• CIOs bemoan lock-in and the 'false flexibility' of the Cloud

  By James Niccolai | 20 June, 2013 00:33

  Despite the promise of portability from service providers, the reality of the Cloud for big customers is a similar type of lock-in as they experience with on-premise apps vendors such as Oracle and SAP, two CIOs said Tuesday.

• Many companies are negligent about SAP security, researchers say

  By Lucian Constantin | 19 June, 2013 18:31

  SAP has significantly improved the security of its products over the past few years but many of its customers are negligent with their deployments, which exposes them to potential attacks that could cripple their businesses, according to security researchers.

• Microsoft Dynamics ERP software now available on the Azure cloud

  By Chris Kanaracus | 18 June, 2013 22:13

  Microsoft is upping the stakes in the growing market for cloud-based ERP, with its Dynamics GP 2013 and NAV 2013 products now available for deployment on its Azure service.

• Open Data Center Alliance tackles Big Data analysis

  By James Niccolai | 18 June, 2013 03:16

  The Open Data Center Alliance, a customer group that shares tips about Cloud deployments and tries to nudge vendors into supplying the products they want, has added Big Data to the list of IT topics it covers.

• SAP wins key ruling in long-running patent battle with Versata

  By Chris Kanaracus | 12 June, 2013 18:58

  SAP has received a ruling that sets a legal landmark in patent law and could also prove favorable to its defense in a long-running intellectual-property dispute with Versata.

• Big Data, Cheap Storage Bring In-Memory Analytics Into Spotlight

  By Allen Bernard | 06 December, 2012 14:05

  In-memory analytics, like virtualization and the cloud, is an old idea that's been given new life. In this case, the combination of big data, inexpensive commodity storage and parallel processing make it possible to analyze terabytes of data without slowing systems to a crawl.

• Salesforce.com's Complexity Brings CIOs, Partners Together

  By John Moore | 14 November, 2012 19:44

  As Salesforce.com's SaaS offerings become more sophisticated, configuration and deployment gets more complex. In response, enterprises are increasingly turning to partners for implementation help.

• Smacking SharePoint into shape

  By Todd R. Weiss | 29 May, 2013 11:23

  More than half of all SharePoint shops have had to add functionality to the core software, which came as a surprise to a number of them. Here's what they're doing.

• What to expect at SAP's Sapphire

  By Chris Kanaracus | 09 May, 2013 17:32

  SAP's Sapphire conference kicks off next week in Orlando, setting the stage for the company to sell customers on its visions for cloud-based applications, in-memory computing and mobility.

• SAP's first quarter: The key questions

  By Chris Kanaracus | 18 April, 2013 14:57

  SAP will announce its first-quarter 2013 earnings on Friday, a report that will get heavy scrutiny from company watchers. Here's a look at some of the more important topics that should come up during SAP executives' conference calls with press and analysts on Friday.

• Questions SAP should answer during its Q4 earnings call

  By Chris Kanaracus | 22 January, 2013 18:42

  As it has in the past, SAP spilled the beans a bit early on its fourth-quarter and year-end performance with the release of preliminary results last week. Now the vendor is about to do a full announcement along with the usual conference calls with press and analysts.

• SaaS in 2013: Companies and trends to watch

  By Chris Kanaracus | 04 January, 2013 21:28

  As 2013 begins, the SaaS (software as a service) market is set to heat up even more, as well as potentially undergo a number of key shifts. Here's a look at a series of key SaaS vendors and trends to watch as the year unfolds.

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