Ping Identity Announces PingConnect On-Demand Single Sign-on for SaaS Applications.

Ping Identity, an on-demand Single Sign-on SaaS service provider today announced the launch of PingConnect, which is an on-demand Internet SSO service for SaaS applications. At present it’s available for SalesForce CRM and Google Apps. "With PingConnect we're adding the advantages of an on-demand service to provide the benefits of Internet SSO to Salesforce and Google Apps users." said Ping Identity CEO Andre Durand.

Salesforce.com adds technology for hosting customer Web sites.

Salesforce.com recently announced an updated version of its hosted CRM applications and a new offering called Force.com Sites. The latter will allow customers to create and run their entire websites on Salesforce’s infrastructure. "Customers have been telling us that they want to run their entire business in our cloud," said Kendall Collins, senior vice president of product marketing at Salesforce.com

Azure's vapourware: Salesforce.com chief.

Salesforce.com’s Chief, Marc Benioff took a slash at Microsoft who have recently launched Azure, a SaaS operating system and called it as a “vapourware statement”. “They are doing a terrible job, it's horrible I have never seen anybody do a worse job, it's embarrassing,” said Mr Benioff, while imploring SAP to develop on his own platform.

SaaS document management lands on the Web.

DocLanding, a SaaS based document management solution for SMBs was released today which allows users to control, access and share key documents with a few mouse clicks. "DocLanding sets a new standard for document management because individuals and small businesses can now leverage the tools once only available to large organizations," said Tu Nguyen, vice president of information technology of DocLanding.

E-Mail Security Vendor MX Logic Adds Archiving to Portfolio.

Mx Logic, a SaaS based email security vendor today announced the availability of hosted email archiving solution. The service is capable of capturing and retaining all inbound, outbound and internal e-mail and attachments and is available as a package and separate service as well. “More than 31,000 businesses already trust and rely on MX Logic to filter and process their e-mail, so message archiving was a logical next step,” he explained.  “In other words, if MX Logic is already filtering inbound and outbound messages for spam and viruses, it makes perfect sense that customers would look to us for secure storage and retrieval of their messages.”

Glovia Sends Order Management into the Cloud.

Glovia International, a provider of ERP software and a subsidiary of Fujitsu Ltd today announced that it is offering its order management software as SaaS. The subscription service will be part of Salesforce.com’s cloud computing infrastructure and will be priced at $65 per user/month.

Informatica Further Expands OEM Partnerships Into Cloud Computing.

A leading independent provider of data integration software and service, Informatica Corp today announced its strategy to add more OEM partners within traditional enterprise software solutions as well as leading cloud-computing services. "We have an extensive track record of having our technology successfully embedded in traditional applications, and also of working alongside SaaS vendors 'in the cloud.' In either case, OEMs turn to us as the only neutral provider with near-universal data integration capabilities right out of the box, proven to help companies more rapidly and cost-effectively launch high-value end solutions." said Harry Gould, senior vice president, Worldwide Alliances, Informatica.

Bluewolf Launches Cloud Solution to Enable Media Companies to Manage Total Ad Sales Lifecycle.

A leader in SaaS consulting, Bluewolf today announced the availability of MediaTrak SalesPack on Salesforce.com’s Force.com’s AppExchange. MediaTrak SalesPack is a collection of various SaaS based tools that are capable of managing the advertising process from sales lead to placement to billing -- for print, broadcast, online, seminars and more. "The newspaper industry is struggling to compete in today's market," said Mike McLeland, a 20-year media industry veteran with Hearst and Gannett. “One of the challenges that the industry faces is the fact that we’ve traditionally been slow to adapt and change. The speed to market and flexibility of Bluewolf's new system will help newspapers adapt quickly and compete.”

Security Startup Bucks Conventional Wisdom, Finds Fresh Funding.

Palo Alto Networks, which creates firewall appliances to deal with web applications like Skype, instand messagning, SaaS etc., has secured an additional $ 10 million in venture funding in round its latest round of financing. This round of funding was led by JAFCO Ventures and includes investments from JAIC and Northgate Capital.

Pacific Controls Launches Energy Services on the Cloud.

According to recent news, Pacific Controls have established a unique Energy Services Global Command Control Centre at their headquarters building in Techno Park, Dubai, UAE.  "We are pleased to announce this unique service to customers around the world who requires managed energy services, enabling a 24X7X365 monitoring measurement and verification of carbon footprint of assets. This new capability will enable Pacific Controls to offer energy services resulting in reduction of energy consumption in assets up to 20%. These services are being offered at a fraction of the cost of traditional energy services currently available in the market," said Dilip Rahulan, Chairman & CEO of Pacific Controls.

InsideSales.com Unveils Lead Management Suite for Salesforce at Dreamforce '08.

The Lead Management Suite by InsideSales.com has now been integrated with the Salesforce.com CRM Platform as announced in the Dreamforce Conference 2008. "TheInsideSales.com suite is exactly what we were looking for... allowing us to dramatically increase the number of leads a single rep can effectively manage.” Mark Pardy, Market Analyst with Dun & Bradstreet, explained.

MS Releases Hosted Services Study.

Microsoft announced last week that it has released the results of a global study. The study focuses on how SMBs are using IT services to compete with larger firms. Overall, the findings show that 97 percent of Russian business have IT services compared to the 91 percent of US small businesses that use IT.

OXID eSales Goes Open Source.

The source code for OXIS eSales flagship product, OXID eShop PE4 was released to the Open Source world to create a new community edition. "Open Source entrants gained traction in the etailer market albeit withinferior solutions. We felt that by Open Sourcing the core of OXID's software we could offer the highest quality Open Source eShop available and lead the new growing market sector," explained OXID CEO Roland Fesenmayr.

Zuora Introduces Z-Force, A New Product Built on the Force.com Platform From Salesforce.com.

An on demand subscription billing and payment service, Zuora Inc., introduced its plans for Z-Force application. The application pre-integrates Z-Billing and z-Payments which will be available on Salesforce.com CRM. "Zuora is the first and only company that offers a complete subscription management platform that is 100% integrated with Salesforce CRM," said Tien Tzuo, CEO, Zuora.

CRM manager Announces Intent to Acquire Redxlerant.

A leading online on demand software consulting firm, CRM Manager has shown its interest in acquiring RedXlerant.  The latter is a provider of CRM consulting and training.  "This acquisition will enable us to expand our geographic footprint, enhance our SaaS consulting capabilities as well as add a key executive and a strong team of consultants to the CRM manager team," said Atkins, founder of CRM Manager.

Open-Xchange Closes Series B Venture Funding of $9 Million.

The Series B funding round held by Open-Exchange Inc., the provider of open source collaboration software, has been successful in securing $9 Million as announced by the company. The round was led by eCAPITAL entrepreneurial Partners AG, a Munster, Germany-based, high-growth IT (Information Technology) equity firm. Also participating are Munich-based, BayBG, and existing Munich-based investor, BayTech Venture Capital. Frank Hoelzle, managing partner at eCAPITAL, will join the Open-Xchange board of directors. Terms of the financing deal were not disclosed.