What small business look for when considering SaaS

More and more, small and midsized businesses (SMBs) are turning to cloud-based software to help run their business. Yet many are hesitant to make the move, worrying about safety and cost. So what can Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers do to woo SMBs and allay their concerns? Here are eight suggestions on how to make your cloud offering attractive to a smaller business.1. Make sure your software is easy to use – and easy to understand. “Business owners and their employees expect [cloud-based] business apps and services to be as easy to use as their personal consumer apps,” says Ken Oestreich, director, product marketing, Cloud Services, Citrix. “Cloud services and apps need to be intuitive, so people can begin using them without training. The easier your apps and services are to use, the more people will use them, and since service revenues are based on usage, you want customers to use those services frequently and for extended periods of time.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google rolls out more low-bandwidth versions of its products

Google is rolling versions of popular products like YouTube and Chrome that are specially designed for people who do not have access to high-bandwidth internet. The products are first being introduced in India but are expected to be available in other parts of the world where low-bandwidth connections are prevalent.The company also introduced on Tuesday a set of tools, called Google Station, which aim to help partners set up public Wi-Fi hotspots. Google joined last year with Indian Railways and RailTel, a provider of telecom infrastructure, to offer Wi-Fi at 400 railway stations in India.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Realm broadens its mobile database offering with Object Server

Realm provides a database tailored for mobile applications. The most popular third-party database globally, Realm powers apps in use by over a billion users. Realm has focused on the mobile side of things and offers caching and synchronization services that are critical for the mobile use case.The company is broadening its offering today with the announcement of the Realm Mobile Platform, an amalgam of the existing database and a new product, Realm Object Server.Object Server deals with delivering live data synchronization between users. In practice, it uses live objects across both database and server, which update automatically in response to changes on either side. These objects are then integrated between the two ends of the chain, with data encrypted throughout the process. The use cases for this two-way synchronicity are obvious: Messaging and chat, live collaboration, two-way data syncing and offline functionality are all enabled by this.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Sage delivers a payments API. Because APIs are the key to unlocking the future

Until very recently, the accounting software industry was evenly split among the "big three" vendors: Sage broadly owned the U.K. market, Intuit the American, and MYOB the Australasian. Bit players rounded out the other countries not covered by these big three.But in the past few years, several innovative new companies have been founded with the stated aim of disrupting these big vendors. Most notable among them is Xero, but similarly FreshBooks, Kashflow, FreeAgent and others had a crack at the problem space.+ Also on Network World: 10 free tools for API design, development and testing +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Ransomware roundup: Targeting servers and government, honoring Donald Trump and Voldemort

Security researchers have discovered more ransomware under development, namely one paying homage to Voldemort and another featuring Donald Trump, as well as one variant currently targeting servers and yet a different ransomware hitting government agencies and education institutions.Let’s start with the ransomware that has moved past development into actively locking up computers.DXXD ransomware targeting serversOn Bleeping Computer forums, there were reports of servers being hit with DXXD ransomware. After a file has been encrypted, “dxxd” is added to the end of a filename such as myimportantfile.jpgdxxd.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Ransomware roundup: Targeting servers and government, honoring Donald Trump and Voldemort

Security researchers have discovered more ransomware under development, namely one paying homage to Voldemort and another featuring Donald Trump, as well as one variant currently targeting servers and yet a different ransomware hitting government agencies and education institutions.Let’s start with the ransomware that has moved past development into actively locking up computers.DXXD ransomware targeting serversOn Bleeping Computer forums, there were reports of servers being hit with DXXD ransomware. After a file has been encrypted, “dxxd” is added to the end of a filename such as myimportantfile.jpgdxxd.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Ransomware roundup: Targeting servers, government, honoring Donald Trump and Voldemort

Security researchers have discovered more ransomware under development, namely one paying homage to Voldemort and another featuring Donald Trump, as well as one variant currently targeting servers and yet a different ransomware hitting government agencies and education institutions. Let’s start with the ransomware that has moved past development into actively locking up computers.DXXD ransomware targeting serversOn Bleeping Computer forums, there were reports of servers being hit with DXXD ransomware; after a file has been encrypted, “dxxd” is added to the end of a filename such as myimportantfile.jpgdxxd.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Wi-Fi connectivity the tip of the technology iceberg for K-12 schools

It’s been about two years since the FCC modernized E-Rate, which is the funding program for K-12 schools to buy technology. Prior to the revamp of the program, E-Rate funded a number of legacy technologies, such as modems, broadband and pagers.E-Rate has now shifted to helping schools build better in-building experiences, with much of the funding directed at Wi-Fi. There’s a certain degree of urgency for schools to get Wi-Fi deployed (I’ll get into the reasons in a bit), but when making a Wi-Fi purchase, K-12 decision makers need to consider more than just connectivity.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Reading: Pre-Internet digital communications

The Internet is a platform for universal communication. You can plug a device into any Internet connection, and provided it speaks TCP/IP, you can communicate with any other point on earth. But before the Internet, even before ARPANET, people and devices needed to talk. I thought I would take a look at some of the technologies which enabled people to communicate in a pre-Internet world. —eager

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63% off Etekcity 3 Pack Portable Outdoor LED Camping Lantern with 9 AA Batteries – Deal Alert

Whether used for camping, trick or treating, or power outages, this lantern will provide up to 12 hours of bright omnidirectional LED lighting to see your surroundings. When the battery power of the lantern runs low, the brightness will dim to an energy saving mode to provide longer lasting illumination (up to 4 hours of low power usage). It's lighter, brighter and more portable than most flashlights while still featuring the rugged durability to withstand the outdoors. The military grade exterior is water resistant for more practical use in a high range of environments. Ideal for children, the lantern needs no setup or prepping with fires and oil. The design provides full omnidirectional lighting for clear vision no matter where you may turn. The fold-out collapsible handles make for easier portability and hanging.  This lantern averages 5 out of 5 stars on Amazon (read reviews) and the 3 pack's list price of $45.99 has been reduced 63% to $16.99. (See it on Amazon)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Swift CEO reveals three more failed attacks on banking network

Banks stopped three new attempts to abuse the Swift financial transfer network this summer, its CEO Gottfried Leibbrandt said Monday, as he announced Swift's plan to impose tighter security controls on its customers.Swift provides the network that banks use to exchange funds internationally, and hit the headlines in February when attackers almost got away with a billion-dollar heist at Bangladesh Bank. In the end, they only succeeded in stealing US$81 million after hacking bank systems connected to the Swift network.That prompted Swift to ratchet up security around its systems, which weren't themselves breached, updating the software it provides banks and adding new audit and verification tools.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Swift CEO reveals three more failed attacks on banking network

Banks stopped three new attempts to abuse the Swift financial transfer network this summer, its CEO Gottfried Leibbrandt said Monday, as he announced Swift's plan to impose tighter security controls on its customers.Swift provides the network that banks use to exchange funds internationally, and hit the headlines in February when attackers almost got away with a billion-dollar heist at Bangladesh Bank. In the end, they only succeeded in stealing US$81 million after hacking bank systems connected to the Swift network.That prompted Swift to ratchet up security around its systems, which weren't themselves breached, updating the software it provides banks and adding new audit and verification tools.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft Azure networking is speeding up, thanks to custom hardware

Networking among virtual machines in Microsoft Azure is going to get a whole lot faster thanks to some new hardware that Microsoft has rolled out across its fleet of data centers.The company announced Monday that it has deployed hundreds of thousands of FPGAs (Field-Programmable Gate Arrays) across servers in 15 countries and five different continents. The chips have been put to use in a variety of first-party Microsoft services, and they're now starting to accelerate networking on the company's Azure cloud platform.In addition to improving networking speeds, the FPGAs (which sit on custom, Microsoft-designed boards connected to Azure servers) can also be used to improve the speed of machine-learning tasks and other key cloud functionality. Microsoft hasn't said exactly what the contents of the boards include, other than revealing that they hold an FPGA, static RAM chips and hardened digital signal processors. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft Azure networking is speeding up, thanks to custom hardware

Networking among virtual machines in Microsoft Azure is going to get a whole lot faster thanks to some new hardware that Microsoft has rolled out across its fleet of data centers.The company announced Monday that it has deployed hundreds of thousands of FPGAs (Field-Programmable Gate Arrays) across servers in 15 countries and five different continents. The chips have been put to use in a variety of first-party Microsoft services, and they're now starting to accelerate networking on the company's Azure cloud platform.In addition to improving networking speeds, the FPGAs (which sit on custom, Microsoft-designed boards connected to Azure servers) can also be used to improve the speed of machine-learning tasks and other key cloud functionality. Microsoft hasn't said exactly what the contents of the boards include, other than revealing that they hold an FPGA, static RAM chips and hardened digital signal processors. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

FAQ: What is 802.11ad wireless technology?

Here are the broad strokes about 802.11ad, the wireless technology that’s just starting to hit the market. 802.11ac, 802.11ac wave 2, 802.11omg! Could we maybe get some different names for this stuff? No! Next question! May the power of the IEEE smite you down for heresy! Fine, fine. So 802.11ad – what’s the deal here? Well, now that you’re being civil, I’ll tell you – 802.11ad is, yes, a new wireless standard that uses the 60GHz spectrum instead of the 5GHz and 2.4GHz used by most Wi-Fi connections today. It boasts a theoretical max speed of 7Gbps, vs 3.2Gbps for 802.11ac Wave 2. MORE: 802.11ad is the fastest Wi-Fi that you might not ever use | Is Wi-Fi finally ‘fast enough?’To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Use models to measure cloud performance

When I was young, I made three plastic models. One was of a car—a '57 Chevy.  Another was of a plane—a Spitfire. And a third was of the Darth Vader TIE Fighter. I was so proud of them. Each one was just like the real thing. The wheels turned on the car, and the plane’s propeller moved when you blew on it. And of course, the TIE Fighter had Darth Vader inside.When I went to work on the internet, I had to measure things. As I discussed in my last post, Measure cloud performance like a customer, when you measure on the internet you need to measure in ways that are representative of your customers’ experiences. This affects how you measure in two ways. The first is the perspective you take when measuring, which I talked about last time. The second way is the techniques you use to perform those measurements. And those techniques are, in effect, how you make a model of what you want to know. Those childhood plastic models turn out to offer some solid guidance after all.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Security blogger Krebs says IoT DDoS attack was payback for a blog

Security blogger Brian Krebs says a massive distributed denial-of-service attack that took down his Web site last week was likely the consequences for his outing of two Israelis who ran a DDoS-for-hire business.+More on Network World: The IoT is uranium+The pair, whom he identifies as Itay Huri and Yarden Bidani, both 18, were arrested in Israel at the request of the FBI six days after Krebs posted his blog and are now under house arrest.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Security blogger Krebs says IoT DDoS attack was payback for a blog

Security blogger Brian Krebs says a massive distributed denial-of-service attack that took down his Web site last week was likely the consequences for his outing of two Israelis who ran a DDoS-for-hire business.+More on Network World: The IoT is uranium+The pair, whom he identifies as Itay Huri and Yarden Bidani, both 18, were arrested in Israel at the request of the FBI six days after Krebs posted his blog and are now under house arrest.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Who’s Hot In Infrastructure? 25 Vendors To Watch