Cloud Security Vendor Qualys Ready for IPO

According to research firm TechNavio, the global cloud security market is projected to grow at an estimated annual rate of 41% from 2010 through 2014 to reach $963.4 million. In 2010, the cloud security market accounted for 2% of the overall IT security software market. That share is also projected to grow to 4% by the year 2014. While the market is dominated by big players such as TrendMicro, McAfee, and CA Technologies, which together account for 27%-36% of the market share, smaller players are beginning to make their presence felt.

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RingCentral Gearing Up For IPO

In a report released last year, researchers at firm Point Topic estimated that voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) technology had more than 120 million subscribers worldwide. The report estimated the industry would grow to $40 billion by 2015. VoIP technology has helped many small and medium businesses (SMBs) establish a much bigger presence in the market. Recent news suggests that RingCentral, a leading player catering to SMB demand for phone systems over the cloud, may be looking at raising their IPO.

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Trend Spotting: CarTech, Enterprise Commerce

Over the last few months, my usual trend spotting nose has spotted a couple of interesting trends:

(1) CarTech: Well, I just coined this word. Cars, it seems, want to become more tech savvy, and hence,  the penetration of IT into them is becoming substantially more crucial. Yelp, for instance, wants to be integrated into cars, and it appears that car vendors are responding eagerly.

Recommended Reading: Thought Leaders in Mobile and Social: Chris Ruff, CEO of UIEvolution | Outsourcing: Ravi Pandit, CEO of KPIT Cummins

(2) Enterprise Commerce: Enterprise SaaS vendors like Concur and Rearden Commerce are becoming significant channels for commerce. The most interesting effect of this transition is the fact that their revenue models could expand to include transaction revenues, beyond subscription revenues. Concur, for example, manages the travel expense reporting process for businesses large and small. They have detailed insights into what people’s travel preferences are, as well as into corporate policy. They can place precise offers from travel vendors consistently, and at the point of purchase. The opportunity is not lost on either Concur or on the travel vendors looking for differentiated ways of engaging with business travelers.

Recommended Reading: Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing: Steve Singh, CEO of Concur | 1M/1M Incubation Radar: Quadmo

Hope you find it useful to investigate these trends.

Middle East and Oil & Gas Help ERI

According to the World Resources Institute, demand for clean water in the emerging markets of the world is projected to grow by 50% over the next 15 years, and analysts estimate that water demand in India alone will double over the next 20 years. Demand in the developed markets is projected to grow 15% by 2027.  Another research report cites that water demand in China will grow 63% by 2030. Finally, analysts at Pike Research believe that cumulative investment in new desalination plants will reach $87.8 billion from 2010 to 2016.

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Intuit’s Performance May Point to Bright Spots in Economy

Economic indicators, such as the number of jobs this past month, may not look very promising for the U.S. right now. However, the country’s small and medium-sized businesses are performing extremely well, recording both revenue and employment growth rates. Intuit’s Small Business Employment Index improved by 0.2% for May, as small businesses added 40,000 jobs in the month. In April, retail, professional services and other services saw minor improvements in the revenue index. At least for the SMB sector, analysts are hopeful that recovery is truly on the way.

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EMR Gaining Ground; Athenahealth Growing Steadily

The healthcare IT industry has been in the news lately as various medical authorities and organizations work together to define Stage 2 requirements of the Meaningful Use initiative. Under the HITECH Act, Stage 1 under the Meaningful Use initiative began in 2011 and referred to the capability of physician providers to transfer data to electronic health records (EHRs) and share information, including electronic copies and visit summaries for patients. According to the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), 57% of office-based physicians are now using either partial or full electronic medical record (EMR) systems. >>>

Opportunities Abound for Pandora, But at a High Cost

According to the Radio Advertising Bureau, advertising dollars spent on U.S. radio increased just 1% over the year to $17.4 billion last year. Digital advertising reported the highest growth among all forms of radio advertising of 15% to $0.71 billion. Off-air advertising, also known as non-spot advertising, increased 7% to $1.5 billion and network revenues 3% to $1.1 billion. Spot advertising revenues fell 1% to $14.1 billion. Online radio player Pandora continues to expand in content and reach to capture this massive advertising market.

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With New Products, Rovio Seeks to Maintain Explosive Growth

Researchers estimate the worldwide mobile games market to be worth $2.7 billion in annual revenues this year. The market is projected to grow to $7.5 billion by 2015.  Asia is the biggest market for mobile games and is expected to account for $3.2 billion of the global market by 2015.

Angry Birds is known to be among the most popular mobile games. Earlier last month, their developer, Rovio, reported the one billionth download of the game. News reports suggest that they may now be looking at an IPO on the New York or Hong Kong stock exchanges by next year. Recently, Rovio disclosed their financial results to the public. Here is a quick look at their progress so far.

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Concur, NetSuite Look Toward Commerce

According to Gartner, global spending on software-as-a-service (SaaS) is projected to grow 18% this year to $14.5 billion. The market is projected to be worth $22.1 billion by 2015. Growth will come from emerging markets of Asia Pacific and Latin America, both of which will grow nearly 27% to $934.1 million and $419.7 million, respectively. North America is projected to grow 17% from $7.8 billion in 2011 to $9.1 billion, with Western Europe markets projected to grow 19% to $3.2 billion. Japan will see the slowest growth at 16% to $495.2 million in 2012. SaaS player Concur is gearing up to tackle these emerging markets.

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Yelp Looks to Be Integrated into Cars

Online review site Yelp.com (NYSE:YELP) recently reported their first ever quarter results as a publicly traded company. Although the company’s revenues may have grown beyond market expectations, they are coming in at significantly higher costs. The company continues to bleed and fails to deliver on a strong monetization plan.

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