AccelOps Achieves 350% Growth in FY11

SANTA CLARA, CA--(Marketwire - Nov 7, 2011) - AccelOps, Inc., the only provider of end-to-end monitoring solutions built for virtualized cloud-generation data centers, finished a strong fiscal year 2011 growing bookings 350 percent and more than tripling its customer base across multiple sectors including Cloud Service Providers (CSPs), financial services, healthcare and manufacturing.


AccelOps is ramping up to meet fast growing market demand. The company has expanded into a new, larger facility, and has expanded its sales and channel presence in the U.S., Europe and Latin America.
In fiscal year 2011, AccelOps won industry awards based on competitive benchmarks by independent third parties, including Frost and Sullivan's Global New Product Innovation of the Year Award in Enterprise and Service Provider Infrastructure/Cloud Monitoring. AccelOps was also recognized as one of CRN's Top 20 Cloud Software and Apps Vendors of 2011.
"The AccelOps platform is resonating with our customers and that is driving our strong financial performance," said Elie Antoun, president and CEO of AccelOps. "Our customers want the advantages of virtualization and cloud computing and are turning to AccelOps for a management system to get the complexity under control so that they are able to do more with fewer resources."


About AccelOps
AccelOps provides industry's first IT management software that monitors performance, security and configurations -- key interrelated metrics in dynamic virtualized data centers. Based on big-data scale-out architecture, AccelOps automatically analyzes and makes sense of behavior patterns spanning server, storage, network, virtualization and applications to rapidly detect problems. AccelOps works across private clouds, public clouds and traditional data centers to bring proactive and comprehensive service health visibility. For more information visitwww.accelops.com.

Had to Pause Angry Birds to Forward a File to my Boss

Walk around any organization today and you will see people using the newest and coolest PCs, smartphones, and tablets. It’s not just the normal suspects that love the IT gadgets. It’s everyone from the CEO to the summer intern. Even my mom got an iPad and is getting in on the action.  It’s so easy to download emails and send photos to relatives. She takes it with her everywhere—even work. Everyone loves these devices at home and work because they’re easy to use. I suspect employees will be taking their devices on upcoming holiday vacations.

The problem that IT managers have is identifying the line between personal and business computer use. We know it has been blurring for years, but today it’s practically gone. The availability and variety of powerful mobile devices, along with the simplicity of adding apps, and cloud services has increased the distortion between personal and business use more than we ever imagined.

A new study sponsored by Unisys found that 40.7% of the devices used by workers to access business applications are ones they own themselves, including home PCs, smartphones, and tablets such as the iPad. Nearly 10% reported using their personal tablet for work—a device that did not even exist just 15 months ago.

With this in mind, most IT managers and CIOs are well aware that we’ve turned a page and there is no going back.  The real question is, how can organizations cope in a world where the line between a personal and business computer is “cloudy” at best? The answer is identifying security issues and managing enterprise data.

Accellion provides the kind of enterprise solutions that offer the control and flexibility that IT needs, while keeping users happy with easy-to-use file sharing and collaboration applications that can be accessed anytime, from anywhere. And if you have employees like my Mom, who bring their iPad to work, you’ll be glad you invested in securing your sensitive enterprise data.

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Content for this post is excerpted directly from the IDC iView 2011 Consumerization of IT Study: Closing the ―Consumerization Gap, July 2011, sponsored by Unisys. The multimedia content can be viewed athttp://www.unisys.com/iview.

Good fences make good neighbours

It’s not that long since I wrote a blog post bemoaning Australia’s privacy laws as ‘toothless tigers’, pointing to our country’s lack of mandatory disclosure legislation as an ongoing challenge for information security. As such, I welcome Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor’s recent announcement that disclosure and privacy reforms could be fast-tracked - if the department was presented with evidence that enterprise information security was inadequate. For all that, I’ll be keeping the bubbly on ice for the time being...

While I do welcome the prospect of reforms that feel like they’ve been in the discussion stages forever finally seeing the light of day, you have to question the adequacy of a process that calls on those with the most to lose to own up to their failings so you can expedite the process by which they’ll be penalised.

The Australian Law Reform Commission first published its recommendations for data breach notification legislation back in 2008. And with public consultation for the privacy reforms ending on November 3rd, it’s hard not to be cynical and wonder whether we’re looking at another long period of talk with little in the way of action. Meanwhile, SC Magazine reports that security specialists claim the scale of Australia’s data theft problem goes well beyond anything our government or even the local media know about.

Australians were first asked to consider whether privacy was a legal right back in 1937. On that occasion, Chief Justice Latham said that “Any person is entitled to look over the plaintiff’s fence and to see what goes on in the plaintiff’s land. If the plaintiff desires to prevent this, the plaintiff can erect a higher fence.”

All well and good when few homes had even a telephone, but in a digital age, it’s increasingly difficult for individuals to erect higher fences around all the personal data they’re obliged to submit for even the simplest of day-to-day tasks. Financial services verification routinely involves the furnishing of further identifying details, from passports to driving licences, place of work, payroll numbers, even your mother’s maiden name. And while logic says the onus for building adequate fencing around that data lies with the organisation that holds it, the law suggests otherwise – and the absence of any clear mandatory penalty underlines a highly unsatisfactory state of play.

While we’ve been strolling towards a solution, it’s not only technology that’s outstripping us; other countries and regions such as the EU and US have implemented some major changes in recent years, where prompt responses and fines for data breaches are the standard minimum requirement to keep organisations of all kinds on their toes.

Data breaches are, sadly, inevitable. It’s impossible to prevent an employee from accidentally leaving sensitive paperwork on public transport, for example. But there are still some practical solutions. In the first instance, it’s important that legislation is in place; after that, it’s ultimately up to businesses to take responsibility for themselves by taking practical steps to educate employees and create visible security across the organisation. Businesses should apply visible security strategies, informing users of policies, using tools to remind staff of what constitutes a breach and enabling managers to get a better handle on their data and where it is.

Businesses in Australia are playing their part, but more certainly needs to be done when it comes to legislation and education. As of April this year, twice as many breaches were reported compared to 2010. The law needs to be reinforced and reviewed to accelerate post-breach actions so that companies can take responsibility and put solutions in place. The time for talk has passed.

Phil Vasic

Data breaches put the scare back in Halloween!

For most people outside the IT profession, the scariest thing they deal with on Halloween is a spooky costume or the newest episode of AMC’s ghastly drama “The Walking Dead.” For IT professionals, a data breach is far worse. With the frequency and cost of data breaches on the rise, it’s easy to see why the topic worries IT professionals. In its fifth annual survey the Ponemon Institute showed a significant spike in legal defense spending to address fears of successful class actions resulting from customer, consumer or employee data loss. In fact, the total cost per data breach incident now exceeds six million dollars.

If that’s not enough to chill IT and security professionals, another report commissioned by Websense surveyed 100 IT managers around the world about the latest threats to corporate security. The IT managers surveyed went on to say that data loss incidents put their jobs on the line, and that managing the stress of a company data breach is more taxing than divorce, managing personal debt, or a minor car accident.

There were 561 data breaches in 2010 and 589 data breaches to date this year. To avoid the stress of a data breach, IT professionals are employing robust security strategies to ease their worries.

We do our part to help Accellion’s customers and their business users protect data while sharing files with external and internal users.

As for the haunts of Halloween… there is nothing that can help the chills and thrills.

by Ryan Swindall

Three of NetVision's recently released feature upgrades that we know you'll love.

NetVision recently released version 7.2 of our product suite. Recently, we covered a few of the new features that were introduced, including the ability to find the real owner of files and folders, identify where permissions may differ from a share level folder, and track workstation logon activity. This time, we'll discuss three more enhancements and how they can add value in your environment.


1.  Combined Permission and Activity Reporting

Access Rights Inspector provides calculated effective rights reporting across the file system essentially answering "Who has access to what?". One of the really powerful uses of this tool is to run a report showing to what a given user or group has access. As you drill down on a specific file or folder, you have access to effective rights as well as explicit rights assignments so that you know how those permissions are actually assigned. But until recently, if you wanted to review the recent activity on that file, you'd have to switch over to NVMonitor reporting and then adjust the scope of the report to that specific file.

That's a few more clicks of the mouse than we were comfortable with. So, with the release of 7.2, the Access Rights Inspector details pane provides file activity data from NVMonitor right there. No additional clicks required. It also tells you who uses the file most so you can quickly identify the potential owner or high-frequency user to answer any questions about that particular file.


2.  Role Based Access to Reports

NetVision's reporting console provides access to reporting for the entire NetVision suite. Because there are numerous types of users who want access to NetVision reporting, it was a natural extension to provide role-based access to reports. A department manager should perhaps only have access to the reporting on the security groups and files that are relevant to their department. A finance auditor might only need access to the READ events on certain files and certain exceptions rather than ALL file activity.

Previously, these scenarios were handled with the built-in report scheduling and automated emailing of reports to users based on their need. But, role-based access to reports provides additional control so that report consumers can set their own report schedules and leverage the report parameters which make searching through data a breeze.


3.  Automatically Linked Reports

One of NetVision's clear advantages is our separation of data from display. Our event information is normalized and stored in a relational database. Reporting, then, is extremely flexible in that the same set of data (e.g. group changes) can be viewed in numerous formats (e.g. a pie chart based on who did it, a bar chart based on type of change, a tabular view of chronological changes, etc.) Some NetVision users felt a bit overwhelmed by all the choices.

So, with the 7.2 release, NetVision introduced linked reports into our policy management console. As you are managing policies, there is an additional tab that enables you to select from a recommended report template list. Upon saving the policy, those reports are automatically created in the reporting console. The initial feedback is extremely positive. Linked reports save a few steps and make process of selecting the best report template for you a lot easier.


by Matt Flynn
NetVision

Go Mobile, Go Secure with Accellion

The latest Accellion Mobile App for iPhone and iPad with support for iOS 5 was introduced today.  With this release, Accellion is leading the industry when it comes to enterprise mobile file sharing security features and control.

The Accellion Mobile App offers the industry’s first encrypted, protected container for mobile file sharing, including 128-bit AES data encryption for files locally saved on a mobile device.  For those of you with iPhones and iPads you now have a secure way to save files locally on your mobile device.

Let’s say you’re travelling on business.  Momentarily distracted by thoughts of your upcoming presentation, you leave the iPad behind at the security line.  If you have been using a consumer cloud storage app, your files can be easily accessible to the next person that picks up your iPad.

With Accellion, files downloaded and saved on to the device are automatically encrypted.  If you don’t see your iPad again, at least other people won’t see your information.  Oh, and your files are still safe, secure and available to you from your iPhone and laptop.

We’ve built a number of additional IT and security features geared for enterprise use into the Accellion Mobile App. Learn more.

The Accellion Mobile App is a free download and works in conjunction with Accellion Secure Collaboration and Accellion Managed File Transfer.  Register for a free 30-day individual user trial of the Accellion Mobile App at: http://www.info.accellion.com/mobile-trial.html

Monitor. Communicate. Educate.

Last week, the US-based National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) issued new guidelines on monitoring information security across computer networks, devices and software. In the wake of a series of high profile data breaches, the recommendations reiterate the ongoing need for companies to take control of their IT security strategies and policies.

A key message in the guidelines is that an effective, continuously monitored information security programme helps organisations move from purely compliance-driven to data-driven risk management.

This is an important shift for many organisations; while no one can deny the ongoing, growing need to comply with increasingly complex regulations, there’s more to security than box checking. As the NIST points out, data-driven risk management gives organisations the information they need to “support risk response decisions, security status information and ongoing insight into security control effectiveness.”

On the face of it, it all sounds very complicated. Monitoring all risks while negotiating a path through compliance leaves a lot of organisations bound up in so much red tape that they simply opt for what looks to be the easiest route: lock, block and limit communications. As we’ve seen so many times before, this is a self-defeating approach that ultimately holds companies back.

We operate in a dynamic business environment, not a vacuum; companies need to be flexible and agile. This calls for equal measures of self knowledge and threat understanding – and effective monitoring can help get you there. Security should be about policy, not policing, and quality risk assessment drives quality policy, which in turn allows your organisation to communicate with confidence.

Monitor. Communicate. Educate. Security policy should drive technology, not the other way around.

Nick Peart.