry analysts,” said Jeff Dickerson, CEO of Sonian. “Our number of customers has more than doubled to nearly 10,000 and these organizations are currently ingesting over 14 million documents a day; we have added over 35 new partners such as IBM, ISI and Tech Data; Gartner has strategically placed us in the Magic Quadrant; and we now run on multiple public clouds such as Amazon, IBM and RackSpace. By teaming OpenView with our current backers, Summerhill and Prism, we now believe that Sonian is properly positioned to exceed our goal of archiving and making searchable, the world’s digital information.”

Follow Sonian, Additional Resources
Blogs: http://blog.sonian.com/, http://blog.sonian.com/cloud-buzz-blog/
Twitter: @sonian
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sonian
Video: http://www.sonian.com/resources/#6

About Sonian

Sonian’s cloud-powered information archiving platform enables organizations to address eDiscovery needs, achieve regulatory compliance, and reduce IT costs. Sonian’s archiving services can be deployed in minutes, require no hardware or software, and are compatible with many email, instant messaging, and social media systems. Sonian provides the only archiving offerings in the market built from the ground up using advanced cloud computing technologies.

Over 9,000 customers benefit from Sonian’s industry-leading security, performance, and usability. Boasting strong partnerships with the world’s leading technology companies, Sonian combines innovative technology with deep archiving expertise to satisfy customers of all sizes and industries. For more information, please visithttp://www.sonian.com/.

About OpenView Venture Partners

OpenView Venture Partners (openviewpartners.com) is an expansion-stage venture capital fund based in Boston that is focused on high-growth software, Internet, and technology-enabled companies. Through its staff of seasoned operating executives, who collectively bring several decades of technology and management experience to the firm, OpenView is able to help portfolio companies quickly optimize their product, go-to-market, and organizational and operational functions. Founded in 2006, the firm invests globally and has approximately $445 million in total capital under management.

News Facts:

• Zmags, the rich-media mobile and social marketing platform provider, has been honored as a Red Herring Top 100 North America tech startup, a prestigious award recognizing the year’s most promising private companies.
• Zmags was selected based on its innovative technology that enables brands and marketers to create completely new kinds of digital marketing and e-commerce environments for the Web, tablets, smartphones and social sites with curated digital experiences such as digital catalogs, lookbooks, microsites, and other types of rich-media content. Using Zmags, more than 2,000 of the world’s most progressive companies are seeing increases in customer engagement, order values, page views and conversions, as well as heightened brand loyalty.
• Red Herring’s editorial staff evaluated the 150 companies competing for placement in its Top 100 on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, such as financial performance, technology innovation, management quality, strategy, and market penetration.
• Zmags COO and CMO, W. Sean Ford, presented to the judging panel and accepted the award on behalf of the collective Zmags team.
• Zmags was also a proud winner of the Red Herring 100 Europe in 2009, an award given to the top 100 private technology companies based in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa).

Supporting Quotes:

• “Choosing the companies with the strongest potential was by no means a small feat,” said Alex Vieux, publisher and CEO of Red Herring. “After rigorous contemplation and discussion, we narrowed our list down from hundreds of candidates from across North America to the Top 100 Winners. We believe Zmags embodies the vision, drive and innovation that define a successful entrepreneurial venture. Zmags should be proud of its accomplishment, as the competition was very strong.”
• “It’s an incredible honor to be selected as a Red Herring Top 100 tech startup,” said W. Sean Ford, COO and CMO of Zmags, accepting the award on behalf of the company. “As we enter a new era of ‘discovery commerce,’ it is Zmags’ mission to redefine the social and mobile shopping experience, and to help smart marketers create new types of curated digital experiences that inspire users to interact, engage and purchase.”

About Zmags

Zmags is redefining the online content and shopping experience across Web, tablet, mobile, and social channels with our cloud-based rich-media marketing platform. We provide marketers and e-commerce teams from many vertical industries with a deeply engaging and fluid online presentation capability that lets them tell highly captivating stories through curated digital experiences, such as digital catalogs. With Zmags, leading brands have measurably and dramatically increased customer engagement, conversion rates, order size and brand loyalty without the burden of IT constraints. Zmags is among the fastest growing technology companies in North America, ranking #70 on the Deloitte 2011 Technology Fast 500. Zmags is headquartered in Boston, MA. with European offices in London and Copenhagen. For more information about Zmags, please visit www.zmags.com.