by: Bob Babcock, UniDataIT.com
At Scaling New Heights later this month, Uni-Data is launching a revolutionary new Cloud technology called CloudPaging – a state-of-the art technology that provides sophisticated digital rights management and adaptive software packaging/deployment while leveraging the full benefits of the User’s native OS, peripherals, and other software titles (i.e. MS Office) with robust Cloud file-access and management, exceeding all currently deployed specs and market expectations for cloud delivery–license management, data integrity, multi-user access, device agnosticity and user experience. Uni-Data’s releasing it at a market-low price point for QuickBooks hosting, having just won a humongous Franchise account for Intuit.
What is CloudPaging? It’s a technology commercialized by Uni-Data’s partner Numecent, and it’s got a backstory that reads like The Social Network meet The Bourne Identity. You may recall that early in the days of the Administration of George Dubya, a U.S. observation aircraft (i.e. spy plane) was forced down by the Chinese Air Force, and while they gave back the pilot, they kept the plane; this necessitated, well, to describe it quickly, just the rewriting of all of the secret codes, programming and encryption of our vast military industrial complex–billions of dollars, spent tout suite.
With shaking fists, a bunch of Generals vowed “never again”!
So DARPA–the super secret technology arm of The Pentagon that’s brought us things like Area 51 and The Internet–let a grant to a brilliant guy at U.C. Irvine to develop a methodology for the remote deactivation of software applications and code-stripping from military hardware–so that if anything sensitive ever fell into the wrong hands, it could be shut down, stripped clean and be as useful as an old Chevy in a deep puddle.
Fast forward about ten years to today: the smart guy from Irvine has a fistful of battle tested patents, a company, Numecent, that’s backed by Europe’s big telecoms and led by tech veteran Osman Kent, and a technology Gartner last month called the “coolest of 2013”. Numecent’s commercial application of CloudPaging is called Application Jukebox, a digital rights management platform that deploys software on-demand and interacts with a suitably permissioned client-side Application Jukebox Players. Uni-Data saw the opportunity, partnered with Numecent for the deployment of QuickBooks to SMB-
“Cloudification” transforms a software executable- like those of QuickBooks Pro, Premier, Enterprise, Point of Sale- into an encapsulated, encrypted download delivered package controlled by the JukeBox, as described above. Cloudified software effectively “installs” to the local PC OS, making it perfect to interact successfully with all of the Pc’s other installed software and peripherals. This becomes a key differentiator for CloudPaging in QuickBooks Hosting over any other delivery platform.
BENEFITS OF CLOUDPAGING
Feature
Benefits
Leverages local OS/ system resources
eliminates the need for universal print drivers, long a bane to successful form and check printing from the cloud
Leverages local software
• eliminates the need for software integration development via QuickBooks SDK/webconnector/QuickBooks Stack, simply to interact with software in the End User local environment.
QUICKBOOKS DATA MANAGEMENT
To manage the QuickBooks company file, Uni-Data utilizes an encrypted data management utility controlled by Microsoft Active Directory, which sets user permissions and file access on Uni-Data’s file servers. This data management utility is bundled into the CloudPaged QuickBooks package, and automatically synchronizes with the software when loaded. When QuickBooks is launched via the User’s Jukebox Player, the data management utility selects the appropriate QB company file from Uni-Data’s servers, and delivers it to the local PC. File-syncing and multi-user access are controlled via the data management tool, enabling the full Client-side features of QuickBooks as when locally installed, plus the additional Server-side benefits of remote file access provided by other Cloud-based Application hosting solutions (e.g., RDP, Citrix, etc.).
ORDERING SYSTEM INTEGRATION
It should be noted that Uni-Data’s delivery paradigm is built not only to facilitate direct sales by Uni-Data’s ecommerce engine, but to accommodate the diverse sales and licensing models of multiple ISVs; as such, Uni-Data’s processing apparatus can be integrated to Intuit’s ordering systems in short order given proper specifications. In all cases, the deployment of an end user, (order acceptance, definition of subscription windows, license allocation, platform credentials creation, storage allocation and permissions, incident/support portal population, welcome letter generation), is automated and Uni-Data’s techs, sales and support teams are aware of the new customer in real-time.
