Premium Carry Solutions Brand, DICOTA, Unveils Fresh Corporate Identity and Embarks on Rejuvenating its Product Portfolio
STOCKHOLM, February 2, 2010-- Leading carry solutions brand, DICOTA, is revamping its corporate
identity and product range with the expansion of its collections to meet the
demands of burgeoning consumer segments.
To view the Multimedia News Release, please click:
Part of the OSM Group, DICOTA designs quality carry solutions for the
multi-media industry. DICOTA established its trusted name with quality and
functional products primarily for business and corporate consumers. DICOTA is
now developing its offering for both its existing customer base and three new
consumer-led segments.
"At the heart of our new identity is the recognition of the
emotional attachment individuals have with the content stored on their multi-
media devices - email, documents, music, film or photographs: all important
elements of people's lives - at DICOTA we develop carry solutions that
'protect your world' as well of course your hardware," says Phil Mulholland,
OSM Group Chief Marketing Officer.
DICOTA has developed five new series - Me, Studio, Essence, Prime and One
- each for specifically identified customer groups. These are the first of a
range of new products that are scheduled for roll-out in the coming year.
Four of the five new series will debut at CeBIT, with the Studio series
set for release in the second half of the year. The Prime and Essence series
build on the strong heritage of the DICOTA brand, while Me, One and Studio
evolve DICOTA's brand core, providing carry solutions that cater for the
growing popularity of netbooks, tablets and ebooks - seen especially in the
past 12 months - as well as smart phones, cameras and MP3 players.
In a unique offer to support customers in protecting their
personal and professional data, DICOTA has teamed up with online digital
storage experts, Memopal with the "Protect Your World" campaign. Under the
offer, customers have access to a 150GB back-up download service entirely
free of charge for a 60-day trial period, and a 20 percent discount on the
annual fee for the first year. For more details on this offer,
please contact DICOTA or Memopal.
The rejuvenation of the DICOTA product range gets underway at
the CeBIT exhibition that runs between March 2 and March 6 in Hanover,
Germany. OSM and DICOTA will be exhibiting in Hall 15, Stand F16, Planet
Reseller, under the campaign theme "Bag to the Future". CeBIT is the world's
largest trade fair showcasing digital IT and telecommunications solutions for
home and work environments.
About DICOTA
DICOTA develops, manufactures and distributes high-quality
notebook bags, customized case solutions and innovative mobile computing
accessories. With nine independent country subsidiaries and over 80 partners,
DICOTA has a strong global presence. Find out more about DICOTA and our new
range of innovative and stylish products, at http://www.dicota.com. You can
learn more about the CeBIT exhibition at http://www.cebit.de
About OSM Group
OSM Group specialises in the design, manufacture and
distribution of customized mobile accessories, retail display and premium
product solutions for leading brands primarily in the multi-media industry.
For more information about OSM Group, please visit our website at http://www.osmglobal.com
- Outdated Software Slows Down e-Commerce Business
- novomind iSHOP(TM): Easy-to-use Technology Frees up Shop Operators for
Other Tasks
Shop operators do more window-dressing than selling
E-shop managers spend more time on IT than on actual selling. The reason
for this is that their software systems are too old. Above all, they lack
user-friendly tools that simplify the advance planning of marketing
campaigns. Shop operators generally have to have their websites reprogrammed
- a complex business - because they don't have the technology to place the
desired articles in the desired spot at the click of a mouse. What's more,
with their current shop set-ups, e-commerce pros all too often take a
do-it-yourself approach to adapting product data for promotions and, in doing
so, squander sales potential because their online agents are acting more as
Internet window-dressers than sellers. These are the findings of a recent
market survey conducted by novomind.
Urgent need for e-shop IT upgrades
Technological solutions and new software architectures for making online
selling more efficient already exist, but the e-commerce industry is still
faced with extensive modernisation on their e-shopping systems. Hardly any of
the big online retailers have overhauled their shop IT significantly in the
past ten years. Many established e-shops have simply added on the latest
technology modules. The result: increasingly complex data management and
user-hostile functions. Both slow growth in online sales because they leave
too little time for the proper planning of marketing activities.
Intuitive operation simplifies shop management
"Shop operators need to be in a position to launch campaigns and
promotional Web pages in real time - without a profound knowledge of IT or
time-consuming procedures for changing product details," says Thomas Kohler,
Managing Director of novomind iSHOP GmbH. For its e-shop platform, this joint
venture between OTTO and novomind uses a newly developed concept with young
technology. So now shop operators can forget about the technical side of the
business thanks to new features and simple processes. These include drag &
drop functions, for example, and a campaign overview that lets shop managers
display their websites' plans for the year in a timeline. This frees up a
great deal of time for online sales specialists to deal with their actual
jobs, for instance reconciling newsletter contents with the product range on
their shop sites.
novomind iSHOP GmbH
OTTO has put four of its e-shops online with novomind iSHOP(TM) in the
past twelve months, during which the OTTO Russia pilot project was followed
by the specialist shops yourhome.de, schlafwelt.de and mein-mea.de. As
partners, novomind and OTTO can pool and make the most of their knowledge of
e-commerce. The platform for their joint venture is novomind iSHOP GmbH.
novomind at CeBIT 2010
novomind will be demonstrating the concept behind novomind iSHOP(TM) from
2 to 6 March at CeBIT 2010 - at the hamburg@work stand it will be sharing
with other exhibitors: stand G08 in hall 6.
novomind AG: innovative e-business solutions for the modern Internet
world and for professional customer communication
Since 1999, Hamburg company novomind has been developing
innovative e-business solutions for the modern Internet world in four
e-business disciplines: e-commerce (e-shops and zoom server), ePDM
(electronic product management), e-marketplace (marketplace integration) and
e-communication (solutions for contact and service centres).
novomind is a European technology leader in every service
segment and covers the whole digital value-adding chain in retail and
electronic customer communication. The Hamburg-based software house is the
fastest growing company in the fields of electronic customer communication
and mail management.
novomind also provides comprehensive consultancy services for
people choosing a suitable IT system for e-commerce. Established licence
software like IBM WebSphere Commerce Server and INTERSHOP ENFINITY is
considered, as are custom-made novomind solutions based on novomind
iSHOP(TM).
novomind AG is currently assisting more than 80 companies
including Citibank, Der Club Bertelsmann, Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund,
Ernsting's family, EnBW, gebruder gotz, OTTO and QVC.
Vision Tech International Holdings Limited Enters into MOU for Cooperation with the Fu Shou Yuan Group
HONG KONG, March 2 -- Vision Tech International Holdings Limited (HKEx: 922, the "Company" or "Vision Tech") is pleased to announce that Sino Peace Enterprise Management & Services (Shanghai) Limited, a wholly- owned subsidiary of the Company, has entered into a memorandum of understanding with China Zhongfu Enterprise Corporation Limited ("Zhongfu"), a member of the Fu Shou Yuan Group, for a proposed cooperation to explore the opportunity to develop funeral services in the PRC under the brand name Fu Shou Yuan.
Fu Shou Yuan, one of the best known names in the funeral services in the PRC, is owned by the Fu Shou Yuan Group. The Group currently has 5 cemeteries and 3 funeral services in the PRC, with headquarter located in Shanghai. Shanghai Fu Shou Yuan was honoured the "Model Unit of Shanghai", "Shanghai First-Class Cemetery", "Garden Unit" and youth education base of Shanghai, and was the first cemetery in the PRC to pass ISO9001:2008 and ISO14001:2004 quality environment system certificate. In 2004, Shanghai Fu Shou Yuan was named by the Ministry of Civil Affairs as the Human Memorial Park; in 2006, it was approved by the Shanghai Red Tourism Coordination Group as the Red Tourism Base; and in 2008, it was awarded the "Most Influential Charity Project" by the China Charity Award.
Mr. Earnest Leung, Chief Executive Officer of Vision Tech, commenting on the MOU, said "If the proposed cooperation is a successful one, the Company will have a well-known brand name like Fu Shou Yuan under our belt. It will enhance our market position in the cemetery industry in the PRC and lay a solid foundation for our expansion in the industry."
Source: Vision Tech International Holdings Limited
CONTACT: Belinda Chan or Casey Tang, +852-9379-3045 or +852-9200-3513
, belinda@stimulus-ir.com or casey@stimulus-ir.com, both of Stimulus Investor
Relations Ltd. for Vision Tech International Holdings Limited
ClickSoftware Announces Inaugural Workforce Management Conference in Israel
PETACH TIKVA, Israel, March 2, 2010--
- Gartner Research VP and Distinguished Analyst Michael Maoz Presenting
Along With Strategic Customers and Business Partners
ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd. (http://www.clicksoftware.com/)
(NasdaqGS: CKSW), the leading provider of workforce management and service
optimization solutions, today announced that Gartner Research VP &
Distinguished Analyst Michael Maoz will join its inaugural 'Service
Excellence' conference taking place on Thursday March 18th at the Leonardo
Plaza Hotel in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The Service Excellence conference, the first of its kind to
take place in Israel, will provide a valuable platform for ClickSoftware
customers, prospects and partners to meet face-to-face and share their
experiences and challenges whilst on the path to service excellence. The
event will be focused around the theme of 'High Performance' and insightful
presentations from end users, partners, industry experts and the
ClickSoftware team will demonstrate how service organizations can achieve
high performance of their people, assets and overall service delivery.
Opening the conference proceedings will be ClickSoftware's
Chairman and CEO, Professor Moshe BenBassat, who will provide an overview
into the workforce and service optimization field, exploring worldwide
implementations and market trends, as well as insight into the Company's
current strategy and direction. Professor BenBassat is considered to be an
international 'guru' in the field of workforce and service optimization. In
1996, he coined the term "service chain optimization" as an analogy to supply
chain optimization, and has educated numerous companies worldwide on how to
best leverage best practices and the technologies offered today in order to
improve the performance and productivity of their workforce and service
operations.
Featured speaker, Michael Maoz from Gartner will discuss how
organizations go about creating and sustaining service management excellence.
Mr. Maoz has 20 years of international experience, with 12 years in CRM
applications, contact centers, field service, SaaS and European market
dynamics. His research focuses on CRM and customer-centric Web strategies.
Mr. Maoz is the research leader for both the customer service and support
strategies area and customer-centric Web strategies. He researches software
as a service (SaaS), CRM strategies, multichannel contact center
applications, social CRM/communities and field service management.
Other featured speakers include:
- Miki Migdal, Managing Director of SAP Israel, will discuss
the SOLEX partnership with ClickSoftware and how this benefits SAP's
activities in the Workforce management market in Israel.
- Zvika Bourshan, CTI/ICR and Telephony Manager from Yes,
Israel's only provider of multi-channel television broadcasts via satellite
and the first company to offer digital broadcasts and interactive television
services. Yes won the the Israel Management Center "Prize for Excellence in
Service" in three consecutive years- 2005, 2006 and 2007 - for its service
leadership and excellence. Zvika will be discussing the value they have
gained through the implementation of an optimized rostering solution for
their contact center.
ClickSoftware is the leading provider of workforce management and service
optimization solutions that create business value for service operations
through higher levels of productivity, customer satisfaction and cost
effectiveness. Combining educational, implementation and support services
with best practices and its industry-leading solutions, ClickSoftware drives
service decision making across all levels of the organisation. From proactive
customer demand forecasting, capacity planning and shift scheduling to
real-time decision making, incorporating scheduling, mobility and
location-based services, ClickSoftware helps service organizations get the
most out of their resources. With over 150 customers across a variety of
industries and geographies, and strong partnerships with leading platform and
system integration partners - ClickSoftware is uniquely positioned to deliver
superb business performance to any organisation. The company is headquartered
in Burlington, Mass. and Israel, with offices in Europe, and Asia Pacific.
For more information about ClickSoftware, please call +1-781-272-5903 or
(888)438-3308, or visit http://www.clicksoftware.com.
For more information about ClickSoftware, please call +1-781-272-5903 or (888)438-3308, or visit http://www.clicksoftware.com. Contacts: Erica Fortune, ClickSoftware, +972-3-765-9490, erica.fortune@clicksoftware.com
Cellcom Israel Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2009 Results
NETANYA, Israel, March 2, 2010--
- Cellcom Israel Concludes a Record Year in Terms of Revenues, Operating
income, EBITDA(1), Net income and Free Cash Flow(1) and Presents 2009
Highest Revenues and Profitability in the Israeli Cellular Market
- Net Income for 2009 Increased 19.5%(2);
- Cellcom Israel Declares a Fourth Quarter Dividend of NIS 2.60 per Share
(Totals Approx. NIS 257 Million), Reaching an Annual Dividend for 2009
of Approx. NIS 1.2 Billion
2009 Full Year Highlights (compared to 2008(3)):
- Total Revenues increased 1.0% reaching NIS 6,483 million
($1,717 million)
- Total Revenues from services increased 1.1% to NIS 5,732
million ($1,518 million)
- Revenues from content and value added services (including
SMS) increased 30.9%, representing 15.4% of services revenues
- EBITDA increased 1.9% to NIS 2,529 million ($670 million);
EBITDA margin 39%, up from 38.7%
- Operating income increased 4.6% to NIS 1,768 million ($468
million)
- Net income(2) increased 19.5% to NIS 1,182 million ($313
million)
- Free cash flow(1) increased 24.7% to NIS 1,518 million ($402 million)
- Subscriber base increased by approx. 105,000 net subscribers
during 2009, mostly post-paid subscribers; reaching approx. 3.292
million at the end of December 2009
- 3G subscribers reached approx. 997,000 at the end of
December 2009, net addition of approx. 266,000 during 2009
- The Company declared a fourth quarter dividend of NIS 2.60
per share
Fourth Quarter 2009 Highlights (compared to fourth quarter of
2008(1):
- Total Revenues increased 4.3% reaching NIS 1,639 million
($434 million)
- Total Revenues from services increased 1.5% to NIS 1,446
million ($383 million)
- Revenues from content and value added services (including
SMS) increased 26.0%, representing 16.7% of services revenues
- EBITDA increased 3.7% to NIS 610 million ($162 million)
- Operating income increased 7.4% to NIS 419 million ($111
million)
- Net income increased 11.5% to NIS 271 million ($72 million)
- Subscriber base increased by approx. 33,000 net subscribers
during the fourth quarter 2009, mostly post-paid subscribers;
- 3G increased by approx. 56,000 net subscribers during the
fourth quarter 2009
Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE: CEL TASE: CEL) ("Cellcom Israel" or
the "Company"), announced today its financial results for the fourth quarter
and full year ended December 31, 2009. Revenues for the fourth quarter and
full year 2009 totaled NIS 1,639 million ($434 million) and NIS 6,483 million
($1,717 million), respectively; EBITDA for the fourth quarter 2009 totaled
NIS 610 million ($162 million), or 37.2% of total revenues, and for full year
2009 totaled NIS 2,529 million ($670 million), or 39.0% of total revenues;
and net income for the fourth quarter and full year 2009 reached NIS 271
million ($72 million) and NIS 1,182 million ($313 million), respectively.
Basic earnings per share for the fourth quarter and full year 2009 reached
NIS 2.75 ($0.73) and NIS 12.01 ($3.18), respectively.
Commenting on the results, Amos Shapira, Chief Executive
Officer said, "During 2009, we achieved record results for the third
consecutive year, as we demonstrated continued growth in all financial
parameters. This year we strengthened our leading position in the Israeli
cellular market with the highest revenue and profitability and we continued
our growth momentum, presenting the highest revenue, operating income,
EBITDA, net income and free cash flow in the Company's history. This positive
momentum continued in the fourth quarter of 2009, in which we presented our
strongest fourth quarter results to date.
In 2009, we continued to increase our customer base, ending
the year with close to 3.3 million subscribers, with a 36% increase in our 3G
subscriber base, reaching approximately 1 million subscribers, representing
over 30% of our total subscriber base. On the revenues side, our continued
focus on growth drivers, led us this year to an increase of approximately 31%
in revenues from content and value added services. This year we also
continued to keep a tight rein on expenses and maintained the deep efficiency
measures implemented in recent years. As always, we believe that a prudent
and tight cost management is a necessity, especially in times of global
recession and heightened competition.
At Cellcom Israel, our goal to build a company based upon
consistent and stable long-term growth, leads us to focus on our core
competencies, cellular communications, and continue to leverage it by
developing new businesses while taking advantage of cost synergies. As part
of our focus on content and value added services, in 2009, we have
collaborated in the creation of original, innovative and unique cellular
content, which was widely viewed in Israel and was sold for distribution to
cellular operators in other countries. This year, revenues from content and
value added services continued to increase rapidly, constituting one of our
main growth drivers. Notwithstanding, the average monthly revenue per
subscriber decreased in 2009, compared with 2008, by over 3%, while average
monthly minutes of use increased by approximately 1%, reflecting the ongoing
airtime price erosion in 2009 by over 4%.
We continue to monitor the dynamic changes in the local
communications market in order to identify new business and growth areas. The
strategy of focusing on our core business continued to prove itself, as we
steadily increased revenues and profitability, achieved new records, and
provided our customers with quality service and the most advanced handsets,
all while prudently managing expenses. We are committed to continue this path
for our customers, shareholders and dedicated employees."
Yaacov Heen, Chief Financial Officer, commented: "Our record
results in 2009 are the result of a 31% increase in revenues from content and
value added services, our ongoing efficiency measures and growing landline
revenues. These three positive effects compensate the decline in roaming
revenues attributed, among others, to the macro-economic environment, and the
decrease in airtime revenues, attributed to the ongoing price erosion. In
2009, we continued to generate a strong free cash flow, reaching a record of
NIS 1,518 million, an increase of approximately 25% from the previous year.
2009 was characterized by uncertainties and constituted a great challenge
regarding planning and managing our business operation in terms of both
revenues and expenses. We are proud with our developed capabilities, both
technological and managerial-operational, which helped us to improve our
efficiency, leading to an additional improvement in our business and
financial performance. As in the past, we gladly share our success with our
shareholders and as such, we will distribute a dividend of approximately NIS
257 million, representing approximately 95% of the fourth quarter net income.
Our total dividends distributed in 2009, amounted to approximately NIS 1.2
billion, or a 12.4% dividend yield for the year."
Main Financial Highlights(3):
Million NIS % of % Change Million US$
Revenues
(convenience
translation)
2009 2008 2009 2008 2009 2008
Revenues - Services 5,732 5,672 88.4% 88.4% 1.1% 1,518 1,503
Revenues - Equipment 751 745 11.6% 11.6% 0.8% 199 197
Total revenues 6,483 6,417 100.0% 100.0% 1.0% 1,717 1,700
Cost of revenues
- Services 2,643 2,641 40.8% 41.1% 0.1% 700 700
Cost of revenues
- Equipment 690 755 10.6% 11.8% (8.6%) 183 200
Total cost of revenues 3,333 3,396 51.4% 52.9% (1.9%) 883 900
Gross Profit 3,150 3,021 48.6% 47.1% 4.3% 834 800
Marketing and
Sales Expenses 716 701 11.0% 10.9% 2.1% 189 185
General and
Administration
Expenses 660 659 10.2% 10.3% 0.2% 175 175
Other (Income)
Expenses, net 6 (29) 0.1% (0.4%) 2 (8)
Operating income 1,768 1,690 27.3% 26.3% 4.6% 468 448
Financing expenses,
net (219) (310) (3.4%) (4.8%) (29.4%) (58) (82)
Income before
Income Tax 1,549 1,380 23.9% 21.5% 12.2% 410 366
Income Tax 367 391 5.7% 6.1% (6.1%) 97 104
Net Income 1,182 989 18.2% 15.4% 19.5% 313 262
Free Cash Flow 1,518 1,217 23.4% 19.0% 24.7% 402 322
Key Performance Indicators:
2009 2008 % Change 2009 2008
Million NIS Million US$
(convenience
translation)
EBITDA 2,529 2,482 1.9% 670 657
EBITDA, as percent of Revenues 39.0% 38.7% 0.8%
Subscribers end of period
(in thousands) 3,292 3,187 3.3%
Churn Rate (in %) 19.6% 18.9% 3.7%
Average Monthly MOU
(in minutes) * 331 329 0.6%
Monthly ARPU (in NIS) 144 149 (3.4%) 38.1 39.5
* Following the regulatory requirement to change the basic
airtime charging unit from twelve-seconds to one-second units commencing
January 1, 2009, MOU for 2008 has been adjusted to the same per-one second
unit basis to enable a comparison. MOU for 2008 based on the former charging
units was 350 minutes.
Financial Review
Revenues for 2009 increased 1.0% totaling NIS 6,483 million
($1,717 million), compared to NIS 6,417 million ($1,700 million) last year.
The increase in revenues is attributed to a 1.1% increase in revenues from
services, which reached NIS 5,732 million ($1,518 million) in 2009 as
compared to NIS 5,672 million ($1,503 million) last year. The increase also
resulted from a 0.8% increase in handset and accessories' revenues, which
increased from NIS 745 million ($197 million) in 2008, to NIS 751 million
($199 million) in 2009.
The increase in service revenues in 2009 was mainly due to a
31% increase in revenues from content and value added services (including
SMS), which totaled in 2009 NIS 882 million ($234 million), representing
15.4% of service revenues, compared to NIS 674 million ($179 million) or
11.9% of service revenues in 2008, as well as a significant increase in
revenues from land-line services. The increase in service revenues was
partially offset by a substantial decrease in roaming revenues following the
reduction in incoming and outgoing tourism resulting from the global economic
slowdown. The increase in service revenues was also offset in part by a
decrease in domestic airtime revenues mainly due to the ongoing airtime price
erosion.
Revenues for the fourth quarter of 2009 increased 4.3%
totaling NIS 1,639 million ($434 million), compared to NIS 1,572 million
($416 million) in the fourth quarter last year. The increase in revenues is
attributed to a 1.5% increase in revenues from services, which reached NIS
1,446 million ($383 million) in the fourth quarter 2009 as compared to NIS
1,424 million ($377 million) in the fourth quarter last year. The increase
also resulted from a 30.4% increase in handset and accessories' revenues,
which rose from NIS 148 million ($39 million) in the fourth quarter last
year, to NIS 193 million ($51 million) in the fourth quarter 2009.
The higher service revenues resulted mainly from a 26.0%
increase in content and value added services (including SMS) revenues in the
fourth quarter 2009, compared to the fourth quarter last year. Revenues from
content and value added services reached NIS 242 million ($64 million), or
16.7% of service revenues in the fourth quarter. Furthermore, the increase in
landline services revenues during the quarter also contributed to the higher
service revenues. These increases were partially offset by the ongoing
airtime price erosion as well as a substantial decrease in revenues from
roaming services following the reduction in incoming and outgoing tourism.
Cost of revenues for 2009 totaled NIS 3,333 million ($883
million), compared to NIS 3,396 million ($900 million) in 2008, a decrease of
1.9%. The decrease primarily resulted from a decrease of 8.6% in equipment
cost of revenues, while services cost of revenues slightly increased. The
decrease in equipment cost of revenues primarily resulted from a decrease in
the total amount of handsets sold during 2009 compared with 2008, mainly due
to more aggressive sales campaigns launched in 2008 compared with 2009. This
decrease was partially offset by an increase in the average handset cost due
to a larger amount of advanced 3G handsets sold during 2009. The increase in
services cost of revenues in 2009 compared with 2008, resulted mainly from an
increase in interconnect fees due to an increase in the number of outgoing
calls completed in other operators' networks, an increase in cost of content
and value-added services due to increased usage and a one-time provision in
the amount of NIS 15 million related to a dispute with the Ministry of
Communications regarding frequencies fees. These increases were offset mainly
by a decrease in roaming related expenses due to the reduction in outgoing
tourism, in depreciation expenses and in royalties paid to the Ministry of
Communications resulting from a decline in the royalties' rate. Cost of
revenues also reflects the deferral of handsets subsidies, which amounted to
NIS 75 million ($20 million) in 2009 compared to NIS 77 million ($20 million)
last year, and the amortization of such deferred handsets subsidies, which
totaled NIS 80 million ($21 million) in 2009 compared to NIS 71 million ($19
million) in 2008.
Cost of revenues for the fourth quarter of 2009 totaled NIS
847 million ($224 million) similar to the fourth quarter last year. Cost of
revenues was affected by an increase in equipment cost of revenues due to a
larger amount of handsets sold during the fourth quarter 2009, compared with
the fourth quarter of 2008 and an increase in the average handset cost due to
a larger amount of advanced 3G handsets sold during the fourth quarter of
2009. Cost of revenues was also affected by an increase in interconnect fees
due to an increase in the number of outgoing calls completed in other
operators' networks and an increase in cost of content and value-added
services due to increased usage. These increases were offset by a decrease in
roaming related expenses due to the reduction in outgoing tourism, in
depreciation expenses and in royalties paid to the Ministry of Communications
resulting from a decline in the royalties' rate. Cost of revenues also
reflects the deferral of handsets subsidies, which amounted to NIS 22 million
($6 million) in the fourth quarter of 2009 compared to NIS 23 million ($6
million) in the fourth quarter last year. The amortization of such deferred
handsets subsidies totaled NIS 19 million ($5 million) in the fourth quarter
2009 compared to NIS 21 million ($6 million) in the fourth quarter 2008.
Gross profit for 2009 increased 4.3%, reaching NIS 3,150
million ($834 million), compared to NIS 3,021 million ($800 million) in 2008.
Gross profit margin for 2009 reached 48.6%, up from 47.1% in 2008. Gross
profit for the fourth quarter 2009 increased 9.2%, reaching NIS 792 million
($210 million), compared to NIS 725 million ($192 million) in the fourth
quarter 2008. Gross profit margin for the fourth quarter 2009 reached 48.3%,
up from 46.1% in the fourth quarter 2008.
Selling, Marketing, General and Administrative Expenses
("SG&A Expenses") for 2009 increased 1.2% to NIS 1,376 million
($365 million), compared to NIS 1,360 million ($360 million) in
2008. The increase in SG&A Expenses was mainly due to an increase in
amortization expenses related to deferred sales commissions, as well as a
significant increase in bad debts and doubtful accounts, mainly due to the
global economic slowdown and following the implementation of number
portability, which allows subscribers to switch to another cellular operator
without settling their outstanding debt first. These increases were partially
offset by a decrease in advertising and customer retention expenses, a
decrease in payroll expenses, mainly due to a decrease in compensation
expenses related to our share incentive plan, mostly expensed during 2008, as
well as a decrease in maintenance cost related to our information systems.
SG&A Expenses also reflect the deferral of sales commissions in 2009, which
amounted to approximately NIS 64 million ($17 million) compared to
approximately NIS 60 million ($16 million) in 2008. Amortization of such
deferred sales commissions increased in 2009 to approximately NIS 60 million
($16 million) compared to approximately NIS 36 million ($10 million) in 2008.
SG&A Expenses for the fourth quarter of 2009
increased 6.6% to NIS 371 million ($98 million), compared to NIS 348 million
($92 million) in the fourth quarter of 2008. The increase in SG&A Expenses in
the quarter was mainly due to a significant increase in bad debts and
doubtful accounts expenses, an increase in sales commissions, as well as in
employees recruitment expenses. These increases were partially offset by a
decrease in payroll expenses, mainly due to a decrease in compensation
expenses related to our share incentive plan, as well as in depreciation
expenses. SG&A Expenses also reflect the deferral of sales commissions in the
fourth quarter 2009, which amounted to approximately NIS 18 million ($5
million) compared to approximately NIS 14 million ($4 million) in the fourth
quarter last year. Amortization of such deferred sales commissions increased
in the fourth quarter of 2009 to approximately NIS 15 million ($4 million)
compared to approximately NIS 13 million ($3 million) in the fourth quarter
last year.
Operating income for 2009 increased 4.6%, reaching a record of
NIS 1,768 million ($468 million), compared to NIS 1,690 million ($448
million) last year. Operating income for the fourth quarter 2009 increased
7.4% to NIS 419 million ($111 million), compared to NIS 390 million ($103
million) in the fourth quarter last year.
EBITDA for 2009 increased 1.9%, reaching to a record of NIS
2,529 million ($670 million), compared to NIS 2,482 million ($657 million) in
2008. EBITDA, as a percent of revenues, totaled 39.0%, compared to 38.7% in
2008. EBITDA for the fourth quarter 2009 increased 3.7% to NIS 610 million
($162 million) compared to NIS 588 million ($156 million) in the fourth
quarter last year. EBITDA for the fourth quarter 2009, as a percent of
quarterly revenues, totaled 37.2%.
Financing Expenses, net for 2009 totaled NIS 219 million ($58
million), compared to NIS 310 million ($82 million) in 2008. The decrease was
primarily due to gains from the Company's hedging portfolio, mainly from
Israeli Consumer Price Index (CPI) hedging transactions, as well as from
embedded derivatives income in 2009 compared with embedded derivatives
expense in 2008, mainly due to the one-time reversal of financing income in
the amount of NIS 29 million in the second quarter of 2008, following a
clarification of the Israel Accounting Standard Board to the International
Accounting Standard no. 39. The decrease in financing expenses, net also
resulted from a decrease in CPI linkage expenses associated with the
Company's debentures due to the decreased inflation rate of 3.8% in 2009
compared with 4.5% in 2008. These decreases were partially offset by an
increase in interest expenses associated with the Company's debentures, due
to the increase in the Company's outstanding indebtedness following the
issuance of its new series of debentures and the expansion of an existing
series in April 2009.
Financing Expenses, net for the fourth quarter 2009 totaled
NIS 58 million ($15 million), compared to NIS 47 million ($12 million) in the
fourth quarter last year. The increase resulted mainly from the increase in
interest and CPI linkage expenses, associated with the Company's debentures,
resulting from the increased debt level and higher inflation in the fourth
quarter this year, as compared to the fourth quarter last year. The increase
was partially offset by a decrease in foreign currency differences associated
with trade payables balances, as well as a decrease in losses from the
Company's hedging portfolio, mainly from CPI hedging transactions.
Income tax for 2009 decreased 6.1%, totaling NIS 367 million
($97 million), compared to NIS 391 million ($104 million) last year. The
decrease resulted from the reduction in Corporate tax rate to 26% in 2009
from 27% in 2008 and a reduction of deferred tax liabilities and the
recognition of a one-time tax income of approximately NIS 41 million in the
third quarter of 2009, due to the enactment of the Economic efficiency
improvement Law (legislative amendments for the implementation of the
Economic program for the years 2009 and 2010), in July 2009, which provides,
among others, for an additional gradual reduction of the Corporate tax rate
from 25% for the 2010 tax year down to 18% for the 2016 tax year and
thereafter. The decrease in income tax was partially offset by an increase in
income before income tax.
Net Income for 2009 reaching a record of NIS 1,182 million
($313 million) compared to NIS 989 million ($262 million) in 2008, an
increase of 19.5%, or 15.4% after elimination of the one-time tax income as
mentioned above. Net income for the fourth quarter 2009 increased 11.5% to
NIS 271 million ($72 million), compared to NIS 243 million ($64 million) in
the fourth quarter last year. Basic earnings per share for 2009 totaled NIS
12.01 ($3.18), compared to NIS 10.12 ($2.68) in 2008. Basic earnings per
share for the fourth quarter 2009 totaled NIS 2.75 ($0.73), compared to NIS
2.48 ($0.66) in the fourth quarter last year.
Operating Review
New Subscribers - at the end of 2009 the Company had
approximately 3.292 million subscribers. During 2009 the Company added
approximately 105,000 net new subscribers, mostly post-paid, out of which
approximately 33,000 joined the Company in the fourth quarter.
In 2009, the Company added approximately 266,000 net new 3G
subscribers to its 3G subscriber base, out of which 56,000 in the fourth
quarter, reaching approximately 997,000 3G subscribers at the end of 2009.
The Company's 3G subscribers represented 30.3% of the Company's total
subscriber base at the end of 2009, an increase from the 22.9% 3G subscribers
represented of total subscribers at the end of 2008.
The Churn Rate in 2009 totaled 19.6%, compared to 18.9% in
2008. The churn rate for the fourth quarter 2009 totaled to 4.8%, compared to
4.3% in the fourth quarter last year. Both annual and quarterly churn were
primarily impacted by the churn of pre-paid subscribers characterized by
lower contribution and subscribers with collection problems.
Average monthly subscriber Minutes of Use ("MOU") in 2009
totaled 331 minutes, compared to 329 minutes in 2008, an increase of 0.6%.
MOU for the fourth quarter 2009 totaled 333 minutes, compared to 320 minutes
in the fourth quarter 2008, an increase of 4.1%, attributed mainly to the
occurrence of part of the Jewish holiday season, characterized by a reduced
usage, in the fourth quarter in 2008, compared to the third quarter in 2009.
Following the regulatory requirement to change the basic airtime charging
units from twelve-seconds to one-second units commencing January 1, 2009, MOU
for 2008 and for the fourth quarter 2008 has been adjusted to the same
per-one second unit basis to enable a comparison. MOU for 2008 and for the
fourth quarter of 2008 based on the former charging units was 350 and 338
minutes, respectively.
The monthly Average Revenue per User (ARPU) for 2009 totaled
NIS 144 ($38.1), compared to NIS 149 ($39.5) in 2008, a 3.4% decrease. ARPU
for the fourth quarter 2009 totaled NIS 143 ($37.9), a 2.7% decrease,
compared to NIS 147 ($38.9) in the fourth quarter last year. Both annual and
quarterly decreases resulted, among others, from the lower roaming revenues
and the ongoing airtime price erosion in 2009 and the fourth quarter 2009,
compared with the corresponding periods in 2008.
Financing and Investment Review
Cash Flow
Free cash flow for 2009 increased 24.7%, reaching NIS 1,518
million ($402 million), compared to NIS 1,217 million ($322 million)
generated in 2008. Free cash flow for the fourth quarter of 2009 totaled NIS
271 million ($72 million), compared to NIS 366 million ($97 million)
generated in the fourth quarter of 2008. Free cash flow for 2009 and for the
fourth quarter this year include NIS 212 million ($56 million) and NIS 88
million ($23 million), respectively, invested in the Company's current
debentures portfolio according to its investment policy.
Shareholders' Equity
Shareholders' Equity as of December 31, 2009 amounted to NIS
374 million ($99 million), primarily consisting of accumulated undistributed
retained earnings.
Investment in Fixed Assets and Intangible Assets
During 2009 and the fourth quarter 2009, the Company invested
NIS 663 million ($176 million) and NIS 223 million ($59 million),
respectively, in fixed assets and intangible assets (including, among others,
deferred sales commissions and handsets subsidies and investments in
information systems and software), compared to NIS 633 million ($168 million)
and NIS 190 million ($50 million) in 2008 and the fourth quarter 2008,
respectively.
Dividend
On March 2, 2010, the Company's board of directors declared a
cash dividend in the amount of NIS 2.60 per share, and in the aggregate
amount of approximately NIS 257 million (the equivalent of approximately
$0.68 per share and approximately $68 million in the aggregate, based on the
representative rate of exchange on February 26, 2010; The actual US$ amount
for dividend paid in US$ will be converted from NIS based upon the
representative rate of exchange published by the Bank of Israel on March 25,
2010), subject to withholding tax described below. The dividend will be
payable to all of the Company's shareholders of record at the end of the
trading day in the NYSE on March 15, 2010. The payment date will be March 31,
2010. According to the Israeli tax law, the Company will deduct at source 20%
of the dividend amount payable to each shareholder, as aforesaid, subject to
applicable exemptions. The dividend per share that the Company will pay for
the fourth quarter of 2009 does not reflect the level of dividends that will
be paid for future quarterly periods, which can change at any time in
accordance with the Company's dividend policy. A dividend declaration is not
guaranteed and is subject to the Company's board of directors' sole
discretion, as detailed in the Company's annual report for the year ended
December 31, 2009 on Form 20-F, under "Item 8 - Financial Information -
Dividend Policy".
Conference Call Details
The Company will be hosting a conference call on Tuesday,
March 2, 2010 at 10:00 am EST, 7:00 am PST, 15:00 GMT, 17:00 Israel time. On
the call, management will review and discuss the results, and will be
available to answer questions. To participate, please either access the live
webcast on the Company's website, or call one of the following
teleconferencing numbers below. Please begin placing your calls at least 10
minutes before the conference call commences. If you are unable to connect
using the toll-free numbers, please try the international dial-in number.
US Dial-in Number: 1-888-407-2553
UK Dial-in Number: 0-800-917-5108
Israel Dial-in Number: 03-918-0609
International Dial-in Number: +972-3-918-0609
at: 10:00 am Eastern Time; 07:00 am Pacific Time; 15:00 UK Time; 17:00
Israel Time
To access the live webcast of the conference call, please
access the investor relations section of Cellcom Israel's website: http://www.cellcom.co.il. After the call, a replay of the call will be
available under the same investor relations section.
Annual report for 2009
Cellcom Israel will be filing its annual report for the year
ended December 31, 2009 (on form 20-F) with the US Securities and Exchange
Commission today, March 2, 2010. The annual report will be available for
download at the Cellcom Israel's website in the investor relations section of
Cellcom Israel's website at: http://www.cellcom.co.il. Cellcom Israel will
furnish a hard copy to any shareholder who so requests, without charge. Such
requests may be sent through the Company's website or by sending a postal
mail request to Cellcom Israel Ltd., 10 Hagavish Street, Netanya, Israel
(attention: Chief Financial Officer).
About Cellcom Israel
Cellcom Israel Ltd., established in 1994, is the leading
Israeli cellular provider; Cellcom Israel provides its approximately 3.292
million subscribers (as at December 31, 2009) with a broad range of value
added services including cellular and landline telephony, roaming services
for tourists in Israel and for its subscribers abroad and additional services
in the areas of music, video, mobile office etc., based on Cellcom Israel's
technologically advanced infrastructure. The Company operates an HSPA 3.5
Generation network enabling advanced high speed broadband multimedia
services, in addition to GSM/GPRS/EDGE and TDMA networks. Cellcom Israel
offers Israel's broadest and largest customer service infrastructure
including telephone customer service centers, retail stores, and service and
sale centers, distributed nationwide. Through its broad customer service
network Cellcom Israel offers its customers technical support, account
information, direct to the door parcel services, internet and fax services,
dedicated centers for the hearing impaired, etc. As of 2006, Cellcom Israel,
through its wholly owned subsidiary Cellcom Fixed Line Communications L.P.,
provides landline telephone communication services in Israel, in addition to
data communication services. Cellcom Israel's shares are traded both on the
New York Stock Exchange (CEL) and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (CEL). For
additional information please visit the Company's website http://www.cellcom.co.il
Forward-Looking Statements
The following information contains, or may be deemed to
contain forward-looking statements (as defined in the U.S. Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and the Israeli Securities Law, 1968). In some
cases, you can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as
"may," "might," "will," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "believe,"
"estimate," "predict," "potential" or "continue," the negative of these terms
and other comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements, which are
subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions about us, may include
projections of our future financial results, our anticipated growth
strategies and anticipated trends in our business. These statements are only
predictions based on our current expectations and projections about future
events. There are important factors that could cause our actual results,
level of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from the
results, level of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied
by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause such differences
include, but are not limited to: changes to the terms of our license, new
legislation or decisions by the regulator affecting our operations, the
outcome of legal proceedings to which we are a party, particularly class
action lawsuits, our ability to maintain or obtain permits to construct and
operate cell sites, and other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to
time in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission,
including under the caption "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report for the year
ended December 31, 2009.
Although we believe the expectations reflected in the
forward-looking statements contained herein are reasonable, we cannot
guarantee future results, level of activity, performance or achievements.
Moreover, neither we nor any other person assumes responsibility for the
accuracy and completeness of any of these forward-looking statements. We
assume no duty to update any of these forward-looking statements after the
date hereof to conform our prior statements to actual results or revised
expectations, except as otherwise required by law.
The Company prepares its financial statements in accordance
with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), as issued by the
International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). Unless noted specifically
otherwise, the dollar denominated figures were converted to US$ using a
convenience translation based on the US$\New Israeli Shekel (NIS) conversion
rate of NIS 3.775 = US$ 1 as published by the Bank of Israel on December 31,
2009.
Use of non-GAAP financial measures
EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure and is defined as income before
financing income (expenses), net; other income (expenses), net; income tax;
depreciation and amortization. This is an accepted measure in the
communications industry. The Company presents this measure as an additional
performance measure as the Company believes that it enables us to compare
operating performance between periods and companies, net of any potential
differences which may result from differences in capital structure, taxes,
age of fixed assets and related depreciation expenses. EBITDA should not be
considered in isolation, or as a substitute for operating income, any other
performance measures, or cash flow data, which were prepared in accordance
with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles as measures of profitability or
liquidity. EBITDA does not take into account debt service requirements, or
other commitments, including capital expenditures, and therefore, does not
necessarily indicate the amounts that may be available for the Company's use.
In addition, EBITDA may not be comparable to similarly titled measures
reported by other companies, due to differences in the way these measures are
calculated. See the reconciliation between the net income and the EBITDA
presented at the end of this Press Release.
Free cash flow is a non-GAAP measure and is defined as the net cash
provided by operating activities minus the net cash used in investing
activities plus short-term investment in marketable debentures. See the
reconciliation note at the end of this Press Release.
Financial Tables Follow
Cellcom Israel Ltd.
(An Israeli Corporation)
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Financial Position
Convenience
translation
Into
U.S. dollar
December December December December 31
31 31 31
*2007 *2008 2009 2009
NIS NIS NIS US$ millions
millions millions millions
Assets
Cash and cash
equivalents 911 275 903 239
Current investments,
including derivatives **44 **68 272 72
Trade receivables 1,385 1,478 1,579 418
Other receivables **52 **44 63 18
Inventory 245 119 149 39
Total current assets 2,637 1,984 2,966 786
Trade and other
receivables 575 602 606 161
Property, plant and
equipment, net 2,335 2,159 2,096 555
Intangible assets, net 747 743 711 188
Total non-current
assets 3,657 3,504 3,413 904
Total assets 6,294 5,488 6,379 1,690
Liabilities
Short term Borrowings 353 329 350 93
Trade payables and
accrued expenses 953 677 806 214
Current tax
liabilities 140 85 67 18
Provisions 91 47 84 22
Other current
liabilities, including
derivatives 384 385 405 107
Total liabilities and
shareholders' equity 6,294 5,488 6,379 1,690
(*) Retrospective application due to accounting policy change regarding
"Subscriber Acquisition and Retention Costs"
(**) Reclassified
Cellcom Israel Ltd.
(An Israeli Corporation)
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income
Convenience
translation
into
U.S. dollar
Year ended
Year ended December 31 December 31
*2007 *2008 2009 2009
NIS NIS millions NIS US$ millions
millions millions
Gross profit 2,735 3,021 3,150 834
Selling and marketing expenses 685 701 716 189
General and administrative
expenses 653 659 660 175
Other (income) expenses, net 3 (29) 6 2
Operating income 1,394 1,690 1,768 468
Financing income 140 83 151 40
Financing expenses (287) (393) (370) (98)
Financing expenses, net (147) (310) (219) (58)
Income before income tax 1,247 1,380 1,549 410
Income tax 328 391 367 97
Net income 919 989 1,182 313
Earnings per share
Basic earnings per share in NIS 9.42 10.12 12.01 3.18
Diluted earnings per share in NIS 9.34 9.96 11.90 3.15
(*) Retrospective application due to accounting policy change regarding
"Subscriber Acquisition and Retention Costs"
Cellcom Israel Ltd.
(An Israeli Corporation)
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
Convenience
translation
into
U.S. dollar
Year ended
Year ended December 31 December 31
*2007 *2008 2009 2009
NIS NIS NIS US$
millions millions millions millions
Cash flows from operating activities:
Net income 919 989 1,182 313
Adjustments for:
Depreciation and amortization 790 821 755 200
Share based payments 29 28 1 -
Reversal of provision allowance (10) - - -
Capital gain on sale of land - (9) - -
Loss (gain) on sale of assets 4 (9) 6 2
Income tax expense 328 391 367 97
Financial expenses, net 147 310 219 58
Changes in operating assets
and liabilities:
Changes in inventories (191) 36 (105) (28)
Changes in trade receivables
(including long-term amounts) (99) (117) (69) (18)
Changes in other receivables
(including long-term amounts) (24) (34) 2 1
Changes in trade payables and
accrued expenses 188 (271) 152 41
Changes in other liabilities
(including long-term amounts) 92 99 (4) (1)
Proceeds (Payments) for derivative
hedging contracts, net (24) (38) 21 5
Proceeds (payments) for other
derivative contracts, net (16) 18 8 2
Income tax paid (313) (451) (447) (119)
Net cash from operating activities 1,820 1,763 2,088 553
Cash flows from investing activities
Acquisition of property, plant, and
equipment (466) (429) (404) (107)
Acquisition of intangible assets (97) (175) (173) (46)
Change in current investments, net - - (212) (56)
Payments for derivative hedging
contracts, net (12) (17) - -
Proceeds from sales of property,
plant and equipment 4 19 2 1
Interest received 23 17 5 1
Proceed from sale of long term assets (12) 39 - -
Net cash used in investing activities (560) (546) (782) (207)
Cash flows from financing activities
Proceeds from (payment for)
derivative contracts, net (10) 31 33 9
Proceeds from short term borrowings 8 2
Repayments of long-term
loans from banks (645) (648) - -
Repayments of Debentures - (125) (332) (88)
Proceeds from issuance of debentures,
net of issuance costs 1,066 589 989 261
Dividend paid (639) (1,525) (1,186) (314)
Interest paid (177) (175) (190) (50)
Net cash used in financing activities (405) (1,853) (678) (180)
Changes in cash and cash equivalents 855 (636) 628 166
Balance of cash and cash equivalents
at beginning of the period 56 911 275 73
Balance of cash and cash equivalents
at end of the period 911 275 903 239
(*) Retrospective application due to accounting policy
change regarding "Subscriber Acquisition and Retention Costs"
Cellcom Israel Ltd.
(An Israeli Corporation)
Reconciliation for Non-GAAP Measures
EBITDA
The following is a reconciliation of net income to EBITDA:
Convenience
translation
into US
dollar
Year ended
Year ended Decmber 31 December 31
2007 2008 2009
2009
NIS NIS NIS
millions millions millions US$ millions
Net income.....................919 989 1,182 313
Income taxes...................328 391 367 97
Financing income............ (140) (83) (151) (40)
Financing expenses.............287 393 370 98
Other expenses (income)..........3 (29) 6 2
Depreciation and amortization..790 821 755 200
EBITDA.......................2,187 2,482 2,529 670
Free cash flow
The following table shows the calculation of free cash flow:
Convenience
translation
into US
dollar
Year ended
Year ended Decmber 31 December 31
2007 2008 2009
2009
NIS NIS NIS
millions millions millions US$ millions
Cash flows from operating
activities....................1,820 1,763 2,088 553
Cash flows from investing
activities....................(560) (546) (782) (207)
short-term Investment in
marketable debentures.............- - 212 56
Free cash flow................1,260 1,217 1,518 402
---------------------------------
(1) In comparison to 2008. Net income for 2009 includes a one-time tax
income in the amount of NIS 41 million. After elimination of this one-time
effect, net income increased 15.4%. See "Income tax" section in this press
release.
(2) Following the change in accounting policy in the second
quarter of 2009 regarding recognition of certain subscriber acquisition and
retention costs for capitalization, comparison data for fourth quarter and
full year 2008 were changed to reflect the retrospective application of that
change.
(3) Following the change in accounting policy in the second quarter of
2009 regarding recognition of certain subscriber acquisition and retention
costs for capitalization, comparison data for 2008 were changed to reflect
the retrospective application of that change.
Company Contact
Yaacov Heen
Chief Financial Officer
investors@cellcom.co.il
Tel: +972-52-998-9755
IR Contacts
Porat Saar & Kristin Knies
CCG Investor Relations Israel & US
cellcom@ccgisrael.com
Tel: +1-646-233-2161
Source: Cellcom Israel Ltd.
Company Contact: Yaacov Heen, Chief Financial Officer, investors@cellcom.co.il, Tel: +972-52-998-9755; IR Contacts, Porat Saar & Kristin Knies, CCG Investor Relations Israel & US, cellcom@ccgisrael.com, Tel: +1-646-233-2161
SAP and Sybase Deliver First Set of Applications to Millions of Mobile Workers Worldwide
SAP Extends Reach of SAP(R) Business Suite Applications, Including SAP(R) CRM, to iPhone, Windows Mobile and Other Mobile Device Users
HANNOVER, Germany and DUBLIN, Calif., March 2 -- SAP AG (NYSE:SAP) and Sybase Inc. (NYSE:SY) today announced two new solutions for mobile workers to carry out key business and customer relationship management (CRM) processes via iPhone and Windows Mobile. Built on the industry-leading Sybase® Unwired Platform, the mobile solutions extend the capabilities of SAP® Business Suite applications, including SAP® Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM), and also can be customized to tap into a variety of back-end data sources, including databases, Web services, files and any enterprise application that leverages service-oriented architecture (SOA). The announcement was made at the CeBIT trade fair, being held in Hannover, Germany, March 2-6.
The population of mobile workers and the number of personally owned devices entering the enterprise is growing exponentially. According to industry analyst group IDC, "The worldwide mobile worker population is set to increase from 919.4 million in 2008, accounting for 29% of the worldwide workforce, to 1.19 billion in 2013, accounting for 34.9% of the workforce." SAP and Sybase are empowering mobile workers to quickly act on information with seamless integration to business processes and networks, enabling them to boost productivity and make informed, timely business decisions, all the while staying in close contact with their customers, suppliers, partners and employees.
The new offerings include:
-- Sybase® Mobile Sales for SAP CRM automates sales processes, increases
productivity and enhances customer service by equipping sales
professionals with anywhere, anytime access to SAP CRM 2007 through
smartphones such as iPhones and Windows Mobile devices.
-- Sybase® Mobile Workflow for SAP Business Suite enables mobile workers
to complete business processes -- such as workflow items and alerts,
time recording and travel requests that require immediate action --
through a familiar and secure email inbox.
"Over the last few years, we have seen significant shifts in the expectations of end users and their relationship with enterprise software," said Kevin Nix, senior vice president, Business Solutions and Technology, SAP AG. "The new generation of business users demands immediate access to SAP solutions anytime, anywhere using mobile devices. Our partnership with Sybase allows us to deliver instant value to people everywhere to help maintain relationships with customers, partners and suppliers and make quick on-the-go decisions, on the device of their choice."
These mobile productivity applications are built by Sybase to meet the needs of SAP customers, are fully certified and supported by both SAP and Sybase, and tap the proven mobile infrastructure strengths of Sybase Unwired Platform and the SAP NetWeaver® technology platform. SAP and Sybase intend to continue co-innovation efforts to broaden development of mobile applications and devices, which will increase the value of investment in SAP business software. (See also previous announcement, "SAP and Sybase Put the Power of SAP® Business Suite in the Hands of the Mobile Workforce.")
"We are extremely pleased to deliver on our highly collaborative co-innovation partnership with SAP with the release of our joint mobile CRM and workflow solutions," said Gary Kovacs, senior vice president, Markets, Solutions & Products, Sybase. "Millions of SAP users around the world now have secure and fast access to critical business information, along with the ability to complete time-sensitive business workflow processes, all from their mobile device of choice. Additionally, for customers requiring highly customized mobile SAP applications, Sybase offers the most comprehensive mobility expertise and mobile enterprise application platform for rapid development and deployment of custom mobile solutions and provides extensive service support through a thriving partnership ecosystem."
For more details on this announcement, please visit http://www.sybase.com/partner/SAP. To read what some of SAP and Sybase's supportive partners have to say about these offerings, please see "Addendum: SAP and Sybase Partner Testimonials."
About Sybase
Sybase is an industry leader in delivering enterprise and mobile software to manage, analyze and mobilize information. We are recognized globally as a performance leader, proven in the most data-intensive industries and across all major systems, networks and devices. Our information management, analytics and enterprise mobility solutions have powered the world's most mission-critical systems in financial services, telecommunications, manufacturing and government. For more information, visit http://www.sybase.com. Read Sybase blogs: http://blogs.sybase.com/.
Sybase is a registered trademark of Sybase, Inc. or its subsidiaries. All other company and product names mentioned may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.
Special Note:
Special Note: Statements concerning Sybase's future growth, prospects and new product releases are, by nature, forward-looking statements that involve a number of uncertainties and risks, and cannot be guaranteed. The words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "will" and similar expressions relating to Sybase and its management may identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are intended to reflect Sybase's current views with respect to future events and may ultimately prove to be incorrect or false. Factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially include shifts in customer demand, rapid technology changes, competitive factors and unanticipated delays in scheduled product availability. These and other risks are detailed from time to time in Sybase's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q (copies of which can be viewed on Sybase's Web site).
About SAP
SAP is the world's leading provider of business software(*), offering applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become best-run businesses. With more than 95,000 customers in over 120 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE, under the symbol "SAP." For more information, visit http://www.sap.com.
(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning, business intelligence, and related applications.
Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "may," "plan," "project," "predict," "should" and "will" and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.
SAP, R/3, mySAP, mySAP.com, xApps, xApp, SAP NetWeaver and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Data contained in this document serve informational purposes only. National product specifications may vary.
Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.
For customers interested in learning more about SAP products:
Global Customer Center: +49 180 534-34-24
United States Only: 1 (800) 872-1SAP (1-800-872-1727)
For more information, press only:
Shabana Khan, +1 (650) 461-1332, shabana.khan@sap.com, PST
Hilmar Schepp, +49 (6227) 7-46799, hilmar.schepp@sap.com, CET
Crystal Lu, Sybase, Inc., (925) 236-6431, crystal.lu@sybase.com, PST
Scott Malinowski, Sybase, Inc., (978) 287-1793,
scott.malinowski@sybase.com, EST
Nadia Guerirem, Bite Communications, (212) 857-9378,
nadia.guerirem@bitecommunications.com, EST
CONTACT: Shabana Khan, +1-650-461-1332, shabana.khan@sap.com, PST, or
Hilmar Schepp, +49 (6227) 7-46799, hilmar.schepp@sap.com, CET, both of SAP AG;
or Crystal Lu, +1-925-236-6431, crystal.lu@sybase.com, PST, or Scott
Malinowski, +1-978-287-1793, scott.malinowski@sybase.com, EST, both of Sybase,
Inc., or Nadia Guerirem of Bite Communications, +1-212-857-9378,
nadia.guerirem@bitecommunications.com, EST, for SAP AG
SAP(R) Business One 8.8 Beckons New Era of Software for Small Businesses
New Release of SAP(R) Business One Application Features Enhanced User Interface, Embedded Analytics, Business Network Connectivity
HANNOVER, Germany, March 2 -- SAP AG (NYSE:SAP) announced a new release of the SAP® Business One application that accelerates time-to-value, facilitates business adaptability and increases ease-of-use and affordability based on strong co-innovation with SAP partners for small and midsize companies. With thousands of customers in over 80 countries, SAP Business One is designed to enable small business owners to effectively manage their entire business and future growth. The new 8.8 release of SAP Business One includes new innovations and advancements in the areas of functionality, performance and user experience that will improve customers' usability and productivity. For example, with embedded analytics from the SAP® Business Objects(TM) portfolio, customers can increase transparency of business operations and improve decision-making. The new release also offers enhanced business network connectivity that enables customers' to quickly and affordably integrate their business partners in the ecosystems, local subsidiaries or branch offices with headquarters running the enterprise resource planning (ERP) application SAP® ERP. The announcement was made at the CeBIT trade fair, being held in Hannover, Germany, March 2-6.
SAP Business One 8.8 has been in ramp-up since August 2009 and is planned to be generally available at the end of April 2010. Already, more than 150 customers are experiencing the benefits of the new release, including C&T Network Systems (Germany), Crayola (Costa Rica), Lifepark (Germany), Glowmac Lighting Pvt. Ltd (India), Interadapt Sistemas (Brazil), Orga-Buro (France), Reynolds Logistics (UK), Schulp Vruchtensappen (Netherlands), Skytek Telecomunicazioni Srl (Italy), Solis Import (Panama), SPM Instruments (USA) and Vet's Sheet Metal Ltd (Canada).
"We produce optically unusual and very individual bikes, which we sell mainly through 19 online shops with integration to SAP Business One and a network of resellers throughout Europe; a delivery time of 12 days from order to delivery is very important," said Manuel Ostner, managing director, PG Trade & Sales GmbH. "SAP Business One was known to us as one of the best products for these requirements. Since its introduction, we have all orders and inventory in one single system, so we are informed in time about missing parts and have no loss of production anymore. SAP Business One includes everything we need. We can also process new ideas right away."
The new SAP Business One release accommodates the continuous demands of the changing market by including an upgrade wizard that is simple and straightforward, reducing customer's downtime to a minimum. In addition, the new release integrates to partner applications and business services. Based on the flexible business platform of SAP Business One, small businesses can quickly start with core business management applications and add additional capabilities over time with easy-to-consume business applications from SAP partners. In the future, customers will be able to more easily extend their solutions with cloud-based applications, mash-ups and mobile integration.
"Innovative solutions whet the appetite, especially if you get benefits at the same time," said German Mayr, managing director, Part Business Solutions GmbH. "During a presentation of SAP Business One we already saw the iPhone integration with SAP Business One. This was ultimately the impetus for the switch to the new version. While others may have taken the last days of last year as leisure time, PART used the time to migrate our operations to SAP Business One 8.8. The upgrade went smoothly in a very short time. Meanwhile, not only are our ERP processes running on the new platform, but we have also integrated the archive system. It saves time and money when your software helps drive business decisions -- and on top of that, is easy to use."
Additional enhancements in the latest release of SAP Business One include:
-- Universal code base for 40 countries, supporting different time zones
and helping to ensure compliance with standard legal requirements;
-- Data archiving to reduce operational cost in growing businesses;
-- A remote support platform for SAP Business One, with embedded product
life-cycle support that assists customers and partners in proactive
issue diagnostics and resolution and system reliability;
-- DATEV interface for payroll accounting in Germany;
-- Integration to on-demand Web services such as eShops, based on country
availability, to reach out to new market segments.
SAP partners are finding that the new release of SAP Business One is making it easier to service their vast array of clients and allowing solution partners to rapidly extend the core solution to meet unique, industry-specific processes and changing needs. SAP Business One 8.8 is able to accommodate customers' unique needs, whether for brick and mortar, online operations or hybrid business models that need powerful e-commerce connectivity as well as more traditional business management proficiency. In addition, the solution can be quickly implemented. Among partners participating in the ramp-up were Asecom, Vision33, SAND Technologies Limited, and Navigator Business Solutions. SAP and its partners intend to deliver additional innovations for SAP Business One throughout 2010, such as integrated Web 2.0 capabilities and social networking, mobile integration, extended collaboration and integration of cloud-based applications.
"As a SAP Business One solution partner we drive strong co-innovation with SAP to accelerate product innovation for the benefit of customers," said Manuel Grenacher, CEO, coresystems ag. "SAP has an extremely flexible, sustainable development platform and quality standards to deliver added-value applications for customers. This is a fantastic opportunity to grow our own business in a volume market."
"The innovations to SAP Business One stand to revolutionize the way small businesses owners manage their businesses," said Robert Viehmann, head of SAP Business One development worldwide. "With SAP Business One 8.8, we enter into a new era of business software for small enterprises. Small businesses must become empowered to adapt their business models rapidly with a flexible IT platform that adapts to business changes instantaneously. Today, business software allows company owners and managers to accelerate decision making based on true real time insight. Additionally, business software should be more consumable to provide ease of use for users living in today's web world."
Viehmann speaks about the new features within the SAP Business One 8.8 application in the video accessible here. To read how the new release of SAP Business One is making it easier for SAP partners to service their vast array of clients, please see "Addendum: SAP® Business One 8.8 Beckons New Era of Software for Small Businesses." To see the innovations to SAP Business One 8.8 at CeBIT, visit the SAP SME booth A4 in hall 5; the SAP World Tour in halls 19 and 20; and the OS XP Pavilion. SAP partners at CeBIT will also be exhibiting the new release.
Next Major Event: SAPPHIRE® 2010
SAPPHIRE® 2010, SAP's premier customer conference and networking event, will be held simultaneously in Orlando, Florida, and Frankfurt, Germany, May 17-19, 2010. This year, SAP will utilize several new, unique, and compelling experiences online and at the events to share SAP insights and innovations, and connect customers and partners around the world. As in past years, SAPPHIRE offers the opportunity to meet top SAP customers, partners and executives for in depth discussions, and to experience the latest solutions being offered for today's business needs. For more information about the Orlando show, visit http://www.sapandasug.com; for the Frankfurt event, visit http://www.sap.com/sapphire/emea.
About SAP® Business One
SAP® Business One is a single solution that integrates the entire business across financials, sales, customer relationships, inventory and operations. It is best-fit for small businesses that have outgrown their accounting-only systems and are looking to streamline business operations with an integrated, on-premise solution. With SAP Business One, small businesses can streamline end-to-end operations, get instant and complete information and accelerate profitable growth. SAP Business One offers over 550 add-on solutions, many industry-specific, that can extend the core functionalities of SAP Business One to meet specific business processes and fast-changing needs. Since 2007 SAP has doubled its SAP Business One customer base. Available in over 80 countries and in 26 different languages, SAP Business One is sold and supported through the extensive network of authorized SAP channel partners, and is trusted by thousands of customers worldwide. Additional information is available at http://www.sap.com/smallbusiness.
About SAP
SAP is the world's leading provider of business software(*), offering applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become best-run businesses. With more than 95,000 customers in over 120 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE, under the symbol "SAP." For more information, visit http://www.sap.com.
(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning, business intelligence, and related applications.
Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "may," "plan," "project," "predict," "should" and "will" and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.
SAP, R/3, mySAP, mySAP.com, xApps, xApp, SAP NetWeaver and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Data contained in this document serve informational purposes only. National product specifications may vary.
Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.
For customers interested in learning more about SAP products:
Global Customer Center: +49 180 534-34-24
United States Only: 1 (800) 872-1SAP (1-800-872-1727)
For more information, press only:
Holger Rungwerth, +41 (58) 871 - 6589, holger.rungwerth@sap.com, CET
Amisha Gandhi, +1 (650) 847-2188, amisha.gandhi@sap.com, PST
SAP Press Office, +49 (6227) 7-46315, CET; +1 (610) 661-3200, EST;
press@sap.com
Harvey Nash Selected As a Preferred Supplier of Recruitment Services to the Public Sector
LONDON, March 2 -- Following a rigorous evaluation process Harvey Nash Group has been awarded a framework agreement by the UK Government's national procurement partner for public services, Buying Solutions, to deliver recruitment services to public sector organisations throughout the UK.
In the three year commitment, Harvey Nash Group will work with a wide variety of Government departments and other public bodies to provide recruitment services in:
-- Executive Search - recruiting and developing board level executives
-- IT Technical Recruitment - recruiting IT experts on a contract and
permanent basis
-- Interim Management - through our market leading brand, Impact
Executives, recruiting board level executives on an interim basis.
Announcing the award, Albert Ellis, CEO of Harvey Nash Group said:
"We are delighted that Buying Solutions, and the wide range of public service organisations it represents, have placed their trust in Harvey Nash Group. We have a long and successful track record of working with the public sector and are very pleased to be part of the UK government's programme to drive productivity and value for money."
Media Relations contacts:
Rob Grimsey
Director, Harvey Nash
Direct: +44(0) 20 7333 1543
Mob: +44(0) 7899 993422
Email: robert.grimsey@harveynash.com
About Harvey Nash Group plc
Harvey Nash, a global professional recruitment consultancy and IT outsourcing service provider, is committed to delivering the very best talent and IT solutions to a broad base of international clients. The Group is a trusted advisor to some of the world's leading business, governments and institutions. Operating from 38 offices covering the USA, Europe and Asia, its talented professionals pursue the highest levels of integrity and quality in providing a unique portfolio of services: executive search, interim management, IT and finance recruitment and IT outsourcing. Web: http://www.harveynash.com
About Impact Executives
Impact Executives is a leading interim management provider to organisations of every size in the UK and globally. For further information on Impact Executives, please contact Christine de Largy, Impact Executives, 13 Bruton Street, London, W1J 6QA, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7314 2003 Email: christine.delargy@impactexecutives.com
CONTACT: Rob Grimsey, Director, Harvey Nash, Direct: +44
Mayflex and RiT Technologies Announce Partnership New EPV Cabling Management Solution
TEL AVIV, Israel and BIRMINGHAM, England, March 2, 2010-- RiT Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: RITT) and Mayflex today announced a
strategic partnership agreement that sees Mayflex, U.K.-based provider of
advanced cabling infrastructure, add RiT's recently-launched EPV Cabling
Management Solution to its Excel range of copper and optical fibre cabling
systems. Through this agreement, the EPV solution will be available to Excel
customers in the U.K. and Ireland.
EPV is RiT's most recent addition to its industry-leading portfolio of
Enterprise cabling management solutions. Designed for easy deployment in
existing cabling networks, EPV is intended for organizations looking to take
a first, risk-free step into cabling management, thereby gaining an accurate,
real-time picture of the cabling infrastructure. As a standalone solution
designed to work straight from the box EPV requires no installation of
additional software or servers and is extremely simple to operate.
"The EPV concept is a winner, and we are excited to introduce
it to the Excel installer base," commented Andrew Percival, Managing
Director, Mayflex. "After deciding to add a cable management solution to our
offering, it was natural for us to turn to RiT, the industry's clear leader,
for the most advanced and innovative solution in the Cable Management space.
We look forward to working together to bring this practical, user-friendly
solution to a market in need of better control."
Simon Robinson, Excel Product Manager continued "Positioning wise, the
sweet spot for EPV is the top end of the SME market, and the bottom end of
the enterprise market, and any organization with remote facilities. We see
great scope for this solution in retail, local government, dispersed office
environments, and manufacturing/campus sites. Ease of set up and use, mean
that cost of ownership is low, and return on investment can be genuinely be
made in just a matter of months."
EPV consists of a number of hardware components, including an EPV Central
and EPV Scout or an EPV Controller, depending upon the topology of the
network, which are connected easily to the panels in a company's existing
communication racks. Once this hardware is connected to the network, EPV
automatically collects up-to-date information regarding connections
throughout the panels and communications racks. Delivered via a
user-friendly, permission-based GUI on Internet web browsers, this
information is accessible wherever there is Internet connectivity. In
addition, since all connectivity changes are detected immediately, the system
is able to send notifications and real-time alerts the moment a change
occurs, both to the system GUI and to the IT staff via email.
Avi Kovarsky, President and CEO of RiT Technologies,
concluded, "We are very excited by the strong positive reception that the
market has given our EPV concept and look forward to introducing it to
markets throughout the world. We are gratified that a brand as prestigious
and far-reaching as Excel will include our solution and believe the
relationship will help us make a strong penetration into the Enterprise
marketplace throughout the UK and beyond."
EPV will be available with Excel from April 2010 onwards.
About RiT Technologies
RiT is a leading provider of intelligent solutions for
infrastructure management, asset management, environment and security, and
network utilization. RiT Enterprise solutions address datacenters,
communication rooms and workspace environments, ensuring maximum utilization,
reliability, decreased downtime, physical security, automated deployment,
asset tracking, and troubleshooting. RiT Environment and Security solutions
enable companies to effectively control their datacenters, communications
rooms and remote physical sites and facilities in real-time, comprehensively
and accurately. RiT Carrier solutions provide carriers with the full array of
network mapping, testing and bandwidth qualification capabilities needed for
access network installation and service provisioning. RiT's field-tested
solutions are delivering value in thousands of installations for top-tier
enterprises and operators throughout the world.
Excel is a complete, end-to-end networking solution, offering
exceptional performance, reliability and support, manufactured to European
quality standards and covered by one warranty.
Excel structured cabling products constitute an end-to-end
solution where performance and ease of installation are prerequisites. With
an emphasis on compatibility and standards compliance 'from cable to
cabinet', reliability and product availability, Excel is the complete trusted
solution. Since the brand was conceived in 1997, Excel has enjoyed formidable
growth.
As reported in the 2007, 2008 and 2009 BSRIA reports, Excel is
the number 4 structured cabling brand in the UK, and is a growing force in
markets across EMEA with customers supported by Excel offices in both the UK
and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
In this press release, all statements that are not purely
about historical facts, including, but not limited to, those in which we use
the words "believe," "anticipate," "expect," "plan," "intend," "estimate",
"forecast", "target", "could" and similar expressions, are forward-looking
statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995. For example, when we discuss a field trial which could lead to a
multi-million dollar Carrier deal, we are using a forward looking statement.
While these forward-looking statements represent our current judgment of what
may happen in the future, actual results may differ materially from the
results expressed or implied by these statements due to numerous important
factors, including, but not limited to, those described under the heading
"Risk Factors" in our most recent Annual Report filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) on Form 20-F, which may be revised or supplemented
in subsequent reports filed with the SEC. These factors include, but are not
limited to, the following: our ability to raise additional financing, if
required; the continued development of market trends in directions that
benefit our sales; our ability to maintain and grow our revenues; our
dependence upon independent distributors, representatives and strategic
partners; our ability to develop new products and enhance our existing
products; the availability of third-party components used in our products;
the economic condition of our customers; the impact of government regulation;
and the economic and political situation in Israel. We are under no
obligation, and expressly disclaim any obligation, to update the
forward-looking statements in this press release, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
COMPANY CONTACT:
Eran Ayzik
CFO
+972-3-645-5214
erana@rit.co.il
Source: RiT Technologies Ltd.
COMPANY CONTACT: Eran Ayzik, CFO, +972-3-645-5214, erana@rit.co.il .
New IntraLinks Connector Links to SharePoint(R) Helping Clients Maximize I.T. Investment
NEW YORK, March 2, 2010--
- Enables Organizations to Extend Reach of SharePoint Beyond Their
Firewall
IntraLinks(R), the leading provider of critical information exchange
solutions, today announced the release of IntraLinks Connector for
SharePoint(R), an integration tool specifically designed to offer secure and
seamless communication between the IntraLinks platform and SharePoint. The
IntraLinks Connector for SharePoint enables organizations to maximize their
investment by extending the reach of SharePoint beyond their firewall with a
cost-effective, on-demand solution for collaboration.
Secure access to business critical information is a fundamental part of
today's business processes and is a key requirement for any organization that
has extended its value chain to customers, suppliers and partners. The new
IntraLinks Connector for SharePoint provides the safe transfer of information
into the hosted IntraLinks environment and synchronizes security and access
permissioning. This addresses the immediate business needs of the enterprise
by enabling cross-organizational teamwork while lowering the cost, cycle
times, leakage risks, and effort associated with externalizing SharePoint.
"IntraLinks provides the fastest and most protected way to enable
valuable collaborative activities while meeting legal and regulatory
requirements," said Fahim Siddiqui, executive vice-president of product
development and operations for IntraLinks. "With IntraLinks Connector for
SharePoint, our customers will maximize existing investment in SharePoint
without the need to install expensive hardware and software and will speed up
the strategic decision-making process by sharing key information more rapidly
with stakeholders."
About IntraLinks
IntraLinks provides on-demand solutions for businesses to securely
collaborate, communicate and exchange critical information inside and outside
the enterprise. For more than a decade, 750,000 professionals from more than
90,000 organizations have relied on IntraLinks to accelerate workflow,
optimize business processes and realize new profit potential. IntraLinks
counts 800 of the Fortune 1000 as clients, including AstraZeneca
Pharmaceuticals LP, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank and the FDIC. For more
information, visit http://www.intralinks.com or http://blog.intralinks.com
For more information:
Anna Roberts, IntraLinks
Tel: +44-20-7549-5256
Email: aroberts@intralinks.com
Source: IntraLinks
For more information: Anna Roberts, IntraLinks, Tel: +44-20-7549-5256, Email: aroberts@intralinks.com
Level Four and GALITT Partner to Offer EMV Compliant ATM Testing in Canada
LONDON, March 2, 2010-- Level Four, the leading provider of automated ATM software
testing solutions, today announced that the company will be extending its
partnership with GALITT, the leading provider of advanced test solutions for
transactional systems and EMV cards into the Canadian market. The partnership
combines Level Four's ATM test solution, BRIDGE:test, with GALITT's
KaNest-ICC(TM) EMV card simulator to provide a comprehensive testing solution
for EMV compliant ATM networks.
The partnership will enable Canadian-based banks to benefit
from the combination of best of breed solutions in their respective areas. As
migration to EMV continues worldwide, Level Four and GALITT will build on
their success in France to promote their joint offering in Canada.
Ian Kerr, CEO, Level Four, said: "EMV migration significantly
increases the scope of testing required at the ATM as there is a much greater
number of components interacting with each other. Our partnership with GALITT
brings in a specialist EMV simulation solution to complement the
functionality of BRIDGE:test and will help us to provide best in class
testing solutions to new and existing clients that are migrating to EMV in
Canada."
Gerard de Moura, 'Managing Director' at GALITT, commented: "As
Canada becomes the latest in a long line of countries to move to the EMV
standard, we believe that our joint offering will take the pain out of
migration, helping to ensure maximum uptime for EMV compliant ATM networks.
As more and more countries adopt this standard, we will continue to work with
Level Four to promote our combined EMV offering worldwide."
About GALITT Canada
GALITT Canada has significant expertise in testing payment
systems, including acquiring and issuing hosts in conjunction with interbank
systems, payment acceptance devices, ATMs and any system accepting smart
cards. Established in Montreal (Quebec) since 2002, initially under the name
of KaSYS Canada, GALITT Canada is recognised for its industry expertise and
the quality of its testing solutions. GALITT's market leading EMV testing
software and transactional systems are the most exhaustive and flexible on
the market, with easy-to-use and sophisticated automation capabilities. http://www.galitt.ca
About Level Four
Level Four's development and testing products have been built to address
the needs of ATM deployers seeking to maximise their investment in the ATM
channel. BRIDGE:test is targeted at banks and ATM deployers who are running,
or seeking to run, a modern ATM network based on the industry-wide CEN/XFS
open standard. Since 1995, Level Four has built an impressive global customer
base of banks and payments processors including, Royal Bank of Scotland,
Lloyds TSB, Bank of America, CIBC, VocaLink and Standard Bank of South
Africa. Headquartered in Dunfermline, Level Four has offices in Dubai and
Charlotte, NC. http://www.levelfour.com
For more information, please contact: Lorraine O' Hagan, Hotwire, +44(0)20-7608-4665, levelfour@hotwirepr.com ; For more information from GALITT Canada, please Contact Jean-Christophe Derre, jc.derre@galitt.ca, +1-514-994-3831
Epson America Introduces Epson Stylus Pro 7700 and 9700 Printers, Partners with Ricoh Americas Corporation in Exclusive Agreement
LONG BEACH, Calif. and WEST CALDWELL, N.J., March 2 -- Epson America, Inc. is introducing a new line of Epson Stylus® Pro printers that will further expand the company's industry-leading printing technology to a new and broader range of professional imaging markets. The Epson Stylus Pro 7700 and 9700 printers are specially engineered to exceed the expectations of CAD, GIS mapping, and corporate graphics professionals for applications such as high-resolution architectural plans, highly-precise engineering drawings, extremely detailed photographic GIS mapping, brilliant indoor signage, and more.
Epson America is also announcing it has joined forces with Ricoh Americas Corporation to sell these printers exclusively in North America. The combination of Epson's latest advancements in commercial printing technology with Ricoh's outstanding reputation and expertise in these markets will enable both companies to elevate the overall quality and range of product offerings in these markets that will be beneficial to customers in more ways than ever before.
"The Epson Stylus Pro 7700 and 9700 offer unprecedented accuracy, speed, precision, and extreme quality that has never been available to the CAD, GIS and corporate graphics markets," said Reed Hecht, product manager, Epson America. "The advancements our engineers have made with our technology in conjunction with the exciting agreement we've entered with Ricoh Americas Corporation will really make this a win-win for the industry and especially for our customers."
"This new line builds on the strength of Ricoh's exceptional wide format LED products and will provide choices that support a variety of customers," said Michael Hunter, director, product marketing, Ricoh Americas Corporation. "We value the high quality of Epson products and believe by adding these printers to our product portfolio, we are providing solutions that exceed what is currently available on the market."
The Epson Stylus Pro 7700 (24-inch) and Epson Stylus Pro 9700 (44-inch) incorporate the company's latest achievements in high-performance ink jet printing. The extreme precision, speed and image quality achieved by MicroPiezo® TFP(TM) print heads and the benefits of Epson UltraChrome® Vivid Magenta Inks position these printers to deliver a level of printing technology unprecedented within the engineering scientific and display signage markets.
Epson's advanced MicroPiezo TFP print head is capable of producing extremely precise text and line-art, along with brilliant photographic quality prints, at speeds almost twice as fast as the previous generation. This advanced print head combined with a four-color Epson UltraChrome Vivid Magenta pigment-based ink with dual black technology produces prints with brilliant color, accuracy, and true archival capability. Line-art precision and overall image quality and color accuracy are further elevated through the advancements of AccuPhoto(TM) HD screening technology.
The Epson Stylus Pro 7700 and 9700 are currently available at a suggested retail price of $2,995 and $4,995, respectively.
About Epson America, Inc.
Epson America, Inc. is a leading provider of an extensive range of printers, 3LCD projectors, scanners and point-of-service printers that are renowned for their high quality, functionality, innovation and energy efficiency. Epson America is a U.S. affiliate of Seiko Epson Corporation, which employs more than 70,000 people in 106 companies around the world. Seiko Epson is committed to its ongoing contributions to the global environment and for the second year in a row has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index, an indicator for leading companies in economic, environmental and social criteria. For additional information on Epson printers, visit http://www.proimaging.epson.com.
About Ricoh Americas Corporation
Ricoh Americas Corporation, headquartered in West Caldwell, N.J., is a subsidiary of Ricoh Company Ltd., the 73-year-old leading supplier of office automation equipment and electronics, with fiscal year 2008 sales in excess of $20 billion.
Ricoh Americas Corporation is a leading provider of document solutions. Ricoh's fully integrated hardware and software products help businesses share information efficiently and effectively by enabling customers to control the input, management and output of documents.
Ricoh Americas Corporation directly or through its network of authorized dealers markets and distributes products in North, Central and South America.
Information about Ricoh's complete range of products and services can be accessed on the World Wide Web at http://www.ricoh-usa.com.
Note: Epson, Epson Stylus, Epson UltraChrome, MicroPiezo, and TFP are trademarks or registered trademarks of Seiko Epson Corporation. AccuPhoto is a trademark of Epson America Inc. All other product brand names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Epson disclaims any and all rights in these trademarks.
Source: Epson America, Inc.
CONTACT: John Jatinen of Epson America Inc., +1-562-290-5173,
john_jatinen@ea.epson.com; or Linda Montefusco of Ricoh Americas Corporation,
+1-973-882-2172, linda.montefusco@ricoh-usa.com
Eurotech Presents Catalyst LP Based on Dual Core Intel(R) Atom(TM) Processor D510
Eurotech Uses Latest Intel(R) Atom(TM) Processor D510 For Dual Core Performance with Extended Lifecycle Support
COLUMBIA, Md., March 2 -- Eurotech, a leading supplier of embedded technologies, products, and systems, announces an extensive product roadmap based on the latest Intel® Atom(TM) processor D510 with dual core capability and seven-year extended lifecycle support from Intel, starting with the Catalyst LP. The Catalyst LP extends the offerings of Eurotech's award winning Catalyst Module family, which began with the Intel® Atom(TM)processor Z5xx series, to include the newest Intel® Atom(TM) technology.
The Catalyst LP provides performance and flexibility for embedded applications requiring high-speed graphics and computational power with the ability to run multiple processes and operating systems concurrently. These features, coupled with the seven-year lifecycle support from Intel, make the Catalyst LP and other products based on the new processor ideal for medical, industrial, or security markets which use sophisticated, high definition graphics, human-to-machine or machine-to-machine interfacing, and require long-term support from embedded vendors.
The Catalyst LP product line offers support for Eurotech's Everyware(TM) Software Framework (ESF) on the Wind River Linux 3.0 operating system. ESF provides a Java-based software development environment with functionality for specific verticals, and allows OEMs to simplify and streamline application development. ESF also allows OEMs to migrate their software to next generation Catalyst platforms with a minimum of developer time so they can stay current with the latest technology.
"Eurotech's Catalyst LP based on the Intel® Atom(TM) processor D510 offers an exciting solution for embedded OEMs requiring the increased performance while still meeting low power requirements. The processor's integration and dual-core capability allowed Intel to shrink packaging while increasing performance and functionality, making the Intel® Atom(TM) processor D510 a game changer for embedded applications," explains Arlen Nipper, President and CTO of Eurotech Inc. "Our power management expertise has allowed us to design a module with power consumption under 15W when running dual-core functionality, without sacrificing performance in other areas. In addition, with the extended lifecycle support from Intel, our customers can be sure that Eurotech will continue to expand our portfolio with products that fully use the processor's capabilities."
Availability
The Catalyst LP will be available in the first quarter of 2010.
About Eurotech
Eurotech, a global company listed on the Milan stock exchange (Borsa Italiana) integrates hardware, software, services, and expertise to deliver embedded computing platforms and sophisticated systems to leading OEMs, system integrators, and enterprise customers for successful and efficient deployment of their products and services. Drawing on concepts of minimalist computing, Eurotech lowers power draw, minimizes physical size, and reduces coding complexity to bring sensors, embedded boards and platforms, stand-alone systems, and high performance computers to market, specializing in healthcare, security, transportation, energy, and industrial segments. By combining domain expertise in wireless connectivity as well as communications protocols, Eurotech architects integrated solutions that simplify data capture, processing, and transfer over unified communications networks. Our customers rely on us to simplify embedded computing so they can focus on their core competencies. Learn more about Eurotech at http://www.eurotech.com.
Intel and Intel Atom are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.
CONTACT: Allison Yrungaray of Eurotech Inc., +1-626-841-1640,
allison.yrungaray@eurotech.com, or Giuliana Vidoni of Eurotech Group,
+39.0433.485462, g.vidoni@eurotech.com, or Jenny Shepperd for Europe,
+44.1223.403421, jenny.shepperd@eurotech.com, or Tomi Hanninen for Asia,
+358.9.477.888.0, tomi.hanninen@eurotech.fi
Jared Peters, Vice President of Worldwide Sales for Adaptec, Recognized as a 2010 Channel Chief by Everything Channel's CRN
MILPITAS, Calif., March 2 -- Adaptec, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADPT), the global leader in I/O innovation, today announced that Jared Peters has been named a 2010 Channel Chief by the Everything Channel's CRN. Channel Chiefs are leaders in creating effective channel programs for solution providers. They consistently defend, promote and execute effective channel partner programs and strategies.
As Vice President of Worldwide Sales, Peters leads Adaptec's global sales activities to support the company's Data Conditioning Platform and its innovative data center I/O solutions.
For the eighth consecutive year the Channel Chiefs were chosen based by Everything Channel editorial on criteria including policy and program innovations made during the past year, the amount of revenue their company generates through partners, their willingness to speak out publicly on behalf of the channel, and the number of years they have dedicated to channel activities.
"Jared has been instrumental in successfully demonstrating Adaptec's commitment and dedication to the data storage channel," said John Quicke, Adaptec's interim president and CEO. "His leadership, experience and knowledge have enabled Adaptec to further develop channel programs and strategies that allow our partners to succeed in selling intelligent data center I/O solutions."
"Being named a Channel Chief is one of the most prestigious honors in the IT industry. This year's Channel Chiefs offer tremendous insight into the who's who of the Channel," said Kelley Damore, VP, Editorial Director, Everything Channel. "Top channel executives consistently ensure that the Channel's voice is heard when strategic decisions are being made and continually nurture mutually profitable relationships. We applaud the 2010 Channel Chiefs for their successful partner programs and strategies."
For additional information on the CRN Channel Chief list, visit http://www.channelweb.com. The Channel Chief list was published in the February 22, 2010 issue.
About Adaptec
Adaptec, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADPT) provides innovative data center I/O solutions that protect, accelerate, optimize, and condition data in today's most demanding data center environments. Adaptec products are used in IT environments ranging from traditional enterprise environments to fast growing, on-demand cloud computing data centers. The company's products enable data center managers, channel partners and OEMs to deploy best-in-class storage solutions to meet their customers' evolving IT and business requirements. Around the world, leading corporations, government organizations, and medium and small businesses trust Adaptec technology. More information is available at http://www.adaptec.com, on its blog, storageadvisors.adaptec.com, and at adaptec.com/facebook and twitter.com/Adaptec_Inc.
Everything Channel, headquartered in Framingham, MA, is a technology marketing and sales solutions company. Through its "Complete Technology Channel Solution," Everything Channel offers the right business tools to accelerate technology sales. From branding and recruiting to marketing and sales, Everything Channel offers technology marketers the unmatched breadth and depth of global brands and market intelligence combined with unparalleled audience loyalty and credibility serving all technology sales channels through an extensive database. Everything Channel provides innovative field sales and marketing solutions to the sellers of technology to achieve measurable and significant results.
About United Business Media Limited
UBM (UBM.L) focuses on two principal activities: worldwide information distribution, targeting and monitoring; and, the development and monetisation of B2B communities and markets. UBM's businesses inform markets and serve professional commercial communities -- from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewelry traders, from farmers to pharmacists -- with integrated events, online, print and business information products. Our 6,500 staff in more than 30 countries are organised into specialist teams that serve these communities, bringing buyers and sellers together, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently. For more information, go to http://www.ubm.com.
Contacts
Maureen Park Sara Lee
Everything Channel Walt & Company for Adaptec
516 562 5942 408-369-7200 ext. 2980
Maureen.park@ec.ubm.comslee@walt.com
Source: Adaptec, Inc.
CONTACT: Maureen Park of Everything Channel, +1-516-562-5942,
Maureen.park@ec.ubm.com; or Sara Lee of Walt & Company, +1-408-369-7200, ext.
2980, slee@walt.com, both for Adaptec
Supermicro Showcases Latest Innovations in Server Technology at CeBIT
New Double-Density TwinBlade(TM) Features 20 (28) DP Servers in 7U for 75% Space Savings with 94% Power Efficiency
HANNOVER, Germany, March 2 -- Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMCI), a global leader in application-optimized, high-performance server solutions, is showcasing the very latest innovations in server technology, including its breakthrough TwinBlade solution, at CeBIT 2010 in Hannover, Germany (Hall 17, Stand D70, booth B1). The innovative TwinBlade(TM) system doubles the number of dual-processor (DP) compute nodes per 7U enclosure to 20 (28), for an incredibly dense and cost-effective 0.35U (0.25U) per node.
"Our 20 (28)-node server system based on the SBI-7226T-T2 blade delivers unprecedented performance-per-dollar and performance-per-square-foot," said Charles Liang, CEO and president of Supermicro. "Available with 40Gb/s QDR InfiniBand switches, this optimized blade solution combines industry-leading 94%* power supply efficiency with our innovative and highly efficient thermal and cooling system designs to deliver exceptional system performance-per-watt, making it the greenest, most power-efficient blade solution in the world today."
For maximum density and computational performance, the TwinBlade(TM) supports up to 20 dual-socket server blades per 7U enclosure, enabling up to 2,880 processing cores per 42U rack. Combined with dual 40Gb/s InfiniBand, FCoE or 10GbE switches and dual 1/10GbE switches in one 7U enclosure, TwinBlade(TM) provides the highest performing I/O throughput and scalability in the industry and is a superb solution for high-performance computing (HPC), datacenter, enterprise and cloud computing environments. With successful deployments at CERN, PRACE, and other Fortune 100 organizations, SuperBlade® has already become the preferred solution for a wide range of mission-critical applications.
Another breakthrough product being displayed at CeBIT is Supermicro's Double-Sided Storage(TM) system. With redundant Platinum Level (94%+ efficiency) power supplies, the SC847 series server chassis feature 36 hot-swap 3.5" hard drive trays (24 in the front and 12 in the rear). For JBOD configurations, the SC847 can support 21 drives in the rear for a total of 45 drives.
These high-capacity storage chassis provide direct hot-swap access to all of the storage drives while saving valuable rack space. Featuring the world's first fully redundant Platinum Level power supplies with PMBus(TM) functionality for superior power management, these reliable storage workhorses support seven low-profile (LP models) or four full size and three low-profile expansion cards (UIO models). The SC847 chassis support both 6Gb/s and 3Gb/s SAS interfaces for high-bandwidth storage applications. Deploying these chassis into a new 42U Supermicro rack with flexible cable management eliminates cable obstructions for a truly optimized total solution.
Also being officially unveiled at CeBIT is the new SuperServer 4146B-3R. This server supports four Intel® Itanium 9300 Series processors. Offering the ultimate in reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS), the 4146B-3R features hot-plug CPU and memory modules, hard drives, power supplies, and expansion cards, making it an excellent solution for high-performance datacenter and mission-critical applications.
In addition, Supermicro is showcasing an extensive selection of new platforms optimized for Intel's upcoming Xeon processors codenamed Westmere (DP) and Nehalem EX (MP), as well as platforms optimized for AMD's upcoming Opteron processors (codenamed Magny-Cours).
Supermicro Server Building Block Solutions® offer exceptional flexibility and features. See the very latest innovations in server technology in Hall 17, Stand D70, booth B1.
About Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMCI)
Supermicro, the leader in server technology innovation and green computing, provides customers around the world with application-optimized server, workstation, blade, storage and GPU systems. Based on its advanced Server Building Block Solutions, Supermicro offers the most optimized selection for IT, datacenter and HPC deployments. The company's system architecture innovations include the Twin server, double-sided storage and SuperBlade® product families. Offering the most comprehensive product lines in the industry, Supermicro provides businesses of all sizes with energy-efficient, earth-friendly solutions that deliver unmatched performance and value. Founded in 1993, Supermicro is headquartered in Silicon Valley with worldwide operations and manufacturing centers in Europe and Asia. For more information, visit http://www.supermicro.com.
SMCI-F
* Peak power efficiency figures based on internal test results.
Supermicro, SuperBlade and Server Building Block Solutions are registered trademarks and TwinBlade and Double-Sided Storage are trademarks of Super Micro Computer, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Adder Technology is one of the unique thought leaders in KVM technology
that you can guarantee will deliver something extraordinary. The latest and
possibly most disruptive KVM-over-IP technology that Adder has developed is
the new CATxIP5000. This product pushes the boundaries of existing KVM
technology by delivering the same functionality that you would find in a
large power hungry KVM switch in an astonishingly small, low power and low
cost package.
Together with chip designers Adventiq, Adder has developed a 16 port CATx
KVM switch which delivers 4 independent non-blocking remote access sessions
over standard network infrastructure. Adder's continued Research and
Development in KVM over IP technology and the use of unique chipsets from
Adventiq has resulted in a design breakthrough that enables an enterprise
grade multi-session KVM-over-IP switch to be delivered at less than half the
cost that would normally be expected for such functionality. Furthermore the
very small form factor means that a system that supports 10 users and 32
computers can be provided using just 1U of rack space.
Nigel Dickens CTO commented "We are really proud of this new technology
which we perceive as being market disruptive in terms of the price, space and
power advantages it offers to customers. Previous multi-session KVM products
have been too expensive to justify in many instances but this technology
changes all that. The high performance to price ratio is all down to the
uniqueness of the design concept - aspects of which are very different to
existing KVM-over-IP solutions."
Integrating the latest generation of viewers from the inventors of VNC
technology (Real VNC), the CATxIP5000 is ready to go straight from the box.
Using Real VNC alongside the CATxIP5000 hardware delivers a truly intuitive
yet feature rich user experience. Adder's ingrained principal of open
architecture also means you can use the device with any other VNC application
on the market.
Furthermore, at launch, this device will ship with the ADDER.net network
management suite. ADDER.net has been 3 years in development, and offers
enterprise scale management of IP control devices and virtual servers.
Adder.net puts all your equipment within easy reach from a single well
thought out interface. The software presents itself in two forms; Management
Suite and Connection Suite, allowing different user levels to gain
administrative access. Fully integrated with active directory, users can be
authenticated against your existing infrastructure. The system is also server
based giving all users' direct access, authentication dependant, from any
networked machine, any time.
The CATxIP5000 is available immediately from Adder Technology at a launch
price of EUR1195 ($1750). For more information on Adder and the CATxIP5000,
simply visit http://www.adder.com
About Adder
Adder is a leading developer of KVM technology and extenders. Adder's
advanced range of KVM switches, extenders and IP solutions enable the control
of local, remote and global IT systems. The company distributes its products
in more than 60 countries through a network of distributors, resellers and
OEMs. Adder has offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, the
Netherlands, and Singapore. Visit http://www.adder.com.
PR Contacts
N. America
Michael Becce
MRB Public Relations
+1-732-758-1100x104
mbecce@mrb-pr.com
TigerLogic to Demonstrate Omnis Studio 5 for iPhone Developer Beta at CeBIT - March 2 - 6, 2010
Develop Omnis applications for Apple's iPhone and iPod touch
IRVINE, Calif., March 2 -- TigerLogic Corporation (NASDAQ:TIGR) is pleased to announce that it will be demonstrating its Omnis Studio 5 for iPhone developer beta at the CeBIT International Trade Fair at Hall 3, Booth K20, March 2-6, 2010 in Hannover, Germany. Omnis Studio 5 now provides the functionality to develop applications for Apple's iPhone®, iPod touch®, and soon to be released iPad.
For over 10 years, Omnis Studio has provided a vast array of development tools for application developers and Value Added Resellers to create enterprise and web applications for all types of markets. The release of Omnis Studio 5 in September 2009 added support for Windows Phone® OS. With this beta release of Omnis Studio 5 for iPhone, Omnis application developers will be able to further extend their business applications to the rapidly expanding mobile applications market.
"With the explosion in the technology market for 'all things mobile', including Smartphones, tablet computers and other handheld devices, Omnis Studio is a great choice for application developers wishing to create mobile apps quickly and easily, for a broad range of markets," commented Bob Whiting, Omnis Product Manager and General Manager of TigerLogic UK Limited, a subsidiary of TigerLogic Corporation.
Quick and Easy Apps for iPhone in Omnis Studio
Omnis Studio 5 for iPhone will allow developers to create applications for the iPhone, iPod touch and soon to be released iPad. Developers will be able to leverage the same powerful and flexible development environment in Omnis Studio to create all types of apps for all iPhone OS based devices from Apple. Omnis Studio 5 for iPhone uses over 20 native iPhone components, which allow you to create Omnis applications with an entirely native look-and-feel familiar to iPhone users.
Developers will need to sign up for Apple's iPhone Developer program to distribute an Omnis iPhone App within an organization or at a customer site. This will allow deployment of iPhone Apps to a specified number of devices. Further details about Enterprise Distribution are available from Apple Inc.
The Omnis Studio 5 for iPhone developer beta is available only to developers on the Omnis Developer Partner Program (ODPP). Please visit http://www.omnis.net/developer/index.html.
Omnis Studio is a high-performance visual RAD tool that provides a component-based environment for building enterprise, web, and mobile applications - all from one code base. Omnis Studio's Web and Mobile Client plug-in technology allows server-based applications to be accessed over the Internet using a web browser or many types of mobile devices, providing fast, secure, and scalable solutions with minimal development time. With complete scalability, Omnis applications can be developed on any one supported platform and deployed on any other platform without modification. Supported platforms include Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, all with full Unicode compatibility for your data and application interface. Omnis directly supports traditional SQL databases such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, Sybase, and DB2, as well as TigerLogic's D3 multidimensional database, via the mvDesigner product. Most other databases may be accessed via JDBC or ODBC. Omnis Studio dramatically cuts application development time compared to 3GL environments (C++, Java), while allowing the developer to use objects developed in 3GL environments as components in Omnis applications.
About TigerLogic Corporation
TigerLogic Corporation (NASDAQ:TIGR), has been providing reliable data management and rapid application deployment solutions for ISVs and developers of database applications for more than three decades. TigerLogic's product offerings include: 1) TigerLogic® yolink, an internet browser-based application that enhances the search experience of any popular search engine or Web page; 2) TigerLogic® XML Data Management Server (XDMS) provides flexible, scalable and extensible XML data storage as well as query and retrieval of critical business data across a variety of structured and unstructured information sources; 3) Pick® Universal Data Model (Pick UDM) based database management systems and components, including D3®, mvEnterprise® and mvBase®; and 4) Omnis Studio®, a cross-platform, object-oriented RAD tool for developing sophisticated thick-client, Web-client or ultra thin-client database applications. TigerLogic's installed customer base includes more than 500,000 active users representing more than 20,000 customer sites worldwide, with a significant base of diverse vertical applications. With employees and contractors worldwide, TigerLogic offers 24x7 customer support services and maintains an international presence. More information about TigerLogic and its products can be found at http://www.tigerlogic.com/.
Except for the historical statements contained herein, the foregoing release may contain forward-looking information. Any forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially due to several factors, including but not limited to the success of the Company's research and development efforts to develop new products and to penetrate new markets, the market acceptance of the Company's new products and updates, technical risks related to such products and updates, the Company's ability to maintain market share for its existing products, the availability of adequate liquidity and other risks and uncertainties. Please consult the various reports and documents filed by the Company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the Company's most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q for factors potentially affecting the Company's future financial results. All forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company disclaims any responsibility to update or revise any forward-looking statement provided in this news release. The Company's results for the quarter ended December 31, 2009 are not necessarily indicative of the Company's operating results for any future periods.
TigerLogic, yolink, Raining Data, Pick, mvDesigner, D3, mvEnterprise, mvBase, Omnis, and Omnis Studio are trademarks of TigerLogic Corporation. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are properties of their respective owners.
eMeter EnergyIP(TM) Integrated With SAP(R) AMI Integration for Utilities to Further Enable Forward-Thinking Utilities
Utilities need to plan for the future or risk obsolescence by 2020
SAN MATEO, Calif., March 2 -- eMeter today announced its groundbreaking meter data management (MDM) system, EnergyIP(TM), is integrated with the SAP® AMI Integration for Utilities software, providing electric, gas, and water utilities the visibility and process automation necessary to drive operational efficiency and improve customer service.
eMeter successfully tested EnergyIP's meter data unification and synchronization (MDUS) interfaces for data management, exchange and process integration with SAP AMI Integration for Utilities, demonstrating functionality based on integration between multiple meter data collection systems and downstream solutions such as the SAP for Utilities solution portfolio.
eMeter successfully tested the following six scenarios:
-- Initial advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) meter deployment
-- Move-out and move-in at premise with billing for move-out customer
-- Meter change with rate change
-- Batch meter reading with billing (i.e., periodic billing)
-- Time series data import with billing
-- Call Center Resolution with on-demand read (e.g., to the head end)
As a member of the SAP AMI Lighthouse Council, eMeter has worked alongside other council members to define and deliver application-level interoperability between EnergyIP and SAP's market-leading utility solution. With EnergyIP integrated with SAP AMI Integration for Utilities, utilities gain the advantage of an out-of-the box, standard interface, enabling them to capitalize on EnergyIP's capabilities essential to intelligent metering and smart-grid success.
"Today's utilities need to be preparing for the future or take on a major risk of obsolescence by 2020. As a result, utilities need to undergo significant improvements in communication infrastructures and in their data handling capabilities. Scalable business processes, smarter grid management and enhanced customer engagement are the keys to successful smart meter rollouts. Forward-thinking utilities can rely on eMeter to automate the smart meter lifecycle to be ready to handle these changes," said Larsh Johnson, Chief Technology Officer, eMeter.
"eMeter's products are built for scalability and are designed for utilities and their downstream customers to experience the benefits of smart-grid deployments," added Johnson. "For this reason, we believe the successful integration of EnergyIP with SAP AMI Integration for Utilities will help utilities drive towards increased operational efficiency and improved customer service."
About eMeter
eMeter provides essential software that enables electric, gas and water utilities to realize the full benefits of Smart Grid. Leading utilities worldwide depend on eMeter Smart Grid Management software to reduce operational costs, improve customer service, and drive energy efficiency. With the most large-scale deployments in the industry and strategic partnerships with Accenture, IBM, Logica, and Siemens, eMeter has built a reputation for unparalleled expertise that ensures customer success. For more information visit: http://www.emeter.com.
SAP and all SAP logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries.
All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.
Source: eMeter
CONTACT: Kyle Arteaga of eMeter, +1-415-218-5569,
kyle.arteaga@emeter.com
Nikkei Chooses Brightcove Platform for Online Video Initiatives
Japan's leading newspaper standardizes video operations across its newly-launching Online Edition website with Brightcove
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 2 -- Brightcove Inc., the leading online video platform, today announced that Nikkei Inc., one of Japan's largest media corporations and publisher of the country's top business daily newspaper, "The Nikkei," is standardizing online video operations on the Brightcove platform across its new main newspaper website property, The Nikkei Online Edition (http://www.nikkei.com/), which is scheduled to be launched on March 23, 2010. Brightcove will enable Nikkei to roll out a variety of high quality, advertising-supported online video experiences, as well as extend the reach of its video content through advanced features for sharing and embedding content on third party sites and social networks.
The comprehensive features and capabilities of the Brightcove platform enable Nikkei to provide a high quality, interactive and engaging user experience for online audiences around the world. With Brightcove, Nikkei is able to rapidly accelerate its publishing workflow through a single, integrated solution that meets all of the organization's video publishing and distribution needs. Additionally, Brightcove's turnkey integration with leading advertising networks and servers will enable Nikkei to expand online video monetization opportunities across its newspaper properties.
"Nikkei has been at the forefront of the media industry in Japan and around the world for more than one hundred years," said Jeremy Allaire, Brightcove chairman and chief executive officer. "Brightcove is the online video platform behind many of the largest newspaper publishers in the world, and the addition of Nikkei is a testament to our continued leadership and innovation in the online video industry. We look forward to supporting Nikkei's new online video initiatives in the future as the organization continues to hone its digital offerings."
Brightcove has teamed with Japan's leading content delivery network, J-Stream, to support streaming media services for Brightcove-powered online video experiences across Nikkei's website properties.
About Brightcove
Brightcove is a cloud-based online video platform. Media companies, businesses and organizations worldwide use Brightcove to publish and distribute video on the Web. Founded in 2004, Brightcove has offices across North America, Europe and Asia and customers in 34 countries. For more information, visit http://www.brightcove.com/.
Source: Brightcove Inc.
CONTACT: Europe, Stephen Orr of AxiCom, +44 20 8392 4056,
stephen.orr@axicom.com; or North America, Erika Shaffer of SutherlandGold
Group, +1-206-972-5514, erika@sutherlandgold.com; or Japan, Rie Kubota of LBS
Co., Ltd., +81 3 3769 1351, rkubota@lbs.co.jp, all for Brightcove Inc.
Xilinx and Inova Semiconductors Simplify Design Integration of High-Bandwidth Video Connections for Automotive Applications
XA Spartan-6 FPGAs with APIX IP core enables high-speed connectivity solution for infotainment and driver assistance systems with multiple cameras and displays
NUREMBERG, Germany, March 2 -- At Embedded World 2010 today, Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX) and Inova Semiconductors introduced an Automotive Pixel Link (APIX®) IP solution for the Xilinx® Automotive (XA) family of low-cost Spartan®-6 field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). The configurable core supports multiple high-bandwidth video and communications links in a single device to transfer high-quality, real-time video from two or more cameras or processing units to in-vehicle displays. This highly integrated connectivity solution is targeted at infotainment and driver assistance applications.
APIX is the latest Gigabit/s Pixel Link interface from Xilinx Alliance partner Inova Semiconductors, providing point-to-point connectivity designed for minimal electro-magnetic interference (EMI) and maximum transmission distances. With the APIX IP core now available for Xilinx's newest line of XA Spartan-6 FPGAs (also announced separately today), automotive developers can integrate multiple transmit and receive APIX links with minimal engineering overhead. In addition to high-bandwidth video, the APIX link allows for full duplex communication and power can be transmitted over just one cable to further streamline connectivity.
"The need to transport real-time, high resolution digital video from various media or camera sources to displays throughout the vehicle is a growing concern for automotive developers," said Nick Difiore, director of automotive systems architecture and platforms at Xilinx. "Both the APIX core and XA-Spartan-6 FPGAs are designed for high-speed connectivity. Bringing them together enables a highly integrated and scalable multi-transceiver architecture that delivers the video bandwidth and increasing number of connections needed, while also reducing overall system cost. With the addition of the APIX core to the comprehensive portfolio of interface options offered by Xilinx and our Alliance network, developers now have even more choice and greater design flexibility."
The APIX IP Core
The APIX core is a software configurable IP block that can be adapted to application-specific bandwidth, video interface, and control signal requirements with adjustable driver characteristics, selectable operating modes, and spread spectrum-clocking capabilities. The APIX IP utilizes the multi-gigabit transceiver (MGT) hard blocks of the XA Spartan-6 FPGA to maximize performance and integration while reducing system cost. It is fully compatible with the standalone APIX INAP125T24 (transmitter) or INAP125R24 (receiver) devices, including the ASHELL automotive-specific communication protocol for secure data transmission over the full duplex sideband interface. The ASHELL option can be switched off, if not required.
"Developed in collaboration with leading car makers and automotive electronic suppliers, our licensable APIX technology offers a solid, ruggedized connectivity standard that is qualified by eight out of ten major automotive OEMs worldwide and used today by numerous other semiconductor providers," said Thomas Rothhaupt, director of sales and marketing at Inova Semiconductors. "By providing our production-proven interface technology for XA Spartan-6 FPGAs, we are adding to our APIX silicon ecosystem with the ability to utilize built-in FPGA MGTs for advanced systems with cameras and displays, such as head units or cluster displays with camera inputs."
Enabling Next-Generation Applications
Many next-generation driver assistance and infotainment systems have multiple video sources and sinks. For infotainment head units, in which FPGAs are already used in a companion chip role, the APIX IP core takes advantage of the high-speed serial transceivers embedded in the XA Spartan-6 FPGA and provides an additional level of integration that saves valuable board space and reduces component count. Other applications include vehicle surround view systems, where multiple APIX cores on the XA Spartan 6-FPGA enable a single-chip solution that aggregates four or more high-bandwidth camera inputs and eliminates the need for multiple external serializer/deserializer (SerDes) devices. A similar integration/cost benefit is also realized in rear seat entertainment systems, where multiple video display modules must be sourced from a single audio/video distribution unit.
Pricing & Availability
The APIX core for XA Spartan-6 FPGAs is immediately available from Inova Semiconductors. APIX Transmitter and Receiver devices can be purchased separately. Product and pricing information is available through Inova Semiconductors at: http://www.inova-semiconductors.com/en/products_apix.html. Pricing and delivery lead times for XA Spartan-6 FPGAs are available through Xilinx sales representatives.
About Xilinx in Automotive
Xilinx is the world's leading supplier of programmable logic devices (PLDs) to the automotive industry with its complete line of FPGAs and CPLDs tested to the AEC-Q100 qualification standard and integrated platform solutions that accelerate development of in-vehicle infotainment, networking, driver information and driver assistance applications. Xilinx automotive platforms go beyond silicon to include the LogiCORE(TM) and AllianceCORE IP portfolio, a comprehensive design environment, and scalable development kits. For more information about Xilinx in automotive, visit: http://www.xilinx.com/automotive.
About Inova Semiconductors
Inova Semiconductors is a fabless semiconductor manufacturer headquartered in Munich, Germany. The company was founded in 1999 and specializes in the development and production of state-of-the-art products for Gigabit/s serial data communication. The products are manufactured at leading factories in Europe and Asia and sold through a world-wide distribution network.
The company's GigaSTaR(TM) and GigaSTaR DDL(TM) product lines have pioneered digital display link applications in the Industrial and Transportation Market, the APIX(TM) products and IP core were developed to meet the stringent requirements of display and camera applications in the automobile. For more information about Inova Semiconductors, visit: http://www.inova-semiconductors.com
#1014p
XILINX, the Xilinx logo, Spartan, and other designated brands included herein are trademarks of Xilinx in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Editorial Contacts:
Silvia Gianelli
Xilinx Public Relations
408-626-4328
silvia.gianelli@xilinx.com
Xilinx Expands Market-Leading Automotive Silicon Portfolio With Spartan-6 FPGAs Optimized to Reduce System Cost
Infotainment companion chip demonstration at Embedded World showcases high-resolution video performance and connectivity bandwidth of XA Spartan-6 FPGAs
NUREMBERG, Germany, March 2 -- At Embedded World 2010 today, Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX) introduced the Xilinx® Automotive (XA) family of Spartan®-6 field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) optimized for applications requiring high-speed connectivity and high-resolution video performance. These automotive-qualified devices provide the flexibility, scalability, and integration needed to reduce the system cost of automotive infotainment, driver assistance, driver information, and in-vehicle networking products.
XA Spartan-6 FPGAs also provide the silicon foundation for the Xilinx Infotainment Companion Chip Targeted Design Platform that will be introduced later this year. Automotive developers will be able to rapidly scale their infotainment designs with XA Spartan-6 FPGAs as companion chips to standard processors or application-specific standard products (ASSPs). Xilinx is showcasing a demonstration version of the new platform this week at Embedded World 2010, March 2nd through 4th in Nuremberg, Germany (Hall 12, Booth #12-515).
"Automotive developers today are being driven to enhance the user experience with next-generation infotainment, driver assistance and driver information applications. But, they must do so with fewer resources, tighter budgets, and shorter market windows," said Harvey Steele, vice president, Automotive, Consumer and ISM Business at Xilinx. "XA Spartan-6 FPGAs address the technical challenge through a scalable architecture, increased connectivity options, and higher integration, delivered with industry-leading quality and value. With our targeted design platform approach, we're also making it easier to develop with our new devices and reduce overall system cost."
XA Spartan-6 FPGA Family
XA Spartan-6 FPGAs provide a cost-optimized mix of logic and integrated features with a range of density and package options that enable developers to scale designs across multiple vehicle platforms. XA Spartan-6 LX FPGAs offer up to 75K logic cells, 3.1Mbits of block RAM, 132 dedicated DSP slices for massive parallel processing at 250MHz, and support memory access rates of up to 800Mbps using integrated memory controllers. The hard-coded memory controllers and increased memory capacity of these devices enable fast buffering of video frames for vision-based driver assistance, infotainment, and hybrid driver information systems.
XA Spartan-6 LXT FPGAs with embedded 3.125Gbps low-power serial transceivers and PCI Express® interface cores are ideal for chip-to-chip communications in automotive infotainment systems. The high-speed interface capabilities and high clock speeds of these devices are also well suited to the low-cost camera interfacing and processing performance requirements of driver assistance applications. Multiple high-bandwidth video links can be integrated on a single device using the new Automotive Pixel Link (APIX) core optimized for XA Spartan-6 FPGAs also announced separately today (see news release).
Infotainment Companion Chip Demonstration
The Xilinx Infotainment Companion Chip Targeted Design Platform demonstration highlights the flexibility of XA Spartan-6 FPGAs to support simple to complex companion chip architectures and accommodate automotive-specific requirements not addressed by many popular host processors. Specialized interfacing and high-speed processing tasks can be offloaded from the base processor to the FPGA for optimal system partitioning and maximum performance.
Pre-configured hardware and software building blocks, developed by long-time Xilinx Alliance member Xylon, accelerate system design with automotive-specific interfaces and peripherals, along with a wide range of IP for video capture and processing, graphics acceleration and display, and in-vehicle networking functions. The platform eases plug-and-play development with daughter cards, expansion slots for interface customization, and connections to various host processors through generic serial/parallel data ports, USB, and industry-standard PCIe® serial interfaces. The platform can be tailored for a broad range of application designs with minimal re-engineering.
Pricing & Availability
Shipments of select XA Spartan-6 FPGAs will commence in the second half of 2010. All devices can be ordered in a variety densities and packaging options. Details on pricing and delivery lead times are available through Xilinx sales representatives.
About Xilinx Automotive Solutions
Xilinx is the world's leading supplier of programmable logic devices (PLDs) to the automotive industry with its complete line of FPGAs and CPLDs tested to the AEC-Q100 qualification standard and integrated platform solutions that accelerate development of in-vehicle infotainment and networking, driver information, and driver assistance applications. Xilinx automotive platforms go beyond silicon to include the LogiCORE(TM) and AllianceCORE IP portfolio, comprehensive design environment, and scalable development kits. For more information about Xilinx in automotive, visit: http://www.xilinx.com/automotive.
#1013p
XILINX, the Xilinx logo, Spartan, and other designated brands included herein are trademarks of Xilinx in the United States and other countries. PCI Express and PCIe are trademarks of PCI-SIG and used under license. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Editorial Contacts:
Silvia Gianelli
Xilinx Public Relations
408-626-4328
silvia.gianelli@xilinx.com
IBM Unveils Industry's First Systems that Rewrite Economics of 'Industry-Standard' Computing
All-new class of x86 systems break constraints of 30-year technology design; can slash costs by reducing server sprawl
ARMONK, N.Y., March 2 -- IBM (NYSE:IBM) today introduced the first systems that shatter technical barriers to offer dramatically more scalable, workload-tuned computing on the x86 platform. The company's new eX5 servers are the result of a three-year engineering effort to improve the economics of operating enterprise-sized, x86-based systems.
The eX5 portfolio marks IBM's second family of 2010 systems designed for a new generation of demanding workloads and to significantly reduce costs of existing IT infrastructure. They are being previewed today at the CeBIT trade show in Germany and will be officially available later this month and throughout the year.
The new systems ride a wave of market share growth for IBM. IBM gained more revenue share than any of the major x86 server vendors in each quarter of 2009 and now holds nearly 20 percent share -- a 3.5 point year-over-year gain, according to IDC. IBM also significantly outperformed the blade market in 4Q09, recording 64 percent revenue growth in blades and gaining 5.7 points, according to IDC. (1)
An Engineering First Alters Economics of x86;
Offers Dramatic New Memory Scale
Drawing on decades of experience in enterprise systems design and silicon packaging, IBM engineers have radically expanded the capabilities of the x86 platform by achieving an engineering first -- decoupling memory from its traditional, tightly bound place alongside the server's processor, thereby eliminating the need to buy another server to support growing memory-intensive workloads. This all-new class of x86-based systems offers six times the memory scalability available today (2), helping to flatten the ever-rising cost of operating industry-standard data centers.
For example, the amount of data ingested by today's average web-based workload doubles every year, increasing costs and straining resources. Users have traditionally dealt with the deluge by using the only method available with industry-standard platforms -- throwing more servers at the problem, which furthers sprawl and increases power and management costs. Today, typical x86 servers are only being utilized at 10% of capacity due to a 30-year-old architecture that locks processor and memory capacity together.
Acxiom Corp. is a leader in interactive marketing services and early user of eX5 systems. The company counts among its clients seven of the top ten retail banks and nine of the top ten auto makers. Acxiom analyzes massive amounts of rapidly ballooning consumer data on behalf of its clients - four petabytes one year ago; seven petabytes just six months ago; and more than ten petabytes of data today. Acxiom now has 22,500 servers.
"The IBM eX5 systems are game changers," says Acxiom CIO David Guzman. "We've been able to double our virtualization capacity, dropping our software licensing costs. The price/performance equation is extraordinarily compelling, with five times the performance at a fraction of the cost. Moreover, there is a positive impact on all of the other key components of IT cost -- space, power, labor, maintenance. The concrete results of this next generation machine are exciting, and the roadmap has 'knock-your-socks-off' vision."
The eX5 systems take advantage of integration with IBM middleware to create a highly virtualized environment that can give users a flexible, highly scalable system that can reduce the number of servers needed by half while cutting storage costs 97% (3) and licensing fees by 50% (4).
IBM Chip Unleashes Extreme Memory
A unique IBM silicon innovation allows processors on eX5 systems to access extended memory very quickly, an industry first and a leap forward that delivers the largest memory capacity in the industry. The IBM Enterprise X-Architecture chip is in its fifth generation with eX5 and leverages decades of IBM experience in integrating microelectronics to create first-of-a-kind silicon solutions.
Independent memory scaling technology, called MAX 5, offers six times more memory than is available across the industry today, which can allow clients to run 82% more "virtual servers" for the same license costs (5) and reduce middleware and application expenses dramatically. Clients running a Microsoft database can cut their license costs by 50% with eX5 (6).
eX5 Breakthroughs Packaged in Blades and Racks To Meet Variety of Workloads & Price Points
IBM will introduce three ultra-scalable eX5 systems in 2010 -- the four-processor IBM System x3850 X5, the BladeCenter HX5 and the System x3690 X5, an entry-priced server capable of enterprise-class operation that will become the most powerful two-processor server on the market.
In addition to MAX5, IBM's new eX5 systems feature additional breakthroughs that can improve the performance, cost and flexibility for x86 workloads:
-- eXFlash -- a unique, next-generation flash-storage technology --
replaces an older, less reliable generation of storage and can slash
storage costs up to 97% by replacing hundreds of hard-disk drives and
thousands of wires and cables (7).
-- FlexNode provides physical partitioning capability to change from one
system to two distinct systems and back again, allowing clients to run
infrastructure applications by day and larger batch jobs by night on
the same system for superior asset utilization.
IBM's Systems Director software management suite has been upgraded to support eX5 technology and will allow users to pre-configure servers, remotely re-purpose systems and set up automatic updates and recoveries. In addition, IBM is planning to offer simplified Lab Services to help clients migrate to eX5 systems and maximize virtualization and database performance.
IBM Global Financing, the lending and leasing arm of IBM can help new and existing System x customers step up to the new eX5 technology with flexible financing offerings that include the upgrade, take-out and disposal of existing leased and owned servers regardless of manufacturer.
Coinciding with the launch of eX5, IBM's Global Technology Services (GTS) is announcing a new approach to delivering implementation services for server and storage products. Among the new offerings IBM is introducing are: IBM Implementation Services for System x - BladeCenter or System x remote implementation and IBM Implementation Serivces for System x - Remote ServicePac for IBM Systems Director. Initially available in the U.S. and Canada with plans to expand to the rest of the world later in the year, these remotely delivered, lower price point services help clients optimize system performance and reduce time to value.
2. The maximum amount of memory for the current generation IBM system is 256GB. The new eX5 version with MAX5 attached is 1536GB, which is six times more memory.
3. IBM eXFlash technology would eliminate the need for a client to purchase two entry-level servers and 80 JBODs to support a 240,000 IOPs database environment, saving $670,000 in server and storage acquisition costs.
4. IBM will offer a two-socket eX5 system with MAX 5 and 64 dimms capable of supporting 320 virtual machines. Users of competitive systems would have to purchase a four-socket system to support a comparable amount of virtual machines and pay 50 percent more licensing costs. Based on sizing information performed in the IBM performance lab.
5. Comparison of a competitive two-socket system with 18 dimms capable of supporting 175 virtual machines vs. an IBM two-socket eX5 system with MAX 5 and 64 dimms capable of supporting 320 virtual machines. Based on sizing information performed in the IBM performance lab.
6. A 1,000 user SQL Server 2008 database will cost $50,000 on a two-socket eX5 system. IBM is expected to be the only vendor to deliver a two-socket system in this space, therefore users of competitive systems will have to purchase a four-socket server to run a 1,000 user SQL server database and pay $100,000. Pricing based on Microsoft List Pricing as of January 2010. Pricing model used is per processor licensing which is based on $24,999 per physical socket on the server (logical cores are not counted).
7. Each eXFlash replaces 80 JBODs, each of which includes multiple disks and other components that all require cabling.
All statements regarding IBM's future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice, and represent goals and objectives only.
Contact:
Joanna Brewer
IBM Communications
415-545-2270
jmbrewer@us.ibm.com
Michael Corrado
IBM Communications
914-766-4635
mcorrado@us.ibm.com
To see video of live events at CeBit in Hanover, Germany and at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, visit: http://www.livestream.com/ibmsysxblade
Jive Software Launches Jive Ideation - Freeing Ideas to Flourish
With Jive Ideation, Companies Tap the Power of Crowd-sourcing and Social Networks to Identify and Nurture the Best Ideas for Bigger Outcomes
PORTLAND, Ore., March 2 -- News
-- Jive, the Social Business Software (SBS) leader, today announced Jive
Ideation, the latest expansion to its lineup of top-rated SBS
products.
-- Jive's customers routinely highlight the innovation that naturally
occurs from the powerful collaboration capabilities of Jive SBS. A
number of these customers asked Jive to tackle a more complex problem:
how to free ideas from standalone innovation management products and
Excel-based tools that leave ideas trapped in silos with little
discussion or visibility.
-- Now, with Jive Ideation, Jive is adding more muscle to the process of
capturing, organizing and prioritizing ideas generated by employees,
customers, and partners. And, unlike existing offerings, Jive Ideation
takes this one step further by supporting rich collaboration and
vibrant discussions without drowning in a river of ideas.
-- For companies looking to cast the net wide, Jive Ideation can be
extended with the social media monitoring capabilities of Jive Market
Engagement. Used together, Jive customers can incorporate real-time
market insights from Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks to
enrich and accelerate the innovation lifecycle.
Product Detail
-- Jive SBS is already a touchstone for innovation because it naturally
connects people, ideas, and information without regard to time zones,
geographies, or hierarchies. By adding Jive Ideation, companies can
draw inspiration and opinion from a much wider audience of employees,
customers, and partners through a set of powerful features designed
for the complex realities of today's markets.
-- Customer community members and employee community members can
create, vote on, and discuss ideas with peers through Jive's
best-in-class interface that invites broad participation.
-- Product and R&D employees can easily organize and prioritize ideas
by stage, most popular ideas, and most active discussions - and
then share those findings with their colleagues.
-- Only Jive bridges customer and employee communities. As a result,
employees can easily monitor idea creation and progression from
within their Jive SBS employee community, enabling them to keep a
constant pulse on the voice of the market.
-- Moderators have a number of customizable workflow tools to manage
the ideation process from capturing and evaluating ideas through
implementation, ensuring that the best ideas quickly bubble up to
the right people for rapid decision making and action.
-- With a transparent collaboration process, customers and partners
can track how their input aligns with that of their community
peers and the enterprise. Enterprises can also recognize and
reward top idea generators and participants.
Supporting Quotes
-- "It's a dog fight to find The Next Big Idea," said Ben Kiker, CMO of
Jive Software. "Quickly finding and surfacing that idea in an
efficient way is one of the keys to competitive advantage, market
share and profits. For organizations that consider innovation core to
their culture, they'll love Jive Ideation."
-- "The SAP® Community Network plays a critical role in helping SAP to
develop and prioritize new ideas for solutions that meet our customer
needs," said Anne Hardy, vice president, Technology, Office of the
CTO, SAP Labs LLC. "Having now seen the Jive Ideation Module, it is
clear the software could play a role in increasing effectiveness in
these areas and in managing the projects in private areas until they
are ready for a public roll out."
-- "Our ability to harness employee ideas is a key part of our innovation
strategy," said J.C. Groon, Head of Innovation Programs of NAVTEQ, the
leading global provider of digital map, traffic and location data for
in-vehicle, portable, wireless and enterprise solutions. "Success in
our innovation program depends on our ability to enable our employees
to interact across geographic and functional boundaries and innovate
together. We are impressed with how Jive is approaching both pieces
of the equation, and based on our use of Jive Ideation, it will have a
significant impact on our innovation program."
Product Availability
-- The Jive Ideation module is available now for existing Jive customers.
Click here for more information.
Additional Resources
-- Jive CMO Blog on Jive Ideation
-- Jive Software Website
-- Jive Ideation Web page
-- Jive Ideation screen shots
About Jive Software
"How can we work better together and connect with customers in a more authentic way?" Every day millions of people experience the answer: Jive Social Business Software (SBS), which is driving the biggest change to business practices in decades. Jive SBS takes all the great things people love about social networking software, collaboration software, and community software and makes those work for business. That's why many of the brands that drive the global economy - including Cisco, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Intel, NIKE Inc., SAP, Swiss Re, T-Mobile and Yum! Brands - and thousands of other companies all Jive. Jive is number one in Social Business Software, with the most extensive solution, the largest implementations, and unmatched expertise in delivering value.
SAP and all SAP logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries.
All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.
SAP Forward-looking Statement
Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "may," "plan," "project," "predict," "should" and "will" and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.
Source: Jive Software
CONTACT: Aaron Wessels of Reidy Communications, +1-415-643-8090,
aaronw@reidycommunications.com, for Jive Software
IBM 2010 Global CFO Study: Sixty Percent of Finance Organizations Plan Significant Changes to Adapt to New Economic Demands
Findings Indicate Decision-Making Role of CFOs in the Boardroom More Important Than Ever; Point to Large Gap in Effectiveness
ARMONK, N.Y., March 2 -- IBM (NYSE:IBM) today announced the findings of a major new study of over 1,900 Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and senior finance executives from 81 countries and 35 industries worldwide, which reveals that more than 60 percent of CFOs plan major changes to respond to the new economic climate.
CFOs and senior finance executives believe the already intense pressure on three fronts -- reducing the enterprise cost base, making faster, more accurate decisions and providing more transparency to external stakeholders -- will increase dramatically over the next three years.
The IBM study is the largest sample of CFO sentiment during the worst economic downturn in decades. As part of the impetus for change, Study participants ranked "providing inputs into enterprise strategy" number one when asked what was most important. Surprisingly, cost reduction was not at the top of the CFO agenda. However, they also revealed a major gap in organizational effectiveness, as only 50 percent feel their Finance organizations are currently effective in providing the necessary business insight to support these broader enterprise priorities.
"Never before has the importance of strong Finance capabilities been highlighted more than during the recent global economic downturn," said William Fuessler, global leader, financial management, IBM Global Business Services. "Our study shows that CFOs are expected to provide fact-based leadership and strategic decisions grounded in sophisticated analyses to help navigate the enterprise through these new economic waters."
Since IBM's first CFO study in 2003, CFOs have continually stated their aspirations to shift more focus to analysis and decision support, however few have made significant progress shifting the workload. Among Finance's effectiveness gaps, the largest is in the area of driving integration of information. CFOs' responses indicate this is a major enabler for practically every area of business insight, but, at the same time, show just how difficult this kind of integration is to accomplish.
One group of CFOs, dubbed "Value Integrators," were found to consistently outperform their peers in all key financial metrics by driving two key qualities across their organization:
-- Finance efficiency - The degree of common process and data standards
across the organization
-- Business insight - The maturity level of Finance talent, technology
and analytical capabilities dedicated to providing business
optimization, planning and strategic insights.
Value Integrators have found a way to excel and navigate an uncertain economic climate. The study indicates that enforcing process and data standards, integrating information and applying business analytics are key capabilities that enable improved business insight and risk management.
In fact, when compared to their peers, their enterprises outperform on every financial measure assessed, including return on invested capital (ROIC), revenue growth and EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization).
Since Value Integrators enjoy proportional representation across various dimensions of the data sample, their performance signals better practices and is not just a consequence of industry, geography or company size. Their Finance operations reflect a pervasive corporate philosophy that encourages integration across functions to make smarter decisions that lead to better overall performance.
Predictive Insight
Many CFOs feel their Finance organizations are more comfortable providing "tail lights" rather than "headlights." With the appropriate analytical capabilities spanning process, technology and talent, results of the study indicate Finance can turn this wealth of financial and operational information into business insights, where decisions are no longer made on intuition, but are fact based.
Many respondents indicated that these capabilities can help Finance uncover correlations among seemingly unrelated pieces of information and find patterns nearly impossible to detect manually. In many ways, Finance's persuasiveness as strategic advisor hinges on having superior business insight capabilities.
Businesses and governments need more advanced data analyses, scenario planning and even predictive capabilities to contend with rising complexity, uncertainty and volatility and, in certain regions, sustained lower growth.
Becoming a Value Integrator
The study findings indicate that CFOs are increasingly playing a significant role on strategic and operational matters to help the business make better decisions faster. Value Integrators, at their core, integrate both efficiency and insight. "Value" conveys Finance's contribution to helping manage the Enterprise, while "Integrator" conveys the importance they place on standardizing and integrating information and processes, necessary enablers to partner effectively with the business.
Value Integrators are more than just information clearinghouses. Finance's mission should be helping the company think as an overall business instead of individual areas. Not surprisingly, Value Integrators indicated that a top priority was attracting and retaining the right talent and developing people in Finance in support of these increased demands.
Value Integrators - more than any other group - are equipped to advise at an enterprise level. They are positioned to evaluate business opportunity and risk in an end-to-end context and recommend difficult trade-offs among units, markets and business functions.
About the Global CFO Study
The findings of this report are based upon a survey conducted in the spring and summer of 2009 by IBM Global Business Services' Financial Management practice and the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV). Over 1,900 Chief Financial Officers and senior Finance executives from 81 countries and 35 industries participated in structured interviews or online surveys designed to capture insights on how Finance professionals are affected by and deal with performance, risks, operational levers and governance. The majority of these interviews were conducted in person by IBM practitioners, with the remainder interviewed online. Participants represent organizations across a variety of industries, geographic locations and revenue size.
Visible Vote Responds to Supreme Court; Puts Campaign Finance in the People's Pockets
Leading Personal Democracy Tool Becomes the First Broad Source for Mobile Phone Campaign Contributions
CHICAGO, March 2 -- Today Visible Vote announced a new feature giving its 60,000 users the ability to make campaign contributions directly from their mobile phones. The feature, which comes on the heels of a Supreme Court decision to ease limits on corporate contributions, makes it easier for individuals to make a political impact using the technology in their pockets. Visible Vote, a nonpartisan application, already helps people discover how often they side with their legislators on key issues.
"Our approach is to make it simple and convenient for many people to donate small amounts and outweigh corporate influence," said Paul Everton, CEO of Visible Vote. "With most of the debate centered on limiting the big guys, we've created tools for people on the ground to directly influence campaign outcomes."
The new feature will help future candidates from any party build on records set in the 2008 presidential election where Barack Obama and rival John McCain raised a total of $213 million in small contributions from individuals. Using Visible Vote, it takes only four steps and less than two minutes to make a contribution to a user's choice of hundreds of candidates from an iPhone, BlackBerry, Google Android phone or PC. Visible Vote complies with Federal Election Commission rules by automatically and securely submitting required data to campaigns along with contributions.
Visible Vote's core feature allows people with a PC, iPhone, BlackBerry, Android phone or Facebook account to advise Congress on how to represent them on any legislation. After the legislators vote, it instantly compares users' views to those of their elected officials. Other features include the ability to call legislative offices, send your legislator a fax at the push of a button and view state-by-state data on legislator performance. People can begin making their voices heard for free through Visible Vote or view its real-time data by visiting http://www.visiblevote.us/.
Visible Vote
Visible Vote is a new, non-partisan approach to creating greater transparency for our representative form of government.
Source: Visible Vote
CONTACT: Weber Shandwick, +1-425-452-5487,
visiblevote@webershandwick.com, for Visible Vote
Entering it's third year, OpenSAF focuses on new releases, annual developer conference, and commercial deployments
DANVILLE, Calif., March 2 -- OpenSAF(TM), an open source community with projects focused on high availability middleware, today reported results of its third annual General Members meeting. The focus of this year's meeting was on preparing for growth and accelerating commercial deployments. Several indicators show steep acceleration of OpenSAF in 2010. Earlier this year the OpenSAF project announced that Ericsson AB has deployed OpenSAF in carrier networks. The annual developer conference in May will focus on how OpenSAF can be used for commercial applications, as well as presentations from ISV and OS vendors on how they are integrating OpenSAF. The OpenSAF project has plans for two major releases in 2010 that will deliver key functionality needed to increase commercial adoption.
A significant event of 2010 for the OpenSAF project will be the upcoming release of OpenSAF 4.0, which includes key functions such as software management and a common hardware platform interface. This includes the ability to seamlessly upgrade network devices in the field, which has always been a difficult task. Release 4.0 introduces a more modular design allowing flexible implementation and configuration of services. This will enable scaling a common high availability solution from small network devices up to large multipurpose platforms. Release 4.0 will also provide support for a key capability that enables monitoring and managing the hardware on which highly reliable applications are hosted. The OpenSAF project has also indicated they will have a 4.1 release in the fall of 2010.
The OpenSAF Developer Days conference will focus on the use of new services available in OpenSAF 4.0, how they can be used with applications requiring high availability and the ecosystem that is evolving around the project. This two-day conference is free to all, and targets developers, users and managers who are interested in learning how to use and adopt OpenSAF. The Developer Days conference will be held at the Hewlett Packard facilities in Palo Alto, CA on May 24th & 25th 2010. Maintainers and users of the OpenSAF project will lead sessions at this year's conference. The conference is the ideal venue for sharing experiences with community experts, learning how to adopt OpenSAF and for providing input to the project roadmap. Information, program details and the free registration form are available at the OpenSAF website or visit http://www.opensaf.org/
The OpenSAF Foundation also announced the election of a new board of directors and officers for 2010:
-- President of OpenSAF Foundation; Monica Hatlen of Ericsson
-- Vice President; Alan Meyer of Hewlett Packard
-- Secretary; John Fryer of Emerson Network Power
-- Treasurer; Peter Heffernan of SUN Microsystems
-- Marketing Officer; Glenn Seiler of Wind River Systems
About OpenSAF
OpenSAF(TM) is an open source community with projects focused on high availability middleware. The goal of OpenSAF projects is to develop HA middleware that is consistent with the Service Availability(TM) Forum (SA Forum(TM)) specifications. OpenSAF is freely available to anyone under the LGPLv2.1 and anyone may contribute to the code base. The OpenSAF Foundation is a not-for-profit organization established by leading communications and computing companies to facilitate the work of the OpenSAF project and to accelerate the adoption of OpenSAF in commercial products. Learn more about the OpenSAF Foundation at http://www.opensaf.org/
Contact: Henry Turko admin@list.opensaf.org +1 925-964-9298 Office +1 925-683-0150 Mobile
Source: OpenSAF Foundation
CONTACT: Henry Turko of OpenSAF Foundation, admin@list.opensaf.org,
+1-925-964-9298 Office, +1-925-683-0150 Mobile
Talia Introduces iDirect-Based VSAT Consumer Internet Service for Middle East, Africa and Europe
New service to bridge digital divide, delivering reliable, affordable connectivity to underserved populations
HERNDON, London and DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, March 2 -- VT iDirect, Inc. (iDirect), a company of VT Systems Inc (VT Systems), today announced that Talia Limited, a market-leading provider of satellite and communications services, has launched Talia Home, a consumer-focused Internet and telephone communications service for subscribers in the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Talia Home is powered by iDirect Evolution technology and offers a highly reliable service at an affordable rate, bringing connectivity to those who could not previously afford a satellite-based service. iDirect is a world leader in satellite-based IP communications technology.
Bridging the digital divide: Service from $50 per month, complete hardware bundles from $599
Talia Home is a Ku-band service, running on SES Worldskies NSS-12 in the Middle East and Europe, and Telesat Telstar 11N in Africa. Individual user services start from as low as $50 per month for an uncapped service, with business and enterprise services as upgrade options. Complete hardware bundles, consisting of antenna, BUC, LNB, and iDirect Evolution X3 remote, are available from Talia from as low as $599.
Connecting the world: Talia Voice with Talia Home
All Talia Home services include access to Talia Voice, a Voice over IP service designed to work in concert with VSAT services. Inexpensive worldwide calling as well as incoming call services are available through a pre-paid voucher system, and network resources required for call quality are included in the per minute cost.
iDirect technology powers Talia Home
In a multi-million dollar agreement, iDirect's Evolution technology sits at the heart of Talia Home, enabling Talia to ensure affordable, high quality connectivity and guarantee reliable Service Level Agreements. The performance of the iDirect Evolution platform, iDirect's Group Quality of Service technology and forthcoming advancements to the platform were all factors in Talia's decision.
"Talia Home brings a reliable Internet connection to users who most need it in the Middle East, Africa and Europe. iDirect gives us the flexibility to share bandwidth across a large area while keeping operating costs at a minimum so we can introduce connectivity to a greater number of people at a price they can more readily afford."
~ Alan AFRASIAB
President and Chief Executive Officer, Talia
"We are proud that Talia has selected iDirect's platform to introduce a consumer service designed to bring connectivity to populations currently without basic Internet access. Talia is taking a critical step forward by introducing a large-scale consumer service with a far reaching footprint. The key to this service's success is affordability and reliability - two important standards that have become hallmarks of the iDirect platform."
~ Stephen TUNNICLIFFE
Vice President, Europe, iDirect
Visit Talia and iDirect at CABSAT 2010
The Talia and iDirect teams will be on hand at CABSAT 2010 in Dubai, March 2-4. Talia's booth is located in D2-12, Hall 2, in the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre. The iDirect booth can be found in C3-11, Hall 3.
Talia is a top-tier provider of Internet and voice services, recognised as one of the fastest growing satellite Internet providers in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. Experts in VSAT, wireless, and voice communications, Talia provides network coverage, services and support in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. Headquartered in London, Talia operates their own teleport facility in Germany and have support and sales offices in Dubai. Regardless of location, Talia is committed to excellent customer service and top-grade solutions. For more information about Talia, please see: http://www.talia.net/.
iDirect, a subsidiary of VT Systems, is transforming the way the world gets and stays connected. The company's satellite-based IP communications technology enables constant connectivity for voice, video and data applications in diverse and challenging environments. These include extending private networks to remote offices; supporting mobile connectivity across land, sea and air; providing rural telephony and Internet broadband; and maintaining communications in the wake of disasters and network failures. The iDirect Intelligent Platform(TM) integrates advanced technology into iDirect's portfolio of hubs, routers and network management software to address the growing complexity of deploying and managing global IP networks. With more than 13 years of global satellite communications experience, iDirect serves customers in 50 countries through a diverse network of channel partners, including some of the largest satellite providers, operators and carriers in the world and seven of the World Teleport Association's Global Top Ten. Headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, iDirect has offices in Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Please visit http://www.idirect.net.
VT Systems is a diversified company providing solutions to the commercial and government markets in the aerospace, electronics, land systems and marine sectors. VT Systems products and services include aircraft inspection, maintenance and modification; software solutions in training and simulation; satellite-based IP communications technology; network solutions that integrate data, voice and video; rugged computers and computer peripheral equipment; specialized truck bodies and trailers; weapons and munitions systems; road construction equipment; and shipbuilding. Headquartered in Alexandria, Va., VT Systems operates globally and is a wholly owned subsidiary of ST Engineering. Please visit http://www.vt-systems.com.
Products, tools and platforms offer simplified design solutions for demanding applications
NUREMBERG, Germany, March 2 -- EMBEDDED WORLD 2010 -- Atmel(R) Corporation (NASDAQ:ATML), a leader in microcontroller and touch solutions, today announced several new microcontroller products, tools and platforms to enable an easier workflow for designers of consumer, industrial, white goods and smart energy applications.
Atmel understands that design engineers have many requirements to meet changing market and customer demands. By offering a variety of microcontroller solutions, Atmel simplifies design flows for our customer's engineers without compromising features and benefits required to bring competitive products quickly to market. These solutions include:
-- A floating point unit (FPU) feature for Atmel's high-performance
32-bit AVR(R) microcontrollers. A FPU enhances the microcontroller's
digital signal processing (DSP) performance in applications like
audio, video and systems control. This allows a system designer to add
more advanced computational algorithms to improve an application's
throughput and precision. It can also lower power consumption as fewer
clock cycles are needed to complete a calculation. High-performance
microcontrollers are an attractive alternative to low- and mid-range
DSPs since they offer better integration, non-volatile on-chip memory,
better code protection and lower power consumption. Atmel's AVR UC3
microcontrollers are designed for high throughput applications with
their dual port SRAM, DMA controller and multi-layer high speed bus
architecture. They are also ideal for portable and battery-operated
applications with their low-power picoPower(R) technology. Continuing
its drive to make a designer's life easier, this latest innovation
targets applications in industrial and automotive control. To learn
more about Atmel's new 32-bit AVR MCUs with floating point, click the
following link: http://www.atmel.com/pressrelease/32bituc3floating.
-- Easy device upgrade path. Atmel's ATtiny4313 products are an extension
to Atmel's tinyAVR(R) product family of low-power, high-performance
microcontrollers now featuring award-winning picoPower technology. The
ATtiny4313 is a new device in the 20-pin tinyAVR family that is code-
and pin-compatible with the existing ATtiny2313A enabling a simple,
swift upgrade for consumer end products. For more information about
ATtiny4313, click the following link: http://www.atmel.com/pressrelease/attiny4313.
-- Easy-to-implement FIPs-certified microcontroller-based security
solutions that prevent cloning and counterfeiting for consumer
applications at banking- and government-security levels. Atmel's new
AT90SO4, the newest member of this MCU product family, offers a wide
range of interfaces to bring security in any system ranging from ink
and toner cartridges to computer and gaming console accessories, white
goods, batteries and chargers, MP3 players, Bluetooth earphones, smart
energy and more. Atmel is also launching its VaultIC200, a new turnkey
security module to prevent IP stealing. Based on AT90SO secureAVR(R)
microcontrollers, it offers multiple interfaces and bundled security
firmware. This easy-to-implement new family will secure an operating
system to efficiently protect brands and IP (intellectual property).
To learn more about these products, please click the following links: http://www.atmel.com/pressrelease/AT90SO4 or http://www.atmel.com/pressrelease/vaultic200.
-- Easy-to-design and complete portfolio of Atmel ARM-based
microcontrollers, featuring devices built around the industry-standard
32-bit Cortex-M3 (SAM3), ARM7T (SAM7) and ARM926 (SAM9) cores. Atmel's
customers can choose from around 100 products, ranging from 100 nA
ultra low-power Flash MCUs up to 400 MHz ARM926 embedded
microprocessors that run Linux, WinCE or Android. To ease application
development, all these devices share peripherals, architecture,
low-level peripheral drivers and more. In addition, Atmel's AT91SAM
products are supported by a high-quality, tightly integrated
ecosystem, providing access to development tools, operating systems,
middleware, protocol stacks, and worldwide technical support and
training, thus ensuring faster time-to-market for your applications.
To learn more about Atmel's ARM-based products, please click the
following link: http://www.atmel.com/nuremberg/at91.
More Information
To learn more about Atmel's products at Embedded World Nuremberg 2010, please click the following link: http://www.atmel.com/ew2010.
About Atmel
Atmel is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of capacitive touch solutions, microcontrollers, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and radio frequency (RF) components. Leveraging one of the industry's broadest intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is able to provide the electronics industry with complete system solutions focused on consumer, industrial, security, communications, computing and automotive markets.
(C) 2010 Atmel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Atmel(R), Atmel logo and combinations thereof, picoPower(R), secureAVR(R) and others, are registered trademarks, VaultIC(TM) and others are trademarks of Atmel Corporation or its subsidiaries. ARM(R) is a registered trademark of ARM Ltd. Other terms and product names may be trademarks of others.
DUBAI, UAE, March 2, 2010-- In a recent survey conducted by the International Quality & Productivity
Centre, 73% of 1,048 respondents have chosen Saudi Arabia as the country they
are most likely to position their digital marketing focus for 2010-2011.
In a country of almost 30 million where 40% of the population are Arabic
speaking digital natives - there has been a rapid increase in global media
and consultancies competing to do business with local companies and brands in
their native language.
The acquisition of Maktoob by Yahoo! in 2009 along with Google's recent
announcement to launch its Buzz feature in Arabic predicts a robust and
sustained future for the digital marketing industry in the region.
At the recent partnership launch between Facebook and Connect Ads it was
revealed that 9.7 million people in the region are part of the social
networking platform, providing a great opportunity for brands to actively
engage directly with this as-yet untapped consumer base.
Click 4.0, a digital marketing conference being held in Dubai from June
20 to 24 2010 commissioned this survey to gauge what marketers across all
industries in the region felt about critical subjects like social media,
integration of digital marketing into the traditional campaign mix and
tackling transparency issues. The survey aims to provide an accurate
reflection of the most pressing issues marketers face in order to help the
developers of Click 4.0 feature the strategies and solutions needed to tackle
them.
51% of respondents also mentioned that their biggest dilemma in the
region was marketing in Arabic, with one marketer wondering how to 'create
remarkable, relevant content... which sticks or resonates' with the target
market.
Abdulla Al-Dabbagh, Marketing Manager of Yahoo! Middle East, Lead Sponsor
for Click 4.0 says "The Internet is a great tool for advertisers as it
provides them with the tools to effectively engage with the region's online
consumers through various sophisticated targeting capabilities and innovative
engagement opportunities. There is a great potential in this market where the
spending on online advertising is expected to grow by 35 - 40% this year in
the region, according to Madar Research. Online is definitely the way forward
and our region is on the right track!"
Joining Yahoo! Middle East as speakers are the region's digital leaders
including Yousef Tuqan of Flip Media, Abdullatif Al Sayegh, former CEO of
Arab Media Group, Alex McNabb of Spot On PR, Kapil Bhatia of HSBC Middle East
Limited, Islam Zween of Logta.com and Reem Bishara of Burger King.
International support for the event has come from all aspects of the digital
marketing industry, including Digital Buzz - the world's number one digital
marketing blog, Communicate Magazine, Mashable, eConsultancy, Zawya and
Visibility Magazine.
Contact:
Anthony J Permal
+971-43602942
Anthony.permal@iqpc.ae
Source: IQPC Middle East
Contact: Anthony J Permal, +971-43602942, Anthony.permal@iqpc.ae .
Frost & Sullivan Finds Vast Potential for Biometrics Industry in APAC
SINGAPORE, March 1 -- The beginning of 2009 had many worried about how the biometrics industry was going to perform in the wake of the economic recession. As expected, there were a few cancellations and delays in biometric related projects, primarily due to budget cutbacks.
According to Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific Senior Research Analyst of Smart Cards and AutoID Navin Rajendra, many smaller vendors saw a drastic reduction in their revenues in the first half of 2009. "In spite of this, the biometrics industry still saw a healthy growth especially in the government vertical with numerous national ID card projects being thrown into the limelight."
Voice biometrics, which has always been in the shadow of physiological biometrics showed promise in 2009 with banks in Asia and Europe testing voice biometrics for banking verification. There is room for improvement in making the technology more accurate, but biometric participants have plenty of promise for the coming years.
Fingerprint biometrics has always been the most widely used type of biometric recognition with more that 70 percent of the biometrics revenues in the Asia Pacific region attributed to fingerprint recognition.
"We can see, however, that this share will reduce gradually in the coming years especially with other biometric technologies like palm vein and hand geometry becoming more feasible and prevalent. Contactless palm vein biometrics was primarily introduced in the APAC region as many people were not comfortable with touching a scanner that had been touched by a number of other individuals," says Rajendra.
He continues, "Through the introduction of contactless palm scanners, biometric technology was readily accepted in countries like Japan and South Korea. More than this, other regions started employing the technology because of its advantages for applications where a contactless medium was required. Hospitals in the United States also began employing contactless palm vein scanner as it allowed individuals to have their palms scanned and verified without any physical contact whilst maintaining a sterile environment."
In terms of industry trends, Rajendra notes that the integration of various biometrics into one single unit for more accurate authentication has been becoming common in the last few years.
"Many vendors in the APAC region are focusing in providing multi modal biometrics that would be able to provide an even higher level of security. More and above this, vendors have been able to penetrate more applications through the integration of biometrics with smart cards," he says.
He continues, "With the integration of biometrics and smart card, biometric verification can take place on the chip in the card in real time without the need for any online verification, cutting down costs. There are many smart cards integrated with biometrics being implemented for government IDs, border control, banking and rural banking."
Rajendra identifies rural banking as an application that has been gaining traction over the last 3 years especially with financial institutions looking at expanding their market coverage. "Biometrics has allowed many financial institutions to enter the rural market which would never have been possible since there was no proper means of authentication in the absence of communication lines."
Looking at the immediate future, Rajendra finds that there will not be a significant decrease in the biometric systems, but rather there will be a better product offering for the same price.
"With improvement in scan rates and new analytical software being introduced in the market, biometrics is no longer being marketed for the sole purpose of security but rather as a tool to gather and assimilate information that would help in the management of an organization. As different types of security are being employed in a single building, system integrators have also ensured that the biometric systems are interoperable with other security systems to bring about a seamless operation," he says.
Looking at the chip and PIN infrastructure for banking cards in the APAC market, the PIN functionality is under-utilized, with only 10 percent of chip-activated cards employed. This presents opportunities for biometric vendors to penetrate this market for user identification at the ATMs in the beginning stages. There were over 2500 million smart cards shipped in the APAC region in 2009, of which only slightly over 11 percent were banking applications. This shows the potential for biometrics to be employed for banking smart cards. There are already certain banks that have their ATMs using fingerprint identification in Japan and South Korea. This is again a small percentage of the total number of ATMs in the region, which the biometric vendors will have to tap in the coming years. The APAC region has the highest density of ATM installed base compared to North America and Europe. For every commercial bank in the APAC region, there were 340 ATMs installed.
This again shows the huge untapped market and opportunity for biometric vendors in the banking vertical. The banking vertical is one of the highest users of PIN codes and passwords and records the highest number of transactions using the same. Each time a password or a PIN code needs to be reset, the bank needs to send the details via paper mail in order to ensure that the intended user receives the codes at the registered address. This results in a non-core activity rise in cost for the institution. Biometric ATMs are in place in small pockets and will expand - especially in countries like India and Singapore in the next couple of years.
The APAC region presents itself with a favourable climate for the large scale deployment of biometrics as the region offers the highest population by density as well as by the sheer number. With issues such as rising cost, companies looking at proper management, security threats and so on, the biometrics industry has a vast potential in the APAC region.
About Frost & Sullivan
Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best-practice models to drive the generation, evaluation, and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages over 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from 40 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit http://www.frost.com/.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Donna Jeremiah
Corporate Communications - Asia Pacific
P: +603 6204 5832
F: +603 6201 7402
E: djeremiah@frost.com
CONTACT: Donna Jeremiah, Corporate Communications - Asia Pacific, +603
6204 5832, or fax, +603 6201 7402, djeremiah@frost.com, or Carrie Low,
Corporate Communications - Asia Pacific, +603 6204 5910, carrie.low@frost.com,
both of Frost & Sullivan