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Facebook App Center Launched

May 11th, 2012

Ahead of its Initial Public Offering, Facebook has launched its App Center, which provides a platform for application developers to distribute their software and services to mobile device users. Developers will be given an opportunity to monetize their offerings, which makes App Center akin to an app store like Google’s and Apple’s own app repositories.

Facebook has launched its App Center to ensure easier access to applications designed for mobile devices.

However, the Facebook App Center will not be an app store, per se. Facebook’s Aaron Brady wrote that the platform is not meant to compete with the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Still, the Facebook App Center will be a “new, central place to find great apps like Draw Something, Pinterest, Spotify, Battle Pirates, Viddy, and Bubble Witch Saga,” Brady said.

App Center will have a gradual roll-out in the coming weeks, and developers are advised to prepare “to make sure their app is included for the launch.”

The app platform was designed to future-proof Facebook from the onset of the mobile revolution. Since an increasing number of users are accessing the Internet from mobile devices, Facebook stands to lose revenue if it doesn’t think of ways to monetize mobile apps. Facebook has highlighted this in discussions with potential investors in its pre-IPO roadshow.

If users increasingly access Facebook mobile products as a substitute for access through personal computers, and if we are unable to successfully implement monetisation strategies for our mobile users, or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our financial performance and ability to grow revenue would be negatively affected.

Apps that make use of Facebook Connect will be eligible for listing under App Center. However, it will not directly serve apps if these are available on their respective platforms. “[I]f a mobile app requires installation, they will be sent to download the app from the App Store or Google Play.”

Facebook App Center gives application developers a better chance to reach the 900 million users on Facebook, particularly those on mobile devices.

Source:http://www.techwireasia.com/2995/facebook-app-center-launched/

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Tags: App Center Launched Software

Google Buys Land to Build Three Data Centers in Asia

September 28th, 2011

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Google has acquired land in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore to build data centers in these three locations, it said Wednesday.

The data centers will be the “first Google proprietary data centers in Asia,” and will be fully owned and operated by the company, said Taj Meadows, the company’s policy communications manager for Asia Pacific.

More people are coming online every day in Asia than in any other part of the world, so locating data centers there is an important next stage of Google’s investment in the region, the company said Local data centers will help the company provide faster and more reliable access to Google’s services, it added.

There is a large surge in Internet use in Asia, particularly for consumer applications, said Jun Fwu Chin, research manager for virtualization and data center at IDC Malaysia.

A number of new data centers are coming up in the region as multinational Internet and hosting companies set up data centers to serve local customers, and also to meet governments regulations in some countries that require data to be handled locally, Chin said.

The costs of setting up data centers in Asia also tend to be lower than in the U.S., he added.

Google already has six data centers in the U.S., with one each in Finland and Belgium, according to its website.

It already has 15 offices and thousands of employees across the Asia-Pacific region.

The company has acquired 2.45 hectares of land in Jurong West, Singapore, and another 15 hectares of land in Changhua County, Taiwan, to build the data centers. It has also acquired 2.7 hectares of land in Kowloon, Hong Kong, for a data center there.

Google expects to invest over US$100 million in each of the facilities in Taiwan and Hong Kong, including the cost of land, construction and technical equipment. It did not specify the size of the investment in Singapore.

Google did not specify when construction would begin at these sites, as it is still working with its local partners and governments to finalize plans. Once construction begins, the facilities could be operational within one to two years, barring major delays, it said.

Google is however facing tough competition from local players in a number of local markets in Asia. In China, for example, it trails Baidu, the largest player, in Internet search.

In Taiwan, Yahoo and Facebook are ahead of Google as the top sites in the country, according to web traffic monitoring service Alexa. The rank is calculated using a combination of average daily visitors and page views over the past month. In Hong Kong, Yahoo and Facebook are again ahead of Google, while it leads in Singapore.

Source:http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/240728/google_buys_land_to_build_three_data_centers_in_asia.html

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Tags: Asia Center Data Google

CenterSoft’s Shift Logic Staffing Software Strengthens Call Center Profitability

July 18th, 2011

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CenterSoft, Inc., a software development company which creates innovative applications for call centers, recently announced the release of its newest call center tool – Shift Logic, an employee scheduling tool featuring skills ranking, attendance management, and payroll forecasting.

“Products like Shift Logic allow the managers to put the right agents in the right time slots to better handle their calls,” said Joe Sleeman, CEO of CenterSoft, in a release. “This skills ranking feature equates to increased profitability for the centers. Surprisingly enough a great deal of call centers still use spread sheets to schedule their employees or have purchased software that is too complex to be practical for small to mid-size centers.”

A paperless system containing tools that generate and manage staff schedules to suit both the overall business requirements and the culture of the organization, Shift Logic can be utilized by managers, planners, and HR staff – with the ability to limit which functions are accessible to each person based upon their role in the company, according to the release.

“I’ve wanted this kind of tool for 5 years now” said Mark Sawyer, owner of Seacoast Marketing Group, a call center based in Maine.
Shift Logic’s target market is small- to mid-sized call centers with 25 to 300 agents.

Source:http://www.tmcnet.com/channels/call-center-software/articles/197837-centersofts-shift-logic-staffing-software-strengthens-call-center.htm