Businesses can get at SaaS data, from any source, and integrate data quickly by using the connection cloud

MENLO PARK, Calif., June 19 — The Connection Cloud, a revolutionary PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) technology enabling real-time access to SaaS data in the cloud, launched today, solving a major data integration headache for business end users and IT managers. For the first time, using the Connection Cloud, users can get at the underlying SaaS data where it resides; skipping the many complex integration steps they previously had to take.

Four years in development, the Connection Cloud changes the landscape of how businesses can access SaaS-based data, and collect and integrate that data, to create the reports and analysis they need, without the enormous time and money spent on complex integration projects. The Connection Cloud is the first to create standards within cloud data access and integration. It enables any SQL-capable application, business tool, or development language to access data from where it resides, essentially treating that data as if it were combined in a single SQL-compliant relational database.

"The Connection Cloud is a game changer for us. In the past, integrating operational data from SaaS applications for reporting and analysis for our clients has been challenging. Every SaaS application has a different way to access data," said Mike Vannoy, COO of Austin, TX sales acceleration company, Sales Engine International. "Now I tell the Connection Cloud which SaaS data I need and suddenly I have access to it, in real-time, from where it sits."

"In looking at the evolution of cloud computing I saw such strong parallels between the integration challenge we solved with relational database software, and the enormous dis-integration problems businesses were facing, trying to bring together data from different sources and experiencing time-consuming interoperability issues," said Roger Sippl, the lead architect and CEO of the Connection Cloud. Sippl was on the founding team of three IPOs, Informix and Visigenic Software, which he founded, and Vantive, which he co-founded.

"The Connection Cloud moves database technology into the 21^st century and provides a way to get at SaaS data, in real-time, from where it resides," said Sippl.

"Businesses regularly need to analyze and report on data across CRM, financial, help desk and marketing SaaS applications. Until now, that meant spending hours either downloading CSV (comma-separated values) files, manipulating the data and formatting reports, or investing in costly integration projects. The Connection Cloud helps significantly cut processing time, a tremendous savings in cost and personnel time," Sippl noted.

One key to the simplicity of the Connection Cloud is that it's easy to use. With a single login, any business user or application developer can use the Connection Cloud to access their SaaS data in real-time for use with their preferred reporting, BI or application development tools. Business users are using the Connection Cloud to access SaaS data from reporting and BI tools, including Microsoft Excel, Jaspersoft, Tableau and Yellowfin. Application Developers are using the Connection Cloud to create features or completely new applications - in their preferred development language- using data from existing SaaS applications such as Salesforce, Zuora, Netsuite, Zendesk, Intacct and Eloqua.

"The simpler we can make access to data for business users, the sooner they can start to use our solutions to support important business decisions." said Joseph Rozenfeld, Chief Technology Officer of Jaspersoft. "Partnering with the Connection Cloud gives our customers easy access to SaaS data for operational reporting and analysis. This is an enormous leap forward in realizing the power of cloud-based computing," he added.

The Connection Cloud Features and Benefits Snapshot

Traditional data integration products require moving the data from one application to another, or the extraction, transformation and loading of the data into a data warehouse. The Connection Cloud allows easy access and retrieval of real-time data from multiple SaaS applications, which significantly reduces the cost of deployment and management of data integration solutions.

With the Connection Cloud:

• Data is accessed using ANSI Standard SQL, so any SQL capable application or language can be used to access SaaS data.
• Data is accessed from its native source. This puts an end to expensive data integration products that only provide access to "copies" of the data in data warehouses. Other SaaS data integration solutions require that data must be moved and consolidated before trying to make use of it. This pre-staging of the data requires a lot of work to extract, transform, and load the data before use.
• Data is available for query in 'real time,' thus reports can be created quickly and shared across the enterprise before they become obsolete.
• Data acts as if it is in your locally installed database, not accessed via time-consuming point-to-point integration products.

About The Connection Cloud

The Connection Cloud by Elastic Intelligence, Inc. is a PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) technology enabling easy access to SaaS data in the cloud in real time. Elastic Intelligence also develops and markets the Data Liberator Toolkit, a free open source toolkit that enables SaaS vendors to enable their applications on the Connection Cloud. The company was incorporated in 2008 and is based in Menlo Park, California. For more information, visit www.connectioncloud.com.

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Source: The Connection Cloud