Quest Software Simplifies Email Migration for Customers With Windows Azure

Press release:

Quest Software Simplifies Email Migration for Customers With Windows Azure

Aug 31, 2012

Microsoft partner creates Windows Azure cloud solution to move customers to Microsoft Office 365 email.

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REDMOND, Wash. — Aug. 31, 2012 — Quest Software is simplifying how customers of all sizes move their email to the cloud with its email migration solution, Quest OnDemand Migration for Email. The solution is based on Windows Azure and helps customers migrate to Microsoft Office 365. By running the solution on Windows Azure, Quest was able to give companies large and small a fast, low-cost, low-risk way to migrate email to cloud environments.

Quest recognized that many customers wanted to migrate their email messaging from both on-premises infrastructures and other cloud solutions to Office 365 but had questions about the migration, noting that several email migration tools in the market were difficult to set up and required the deployment of on-site servers for large mailbox migrations. As a result, Quest created an email migration solution that could be delivered using a software-as-a-service (SaaS) deployment model with Windows Azure in which customers do not need to install or maintain any software for the move, helping save time and money.

“We wanted customers to gain instantaneous access to our migration product via any Web browser and start migrating users within minutes, not weeks,” said Ron Robbins, product manager, Migration Solutions at Quest Software.

By hosting its solution on Windows Azure, Quest can scale to meet its customers’ needs — from small businesses with hundreds of mailboxes to large enterprises with tens of thousands of mailboxes — all while keeping its migration service affordable. Quest’s pay-as-you-go pricing model, which is enabled by Windows Azure’s pricing model, also gives customers the flexibility to migrate all their users at once or spread the investment over time.

To date, Quest has migrated tens of thousands of email seats to Office 365 using OnDemand Migration for Email, and does so with exceptional levels of performance and availability from Windows Azure. Microsoft’s cloud platform also gives Quest the ability to expand its global reach.

“We can expand our markets because Windows Azure has datacenters worldwide,” Robbins said. “Deploying our own SaaS infrastructure worldwide would be cost-prohibitive, but with Windows Azure we can reach new markets without infrastructure concerns.”

Read more about Quest Software’s development of Quest OnDemand Migration for Email on Windows Azure in the case study.

More information about how organizations are turning to Microsoft technology is available in theMicrosoft Customer Spotlight newsroom.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Independent Software Vendor Migrates to Windows Azure

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Independent Software Vendor Gradatim Migrates to Windows Azure, Helping Reduce Deployment Time by 84 Percent While Saving $2 Million

Microfinance software specialist simplifies infrastructure, optimizes customer delivery, and expands capability and global scalability by adopting Microsoft cloud services platform.

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NEW DELHI — March 27, 2012 — Independent software vendor Gradatim, a specialist in creating technology solutions for businesses that offer microfinance products and services, migrated to the Windows Azure cloud platform to simplify its service configuration and gain global scalability, achieving an 84 percent decrease in project deployment time and saving an estimated $2 million (U.S.). In 2011, Gradatim evaluated a number of shared services platforms, including IBM SmartCloud, and selected Windows Azure, the Microsoft cloud services development, hosting and management environment. “We wanted a platform-as-a-service solution, not just cloud infrastructure,” said CV Prakash, founder and CEO of Gradatim. “We concluded that Windows Azure offered the best long-term value and the most reliable cloud platform for transforming our business.” “Microfinance” describes the market for financial instruments such as loans and insurance policies, which involve small principal and transaction amounts. Service providers must be agile enough to quickly develop low-cost, custom products that can be accessed anywhere, including on mobile devices. To capitalize on the growing demand for its insurance policy and loan management applications, Gradatim chose to migrate its solutions to Windows Azure to achieve simplicity and global scalability. By eliminating the need to set up datacenters and invest in server hardware to deliver its solutions, Gradatim substantially reduced its operating expenses. The company estimates that the cost savings from adopting Windows Azure will total about $2 million (U.S.) over the next 18 months. The company previously needed about three months to fully deploy its solutions to customers. The same work can now be done in two weeks, which represents an 84 percent increase in efficiency. “Faster deployments mean that we start generating revenue from each project faster, so we have more flexibility in the investment decisions that we make to grow our business,” Prakash said. The on-demand resource availability and scalability offered by Azure also helps the company spend less time planning customer deployments. Windows Azure allowed Gradatim to not only shift to cloud-based delivery of its products but also to make major improvements to its pricing model. Rather than buying a perpetual license to access the software, customers can choose to pay a nominal subscription fee, along with a percentage of the value of each transaction or a fixed fee for each loan or insurance policy they manage, using Gradatim technology. “We’ve been able to restructure our pricing to better align with the way customers across the industry consume our services,” Prakash said. “We are excited about the impact this migration has for Gradatim and its customers,” said Srikanth Karnakota, director, Server and Cloud Business, Microsoft India. “Azure has been enabling customers to innovate, reduce time to market and access newer markets. The current offering from Gradatim strengthens its position in the finance industry as a company focused on delivering affordable, high-caliber service.” More information on Gradatim’s move to Windows Azure is available in the Microsoft case study andMicrosoft News Center. Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services, and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

News Release from CA Technologies - Hybrid Data Protection to SMBs

New CA ARCserve D2D On Demand Delivers Fast, Cost-Effective Hybrid Data Protection to SMBs

Flexible SaaS Solution Combines Local Backup Speed With Windows Azure Cloud Storage

ISLANDIA, NY, February 23, 2012 – CA Technologies (NASDAQ: CA) today announced CA ARCserve® D2D On Demand, a hybrid software-as-a-service (SaaS) data protection and disaster recovery solution that enables small businesses to meet demanding backup windows while protecting the integrity and availability of critical systems, applications and information.

Unlike solutions that only provide local protection or only back up directly to the cloud, CA ARCserve D2D On Demand combines on-premise resources for fast backup and bare-metal recovery capabilities with Windows Azure™ cloud storage for secure offsite protection and archiving of critical files.  This hybrid approach enables SMBs to successfully protect their relentlessly growing volume of data within limited budget constraints.

"Now that SMBs are experiencing the same intensive proliferation of high-value data as their enterprise counterparts, they are in desperate need of a backup solution that is fast, scalable, easy to implement, richly functional and priced right," said Steve Fairbanks, vice president, Data Management, CA Technologies.  "CA ARCserve D2D On Demand uniquely delivers on these key criteria by leveraging the inherent strengths of both on-premise and cloud models—enabling SMB customers to quickly and easily achieve their data protection objectives."

Utilizing patent-pending Infinite Incremental (I2) Technology™, CA ARCserve D2D On Demand enables companies to conduct frequent backups with minimal impact on storage resources, processing power and network bandwidth.  Users can quickly restore files, application data, volumes or entire systems—even to dissimilar hardware or virtual environments—from a single snapshot backup. 

Through a central web portal users and partners can easily obtain information on when the last backup occurred, total number of machines licensed, amount of time and storage remaining on the contract, and many other helpful resources for managing the subscription account.

Offsite data storage is particularly important for protecting organizations against local disasters, such as fires or floods.

“Windows Azure offers a compelling value proposition in terms of cost, elasticity, security and reliability,” said Walid Abu-Hadba, corporate vice president, Developer & Platform Evangelism Group, Microsoft.  “CA ARCserve D2D On Demand offers a great way of using the power of Windows Azure to make disk-to-disk backup much easier and less expensive.”

CA ARCserve D2D On Demand is sold exclusively through the channel as a comprehensive, turnkey managed service—allowing customers to treat backup as a fixed operational cost, rather than requiring both high capital expenditure and indeterminate ongoing ownership costs.  The seamless inclusion of Windows Azure cloud storage also spares customers and partners the burden of engineering their own integration with cloud infrastructure or contracting separately with a cloud storage-as-a-service provider.

“It is essential for us to rigorously protect our IT environment—but the cost and hassle of backing up to tape, storing tapes offsite, and properly cataloging them for possible emergency restoration is impractical,” said Tyler Rast, general manager and vice president of operation at Beehive Brick & Stone, a large masonry products provider in Utah.  “With CA ARCserve D2D On Demand, we now get fast, reliable off-site protection of our critical data on a straightforward subscription basis that keeps our costs low and predictable.”

CA ARCserve D2D On Demand is offered through monthly or annual subscription licensing that includes 25GB of Windows Azure cloud storage per protected machine.  Additional cloud storage is available in tiered capacity bands.  Customers can pool their purchased cloud storage resources and share them among protected machines. 

CA ARCserve D2D On Demand is also an ideal solution for MSPs seeking to include turnkey data protection offerings in their cloud services portfolios.

“In addition to its technical excellence, CA ARCserve D2D On Demand is designed to flawlessly handle usage reporting and billing for MSPs re-selling cloud backup,” said Vinny DiSpigno, CEO of Webistix, Inc., a New York-based MSP.  “We expect this to be a great way for us to generate recurring revenue stream with minimal upfront investment.”

Resources:

• CA ARCserve D2D On Demand product page• Product Brief: Five Things You Should Know• Whitepaper: The Hybrid Cloud Approach: CA ARCserve D2D On Demand• ARCserve.com

News Release from Microsoft - High Capacity Business Needs

News Press Release
Film Industry Selects Windows Azure for High-Capacity Business Needs

Windows Azure supports SAG Awards during peak usage.

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REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 24, 2012 — The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) has selected Windows Azure to provide the cloud technology necessary to handle high volumes of traffic to its website during its biggest annual event, the SAG Awards. SAG worked with Microsoft Corp. to port its entire awards site from Linux servers to Windows Azure, to gain greater storage capacity and the ability to handle increased traffic on the site. “Windows Azure is committed to making it easier for customers to use cloud computing to address their specific needs,” said Doug Hauger, general manager, Windows Azure Business Development at Microsoft. “For the entertainment industry, that means deploying creative technology solutions that are flexible, easy to implement and cost-effective for whatever opportunities our customers can dream up.” And the Winner Is … Windows Azure Previously hosted on internal Linux boxes, the SAG website experienced negative impact due to high traffic each year leading up to the SAG Awards. Peak usage is on the night of the awards ceremony, when the site hosts a tremendous increase in visitors who view uploaded video clips and news articles from the event. To meet demand during that time, SAG had to continually upgrade its hardware. That is, until the SAG Awards team moved the site to Windows Azure. “We moved to Windows Azure after looking at the services it offered,” said Erin Griffin, chief information officer at SAG. “Understanding the best usage scenario for us took time and effort, but with help from Microsoft, we successfully moved our site to Windows Azure, and the biggest traffic day for us went off with flying colors.” Windows Azure helped the SAG website handle the anticipated traffic spike during its 2012 SAG Awards show, which generated a significant increase in visits and page views over the previous year. This year’s show generated 325,403 website visits and 789,310 page views. In comparison, the 2011 awards show saw 222,816 total visits and 434,743 page views. Windows Azure provides a business-class platform for the SAG website, providing low latency, increased storage, and the ability to scale up or down as needed. Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

News Release from Panda Security

FEB 22, 2012

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News

Panda Security and Microsoft Join Forces to Develop Cloud-based Antivirus Security Services on Windows Azure

• The new beta version of Panda Cloud Office Protection 6.0 is hosted in Windows Azure, Microsoft’s cloud-based platform that provides developers with on-demand compute and storage to host, scale and manage Web applications on the Internet.
• The beta software can be downloaded for free athttp://www.pandasecurity.com/promotions/betatest/.

Panda Security, The Cloud Security Company, and Microsoft have signed a collaboration agreement to develop cloud-based antivirus security services on Windows Azure. The new version of Panda Cloud Office Protection 6.0 is hosted in Windows Azure, a cloud platform designed to host, scale and manage Web applications. Windows Azure uses a set of privacy and security controls that ensure maximum protection of its hosted data and applications.

“The agreement with Microsoft has increased our management capabilities. It has provided us with virtually unlimited IT infrastructure and enhanced our dynamic adjustment capabilities”, said Pedro Bustamante, Senior Research Advisor at Panda Security.

According to Gonzalo Díe, Director of Platforms and Development at Microsoft Ibérica, “The agreement with Panda Security has strengthened Microsoft’s leadership in the cloud computing arena. We are delighted that Panda Security, the first IT security company to harness the power of cloud computing, has chosen Windows Azure to streamline the processes related to Panda Cloud Office Protection. This partnership shows our continued commitment to bringing the most innovative solutions to market.”

New version with numerous improvements

Panda Cloud Office Protection 6.0 is a cloud-based security service for PCs, servers and corporate laptops managed remotely from anywhere through its Web-based console.

The new release includes device control technologies that prevent the spread of malware through the improper use of external devices such as USB flash drives, digital cameras, DVDs and more. These controls will allow organizations to improve productivity by enforcing policies to deny access, force read-only access, or grant total access on multiple device types via a single Web-based console.

In addition, Panda Cloud Office Protection includes policies to block dangerous malware activity, self-protection against malware designed to damage or remove the antivirus, and real-time access to Collective Intelligence, offering one of the best antivirus solutions on the market today.

Migration to Windows Azure

Panda Security decided to migrate its new solution to Windows Azure to be able to manage an even larger number of computers, effectively deploy the service to new countries and prevent service downtime. Windows Azure has provided an adequate work environment and let the company maintain most of the technologies used in the original platform.

The main benefits offered by Windows Azure to Panda Security are:

• Greatly reduces the time required to deploy a new product version.
• Reduces operating and maintenance costs by up to 30 percent.
• Improves certification and quality assurance processes, as it enables technicians to carry out tests in an environment equal to the production environment.
• Improves user-perceived application performance.

The major components of the Windows Azure platform are the following:

• Windows Azure. Windows Azure is a development, service hosting and service management environment that provides developers with on-demand compute and storage to host, scale and manage Web applications on the Internet through Microsoft data centers.
• Microsoft SQL Azure. Microsoft SQL Azure is a cloud-based relational database service built on SQL Server 2008 technologies.

To download the free beta, please visit: http://www.pandasecurity.com/promotions/betatest/pcop