As a further demonstration of its investors’ confidence in its business model, Flexiant, the software and services company, today announces the close of a further investment round, raising approximately £1m.

This funding provides Flexiant with additional working capital to further develop Extility, its revolutionary cloud computing technology, and its infrastructure-as-a-service offering, FlexiScale.

Flexiant’s Extility software is a licensed virtualised cloud platform delivering all the benefits of real-time server estate management to end-users through its unique user interface and API. Central to these end-user benefits is the ability to shape server requirements to meet and exceed the demands of a perpetually shifting market landscape, allowing provisioning and reconfiguration of servers in seconds or minutes rather than hours or days.

Licensees of Extility not only enjoy the competitive edge of providing world class scalable services to existing or new business; the savings springing from Extility’s unified platform mean that they are able to do so at realistic prices in a market projected to comprise of over 20% of corporate IT infrastructure within five years.

Flexiant will also continue to market its FlexiScale public cloud service which has been running for nearly three years. FlexiScale’s leading-edge technology enables start-ups and SMEs to grow from one server to one thousand servers in seconds – critical for organisations offering streaming video, social networking or SaaS, and ideal for a wealth of other applications.

FlexiScale’s pay-as-you-go virtual dedicated servers can be up and running, or taken down in less than 60 seconds, ensuring businesses can rapidly shape their IT resources in response to dynamic market conditions. With no long-term commitment or capital expenditure required from customers, FlexiScale facilitates clear focus on core business activities by reducing time, energy and effort spent on IT provisioning and investment.

The funding round was backed by over twenty angel investors, as well as the management team.

Alex Bligh, Chief Executive Officer of Flexiant, said: “This investment will enable Flexiant to develop further our technology and to drive our sales process. At a time when the demand for this kind of technology far exceeds the availability of proven models such as Extility and FlexiScale, Flexiant is uniquely positioned to take advantage of this market place.”

http://www.flexiant.com

Digital communications agency CIVIC is to share the secrets of using Facebook for business in a seminar for the JCI Edinburgh Social Media Academy tonight.

Darcie Tanner, CIVIC’s “Digital Media Geek”, will teach her audience how to get the most of the popular social networking site through advertising, fan pages and the “like function”. She will lead discussion on the business benefits of Facebook and will be joined by speakers from Illegal Jack’s South West Grill and Greener Leith.

Darcie says: “There is too much at stake for businesses to ignore digital media, especially since the key social networking sites are free to use. It is an incredibly accessible and flexible tool so it should be a part of any marketing strategy, even if it is simply a supplement to traditional methods.”

Sponsored by CIVIC, the academy brings together the cream of Edinburgh’s digital media talent to share their wisdom over seven teaching sessions. It is a volunteer project coordinated by the Edinburgh branch of Junior Chamber International and aims to get its members to start using social media effectively in their businesses and social lives.

Participants will be encouraged to practice using all of their new skills to promote a business throughout the duration of the course. At the end of the block, CIVIC will present an iPad to the person who has generated the most activity for their chosen organisation.

Jonathan Melville, CIVIC’s video expert, will lead a session on the use of YouTube and AudioBoo on Thursday 7 October.

User Vision, one of Europe’s leading independent user experience consultancies, has today announced the opening of an office in Dubai to service clients in the Middle East and North Africa.

This news follows significant growth of the company’s client base in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region and strong demand from the market for the usability and accessibility of websites, software, advertising and digital channels.

User Vision has been active in the GCC region for four years working with leaders in the travel, tourism and e-commerce sectors, including Emirates Airline and the Jumeirah Group. They have also performed regional projects for financial services firms and government entities in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. In Europe they have worked with a broad spectrum of public and private sector including the BBC, HSBC, Dell, Nokia and many parts of the UK government.

The GCC team, led by Chris Rourke, User Vision’s founder and Managing Director, will target commercial and public sector organisations, offering the full spectrum of user experience services including usability testing, web accessibility, eye tracking, emotion and attention research, true intent studies, user needs assessments and expert usability evaluations.

By testing websites and other digital channels, User Vision makes them easier to use and so increases the revenues and bottom line profits for their clients. The company improves the customer experience across many platforms including websites, interactive TV, software, mobile phones, keyboards, and consumer products.

The rapid growth of e-commerce in the GCC has led to an increasing demand for user experience services. User Vision will bring the latest techniques, state of the art technology and best practice to its Dubai operation to help GCC companies understand their customers and benefit commercially from more user-centred design to websites, mobile applications and software.

Testing in Arabic and English, User Vision has developed tremendous experience within the GCC region and has a deep understanding of the cultural complexities and nuances needed to deliver user-centred design research and analysis.

“We are thrilled to have a presence in Dubai to serve clients in the region”, said Chris Rourke, User Vision’s MD. “Adoption of the internet is rapidly increasing in the GCC region and our track record here gives us a great opportunity to help organisations create intuitive and persuasive user experiences.”

User Vision will officially announce the launch of the new office at The Internet Show 2010 on 21 and 22 September at The Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. They will also be exhibiting at the show and presenting on the business benefits of focusing on the user experience of web site design at 1:30 on the 21st.

Headquartered in the United Kingdom, User Vision aims to be the leading provider of usability services, service design and user-centred design in the GCC by building strong long and trusting relationships with organisations in all sectors who see the internet and digital channels as a valuable tool to reach and communicate with their customers.

For further information on User Vision’s services in the region, contact Jameel Is’haq (Jameel@uservision.com) at their regional office:

User Vision
Office 508
The Fairmont Dubai
Sheikh Zayed Road
Dubai
United Arab Emirates

Tel: +9714 311 6607
Fax: +9714 332 8810

FreeAgent Central, the pioneering online accounting software company, has been listed by The Guardian as one of today’s hottest and most innovative emerging companies in the tech and media industries. This news comes just days after the company was nominated web app of the year by tech magazine .Net.

Tech Media Invest 100 (TMI) is Europe’s leading network connecting high-tech entrepreneurs to investors and strategic partners through specialised events. This week The Guardian, in association with PricewaterhouseCoopers and Kemp Little, published Tech Media Invest’s top 100 companies in Europe.

Ed Molyneux, FreeAgent Central CEO comments: “This is a massive accolade for us. We are absolutely delighted with this news and extremely proud of FreeAgent and what we have achieved on our mission to democratise accounting for the small business owner.”

TMI aims to showcase high-growth companies that are developing innovative ways to serve business and consumers, and have the potential to radically change the shape of the technology and media industry.

FreeAgent online software is easy to use and gives a clear picture of profit and loss, making running a business easier and putting the small business owner in control of their finances.

As freelancers themselves, the three founders of FreeAgent Central needed a finance tool that would give them a clear picture of their business accounts. That product did not exist and so FreeAgent was born.

The software has a clean and simple design, highly intuitive and usable. It prepares VAT returns, calculates self assessed income tax and corporation tax and manages PAYE and NI. Users can monitor profit and loss, send and track invoices, track time and expenses, manage projects and payments.

FreeAgent also encourages collaboration between accountant and client by allowing accountants to login to the system, so they can offer the most up-to-date advice. Accountants can easily export trial balance data to generate end-of-year accounts.

Thirty of the best companies from this list will be invited to present their business at the forthcoming Tech Media Invest 2010, taking place on October 18th at the Cumberland Hotel in London.

The TMI Advisory Board deployed a detailed process to whittle down a pool of eligible, promising companies to get to the top 100 winners. Evaluations were made on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, such as financial performance, innovation, management, global strategy, and ecosystem integration.

Companies showcased entered the list either by applying or by nomination by the Tech Media Invest Advisory Board. The combined efforts of the Board and Selection Committee were used to evaluate companies. The resulting list was approved by Board, which consisted of some of the UK’s most experienced investors in modern technology and media – a mix of venture capitalists, investment analysts, professional advisers and technology lawyers, who applied judgement and identified the best performers and the ones to watch.

The list comprises of the following:
- Top 10 – These are the top UK entrepreneurial tech and media companies as ranked and judged by the Advisory Board
- The 90 best UK emerging and innovative Tech & Media Companies
- In addition the Advisory Board have selected the 10 tech and media industry trailblazers

It is the fear of every new intern that their day will solely consist of making coffee, running errands and being barked at by everyone from the Managing Director to the visiting IT man. So you can imagine my relief when I turned up on Monday morning to be warmly welcomed at the Hot Tin Roof office with a fresh cup of coffee and a desk all to myself.

The girls in the office went through all their clients and were kind enough not to laugh at my questions. I am now much more enlightened on the subjects of cloud computing and moo cards. What a difference a week can make!

The best thing about the internship, apart from the coffee, is the freedom to try every aspect of the PR industry. Sarah and Lucy definitely come from the school of ‘learn by doing’. I’ve attended business meetings, spoken to the editors of national publications and met the head honchos of Edinburgh’s creative industry at a business brunch, where I’m afraid the novelty of having business cards took over. I don’t think a single person went away without a shiny silver card and Hot Tin Roof on their mind.

So to conclude, the fears at the start of the week have been dispelled and I’m glad to say have been replaced with a fiery passion that PR is what I want to do. That’s the charm of Hot Tin Roof; bringing you round to their way of thinking.

heather@hottinroof.co.uk