Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Dedicated Server Security Firms, Entensys, BrightCloud, Form Integrated Alliance


Paris, France - (The Hosting News) - April 11, 2008 - Hosted security services firm, BrightCloud, Inc., and software vendor and developer of Internet connection sharing products, Entensys, have begun a joint technology partnership to integrate the BrightCloud services into UserGate Security server.

Designed as a complete Internet Sharing software solution for protected Internet access, the BrightCloud Service will be integrated into the UserGate Proxy so that customers can implement web filtering as part of the proxy solution.

Alexander Levchenko, President of Entensys noted, ''The integration of the hosted BrightCloud Service with UserGate server provides users with a state of the art web filtering experience for managing their Internet access. This technology partnership shows our commitment to providing our users with a great user experience built upon superior technology covering maximum of existing Internet websites.''

Browsing the web, users will be able to implement acceptable internet usage policies appropriate for them. The web page request is handed off to the BrightCloud Service and the BrightCloud Master Database to determine the category of the website, and the integrated UserGate policy engine implement the appropriate policy.

Quinn Curtis, CEO of BrightCloud remarked, ''We are very pleased to announce this technology partnership. UserGate is a very successful product in the marketplace, and a perfect fit for the BrightCloud solution. Combining the Entensys product with the hosted BrightCloud Services provides UserGate customers with the security and peace of mind that they are being protected by the next generation of web filtering.''

The integrated hosted BrightCloud Service enables UserGate customers to protect themselves from websites that have been compromised as well as to enhance productivity by limiting access to non-productive resources, reduce exposure to legal liability, maximize IT resources by managing access to peer to peer websites, or IM or other internet communication websites. The BrightCloud Master Database, contains over 125 million sites, as well as supports multiple categories and confidence scores for each site. It also provides coverage of the major languages and others, including German, French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Russian, Ukrainian and Armenian.

Entensys Corporation is an international software vendor and developer of Internet connection sharing products, the provider of the popular UserGate Internet security server.

BrightCloud, Inc. is building the next generation web filtering database. BrightCloud provides security vendors with hosted security services that extend the value propositions of web filtering across the internet's Long Tail, which includes both the most popular sites as well as those sites less frequently visited, but visited nonetheless.

To learn more about Entensys, please visit: www.entensys.com.

For more information about BrightCloud, Inc., please visit: www.brightcloud.com.

Managed Hosting Contest from PEER 1, Awards Big Room Studios


Vancouver, British Columbia - (The Hosting News) - April 14, 2008 - Provider of online IT infrastructure, PEER 1, has released the winner of its Growing Pains Free Hosting Contest, with a prize of 12 months of free managed hosting, valued at over $2,400.

Tim Mateosian, co-founder of Big Room Studios, has won a managed hosting server, which includes 1 TB of monthly data transfer and bi-weekly vulnerability scans. The open contest received more than 1,000 online entries from viewers of the premier episode of ''Growing Pains,'' the company's humorous video-short series.

Rajan Sodhi, Vice President of marketing at PEER 1 noted, ''The best thing about this contest is that it truly helps Tim solve his IT 'growing pains' and expand his business. Business and tech managers go through many IT challenges as their online demands grow. Sharing their stories in entertaining ways can help others navigate the complexities of running an online business.''

Headquartered in Portland, Maine, Big Room Studios specializes in offering combined online services, which primarily include web and print design, web development and IT support and consulting. Started in 2002 by Mateosian and his brother, the company now has clients throughout North America and the UK. Mateosian has been a PEER 1 customer for nearly six years and has worked in the hosting industry for more than 10 years. He has always loved computers and technology and started in the industry as a hosting reseller. The business grew to include advanced web solutions when his brother, a talented programmer, joined and created a web framework for the firm. PEER 1's self- managed hosting is the ideal solution for this kind of programming, since the Mateosian brothers require more control over the server environment in order to run their web solutions.

Mr. Mateosian added, ''I am excited about winning the managed hosting contest. This is extremely good timing since our company is growing quickly and we were planning on expanding anyway. And I have never won anything before."

PEER 1 will be holding a new contest, calling for contestants to create and upload their own "growing pains" video, in conjunction with the upcoming second episode of ''Growing Pains'' due out in May.

PEER 1, an IT infrastructure provider, believes in the limitless opportunity of the Internet and the business growth and continuity it provides for its more than 9,000 customers. PEER 1 delivers highly scalable managed hosting and co-location solutions to ensure customers' online presence is always fast, always available. Since 1999, PEER 1 has grown to include data centers and network points of presence in 17 major cities across North America and Europe. Serving a variety of companies, PEER 1 offers solutions that grow through every stage of web commerce, regardless of company size. The company's headquarters are in Vancouver, Canada and the stock is traded on the TSX Venture exchange under the symbol PIX.

To learn more about Big Room Sudios, please visit: www.bigroomstudios.com.

For more information about PEER 1, please visit: www.peer1.com.

Ensim Web Hosting Application Firm's Unify, Chosen by YouSAAS


Santa Clara, California - (The Hosting News) - April 15, 2008 - Management software for unified communications and collaborative infrastructure, and web hosting application firm, Ensim Corporation's Unify, has been selected by YouSAAS, for its mature support of Microsoft Hosted Messaging and Collaboration (HMC).

In addition, Unify was selected for its extensibility, allowing the company and its network of ISVs and resellers to integrate any application with the Unify platform and deliver it as a service. YouSAAS offers small and medium-sized enterprises with a full range of services, including Hosted Exchange 2007, SharePoint, Mobility services with BlackBerry and Windows Mobile, MS Dynamics CRM 4.0, Web Hosting and Terminal Services.

Arnaud Hacquart, President of YouSAAS noted, ''As more ISVs look to deliver their applications in a hosted environment, YouSAAS offers the quickest time to market and to revenue. We pride ourselves on our ability to streamline the process of delivering SaaS solutions so that our ISVs and resellers can focus on what they do best. Ensim's Unify and its SDK allow us to deliver on this promise.''

Ensim Unify was developed to give service providers and third-party ISVs the ability to plug in application managers and easily control the provisioning of new hosting services. With more than a dozen pre-integrated service managers for hosted applications, Unify allows service providers to quickly launch a complete set of hosted services. This enables service providers and ISVs to rapidly create, deliver and bundle revenue-generating hosted services, with the added advantage of integrating new applications at any time.

Francois Depayras, Vice President of marketing and alliances at Ensim Corporation remarked, ''By giving service providers, ISVs and application integrators the ability to build connectors between virtually any third-party application and the Ensim Unify platform, we allow our customers to go to market quickly with the services they need today, while ensuring they have the tools necessary to grow their business and accommodate their customers' future needs. Using our sophisticated SDK, YouSAAS can add to its SaaS offerings as needed to deliver a full range of applications to its ISV and reseller customers.''

The Unify SaaS SDK is available to all qualified customers currently using Unify.

Founded in 2006, YouSAAS is a global Software as a Service provider that offers ISVs and resellers a shared platform for SaaS solutions. Covering all necessary actions from key success factors study to being live, with a high-availability infrastructure, know-how and easy deployment plan, YouSAAS makes it possible for software companies to get their software online and offers their clients real SaaS-solutions through the Internet. As a Microsoft SaaS Incubation Center, YouSAAS works with most of the leading international ISVs and Partners - Ensim, Microsoft, Legato, Citrix, Axios Systems, Frontrange, OCC Software, Kayentis, and provides services to more than 20,000 end-users.

Founded in 1998, Ensim Corporation is a provider of management software for unified communications and collaboration infrastructure. Ensim products are used by service providers and enterprises worldwide to accelerate and enable deployment of integrated solutions, simplify and automate secure management of complex environments, and increase user and IT productivity. Ensim is Microsoft Gold Certified, and maintains strategic partnerships with many leading infrastructure vendors including Research In Motion (BlackBerry), Hewlett-Packard, Accenture, Siemens and BroadSoft. For more information, contact Ensim at 1-877-693-6746 or 1-408-496-3700 outside the United States.

For more information about YouSAAS, please visit: www.yousaas.com.

To learn more about Unify, please visit: www.ensim.com/products/unify/Saas.

For more information about Ensim, please visit: www.ensim.com.

Dedicated Server Provider, FastServers.net, Combined with Layered Technologies


Plano, Texas - (The Hosting News) - April 16, 2008 - The Chicago based managed hosting company, FastServers.net, will be acquired by on demand IT infrastructure provider, Layered Technologies. Financial transaction information of the deal was not released.

Jack Finlayson, Chief Executive Officer of Layered Technologies noted, ''Thousands of clients rely on the exceptional service offerings of FastServers.net, and the combination of the two companies will expand the range of offerings and provide additional scale for client growth. We look forward to bringing these two exceptionally talented teams together to service our customers and meet the demands of the high growth hosting industry.''

The acquisition will combine the expertise of FastServers.net in managed dedicated hosting with Layered Technologies' leading Grid and unmanaged offerings. The combination of Layered Technologies and FastServers will offer a new range of superior services significantly benefiting customers.

Ian Andrusyk, President and CEO of FastServers.Net remarked, ''With Layered Technologies and FastServers.net working together, business owners will view their managed service provider as a valued, long-term partner that helps manage IT infrastructure.''

Layered Technologies will begin immediate integration of the two companies' operations, product development, distribution and customer support organizations to ensure a smooth transition and immediate value for customers, employees and partners. Combined, the company will serve over 6,000 clients.

Layered Technologies enables customers to forego capital expenses and save on operating costs while focusing on core business issues. Clients range from leading-edge Web 2.0 startups, successful mid-sized enterprises and some the world's largest consultancy and integration firms.

FastServers.Net features managed dedicated servers combined with exclusive DEFCON Management Services. FastServers.Net provides full server monitoring and recovery, patches and upgrades, advanced technical support, and enhanced security features. By partnering with leading vendors such as Microsoft, Red Hat, cPanel, Plesk, HELM, InterNAP, Urchin, and others, FastServers.Net's goal is to deliver solutions for all organizations.

Based in Frisco Texas, Layered Technologies, Inc. is one of the five largest global providers of on-demand hosting and utility computing solutions, providing dedicated, partially managed server hosting solutions primarily for the small and medium-sized enterprise SME market. They provide customers with the highest quality technology, infrastructure and support services that enable them to operate servers at secure Tier III/IV data centers, while saving them the capital and operating costs typically associated with purchasing and maintaining their own servers at co-location facilities. Layered Technologies servers and associated network facilities are used by customers to host a variety of Internet-enabled applications, including content and e-commerce Web sites, software as a service (''SaaS'') offerings, online multiplayer games, shared Web site hosting services, and streaming multimedia content distribution and delivery, among other applications.

To learn more about FastServers, please visit: www.fastservers.net.

For more information about Layered Technologies, please visit: www.layeredtech.com.