Congrats Sound Cloud and Huddle for the great coverage on the BBC website!!!

Based in Berlin, Germany, SoundCloud provides a web-based platform that is transforming the way music is shared, with over 250,000 customers that currently rely on its services. Realizing that its business depended on IT performance, SoundCloud evaluated its options and found an ideal solution with Sun Startup Essentials to migrate its Web server stack to a solution that includes virtual servers and a hybrid storage pool built with Sun technologies. Hosted and managed by London-based EveryCity (another Sun Startup Essentials customer), the new architecture quickly scales with growth, delivers the raw performance customers expect, and gives SoundCloud employees the ability to focus on expanding the business. 

Based in London, UK, Huddle provides hosted project and collaboration tools - basically a "virtual office space" that allows organizations of all sizes to share documents, calendars, virtual white boards, etc. Huddle provides a free ad-supported service, as well as supported online virtual offices ranging from £10 to £125 per month.  Some of Huddle customers include Panasonic, UNICEF, Kia Motors, Nokia, and government organizations.

I ran an experiment that shows that ZFS compression can improve IO perf by 1.35x, save disk space by 1.77x, and reduce power consumption by 1.09x.

Guess what, I now have ZFS compression=on on my laptop.

Sun Startup Essentials - A big hand for your business ideas from stewart townsend on Vimeo.

How can Sun Startup Essentials help you? Watch this and see how Sun can help your small business with its Sun Startup Essentials programme http://sun.com/startups

BTW, this cool video was created by the community for the Sun Startup Essentials contest that Zooppa.com ran earlier this year. 

Do you want to know where I will be on November 17th, Im going to be at the O2 Indigo, not hanging out trying to get signatures of the latest bands but at the #140conf London event, more details below but with Stephen Fry on the bill its going to be a fantastic day and if you want to attend as a Sun Startup Essential member you get 40% discount. Yep 40%....

The 140 Characters Conference: London will be taking place on 17 November at the O2 Indigo.

The schedule for #140conf: London offers 50+ speakers in 27 fast sessions during the course of just one day.

At the #140conf events, we look at twitter as a platform and as a language we speak. In London we will be exploring the effects of the real-time Internet on Business. Overall we will be exploring the systemic effects the worldwide adoption twitter is having on business.

Some of the topics we will cover at #140conf London include: Racism as a Resource; Sky News: Twitter, Reputation and #iranelection; twitter and Brands, twitter and Education, twitter and Media, twitter and Small Business, twitter and Sports, twitter and The Police, twitter and TV, twitter and Music.

Please review the videos from the NYC event to get a feel of the pace of the event and the content shared

It is our intention to provide a platform for as many people as possible to share their thoughts and engage in conversation with the attending delegates. You will find individual talks set to: 10 minutes; “Featured talks” 15 and 20 minutes and the various panel discussions are set for 15 and 20 minutes.

Speakers include special guest Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) together with:

Alex Bellinger (@alexbellinger) - Journalist; Founder, SmallBizPod
Andrew Davis (@andrew_davis)
Andrew Keen (@ajkeen) - Author, Cult of The Amateur: How the Internet is Killing our Culture
Babs Rangaiah (@babs26) - Vice President, Global Comms Planning, Unilever
Becky McCray (@BeckyMcCray) - Founder, Small Biz Survival
Boyd Hilton (@boydhilton) - TV Editor for Heat Magazine
Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan) - President, New Marketing Labs
Ciaran Norris (@ciaranj) - Director Invention/SocialMedia8
David White (@daveowhite) - Chair
Dean Landsman (@DeanLand)
Digital Maverick (@digitalmaverick) - Learning technologist, Moodle evangelist
Ebony Rhiney-James (@EbonyRJ) - Digital Marketing Manager at Warner Music Group
Federico Grosso (@federicogrosso)
Gerd Leonhard (@gleonhard) - Media Futurist, Author, Blogger
Heather Gorringe (@wiggled) - Founder, Wiggly Wigglers
James Poulter (@jamespoulter) - Digital Strategist for Ogilvy PR
Jeff Pulver (@jeffpulver), twitter investor, creator of #140conf
Jeffrey Hayzlett (@JeffreyHayzlett) - CMO, Kodak
Jonathan Almond (@jonalmond)
Josie Fraser (@josiefraser) - Social & Educational Technologist
Kathleen Hessert (@kathleenhessert) - CEO, Sports Media Challenge
Kyra Gaunt, Ph.D. (@kyraocity) - Associate Professor of Music and Anthropology, Baruch College-CUNY, writer, blogger
Lauri Stevens (@lawscomm)
Manny Norte (@mannynorte) - Kiss FM
Marsha Collier (@MarshaCollier) - Author, Ebay for Dummies; Radio Host
Maz Nadjm (@Mazi) - Responsible for social networking at Sky Television, sky.com
Nick Halstead (@nickhalstead) - CEO, TweetMeme
Nick Keane (@nickkeane)
Pamela O'Hara (@pmohara) - Co-founder, Batch Blue
Peter Gregson (@petergregson) - Cellist and Co-founder of the Production Company Coffeeloop
Ray Paul (@raypaulbbc) - Executive Producer for Weekend Programs at BBC Radio 1
Roberto Bonanzinga (@Bonanzinga) - Balderton Capital
Saul Klein (@cape) - Index Ventures
Sean Seton-Rogers (@setonrog) - PROfounders Capital
Sherry J. Bitting (@SJBRules) - Co-founder and Marketing Director, Parlour Magazine
Shirley Williams (@shirleyearley)
Stephen Fry (@stephenfry)
Steve Saul (@stephensaul) - Social media/blogger for Simon Cowell's X-Factor
Sue Black (@Dr_Black)
Tal Givoly (@givoly) - Chief Scientist, Amdocs
Tim Bradshaw (@tim) - Digital media correspondent, Financial Times
Vikki Chowney (@vikkichowney) - Editor of Reputation Online, Centau Media

The take aways from this event will provide the attending delegates knowledge, perspectives and insights to the next wave of effects twitter and the real-tme internet will have on business.

As Sun Startup Essentials is a friend of Jeffs we have a lovely discount for you, save 40% on a Delegate Ticket up until 15 November or until tickets last. 

Click here to register:

SmallBizPod is a podcast, blog, news and community site for small businesses, start-ups and entrepreneurs. This is how it all happened.

Back in March 2005, Alex Bellinger became one of only a handful of people in the UK to start podcasting.

Looking around for a subject he realised there were no British-based podcasts on business. Since he had just set up his own business and had spent many years focusing on the small business sector, a podcast on entrepreneurship seemed like a good way to go.

SmallBizPod was born. The podcast, blog and website now attract tens of thousands of listeners and readers a month from all over the world.

Inspire, Inform, Entertain

From the start SmallBizPod has been there to inspire, to inform, and to be fun to listen to and read as well. I think thanks to some wonderful contributors and interviewees, it's achieved just that.

Over time, the site has grown to become one of the most visited sites for SMEs in the UK. It's also developed into a wonderful free audio resource to provide inspiration and advice from business people with real experience and real insight.

Take the time to listen to some inspiring interviews from some renowned people on subjects such as marketing, business advice, funding and many more, the beauty is that these are free and really insighful and great to hear that not just you in that Startup boat alone.

Visit http://www.smallbizpod.co.uk/  now and keep an update on the latest podcasts.

Also if you really love what you hear and see then Vote for them in the European Podcast Awards -

La deuxième édition du BarCampSophiaAntipolis se tiendra le jeudi 5 novembre à l’Agora Einstein - Sophia Antipolis, de 16h30 à minuit. Les participants ont opté pour le thème du Ecommerce. L’OpenCoffee Club Sophia sera partenaire de cet événement majeur des nouvelles technologies de la Côte d’Azur, a tel point qu’il aura lieu au sein même du Barcamp spécialement à cette occasion.

Le thème du Ecommerce, présenté aujourd’hui comme le nouvel eldorado des commerçants, sera débattu sous plusieurs angles de réflexions, aussi bien techniques que commerciaux. Il y a d’ailleurs déjà plusieurs sujets très pragmatiques proposés par les futurs participants :

• Le Ecommerce est-il toujours un eldorado ou une affaire de professionnels ?
• Quelle solution pour se lancer dans la vente en ligne ?
• Les différentes méthodes de communication et leurs retombées en terme d’audience.
• La place du mobile dans le Ecommerce de demain.
• Les outils communautaires : Facebook, Twitter, …
• Les moyens de paiement et la difficulté de convaincre les banques.

L’entrée est gratuite, mais l’inscription est obligatoire afin de faciliter l’organisation de cet événement. Pour ce faire, il suffit simplement de se rendre sur le wiki et d’éditer la page pour rajouter son nom. Il est également possible de contacter Sandra Bayer par email (à sbayer@cari.fr) si vous rencontrez des difficultés pour vous enregistrer.

Vous pouvez commencer à discuter avec les autres participants ou suivre le déroulement du BarCampSophiaAntipolis grâce aux sites suivants :

• Groupe Facebook (plus de 120 membres)
• Groupe Google (pour les propositions de thèmes)
• Twitter (pour être tenu au courant de tout)

Congratulations Micello team for winning the Runner-up award at the AT&T Platinum Fast-Pitch contest!!! Wow!

The event took place at CTIA, held on October 7-8, 2009 in San Diego, CA where AT&T reviewed over 60 entries. The winners received a share in $40,000 of prize money and opportunities for inclusion in an AT&T distribution channel.

Micello has built a database of maps of places people go to shopping malls, college campuses, convention centers etc, and allows users to access, navigate and explore those places using their mobile phones. Unlike, its competitors, Micello keeps its own database of place of interest rather than relying on satellite-based map systems. In addition, by integrating social networking services into the application, Micello brings together all the activity happening inside a building where people gather. 

Find out more at micello.com. 

Sun Startup Essentials est l'un des partenaires mondiaux de Startup Weekend et s'associe à l'organisation de la première session à Paris, du 4 au 6 décembre 2009 à La Cantine.

Il s'agit d'une nouvelle formule venue tout droit des US : vous avez un week-end, c'est-à-dire 54h, pour monter votre startup, de l'idée initiale à la création de la société ou au développement du produit ! C'est possible ? On verra bien... En tous cas, ce sera l'occasion de rencontrer des gens intéressants, de former des équipes dynamiques, de partager des expériences, de s'amuser et de créer des liens pour l'avenir. On ne sait jamais ce qui peut se passer dans ces moments-là. La prochaine star française du web sortira peut-être de Startup Weekend Paris. Vous pouvez vous inscrire dès maintenant sur le site.

Free and open source content management systems (CMS) like Drupal and Joomla have given entrepreneurs everywhere an opportunity to bootstrap their concepts quickly and effectively. What's the difference between them, and which one is right for you? Let's take a look.

Joomla - This CMS is very popular and freely available as an open source software package. It can be used to design Web sites, community portals, online magazines, corporate intranets, and even e-commerce sites. Out of the box, users can build data reporting tools, inventory control systems, product catalogs, business directories, and more. You don't need to be a technology whiz, however, to use Joomla. To get a feel for how easy it is, try this interactive online demo.

Mambo - Another open source option on the playing field is Mambo, a CMS with Web- and server-based installation options. Its template system means there's no complicated coding required but, because it's open source software, you can customize, tweak, and get as technical as you want. Mambo handles media content like images and video exceptionally well, and has a robust content publication scheduling feature to help keep your site fresh and updated around the clock.

Drupal - This open source content management system made headlines recently when it was announced that the White House uses Drupal to power WhiteHouse.gov. The basic package is loaded with tools to create all kinds of terrific Web sites and portals, but when you include the free add-on modules things really get interesting. Use Drupal to create e-commerce sites, podcasts, newsletters, picture galleries, forums, message boards, and more.

concrete5 - For many startups, an online presence is mainly about branding and selling your company's message. When that's the case, many entrepreneurs wish they could find a CMS that's meant for marketing. Concrete5 may be just the ticket. Designed for "regular people," not developers, concrete5 makes setting up a Web site as easy as sending an email. Down-to-earth editing tools make it possible for someone with no developer experience to build and edit a quality Web site in minutes. That's a terrific bonus, since most startups don't have extra cash lying around to spring for a professional Web designer.

Most open source content management systems have the same basic capabilities and features, and mainly vary in level of difficulty to set up and use. The easiest way to determine which CMS is best for you is to try their online demos and play around a little bit to get a feel for which one best matches your computer skill level. No matter which one you choose, each project has a healthy community of developers and users at the ready to help you get set up and troubleshoot along the way.

Flickr image courtesy of Marco Belluci.

Originally posted at http://blogs.sun.com/sun4startups/entry/cms_startup_in_a_box1

...The CRASH you haven't seen yet...

This time we go behind the scenes of the worst financial calamity that flooded our TV screens last Christmas...

A balance between processor performance, memory bandwidth, and IO performance all contribute to system performance. Applications like business intelligence and data warehousing (BIDW), and Rich Media are particularly sensitive to overall performance. 

The Sun Fire X4275 is designed for the ground up for powering both rich media streaming applications, and business intelligence and data warehousing applications.

In this webinar, you'll find out:

• The design principles of the Sun Fire X4275 (Intel Xeon 5500 series processors, 64 GB of memory, 12 TB of storage, 8xSSD or 12x15K drives for IOPS performance all in the same 2U chassis, and up to 24 GB of network bandwidth)
• How flash technology can multiply IO performance offering significant savings in cost/stream, cost/IOPS and cost/GB as well as savings in energy and space
• How the Sun Fire X4275 is the building block of the powerful Oracle Exadata V2 server recently announced by Oracle.

Bonjour Séverin, peux-tu te présenter ?

Bonjour Laurent ! Entrepreneur du web depuis 2006, je m'appelle Séverin Benizri et je suis fondateur de la société Paris Labs qui édite des plateformes de réseaux sociaux, notamment le service Helia.fr. J'ai un parcours un peu hybride entre le commercial et la technique, comme beaucoup de monde dans ce secteur.

Que fait Helia ?

Helia est un réseau social professionnel qui encourage le partage d'expérience entre des internautes qui ont des affinités pour le même métier ou les mêmes entreprises. Helia propose également des outils de communication aux entreprises qui souhaitent maîtriser leur réputation sur le Web. D'ici à la fin de l'année, il y aura des informations à jour sur plus de 500.000 entreprises sur Helia, des actualités et des offres d'emploi.

Pourquoi as-tu adhéré au programme Sun Startup Essentials ?

Nous étions très impliqués dans le développement Java. Il nous a paru naturel de nous associer à la maison mère... Le programme présentait de belles opportunités aussi bien dans le domaine du conseil que dans l'acquisition de matériel informatique.

Quelles technologies Sun utilises-tu ?

Aujourd'hui, nous travaillons avec des ingénieurs Sun sur une migration vers OpenSolaris afin d'utiliser ZFS, la virtualisation avec les zones Solaris et GlassFish.

Pourquoi as-tu choisi d'installer OpenSolaris sur une Dedibox ?

Aujourd'hui, Dedibox propose un bon rapport qualité/prix qui correspond à nos besoins actuels d'hébergement. Nous voulions explorer les possibilités d'OpenSolaris sans pour autant changer de fournisseur de services dans un premier temps. En revanche, nous nous intéressons de près aux serveurs Sun, notamment aux processeurs SPARC.

Comment s'est passée l'installation ?

Après avoir envoyé le DVD d'OpenSolaris aux équipes Dedibox, nous avons obtenu un accès VNC (partage d'écran) sur notre serveur pour procéder à l'installation. L'installation s'est déroulée sans problème, tout le matériel ayant été reconnu avec des pilotes adaptés dans la distribution Sun !
Ensuite, avec l'aide d'un ingénieur de Sun, Amir Javanshir, nous avons pu configurer le serveur pour qu'il héberge notre service. Après quelques adaptations et configurations des principaux outils, notre service était dupliqué sur l'environnement OpenSolaris. 

Quelles sont les prochaines étapes pour toi ?

Nous sommes en train de d'effectuer des tests fonctionnels et de performance sur les différentes architectures. Parallèlement, nous faisons évoluer notre technologie vers une architecture plus modulaire (OSGi). Notre objectif est d'héberger la nouvelle version de la technologie sur un serveur Sun avec l'environnement OpenSolaris à T1-2010.

Merci Séverin et bon courage pour la suite !

Pour en savoir plus, vous pouvez envoyer un email à severin.benizri@parislabs.net