Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

ReliaCloud Releases Partner Program

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ReliaCloud, our own local (but national) cloud computing infrastructure company, has launched a full fledged channel program centered on their enterprise-class infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) cloud computing offering.

According to Reliacloud, 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).

If you’re paying attention to cloud computing at all, then you can’t help but see that 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 is focusing on making 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 and, according to 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.”

I couldn’t agree more. Isn’t aligning incentives of others to leverage what you offer the basis of building an ecosystem? Great partnering is what made Microsoft so dominant for so many years and it’s obvious that ReliaCloud understands that making it easy for providers to build a business atop, around and with them will gain significant momentum for what they’re offering, and if the growth in cloud computing continues like IDC states (and which I believe is true) then striving to build and deliver — through as many channels as possible — an infrastructure layer upon which people can build toward that growing future, the more likely it is ReliaCloud will become a significant player in the space.

During a session at the recent Cloudcamp George Reese, CTO of cloud computing firm enStratus, laid out the layers of the cloud: SaaS; PaaS and IaaS. Think of SaaS as the layer where Salesforce.com plays (i.e., application layer); PaaS as the layer where companies expose their application programming interfaces to functionality others can use (e.g., AppEngine from Google and Force.com from SalesForce); and IaaS as the layer of hardware and administrative, policy-based services, internet connectivity and stuff that allows the other two to run (IaaS is sometimes known as Hardware as a Service or HaaS).

Nothing is more important than the IaaS layer since without speed, rock solid storage and a robust platform, the other two layers can’t function. With this new partner program at ReliaCloud, they’ll have a good shot at differentiating themselves from other providers like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Rackspace due to their focus on customer service which they’re carrying over from Visi and the learning they’ve gained from their direct client interactions at ReliaCloud.

Minnov8 Gang 80: Minne-this, Minne-that

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This week’s show comes to you from Minnebar 2010 held at the headquarters of Best Buy. We talk about Thursday’s MOJO MN event, Friday’s Social Media Breakfast and Saturday’s Minnebar. Huge turnout (no final count but at least 500 were there) and big thanks to Best Buy’s Geek Squad Chief Inspector, Robert Stephens, who made this such a smashing success and, of course, to the herculean efforts of event visionaries and organizers Ben Edwards and Luke Francl.

Show Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins, Phil Wilson, and our guest Erik Blakkestad.

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 26:29 — 16.4MB)

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Best Buy Announces Movies & TV Online

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With the acceleration of online movie and TV show distribution from the likes of Netflix, Amazon, Apple along with on-demand access from cable company services, it was inevitable that Best Buy would get in to this online distribution business.

Best Buy Co. Inc today announced the availability of its new digital video service CinemaNow which will provide customers same-day instant access to new release movies and TV shows.

This month the service will be available on the CinemaNow website, but also with internet connected BluRay players. Netflix has been delivered on these devices (as well as the Roku box, internet connected HDTVs and more) but Best Buy is in a highly unique position with consumer electronic manufacturers.

Add to that their ability to explain to consumers how to use the service, Geek Squad ‘officers’ to set it all up in the home, and the potential to begin to reallocate the sheer square footage devoted to merchandising TVs and movies on DVD/BluRay discs.and you can see why this is of such strategic importance to Best Buy.

The full press release is after the jump. …  [Read More…]

Minnov8 Gang 79: The Facebookers

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The Facebook privacy controversy continues to heat up. In fact, as of May 2010, the Better Business Bureau gave Facebook a D rating, stating “We have enough concerns about this company (for example, their offer, customer complaints, advertising, etc.) that we recommend caution in doing business with it.” To bring another perspective in to the podcast, our guest this week is Tom Borgerding, CEO of Campus Media Group, an organization that assists brands with leveraging Facebook and other new media.

Show Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music by Kahuna Kawentzmann w/tune, “Late Bird” from podsafe Music Alley.
Modified image based on the James Bond 007 knockoff from the 1960s, the Matt Helm movies series starring Dean Martin.

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The Podcast

Podcast (m8-audio): Download (Duration: 1:07:49 — 41.2MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:07:49 — 41.2MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

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Links discussed during the show:

MHTA Angel Tax Credit Panel

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Join MHTA on Monday, May 24 at the ADC Auditorium for MHTA’s Angel Tax Credit Panel.

Registration:  7:30 a.m.
Program:  8:00 – 9:30 a.m.

The Angel Tax Credit Panel will feature an outstanding line-up of panelists who will discuss the recently enacted 25% tax credit for angel investors who invest in Minnesota high tech start-up companies.

  • Dan McElroy, Commissioner, MN Department of Employment and Economic Development
  • John Alexander, Chairman, Twin Cities Angels
  • Dan Mallin, Co-founder, Minnesota Cup & Managing Partner, Magnet 360 (and Co-chair of the Science & Technology Economic Development Project Task Force last fall)
  • Jay Hare, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers
  • Moderator:  Joy Lindsay, President, StarTec Investments and chair, MHTA board of directors

The cost for this event is only $25 and free for start-up companies. Start-up companies can indicate their status by selecting “start-up company” on the registration page.

This event is being co-presented by the BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota, MN Nano and the Minnesota Cup.

StarTribune: Digital books put on hold at UofMN

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Last Monday Minnov8 contributor, Liz Geil, posted about the UofMN project to have Google digitize many important volumes in the library system. The StarTribune had an article today about the initiative to enable a million University of Minnesota books to be digitally copied by Google under a plan to put the world’s libraries online. But most of the book copies are being locked in an archive, the digital equivalent of gathering dust.

No one will be able to read these digital books — at least for now — because of a five-year-old copyright lawsuit against Google. Five million books at the University of Michigan are threatened with the same fate.

Bummer. Read the entire article here.

The Social Media Revolution is Affecting All of MN

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About one year ago, Erik Qualman, the author of Socialnomics, produced a popular video highlighting the impressive facts and figures about the growing popularity of social media and now has this new one you can watch below…

…and if you are in business, any kind of organization or in education, if you can’t see how this is already affecting you (and will affect you going forward) send me an email and we’ll talk!  😉

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFZ0z5Fm-Ng&feature=player_embedded

via Crowdspring

Minnov8 Gang 78: Mobile Speed Geeking

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The Gang discusses several topics but then talks with Kelly Heikilla from MixMobi who is out at the ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit in Mountain View, CA, an event exploring the latest Mobile development trends — both the technology and the emerging business applications — in an unconference format. Kelly was just about to head to lunch and then go to the “speed geeking” event where he’d have a chance to pitch MixMobi over-n-over again to attendees (more here).

This Week’s Show Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Podsafe music by Matt Mays & El Torpedo and their song “Travellin”…from Music Alley.

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 50:55 — 29.7MB)

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Show Notes:
+ FCC Broadband (CNet has good overview here and FAQ here)
+ Toktumi and their Line2 app for iPhone
+ Kelly Heikilla brought up Burbn and Shopify
+ Graeme brought up Pedalbrain.

Google, Bing & Nat’l Experts on Internet Marketing

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GetListed.org, a company committed to helping small business owners maximize their online presence, is presenting a seminar called “Local University” on Thursday, May 13th at the Westin Edina Galleria. The event will feature representatives from Google, Bing, and respected leaders of the local search marketing field.  The goal of the seminar is to provide business owners actionable advice about how the search engines work, and a clear understanding of what they can do to improve the presence of their business on the Internet.

The event features two identical half-day sessions (8am – noon and 1pm – 5pm) and the cost is $129 but you can visit them here and if you’d like to attend, use the discount code ‘minnov8‘ and get in for only $49.

Newsbytes for Tuesday, May 4, 2010

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Newsbytes graphicNewsbytes is a collection of links to articles and posts from around the ‘net of interest to Minnov8 readers:

  • Governor Pawlenty says Minnesota needs to be more competitive. Healthy state economies will play a critical role in future job creation, but Minnesota does not rank among the nation’s top 10 “growth performers,” according to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce study rolled out Monday by Gov. Tim Pawlenty.