Microsoft SharePoint gets search, file sharing features

Data capture vendor Captaris and security software developer Epok have developed add-ons to Microsoft's SharePoint Server 2007 that let users search on document images and securely extend file creation and sharing across corporate boundaries.

Captaris, best known for its RightFax software for distributing faxes, recently introduced the TIFF iFilter for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

The iFilter takes an image, scans it using optical character recognition (OCR) technology, and then stores it in SharePoint along with all its meta data. The resulting file is then available for discovery by SharePoint’s search engine.

IFilter components are used by Microsoft Indexing Service and other Microsoft Search-based products, such as SharePoint Portal Server, Windows SharePoint Services, Exchange Full Text Search and SQL Server FTS.

Captaris, which is in the process of being acquired by OpenText, thinks paper-centric industries benefit the most from its TIFF iFilter such as insurance, governments, health care and financial services.

The iFilter supports Windows Server 2003 and 2008 and works on both 32- and 64-bit versions of the Windows OS, SharePoint Server, and SQL Server.

The Captaris TIFF iFilter comes in three editions: Standard (for two core systems), Pro (four core systems) and Enterprise (unlimited cores).

Standard is priced starting at $299. Pro starts at $499, and Enterprise pricing will be announced before the end of the year.

SharePoint is Microsoft’s fastest growing enterprise software in its history and the company counts 100 million licenses and more than a $1 billion in revenue, according to figures released this summer. The platform also is attracting third-party vendors driven to plug some of the gaps in the platform.

Earlier versions of SharePoint had support for TIFF images, but it was dropped in the 2007 version of SharePoint. Microsoft released a Filter Pack for SharePoint in Dec. 2007, and specifically made apologies for the absence of the TIFF filter in the release.

Experts have also said that SharePoint has gaps in its access control story.

Epok in particular is attacking that need with an update to its cross-organization access management software called Epok Edition for SharePoint version 2.4. The platform extends user authentication to a company’s partners.

The 2.4 version breaks the restriction that only a user within a SharePoint domain can use Microsoft Office to create, edit, and then save documents directly into SharePoint.

Epok extends that capability to any Office user in any domain as long as they have the needed access rights.

The upgrades also include a reporting system that can show such facts as who has access to a document and when the document expires. And a mouse over feature on user icons shows additional access details and expiration dates.

Epok can automatically enforce those expiration data on a user’s access to certain documents while maintaining the user’s overall access rights.

“SharePoint is creating a control problem and what we see is a huge demand wave for extranet access,” says Nigel Simmons, vice president of product management.

Epok also takes maintenance of permissions for access controls out of the hands of IT and put them in the hands of business users.

In addition, the system can be configured to require users to view and/or acknowledge certain contractual obligations related to data such as non-disclosure agreements.

The Epok Edition for SharePoint version 2.4 is priced at $25,000 per server.

Source:- networkworld.com/

Microsoft Announces BizTalk Server 2009

Microsoft renames BizTalk Server 2006 R3 to BizTalk Server 2009. The new release will be available in the first half of 2009 and will feature support for Team Foundation Server (TFS), Visual Studio Team System, and the upcoming “Oslo” modeling platform.

Microsoft announced the renaming of the next version of its BizTalk business process management server as well as detailed what will be in that product and what to expect in future releases.

Burley Kawasaki, director of product management in the Connected Systems Division at Microsoft, said Microsoft has renamed what had initially been referred to as BizTalk Server 2006 R3 to BizTalk Server 2009. Microsoft will make the new version of the product available in the first half of 2009, Kawasaki said. Microsoft has released a Community Technology Preview (CTP) of BizTalk 2009 to members of its Technology Adoption Program (TAP) members, and the company will deliver a public CTP by the end of the year, he said

Kawasaki also said BizTalk Server 2009 has new features in three core categories: updated platform support, enterprise connectivity, and developer and team productivity. Microsoft also set a roadmap for BizTalk, including plans to deliver releases every two years at most.

Under the developer and team productivity category, BizTalk Server 2009 delivers new Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) support including support for Microsoft's Team Foundation Server (TFS). TFS support enables development teams to leverage the integrated source control, bug tracking, support for team development, Project Server integration and support for automating builds via MSBuild. Microsoft also has made improvements to the Visual Studio based BizTalk project system that enhances debugging support for artifacts such as BizTalk Maps, pipeline components and XLang orchestrations, and enables support for unit testing via Visual Studio Test.

Meanwhile updated platform support includes support for Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 SP1, SQL Server 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1.  BizTalk Server 2009 also takes advantage of the latest virtualization improvements included as part of Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V. And the product also features improved failover clustering, Kawasaki said.

Regarding enterprise connectivity, BizTalk Server 2009 has a new Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) 3.0 registry, new line of business adapters for Oracle E-Business Suites and SQL Server, as well as enhanced host systems integration. BizTalk Server 2009 adds a new Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) WebSphere MQ channel by providing the transport, data formatter and encoder to integrate directly with WebSphere MQ via WCF and a new WCF Service for Host Applications has been added to expose the traditional Transaction Integrator to .NET Framework developers.  In addition, BizTalk Server 2009 includes updated platform support for the most recent versions of CICS, IMS, CICS HTTP transport, DB2, DB2/400, DB2 Universal Database, and WebSphere MQ. BizTalk Server 2009 also features enhanced Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) and enhanced Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Guidance.

Moreover, BizTalk Server 2009 features enhanced support for Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Applicability Statement 2 (AS2), updated Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) support, new mobile RFID and device platform management, and new RFID standards support, Microsoft officials said.

Meanwhile, Kawasaki said future releases following BizTalk Server 2009 will address enterprise connectivity, enterprise visibility and support for the latest platform technologies. Future releases will feature developer productivity enhancements such as complex mapping, enhanced B2B support, complex trading partner management, expanded industry standards and schemas and low-latency messaging enhancements and ESB guidance. Future releases also will feature enhanced device support, business intelligence and BAM enhancements and will continue to take advantage of the latest advances in the .NET Framework, Visual Studio, and Windows Server, Kawasaki said.

In an interview on Microsoft's PressPass site, Oliver Sharp, general manager of Microsoft’s Connected Server team, said, "We’re beginning early planning on BizTalk Server '7' and will have more information to share about the specific scope of that release early next year."

Kawasaki also spoke on BizTalk Server 2009's relationship with Microsoft's yet-to-be-released modeling platform, code named "Oslo." In the PressPass interview, Sharp said: "Many of our BizTalk customers are running mission critical applications; they need choice and flexibility in adopting future technologies such as Oslo; therefore, it’s an important guiding principle to our planning efforts that we preserve our customers existing investments in their BizTalk Server infrastructure. Current BizTalk Server 2006 R2 or BizTalk Server 2009 customers will be able to benefit from Oslo by being able to leverage and compose your services into new composite applications. "

Source:- eweek.com/

Magento's iPhone Theme: Mobile Commerce for the Masses?

Magento Commerce, an open source ecommerce platform, has introduced an Apple iPhone specific theme that is potentially the first step toward leveling the playing field for small online retailers who want to compete in the lucrative and booming mobile ecommerce market.

Mobile eCommerce has massive potential

Mobile ecommerce (often call m-commerce) is coming; 9 million Americans have already made a purchase from a mobile device, and perhaps half of the United States' 250 million odd mobile handset users are willing to make a purchase in the near future, according to a recent study from The Nielsen Company, New York, N.Y. All of those U.S. users plus the billions of consumers in Asia, Africa, and India, where a mobile handset may serve as phone, mobile TV, and primary point of Internet access, make m-commerce very attractive to e-retailers large and small.

But mobile browsing experiences can be frustrating for customers, and developing ecommerce websites that are functional, legible, and compelling for mobile device users has been the realm of moneyed and massive e-retailers like Amazon.com.

The Apple iPhone actually does an excellent job of rendering websites already, but there are still problems. Most online stores are designed to look good on a modern, flat-panel monitor which may be 19 inches in diagonal. While these sites are rendered properly on the iPhone, they take on diminutive dimensions, requiring an iPhone owner to zoom in, zoom out, and scroll in all directions. Bandwidth can also be a problem. iPhones use WiFi connections (802.11n standard), Bluetooth (radio), fast 3G cellular networks, or older and slower cellular networks depending on what sort of connection is available at a given time. Browsing on WiFi or a speedy 3G network might be no problem, but uploading an online store over older cellular networks can be painfully slow.

To address this, Magento developed a special theme or combination of layout, template, and presentation files that are optimized for an iPhone's browser. This theme still offers great looking graphics, full functionality, and the same payment gateways, but in proportions and layouts that make a store attractive and easy to use on an iPhone's palm-sized LCD screen.

Equalizing m-Commerce

Magento's new iPhone theme is an important (if small) step, giving independent e-retailers an easy way to tap m-commerce's amazing potential. Varien, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based ecommerce developer and consultancy, created Magento Commerce and then unleashed the platform, turning it over to a vibrant community of perhaps 400,000 users (store owners and developers), while staying intimately involved in the platform's development and expansion. The new theme makes it easier for iPhone users to browse and shop Magento-powered sites with ease. Basically, Magento utilizes "the iPhone's inherent navigation methods and offer[s] quick catalog browsing, global site search, customer accounts, and a shopping cart with a complete checkout process," Varien said, "The iPhone extension delivers a user experience that supports the iPhone's touch-screen functionality, taking users on a clearly defined path from browsing to purchasing."

The iPhone is just a Drop in the Bucket

Unfortunately, as awesome, cool, and fantastic as the iPhone may or may not be, it represents a very tiny percentage of the total mobile handset universe. By some estimates, leading mobile phone makers Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, LG, Sony-Ericsson, BlackBerry, and the like, build between 700 million and 1 billion new mobile handsets each year. While something like 8 million to 10 million iPhones have sold worldwide based on Steve Jobs 2008 MacWorld keynote speech and estimates for the iPhone 3G. So the new Magento iPhone theme only scratches the m-commerce surface. On the other hand, what e-retailer wouldn't want to reach as many as 10 million or so potential customers all of whom represent the iPhone's decidedly upscale user base.

Using the iPhone Theme to gain a Competitive Advantage.

m-Commerce is here to stay, and retailers who implement a mobile solution like Magento's iPhone extension will gain a competitive advantage over other ecommerce sites that are slower to adopt a mobile-specific platform. And there is still hope that Varien or other ecommerce developers will address the mobile mass market soon.

“We are looking to expand the capabilities of Magento to target additional mobile browsers in the future, but the iPhone, with its smart usability, market share and passionate audience was a natural place to start,” said Chris Marshall, a Varien spokesman.

source:- practicalecommerce.com/

Microsoft Debuts 'Dublin' App Server in .NET 4.0

Microsoft has announced new application server technology, codenamed “Dublin,” that will surface in Windows Server. The company also announced enhancements to its Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) and Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) technology. Microsoft’s Dynamics applications will be first to use the new technology, while independent software vendors (ISVs) such as Amberpoint also have pledged to use the new Microsoft technology that will be unveiled at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference in late October.

As part of its release of the .NET Framework 4.0, Microsoft is enhancing its Windows Communication Foundation and Windows Workflow Foundation technology as well as delivering new application server capabilities into Windows Server in an offering codenamed "Dublin."

Burley Kawasaki, director of Product Management, Connected Systems Division, said the enhancements were needed because the development of composite applications has become increasingly complex, particularly with the need to build, deploy and manage a variety of Web services. The enhancements to the core .NET technologies include new messaging and REST (Representational State Transfer) capabilities in WCF, new workflow models, seamless integration between WF and WCF to support stateful and conversational services, and a new visual designer, Microsoft officials said. In addition, Kawasaki said “Dublin” will offer greater scalability and easier manageability and provide a standard host for applications that use workflow or communications. 

"WCF is the foundation for our service-oriented investments in .NET," Kawasaki said. "We're adding in pre-built templates inside Visual Studio to make it easier to build REST and Atom and POX [Plain Old XML] extensions and we'll be releasing that on Codeplex [Microsoft’s community development site] at the same time as the PDC [Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference, which will be in Los Angeles in late October]."

Also at the PDC, Microsoft will deliver CTPs (Community Technology Previews) of the enhanced and new technology for building composite applications: WCF 4.0, WF 4.0 and "Dublin," Kawasaki said.

The WCF REST Starter Kit is an early preview of capabilities that will be shipped with WCF in the .NET Framework 4.0, Microsoft officials said. The Starter Kit provides Visual Studio project and item templates for common RESTful scenarios:  REST Singleton Service, REST Collection Service, Atom Feed Service, Atom Publishing Protocol Service and HTTP Plain.

And in addition to the templates, the Starter Kit will include support and guidance around caching, security and error handling in REST servers and early ideas around a REST client as well.

"WCF 4.0 will tighten integration between WCF and WF, with a unified declarative model underneath it with XAML [the Extensible Application Markup Language]," Kawasaki said. "You can now build an entire application in XAML."

Meanwhile, Microsoft has improved the performance and scalability of WF, Kawasaki said.

"Providing a host process for WF applications, as Dublin does, together with the easier-to-use WF 4.0, should go a long way toward making WF a more widely used technology, said David Chappell, principal at Chappell & Associates and a software development expert familiar with Microsoft's plans.

Moreover, Kawasaki said part of Microsoft's goal with the new technology is to preserve customers' investment in skills and training in .NET technologies. The enhancements to the Windows Application Server will simplify the deployment, configuration, management and scalability of composite applications while allowing developers to use their existing skills with Visual Studio, the .NET Framework and Internet Information Services (IIS), Microsoft officials said.

Kawasaki also said "Dublin” will be the first Microsoft server product to deliver support for the company's “Oslo” modeling platform. “Dublin” does not require “Oslo” in order to operate and provide benefits of hosting .NET applications; however, administrators will be able to deploy applications from the “Oslo” repository directly to the “Dublin” application server, the company said.  “Dublin” provides model-driven “Oslo” applications with a runtime environment, out of the box.

"Oslo--which now refers only to the modeling technologies--can be used to define WF-based applications that run in Dublin," Chappell said. "All three of these things [WF, WCF and Dublin] can be used together, which is perhaps why Microsoft originally put them all under the 'Oslo' banner. Still, they can be used separately, and so to me, narrowing the 'Oslo' name to refer just to the modeling technologies is a good thing. It makes the independence of these technologies clearer."

And Microsoft's internal teams already have begun using Dublin and the enhanced WCF and WF technologies, Kawasaki said.

Among the first products that have announced plans to support Dublin is Microsoft Dynamics, Kawasaki said. Microsoft has announced that future versions of both the Microsoft Dynamics AX and Microsoft Dynamics CRM applications will leverage both .NET 4.0 and “Dublin.” In particular, the next version of Microsoft Dynamics AX is being specifically designed to take full advantage of the enhanced capability and scale delivered in Windows Server by the enhanced “Dublin” application server technologies, he said.

Also, Kawasaki said that among third-party ISVs (independent software vendors), line-of-business applications such as Dataract, Eclipsys, Epicor, Red Prairie and Telerik and software infrastructure providers such as Amberpoint, SOA Software, Frends Technology and Global360 have announced plans to leverage the .NET Framework 4.0 and “Dublin” technologies.

source:- eweek.com/

The sweet logic behind SugarCRM’s Tracker feature

All it took was one new feature to see that SugerCRM has a handle on the future of enterprise business applications.

The company this week launched version 5.1 of its flagship open source customer relationship management system. This includes Tracker, which allows IT managers to review who in a company is actually making use of the product, and what specific features they are using most often. This information can be compiled statistically and presented to senior management so that the strategy, or perhaps the training, surrounding the technology can be fine-tuned.

It’s possible there are many other software platforms which have this kind of capability, but no vendor I know of has really bragged about it. Instead, they invest millions in marketing fancy extras to already-functional products that get ignored. A cynic might suggest this happens on purpose, because by not paying to new features users tend to have difficulty adjusting to system upgrades, which leads to more help desk issues, which leads (in many cases) to additional revenue to the vendor through support services.

If companies really see their employees as “assets,” however, it makes sense to provide the same kind of monitoring that you would to your inventory or the performance of your corporate network. Not only would such information make it easier to evaluate the return on your IT investments, it would possibly provide a useful guide to likely adoption of future applications, whether packaged or custom-built.

Although we’re talking about CRM here, the idea of monitoring usage is really like providing business intelligence about your internal software business. We all have such businesses, whether we are in the banking or grocery sectors. What it may not offer is the necessary analytics. SugerCRM might be able tell you how many salespeople pressed a particular button, but it might be harder to figure out why they bypassed others.

This brings up the question of who should be in charge of looking at this data and acting on it. Although IT would probably be interested, this is an example of where it might make more sense for the business owner of a particular department or process powered by an application – in this case, the director of sales – to take responsibility for studying usage patterns. Of course, in the end, sales people should be spending their time selling, not redesigning software, but only actual users will have the day-to-day understanding of what influences on-the-job behaviours.

We tend to say a software deployment is successful if no one complained about it, and provided it functions as it should. Forgotten features, however, can be as debilitating to achieving business objectives as any bugs. I really hope we’ll start to see more features like SugerCRM Tracker. If you’re not actively tracking, you’re losing track.

source:- blogs.itworldcanada.com/

Does inbound links really helps to come in ranking?

Link Building is very famous and most important part of SEO, Search Engine optimization process. All web site owners who want to get top their web sites, pays for SEO to come in top ranking on major search engine ranking page. Many more search engine optimization services provider companies have added Directory Submission and Link Exchange process in their SEO Services menu.

Link building and link exchanger is a process which is very famous to get top ranking, here most of website owners are looking for one way link exchange, means get inbound links from other related site, without giving him back links, as some are getting paid links, it’s not as hard as free one way link. But how one way linking is effective is possible for top ranking in search engines? I think all inbound links will not be counted by search engines as back link. Than what is benefits of that link which has not been counted by search engine? Actually I have read many more time on web and specially in forums about one way link or back links from directory submission, but if this is very effective, than why we need to work on other seo activities like forum posting, bookmarking article submission.

source:- semaphore-software.com/

Joomla Content Management System For Your Business

What is Joomla! ?

Joomla! is an award-winning, web based, Content Management System(CMS) that provides its users with the ability to add, edit and delete content. Content is the meat of a website, everything on the site, from page titles and images to text and placement on the page. It is simple for even non-technical users to add or edit content, update images, and to manage the vital data that makes your company run. Anybody with basic word processing skills can easily learn to manage a Joomla! site. So what this means to the many non-programmers in the business World, is a freedom. The freedom to modify your website without need of hiring a html developer or web programmer just to update one image or change some text. So what is the catch? well, there really isn't one! Joomla! is open source and is released under the GPL/GNU Licence so that means its free for anyone to use as long as licenses within the code remain intact!

Currently Joomla powers millions of websites Worldwide, from the United Nations and Porsche Brazil to websites for smaller businesses with more modest design budgets. Joomla offers a versatility in how it can be used and who it can be used by. Of course for more complex jobs of modifying design and your own look and feel upholstery cleaning oakland might need to hire a designer, however this task is made easier because Joomla is so popular. To find qualified web designers who have used Joomla in the past, it is very easy, a simple search on one of the many freelance designer-for-hire websites on the Internet. You can even post your individual project and have designers bid on your project and you can make your selection from the bidders.

From my experience most people have no trouble understanding the basics necessary to edit content and pages and given that Joomla has such an active and growing community of more than 40,000 users and developers it is quite easy to find information home furniture cleaning Using the simple, browser-based interface you will be able to easily add new news items, manage staff information, job listings, product images, and create an unlimited amount of sections or content pages on your website.

From my web design experience I know that with very little configuration, Joomla! does a fantastic job of managing the web content needed to make a business website run. However for many people, the true power of Joomla! lies in its ability to be modified with components and modules. There are literally hundreds & hundreds of component addons and plugins that add to the base Joomla website how to clean upholstery framework so that it can be molded into suiting your business processes better. For example, there are extensions to make the website an ecommerce website, to make the website a property management website or a complex download repository.

source:- corsavoo.com/

Global Software Product Development Outsource Provider Opens New Development Centers in the US and Latin America

A global software product development services and consultancy provider headquartered in San Diego, California, propelled by strong customer growth has expanded its operations through the addition of three new software development centers. These development centers are located in Quito, Ecuador, Buenos Aires, Argentina and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. These sites are in addition to neubloc's existing three development centers in Poland and its headquarters site in San Diego. The new locations are part of the strategy for worldwide development of the company that aims to provide an expanded global presence, ability to handle development in time zones close to the US and the ability to implement "Follow the Sun" development/QA models by combining services in Poland and Latin America. Finally with the opening of the Oklahoma City facility neubloc now has an embedded software development facility that compares favorably to any such center worldwide.

This is just one of the most recent steps the company has undertaken to leverage its exponential growth trend, as neubloc has managed to yearly more than double its growth rate, since the date of its establishment. Monthly revenues are up 157% year over year. The company's representatives quote as reasons for this accelerated growth is its focus on software product development (vs IT development), its complete software product development offering from human interface design, development and test and finally the high quality of engineering combined with low attrition that can be sourced in Poland and Latin America. This combination of quality of development services, low employee turnover (critical in software product development), US based design and management and focus on product development make neubloc unique among hybrid onshore/offshore software services suppliers.

Although on its earliest growth phase, the Latin American centers will triple its current volume of operations by the end of this year. The new development teams comprise years of experience in bringing high-class software products to the market. The center will absorb various software development projects: development and integration of software products, usability design and implementation and finally ongoing test and maintenance.

"By opening our new centers in Latin America and the US, we are reinforcing our commitment to offering a full range of product development skills and services," said Armando Viteri, CEO and President of neubloc "The centers are a key component of our global strategy to drive the local development expertise and delivery of leading edge software products and to provide unmatched support to our customers."

Based on its experience of over 6 years in the international software product development market, neubloc addresses clients from various domains, worldwide, especially in markets like the U.S., Canada, Western Europe and in industries such as: media & entertainment, distribution, financial services, education, storage systems, social networking, etc.

source:- neubloc.com/

Internet Explorer, Firefox got their users back

Few days ago, Google Search Engine launched smart, stylish and faster web browser, Google Chrome, and after launch of chrome, many more users had downloaded browser chrome, and started to work with chrome web browser.

As I can definitely say that any seo expert has not used this web browser, coz Google’s own browser chrome, is not able to install Google Tool bar, and also other social bookmarking buttons are not supported for chrome, as chrome programming is same as Mozilla Firefox, nothing extra just difference of color. Google announced that this fast, safe and stylish browser, as it. It’s faster than IE but still as per online survey and communication with web masters and also discussing on some forums regarding Google Chrome popularity, many more web masters told that they had already uninstall chrome from their system and start using Mozilla Firefox as default web browser.

Source:- semaphore-software.com/

Microsoft's Latest Ad Buy

Microsoft today announced that it is purchasing Rapt, an advertising technology company specializing in sophisticated analytical tools. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Today's is the latest in a frenzied string of acquisitions by Microsoft and other Internet heavyweights looking to expand the reach and technology underlying their online advertising businesses. Most recently, Microsoft purchased YaData, an Israeli company specializing in behavioral targeting technology.

The Rapt buy is about helping well-funded Web publishers manage their advertising efforts with premium analytics and campaign planning features. Microsoft will fold Rapt's technology into its Atlas Publisher Suite (APS). Atlas is one of the brands Microsoft acquired through its purchase of aQuantive.

Consistently, Web publishers say that they want to focus on driving ad sales by improving their content and their users' experience, but that is only a small part of the equation, said Scott Howe, general manager of Microsoft's APS.

"Selling online advertising if you're a publisher is hard, and it's getting more complex as time goes on," Howe said.

Where many publishers need help is in the technical aspects of managing ad sales, such as pricing, forecasting and selling remnant inventory.

Rapt's Yield Advisor product, which Microsoft will begin promoting to publishers as soon as the deal closes, offers predictive tools for sites to plan ad sales around future-looking inventory estimates.

Pricing analytics are designed to help sales teams determine the optimal rates to charge advertisers, aimed at minimizing the amount of unsold inventory.

Microsoft expects the purchase to round out its suite of offerings for publishers.

"As a result of this acquisition, we feel like we have no gaps," Howe told InternetNews.com. "We can partner with the publisher very narrowly or very broadly."

The announcement comes just a day after Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) announced its first ad product following the close of the DoubleClick acquisition -- also a service for publishers to manage their ad inventories and sell remnant space on their sites.

In their latest ad moves, Microsoft and Google are both courting publishers. The principal difference is that Google's Ad Manager, a free, hosted service, is intended for small companies with marginal sales staffs, while Microsoft's acquisition of Rapt is geared for high-end publishers with large content networks and sales staffs. Among Rapt's clients are The New York Times Company, Fox Interactive Media, Yahoo and Microsoft itself.

source:- internetnews.com/