CenturyLink Acquring AppFog To Move Into Platform-As-A-Service Market
According to a source within the company, CenturyLink is acquiring AppFog, a platform-as-a-service company. Terms of the deal were not revealed. AppFog will become part of Savvis, a Century Link company that offers cloud infrastructure and hosted IT services. Savvis did not reply to requests for comment about the acquisition. AppFog Co-Founder and CEO Lucas Carlson would also not comment about the deal. AppFog is a Platform as a Service that can be integrated on-premise into a company’s data center. It is also available as a public service. The company was originally founded as PHPFog before changing its name early in 2011 after receiving $8 million in funding. In August of last year, AppFog acquired Nodester, a Node.js platform. Since last year, the company began focusing more on a private PaaS strategy. AppFog competes in a crowded market that includes Pivotal’s Cloud Foundry, Red Hat’s OpenShift, ActiveState’s Stackato and Apprenda. Heroku and Engine Yard are two of the ...
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Former WebEx President Joins RingCentral For The Office Move To The Cloud
RingCentral has hired David Berman, a former high-ranking executive from WebEx, a move that shows the market significance of a cloud-based approach to routing calls to different mobile devices similarly if they were extensions on a phone tree. RingCentral is one of those companies that fits into new world of the work place by automating the phone tree. It abstracts the PBX just as software and service providers are abstracting almost any hardware you can imagine, turning every mobile device into an extension designed in particular for today’s work. It helps remove the struggle that comes with typing in a password for a conference call while in the car or routing SMS messages to the right people. Berman brings a certain high-powered image to the company that will have to appeal to corporate IT executives who still have deep relationships with the PBX vendor crowd. But more so, it’s my bet he will use the web more than taking CEOs out for steak dinners. He does have SaaS chops to make ...
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Betting On The ‘Reinvention Of Local,' Sequoia Leads Thumbtack's $12.5M Series B
Thumbtack, a marketplace for local service providers, has raised a $12.5 million Series B led by Sequoia Capital. When co-founder and CEO Marco Zappacosta told me about the funding, he said he's excited because Sequoia is "focused on building enduring, meaningful brands," and it's "making us their bet" in the local services market. Sequoia's Bryan Schreier is joining Thumbtack's board of directors, so I asked him via email why he picked Thumbtack.
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ZenPayroll Now Gives Employers A Way To Pay Contractors That ADP Can't
ZenPayroll launched in December with $6.1 million from a group of new enterprise kingpins. Following the launch of a service for accountants in April, the Y Combinator startup today announced the capability to pay contractors through its platform. The new service automates the process of paying contractors and doing the required filings with the Internal Revenue Service. With the new capability, the software-as-a-service (SaaS) covers the entire workforce. With ZenPayroll, independent contractors can be paid through direct deposit and payments with reported at the end of the year on IRS Form 1099. Once a contractor is added, an employer can also record historical payments made outside of the software. Contractor payments are available immediately through ZenPayroll and pricing is the same for both employees and contractors — $25 per company, plus $4 per employee or contractor, per month. When a company grows past 10 employees or contractors, the rate drops to $2 for each additional person ...
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Japan's Kii Launches A Publishing Service To Help App Developers Crack The Chinese Market
Now that China has surpassed the U.S. as the world’s largest smartphone market, it’s no surprise that many developers are intrigued by the prospect of a country that may have 500 million devices in circulation by the end of next year. Because of that, plenty of companies like Yodo1, iDreamSky and Punchbox have cropped up to help advise studios on how to navigate the unique complexities of the market. In China, you need to distribute through dozens of app stores and market through different social networks. Kii Corp, which was created out of a merger three years ago between Servo Software and Synclore Corporation, is also getting into the game with its own publishing service. With that, they’ll help with all of the standard things like integrating with China’s different in-app payment systems and mobile ad networks. They’ll also integrate with China’s unique social networks like Sina Weibo and WeChat, because most players don’t access Facebook and Twitter because of the Great ...
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