-International Data Corporation (IDC) is inviting independent software vendors to participate in its annual “Innovative Companies to Watch” survey for the applications and business analytics markets. This research highlights software vendors who exemplify innovative solutions around emerging software trends that in turn clearly demonstrate an improved return on investment (ROI) for their clients.

“Senior IDC software analysts have determined a set of key trends shaping the applications and business analytics markets and we are now asking vendors in those areas to share with us the ways in which they are capitalizing on these developments,” stated Henry Morris, senior vice president, Software and Services Research at IDC. “This is an opportunity for IDC to highlight companies that are finding new and inventive ways to adjust their business models based on economic challenges and shifts in buying patterns.”

Companies participating in the 2011 IDC Innovative Companies to Watch survey must have less than $100M in revenue for the trailing 12 month period and may not submit a product for consideration that has previously won an IDC Innovative Company to Watch award. Additionally, survey participants will also be asked to supply a customer case study from an implementation completed in 2010. Those selected as “Innovative Companies to Watch” will be highlighted in forthcoming IDC research documents.

The survey will be open from June 22 to July 30, 2011

Source:http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110623005094/en/IDC-Invites-Software-Vendors-Participate-Annual-Innovative

TamoSoft(R), a leading provider of network analysis software, announced today its release of a new product for Wi-Fi data visualization, TamoGraph(TM) Site Survey.

The new product is a powerful and user-friendly Windows 7/Vista/XP application for conducting 802.11 a/b/g/n site surveys. Deploying and maintaining a wireless network require using a professional RF site survey tool that facilitates otherwise time-consuming and highly complex tasks including ongoing analysis and reporting of signal strength, noise and interference, channel allocation, data rates, etc.
“TamoGraph Site Survey condenses 12 years of our network analysis and monitoring experience into a single application,” said Pavel Shevchouk, CEO of TamoSoft. “We’ve been providing professional wireless software tools to the industry since the advent of the first 802.11 devices and I believe that we have built great expertise in this field. We have used that expertise to create a product that gives WLAN professionals insight into complex and difficult-to-predict Wi-Fi environments, at both the pre- and post-deployment stages. Using TamoGraph enables businesses to dramatically reduce the time and costs involved in deploying and maintaining their WLAN, and to improve their networks’ performance and coverage, and all at an attractive, competitive price.”

TamoGraph’s key features include simple and fast data collection, automatic access point location, and comprehensive WLAN analysis with easy-to-understand visualizations of signal level, interference, access point coverage areas, data rates, and network issues. The application presents detailed information about every access point: channel, maximum data rate, vendor, encryption type, etc. It fully supports 802.11n, 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g networks. Detailed reports can be generated in both PDF and HTML formats.

TamoGraph Site Survey is available through http://www.tamos.com, as well as through a network of distributors and resellers. The license covers a year of free upgrades and technical support. A 30-day trial version, user manual, technical specifications, and data sheet are available for download from the TamoSoft Web site.

Source:http://pr-canada.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=256654&Itemid=59

In a survey conducted by QAI with over 3500 software professionals, over 90 per cent respondents were of the opinion that certifications are a value add to their careers.
The software certifications survey conducted by QAI, a leading global consulting and workforce development organization was aimed at understanding the value certification drives to an individual and how these certifications help them in building their careers and its additional advantages.
Speaking on the survey report release, Kishore Balaji, Head- Global Certifications, QAI Global Institute said “India is an IT superpower today and to maintain this edge its software professionals need to enhance their knowledge levels and skill set. Certifications besides training are one of the most potent ways of increasing ones knowledge base and I am glad that software professionals of today recognize this fact”. He added “This is our first such survey in the certification space and it throws up some interesting results – 92 per cent employees stated that certifications boosted their morale and they gained recognition amongst peers”.

Source:http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Software-certifications-add-value–Survey/622356/

This afternoon, the Portland Development Commission released the results of its first survey of the software community’s attitudes about the city.

Perspectives from the 271 who took the survey were generally upbeat:

65 percent of those surveyed say they either “love doing business here” or are “glad” they’re doing business here.

56 percent say they would be likely or very likely to recommend Portland to other software companies.

Two-thirds of Portland companies’ “cutting-edge researchers” are in Portland.
Only 21 percent say they have big trouble finding R&D talent locally (management talent, of course, may be a different story).

“We’ve got a fairly solid foundation right now,” surveyor Thompson Morrison tells me.

The survey is an early stage of Portland’s efforts to nurture the software community, one of four clusters the city identified last year as leading economic growth opportunities.

The results are more favorable than I’d understood when Thompson (from Portland-based i-OP) presented preliminary conclusions at a Software Association of Oregon chat last month.

I met with Thompson yesterday to discuss the results, and he said at that talk he was emphasizing two ends of the spectrum — the most favorable and least favorable — to gauge the Portland software community’s “Net Promoter Score.”

Among the 65 respondents disposed most favorably and least favorably to the city, Thompson said attitudes about Portland’s taxes, politics and education are most likely to predict whether software folks are favorably disposed to the city or not. So those will be an early focus for further research and discussion.

The PDC is convening software developers at 3 p.m. May 21 at its Old Town offices to discuss the survey’s findings and next steps. After that: Two more, refined surveys (the first in early June), and two more meetings. Then the PDC will start to develop a strategy for nurturing the community.

When I tweeted about the survey’s preliminary findings last month, I heard from a number of folks with concerns about it. Some thought their results hadn’t been registered, but Thompson said he hadn’t seen any evidence of a technical glitch, and that very few started the survey without finishing it.

Others were concerned that the survey’s multiple-choice questions offered leading or unsuitable options for responses.

“The issue I saw with the PDC survey questions was that they asked multiple choice questions which potentially had answers other than the options presented on the list, which caused me to answer questions in a false manner,” Pinpoint Logic’s Megan Hansen told me in an e-mail.

I corresponded with Megan after I talked with Thompson, so I don’t have his response to her concerns. But Thompson did say that future iterations of the survey will take into account whatever concerns people express.

Even as the PDC surveys the software community, some efforts are already under way to make a meaningful difference for small companies here. I wrote Saturday about the city’s efforts to do business with startups, including GreenPrint and Zapproved.

The PDC is simultaneously setting up a $500,000 seed fund to provide small loans for companies seeking to get off the ground.

“We needed the opportunity to really affect small and emerging businesses,” the PDC’s Gerald Baugh tells me. The goal is to provide finding to as many as 20 regional companies a year (and not necessarily just companies in Portland.)

The goal, he said, is to raise the funds by the end of the city’s fiscal year (which ends in June), with the PDC’s money supplemented by funds from private investors who might take a leading role in managing the money.

“We may have to take a bit more of a hands-off approach,” he said.

Source:http://blog.oregonlive.com/siliconforest/2010/05/pdc_survey_suggests_software_d.html

Software development firm SiS Software Factory is proud to announce the addition of several new features to its online survey and polling service SiS Survey, found online at www.sisSurvey.net. SiS Survey users can now share and publish all created online polls to any social network, including Facebook, MySpace and WordPress platforms. The ability to add surveys to social networks will be available in the coming months.

“The new features available with SiS Survey are designed to help users better share their poll results with social networks and other audiences,” says Ariel Silahian. “Individuals, businesses and other groups that want to quickly and easily share polling information on social networking sites like Facebook, iGoogle or blog platforms can use SiS Survey to disseminate that information effectively.”

Once users create an online poll or survey through SiS Survey, it can be used in any of several ways. Users can provide a direct link to the survey or embed the survey onto any Web page using Javascript. Users may also opt to add the survey or poll to any site in the form of a Flash movie. SiS Survey’s new design enables users to publish any survey or poll directly onto any social media site with just one click, providing greater ease of use than ever before.

In addition to the new features now available with SiS Survey, the company is also offering a free PRO-1 account for life. This free premium account is available for free to anyone who posts to Twitter a nice tweet about SiS Survey. After posting the tweet, interested people can contact the company for more information about the free account.

As many people have already discovered, SiS Survey is easy to use and can be customized for any business need; human resources departments can create a survey to gauge employee satisfaction, businesses can create a poll to measure customer feedback and satisfaction, and market research firms can create a custom survey to better understand customers and target markets.

Anyone can create a customized or unique poll in minutes. Eleven questions types are available to choose from, each with multiple options. Users can design the poll’s look to match a Web site and can deploy it with a single line of auto-generated script. HTML can also be utilized to include images, video and more. Users may also opt to choose from a selection of 14 available skins or can create and add their own with CSS.

SiS Survey’s advanced online reporting means that data is tracked in real time. That data can then be exported as XML or CSV. Users may also subscribe to their survey results via RSS. Once a company has reached its reply quota or once a certain date has been reached, the survey can be easily closed to prevent further replies.

SiS Survey customers can choose from any of three available account options. SiS Survey Free provides users a platform for creating unlimited polls and surveys per month. Users can create surveys of up to 10 questions each and can receive up to 100 survey responses. Customers may also opt for the SiS Survey PRO-1 account. In addition to unlimited polls and surveys, PRO-1 users receive Vote Analysis with every poll, extra reports that provide information such as an individual vote report, voter location and features that can detect and remove fraudulent multiple votes from the same IP address. PRO-1 users can also create surveys with an unlimited amount of questions and can receive up to 1,000 responses per survey. The PRO-2 option provides all of the same features as the PRO-1 package, except that PRO-2 users can receive up to 10,000 responses per survey, allowing for even greater insight into the questions posed.

Source:http://pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=379684&Itemid=32