Startups And Communities @ Sun

Formation Optimisation MySQL

2009-11-18T23:51:22-08:00

Désolé, il ne reste plus de place pour cette matinée dédiée à l'optimisation des performances MySQL.

Date : 24 novembre 2009
Prix : Cette matinée est gratuite !

Session 1 : 9h30-10h45

Architecture MySQL : Parsing, exécution, optimizer, query cache, binlog…etc
Architecture Innodb : Clustered index, bufferpool, hash index, insert buffer, locking model, MVCC, recovery log, checkpoint…etc. Comparaison avec les autres moteurs de stockage (PBXT, MySQL Cluster) et bases de données (PostgreSQL, Oracle ..).

Pause/Café : 10h45-11h00.

Session 2 : 11h00-12h30

Évolutions récentes : Google SMP patches, XtraDB, Oracle innodb plugin 1.0.4
Apports de MySQL 5.4
Améliorations à venir : Ahead flushing / Adaptive checkpoint, Purge lag / Purge thread, Splitted locks, etc…Explication technique des améliorations et des gains de performance obtenus.

Nous parlerons aussi de MySQL Enterprise et du MySQL Query analyzer qui vous permet d’optimiser un environnement MySQL.

Cette matinée se veut conviviale et interactive avec Q&A.

Startup of the Week: Joyent Scores Big!

2009-11-17T16:37:16-08:00

Congrats Joyent team for the fantastic announcement today!!

Intel has just announced a strategic investment in Joyent. More on the Press Release.

Joyent, both a long-time Sun Startup Essentials member and hosting partner - has been profitable for years, and boasts some really impressive customers (e.g. ABC.com, LinkedIn, and more). More recently Gilt Groupe, an online luxury goods retailer with over $200M, publicly stated that they spend less than 1% of their revenue on IT infrastructure (all on Joyent), which is 70% savings over Gartner industry averages. That saves them at least $10M a year!

Check out this great video!

OpenCoffee Club Rennes

2009-11-17T01:39:51-08:00

Le prochain OpenCoffee de Rennes se tiendra demain, mercredi 18 novembre à 19h00, au St Melaine rue St Melaine.

OpenCoffee Club Sophia

2009-11-16T08:48:25-08:00

Réunion de l'OpenCoffee de Sophia le jeudi 19 novembre de 18 à 21h00, aux Terrasses d'Antipolis, 300 route des Crêtes.

MySQL scalability: diagnostic for the beginners

2009-11-16T08:26:37-08:00

I've been working with 2 startups to understand how their infrastructure behaves today and what could prevent them to scale with MySQL, which led me to show how to run a quick diagnostic on an existing system and to restate some key fundamentals in terms of scalability.

What the Smart Grid means for Startups

2009-11-13T15:09:48-08:00

GreenBeat 2009 will bring together the nation’s 500 leading entrepreneurs, investors, utilities, technology executives, and policymakers to accelerate the development of a leaner, more efficient electrical grid. GreenBeat 2009 will map out the hottest business and technology opportunities the Smart Grid has to offer. Renovating the power grid requires big ideas from start-ups!

The program will feature participation by Al Gore, former Vice President and Nobel Prize Winner; John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins; Eric Schmitt of Google and Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures. The program also features executives from Cisco, Tendril, Oracle, and more. Expect lively discussion and power networking. The program also includes an innovation competition that will highlight new technologies and will explore the financial and investment opportunities afforded by the stimulus package. More details can be found at www.greenbeat2009.com.

Will Smart Grid and smart metering initiatives change consumer behavior, and how? How will the more than $4 billion the Obama Administration has earmarked for Smart Grid make a difference? Which incentives and policies will speed deployment? Where will the most disruption take place in this trillion-dollar business that hasn’t changed for decades? Do startups stand a chance? Where should they focus? What role will cybersecurity and interoperability play in how a new, revamped grid takes shape? GreenBeat will get industry leaders’ answers to these questions and more.

We have made arrangements for 30% off the regular rate and you may use the following link and special code to register. http://greenbeat2009.eventbrite.com/?discount=GBSunVIP

Marketing Masterclass - The Slides and feedback

2009-11-13T03:55:15-08:00

What an evening of discussion and education on Brand, Michael Bayler gave an amazingly energetic hours talk on brand and how important it is to be clear about your brand strategy before you do anything else. The video of this event will be available in a few weeks time and thus all Sun Startup Essential members who couldn't make the event can watch the material and gain an insight into this wonderful evening.

Michael Bayler has a website here if you wish to know more about him and what he can do for you.

Sun Startup Essentials Marketing Masterclass

View more documents from Sun Startup Essentials.

Startup Weekend Comes to NYC

2009-11-12T13:47:29-08:00

Have you ever had a great idea for a startup but needed the motivation and encouragement to actually make it a reality? Join the Startup Weekend community and find out how easy it is to go from idea to launch in only 54 hours!

We are also excited to announce Sun Startup Essentials will be supporting Startup Weekend in New York City for Global Entrepreneurship Week November 20-22^nd at our office in Manhattan! Sun Startup Essentials members get 25% off. Send us an email to get the discount code.

Not in NYC? There are 14 events before the end of the year! Find all of the upcoming events at http://startupweekend.org/

What is Startup Weekend?

Startup Weekend is a 54 hour startup event that provides networking, resources and incentives for individuals and teams to go from idea to launch. Get connected with local developers, innovators and entrepreneurs. Build Community. Start Companies. No Talk - All Action.

When:

November 20-22 (Friday 6pm-11pm, Sat/Sun 8am-10pm)

Where:

Sun Microsystems, 101 Park Ave, NYC. Map.

Website: http://nyc.startupweekend.org/

Who Should Attend:

Startup Weekend is open to anyone who wants to be an entrepreneur! Developers, Designers, Marketing, Business Development, Social Media, Lawyers, Students, etc… Anyone who considers themselves an entrepreneur.

What:

On Friday night people pitch their ideas, there can be as few as 25 pitches or as many as 100, we keep on pitching until everyone is done! We do a simple vote of everyone’s favorite 2 or 3 to narrow down the ideas by about 80%. Individuals then gather around each idea to discuss feasibility, and normally a few more will be dropped. For a room of one hundred people we generally see teams between 5-10 people and a total of between 10-15 teams working away on 10-15 new startups. People then come in early on Saturday and work work work for the rest of the weekend until giving a demo of the newly created startup on Sunday evening. We’ve had teams that were generating revenue on Saturday evening in the past! It’s a great learning experience, great networking, and a lot of fun to roll up your sleeves and get in the trenches launching a new startup!

Cost:

Only $75 which includes amazing speakers, mentors & assistance from experienced entrepreneurs, prizes, 7 Meals, Drinks, Free Web Hosting, Handouts, Swag, and more.

About Startup Weekend:

Startup Weekend is a nonprofit association supported by companies like Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, The Kauffman Foundation, Unleashing Ideas, Cooley Godward Kronish, Media Temple, and many others. Startup Weekend has been covered on the likes of CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, The Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, and more. We are passionate entrepreneurs out to help other entrepreneurs pursue new ideas more efficiently and effectively than ever before.

Contacts:

Ph: +1.206.659.4484

E-Mail

Follow Startup Weekend on Twitter

Did We Say Hosting at 25% Off?

2009-11-11T14:09:58-08:00

Looking for rock-solid web hosting at discounted rates? Talk to someone that understand startups

Joyent has a deal for Sun Startup Essentials program members with hosting services 25% off list price. Starting price is $16.59/month. No joke!

To take advantage of the special pricing for Sun Startup Essentials startups, all you need is your Sun Startup Essentials ID #. Just click on the "Buy Now" button, and select the service(s) you're interested in purchasing. Find out more on the Joyent website.

Not a member yet? Sign up for Sun's startup program absolutely free at sun.com/startup. And if for some reason you do not qualify for the Sun Startup Essentials program, don't worry. Joyent has several plans available that will suit you just fine.

And if you don't love Joyent and Sun Startup Essentials already, check out the free Facebook Developer Program.

Guest Post - Jeremy Kay's view on the Greg Dyke Breakfast Briefing.

2009-11-11T08:54:11-08:00

Jez Kay is Owner of NowHouse, a digital video and sound production company based in London. He helps businesses inject personality into their brands through vision, soundtracks and the occasional song and dance.

This is the event Jeremy attended and is discussing below

Greg Dyke's talk early on the 22nd October at Sun Start-Essentials HQ, as a guest
speaker of Federation 100 was engaging, illuminating, mischevious and
all-in-all pretty inspiring.

Unlike some other peers or similar luminaries he doesn't cloud things with
jargon, bizspeak, pomposity or otherwise diverting talk. Instead he gets on
with the agenda, which is, for the most part, "What's on Greg Dyke's mind?".

Over the course of 1 1/2 hours we were treated to his thoughts on the BBC,
including the infamous Sacking as associated with Lord Hutton's enquiry on
weapons of mass destruction, the State of the Union and UK democracy in
general, the Death of Newspapers, realtime reporting, Great Ideas and Berlin
Wall Moments.

Greg Dyke, of course, pulls no punches. We had uncompromising views on the
effects of the expenses row and how he thinks it will open up MPs'
accountability in the future. How democracy, as ruled by party politics, is
crumbling because of its anachronistic crony-istic nature. How Margaret
Thatcher was "better than" Blair on account of her staunch approach and
views (as opposed to Blair's lack of either). How Obama's election approach
was completely revolutionary in its adoption of new media to rally support,
directly. And how this direct engagement with voters could see the death of
newspapers as we know them.

He regrets the lack of insightful journalism in broadcast media. How news is
winning over current affairs and more considered coverage. He's also clearly
saddened, if not appalled, by the state of BBC and how it seems to be in the
hands of the trustees, not the actual management, which he clearly regards
as weak and without a clear mandate. Mind you, he had stronger words to say
about ITV's management, which he found farcical as, according to him, it
didn't seem to be run by anyone!

So - all hot stuff to be sure. More possible controversies than you can
shake a stick at. If it hadn't been an early morning breakfast meeting then
it may well have been more newsworthy. Just as well, as that made it
well-and-truly a thoroughly motivating start to the day.

FREE EVENT - Learn how to get the best out of Java & What's coming next!

2009-11-11T04:25:24-08:00

From embedded to enterprise, learn how to get the best out of Java and what's coming next.

If you have made an investment in Java applications, maybe as an independent software vendor (ISV) or as a member of a corporate development team, this event is for you.

Over the course of this day you will learn how to get the best out of your existing Java applications, be they embedded, standard or enterprise edition, as well as taking a look at Real-Time Java.

Gain a better understanding of what makes Java "tick", get closer to the experts at Sun Microsystems and learn what future developments will bring.

Agenda

When?	What?	Who?
09:30	Registration	All
10:00	Introduction	Jay Huff – Software Marketing Director, Sun Microsystems Europe
10:15	Getting more from your existing Java applications	Simon Ritter – Java Evangelist, Sun Microsystems
11:15	Java for Business. Getting the best (out of Sun) for your Java applications.	Owen Stuart – Java Sustaining, Critical Situation Manager, Europe, Middle East and Africa
12:15	Lunch and meet the speakers
13:30	A look at Java SE embedded and real-time Java	Helen Cullen - Systems Engineer, OEM Software Sales / Andy Gilbert - Systems Engineer, OEM Software Sales
14:45	New Stuff – Java Enterprise Edition 6 and GlassFish 3	Steve Elliott – Technology Evangelist, Sun Microsystems UK
15:30	Break
15:45	More New Stuff – Java Standard Edition 7 and JavaFX	Simon Ritter - Java Evangelist Sun Microsystems & Simon Cook – Software Architect Sun Microsystems UK
16:45	Q & A	All speakers
17:00	Closing remarks	Jay Huff - Software Marketing Director, Sun Microsystems Europe

More details and Registration:

When: Tuesday December 1st 2009
Where: Sun Customer Briefing Centre, 45 King William Street, London, EC4R 9AN
Register HERE now

The Sixty-Second Startup Digest

2009-11-11T02:11:37-08:00

Busy entrepreneurs need to stay on top of all the latest startup information, but who has the time? Here's a look at what went on around blogosphere and in the news this week, in case you missed it.

Seattle-based Frazier Technology Ventures has been going strong for 44 years. Now it looks like it's at the end of a successful ride.

Getting audited by the IRS is never any fun, and it's worse when the cold eye of Uncle Sam turns to your startup. Brush up on these five classic triggers of an IRS audit.

We've all heard about bootstrapping a business, but how do you make it work for you? Here are some great ideas to get you started.

Looking for some other great startup blogs to read (besides this one, of course)? Here's a list of some that are definitely worth checking out.

"Freemium" apps are a hot topic in the startup sector these days. Here's one company that's making it work..

Flickr image courtesy of angermann.

Jobs, jobs, and more jobs (no,not Steve)

2009-11-10T08:49:49-08:00

In this economic environment larger companies are cutting back to become lean and agile, but startups are looking for investment and to grow.

Yet another way the Sun Startup Essentials program can help our startups (and the economy) is to provide current opportunities to our large readership & member-base. We are not trying to be recruitment agents, nor will we get involved in any part of that process, but we have a great platform to assist startups.

I hear of job vacancies mainly through my twitter stream but also at events and during networking sessions, please feel free to let me know if you know other startups hiring.

Here are a few current opportunities from UK +European SSE members that I know of: (more coming)

Good Rails/iPhone Developer for a seed-funded stealth startup (send me a tweet)
MindCandy have a variety of roles - http://mindcandy.com/recruitment
Spotify also - http://www.spotify.com/en/about/jobs/
SoundCloud too - http://soundcloud.com/pages/jobs

Subscribe to the startup program and follow me @scoobeesnac or subscribe to our blog post summaries using the textfield to the right-side of the blog, to hear more.

Startups of the Day: Sound Cloud and Huddle

2009-11-09T09:57:45-08:00

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.

ZFS compression improves IO perf, saves disk space, and reduces power consumption

2009-11-09T00:58:59-08:00

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.

James Caan and Azmat from UK Staff - Another Sun Startup Essentials Reference customer

2009-11-08T03:16:41-08:00

A big Hand for your business ideas

2009-11-05T02:21:53-08:00

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.

I so can't wait for this - Join us at #140conf London - 17 Nov at O2 Indigo

2009-11-03T15:02:44-08:00

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:

Get the tickets quickly as this will be a sell out shortly.

SmallBizPod - The untapped resource for Small Businesses Globally

2009-11-03T08:23:44-08:00

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 -

Sun Startup Essentials helps one of James Caan's small businesses reduce its carbon emissions by 85%

2009-11-03T08:00:05-08:00

Sun Startup Essentials helps small business reduce carbon emissions by 85%

Open Coffee et BarCamp à Sophia Antipolis

2009-11-03T05:36:34-08:00

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)

Startup of the Day: Micello... You Did It Again!

2009-11-02T12:37:01-08:00

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.

Startup Weekend Paris du 4 au 6 décembre 2009

2009-11-02T06:50:04-08:00

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.

Wordle

2009-11-02T03:19:29-08:00

A rather lovely Wordle of the SSE blog - rather funky don't you think.

CMS - Startup in a Box ?

2009-11-02T03:10:29-08:00

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

Sun Startup Essentials - Breakfast Briefing

2009-11-02T02:56:57-08:00

...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...

What lessons have we learned?

What do you do when your whole world has SUDDENLY collapsed, the rug has been pulled out from under you, the regulators are circling and the media spotlight is focused on you?

We are doing business in unpredictable times - impacted by the collapse of the financial systems. And experts are predicting another down surge...

How do you lead your team, your employees, shareholders and family who are all looking to you for inspiration?

As we get closer to the 1st anniversary of one of the darkest winters the finance markets had ever seen, we bring to you our next breakfast...

Leading through a Catastrophe!

Mark Sismey-Durrant is the Chief Executive of Heritable Bank. He knows what he is talking about - having been at the heart of some of the most dramatic events before Christmas last year...(Iceland rings a bell?)

He has been there, done it - and is coming out on the other side. He has never spoken at an interactive public event - this is the first time Mark will share his insider secrets of leading in these uncertain times.

So, here is your invitation to a breakfast full of shock, surprises, inspiration and intrigue.

Insider Secrets - Behind the Scenes with Mark Sismey-Durrant

Date: Monday, November 23, 2009 at 8:00 AM (GMT)

Location: London Customer Briefing Centre Sun Microsystems Ltd. Regis House 45 King William Street London, London EC4R 9AN
United Kingdom

Click here to book: http://marksismeydurrant.eventbrite.com

Sun Startup Essential Members check your November newsletter for a Discount code and for 3 FREE PLACES to attend.

Free Webinar: Creating a Perfectly Tuned System

2009-10-30T14:26:45-07:00

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.

Date: November 4, 2009
Time: 8:00 am PDT / 11:00 am EDT / 4:00 pm UK / 5:00 pm Central Europe / 8:30 pm India (New Delhi) (check timezone)
Speakers: Tushar Katarki, Product Manager, Angelo Rajadurai, Sr. Technical Evangelist, Sun Startup Essentials

Archived Webinars

Helia a installé OpenSolaris sur une Dedibox. Témoignage

2009-10-30T05:39:49-07:00

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

Media140 - Guest Post write up from Sarah Blow

2009-10-30T03:33:03-07:00

The other day I was one of the lucky few with the opportunity to attend the Media140 Branding event over at RIBA in London. The event was aimed at media professionals and the majority of the audience were PR agencies and branding professionals.

Having spoken to a number of the attendees I would have to say there were as many experts in the audience with interesting things to say on Branding, building a brand and representing the brand on Twitter and related tools as there were on stage. The content that was provided on the stage was only a small part of what was actually shared and the #media140 twitter stream provided a raft of additional conversation and content.

So what came up at the event... And what did not... Here's a few of my notes:

Community

Rather than engaging directly with communities the general consensus for agencies represented by the speakers and panels was that you should seek out those that influence rather than those that look after, or run communities. This was an interesting perspective from my point of view as a community owner through Girl Geek Dinners and as a brand advocate with TweetMeme. I have to say that in some ways the community leaders are also to some degree influencers but not in the traditional agency approach. It's interesting to hear how the agencies see influencers in terms of followers and retweet reach rather than people who can direct a mass of people towards a brand. I'm sure I'll be writing more on this in the future!

Acceptance

The acceptance of a brand seems to be directly related to respecting the privacy of individuals and engaging at a relevant point, not at random or at a point suited to the brand owner. Brands don't seem to be accepted unless they are honest and open... Transparency is key. The issue of transparency came up many times across all the panel discussions.

Trust

Transparency of the conversation became really important+, who are you talking with if you are talking to a brand... Brands being personal came up a lot and the conversations flowed around being a brand on Twitter versus being an individual on twitter that happened to work for a brand. Consumers were less rude with individuals who worked for a company than they did with a company that was represented on twitter.

"richard baker of Virgin Trains gets fewer abusive comments than @virgintrains - are people rude to brands over people?"

Engagement

How do you converse or shout at people who you want to engage and purchase your brand products? After all that really is what you are after right? Is it all about conversation or is it about shouting out to get your brand heard and noticed. The Habitat example got a fair bit of time at today's event. Along with Ryanair. Both were seen as examples of brand failure today due to negative press but as the stats show negative press can result in the case of Ryanair as positive sales as people hear the brand name and recognize it. So does that still mean that all press is good press. It certainly suggested that TV and newspapers still have the greater traction and action as a result of them. But could over time Twitter, Facebook etc actually be better and provide a faster route to a sale... The answer still hangs in the air on that one at the moment with a lack of stats on conversion rates.

Identity

There was a lot of conversation around the brand identity getting lost on Twitter with too many Twitter accounts and people not knowing which account or even if they should be tweeting to an account to get a response or go through formal methods such as a call centre to get a response. Today's wifi and subsequent BT wireless failure was a classic example of this. The issue was tweeted and a promise of it being rectified was made via twitter but the Wifi never did come back up properly. The issue was said to be with BT for the whole of the local area. So would they have been better off calling in the issue... I guess we will never know and this is the same sort of experience most customers have with brands on Twitter. Then you have the situation where brands are represented by individuals such as @kerryfromDell compared to @innocentdrinks where lots of people are under one brand name. Personally I went looking for @innocentsmoothies and guess what... I probably wasn't the only one... Identifying the brand and finding them can be as hard as finding out their rules of engagement. These should be clear and concise... Do you just follow people back or only follow those that you engage with.

Values

One thing that came up today was that older brands struggle to find out what their true brand values actually are today. These were lost when the original founders left the company. They are also split and reduced as companies merge or are acquired. So then companies have to look deep within themselves to find their true brand values and show these through their brand and it's representations online. And for those companies where this is proving to be hard we are seeing individuals with personality within an organization being brought forward to represent the brand with their own personal flair.

Mission

What is the mission of the brand... Is it to make reading cool.... Or to provide healthy drinks to all! What is your mission and also what do you want to get out of your social media strategy!

Tools

There were a whole range of social media tools that were mentioned in the talks today, granted most were from just one talk but across the talks here's the tools that were recommended by the speakers at Media 140!

TweetMeme (analytics, custom channels, interesting content, retweet buttons & search)

TweetTabs (Multi tabbed real time search)

Cymfony

ViralTracker

Delicious

TweetDeck

TweetFunnel

TwitterFall

Trendistic

Startup Weekend - London Nov 20-22nd

2009-10-30T00:35:20-07:00

Startup Weekend London - Sun Startup Essential Members Discount Tickets 25% off - A special startup weekend, 54 hour startup event that provides the resourcs and incentives for individuals and teams to go from idea to launch. Find out more now and read up on all the aspects of the weekend HERE

But first please check out the exciting news :