Business Analytics & Enterprise Software Publishing: More Firms Will Rely On Industry Software, But Cloud Computing May Hurt Profit

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) November 01, 2011

Revenue for the Business Analytics and Enterprise Software Publishing industry is expected to increase to $ 32.1 billion during the five years to 2016, according to IBISWorld, the nations largest publisher of industry research. Continued strength in corporate profit, coupled with limited opportunities for growth given the weak demand environment, will drive firms to invest in streamlining operations. This strategy aims to boost profitability, rather than expansion operations that are designed with growth in mind.

The Business Analytics and Enterprise Software Publishing industry in the United States remains strong, despite the hiccups of the 2009 recession. Revenue is expected to be $ 27.3 billion in 2011, representing an increase of 10.7% from 2010. While the annualized five-year growth rate is a more humble 5.2%, this industry has demonstrated that while it is vulnerable in economic slowdowns, it can do extremely well in improving economic conditions. In particular, the current economic climate is almost tailor-made to support this industry. Corporate profitability has risen, but consumer demand is stagnant, as individuals who are wracked with job insecurity are reticent to spend or go into debt. As a result, corporations are seeking to improve productivity rather than expand their scope. In fact, business intelligence software exists in order to improve operational effectiveness.

Nevertheless, the Business Analytics and Enterprise Software Publishing industry does face some looming threats. This industry's profitability hinges upon a price structure that is entirely divorced from production costs. While corporations are willing, so far, to support massive profit margins at enterprise software firms, excessive and prolonged profitability is unlikely. According to IBISWorld analyst, David Grimes, the threat is more likely to come from outside than within; this industry traffics in licenses for corporations to run software on their own computers. However, the growth of the cloud computing movement, best typified in this sector by Salesforce.com, threatens to chip away at this industry's profitability, says Grimes. Cloud computing offers slightly less-exorbitant pricing policies and reduced initial investments. While fears about data security and the costs of switching will likely keep existing customers where they are, new customers in the market for software solutions will increasingly look toward the cloud. Furthermore, there is a limit to the number of companies in need of enterprise software solutions; saturation may soon strike. While this industry generally charges annual subscription fees, indicating accumulative growth, that growth may slow dramatically. IBISWorld anticipates this trend will take place over the five years to 2016, with revenue set to grow at an average annual rate of 3.3% to $ 32.1 billion.

For more information, download the full report from IBISWorld on the Business Analytics and Enterprise Software Publishing industry

IBISWorld Industry Market Research Reports Contain:

About this Industry

Industry Definition

Main Activities

Similar Industries

Additional Resources

Industry at a Glance

Industry Performance

Executive Summary

Key External Drivers

Current Performance

Industry Outlook

Industry Life Cycle

Products & Markets

Supply Chain

Products & Services

Major Markets

Globalisation & Trade

Business Locations

Competitive Landscape

Market Share Concentration

Key Success Factors

Cost Structure Benchmarks

Barriers to Entry

Major Companies

Operating Conditions

Capital Intensity

Key Statistics

Industry Data

Annual Change

Key Ratios

Jargon & Glossary

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About IBISWorld Inc.

Recognized as the nations most trusted independent source of industry and market research, IBISWorld offers a comprehensive database of unique information and analysis on every US industry. With an extensive online portfolio, valued for its depth and scope, the company equips clients with the insight necessary to make better business decisions. Headquartered in Los Angeles, IBISWorld serves a range of business, professional service and government organizations through more than 10 locations worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.ibisworld.com or call 1-800-330-3772.

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Denim Group Expands Software Development, Mobile Application Security Assessments and Developer Training to Mobile Platforms

San Antonio, Texas (PRWEB) November 14, 2011

Denim Group, the leading secure software development company, today announced it has expanded its services to the mobile arena, now offering secure software development, mobile application security assessments and developer training to help make mobile devices a more trusted platform for business and e-Commerce. Mobile applications offer a unique challenge to security in that a single application involves dealing with native code, web services as well as complex application programming interfaces (APIs). In addition, mobile devices provide capabilities unavailable on the desktop or laptop. As a result, there are risks specific to mobile applications that are significantly different from web application environments, and must be dealt with appropriately.

"The importance of the mobile market is clear as not only have mobile device shipments soared beyond PCs, over eight billion mobile application downloads occurred in 2010 alone, and are predicted to increase exponentially, however, there are significant security concerns because mobile applications can be manipulated to reveal sensitive data if they are not built correctly," said John Dickson, Denim Group principal. "Denim Group is offering software development, security assessments and developer training services focused on overcoming the unique challenges of the mobile platform to address those concerns and help advance development of secure mobile applications across the industry."

Smartphones and tablet platforms have capabilities beyond that of the typical desktop because of the integration of technologies such as cameras, GPS locators, and audio recorders as well as network resource access, allowing organizations to build innovative applications that deliver unique service solutions to both customers and employees. However, these capabilities create additional security risks because as sensitive data and operations move from servers to mobile devices, there is a greater opportunity for data breaches and the exposure of other security vulnerabilities.

The issues enterprises must address when deploying custom mobile applications include protecting sensitive corporate data on devices that are prone to loss or theft. Even encrypted data on devices may be at risk because of application key handling and data storage issues. In addition, the open networks mobile devices use to communicate are often unencrypted, making that data subject to capture as well. Relying on the security of the mobile device to protect the server-side assets is a mistake many application developers make. However, network services deployed to support mobile applications without server-side protections such as authentication and authorization present attractive targets for exploitation by malicious attackers. Finally, mobile applications can be reverse engineered to reveal private client information or corporate credentials on those devices, forcing the application to unintentionally expose sensitive corporate information.

Denim Groups new services are intended to help organizations building and deploying mobile applications for their customers and employees to proactively address these associated risks. Practices such as integrating threat modeling into the software development lifecycle can help to identify potential issues during the design stage of application development and minimize costly post-deployment remediation. Security testing for mobile applications and their server-side infrastructure is also an important check to ensure security efforts during the applications design and development were successful.

In an additional announcement today (see Denim Group Launches Industrys First Secure Mobile Software Development e-Learning Courses through ThreadStrong), Denim Group also announced the industrys first e-Learning courses designed to teach developers how to secure mobile applications. Taught through its ThreadStrong Learning Management System (LMS) - compatible program, Denim Groups training can be particularly valuable for mobile application developers who may not be versed in secure design and development practices and may also be creating applications for unfamiliar platforms with unknown security characteristics. The Overview of Mobile Application Security class familiarizes new students with the challenges specific to the mobile platform. Supplementing the introduction are two initial classes focused on Authentication and Authorization for the Android OS and the iPhone OS platforms. Denim Group will be adding additional in-depth secure mobile training classes in the next few months.

In addition to e-Learning for mobile, ThreadStrong offers a variety of secure application

programming courses that cover topics such as Secure Coding for Java and .NET applications, Threat Modeling, Software Security Remediation Basics as well as a publicly free class explaining Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF). Denim Group also offers public classes and instructor-led training, as well as in-house mentorship services.

Denim Groups services are based on its experience assessing and building mobile applications for a variety of industries and its methodology uses emerging industry standards such as those defined by the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP). These capture the major classes of vulnerabilities and weaknesses that might exist in systems incorporating mobile applications. In fact, Dan Cornell, leading technologist for Denim Group, is spearheading the platform-specific guidance section for OWASP which will produce detailed information on how to handle the security issues for specific mobile platforms. Additionally, Denim Group examines security risks and usability weaknesses that are common in a mobile computing environment, including, but not limited to the systems application permissions model, encryption APIs and hardware-supported encryption capabilities as well as the security of network communications and data transmissions to name a few.

Denim Group has identified the likely threat agents and vulnerable components associated with specific application classes to produce a holistic structured view that enumerates possible areas of weakness. Every application is built or assessed with a dataflow diagram, a list of identified threats, detailed countermeasures for these threats, and any areas where additional security measures should be considered kept in mind. Automated source code scanning and manual source code review are used to ensure the security state of the mobile application as well as its associated services. Additionally, Denim Group performs manual security testing of the web services supporting an application. This testing simulates the activities of an attacker who would bypass the mobile application client to attack web services directly as well as attackers who could gain access to user devices in order to try and recover sensitive data stored on the device.

Denim Groups services are designed to ensure the additional layers of security and access control needed are built into the mobile applications developed for leading mobile device smartphone and tablets including the Android, Blackberry, the Apple iOS and Windows Phone 7 operating systems. While increasing confidence in mobile business, banking, e-Commerce and data access is critical, enabling a seamless mobile application user experience is just as important to ensure corporate resources are protected from unauthorized access without any usability impact to the end user. Denim Groups suite of services enable organizations to address security concerns for mobile applications in a proactive manner to reap the benefits of creating new and innovative applications without exposing the companys assets to undue risk.

About Denim Group

Denim Group is the leading secure software development firm. The company builds custom large-scale software development projects across multiple platforms, language

Boyne Resorts Selects POS Software From Industry Pioneer Squirrel Systems

Vancouver, BC (PRWEB) November 14, 2011

Squirrel Systems today announced that Boyne Resorts, the largest family-owned resort network in North America, has selected Squirrel Professional POS software for its food and beverage operations at four Michigan and Montana resorts, namely Boyne Highlands Resort, Boyne Mountain Resort, The Inn at Bay Harbor - A Renaissance Golf Resort, and Big Sky Resort.

In addition to meeting all of the requested functional requirements, Squirrel Professional proved to be a cost-effective point of sale solution. Ryan D. Kneeshaw, Business Technology Analyst at Boyne Resorts, elaborated, "Squirrels feature-rich software is built on a robust Microsoft SQL technology platform that allows us to use our existing terminals and printers. As a result, our original POS hardware investment has been protected."

Demonstrating the softwares scalability and flexibility, Squirrel Professional will be installed in 36 outlets representing a variety of concepts, from fine and casual dining restaurants to bars and quick service cafes. Outlets within each resort will be networked, allowing consolidated sales reports to be easily generated from the Squirrel Professional POS data.

Strong mobile support was another consideration for selecting Squirrel Systems. With Squirrel Mobility, Boyne Resorts will have the ability to seamlessly operate Squirrel Professional software on devices such as the Apple iPad and iPhone. Mr. Kneeshaw said, "Squirrel Mobility looks like a great mobile POS solution for providing further revenue opportunities at poolside and from our golf course beverage carts."

According to Mike Devine, Vice President of Marketing and Channel Sales at Squirrel Systems, "Our proven technology and talented implementations and support team will help Boyne Resorts make an easy transition from their current POS software to Squirrel Professional." Mr. Devine continued, "Weve been a point of sale pioneer since 1984 with headquarters located in close proximity to one of the worlds best ski resorts, where we have many satisfied Squirrel customers. This combined experience in food and beverage and resort operations will ensure the successful implementation and support of Squirrels hospitality management solutions at Boynes various properties."

About Boyne Resorts

Boyne Resorts is the largest family owned four-season resort company in North America; founded by Everett Kircher in 1947. A Michigan-based corporation, Boyne Resorts owns and/or operates award-winning mountain and golf resorts and attractions throughout the United States and Canada including Cypress Mountain near Vancouver, British Columbia, official freestyle skiing and snowboard venue of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, Sugarloaf and Sunday River Resort in Maine, Boyne Mountain, Boyne Highlands, The Inn at Bay Harbor - A Renaissance Golf Resort and Avalanche Bay Indoor Waterpark in Michigan, Big Sky Resort in Montana, Loon Mountain in New Hampshire, Gatlinburg Sky Lift in Tennessee, Brighton in Utah, Crystal Mountain and The Summit at Snoqualmie in Washington. For more information on Boyne Resorts, please visit http://www.boyneresorts.com.

About Squirrel Systems

Squirrel Systems, the point of sale pioneer, is proud to be celebrating 27 years as a technology provider to the global hospitality industry. In 1984, Squirrel revolutionized the industry with the first touchscreen restaurant POS system. Over the years, Squirrel introduced advancements such as integrated credit card authorization through the POS and native Microsoft SQL Server databases for real time data access. This spirit of innovation and success continues today with award-winning and customer-focused products like Squirrel Professional, Squirrel in a Box, Squirrel in a Box for Hotels, and Squirrel Mobility, as well as unparalleled support programs such as Squirrel EasyCare, Squirrel SmartWatch, and Squirrel DataStore. Squirrel Systems is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and offers solutions that meet the highest level of Payment Card Industry validation, PA DSS. For more information, visit squirrelsystems.com.

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Valhalla Partners Leads Investment in BlueStripe Software

Vienna, VA (PRWEB) April 22, 2009

Valhalla Partners (http://www.valhallapartners.com) today announced that it is leading an $ 8M Series B investment in Research Triangle Park (RTP)-based BlueStripe Software, the industry's first provider of Application Service Management (ASM) solutions for the dynamic data center. BlueStripe's existing investor, Trinity Ventures, is joining the round.

"The need to manage applications on virtualized servers has only just begun," said Gene Riechers, a general partner at Valhalla Partners and now a member of BlueStripe's board of directors. "Cost containment is the number one priority for companies in an economic downturn and virtualization is an extremely powerful cost-containment technology. However, you can't realize this return if you can't manage your mission-critical applications across both physical and virtualized infrastructures. Led by an impressive team of industry veterans, BlueStripe Software is providing the visibility required for understanding these interdependencies between applications and its underlying dynamic IT infrastructure. We believe BlueStripe's products will change the way companies manage their business-critical applications, regardless of IT platform or environment."

"In this economy, it's critical for entrepreneurs to find venture capitalists who are accessible and knowledgeable about guiding a company through its life cycles," said BlueStripe CEO Chris Neal. "With Valhalla's deep background in data-center software and its commitment to the Research Triangle Park region, we are thrilled to have Valhalla Partners join our team."

About Valhalla Partners:

Valhalla Partners is a trusted partner and advisor to technology entrepreneurs in their quest to build world-class companies. Based in Vienna, Virginia, the firm's management team has made more than 120 investments over the past twenty years and produced almost $ 1 billion of investment proceeds. Valhalla prefers investments where the mission of the company is to innovate, challenge and fundamentally change the dynamics of new and existing markets. Investments by Valhalla's team include Advertising.com, BDMetrics, CareerBuilder.com, Clarify, EnterpriseDB, Epicor, Exchange Solutions, JumpTap, LeftHand Networks, Mobius, NextLink, Nirvanix, Progress Software, Proxicom, RealOps, Register.com, Riverbed Technologies, SafeNet, SEPATON, ServiceBench, Trilogy, and webMethods. Valhalla Partners brings the full power and network of its experienced team to every investment it makes, helping companies grow faster and smarter regardless of size or maturity.

For more information, go to http://www.valhallapartners.com.

About BlueStripe Software:

BlueStripe Software is the industry's first provider of Application Service Management (ASM) solutions for dynamic data centers. BlueStripe's flagship product suite, FactFinder, improves the way companies manage their business-critical applications, regardless of application, OS, or server platform. Based in the Research Triangle Park area in Morrisville, NC, BlueStripe is led by an executive team that has built some of the industry's leading enterprise application management companies, including Wily Technology, Relicore, Computer Associates, and IBM/Tivoli.

To learn more about BlueStripe, please visit http://www.bluestripe.com.

About Trinity Ventures:

Trinity Ventures, a 22-year veteran in the venture business with more than $ 1 billion under management, partners with exceptional entrepreneurs to build great companies. Trinity Ventures focuses on early-stage technology investment opportunities with a particular emphasis on the digital media, Internet services, mobility, security and software markets. Trinity has invested in more than 100 ventures, including such leading companies as Aruba Networks (NASDAQ: ARUN), Blue Nile (NASDAQ: NILE), Crescendo Communications, Extreme Networks (NASDAQ: EXTR), Forte Software, Illustra, LoopNet (NASDAQ: LOOP), Photobucket (acquired by News Corporation: NWS), Speedera Networks (acquired by Akamai Technologies: AKAM), Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) and Sygate Technologies (acquired by Symantec: SYMC). To learn more about Trinity Ventures, visit http://www.trinityventures.com.

For more information, press only:

Dan Gordon, 703-448-1400, dan @ valhallapartners.com

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Real Software Improves App Development for Rebrand Software

Austin, TX (PRWEB) July 22, 2011

Real Software, creator of cross-platform software development tools, today announced that private label app provider Rebrand Software is developing applications using Real Studio. Rebrand Software founder Mike Gibson is using the development tool to streamline the creation of multiple consumer apps across Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems, shaving 30 percent off the development time.

Background

Mike Gibson, founder, owner, and lead programmer at Rebrand Software, was experiencing an uptick in demand for private label software, which allows other companies to purchase apps, brand them, and sell them as if they were their own. Rebrand creates a range of consumer products for Windows, Mac and Linux.

As more companies continue to expand their digital marketing programs to increase traffic with branded applications, Mike knew he needed to speed up his current processes. The Windows tool they were using Microsoft Visual Basic required tedious re-writing of code to produce Mac and Linux versions of each application. He was looking for a tool that allowed him to write code once and deploy it on Windows, Mac and Linux, along with an active coder community and more ease of coding.

The Solution

Mike studied the marketplace and determined that Real Studio had all the features he needed. Using the software, Mike and his team have been able to improve the quality of their applications with their freed-up time and can now focus more efforts on the creativity and uniqueness of their applications, resulting in 25 percent more revenue. Additionally, Mike recognized that Real Studio's debug mode is far superior to Visual Basic and it reinforces good programming techniques, making accidental issues due to sloppy code extremely rare.

Real Software has also made it possible to easily submit applications built in Real Studio to the Mac App Store. Rebrand developed Spectrum TV in 10 months and soon after launching it on the Mac App Store, the application achieved rankings as the Top 10 Most Popular and Top 10 Most Profitable in the entertainment category. Another application, Crazy Coloring Book, has also achieved significant downloads.

For its private-label business, Rebrand Software is now able to automate the process of branding products for customers. Using applications they have built with Real Studio, they can download all of their customers information and graphics, insert them into a copy of their software, compile it to Windows, Mac and Linux and build installers for all three platforms. Its estimated that Real Software has helped Rebrand Software save 30 minutes per application for this particular requirement alone.

In addition to hundreds of branded applications, Rebrand has also created the following popular apps on the Mac App Store with many more in the works.

Pearson Wins Three 2011 Software & Information Industry Association CODiE Awards

New York, NY (PRWEB) May 26, 2011

Acknowledging Pearsons continued leadership in education technology innovation, the Software & Information Industry Association recognized three of the companys online programs with prestigious 2011 CODiE Awards. Hospitality and Tourism Interactive, an experience for exploring careers in the hospitality industry; MyMathLab Algebra I and II, a homework and assessment program; and Words Their Way Online Workshop, an interactive professional development tool, were honored as the best in the industry in the celebrated technology awards competition.

Established in 1986, the CODiE Awards honor outstanding achievement across the software, digital information and education technology industries. Nominated products undergo an intensive review by subject matter experts, analysts, journalists and other respected authorities in education technology. This years 30 education CODiE winners were selected from more than 425 nominations.

Technology is transforming learning for students of all ages and abilities, said Gary June, Chief Global Marketing Officer at Pearson. We are honored to receive this recognition from our peers at the SIIA, as it reinforces our strategy of investing in and leveraging technology for learning solutions that are proven to increase student performance and workforce training. Pearsons three CODiE winners exemplify how targeted, online learning prepares students for success in college and careers, as well as supports the continued professional development of educators.

Winner of the Best Education Game or Simulation Category, Hospitality & Tourism Interactive uses activity-based learning to allow college students to gain practical experience in developing customer service, service quality and leadership skills. Set in the virtual world of Little Wolfe Island, Hospitality & Tourism Interactive features 16 properties on the island, including a fine-dining restaurant, casual dining establishment, full-service hotel, boutique hotel, tiki bar, casino, water park and ecotourism rainforest tour. Students meet characters (avatars) that share information about their jobs and give activities to complete. To watch a video about Hospitality & Tourism Interactive, click here.

Earning the CODiE Award for Best Mathematics Instructional Solution, MyMathLab Algebra I and II features e-Courses by award-winning author Elayn Martin-Gay. Pearsons groundbreaking online math program provides a wealth of learning tools and resources for students of all levels, including personalized study plans; homework, quizzes and tests with immediate feedback; a fully interactive eText; more than 1,500 videos per course; and a Student Organizer for help with note-taking and practice. MyMathLab is used by more than 3 million students and 60,000 educators at over 2,000 schools, colleges and universities. Last year alone, more than 97 million assignments were graded in MyMathLab. Colleges and universities using MyMathLab have improved student performance by up to 30 percent, while achieving cost savings of nearly 30 percent over traditional lecture courses. To watch a video about MyMathLab, click here.

Winner of Best Professional Development Solution, Words Their Way Online Workshop is Pearsons online, interactive professional development tool that provides educators the practice and guidance needed to successfully teach their students phonics, vocabulary and spelling.

The online professional development tool features videos of real-life classrooms that demonstrate this instructional approach, giving teachers the opportunity to see it in action. Words Their Way Online Workshop is a mastery course with the versatility to be completely self-paced or integrated into in-service sessions for teachers at all grade levels. This instructional approach, developed by Pearson authors Donald Bear, Marcia Invernizzi, Shane Templeton and Francine Johnston, teaches word study along a continuum of five stages: emergent, letter name-alphabetic, within word pattern, syllables and affixes, and derivational relations. Click here to watch a video of the Words Their Way Online Workshop.

About Pearson

Pearson, the worlds leading learning company, has global reach and market leading businesses in education, business and consumer publishing (NYSE: PSO).

For more information, press only:

Lisa Wolfe, L. Wolfe Communications, 773-227-1049, lwolfe(at)lwolfe(dot)com

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