News and Updates
- President Bob Brauer spoke at Serena Tag Show Sept. 7-10
Upcoming Events
- Eloqua Experience Conference Oct. 6-8
Featured Web Service
StrikeIron Real-Time Stock Quotes
Integrate Real-Time Stock Quotes into your essential
business applications. The StrikeIron Real-Time Stock
Quotes Web service provides XML Stock Quotes directly
from the Amex, NASDAQ, and NYSE exchanges.
StrikeIron's direct relationship with these exchanges
ensures you are receiving the most reliable data
possible. Real-Time Stock Quotes easily integrates
into Web sites, enterprise portals, corporate
intranets and extranets, software applications,
wireless and PDA applications, and other interactive
services. For more info: StrikeIron Real-Time Stock
Quotes
StrikeIron Delayed Stock Quotes (15
Minute)
Web service provides 15 minute delayed stock
information from the Amex, NASDAQ, and NYSE exchanges.
StrikeIron has handled indemnification with the
exchanges. Therefore, your subscription with
StrikeIron is inclusive of all fees required by the
exchanges. No additional direct fee is required from
the end user. For more info: StrikeIron Delayed Stock
Quotes (15 Minute)
Customize your business needs with StrikeIron Web services
- Only providers of Web service data direct from the exchanges - Amex, NASDAQ, NYSE
- Quick and easy integration
- Reduce infrastructure costs by 75%
- 10's of millions of transactions per day
- Use the Internet to leverage external data sources without the costs and effort associated with traditional data management
Note from the President:
Forecast for Clouds
"Cloud computing" has been receiving a lot
of fanfare lately. There are several "cloud"
companies popping up, new trade shows focused on the
topic, and a lot of vendors are talking about various
offerings "out in the clouds." Analysts such
as The Gartner Group have said cloud computing will be
as influential as e-business. Clearly it is an
emerging computing model which needs to be considered
in the appropriate situations.
First, a "cloud" is simply a term that
refers to a complex infrastructure that exists to
serve a certain purpose out on the Web. The complexity
of the infrastructure is hidden and can be rented for
use by accessing it from an endpoint usually via an
application, a Website, or even a mobile device. This
concept enables a massively scalable technology to
then be provided "as a service" to a wide
variety of clients who aren't concerned how the
technology works, but rather just work for the purpose
of the specific end result.
This isn't a new concept. For example, we all tap into
the electricity cloud every day via the outlets in our
house because this is less complex and less costly
than trying to maintain our own generators. The cost
of this shared electricity infrastructure can be
amortized across many customers who don't need to
focus effort on power generation, making it an
attractive business proposition for everyone
involved.
The current "cloud" in the technology
business involves computing resources out on the Web.
One example is the "data cloud" that
StrikeIron has built. This cloud enables our customers
to access external data and Web services that exist
out on the Web within our data centers (hence the
"cloud") rather than buying the hardware to
store it, database licenses and software to run it,
and the resources to manage it all. It's just easier
to tap into the StrikeIron cloud to get this data and
share the costs of the external infrastructure with
other companies who have the same need.
For example, why download updates to tax rate
databases every month when you can store them in an
internal database, integrate it with applications and
test with each update? It is much easier to
incorporate a single line of code that requests an
up-to-date tax rate whenever it needs one from the
Web. No downloads, no updates, no maintenance, no
ongoing testing. It's just dramatically less complex
and cheaper to tap into a data cloud rather than
manage the data internally. This simplicity and cost
reduction for leveraging external data is why
StrikeIron has seen the growth that it has. This trend
will continue as more and more organizations
experience these same results.
