Internet Ad Sales
June 30, 2010 - Here's a look at what's happening across the industry: Epsilon launches new customer data integration tools for tracking customer data across marketing channels. IDG says it expects the enterprise WLAN market to grow 23% in 2010 after a dip in 2009. Forrester Research sees the insatiable demand for mobile applications forcing retailers to rapidly ramp up their mobile strategies. A Gartner study predicts the wireless email user base to top 1 billion by the end of 2014. Cisco has a neato little Android-based business pad gadget. Knowledge Networks says a sizable percentage of smartphone users use their smartphones when making shopping decisions. Collective and AppNexus are teaming up on real-time advertising for brand advertisers. MediaMind and ComScore have released a study examining the effectiveness of online marketing in the entertainment vertical. Short summary: pretty effective. SDL and SapientNitro are partnering on a new multichannel communications and marketing platform with an initial focus on iPhone and other smartphones. Jivox announced earlier this month that they've achieved VPAID and VAST compliance through the IAB. We may have mentioned this in an earlier post, in which case we apologize. A Lotame study says high CTR isn't the best approach for branding campaigns. Undertone Networks adds a Google veteran to its product team. Open Text says G-20 leaders used secure social networking for summit collaboration. Deloitte sees a dip in consumer spending in May ? uh-oh. Lithium Technologies says it has launched a community app for Facebook. A fairly random Burst Media study says, essentially, people like to use their gadgets. Finally, Network Solutions has released an SEO for ecommerce product. Thus endeth today's online media and marketing briefing from Internet Ad Sales.
June 29, 2010 - Here's a look at what's happening across the industry: The CEA (Consumer Electronics Association) is tickled pink about President Obama's plan to broaden the wireless broadband spectrum in the US. So is Verizon Wireless, rather understandably. EyeWonder has a nifty new creative optimization tool for advertisers and an updated cloud-based ad platform. Apple sells a rather remarkable 1.7 million iPhone 4 models in the first three days after launch. IBM is using predictive analytics and social media to gain market insight on television programs. Email and social media marketer StrongMail has launched its campaign management application Social Studio in the UK. Mobile ad network Greystripe has updated its iPhone SDK for compatibility with iOS4. InsightExpress hires Cary Nadel as Senior Director in Custom Marketing Research. MetaCafe releases a study on online video consumption showing, surprise, growth in online video consumption. Yahoo! Has published a web content creation style guide, for some obscure reason. Online display advertising bidding platform provider DataXu has announced a new audience optimization product. Acxiom Corporation has partnered with Return Path on email marketing. Finally, Ixquick is understandably upset about an EU directive requiring search engines to store user data. That's about it for today. More insights on the internet advertising spectrum tomorrow.
June 28, 2010 - Here's a look at what's happening across the industry: Rocket Fuel Inc. has added some analytics and computer science muscle to its staff. Video ad provider Extreme Reach says it has secured $9 million in financing. Accertify says it has signed an agreement with The Carphone Warehouse for fraud prevention. Local.com has taken on Eileen Licitra as vice president, product management. Yodle picks up a Stevie Award in the category of Fastest Growing Company -- Under 2,500 Employees in The 2010 American Business Awards. Purple@Epsilon picks up five NEDMA awards. Email marketing provider ExactTarget finds consumers prefer email over Facebook and Twitter for ongoing marketing information. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has released new quality assurance guidelines for internet advertising. mBlox has picked up two 2010 mobile messaging awards. Opera has some tips on reducing data roaming charges by using ? you guessed it ? the Opera Mini browser in your smartphone. Intel announces a debut of the Creators Project in New York. IDG sees dramatic growth in public IT cloud services. While we're on the subject, Red Hat has released some new cloud computing offerings and a new JBoss Enterprise Portal Platform. Cisco is helping Abu Dhabi ramp up its internet infrastructure. FIFA says World Cup football mania is gobbling up an hour a day of Europeans' online time. Litmus reports most marketing emails are deleted within two seconds after opening. Sounds a little slow to me. The Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival announces this year's winners. AudienceScience announces a quality data guarantee and audience validation reports. AutoTrader.com has launched an online marketing handbook for new and used vehicle dealers. Webtrends says it has launched a digital marketing incubator program. TradeDoubler Poland wins top ranking among local affiliate networks in Poland. LucidMedia is partnering with AlmondNet, BlueKai, and eXelate on online advertising data. ADTECH finds steep drops for Europeans website traffic due to World Cup football fervor. ComScore has a bunch of interesting reports: iPhone penetration in Europe low, but impact high; Top 20 Web Properties in Israel; May 2010 U.S. Online Video Rankings; and a boost for mobile navigation in the US due to increasing smartphone usage. That wraps it up for today's industry wrapup.
June 23, 2010 - Here's a look at what's happening in the online marketing, search engine, ecommerce and mobile advertising industries for June 23, 2010: 90octane will present on social media integration and lead generation optimization at the upcoming Online Marketing Summit in Denver Opera Software says it has signed an agreement with Russian mobile operator MegaFon for unlimited mobile Internet connectivity. Apple brags it has sold 3 million iPads in 80 days. Not too shabby. Symantec releases its June 2010 report on spam. Football-related spam is way, way up, surprise surprise. Red Hat announces a new customer portal for Red Hat subscribers. A new study predicts federal technology and IT spending will grow to $112 billion by 2015. Direct digital marketing company Knotice says it's picked up a few retailer contracts. InsightExpress says it has partnered with Meteor Solutions on brand advertising analytics. MediaMind (formerly Eyeblaster) has appointed Jim Warner to its board of directors. iCrossing picks up two ?Best Web Site" Stevie Awards at the 2010 American Business Awards. Online display and video advertising platform brand.net says it's expanding westward. Online video ad firm Tremor Media has hired Matthew Corbin as Vice President, Global Platform Solutions. Record revenue for Q2 2010, Adobe happily reports. Zeta Interactive announces a slew of upcoming speaking engagements. Image Space Media announced earlier this month the launch of AdStart, a self-service in-image ad creation tool for advertisers. Clickable announced American Express has launched a search engine marketing manager using Clickable technology. ShopVisible announced the launch of a new mobile ecommerce platform, ShopVisible Mobile. That's about it for today! Check back tomorrow for another online advertising industry roundup from Internet Ad Sales.
June 22, 2010 - Here's a look at what's happening in the online marketing, search engine, ecommerce and mobile advertising industries for June 22, 2010: Vik Chaudhary, a VP for Keynote, will be delivering a keynote of his own on end-user experience at the 2010 O'Reilly Velocity Web Performance and Operations Conference. Internet ad network Adknowledge says it has acquired CPA affiliate network Hydra Group. Omniture announces its SiteCatalyst analytics solution has been selected by Ticketmaster. Open source software provider Red Hat has launched the Red Hat Partner Center, ?an online community and resource center for Red Hat Business Partners?. Cisco takes a look at what may be holding broadband development back in Africa. Gartner sees a dramatic expansion in the worldwide market for cloud services. GoAdv CEO Salvatore Esposito comments on Google's ?inadequate content? patent, and what the implications may be for the long tail. justAd.TV announces new interactive ad technologies allowing internet ads to run on IPTV boxes. Email marketing provider GetResponse releases a study finding improved email marketing CTR with social sharing options. Pew looks at the importance of states' efforts in improving broadband expansion in the US. Video advertising network BrightRoll has released a new reporting suite which improves advertiser assessment of ROI in online video campaigns. Sitecore has a new email campaign management product, Sitecore Email Campaign Manager. PPC ad network AdSide makes it to the AlwaysOn East Top 100 (AOE100) list. Goodmail Systems finds consumers seem to like email marketing when it includes embedded streaming video. Contextual advertising player Kontera is expanding in the UK. Lotame is teaming up with OpenAmplify on sentiment analysis. Zedo comments on the pros and cons of real-time bidding. Adobe opens registration for MAX 2010 and announces new mobile Flash player, Flash Player 10.1. AdReady wins kudos from Seattle Business Magazine as one of Washington's best 100 companies to work for. Online video platform Brightcove announces a solution for delivering video to Android devices. Hitwise finds a 72% search share for Google in May, 2010. A new Zeta Interactive survey looks into the benefits and challenges of cross-channel integration in digital marketing. Mediabrands and AOL are teaming up on digital retail advertising. A survey by The National Retail Foundation finds Internet and email access are important to consumers shopping for new cell phones. Ad serving provider ADTECH announces online advertising support for Apple's iPad. Adventive, Inc. has launched a new self-serve rich media ad building solution. Network Solutions announces the start of the Landrush domain registration period for the new .CO ccTLD. Video ad company YuMe announces brand security solutions for online video advertising campaigns. Social commerce app provider Bazaarvoice has introduced a new social marketing product suite. Solbright has been named a finalist for ?Best Ad Technology Platform? at the Association of Online Publishers (AOP) Digital Publishing Awards 2010. Crystal Semantics says it will begin licensing its semantic advertising technology to ad agencies, publishers and ad networks. Maxifier, the 24/7 Real Media Open Ad Stream Optimization Module, won the Ad Technology Platform award at the AOP's Digital Publishing Awards. That's all for today. Tune in tomorrow for more updates from around the industry.
June 21, 2010 - Here's a look at what's happening in the online marketing, search engine, ecommerce and mobile advertising industries for June 21, 2010: ICANN has launched a searchable wiki to help the public keep track of its various resolutions. IDG sees an upcoming acceleration in market growth for mobile broadband. Gartner expects the number of mobile payment users to skyrocket to nearly 110 million during 2010, a big jump from 2009's 70-odd million. Travel site Expedia is hiring in a big way at its Las Vegas office. Foresight Research looks into usage of the Internet and social media in automotive marketing. While we're on the subject, ForeSee Results has added a social media metric to its analytics offerings. Microsoft is teaming with the National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance on online fraud and account compromise prevention. The Online Publishers Association releases new research on consumer perception in various online environments and its related impact on online marketing success. Commission Junction says it's chosen a lot more often than other affiliate marketing providers. iCrossing says it has won a major search engine marketing account for online fashion outfit ASOS. Mediapost reports that Google may be planning some sort of paid content system for primarily news publishers. Venturebeat reports big gains for Android, slumping results for Apple in mobile ad impressions. Reuters finds Facebook revenue approaching $800 million in 2009. Microsoft is suing a spammer for circumventing spam filters by creating thousands of phony email accounts and shifting spam into inboxes. Finally, Eweek says Google is improving its Google Commerce Search product offering. Tune in tomorrow for more updates from around the world of internet marketing, ecommerce and internet technologies.
June 18, 2010 -- News briefs from across the industry: The Washington Post takes a look at a new and irritating variety of phishing scam. Mobile marketing provider iLoop Mobile says its marketing platform has been selected by Mobile Fusion. IAB lobbyists have been harrying Congress about the importance of Internet advertising. Marco Lopes has been appointed Managing Director for Latin America by the Mobile Marketing Association. PayPal is offering a bunch of cash prizes through its PayPal X Developer Challenge. Opera is out with a new beta version, 10.60 beta, that is claimed to be a good deal faster with certain JavaScript operations. IBM is releasing beta business collaboration software designed to work with Google Android. ICANN held a cryptography ceremony, of all things, to celebrate DNS root zone security. Arcane, as they themselves describe it. Oracle has a new analytics solution, Primavera P6 Analytics. They've also released NetBeans IDE 6.9 with expanded JavaFX 1.3 and OSGi support. Too many pre-orders for the Apple iPhone 4 seem to have wreaked havoc with Apple's fragile ordering systems. Oh, dear. IDC sees increasingly rapid growth in the US mobile broadband market as well as solid mainstream notebook sales. Cisco is working to improve connectivity in Vietnam and the Philippines and has launched a Smart+Connected Communities institute. They've also signed a MoU with Tencent, the top Internet services provider in China. Forrester Research expects tablets to beat notebook sales by 2012 ? that's pretty soon. The American Legislative Exchange Council is rather concerned about the FCC's plans for Internet regulation. So is something called the Alliance for Digital Equality. Pew will shortly release a report detailing state-by-state usage of stimulus funds to improve broadband. An Ernst & Young survey finds a lot of optimism within media and entertainment companies for the revenue potential of the Internet and mobile devices.
June 17, 2010 -- Here's a look at what's happening in the online advertising, video advertising and web publishing industries: Peer39 announced earlier this month that the semantic advertising company will be partnering with yield optimization platform AdMeld. AdSafe Media released a quarterly analysis of the online display advertising industry early this month, with a focus on geotargeting accuracy, brand safety, ad serving and inventory transparency. Brightcove has released a whitepaper looking into the role of ecommerce in online video. IBM snaps up web analytics software company Coremetrics. A Deloitte Forensic Center study shows major e-discovery in social media forums concerns for companies. Portuguese soccer star (and current underperformer) Cristiano Ronaldo dominated US World Cup Internet searches earlier this month, according to Experian Hitwise. Icrossing announces a ?new book about personal online reputation management?. Sounds like a tricky task. Interpret LLC finds Hulu needs a subscription model in addition to its current ad-supported model if it's going to succeed. Quantcast says its ?Quantified Publisher program? has been officially certified by the Media Rating Council. RichRelevance is teaming up with CREATETHE GROUP to create ?personalized online experiences? for online retailers. A Netcraft survey puts VeriSign at the top of the global SSL marketplace with a 44.4% market share. Vizu Corporation announces a new KPMG report on challenges and opportunities within online advertising. Truveo has launched a new video browse/search app for Facebook. Email marketing platform Silverpop offers insights on how companies in the US, Australia and the UK can improve the effectiveness of their annoying email marketing campaigns. Joost announces it has been chosen to handle pre-roll video advertising and video advertising for the Demand Media network of sites, which include eHow.com, cracked.com and mania.com. Video advertising outfit TidalTV has partnered with Adap.tv, joining the Adap.tv video marketplace. comScore has released its May 2010 US search engine rankings, its ranking of the top 50 US internet properties, and calculated that the New York Times is the top online newspaper. Whee! And that about wraps it up for today's industry overview. Check back tomorrow for more choice tidbits from the world of online advertising and web publishing!
June 16, 2010 -- Here's a summary of the latest industry news for Wednesday, June 16: BlueKai and Bizo are partnering on business demographics; the partnership will theoretically improve BlueKai's data auction targeting. Here's the announcement: Bizo and BlueKai Partner to Deliver High-Performance Business Data Through the BlueKai Exchange Online gaming outfit Orbis is rebranding as OpenBet Ltd, for various reasons. Link: Orbis Unveils its New Brand Identity Demand Media says it has chosen Netezza for data warehousing, analytics, behavioral analysis and whatnot to help improve its ad targeting. Link: DEMAND MEDIA SELECTS NETEZZA ANALYTIC APPLIANCE Nielsen has posted its 2015 retail forecast, taking the long view. The forecast includes some general predictions for ecommerce. Here: Nielsen Unveils Retail 2015 Forecast Ad company Pulse 360 brags that it's a finalist in the 2010 Red Herrings. Here's the announcement: Pulse 360 finalist for the 2010 Red Herring 100 North America Award ReachLocal says it's expanding into several new international markets and announces a beta 3-city launch of CRM offering Bizzy. More here: ReachLocal Announces Three-City Beta Launch of Bizzy CMS outfit Sitecore picked up a content management award at CeBIT Australia. Here's the announcement: Sitecore Takes Home Excellence in New Media Award at CeBIT Australia 2010 Tremor Media and Innovid are partnering on pre-roll video advertising. The joint offering, called vChoice iRoll, will roll out on 1500 or so sites in the Tremor Media network. More here: Partnership Makes Tremor Media the Premiere Online Video Advertising Network to Offer Innovid Technology to Advertisers with vChoice iRoll A couple weeks back, Clearspring Technologies announced a handy open sharing protocol called Oexchange. Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn are also involved. Sounds useful, particularly for the social media environment. More here: Google, Microsoft and LinkedIn Join Clearspring to Define Open Web Content Sharing Online ad network Tribal Fusion announced early this month that they've opened a new sales office in Spain. Spain is a top 5 European display ad market with heavy broadband penetration. More: Tribal Fusion Opens New Sales Office in Spain ContextWeb, operator of the ADSDAQ Ad Exchange, has announced a bunch of new interoperability initiatives for ad networks and publishers. Here they are: PubVantage And The PerformancePrice Create New Paradigm For Transparently Connecting Publishers With Ad Networks Glam Media has launched a new branded display ad serving platform, in partnership with AdMeld, Bluekai, comScore, Dynamic Logic, Eyeblaster, Pictela, Pointroll, Quantcast and SymphonyIRI Group. Announcement: Mobile advertising provider Jumptap says it's adding video to its mobile advertising lineup: JUMPTAP ADDS VIDEO TO LEADING INDEPENDENT MOBILE AD NETWORK Lotame partnered earlier this month with XA.net on audience segmenting and targeting for advertisers and agencies: Lotame and XA.net Partner to Offer Audience Segments and Targeting Capabilities to Advertisers and Agencies Traffic Marketplace has expanded its tmpSocial platform through the acquisition of social media company Social Suitcase. More info here: Social Media Unit Acquires Social Suitcase; Expands Offerings to Advertisers LinkedIn says it hit 4 million UK members earlier this month. Online display ad verification provider Adometry has joined the Undertone Verification Included program, Undertone says. Here's the announcement: Adometry Joins Undertone Networks' Verification Included Program Mobile advertising technology firm Velti has announced a mobile developer program and launched various SDKs for Android, iPhone and various others. More info here: Velti?s mobile developer program Yahoo has some insights into how well or badly parents handle children's internet security. The general result seems to be ?could do better?. Here's the rundown: Yahoo! Gives Parents a B+ for Taking Action to Protect Children Online Adify finds some gains in ad pricing for Q1 2010 on a category-by-category basis, as well as a few eCPM losses. Biggest winners are real estate, health and lifestyle segments. Summary here: Adify: Five Of 11 Ad Categories Up Big In Q1
June 15, 2010 -- Here's a look at the latest trends in internet advertising, internet security, social media and mobile internet for June 15, 2010: A Ground Truth study finds that mobile internet usage peaks quite late in the day, possibly defying some expectations. Here's the study: Mobile Internet Usage Builds Throughout the Day Keynote has announced a "mobile interactive testing environment" beta program; a suite of tools to "automate testing and verification of mobile content across thousands of mobile device profiles". More info here: Keynote Announces Beta Program for MITE 2.0 (Mobile Interactive Testing Environment) Sophos has an interesting article on clickjacking on Facebook. Nasty stuff, and surprising that Facebook's technology allows this kind of thing. Here's the link: Facebook users clickjacked by the 101 Hottest Women in the World Email marketing firm Epsilon reports increasing email open rates year-to-year for Q1 2010. Here's the data: Facebook has partnered with the PTA on educating kids, parents and teachers on Internet safety. Sounds like a good idea, and about time. More info: National PTA and Facebook Announce Partnership SIGNiX and IDology have teamed up on digital signatures, identity proof, and digital signage authentication. Rundown: SIGNiX and IDology Partner to Provide Verifiable Proof of Identity, Intent and Integrity within Digital Signatures The IAB announced the judges panel for the 2010 IAB MIXX awards, scheduled for September. They've also expanded the awards categories to reflect changes in the way internet marketing is being conducted. Here's the full info: Leaders From Across Interactive Industry Assemble to Judge IAB MIXX Awards 2010 The MMA has published a whitepaper looking into the possibilities offered by oversize ad units within the mobile marketing arena. Here's the link: New MMA Whitepaper Explores Opportunities in Oversize Ad Units Skype announced its availability on Sony Ericsson and Symbian smartphones. Oh, happy day! Link: Skype now available for Sony Ericsson Symbian smartphones Apple has announced the iPhone 4. Neat new features includes video calling, a nifty high-resolution display, a better camera, and a bunch of other cool stuff. Uh-oh. I've still got another 18 months to pay off my 3GS. Here's the release: Apple Presents iPhone 4 While we're on Apple, they've also announced a new Mac mini. Sounds nice. Here's the specs: Apple Unveils All New Mac mini Digital Element takes a look at geolocation in etailing. Expectations point to a rise in 2010 sales. More info: As Consumers' Wallets Open Up, Retailers Reach Out To Shoppers on a More Personal Level Audience Science has announced the results of a "Audience Targeting State of the Industry Survey". Seems audience targeting is increasingly a cornerstone of online advertising. Here's the survey summary: http://www.audiencescience.com/press_room/press_releases/2010/20100609.asp ChaCha is expanding westward: ChaCha Makes Three Major Sales Hires On West Coast AdMeld and Peer39 are partnering on semantic targeting and yield optimization. Here's the announcement: AdMeld and Peer39 Partner to Maximize Performance Through Semantic Targeting Amazon Web Services has boosted its large-scale data transfer capabilities. More info: Amazon Web Services Announces General Availability of AWS Import/Export for Amazon S3 Pew looks at the impact of smartphones on the workplace; an increasing trend away from the desktop toward remote servers and cloud computing. Full rundown: Smartphones expected to drive most work from the desktop to 'the cloud' The UK-based Association of Online Publishers (AOP) has released the winners of its Digital Publishing Awards. Incisive Media grabbed Best Digital Publisher. Full list: AOP Digital Publishing Awards 2010 Winners Eyeblaster is rebranding as MediaMind. Shame. Eyeblaster is a much better name. Here's a link: Eyeblaster to Rebrand Officially as MediaMind Akamai offers a new study showing - surprise - that site performance is important for travel consumers. Study findings: New Study Reveals the Impact of Travel Site Performance on Consumers
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA, May 26, 2010 -- Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today announced the publication of its May 2010 MessageLabs Intelligence Report. Analysis reveals that nine out of ten spam emails now contain a URL link in the message. In May, five percent of all domains found in spam URLs belonged to genuine web sites. Of the most frequently used domain names contained in spam URLS, the top four belong to well-known web sites used for social networking, blogging, file sharing and host other forms of user-generated content. ?Domains belonging to well-known web sites tend to be recycled and used continuously compared with ?disposable? domains which are used for a short period of time and never seen again,? said MessageLabs Intelligence Senior Analyst, Paul Wood. ?Perhaps this is because there is some work involved in acquiring them: the legitimate domains require CAPTCHAs to be solved to create the large numbers of accounts that are then used by spammers.? While Rustock is the botnet that uses the greatest number of disposable domains, Storm, which has recently returned to the spamming scene, is the only botnet that uses genuine domains in greater number than disposable domains. Sixty-five percent of spam from the Storm botnet uses a legitimate domain, many of which are for URL shortening services. Disposable domains are often used quickly after being first registered; and on average, 50 percent are used within nine days, before spammers switch to newer domains. Also in May, MessageLabs Intelligence analyzed the growth of spam and botnets in some of the countries along the eastern coast of Africa, namely those which received greater broadband connectivity in July 2009. The proportion of global spam that comes from Africa overall has increased to 3 percent of global spam in May 2010 from just under two percent in April 2009, reflecting an extra 1.2 billion spam emails being sent from Africa daily compared to one year ago. While historically countries not in the eastern portion of the continent have sent the majority of spam from Africa, this output has shifted east over the past year. The proportion of spam coming from the rest of Africa has decreased from 86 percent to 80 percent while that coming from countries located in the eastern region has increased from 13 percent to 19 percent. This rise originated most notably from Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda where spam output has increased to 7.2, 6.3 and 5.7 times respectively the amount that was being sent one year ago. ?Historically, broadband adoption has been a tipping point for spammers to acquire more bots,? Wood said. ?The new undersea fiber optic cable along the east coast of Africa has enabled rapid growth in the number of users obtaining high speed connections to the internet creating a great opportunity for attackers to infect new machines and create new bots.? Finally in May, MessageLabs Intelligence intercepted a malware attack featuring the theme of the soccer World Cup competition due to begin in June 2010. Composed in Portuguese and featuring the branding of one of the event sponsors, the email was sent from an IP address in Macau, China. ?Once downloaded and activated, the malware produces files that generate pop-up messages and in the background collects information on what other machines are on the same network enabling the attacker further access to the compromised computer,? Wood said. Other report highlights: Spam: In May 2010, the global ratio of spam in email traffic from new and previously unknown bad sources was 90 percent (1 in 1.11 emails), an increase of 0.3 percentage points since April. Viruses: The global ratio of email-borne viruses in email traffic from new and previously unknown bad sources was one in 211.6 emails (0.473 percent) in May, an increase of 0.18 percentage points since April. In May 22.6 percent of email-borne malware contained links to malicious websites, a decrease of 6.3 percentage points since April. Endpoint Threats: MessageLabs Intelligence can now analyze additional threats against endpoint devices such as laptops, PCs and servers and the trends surrounding them following the launch of our new Hosted Endpoint Protection service. Malware may penetrate an organization in many ways, including drive-by attacks from compromised websites, Trojan horses and worms that spread by copying themselves to removable drives. For example, ?AutoRun? is a feature of Windows that allows an executable to be run when a removable drive is connected to a computer. The most frequently blocked malware for the last month was the Sality.AE virus, which spreads by infecting executable files and attempts to download potentially malicious files from the Internet. Phishing: In May, phishing activity was 1 in 237.1 emails (0.42 percent) an increase of 0.2 percentage points since April. When judged as a proportion of all email-borne threats such as viruses and Trojans, the proportion of phishing emails had increased by 10.3 percentage points to 80.6 percent of all email-borne malware and phishing threats combined. Web security: Analysis of web security activity shows that 12.4 percent of all web-based malware intercepted was new in May, an increase of 1.5 percentage points since April. MessageLabs Intelligence also identified an average of 1,770 new websites per day harboring malware and other potentially unwanted programs such as spyware and adware, an increase of 5.6 percent since April. Geographical Trends: * Spam levels in Hungary rose to 95.4 percent in May positioning it as the most spammed country. Vertical Trends: * In May, the most spammed industry sector with a spam rate of 95.1 percent remained the Engineering sector. The May 2010 MessageLabs Intelligence Report provides greater detail on all of the trends and figures noted above, as well as more detailed geographical and vertical trends. Symantec?s MessageLabs Intelligence is a respected source of data and analysis for messaging security issues, trends and statistics. MessageLabs Intelligence provides a range of information on global security threats based on live data feeds from our control towers around the world scanning billions of messages each week. Source: Symantec
VERNON HILLS, IL, June 1, 2010 -- CDW LLC, a leading provider of technology products and services to business, government and education, today announced the results of its IT Threat Prevention Straw Poll, based on a survey of 200 information technology (IT) security managers and decision makers at medium and large businesses across the United States. The survey investigated their impressions of IT security threats and the measures businesses are taking to prevent or mitigate them. Among all current IT threats, 37 percent of business IT security managers believe that data loss from internal threats, negligence and/or accidents (e.g., loss of devices) will be their next major security issue. In second place, 24 percent of respondents view evolved forms of current threats (e.g., breaches, viruses or worms) as their biggest threat, followed by malicious attacks or targeted intrusions (18 percent), and autonomous or untargeted robotic networks (botnets) (14 percent). "The survey confirms that IT management loses the most sleep over human error or malice," said Doug Eckrote, CDW's senior vice president, strategic solutions and services. "Yet, it is troubling to see so many organizations still struggling with preventable threats such as viruses and worms, when the stakes are so much higher from the risks that newer threats pose." Regardless of which threat worries them most, only 17 percent of participants say that nothing at all would convince their companies to invest in higher levels of threat prevention, and 18 percent say that only a significant breach of their systems would compel an escalation in security investment. However, showing optimism that their executive management understands the business risks, 39 percent of respondents believe that a specific assessment pointing out vulnerabilities in their current IT security systems would lead to an increased investment in network protection. The survey found that businesses concerned primarily about evolved forms of current, preventable threats tend to be smaller than those concerned with other threats and have less support or understanding of IT security risks among their executive management. Nearly half (41 percent) of the "evolved threats" group are businesses with less than 100 network user seats, compared to just 20 percent of those focused on other threats. Only 57 percent of the "evolved threats" group agrees that their executive management team understands the risks of IT security breaches, versus 72 percent of all other participants. "It's critical for businesses to secure themselves with the effective, readily available shields against ordinary threats, to free up time and resources for more proactive action against data loss and the rising threats of botnets and malicious, targeted attacks," CDW's Eckrote said. "IT security issues have business implications well beyond the IT network itself, as they can touch a company's customers or cost a company significant loss of business advantage," Eckrote continued. "The most important strategy is to understand exactly what assets are at stake within your own system and the value that they represent, so that you can match the protection to the value. With the typical IT department working at overload on most days, doing a comprehensive, specific assessment can be a challenge, but a good partner or ally may be able to help you over that mountain." The full IT Threat Prevention Straw Poll report also includes data related to the three threat prevention strategies that businesses are deploying ? best-of-breed, unified threat management (UTM) and single-vendor dominant architecture ? and breakdowns of the reasoning cited by companies of different sizes for choosing their strategies. Source: CDW
Taipei, Taiwan (Computex), June 1, 2010 -- SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), the global leader in flash memory cards, today introduced its latest solid state drive (SSD) products. The SanDisk® SSD G4 serves as a drop-in replacement for hard disk drives (HDD) in notebooks; while the SanDisk® SSD P4, the successor to the widely used pSSD modular drive, enables designers to offer even thinner netbook and tablet computers. SanDisk SSD G4 Flash Memory Card The new drives offer a unique balance of performance, high-capacity storage and long-term reliability. SanDisk SSD P4 and SanDisk SSD G4 offer up to 128 gigabytes (GB)1 and 256GB of storage respectively, double the capacities of the company's previous SSD offerings. The drives are available in various compact form factors, which SanDisk can customize according to manufacturers' specification, offering greater freedom and flexibility in how OEMs design their products. The SSDs use SanDisk's advanced 32-nanometer (nm) multi-level cell (MLC) process technology, which enables cost-competitive high-capacity storage with a tiny footprint. Highlights: "We designed our new SSDs with long-term consumer usage in mind," said Doron Myersdorf, senior director, SSD marketing, SanDisk. "Our drives offer faster boot times and improved system responsiveness while maintaining our uncompromising reliability standards. In addition, the drives utilize our Adaptive Flash Management (AFM) technology, which enables them to bridge the gap between demanding market requirements and increasingly challenging raw NAND flash characteristics." SanDisk SSD G4 Balances Fast Performance, Storage and Long-term Endurance ? Capacity and Performance: Ranging from 64GB to 256GB with sequential read/write speeds of up to 220 and 160MB/sec3. The drive's combination of high capacities and performance delivers the fast boot times, enhanced system responsiveness and space needed to easily handle storage-intensive data such as videos, photos, music and games. ? Endurance: SanDisk SSD G4 offers Long-term Data Endurance (LDE) of 160 terabytes written (TBW) for a 256GB drive, sufficient for over 10 years of PC usage4, well beyond a typical user's length of ownership of a computer. ? Page-based Algorithm: To accelerate performance and extend the drive's endurance, the SSD G4 uses ExtremeFFS, a page-based algorithm that significantly increases random write speeds and efficiency2. This AFM implementation for SSD G4 enables the drive's unique balance between fast performance and long-term endurance. ? Flexible Form Factors: SanDisk offers customized form factors to meet stringent OEM requirements, enabling thin and lightweight laptop designs that cannot be achieved using a standard HDD. "Enhanced user experience and long-term reliability are two qualities of SSDs that directly impact the end-user and ultimately represent what consumers care about," said Jeff Janukowicz, research manager, solid state drives, IDC. "Solid state drives like the SanDisk SSD G4 that optimize around actual usage scenarios and device endurance, as opposed to sufficing solely on device level metrics, should provide a better indication of real world performance." SanDisk SSD P4 Enables the Emerging Tablet and Handheld Computing Market ? Large Capacity, Tiny Footprint: With capacities ranging from 8GB to 128GB, the drive lets OEMs equip small devices with big storage where a bulky HDD is not an option. The drive is available in various form factors that include a new ultra-small variant of the mSATA module, mSATA mini, with dimensions of 26.80 x 30.00 x 3.4 mm. This is SanDisk's tiniest SATA module form factor. ? Performance: SanDisk AFM implementation for SanDisk SSD P4 uses nCacheTM acceleration technology, a large non-volatile write cache technology that boosts burst random write performance to shorten boot times, help prevent "stalling" and "hiccups," and increase system responsiveness. The SanDisk SSD P4 offers burst random 4KB performance of up to 600 IOPS. ? Multiple Applications: SanDisk SSD P4 is ideal for use in small devices such as netbooks, smartbooks, tablet computers and ultra-thin notebooks, in addition to POS terminals, Set Top Boxes (STBs), printers and other devices that use embedded flash. Pricing and Availability The SanDisk SSD G4 and SanDisk SSD P4 are currently being evaluated by top tier OEMs. High-volume production of the drives is expected in the Q3 2010 timeframe with product available to OEMs at that time; pricing will depend on the quantity ordered. SSD Advantage Unlike conventional HDDs, SSDs have no moving parts, improving durability which helps prevent data loss resulting from drive failure. In addition, SSD-equipped computers run cooler and more quietly, consume less power and deliver faster performance than those using HDDs. Fast Boot Demonstration at Computex Booth #N0108 Insyde Software is working with SanDisk and Microsoft Corp. to address the growing demand from consumers and PC makers to reduce boot times and operating system load times. At the SanDisk booth #N0108, Computex attendees can witness a demonstration of a notebook PC using SanDisk G3 SSD power-on to Windows Desktop in less than 15 seconds. Notes: Source: SanDisk Corporation
Sunnyvale, CA, June 1, 2010 -- NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP) today announced the availability of NetApp® StorageGRID®, a solution designed to manage petabyte-scale globally distributed repositories of images, video, and records for enterprises and service providers. StorageGRID, which is a result of NetApp's completed acquisition of Bycast Inc. on May 14, 2010, extends NetApp's leadership position in unified storage by adding an object storage offering. Object storage is a new and emerging approach to storing and accessing unstructured data that can simplify the task of large-scale object storage while improving the ability to quickly search and locate data objects globally. "StorageGRID is certainly strategic for NetApp with a solid entry in object-based, scalable, policy-based storage management," said Terri McClure, senior analyst, ESG. "It is complementary to the existing NetApp storage portfolio since it sits as an application above the storage systems and virtualizes the storage environment. The massive amounts of information that users are now, or will be in coming years, struggling to manage requires a new storage paradigm. NetApp now has the strong foundational technology it needs to continue its cloud storage infrastructure push." With more than 250 StorageGRID customers worldwide, NetApp expands its position in key markets such as healthcare, digital media, Web 2.0, and cloud services providers. NetApp StorageGRID helps deliver boundless scalability, intelligent data management, and secure content retention, as well as always-on global data availability for enterprises and service providers that need to manage petabyte-scale globally distributed repositories of data. * Boundless scalability. Customers can implement a new data management approach to help eliminate the constraints of their traditional storage and deliver a global, holistic repository. "Iron Mountain is pleased to see NetApp offering a new approach to storing, accessing, and intelligently managing files and application content," said Todd Koopersmith, vice president of Corporate Development for Iron Mountain, a provider of information management services and solutions for archiving, e-discovery, compliance and data protection. "Iron Mountain and NetApp together are delivering solutions that address the specific needs of customers in the healthcare, digital media, and cloud services markets to quickly respond to their changing business requirements and achieve greater operational efficiencies." Availability and Pricing Source: NetApp
Taipei, Taiwan (Computex), June 1, 2010 -- Marvell (Nasdaq: MRVL), a worldwide leader in integrated silicon solutions, and Hanwang, the leading eReader solution provider in China, today unveiled a new generation of eReaders aimed at higher performance, greater versatility and true mass market pricing. Featuring the Marvell® ARMADA? 166E?the first System-on-a-Chip (SoC) with an integrated e-Paper Display (EPD) controller?Hanwang's new generation of devices offers better performance, more functionality and lower price points than any eReaders on the market today. Hanwang eReader "Marvell's goal is to deliver superior eReader technology and a better consumer experience at mass market prices," said Weili Dai, Marvell's Co-founder and Vice President and General Manager of Marvell Semiconductor's Consumer and Computing Business Unit. "Marvell's complete portfolio of high performance, low power semiconductor solutions promise a new era of connected mobile devices featuring always-on, live content, new consumer experiences and services, superior battery life, and greater overall value?all of which is critical to drive global adoption in emerging markets and within new vertical applications?such as publishing." Central to this eReader platform is the ARMADA 166E, the industry's first fully-integrated EPD controller with a processor utilizing the ARM instruction set. The combination delivers best-in-class user experiences and support for the latest Android, Linux, and WinCE operating systems, allowing users to experience ultra-fast system performance and quick renderings of high-resolution PDF or ePub documents. Such performance is provided in conjunction with new features that conserve power consumption, including a unique hibernation or zero power mode that enables users to enjoy more than 8,000 pages of content with a single battery charge. Advanced features of the EPD controller include automatic partial updates, per-pixel processing, and parallel updates for smooth, enjoyable visual experiences. Hanwang is China's largest eReader maker and according to industry analysts Display Search, China is expected to become the world's largest eReader market sometime before 2015. "Marvell's differentiated solution empowers Hanwang to give consumers?in China and around the world?a new generation of eReaders with mass market appeal?better performance at a better price," says Mr. YingJian Liu, Hanwang chairman and CEO. "Marvell's leading technology aligns perfectly with Hanwang's plan to deliver affordable eReaders to a worldwide market eager for better value." The first models of Hanwang's next generation eReaders will be available from Hanwang in calendar 3Q2010. The ultra thin and portable devices will be introduced at Computex in the Hanwang booth: Nangang, N210. Source: Hanwang & Marvell Newsfeed display by CaRP |
