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Author: Deborah Schalm

  • Instana Changes Performance Monitoring Again with SmartAlerts™ – the First Curated Alerting System That Includes Systematic Context

    Company Extends Automatic Application Performance Monitoring Into Complex Alert Systems

     

    February 26, 2020 – Chicago, IL and Solingen, Germany – Instana is changing the way that DevOps and IT Operations setup, manage and execute alerting with Instana SmartAlerts™, the first system that automates management of IT Alerts based on environmental and situational use cases. Included with the company’s automated Application Performance Management solution for Microservice Applications, Instana SmartAlerts uses curated building blocks, called BluePrints, to automate the configuration of alert thresholds and actions.

    “The complexity associated with containerized and microservice applications don’t just create observability issues, they also impact the ability to effectively manage alerts ,” said Chris Farrell, Technical Director and APM Strategist at Instana. “Instana’s SmartAlerts provide pre-built configuration modules, called BluePrints, that inject context into alerting and curate critical alerting rules based on technological, process and operational situations.”

    SmartAlerts BluePrints contain pre-built metric selection and threshold information, as well as curated analysis of what constitutes an alertable situation. Available as part of Instana’s APM solution, SmartAlerts comes with out-of-the-box BluePrints for typical IT and DevOps situations such as identifying slow services or websites. The only thing for the user to configure is the scope of where to apply those checks, like a URL or Service name.

    “It’s important to provide the best possible experience for customers using critical applications such as eCommerce,” said Janek Wonner, DevOps Engineer at Conrad. “Instana’s SmartAlerts brings the automation and ease of use we’ve come to expect from their application monitoring into our alerting system, helping us efficiently deliver higher application performance and customer satisfaction.”

    Unlike other APM solutions, Instana fully automates the entire lifecycle of application monitoring including application discovery and mapping, monitoring sensor and agent deployment, and application infrastructure health monitoring. Whenever an application or infrastructure change occurs within dynamic applications, Instana recognizes the change in real time, instantly adjusting its application service maps, monitoring thresholds and health dashboards.

    The SmartAlerts system builds on Instana’s tenets of automation, ease of use and minimal configuration by humans. Out-of-the-box BluePrints provide fully specified alerting systems for the most desirable alerting use cases, such as website issues – with minimal required configuration. Users can create new alerts directly from dashboards using the Unbounded Analytics filtering engine and the new SmartAlerts Wizard which includes any existing SmartAlerts BluePrints.

    Instana SmartAlerts comes with the company’s APM solutions and is available for use today. Key BluePrints are already available for instant zero-touch alerting. Learn more at https://instana.com/alerting.

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    ABOUT INSTANA

    As the leading provider of Automatic Application Performance Monitoring (APM) solutions for microservices, Instana has developed the automatic monitoring and AI-based analysis DevOps needs to manage the performance of modern applications. Instana is the only APM solution that automatically discovers, maps and visualizes microservice applications without continuous additional engineering. Customers using Instana achieve operational excellence and deliver better software faster. Visit https://www.instana.com to learn more.

     

  • 2020 Call for Code Global Challenge Led by IBM Takes On Climate Change on 75thAnniversary of United Nations

    77% of developers and first responders surveyed globally say climate change is the single most pressing issue facing their generation Geneva,February 26, 2020 –Headquarters of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights–Today, Call for Code Founding Partner IBM and Creator David Clark Cause, in partnership with United Nations Human Rights and the Linux Foundation announced this year’s Call for Code Global Challenge, inviting the world’s software developers and innovators to help fight climate change with open source-powered technology.

    On its 75th anniversary, the United Nations is demanding a ‘global reality check’ and has launched the biggest-ever global conversation on how to address the world’s most pressing issues such as climate change. Heeding the UN’s rallying cry to help build the future we want, IBM is joining forces with key UN agencies and world leaders to help tackle the climate crisis. Following two successful years, the 2020 Call for Code Global Challenge encourages and fosters the creation of practical applications built on open source software including Red Hat OpenShift, IBM Cloud, IBM Watson, IBM Blockchain, and data from The Weather Company. The goal is to employ technology in ways that can make an immediate and lasting humanitarian impacting communities around the world.

    A recent global IBM study conducted by Morning Consult surveyed more than 3,000 developers, first responders and social activists across China, Columbia, Egypt, India, Japan, Spain, United Kingdom, and the United States, and found:77% of first responders and developers surveyed agree with the statement ‘Climate change is the single most pressing issue facing my generation.’ 79%of respondents agree that climate change is something that can be reduced or combatted with technology. 87% of respondents feel it is important that a potential employer has taken action on climate change.Three quarters of respondents agree that the open source community can help scale climate change solutions to communities in need.Eight in ten respondents agree that most people want to do something to help combat climate change, but don’t know where to start.Over 180,000 participants from 165 nations took part in Call for Code in 2019;they created more than 5,000 applications focused on natural disaster preparedness and relief.This year Call for Code is challenging applicants to create innovations based on open source technologies to help halt and reverse the impact of climate change.“There is an urgent need to take action against climate change, and IBM is uniquely positioned to connect leading humanitarian experts with the most talented and passionate developers around the world,” said Bob Lord, IBM Senior Vice President of Cognitive Applications and Developer Ecosystems.

    “IBM is determined to identify, deploy, and scale technology solutions that can help save lives, empower people, and create a better world for future generations.

    Lord noted that IBM has been mobilizing throughout the company, from policy commitments on climate to IBM’s weather forecasting capabilities powered by AI and supercomputers.

    “Over these past two years through Call for Code UNDRR has seen the potential for developers to tackle major societal challenges, and developers will have a crucial role in our response to the climate emergency,” said Mami Mizutori, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (SRSG) for Disaster Risk Reduction. “Climate change is the most critical issue of our time, with a multitude of localized contributing factors and cascading effects that cannot be solved by a single organization. We need a global network to fight this together.”

     

    IBM and David Clark Cause are thrilled to launch the third year of Call for Code in Geneva with new sponsor Unity Technologies, returning sponsor Persistent Systems, and new supporters Nearform, Morgan Stanley, and Capgemini. We also welcome returning supporters Bank of China, Cognizant, and Infosys, in addition to the broad ecosystem of companies, universities, and celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres, Jonas Brothers, Sting, and Morgan Freeman supporting the initiative.

     

    Last year’s Call for Code Global Challenge winning team, Prometeo, created a wearable device that measures carbon monoxide, smoke concentration, humidity, and temperature to monitor firefighter safety in real-time as well as to help improve their health outcomes in the long-term. The solution has been developed further through IBM’s Code and Response program and has just completed its first wildfire field test during a controlled burn with the Grups de Reforç d’Actuacions Forestals (GRAF) and the Grup d’Emergències Mèdiques (GEM) dels Bombers de la Generalitat de Catalunya near Barcelona, Spain. Prometeo was developed by a team comprising a veteran firefighter, an emergency medical nurse, and three developers. As recently piloted, the Prometeo hardware-software solution is based on multiple IBM Cloud services.

    Other applications like 2018 Call for Code winner Project Owl and 2018 Puerto Rico Call for Code hackathon winner DroneAid have also been cultivated through the Code and Response program.

     

    Visit CallforCode.org to join the community and learn more about the challenge, which will open for submissions on March 22, World Water Day 2020. Additional details, a schedule of in-person and virtual events, and training and enablement for Call for Code will be available at https://developer.ibm.com/callforcode/.

     

    Download the full IBM study conducted by Morning Consult here.

     

    About Call for Code
    Developers have revolutionized the way people live and interact with virtually everyone and everything. Where most people see challenges, developers see possibilities. That’s why David Clark Cause created and launched Call for Code in 2018 alongside Founding Partner IBM. This five-year, $30 million global initiative is a rallying cry to developers to use their skills and mastery of the latest technologies, and to create new ones, to drive positive and long-lasting change across the world with their code. Call for Code global winning solutions, among others, are further developed and deployed via IBM’s Code and Response initiative.

    About UN75

    The United Nations launched the UN75 campaign – the largest, most inclusive conversation on the role of global cooperation in building a better future for all. The campaign will see the UN spark dialogues throughout 2020 in diverse settings across the world. In a ‘global reality check’, four innovative data streams will build the first ever repository of crowd-sourced solutions to major global challenges, including climate change. The UN75 dialogues together with a ‘One-minute Survey’ that anyone can take, available here: https://un75.online/

     

  • Exadel Announces New Leadership to Support Growing Digital Transformation Solutions and Services

    WALNUT CREEK, Calif., February 25, 2020 — Exadel (www.exadel.com), a global leader in digital transformation solutions and Agile services, announced today that Ilya Cantor, Exadel Board Member and Strategic Advisor, is assuming the role of CEO with continuing leadership from Fima Katz as President. The new management changes reflect the increasing business momentum and continued growth Exadel is seeing across every segment of the business.

    Cantor, who has served as an Exadel Board Member and Strategic Advisor since 2017, has nearly 30 years of experience as an operational executive. He has a proven track record of driving transformation and change through focused execution, often in complex and dynamic market environments. Ilya has extensive hands-on experience in helping companies scale, in launching initial public offerings as well as extensive merger and acquisition experience in leading numerous acquisitions, executing integrations, and driving complex organizational redesign.

    During his time as an Exadel Board Member and Strategic Advisor, Cantor helped drive growth and generate measurable results by guiding Exadel’s strategic direction and market positioning, improving governance and operational discipline, and increasing shareholder value.

    Prior to taking on the CEO role at Exadel, Cantor held executive positions at EPAM Systems, which he helped take public onto the NYSE in 2012; served as CFO and Executive Director of Operations at The Wall Street Journal; and, also led Talent Acquisition, Business and Financial Operations, IT and Corporate Development at Aricent (now Capgemini). Ilya has a deep understanding of the IT services industry and more specifically, the digital transformation market in which Exadel holds a leadership position.

    Katz founded Exadel in 1998 and has served as CEO since the company’s inception. In his new role as President, Katz will lead the client-facing aspects of the organization as well as technology and innovation, which continue to drive the momentum and growth of Exadel and it’s solutions and offerings.

    “It is a great opportunity to be named CEO of Exadel and to build upon the great leadership and accomplishments of Fima,” said Cantor. “This is a pivotal time for the company and I look forward to continuing to drive market share gains in a huge market that is growing rapidly — as virtually every company in the world has to invest in business transformation and technology in order to remain competitive and win. Exadel’s core assets are our people and the technical expertise in product engineering which comprises over 90% of our business today. I am excited to continue expanding Exadel’s pedigree of leading technology solutions and services while protecting and building upon the ‘people-first’ culture that is at the core of Exadel’s success.”

    “We are very excited to have Ilya join Exadel as our new CEO. His history and experience will drive our future growth and take us to the next level,” said Katz. “Ilya’s unique talents already have influenced new directions for the company and created opportunities that will quickly become game-changers in the market.”

    Tweet this:.@exadel announces new leadership and organizational changes to fuel growth of #digitaltransformation solutions and services

    About Exadel
    For more than 20 years, Exadel has been delivering Digital Transformation services, enterprise and custom software solutions for Fortune 500 clients, including HPE, Deloitte, Home Depot and McKesson. With 20+ locations and delivery centers across the US and Europe, Exadel solves the most complex engineering problems using Agile methodologies, offering a scalable and skilled mix of multi-shore resources at the industry’s most competitive price. Exadel’s digital transformation solutions and services help chart new strategies that are built upon creative thinking, cutting-edge design, and technical innovation, designed for the growing digital landscape of business.

  • Humio Delivers Seamless Access To Live And Archived Data With Bucket Storage And Introduces New Features Including Joins, Query Quotas, And Vega Support

     

    SAN FRANCISCO (PR Newswire), Feb 25, 2020. Humio, the only log management platform enabling complete observability for all streaming logs in real time, on premise or in the cloud, today announced the launch of Humio Bucket Storage, enabling cloud scalability for organizations of all sizes. Bucket Storage makes cloud deployments less expensive, faster, and easier to run by using bucket storage for retaining data. The significant decrease in the cost of storage and infinite capacity removes concerns related to storing large volumes of data for a longer period of time. The company also launched several new features in the Humio platform including Joins, Query Quotas, and migration to Vega for our visualization engine. In addition, Humio Cloud is now available hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the United States providing customers additional options related to geographic data restrictions.

     

    “At Humio, we believe that all data is live data and the amount of data collected should never be limited. Humio now uses our new bucket storage for persistent data, removing the boundaries between live data and archiving data,” said Morten Gram, EVP at Humio. “Our modern, index-free architecture combined with our high compression of data requires no re-ingesting or hydrating for customers to achieve 100% real-time observability on premise or in the cloud. And our scalability goes beyond just log ingestion by enabling users to increase data storage beyond petabytes. With 5-15x compression and the low cost of bucket storage, we are decreasing storage costs for our customers.”

     

    Bucket Storage: Humio supports bucket storage designed for streaming data from major cloud providers, as well as on-premise providers including Min.io. Customers searching retained data — even from years ago — can achieve results in seconds, without re-ingesting. Cloud deployments of Humio are now even cheaper, faster, and easier to run by using Bucket Storage for persistent data. This enables infinite retention, for storing more events than was practical with local disks.

    Joins: Join filters make it easy to perform a search or update a dashboard that combines data from different data sets. Match data together from more than one data source, using the new join() filter query to easily search for a combined result set from two queries. Humio provides two join modes: inner joins and left joins.

    Quotas: Quotas are used to limit the amount of CPU, memory, and I/O resources any one user or group of users has access to when searching. Usage is tracked continuously as searches are executed. Whenever a user exceeds their quota, the query is stopped and the user is notified.

    Vega: The company transitioned the Humio chart engine to Vega visualization specifications, and converted existing charts. We will be opening up for users to define custom visualizations in the future. Humio provides a set of pre-built visualizations, so users don’t have to learn Vega to use Humio.

    “We are excited to offer our users increasing scalability through Humio’s Bucket Storage capabilities,” said Garima Kapoor, Co-founder Min.io. “Buckets storage drives efficiency by making deployments significantly less expensive and removes the concerns around storing large volumes of data.”

     

    About Humio: Humio is the only log management solution that enables customers to log everything to answer anything in real time — at scale, on premise or in the cloud. Humio’s modern, index-free architecture makes exploring and investigating all data blazing fast, even at scale. The company offers the lowest total cost of ownership, industry-leading unlimited plans, minimal maintenance and training costs, and low compute and storage requirements. Founded in 2016, Humio is headquartered in London and backed by Accel. For more information visit www.humio.com and follow @MeetHumio on Twitter.

     

  • IBM Power Systems Certified for SAP HANA® Enterprise Cloud as a provider for large SAP HANA systems

    ARMONK, N.Y., February 19, 2020 — IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that IBM Power Systems has been certified for the SAP HANA® Enterprise Cloud as a critical infrastructure platform provider for large SAP HANA systems, aiming to simplify the IT infrastructure for the managed, private cloud environment. The service will run on IBM POWER9-based IBM Power Systems E980 servers, which have the industry’s largest virtualized server scalability of 24TB for the SAP HANA database[i].

    Providing the IT infrastructure for a managed, private cloud environment, the SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud is a scalable and secured service that is designed to accelerate a user’s evolution on the path to cloud readiness. It provides capabilities that span the software and hardware stack, a comprehensive menu of functional and technical services, and the level of control clients should expect on premises, all in one privately managed environment.

    “SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud on IBM Power Systems will help clients unlock the full value of SAP HANA in the cloud, with the possibility of enhancing the scalability and availability of mission critical SAP applications while moving workloads to SAP HANA and lowering TCO,” said Christoph Herman, SVP and Head of SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud Delivery. “Combining SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud capabilities with IBM Power Systems can help establish a faster path to cloud readiness for our clients while addressing risk and providing closer alignment to the intelligent enterprise.”

    SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud users can take advantage of the firmware-based virtualization in the IBM POWER platform that offers the largest SAP HANA scalability in scale-up systems[ii]. This helps enable SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud users to accommodate capacity changes – this is designed for clients to benefit from faster performance of their SAP HANA-based business intelligence applications by running them in a single node while maximizing the availability of SAP applications with the highly resilient infrastructure.

    “In June, IBM announced the availability of POWER9 in the IBM Cloud, taking the first step toward our goal of bringing IBM Cognitive Systems technology to our clients, no matter where they are,” said Stephen Leonard, General Manager, IBM Cognitive Systems, “With the addition of IBM Power Systems in SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud, we’re giving our clients more choices and greater flexibility to run their workloads where they want to across the hybrid cloud and accelerate digital transformation.”

    IBM Power Systems has been delivering scalability and availability for SAP HANA applications since it was certified for SAP HANA in 2015, and the ongoing collaboration between IBM Power Systems and SAP provides virtualization on-demand via hypervisor-defined features in Power Systems. This enables clients to take advantage of multiple SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud service levels and transform their IT operations by shifting the focus from infrastructure maintenance to innovating with SAP HANA in the cloud.

    SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud on IBM Power Systems is another testament to IBM and SAP’s long-standing, client-centric relationship. Since forming the Digital Transformation partnership more than three years ago, IBM Services and SAP have worked together to provide services and capabilities that help accelerate how customers around the world modernize their systems and processes on their path to becoming an intelligent enterprise.

    For more information about IBM Power Systems, visit https://www.ibm.com/it-infrastructure/power

     

  • Adaptavist Expands Offering with Acquisition of Six Trello Power-Up Apps

    Purchase underlines Adaptavist’s commitment to workplace agile transformation

    London, UK, Feb. 19th 2020 – Adaptavist, a leading global Atlassian partner, today announced the acquisition of six Trello Power-Up applications, built by Orah Apps. The purchase enables Adaptavist to broaden its offering and expertise across more enterprise tools to enable agile transformation.

    “The nature of how knowledge workers get things done has shifted significantly over the past decade. As lines between departments fade and remote working becomes the new norm, the integration of the tools that teams choose becomes even more critical to a business’s success,” remarks Simon Haighton-Williams, Adaptavist CEO. “With this acquisition, we are able to offer more apps and services across a wider array of collaboration platforms and deliver on the promise of agile transformation.”

    The Trello apps are focused on team communications, collaboration, and  project management. The six Power-Up apps include:

    • Board Export:Exports Trello boards to CSV, PDF or an image format for the purpose of sharing a spreadsheet, emailing an embedded image of cards, maintaining a PDF archive of lists, and downloading an image of the board.
    • Private Notes:Enables users to store notes that only they can see on Trello cards.
    • Time Tracking:Provides the ability to track who’s working on what, how hours are distributed and what is taking up the most time.
    • Due Next:Allows the user to organise their to-do list in easy, consumable formats.
    • Card Delete:Enables the ability to delete cards without having to archive them first.
    • Daily Updates:Proactively asks users to answer three questions each day to keep managers and team members on track.

    Adds Haighton-Williams: “As more and more enterprise teams are turning to Trello, today’s announcement is a testament to our commitment to the Trello platform and our long-term business strategy to diversify onto related platforms to offer more customer choice.”

    About Adaptavist

    Adaptavist’s mission is to help organisations embrace change for competitive advantage. An Atlassian Platinum Partner, we’re active in over 60 countries worldwide. More than half of our customers belong to the renowned Fortune 500 list, including the John Lewis Partnership, BBC, Airbnb, and Tesla.

    With the combined power of Atlassian and Adaptavist technology, we enable our customers to thrive in an era of continual change – transforming their tools, culture, and capabilities to succeed.

     

     

     

  • BMC Announces Intent to Acquire RSM Partners

    Acquisition to enhance the BMC AMI portfolio to support the self-managing, modern mainframe

    HOUSTON – February 18, 2020 – BMC, a global leader in IT solutions for the digital enterprise, today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to purchase RSM Partners, a global provider of  services, software, and expertise with a 100% focus on IBM Z® mainframes.

    The transaction is subject to close in the coming months, and it will be BMC’s second mainframe security or services acquisition in the last 15 months.

    RSM Partners’ services and software offerings will further enhance the BMC Automated Mainframe Intelligence (AMI) portfolio for the self-managing, modern mainframe. The combination of BMC AMI for Security and RSM’s offerings will allow BMC to provide unparalleled expertise in mainframe security assessments, penetration testing, compliance posture, and audit remediation for business-critical mainframe platforms. RSM’s mainframe offerings also include unique differentiators in staff augmentation, migrations, security as a service, and more.

    “We are thrilled to be adding RSM Partners to the BMC family of solutions to offer even greater value to our mainframe customers in how they manage their systems and secure their most critical data,” said Bill Miller, President of ZSolutions at BMC. “We are excited to combine our BMC AMI solutions with RSM Partners’ Z expertise for the strongest mainframe solutions available that help our customers run and secure their businesses.”

    “RSM Partners is delighted to be joining forces with BMC to continue offering customers critical solutions for the modern mainframe,” said Mark Wilson, Technical Director at RSM Partners. “For over 14 years, our company has maintained leadership and dedicated focus on mainframe infrastructure and security, helping customers anticipate digital disruption and protect against volatility and risk. Bringing RSM into the BMC portfolio is a natural fit for the industry.”

    To learn more about BMC’s mainframe solutions, visit www.bmc.com/ami

    Additional Resources:

    About BMC
    BMC delivers software, services, and expertise to help more than 10,000 customers, including 92% of the Forbes Global 100, meet escalating digital demands and maximize IT innovation. From mainframe to mobile to multi-cloud and beyond, our solutions empower enterprises of every size and industry to run and reinvent their businesses with efficiency, security, and momentum for the future.

    BMC, the BMC logo, and BMC’s other product names are the exclusive properties of BMC Software, Inc. or its affiliates, are registered or pending registration with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and may be registered or pending registration in other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. ©Copyright 2020 BMC Software, Inc.

    About RSM Partners
    RSM Partners is globally recognized as a world leading specialist in IBM mainframe security and infrastructure services – delivering resources, consulting and software. Our experts help clients ensure both security and sustainability of their critical IBM mainframe environments. Drawing on over a millennium of real-world experience, our services are unrivalled in the depth of knowledge and expertise they bring to clients.

    IBM z is a trademark or registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.

  • RPA Reality Check: New Forrester Research Identifies Barriers to RPA Scalability

    Study finds a significant impact of ineffective bot resiliency, uncontrolled shadow IT, and scripted bots

    Mountain View, Calif., February 12, 2020 — Tricentis, the leader in enterprise automation, today released a new RPA research study conducted by Forrester Consulting and commissioned by Tricentis:  Barriers and Best Practices for Scaling RPA.  To explore what Robotic Process Automation (RPA) programs really look like on the ground and identify what challenges firms face related to scaling those programs, Forrester surveyed enterprise decision makers with existing RPA programs. Forrester found that centralized automation, effective resiliency, and low-maintenance bots are critical elements for RPA success.

    [Download the complete report from the Tricentis RPA web site]

    “RPA has enabled organizations to reimagine how people and applications can work together, delivering a fast ROI,” commented Wayne Ariola, General Manager of Tricentis RPA. “However, numerous research studies have all shown that scaling an RPA initiative is more difficult and costly than expected. Inevitably, ROI is challenged when it comes to achieving sustainable automation at enterprise scale. The primary purpose of this Forrester research is to better understand these barriers to scale and help organizations avoid dangerous missteps in their RPA journey.”

    Key research findings include:

    • Firms can’t seem to master RPA resiliency — and that impacts costs. Less than one in five firms are very effective at resilient automation, and firms that struggle with resiliency are also four times more likely to say they are very ineffective at controlling costs associated with RPA.
    • Bots often break, placing a heavy load on resources. Forty-five percent of firms deal with bot breakage on a weekly basis or more often, and in the meantime, customer experience is impacted. Employees also have to take on additional manual tasks that would otherwise be automated.
    • Scripting permeates today’s RPA implementations. Virtually all respondents (99%) say their organizations’ bot logic requires some scripting, with a weighted average of 42% of bot logic expressed within a script. Seventy-nine percent of firms report that their RPA programs require advanced programming skills.
    • Firms using scripting-based RPA solutions experience more pain from broken bots. High-script firms were 1.3 times more likely to experience impacted customer service from broken bots, and 5 times more likely to have impacts to cost or revenue, e.g., from delayed transactions.
    • Firms struggle with shadow IT when it comes to RPA. Only one in five firms have a centralized automation center of excellence (CoE), and firms struggle with uncontrolled adoption. Most firms do not know the total scale and costs associated with their RPA program.

    RPA Leaders vs Laggards: What Leaders Do Differently

    The research also analyzed the data from RPA “leaders” vs. RPA “laggards.” Some of the key differentiators they discovered were that leaders:

    • Minimize scripting (11.4% weighted average compared to 45.9% weighted average).
    • Prioritize RPA tools that reduce maintenance and deployment times (based on their top 3 tool capabilities).
    • Centralize RPA efforts within automation Centers of Excellence (3.5 times more automation and greater employee productivity than firms without automation Centers of Excellence).

    The report concludes with recommendations for getting ahead of the challenges identified in this research.

    [Download the complete RPA research report]

    About Tricentis

    Tricentis is the pioneer and global leader in providing resilient automation across software testing and RPA. Tricentis accelerates digital transformation initiatives with a low-code/no-code automation approach that is simple to create, easy to maintain and designed for reuse.  With native support for over 160 technologies, we have solved the most complex automation challenges.  Tricentis operates in over 12 countries and has more than 1,600 customers, including the largest brands in the world, such as Accenture, Coca Cola, Dolby, Nationwide Insurance, and Zappos. To learn more, visit https://www.tricentis.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

     

  • Huntress Secures $18M Investment Led By ForgePoint Capital

    New funding will expand operations and allow for further research and development to address security challenges aimed at MSP and reseller channel

    ELLICOTT CITY, Md., Feb. 18, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Huntress, a SaaS-based managed detection and response (MDR) provider for managed service providers (MSPs) and value-added resellers (VARs), today announced an $18 million Series A investment round led by ForgePoint Capital. This funding allows Huntress to accelerate product engineering and development, as well as expand to additional market segments and geographies. In addition, remaining independent enables Huntress to stay committed to channel partners.

    This investment round follows rapid customer growth for Huntress which now protects over 1,000 MSP partners, further validating the need for advanced MDR solutions that are effective and affordable. According to the 2019 Verizon Data Breach Detection Report, 43 percent of all cyberattacks were targeted at small businesses. These businesses are under attack just as much as large enterprises, but often lack the resources for extensive threat protection. Huntress will continue to focus on this traditionally underserved market, offering its detection and response services as well as expanding its platform to include recovery.

    “Many of these cyberattacks have grown in sophistication and SMBs are demanding advanced capabilities from their IT and security providers to defend themselves,” says Ernie Bio, Vice President at ForgePoint Capital. “To meet this growing demand, the Huntress team built an accessible MDR as a service solution. We at ForgePoint are impressed by the Huntress team’s domain expertise, relentless drive, and passion to protect all customers from today’s advanced cyberthreats.” Bio will be joining the Huntress board along with Alberto Yépez, Co-Founder and Managing Director of ForgePoint.

    Founded in 2015, Huntress introduced a new cloud-delivered approach to MDR centered around detecting malicious footholds and attacker persistence. The company was founded by former NSA Cyber Operators Kyle Hanslovan, Chris Bisnett, and John Ferrell, who have a combined thirty years experience working on offensive cyber operations. While building the company and speaking with partners, they recognized a need for security solutions purpose-built for smaller businesses who have constrained IT budgets and resources.

    “While working at NSA and cooperating with FBI, we saw firsthand how attackers establish persistence in systems, either waiting for the opportune moment to attack or selling access as part of a full-fledged business model,” says Kyle Hanslovan, CEO of Huntress. “We wanted to make threat detection available to small businesses, who are under attack just as much as large enterprises. We call it cybersecurity for the 99%. We believe that the best way to effectively reach these businesses is by enabling and empowering the channel.”

    According to Gartner, Inc., “By 2024, 25% of organizations will be using MDR services, up from less than 5% today.” Gartner recommends that security and risk management leaders “use MDR services offering a turnkey technology approach when there is little to no existing investment related to security technologies for threat detection and forensics, and when the speed to implement MDR services is important.”*

    Huntress protects nearly half a million endpoints today. Its offerings are directed at the growing security needs of MSPs and VARs by focusing on cloud-delivered technology through simple agent deployment without requiring additional security investment.

    “We have been with Huntress since the beginning. Huntress has made it very simple for us to look beyond endpoint prevention and hunt for persistent threats that have landed on our client endpoints. They have been a great asset to our user community and enabled us to have productive and intelligent conversations with our customers about security. Not only have we been able to better protect our customers, we have seen growth in our business,” says Reed Eichner, Chief Technology Officer at Computer Solutions. “We believe Huntress should be part of the conversation around the security stack and are excited to see what they do next.”

    *Gartner, Inc., Market Guide for Managed Detection and Response Services, 15 July 2019

    About Huntress
    Huntress is a leading provider of advanced threat detection and actionable cybersecurity intelligence for managed service providers (MSPs) and value-added resellers (VARs) to reach small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Huntress has pioneered an effective and cost friendly method to protect at a layer that is often overlooked — footholds that are indicative of malicious activity on customer endpoints. By providing expert analysis and actionable insights based on investigation into those activities, Huntress enables corporate IT teams to quickly resolve incidents. Visit huntress.com for more information.

    About ForgePoint Capital
    ForgePoint Capital is the premier cybersecurity venture fund investing in transformative companies protecting the digital world. The firm is one of the most prolific investors in early and growth stage cybersecurity companies with over 40 global cybersecurity investments. The team brings more than eight decades of company building, value creation experience and draws upon the largest network of trusted cybersecurity industry experts and customers to support entrepreneurs who are building great companies. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, the firm partners with exceptional cybersecurity entrepreneurs worldwide. Visit forgepointcap.com for more information.

  • ACCELERATED STRATEGIES GROUP LAUNCHES RESEARCH STUDY INTO CORONAVIRUS’ IMPACT ON IT INDUSTRY WITH ‘HEALTH EMERGENCY IT PREPAREDNESS’ SURVEY

    Coronavirus Outbreak Causes IT Industry to Identify New Threat Preparation Strategies, Accelerated Strategies Group, MediaOps, JumpCloud, and DevOps Institute Commission New Study

    BOCA RATON, Fla. and BOULDER, Colo. – Feb. 17, 2020 – Accelerated Strategies Group, the analyst company whose mission is to democratize access to industry expert knowledge, MediaOps’ IT as Code community platform, DevOps Institute and JumpCloud, have launched a research study and survey to better understand the IT community’s preparedness and response to the current coronavirus threat and future health emergencies.

    The Health Emergency IT Preparedness Survey (HEIPS) is available at http://acceleratedsurvey.com. The survey focuses on actions in response to the coronavirus threat, its potential impacts to humanity and business, and the importance of technologies such as cloud and collaboration tools in the event the coronavirus threat has a greater impact on global, national and local businesses. Results from the survey will be widely available, embodying Accelerated Strategy Group’s tenet, “Knowledge Wants To Be Free.”

    “Our goal is to connect with the IT community to identify needed preparedness before situations like the coronavirus or future events become even more serious,” said Mitchell Ashley, CEO and managing analyst at Accelerated Strategies Group. “The coronavirus is already impacting supply chains, international travel and business continuity planning. It’s vital we know: Are IT departments prepared for the impact of a substantial virus outbreak? What are IT departments doing in reaction to the current and future threats? Are technologies like the cloud a sufficient strategy to provide ongoing business continuity?”

    In addition to the survey, MediaOps CEO Alan Shimel announced the Conference Disaster Plan (CDP) that leverages MediaOps’ online platform and expertise to offer a virtual, near in-person conference experience in situations where travel is restricted or not possible.

    “Health crises are humanitarian crises,” said Jayne Groll, CEO of the DevOps Institute. “First and foremost, we need to understand the scope of how humans are impacted in order to understand the scope of the overall business impact.”

    “The coronavirus has been devastating and is going to leave an indelible mark on the world. It very well may change this generation’s corporate leaders’ view on work,” said Rajat Bhargava, CEO of JumpCloud. “We have already seen an impact on our broad customer base, and we feel it is important for us to commission primary research on the impact of coronavirus on the IT community. The data will prove beneficial for millions of organizations worldwide as they think about how to deal with these catastrophic events.”

     

    About MediaOps, Inc.

    MediaOps is a premier global media platform for technical communities including DevOps, Security and Containerization. Its brands, which include DevOps.com, Container Journal, Security Boulevard and Digital Anarchist, attract and engage a thriving online community of technology professionals around the world. Resources include award-winning editorial, creation of high-quality custom content, multimedia production and distribution. As the leaders in these emerging segments, MediaOps’ properties include powerful, integrated marketing and communication platforms to help clients maximize their campaign ROI and paid media investments. https://mediaops.io

    About Accelerated Strategies Group, Inc.

    Accelerated Strategies Group (AccelST) was formed with the mission of disrupting the technology analyst market by utilizing the same principles of the open source, free model now prevalent in the greater technology/software market. AccelST focuses on the areas of Digital Transformation, DevOps, Cloud-Native and Cybersecurity. https://accelst.com

    About JumpCloud

    JumpCloud® Directory-as-a-Service® is Active Directory® and LDAP reimagined. JumpCloud securely manages and connects users to their systems, applications, files, and networks. Try JumpCloud now.

    About DevOps Institute

    DevOps Institute is dedicated to advancing the human elements of DevOps success. As a global member-based association, DevOps Institute is the go-to learning hub connecting IT practitioners, education partners, consultants, talent acquisition and business executives to help pave the way to support digital transformation and the New IT.  We help advance careers and support emerging practices within the DevOps community based on a human-centered SKIL framework, consisting of Skills, Knowledge, Ideas and Learning.  All of our work, including accreditations, research, events and continuous learning programs, is focused on providing the “human know-how” to modernize IT and make DevOps succeed. https://devopsinstitute.com/

    For more information, visit https://accelst.com and https://mediaops.io

    Press Contacts: 

    CDP@devops.com

    OR

    Terri Douglas
    Catapult PR-IR
    303-581-7760

    tdouglas@catapultpr-ir.com

     

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