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(The Hosting News) – Comodo Security Solutions announces the release of its Comodo Endpoint Security Manager 1.5 software. Comodo Endpoint Security Manager is integrated with Comodo Internet Security, rated #1 in proactive security by Matousec.com, an independent security testing authority. Comodo Endpoint Security Manager 1.5 combines the unparalleled malware prevention of Comodo Internet Security software together with powerful central administration features for businesses with dozens to thousands of PCs. New in version 1.5 are breakthrough features, including Auto Sandbox Technology™, and a limited warranty to repair PCs damaged by malware.

Businesses of all sizes are increasingly targeted by hackers, with a disturbing trend of attacks directed at specific personnel or groups, such as corporate finance staff with access to electronic banking systems. Starting in mid 2009, small businesses, local governments, educational institutions and not-for-profit organizations began reporting staggering financial losses due to malware attacks. These mounting losses are due in part to weaknesses in conventional PC security solutions that have long relied on a “blacklisting” approach that blocks only known threats from executing. Because most threats are unknown at the initial point of contact, they are unlikely to be blocked by conventional security software. Coupled with the fact that many users do not keep their computers or security software regularly updated, it’s no surprise that businesses continue to encounter financial loss and other problems stemming from malware infection. Comodo Endpoint Security Manager, with Comodo Internet Security, has been engineered to obliterate this trend.

Melih Abdulhayoglu, Comodo’s CEO and Chief Security Architect said, “The cost of ineffective PC security in the business community is staggering. In addition to direct financial losses due to cybercrime, businesses are increasingly burdened by high IT staff costs to remediate malware infections and administer security software, increased equipment costs to replace infected PC’s, and losses to employee productivity due to slow or unavailable PCs.” Abdulhayoglu explained, “As a result, businesses are actively seeking better protection. Through its unparalleled ability to prevent virus and other malware infections, Comodo offers businesses what they really need, at a fraction of the price they’re currently paying for an ineffective product.”

Comodo Endpoint Security Manager 1.5 redefines PC security for businesses by shifting the protection paradigm from conventional detection to proactive prevention, providing unparalleled superior protection. With core security provided by Comodo Internet Security 4.0 and its Default Deny Technology™, only those files that are on the safe “whitelist” of over 15 million files are allowed to run and access critical system resources or information.    All other files are either blocked, because they are known to be unsafe, or automatically “sandboxed” if their safety is unknown. While sandboxed, an application is closely monitored and given limited privileges, it can only write to a virtual file system and registry. Comodo’s unique, patent-pending Auto Sandbox Technology™ relieves users and administrators from having to make difficult decisions about which applications to block and which to allow, this makes the product both easier to use and more secure than competitive alternatives. Default Deny Technology™, working in concert with fully-featured antivirus and firewall components allows Comodo Internet Security 4.0 to provide the strongest protection against viruses and malware of any other PC Security solution available today. No other company provides this automated sandbox feature today.

The key features included in the Comodo Endpoint Security Manager 1.5 package are:

- Default Deny Technology™ — Provides proactive malware protection designed to stop all known and unknown virus and malware attacks
- Antivirus — Searches, tracks down and destroys malware already on a PC, and blocks known malware
- Auto Sandbox Technology™ — Decides automatically if unknown applications should run on your PC by first launching in a secure virtual environment where files cannot damage the PC
- Firewall — Defends PC’s against inbound attacks, hides PC ports from hackers and keeps malicious software from transmitting confidential data over the Internet
 
livePCsupport — 24×7 live support by PC security experts

- Direct link to livePCsupport experts integrates into Endpoint Security Manager Console
- Remote Desktop Connection module enables Comodo livePCsupport experts to remotely configure or troubleshoot Endpoint Security Manager installation (at no additional expense)
 
Comodo Limited Warranty — provides up to $5000 in restoration costs per license file for all licensed endpoints infected and damaged by malware while protected by Comodo Internet Security under Endpoint Security Manager 1.5, subject to terms and conditions. Comodo’s guarantee gives customers the peace of mind in knowing that all malware and viruses will be stopped completely before ever penetrating their systems.

Pricing and Availability
Comodo Endpoint Security Manager 1.5 is priced per PC or endpoint based on the number of endpoint licenses purchased. Prices range from $22.95/year for 100 or fewer endpoint licenses to below $10/year for over 5000 endpoints. Purchases can be made immediately by requesting a demo at the Comodo website or by calling the Comodo sales department for more information.

For more information, please visit Comodo’s Website, or speak to a Comodo Endpoint Security Manager Specialist at 1-866-266-6361.

Comodo’s Endpoint Security Manager Stops Viruses and Malware

(The Hosting News) – Our Internet is proud to announce a new partnership with SmarterTools Inc. to provide $800 worth of software to its Windows dedicated and VPS server customers.

Under the terms of the partnership, Our Internet customers that purchase a Windows dedicated or VPS server will receive the SmarterBundle, which includes professional editions of the SmarterMail mail server, SmarterTrack customer service software, and SmarterStats Web log analytics and SEO software at no additional cost.

“With our superior support and Web hosting packages and the incredible software offered by SmarterTools, it is easy to say you can’t go wrong when purchasing a dedicated or VPS server from Our Internet,” said Jason Dickman, CEO at Our Internet.

SmarterMail 6.x provides the best-in-class alternative to Microsoft Exchange, with a wide variety of enterprise features, including Smartphone synchronization (through Exchange ActiveSync, SyncML, and SmarterMail Sync technologies) and 97% anti-spam out-of-the-box that delivers comprehensive protection from spam and phishing messages. SmarterMail also offers advanced SOX-compliant message archiving and a leading Web-based interface for administrators.

SmarterTrack 4.x is a robust help desk application that transforms customer service efforts into a multi-channel communications portal. Features include a ticket system, live chat, WhosOn, branding and language support, cost analysis, data mining, reporting, surveys, and a knowledge base.

SmarterStats 5.x Web log analytics and SEO software allows businesses to manage website statistics and SEO efforts in a single application, providing them with the tools needed to make informed decisions and run their online business at maximum efficiency.

For more information, visit Our Internet

Our Internet Forms Partnership with SmarterTools

(The Hosting News) – iWeb recently announced that Executive Vice-President of Resources, Marc Guindon‘s role within the organization will move from an operational one to a more strategic involvement, notably as a member of the board of directors, as well as coaching the other members of management.

“Marc has played a very important role in iWeb’s maturing process, since the IPO in 2004” says Eric Chouinard, CEO and cofounder of the company that now hosts 12,500 dedicated servers in its Montreal Data centers. “This is a great example of successful knowledge transfer and mentoring.”

Mr. Guindon, who previously served as Chief Financial Officer, will remain active on iWeb’s board of directors, where he has been serving since March of 2009, in addition to being a member of the Audit Committee. He will also be involved as a consultant for various special projects, including eventual acquisition plans.

“It would be very hard to find a better coach” said Philip Tousignant, who became iWeb’s Chief Financial Officer in 2008. “We are very pleased to be able to count on Marc’s expertise on our board of directors.”

Regarding his career transition, Mr. Guindon said: “Being involved with a company that plays such a pivotal role in Quebec’s IT development has been an extraordinary experience. iWeb is in very good hands at this point, for the benefit of our customers and shareholders. All the better if I have contributed to its success.” he concludes, with his typical straightforwardness.

Marc Guindon was a member of the Order of Chartered Accountants of Québec and Ontario. He joined iWeb in 2004 as Chief Financial Officer, shortly before the company’s initial public offering (IPO), to eventually become Executive Vice-President, Resources, in October 2008. Having spent the early stages of his career at Ernst &Young, Mr. Guindon then joined the SNC Group as Vice-President of Finance, later filling the same position with Treco, a division of the Canam-Manac Group. Following the creation of two groups of industrial companies, he sold his interests and retired (for the first time) in 1996, before joining iWeb.

As of June 1st 2010, iWeb’s senior management will consist of:
• Eric Chouinard, President, CEO and cofounder
• Martin Leclair, President, Products and Technology, cofounder
• Philip Tousignant, Chief Financial Officer
• Cyril Mertès, Chief Technology Officer

Marc Guindon Named on Board of Directors for iWeb

(The Hosting News) – Avectra has released its latest service pack with expanded functionality for netFORUM SharePoint. Including advanced event management and member self-service features, the upgrade builds on existing Microsoft SharePoint integrations to deliver a superior online member experience for associations using the company’s hosted enterprise level software.

Introduced in the netFORUM Enterprise 2008 release, netFORUM’s integration with SharePoint combines Avectra’s market-leading association management software with the industry standard in content management.

In addition to the more than 120 out-of-the-box Web services that already support customer profile management, e-Commerce, chapter and committee management, website design flexibility and more, this latest release of netFORUM SharePoint includes:

- Extended member self-service options – including paying for open invoices, joining or renewing membership, making donations, and viewing past interactions with the organization (events attended, purchases and donations made, etc.)

- Expanded event management functionality – including group and guest registration, as well as the ability to add event sessions and tracks

- Connection to Google Maps detailing locations of individuals and organizations via the member directory

- The ability to link member profiles to Facebook and Twitter
 
“netFORUM SharePoint allows organizations to create a powerful member experience while avoiding the cost and time required to develop integrations with the content management system on their own,” said Richard Davis, chief executive officer for Avectra. “This latest release further provides the online experience members expect and supports the dynamic communication that associations strive for.”

The release of this service pack is the first of Avectra’s netFORUM Enterprise releases for 2010. The upcoming release of netFORUM Enterprise 2010 will include additional integration points to support SharePoint 2010.

netFORUM SharePoint is built on the Microsoft SharePoint platform and can be hosted in the Avectra Super Network (ASN) for a secure Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) offering that allows netFORUM clients to focus on their members – and leave the IT worries to Avectra. Single sign-on seamlessly connects clients’ association websites to SharePoint. The combination of netFORUM Enterprise and SharePoint provides for a seamless integration between the front-end Web experience and back-end member database for associations.

Additionally, the same XML Web services that support netFORUM SharePoint can be used to integrate netFORUM Enterprise with other third-party content management systems.

Together, netFORUM SharePoint represents the next step in real-time communication and member engagement for associations. For more about netFORUM SharePoint, please visit free personalized demo.

Avectra Releases netFORUM SharePoint Upgrades

(Gawkwire.com) - I consider myself a social kind of girl, especially online, so when I heard about SocialSpark the name alone was so cool I just HAD to check it out. After I started to surf the Spark, I began to realize there’s a ton of possibilities for bloggers that I really wasn’t even aware could exist.

For example, did you know you can make a good living from blogging? Or, that you can get your blog sponsored by a corporate entity?

Well you can, and that’s where David Chen, Vice President of Business Development for IZEA, comes in. IZEA is a company most well known for PayPerPost.com and RockStartUp.com, both really awesome ventures you should also check out. David was kind enough to answer some questions about their new social network and…some other things as well.

Thanks for chatting with me David. So tell us…what is SocialSpark?
SocialSpark is a marketplace where bloggers and advertisers connect to identify sponsorship opportunities. For bloggers, SocialSpark is a resource to help drive them more traffic and help them earn a higher return on their traffic. Bloggers can “shop” for sponsorship opportunities that fit their site and/or advertisers can target the bloggers directly. For advertisers, SocialSpark is a unique and scalable vehicle for marketing across social media. We offer Sponsored Post (sponsored content) as well as display advertising opportunities.

What is the Solutions Center?
The Solutions Center is a new area within SocialSpark to help our users find information and tools to improve their online experiences. The Solutions Center provides a directory of blogger and advertiser services ranging from web hosting providers, blog publishing tools, to content resources. We also present special offers to our users from select providers.

How can web hosting services benefit from SocialSpark and the Solutions Center?
Many of our users are setting up their blogs for the first time and/or looking to improve the infrastructure of their existing blogs. Web hosting services that support a range of blog publishing tools are a good fit for our users and the Solutions Center. Combined, we can offer a complete solution for their blog hosting and marketing needs.

Interested providers are welcome to contact us here.

In addition, web hosting services can join SocialSpark to match-up with bloggers who can become brand advocates for their web hosting services. You can join SocialSpark for free at http://socialspark.com. Once registered, you can develop free advertiser and blogger profiles and have full access to the SocialSpark suite of services. We also have a sales team to help develop campaigns.

How can web masters benefit from SocialSpark and the Solutions Center?

Whether a web master is just getting started or has been running a website/blog for years, we offer information and services to help them get started, enhance their existing site, and/or generate sponsorship fees.

How do I get in Social Spark and the Solutions Center?
You can access SocialSpark at http://socialspark.com. The Solutions Center is located at http://socialspark.com/solutions_center

Is there a code of ethics your bloggers and advertisers must follow?

Yes. We believe a free and open marketplace fosters the creativity for social marketing opportunities. We also believe participants in social media marketing should be accountable to their users. To maintain the balanced interests of bloggers, advertisers, and users, we’ve established a 4-point set of standards: 100% Audit-able In-Post Disclosure, 100% Transparency, 100% Real Opinions, 100% Search Engine Friendly. You can learn more about our policy here http://socialspark.com/code_of_ethics

How much can you make, just by writing blogs?

The SocialSpark open marketplace sets the value for what a blogger can earn for writing Sponsored Posts by matching advertiser supply with blogger demand. Opportunity pay-outs can range from $5 to $100+ for a Sponsored Post. More involved posts, such as video posts, have higher pay-outs and bloggers have the opportunity to distinguish themselves to earn more. We provide guidelines for how often you can write Sponsored Posts, but we have bloggers earning more than a thousand dollars a month.

What are Blogger Bonuses and how do bloggers get them?

Some advertisers offer a monthly bonus to the blogger that performs best for them. Bloggers have the incentive to create posts that are most appealing to their users and most effective for the advertisers.

What are “props” and “drops”?

Props and drops are way of rating users, blogs, sponsorship opportunities, etc. in SocialSpark. You must be a registered user of SocialSpark in order to give a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down.”

What are your future plans for SocialSpark?

We have a number of exciting new products and features in the works, including building some new tools to enhance targeting. We are also creating some very interesting products to help bloggers better interact with their users and other bloggers. We’ll be making some more announcements soon.
Tell us about the backend of SocialSpark? What platform is it running?

We use Ruby on Rails, Pylons, and a bit of PHP.
How many registered users do you have and what growth have you seen since you started?
We have 170,000+ bloggers and 17,000+ advertisers across the IZEA network and it continues to grow every day.

What is the benefit of installing a SocialSpark widget on your blog?

Bloggers can install the IZEA Toolkit (ITK) on their blog which provides free web statistics, including pageviews, unique visitors, and inbound linking information. The ITK also allows you to determine your IZEARank which makes you eligible for sponsorship opportunities in SocialSpark. You can make your traffic data public/private at your option, but we encourage sharing as much information with the community. The ITK allows you to also serve Blog Sponsorship ads without having to re-design your site. Again, all at the blogger’s option.

How did you come up with the name?

“SocialSpark” captures the essence of what we do: we help bloggers and brands initiate and manage conversations across social media.

Who are the people behind SocialSpark?

There’s an energetic team of almost fifty people helping run SocialSpark. IZEA was founded by Ted Murphy, a serial entrepreneur, with a background in interactive media. Our management team has a diverse set of technology and marketing experience from companies like MySpace, Yahoo!, AOL, American Express, Channel Intelligence, and Westgate Resorts. You can see a documentary of the development of IZEA at http://rockstartup.com

Can doing paid blog posts for advertisers on SocialSpark negatively affect SEO rankings?

SocialSpark is about matching those with content and distribution needs (advertisers) with content creators (bloggers). Sponsored content is intended to be relevant to both users and advertisers. SocialSpark is not an SEO play and we have instituted a policy where we require “no-follow” tags on any paid link. It’s up to each of the search engines to determine how they do that. That said, we’ve worked with the major search engines to develop a policy for SocialSpark that is “friendly” to their policies.

[amy] - Even Matt Cutts references SocialSpark on his blog! Now that is when you know you are a success!!

At the very end of the interview, I took the opportunity to send some props toward SocialSpark. As opposed to some services where paid posts pass PageRank, SocialSpark posts require nofollow so that any paid links don’t pass PageRank. If paid posts respect that requirement from SocialSpark, they’d be within our webmaster guidelines. I’ve noticed once or twice where an advertiser tried to get an extra nofollow’ed link in a SocialSpark post, but when I’ve mentioned those 1-2 examples, IZEA has taken action to correct that. So we’ll continue to keep an eye on things, but I wanted to mention the progress that I saw in SocialSpark.

How do most of your users find out about the service?

We’ve had most of our users find us through referrals. Also, like the rest of our advertisers, we run our own campaigns through Social Spark to create sponsorship opportunities to help get the word out. There are literally thousands of bloggers writing about SocialSpark, so that drives a lot of our traffic. It’s also great to have a chance to speak with industry leaders like yourself.

The SocialSpark mascot reminds us a little of a Treasure Troll doll, with its head on fire. Was this inspired by a childhood trauma or are we reading too much into it?
That’s funny.

If WordPress and Blogger got into a fistfight, who would win?

Blogger in a brawl, WordPress in a cage fight.

Admit it…you watch reality TV (everyone does). Which show is your must see?

Besides Rockstartup, I got a kick out of Bobby G: Adventure Capitalist.

What are three things you do when no one’s looking?

Check email, voicemail, and texts.

[amy] Wow.. I do ALL those things WHEN people are looking ;)

What’s the most exciting road trip you’ve ever been on?

Across the U.S. while a student.

Mac or Windows?

Mac (recent convert)

If you could be a contestant on any game show, which one would it be and why?

Price is Right. Haven’t seen the new show yet, but Drew Carey cracks me up.

If the internet suddenly disappeared, what would you do?
Write more letters.

Thanks David! It was uber cool to find out more about SocialSpark. We can’t wait to see the next innovation IZEA comes up with!

(Gawkwire.com) – ReliaCloud, a national cloud computing infrastructure company, has launched a full channel program centered on their enterprise-class infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) cloud computing offering.

The five year growth outlook for IT cloud services revenue from 2009 to 2013 remains strong, with an annual growth rate of 26% - over six times the rate of traditional IT offerings (IDC, September 2009). 

Enterprise and small business IT spending is moving more and more to the cloud due to its easier set up, scalability, flexibility, built-in maintenance and support, and reduced costs for hardware and software maintenance.

ReliaCloud will make the reseller process as easy as possible, by providing a suite of tools that supports their resale process.  ReliaCloud has developed a series of programs that maximize the use of their Cloud Storage and Cloud Servers for each of their customer profiles. 

Value Added Resellers (VARs) have the ability to bundle ReliaCloud with their existing technical offerings to deliver a combined solution.  ReliaCloud partners receive best in class sales and marketing support including marketing collateral, video tutorials and cooperative marketing funds.

While there are similar programs in the market today, the major point of differentiation for ReliaCloud is the customer service aspect.  Many partners have suggested that some of the more well know cloud providers don't demonstrate that they understand the support needs of SMB partners.   ReliaCloud gives each partner direct access to an assigned channel manager.

 “We are excited to launch a program that allows managed service providers the opportunity to expand their business by offering cloud services,” says Brian Stevenson, Vice President of Sales for ReliaCloud. “We expect IT consulting firms and managed service providers to be the driving force of cloud adoption.”
ReliaCloud has 15 years of experience in the data center and hosting business, with an established and diversified client base.  Its cloud services are production-ready, with low-cost bandwidth and high-level data security.

(Gawkwire.com) -  The best web designers in the industry have been announced by bestwebdesignagencies.com, the independent authority on the best web designing companies, for May 2010. Every applicant seeking to be ranked to analyzed by an independent research team in order to ensure they are truly among the best.
 
Pear Logic was ranked as a top 5 web designer based upon an internally developed set of evaluation criteria used by the research team. The company's understanding of design concepts and high client satisfaction rating has earned Pear Logic this outstanding recognition.

"At Pear Logic, we use top notch talent to produce quality web designs for our clients. The very foundation of our business model is setup to ensure that our clients get an agency level product at highly competitive rates," said Brian Tsai, Managing Partner of Pear Logic, LLC (http://www.pearlogic.com). He added, "We are constantly looking to add new technologies to our services that have high value for our clients. Right now we are working on developing mobile applications and text messaging solutions to provide them with a total digital presence."

Their focus is to make web design 'simple, not simpler.' Pear Logic approaches projects this way through Google's example. The leading search engine is one of the most complex websites on the internet, and yet it is one of the simplest to use. Pear Logic's goal is to make complex design and development strategies simple for customers. They believe that simplicity and usability are the keys to gaining a following on the internet and because of this every project must be built unique to the needs of the client. In order to best do this, Pear Logic takes on the challenge of understanding every client's business to make sure the development solution meets the business goals of the client.

The hard work that goes on behind the scenes and their clients' satisfaction that has been derived out of the company's efforts has earned Pear Logic the #4 web designer ranking for May 2010. The firm has an eye constantly on the future of where web design is going, and that will help Pear Logic to remain among the best web designing companies in the industry.

bestwebdesignagencies.com (http://www.bestwebdesignagencies.com), the independent authority on the best web designing companies, was established in 2009 in order to find the best web design and development services in the industry. The independent authority assigned a specified research to review each applicant based upon an internally developed set of criteria. A new set of rankings is released each month that is updated based on the new research completed. Even more information is available on the site beyond the independent rankings including a full directory listing, news and information, and much more.

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