Management

XyEnterprise Customer Goes Live with DITA Content Management Solution

2006-04-26T09:16:00.000-07:00

(www.tmcnet.com)

WAKEFIELD, Mass.-- XyEnterprise, a leading developer of XML content management and multi-channel delivery solutions, announced today that it has completed a comprehensive DITA implementation at one of the premier manufacturers of wireless handheld devices.

This DITA content management solution, built on XyEnterprise's Content@ content management software and the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA), will be used to aid in the development of worldwide documentation.

XyEnterprise's Content@ DITA Solution includes the core Content@ content management software, as well as pre-configured DITA tools that enable authors, editors and publishers to work with DITA data and workflows more seamlessly.

This includes an out-of-the-box export/publishing tool to help end users begin publishing more quickly. Content@ also provides out-of-the-box integration to the DITA Open Toolkit, as well as support for multi-language services.

Kevin Duffy, CEO of XyEnterprise, says the successful implementation demonstrates that XyEnterprise is at the forefront of delivering real-world, DITA-based content management solutions. "DITA is fundamentally changing how XML-based content is created, managed, and distributed," says Duffy.

"Our expertise and out-of-the-box DITA solution can help companies of all types and sizes take advantages of DITA's benefits and achieve real ROI on their content management investment."

In fact, based on projected annual cost savings, this manufacturer expects to recoup the cost of their Content@ DITA Solution within just 14 months.

For this customer, adopting DITA was seen as essential in meeting their customers' and partners' need for targeted, customized documentation with expanded topics, more technical depth, and content optimized for output format (print, online, etc.) Reducing the cost and time involved in creating, managing and distributing technical publications in as many as 11 languages was also a top priority.

After an extensive RFP and vendor search process, the company selected XyEnterprise's Content@ DITA Solution as the most complete, integrated solution available. Industry analysts agree.

Jen Linton, senior consultant with Comtech Services and co-author of Introduction to DITA: A basic user guide to the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (Comtech Services, Inc., 2006), recently saw a demonstration of the Content@ DITA Solution and was impressed with XyEnterprise's comprehensive approach.

"DITA is only the foundation for more efficient content use. What's also needed is a robust content management system," says Linton. "XyEnterprise offers organizations a complete, integrated DITA solution with the workflow, versioning, navigation and assembly tools they need to hit the ground running."

XyEnterprise' longstanding commitment to evolving XML standards (such as DITA) also makes Content@ the perfect platform for organizations looking to transition to a DITA-based content environment. "Supporting DITA is a natural extension of Content@'s robust XML capabilities," according to Deb Boczulak, Content@ product manager, XyEnterprise.

"This allows us to leverage existing CMS core functionality to deliver a complete end-to-end DITA solution." About XyEnterprise XyEnterprise helps simplify and expedite the automated creation and delivery of content across the enterprise.

Named one of KMWorld's "100 Companies that Matter in Knowledge Management", we offer configurable and scalable XML content management and publishing solutions that maximize content reusability and repurposing.

Our unmatched XML expertise, the result of hundreds of successful deployments, is built upon a 20-year heritage of partnership with our customers.

XyEnterprise's content management and delivery solutions have been implemented by companies in publishing, financial services, government, manufacturing, high tech and aerospace/defense.

The company's headquarters is in Wakefield, Massachusetts, with locations throughout North America, Europe, Pacific Rim and Latin America. For additional information, please contact XyEnterprise at 781-756-4400 or visit www.xyenterprise.com.

Microsoft Details Upcoming Management Tools

2006-04-26T09:09:00.000-07:00

(www.informationweek.com)

Upgrades to SMS 2004 and System Center Configuration Manager 2007 are slated to include user interface improvements, security features, and tools to manage client health.

Microsoft will release SMS 2003 R2 by the end of June as it preps System Center Configuration Manager 2007 for delivery next year.

As the company's annual management summit got underway in San Diego Tuesday morning, Microsoft provided a broad overview of its expanding System Center product lineup but later drilled down on the future of SMS, now named System Center Configuration Manager 2007.

During his keynote, Microsoft Server & Tools Senior Vice President Bob Muglia demonstrated System Center's new drag and drop feature for applying new policies, Task-based GUI interface to simplify use and tight integration with the Windows Vista client and the Network Access Protection feature in the next Windows Longhorn Server.

"Window Visa does not stand alone. It's an impotant part of the solution but it must work with Microsoft's management tools and so what we've done with MOM and SMS are they are engineered to work very closely with Vista, " Muglia said. "SMS is being built to take advantage of new image format of Vista.'

While those features drew applause from the more than 2,000 gathered in the San Diego Convention Center, product managers drilled down on a variety of other features planned for System Center Configuration Manager 2007 at a state of the union address after the keynote.

These include improvements to the client health, self-service software distribution, support for non-Windows platforms and an "advertisement" tracking tool, Microsoft product managers said.
Attendees cheered when Microsoft said it will provide self-healing client technology and a self-service portal that would allow users to access and deploy updates on their own.

Microsoft also drew applause by announcing plans to enhance reporting services, or more specifically, by citing the possibility of moving SMS's reporting services to SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services.

While those features won't see the light of day until 2007, Microsoft touted other pending releases of SMS to IT administrators and partners looking to upgrade customers in the aftermath of free SMS 2.0 support ending in March.

In the near term, the company expects to ship in May a Device Management Feature Pack that has been updated to support Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC and Phone Edition, and Windows Mobile 5.0's password application.

This will allow IT administrators and managed service partners, for example, to use SMS 2003 to manage the new crop of Windows Mobile 5.0 phones and PDAs that are competing head to head against Blackberry devices. This will be included natively in System Center Configuration Manager 2007, Microsoft said.

Microsoft released SMS 2003 Service Pack 2 in February. It also plans to ship SMS 2003 R2 this quarter.

SMS 2003 R2, which is currently in beta testing, offers two key new features -- a scan tool for vulnerability assessment and, more importantly, an inventory tool for custom updates. The custom update tool will allow third-party ISVs to provide updates of their applications and allow customers to more easily update their in-house line of business applications.

Additionally, the tool will allow solution integrators and outsourcers to build catalogs of updates for their clients and other organizations that rely on their services.

Microsoft's top management software chief said the inventory tool for custom updates is high on the list for Microsoft customers.

"For many customers it's very significant to have a consistent update experience and this is one of those important requirements,' said Kirill Tatarinov, corporate vice president of the Windows and Enterprise Management Division at Microsoft, in a meeting with CRN. "We do have good response from the ISV community."

Muglia said the primary goal is to give IT administrators and partners a simple task-based user interface to replace the object-oriented one in SMS today and extend the company's characteristic drag-and-drop feature to make policy changes.

Nutrient Management courses

2006-04-07T10:47:00.000-07:00

(www.agrinewsinteractive.com)

As a result of changes to Ontario Regulation 267/03 under the Nutrient Management Act (NMA), new or expanding farms of over five nutrient units (NUs) will be brought into the nutrient management program when they apply for building permits or intend to build earthen manure storages.

When this happens, a farm operator will be required to prepare a Nutrient Management Strategy (NMS) for approval, and a Nutrient Management Plan (NMP) to be followed and kept on farm for recordkeeping purposes and to produce in the event of an inspection by the Ministry of the Environment (MOE).

Strategies and plans have to be prepared by certified individuals - either consultants who have taken courses, prepared sample strategies and plans, and passed an exam; or farmers who have taken nutrient management training courses offered by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA)

Taking the training courses, like nutrient management planning itself, can have many benefits for farm businesses. Last year, OMAFRA ran over 50 nutrient management training courses across the province and over 1,000 people attended. The courses were led by Ministry staff with expertise in nutrient management planning who made the information as practical and easy to follow as possible.

Currently, OMAFRA offers several training courses, including three courses designed specifically for plan preparers that are mandatory for anyone preparing plans, i.e., to become a "certified individual." They are: Regulations and Protocols, Fundamentals of Nutrient Management, and Developing a Strategy and Plan.

There is a 2-day Regulations and Protocols Course on April 4 and 5, 2006 in Belleville. The cost for this course is $90.00. To register or for more information please contact the Nutrient Management Toll-Free Information Line at 1-866-242-4460.

For a full list of Nutrient Management training courses check out the Nutrient Management pages on the OMAFRA website at: http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/nm/cert.html

CA announces management moves

2006-04-07T10:40:00.000-07:00

(www.ciol.com)

To drive FY07 growth strategy for Asia Pacific Japan region

MUMBAI: CA today announced four strategic senior management moves designed to help facilitate the company's FY07 growth strategy for the Asia Pacific Japan (APJ) region.

Shinataro Nezuka becomes country manager, president and representative director for CA Japan; Gavin Selkirk, former area manager and managing director, Pacific and director and area manager, Japan, has been promoted to vice president and executive assistant to CA's CEO, John Swainson; Tony Armfield becomes regional manager and managing director for CA Pacific; and Stuart Preston has been appointed country manager, CA New Zealand.

Nezuka holds a wealth of IT industry experience dating back to 1970. During his 35 years with IBM, he was responsible for many businesses and projects in Japan, as well as in other Asia Pacific nations and the U.S. He also contributed to the expansion of IBM's e-Business service and Linux businesses.

Selkirk was instrumental in the significant growth of the Pacific business, while managing a regional workforce of more than 500. More recently, he completed a short-term assignment as director and area manager, Japan.

Armfield succeeds Selkirk as area manager and managing director, Pacific. He was formerly country manager of CA's New Zealand office for three years, during which time he led a highly successful operation that delivered solid growth.

Preston will build on CA's business success to date in the NZ market. After joining CA in 2002 as sales executive, he focused on growing business in the Wellington market, successfully working with both private and public sector organizations.

Maximus software to drive fleet management in four states

2006-04-06T10:45:00.000-07:00

(www.washingtontechnology.com)

Indiana, Maine, Minnesota and Washington have all announced contracts with Maximus Inc. to deploy software for managing their vehicle fleets.

Maximus of Reston, Va., will earn $1.7 million from the four contracts combined, a company spokesperson said. In Indiana, Maximus’ FleetFocus software will help the state manage its fleet of more than 10,000 vehicles and 50 maintenance facilities.

The company’s software will convert fleet management from three legacy systems into one common database with standardized, statewide coding. Three agencies—the Natural Resources Department, Transportation Department and Minnesota Travel Management Services—will implement FleetFocus in Minnesota.

Together, the three agencies have a fleet of more than 16,000 vehicles. The Transportation Department also implemented a Maximus fuel management system, which is fully integrated in its fleet management software. Maine’s Transportation Department, which had sought a scalable solution to manage its central fleet and remote locations, will implement both FleetFocus and Maximus’ enterprise asset management software.

The statewide implementation will track more than 5,000 vehicles. Washington’s General Administration Department’s Motor Pool program also will implement Maximus’ fleet management software. Motor Pool provides daily rental and assigned vehicles to other state agencies.

Motor Pool manages 1,400 vehicles, but estimates that number to double in the next four years, according to Maximus.

Maximus has about 5,200 employees and annual revenue of $647.5 million in fiscal 2005, according to Hoover’s Online of Austin, Texas.

Logic Dictates That Project Management Should Be Easy

2006-03-25T16:56:00.000-08:00

(www.clickpress.com)

Logic Software Inc. releases a new version of its cutting edge Project Management & Task Tracking software - Easy Projects .NET 4.0

The human mind is the source that creates great technological advances, which help make life more efficient. Whether automobiles or air conditioning, Cat-scans or computers, jet engines or the Jacuzzi, the purpose of the invention is to make life easier for the masses.

Logic Software Inc. has embraced this concept with the release of Easy Projects .NET, one of the most advanced web-based systems for project management and task tracking.

In 2002, Easy Projects .NET was spawned by the frustration felt by executives of Logic Software, who recognized the need for a management system that was straightforward, easy to use and not bogged down with nonessential features.

“Our company strongly needed a tool to mange our own projects,” said Fred Jones, VP of Operations for the Toronto-based Logic Software. “We tried several out-of-the-box solutions as well as some open-source products.

However, we got frustrated with all the available tools and decided to create something that would give more flexibility to us and our customers.” The Logic Software team saw the problem as three-fold.

First, most open-source products were severely lacking in design and support. Second, the project solutions were more like project disillusions, with some of the biggest players in the software world providing products that were overloaded and complex.

And third, the pricing on these products was way over the line. These three factors led to the creation of Easy Projects .

NET, which has become an immediate hit with all of Logic Software’s customers. “Easy Projects provided an excellent foundation for managing our projects,” said Ganesh Kumaraswamy, Senior Developer of IT at the Canadian Council on Health Services Accreditation.

“With the source code licensing, we were able to easily customize the software and add our own modules, such as a call center data entry screen and corporate knowledge base.”

The source code feature is just one of the ways Easy Projects .NET distinguishes itself.

User-friendly installation and set-up is where Easy Projects .NET easily trumps the competition.

Furthermore, an intuitive interface lets businesses focus on their own project without the hassle of decoding an entire system. Features like multi-nesting give a customer access to an unlimited number of projects and tasks with as many sub-levels as necessary.

Email notifications, ready-to-use reports and a built-in issue tracking system are just a few of the high-tech advancements found within Easy Projects .NET. The benefits provided by Easy Projects .

NET, which is accessible anytime via the Internet, helps companies protect their most valuable resources – time and money.

“The time savings translates to cost savings,” said Kenny Young, President of Sheer Vision Technologies Inc. “Easy Projects .NET has helped us save about an hour a week per team member. … Needless to say, we are very happy with Logic Software’s product and services.”

It’s easy to see why Young and some of the world’s most successful companies like COX Communications rely on Easy Projects. NET. Productivity, profits and communication are fundamental principles for any successful business, and Easy Projects .

NET improves all three. Real-time project information, reduced paperwork and centralized data keep team members informed and producing. Accurate quotes and estimates help profits soar.

And file sharing, message boards and email keep all project members in the loop. When companies begin to brainstorm on what the best solution is for their project management needs, the accountants tend to cringe.

But Logic Software has created a customized pricing system that’s unmatched by any competitors. Using project management programs requires a separate access license for each user, whether they’re a member or a customer.

This can be costly and makes little sense since most customers typically don’t need full access. Easy Projects .

NET has created the solution with its “Limited User” plan, an account that streamlines costs by giving users the access that’s necessary. “Running a business is hard enough, so project management should be easy,” said Jones. “No company wants to get tied down with a convoluted and messy system.

Easy Projects .NET gives companies the tools and features they need, not the bells and whistles that are a waste of precious time and money.”

IPO & Asset Management Middle East 2006

2006-03-25T16:54:00.000-08:00

(www.strategiy.com)

MEED is delighted to send you information regarding a new event which will shape the future of two of the region’s most significant financial areas.

IPO and Asset Management Middle East 2006 will provide the ultimate forums for the discussion and debate of a range of issues vital to your business’ growth.

IPO Middle East on day one will focus on the exciting developments IPOs are bringing to the region’s market.

The region’s regulators and major players from the financial and corporate arena will be present to answer your questions. Asset Management Middle East on day two will address the rising opportunities in regional asset management and explore the direction of global markets.

Hear directly from international and regional asset management leaders and take advantage of the unsurpassed networking opportunities. One and two day rates available.

For further information or to register call (+9714) 390 0699, email conferences@meed-dubai.com or visit the website at www.meed.com

Microsoft management shakeup follows Windows delay

2006-03-24T16:10:00.000-08:00

(www.english.ohmynews.com)

SEATTLE _ Microsoft Corp. announced a reorganization Thursday of the unit that includes its flagship Windows operating system, two days after the company said the new consumer version of Windows would not be ready for the holiday season as planned.

The software maker said the changes are aimed, in part, to help Microsoft improve its online strategy.

Companies such as Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. are fast developing Internet-based products that pose a threat to Microsoft's desktop-bound Windows and other programs. Microsoft has responded with a beefed-up online effort of its own, dubbed ''Windows Live,'' that is meant to complement its dominant Windows system.

The company said a reorganized Platforms and Services division will be made up of eight new and existing groups, including the Windows and Windows Live Group, led by Steven Sinofsky, a high-ranking executive currently in charge of developing many of the company's Office business products.

Sinofsky will focus on planning future versions of Windows, while longtime Windows executive Jim Allchin will work closely with another Microsoft executive, Brian Valentine, to finish the long-delayed Windows Vista.Another new group will focus on aspects of the Windows Live strategy, including the potentially lucrative online advertising market.

Other groups will work on the core operating system and the servers and software tools businesses.As previously announced, Allchin, co-president of the Plaforms and Services division, will retire next year.

Until then, he and co-president Kevin Johnson, formerly a Microsoft sales and marketing executive, will continue to lead the division.Microsoft also said that, as part of the changes, the head of its Security Technology Unit, Mike Nash, would be replaced by Ben Fathi.

Nash will take on another, as-yet-unannounced role.The changes follow a directive issued by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates several months ago aimed at rallying his troops toward offering more ways to do things like store e-mail and manage business tasks over the Internet.

Microsoft also announced a restructuring in September, aimed at reducing bureaucracy that, some say, has hindered the company's ability to nimbly compete with companies such as Google.

Those changes grouped the company's seven business units into three divisions.

The latest reorganization comes two days after Microsoft said that the consumer version of Windows Vista, its much anticipated new operating system release, would be delayed until after the all-important holiday season. Some versions will be released to big businesses in November.

The delay, which comes because of Microsoft setbacks in completing functions including security enhancements, is expected to hurt companies that make Windows-based computers, while potentially giving a holiday sales boost to others, especially rival Apple Computer Inc.

Michael Cherry, an analyst with independent research firm Directions on Microsoft, questioned whether a change in executive leadership would solve the issues that led to the Vista delay and other setbacks.

Cherry said he is concerned there is a larger cultural problem at the sprawling software giant, in which management is afraid to tell top executives that projects cannot be completed in time, or with the myriad features that have been promised.

''You have to go back to some basic discipline, and I don't think that the Windows division and Microsoft has shown a lot of discipline,'' he said.

''And part of that is being sure about what you can do, is setting reasonable goals and sort of sticking to them.''Vista will be the first new version of Windows since XP was released in late 2001.

Some analysts had originally expected Vista to launch as early as 2003. But the system release was delayed, first by a companywide effort to improve security of all Microsoft products.

At another point, Microsoft also decided to attempt to overhaul the operating system so it would be easier to add new features.Over time, the company has scaled back its goals for Vista, deciding not to ship the product with an advanced system for storing and organizing data, called WinFS.

Microsoft does plan improvements to how users can find things like pictures, e-mails and documents, but the more sophisticated WinFS system won't be added until later.

Microsoft shares fell 38 cents to $26.77 in early afternoon trading Thursday on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Eskom Improves Performance by IEX Workforce Management System

2006-03-24T16:06:00.000-08:00

(www.news.tmcnet.com)

Eskom Holdings Ltd has realized substantial performance improvements by implementing the IEX TotalView Workforce Management system.

Following the implementation Eskom has finally placed the organization’s goals in line with global utility standards for best practices and increased service level goal attainment by more than 10 points.Using the solution Eskom can now operate the seven individual contact center locations as a single entity and has consistently achieved 95 percent schedule adherence from week-to-week.

Additionally the Workforce Management system by IEX has improved scheduling accuracy and smoothed out periods of understaffing and overstaffing while reducing reliance on expensive temporary staff.

IEX TotalView has also enabled Eskom to take agent skills and work preferences into account, which has further increased the staffing efficiency and effectiveness. Eskom has now gained contact center virtualization and overflow capabilities providing more flexibility to each individual site.

Before Eskom installed TotalView, it could not effectively plan and manage its agent workforce, since the company did not have an effective workforce management system in place.“Schedules were only issued once a year.

Adherence was not measured and neither was forecast accuracy,” said Kevin von Berg, corporate specialist of customer service at Eskom, in a press release.

“As a result, our off-peak shifts were heavily overstaffed, and there was little or no variation in scheduling requirements during the day or even the year.

Implementing TotalView has helped us overcome many of the barriers preventing us from managing the contact center efficiently and effectively.”

For more information, visit IEX and Eskom.

Nvidia Steps Up Validated Desktop Platform With Management Capabilities

2006-03-24T16:02:00.000-08:00

(www.crn.com)

Business Platform features will now stack up against Intel’s

Nvidia’s plan for a validated desktop platform using processors from Advanced Micro Devices will include management capabilities that will compete directly with a similar offering from Intel.
Nvidia’s Business Platform, a combination of a stable image platform and quality testing that is expected to be rolled out officially within two weeks, contains hardware support for remote boot, restart and shutdown of PCs, said David Ragones, product manager at Nvidia.

Also built in is a hardware-based firewall program “that protects the system from viruses and other security threats but is smart enough to recognize remote management traffic and let it pass through,” he said.

“Without a doubt, management is an important feature right now,” said Doug Phillips, vice president of product and solutions at system builder Seneca Data, Syracuse, N.Y. “It is what everyone is talking about.”

Intel, in fact, has spent the past couple weeks talking up its next desktop platform to the channel. Expected this summer, the platform pairs Intel’s Active Management Technology with a new dual-core processor, code named Conroe; Intel’s stable image platform; and a marketing push geared toward remote management capabilities.

Intel has an advantage because it has an established stable image program already and has for years developed a reputation for quality among system builders. Nvidia’s program is important, many system builders said, because it offers an AMD-alternative platform with its own stable image and quality assurance necessary for selling into corporate and education accounts.

Nvidia, which with AMD is looking to expand into Intel’s corporate turf, already has an established brand in the consumer graphics market.

As CRN first reported in January, Nvidia, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based maker of graphics processors and motherboard chipsets, was piloting the program with a few large system builders. Ragones said 18 system builders—including Seneca Data, Equus, Compusys, Amax and Premio—are now committed to use the platform, and Nvidia is in the process of recruiting more system builders.

oxcon, Asus, Gigabyte and MSI have committed to manufacturing motherboards for the program.

Nvidia’s Business Platform combines a stable image platform synchronized with a similar program from AMD with certification testing by motherboard vendors and system builders.

Systems that meet the platform’s requirements will receive an Nvidia Certified stamp as a demonstration of quality that Ragones said Nvidia will eventually market to business customers.

In addition, drivers for the platform will work across all motherboards available in the platform to simplify imaging multiple systems in a corporate environment.

Environmental Management Solutions investors OK Onex fund's $20M investment

2006-03-22T17:35:00.000-08:00

(www.cbc.ca)

TORONTO - Investors in Environmental Management Solutions Inc. (TSX:EMS), an embattled waste disposal company chaired by former Ontario premier Mike Harris, have accepted a $20-million deal giving eventual majority ownership to a fund run by Onex Corp.

Almost 98 per cent of the shares voted at a 20-minute meeting Wednesday favoured the agreement with ONCAP II Limited Partnership.

The private-equity fund managed by Toronto-based conglomerate Onex (TSX:OCX.SV) will invest $20 million in EMS units consisting 95 per cent of eight-year convertible debentures and five per cent of preferred shares.

The units will pay annual interest of five per cent, and initially give ONCAP II a 21 per cent voting interest, rising to 62 per cent of the company's equity after conversion.

The deal had been reached in December, coinciding with a settlement of litigation between EMS and company founder Frank D'Addario, who had been fired by the board early last year over alleged, but not proven, irregularities including excessive payments to himself and others.

D'Addario supported the ONCAP II deal, although he was prevented from voting his 24 per cent stake in EMS by of a court order arising from separate litigation with Robert Sansone, an outside claimant to D'Addario's shares.

"The ONCAP financing was the only financing that came into play," D'Addario said after the meeting.

"It's good for the shareholders, and we'll see what the board and its directors and management can do."

EMS stock, trading at almost $4 in early 2004, changed hands after Wednesday's meeting at 54 cents, up four cents on the day, representing a stock-market value of $20.5 million.

The conversion price under the ONCAP letter of agreement is 32.3 cents per share.

"We still have to work out the details in order to close this financing," Harris, his left arm in a sling and nursing a dislocated shoulder after slipping on ice during a snowmobiling excursion, said after the meeting attended by about 50 people.

"Then the company will be on a solid financial footing. It'll have a very solid majority-control shareholder who has substantial resources, so this company can grow," Harris said.
He added that he is committed to remain with EMS for the long haul.

"I believe very much in the people, I believe in the vision that's been presented.

There's obviously been opposing viewpoints as to how that vision should be executed and who should execute it, but I think we're on the right track," Harris added.

"Hopefully it's the end of a long, drawn-out saga," said D'Addario, 44, who started EMS in Ottawa in 1995 and expanded rapidly through acquisitions - some since divested by the new management under CEO Tony Busseri.

"I still like the company," D'Addario added. "I've built a great company - that's why people are fighting for it."

IEX Workforce Management System Helps Leading Power Producer Eskom Realize Substantial Performance Improvements

2006-03-22T17:28:00.000-08:00

(www.chron.com)

Effective Skill Scheduling and Multisite Management Among Top Benefits
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa and RICHARDSON, Texas, IEX Corporation, a Tekelec

(Nasdaq: TKLC) company, today announced the substantial performance improvements Eskom Holdings Ltd has realized through its implementation of the IEX(R) TotalView(R) Workforce Management system.

Noteworthy performance improvements include:

Increased service level goal attainment by more than 10 points, getting the organization's goals in line with global utility standards for best practices

Enhanced call flow to multiple sites, enabling Eskom to operate the seven individual contact center locations as a single entity

Enabled Eskom to consistently achieve 95 percent schedule adherence from week-to-week
Improved scheduling accuracy, smoothing out periods of understaffing and overstaffing while reducing reliance on expensive temporary staff

Allowed Eskom to take agent skills and work preferences into account, further increasing staffing efficiency and effectiveness

Gained contact center virtualization and overflow capabilities, giving each individual site more flexibility.

IEX is a leading provider of workforce management and optimization technology used by contact centers of all types and sizes around the world. Eskom is one of the world's leading power producers, supplying virtually all of the energy to its home country of South Africa and more than half of the power across the African continent.

Prior to installing TotalView, Eskom's ability to effectively plan and manage its agent workforce was hindered by the fact that it did not have an effective workforce management system in place. "Schedules were only issued once a year.

Adherence was not measured and neither was forecast accuracy," said Kevin von Berg, corporate specialist of customer service at Eskom.

"As a result, our off-peak shifts were heavily overstaffed, and there was little or no variation in scheduling requirements during the day or even the year.

Implementing TotalView has helped us overcome many of the barriers preventing us from managing the contact center efficiently and effectively."

Eskom currently has more than 350 agents spread across seven locations that handle nearly 4 million service, credit and payment contacts per year.

GridApp offers multi-platform configuration management

2006-03-21T16:26:00.000-08:00

(www.searchoracle.techtarget.com)

GridApp Systems Inc. has updated its Clarity software suite with a new component designed to let DBAs manage application configuration information in multi-platform database environments.

The New York City-based GridApp says its new Configuration Management Database (CMDB) can serve as the foundation for a "federated" or multi-tiered infrastructure by base-lining configurations, auditing user activity and instituting management processes and security controls at the database level.

"The lack of change control and configuration management for the database tier is a direct cause of downtime and loss of revenue," GridApp president and CEO Robert Gardos said in a statement.

Released last fall, GridApp's Clarity software enables DBAs to discover and inventory database versions and patch levels; track database configuration; provision database resources to meet business service level agreements; clone databases for product testing; repair faults in databases; and deploy patches.

Gardos has said that what differentiates Clarity from competing software offered by the likes of BMC Software Inc., Embarcadero Technologies Inc. and Quest Software Inc. is its focus on heterogeneous deployments.

Agencies seek cure for project management woes

2006-03-21T16:23:00.000-08:00

(www.gcn.com)

Better planning, risk reduction seen as key factors

Orlando, Fla.—Project management challenges and the means of overcoming them remain at the forefront of senior federal IT leaders’ agendas.

Agency leaders soon will enjoy, or endure, additional oversight via the Office of Management and Budget’s Program Assessment Rating Tool, said Karen Evans, OMB’s administrator of the Office of E-Government and Technology at the Information Processing Interagency Conference last week.

“Project management is still a major category of weakness for the agencies,” Evans said. Other speakers at the conference echoed Evans’ concern about the quality of project management in the federal government. OMB will focus on agencies’ efforts to upgrade project management, Evans said. In light of the shortage of project managers, OMB officials are encouraging agencies to shift enterprise architects to project management work, she said.

Evans emphasized that OMB is requiring agencies to use earned-value management tools and that her agency has rejected agencies’ requests for approval to do EVM-lite or EVM-like project tracking.

Savings’ downside

In response to a question, Evans acknowledged that if agencies demonstrate cost reduction via more efficient technology, they run the risk of getting their funds cut and losing employee slots.

“That’s the reality,” she said. Additional perspectives on vexing project management issues emerged in a panel discussion.

Mike Sledge, president of Robbins-Gioia LLC of Alexandria, Va.’s civil division, cited statistics indicating that 18 percent of IT projects fail completely and an additional 53 percent exceed their budgets, experience schedule delays or perform poorly. One factor leading to project failure is unrealistic schedules, according to Sledge. “We all know it takes nine months to have a baby. If you put nine women in a room for a month, it’s not going to work.”

Additional factors include faulty planning, poor training and lack of a common terminology among project participants, weak support from upper management, underestimation of project complexity, poor project controls and unclear objectives, Sledge said. Good project management combines people, processes and tools into a program office with educated and experienced leadership able to generate decisions quickly, he added.

“The best project managers are those who have been on programs that failed,” he said. Treasury Department CIO Ira Hobbs said, “We have come to understand that the best friend a project can have is a good project manager.”

Dave Wooten cited the need to foster the next generation of project managers. Wooten works as associate deputy assistant secretary for policy portfolio oversight and execution at the Veterans Affairs Department.

“Project management is risk management,” Wooten said, adding that it also requires agile responses to changed conditions and a customer focus.

Greg Giddens, program manager for the Homeland Security Department’s SBI.net project, added that there are differences between IT operations in civilian agencies and in the Defense Department, where the Pentagon has created a career path for project managers.

The evolution of federal IT projects in the direction of using more contractors has created some unfairness in personnel rankings, Giddens said. Now that the proportion of federal employees in program offices has dwindled, an official responsible for a multimillion-dollar program might be told, “You only manage four people, so you grade out as a 13,” he said, referring to the General Schedule-13 rank in the federal personnel system.

CA unifies IT management tools

2006-03-21T16:21:00.000-08:00

(www.itweek.co.uk)

CA’s latest Desktop and Server Management tools are part of an initiative for more integrated control of IT systems

CA has launched a new IT management system, drawing together a range of tools to help firms control their desktop and server environments.

CA Desktop and Server Management r11 is part of the software vendor’s Enterprise IT Management initiative for simpler unified management of technology systems.

Desktop and Server Management r11 combines asset management and patch management tools with software delivery capabilities, which can automate the distribution of software to ensure compliance with policies, said CA. It is based on a common architecture and can integrate across various desktop and server management products, and also allows IT staff to control Linux servers and desktops from Windows PCs.

CA also introduced other new products for the launch. CA Desktop Management Suite for Windows offers desktop management and backup capabilities for PCs, and is designed to reduce the time required to configure machines and maintain hardware and software inventories.

And CA’s new Unicenter Patch Management system, backed by a research team, monitors and distributes relevant patch information to customers.

The new Desktop and Server Management system can also integrate with CA Service Management r11 and CA Asset Management r11, which use the same centralised management database. CA said this could help firms run multiple operations using the same internal data sets.

Database management for RP civil servants modernized

2006-03-18T17:12:00.000-08:00

(www.news.inq7.net)

More than one million records of the the Civil Service Commission (CSC) will soon be easily accessible under a recent project done by the DCI, a technology subsidiary owned by the Development Bank of the Philippines.

According to DCI, it has an ongoing database upgrade project of the CSC, which has completed scanning the agency's records.

The next stage of the project will involve the development of a Personnel Information Database System (CSC-PIDS) commencing this month.

The CSC-PIDS will contain more than 1 million records that will include personal data, appointments, promotions, and performance records of all Philippine civil servants.

The system will also handle personnel information transactions, the company said.

The planned system will feature a unique record identifier and will consolidate all the personal records of each civil servant through a one-time data entry capability.

The system standardizes the tracking of employee movements in real-time,
report formats, and human resource research, DCI said.

The system will eventually be linked to the Government Human Resources Management Information System, which synchronizes and integrates information from all government human resources databases, the company said

The CSC-PIDS project hopes to address the agency's problems related to poor record keeping, ineffective capturing and updating of employee records, and manual plantilla management.

It also aims to lower costs, improve data accuracy and relevance, and ultimately ease the agency's human resource management tasks at the agency.

Andrew Guitarte, chief operating officer and EVP of DCI, said that the CSC-PIDS project is one of the company's major projects in 2006.

The project is scheduled for implementation in the CSC's 105 field offices by end of 2006.

Hard work, time-management key to enter IIMs: Toppers

2006-03-18T17:08:00.000-08:00

(www.cities.expressindia.com)

Hard work, time-management, self-confidence. Inculcate all these traits and reserve your berth in the premier, second to none management centre- Indian Institute of Management.

This was the suggestion of the graduates of the Indian Institute of Management Lucknow, who on Saturday received their diplomas during the convocation ceremony organised at the institute.

‘‘There is no substitute to hard work,’’ stressed Jaya Jha, the topper of Post Graduate Programmes (PGPs) of IIML.

With dedication in studies coupled with systematic planning, one can get the ticket to IIM, she added. Jaya hails from Bihar and opted for management studies after completing her B.Tech from IIT Kanpur.

In this 20th batch of IIML, 236 students have successfully completed their Post Graduate Programmes (PGPs). Whereas, 13 students passed the new course in Agri Business Management and three students completed the Fellow Programme (FP) being offered by the institute.

Present on the occasion was chief guest Brij Mohan Lall Munjaji, chairman of Hero group, who, lauding Jaya for her decision to opt out from the campus placement said, ‘‘Like Jaya, other students should also take the initiative to become an entrepreneur and should work to raise the living standards of the downtrodden.’’

Sharing his varied experience as a corporate honcho he said, ‘‘Do not forget the value of time as there is also an economic dimension attached to it.

Even the best of ideas and plans have little value unless implemented effectively in time.’’ He emphasised that integrity including honesty is the key to reach the top in whatever domain one chooses.

He called upon the students to work for raising socio and economic parametres like literacy, poverty, savings and investment ratios.
Director IIML, Devi Singh was also present during the convocation ceremony.

For the graduating students he suggested, ‘‘Do not allow yourselves to be lured by the temptation of a shortcut. It will not help in the long run.

Have faith in yourself and the almighty and dedicate yourself completely to task you choose. You will definitely achieve the eluding success.’’

Plaxo offers public beta of contact management tool

2006-03-14T14:02:00.000-08:00

(www.macworld.com)

Plaxo on Tuesday announced the public beta release of its Plaxo Toolbar Mac OS X. The software is free to download and use now; when it goes final it will also be free to use in its basic form.

Plaxo is designed to be a universal address book that’s accessible from anywhere through Web-enabled devices. It works across platforms, through different applications and on different devices like PDAs.

Plaxo offers custom toolbar applications for Thunderbird, Internet Explorer, Outlook and Outlook Express and AOL Instant Messenger. It also works online through the Web.

The Mac release of Plaxo supports synchronization with Apple’s own Address Book application and works with Mac OS X v10.3 and v10.4, according to the developer.

New FBI management system could cost $500M

2006-03-14T13:55:00.000-08:00

(www.computerworld.com)

A contract for the 'Sentinel' project is expected in the next few weeks

(NETWORK WORLD) - A new case management system being implemented by the FBI to help fight terrorism could cost as much as $500 million, blowing away the $170 million it sank into a previous project that was abandoned a year ago, according to a government watchdog group.

In a 91-page audit report released today by the inspector general’s office in the U.S. Department of Justice (download PDF), cost estimates for the new FBI IT system range from $400 million to $500 million, based on information provided by the FBI to congressional inquiries. An exact figure for the project is expected when the FBI finalizes a contract for the system, called Sentinel.

That contract award is officially expected sometime in the next 30 days, but today an FBI spokeswoman said that it will come shortly.

“The FBI has completed the vendor evaluations in the Sentinel contract award process,” FBI spokeswoman Catherine Milhoan said in a statement. “We are currently in negotiations with one of the vendors and have advised the other vendor that their proposal was not within the competitive range. We cannot disclose the identity of either vendor at this point.”

Milhoan said the number of bidders that pursued the contract and related details will also be made public when the contract matters are settled.

The inspector general’s office, which was previously highly critical of the FBI’s earlier failed attempts to upgrade its technology systems as a result of “poorly defined design requirements, lack of mature Information Technology Investment Management processes, and poor management continuity and oversight,” was much more upbeat about the proposed Sentinel system and its planned oversight.

“With Sentinel, the FBI is relying on improved management processes, use of commercially available components and a four-phase approach over 39 to 48 months to develop a replacement for its obsolete Automated Case Support (ACS) system,” the audit stated.

“In reviewing the management processes and controls the FBI has applied to the pre-acquisition phase of Sentinel, we believe that the FBI has adequately planned for the project and this planning provides reasonable assurance that the FBI can successfully complete Sentinel if the processes and controls are implemented as intended.”

The report added that several concerns remain, however -- for example, the program management office for the project is not yet fully staffed, and there are questions about Sentinel’s ability to share information with external intelligence and law enforcement agencies. It also remains uncertain whether Sentinal can provide a common framework for other agencies’ case management systems.

The audit also said the inspector general’s office will continue to monitor the FBI’s system security plans as the project evolves. As of December 2005, the FBI had not completed a system security plan or a required verification and validation plan. Even so, Sentinel was allowed by the FBI to proceed, the report said.

According to the inspector general, the FBI said at the time that a system security plan couldn’t be completed until Sentinel’s vendor provides detailed information on the project’s design.

A separate contract will be awarded to develop an independent verification and validation (IV&V) plan.

Those explanations were deemed “reasonable” by the inspector general’s office. “However, in our next audit, we will monitor whether the FBI completes the system security plan and the IV&V plan during the early stages of Sentinel’s development,” the inspector general’s report stated.

The new Sentinel Case Management System is designed to replace an antiquated system for managing records, workflow and evidence that FBI workers need in order to handle cases.
The earlier attempt to upgrade the system, dubbed the Virtual Case File (VCF) system, was a three-year project that failed to meet expectations (see "It's official: FBI scraps $170M Virtual Case File project"). Last August, the FBI began soliciting bids for a replacement for the failed VCF effort.

According to the audit, Sentinel will be rolled out in four phases. The Associated Press reported last week that Lockheed Martin Corp. was the winning bidder for Phase 1, which will provide a Web-based portal where FBI and other government law enforcement agents can gather data and information.

Phase 2 will begin the shift to paperless case records by creating an electronic case document management system and data repository, while Phase 3 will entail the rollout of an elaborate “universal index” database of people, places or things relating to cases.

Phase 4 will implement the project’s new case management and reporting capabilities and will then move all the existing ACS data over to the new systems, according to the FBI.

Proactive Operational Business Performance Management

2006-03-13T14:48:00.000-08:00

(www.b-eye-network.com)

Proactive analytics and unstructured data are the key components of an operational business performance management solution.

Over the last twenty years, we have seen steady growth in the use and popularity of business performance management (BPM) solutions. If you look at business performance management use by functional area, you will find that it has been deployed in the approximate ratio of 60% financial, 30% marketing and 10% operational.

Thus, if you have been using business performance management to analyze data, it is likely that you have been working with financial or marketing data.

Perhaps it is time to realize that traditional BPM systems have not “cut it” when it comes to operational business performance management. With exponential growth in computing power delivering voluminous amounts of near real-time structured and unstructured operational data, there is clearly a void in the ability of traditional BPM solutions to address operational use. BPM vendors have been listening to the market and now recognize the market opportunity.

If you are looking for a BPM solution that addresses operational business performance management, don’t be fooled by the often clever product repositioning statements of some vendors.

What should you look for if your organization is beginning to investigate operational business performance management? Two areas that operational business performance management should address are proactive analytics and unstructured data.

Proactive Analytics

We are clearly entering the next phase of business performance management use which could aptly be called “proactive business performance management.” Initially, BPM systems ran in batch mode.

They were soon replaced by interactive BPM systems which have been the norm during the last decade. Proactive business performance management facilitates operational analytics by giving organizations the ability to “automate” what was the interactive OLAP slice-and-dice discovery process offered by traditional BPM solutions.

This automated discovery process is a “must have” feature for operational business performance management analysis for two simple reasons:

once analysts have asked all the questions they know to ask of their data, there is simply too much data and too much complexity for any team of analysts to know where to look next.

To expect that a business person can “discover” a valuable insight hidden in their data by stumbling across it is not an effective way to become proactive. With the proliferation of data, users need to be guided to emerging issues they had previously never considered.

As proactive business performance management delivers previously hidden insights to business domain experts, they can determine the relevance and importance of the newly uncovered information. The traditional approach is comparable to trying to find a needle in a haystack without even knowing which haystack may contain the needle.

While the traditional approach of creating predefined triggers that automatically send e-mail notifications is useful to monitor and manage known issues, it delivers no value when it comes to uncovering unknown issues. This is the difference between being reactive rather than proactive.

Unstructured Data

Traditional BPM solutions facilitate performance management by offering solutions that help organizations make sense out of structured data (i.e., numbers). Essentially, they turn structured data into readily accessible information. We all know that numbers are only one form of data. Let’s not forget unstructured data: text, voice and pictures.

Operational business performance management data is often unstructured in nature. Readily available sources of free-form text (i.e., Web sites and call centers) exist and should be included in operational BPM solutions.

They can offer better insight into a greater number of real-world operational business problems such as early warning analysis in manufacturing quality, warranty analysis, compliance analysis and call-center operations.

The analysis of unstructured data has been the target of specialty vendors’ products including text mining and voice recognition systems. These products are typically used by analysts and usually require special training and education.

They tend to concentrate only on the unstructured form of data for which they were designed and do not bring together both unstructured and structured data for a richer analytic environment. They usually require analysts to take the results from text mining and use a different solution to further explore their structured data with the insights they have gained from text mining.

Not only are these solutions difficult to use, but they also inhibit speed-of-thought analysis by stovepiping the data into text and structured data as if there was no obvious relationship between the two types of data.

Traditional solutions ignore the reality that the richest picture of what is happening can only be seen when text and structured data are considered together.

One alternative approach is offered by PolyVista, Inc. PolyVista has developed a patent-pending approach for organizing both structured and textual data. The solution employs a dimensional hierarchy using Microsoft’s Analysis Services to facilitate building cubes containing dimensions that incorporate textual hierarchies.

The result is the ability to seamlessly incorporate unstructured textual analysis in combination with structured data. Not only is the process of building a textual dimension novel, but also the benefits of performing analytics against such cubes are simply astounding.

By incorporating readily available sources of free-form text and building cubes that contain dimensions representing textual key words, operational business performance management users are empowered to obtain results faster and with more meaning. By performing drill-through analysis, BPM users can read the text associated with the results of interest.

This approach yields more meaningful results, and it is likely to offer insights impossible to uncover with traditional BPM solutions. Using proactive analytics against these cubes results in an operational business performance management process that is both fruitful and practical.

Management group offers $22 a share for TNS

2006-03-13T14:39:00.000-08:00

(www.today.reuters.com)

NEW YORK, - Credit card data network provider TNS Inc. (TNS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday it had received a nonbinding proposal from members of its management, led by John McDonnell, chairman and chief executive, to acquire the outstanding shares of TNS for $22 per share.

The group making the proposal holds more than 5 percent of TNS shares. The shares closed at $16.59 on Friday.

TNS said its board has established a special committee of three independent directors to evaluate the proposal and determine what is in the best interests of TNS and its stockholders.

Asbru Web Content Management 6.0

2006-03-10T14:41:00.000-08:00

(www.phpindex.com)

Version 6.0 of the Asbru Web Content Management system for PHP, ASP and JSP/Java has been released.

The system includes full WYSIWYG editing, collaboration, multi-lingual content administration, an ecommerce add-on module, and a community add-on module.

Version 6.0 of the Asbru Web Content Management system is a major upgrade with many new features and usability improvements for the core web content management system as well as added flexibility for developers.

Among the new features is the ability to personalize the content delivered to website visitors. Depending on the website visitor’s Internet domain name or web browser language preference settings website visitors can be routed to different web content.

The personalization improvements also include the possibility for website visitors to subscribe to various website sections.

Multi-lingual/multi-version content administration has also been improved and now offers better control of different versions of the same content. Workflow processes to notify translators of changes to a master language version have also been added.Version 6.0 also adds significant improvements to the system’s content listing functionality.

There are now a wider range of options to choose from when deciding what, how and when content is to be included on content lists. Among the many new options are the ability for users to include custom data in lists, limit the number of items displayed in lists, present lists in custom tables and display content published within a specified time period.

Other changes to the product include support for management of users through external LDAP directory server administration software/services and support for Dublin Core Metadata.

Other custom metadata standards based on different semantics are also supported.

For developers a custom template/script programming API has been added making it easy to integrate content from the web content management system with custom or third-party applications.

The new version also includes extensions to the system’s access control scheme, significant enhancements to search capabilities, functionality to avoid broken links and missing images, and support for quick and easy rebranding of the system.

An online trial of the new version of the Asbru Web Content Management system is available on the website: http://wcm.asbrusoft.com

HUB International Shifts Management in New England Brokerage

2006-03-10T14:37:00.000-08:00

(www.insurancejournal.com)

Hub International Limited has made several management changes in its New England operation.

Charles (Charley) J. Brophy will assume the role of president and chief executive officer of insurance brokerage Hub International New England (HUB New England). Brophy will succeed Richard J. Palleschi, who will remain as vice chairman.

Other HUB New England senior leadership positions include: Michael S. Chapman, who assumes the position of chief operating officer while retaining his current role as chief sales officer; William C. Brouillard, who remains as executive vice president and treasurer; and David DiPerna, who continues in his role as head of the Risk Management Department.

These three, together with Brophy and Palleschi, will form the HUB New England executive management team, with specific responsibility for organic growth, recruitment and acquisition strategies for the regional hub brokerage.

HUB New England, formerly known as C.J. McCarthy Insurance Agency Inc., established in 1867, is based in Wilmington, Mass., north of Boston. Earlier this week, Hub announced it was acquiring agencies from Citizens Bank, including two in the Boston area.

Headquartered in Chicago, Ill., Hub International Limited is an insurance brokerage operating in the United States and Canada.

Standard Management Signs Agreement with AmerisourceBergen

2006-03-09T15:15:00.000-08:00

(www.biz.yahoo.com)

INDIANAPOLIS -- Standard Management Corporation ("Standard Management" or the "Company") (Nasdaq: SMAN - News, SMANP - News), an Indianapolis-based provider of pharmaceuticals to long-term care and infusion therapy patients, today announced the signing of a five-year prime vendor pharmaceutical distribution agreement with AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation.

AmerisourceBergen is a national distributor of pharmaceutical and other products.

Ronald D. Hunter, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer stated, "We are pleased to have the opportunity to work with such a great organization."

Martial Knieser, M.D., President of Health Services for the Company stated, "Standard Management is building best in class pharmacies enabling independent institutional pharmacists to deliver better patient care and customer service at various levels of healthcare delivery."
Standard Management's core focus is to provide pharmaceuticals to long-term care facilities.

Standard Management, through its regional pharmacies, offers custom packaging for long-term care facilities in addition to creating solutions for specialized healthcare facilities in a growing number of regions of the United States.

Standard Management currently operates regional pharmacies in Seattle, Washington; Nashville, Tennessee; New Castle, Indiana; and Indianapolis, Indiana. According to Chairman Hunter, "Our regional acquisition strategy is what distinguishes us in the marketplace.

Our organizational development and expertise of our executive team defines our unique position in the healthcare industry."

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27 A of the Securities Act of 1933.

The use of the words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "may," "estimate," "could," "plans," and other similar expressions, or the negations thereof, generally identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, without limitation, the ability of the Company to enter into agreements for and close the proposed financing transactions.

These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause actual results to be materially different from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements.

Such factors include, but are not limited to, general market and economic conditions and other factors, including prevailing interest rate levels and stock market performance, which may affect our ability to obtain the proposed capital and additional capital when needed and on favorable terms.

We caution you that, while forward-looking statements reflect our good faith beliefs, these statements are not guarantees of future performance.

In addition, we disclaim any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward- looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Standard Management is a holding company headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Information about the Company can be obtained by calling the Investor Relations Department at (317) 574-5221 or via the Internet at http://www.SMAN.com.

Workforce Management System Helps Leading Check Printer Realize Substantial Contact Center Performance Improvements

2006-03-09T15:07:00.000-08:00

(www.chron.com)

Global leading provider of workforce management and optimization technology, IEX Corporation, a Tekelec (Nasdaq: TKLC) company, today announced the performance improvements one of the nation's leading check printers has gained with its TotalView Workforce Management system. Noteworthy workforce management performance improvements include:

* Consistently meeting 90 percent or better schedule adherence goals
* Decreasing forecasting variance from 12 to 3 percent
* Gaining the ability to forecast and schedule at the enterprise level
* Significantly reducing overhead costs while increasing staff utilization
* More easily scheduling coaching sessions, training and team meetings
* Streamlining the vacation and holiday planning process

More details on how IEX customers have used TotalView to improve planning, enhance performance, streamline tasks and integrate data can be found on the Web at http://www.iex.com/Solutions/success.htm .

About TotalView

The TotalView Workforce Management system enables contact centers to deliver consistent service with lower operating costs and higher employee morale. It is designed to improve the scheduling and agent management processes in both single site and multisite environments.

The system's advanced features include skills-based and multimedia scheduling, real-time and historical adherence, intraday and performance management, enterprise reporting and data exchange, vacation and holiday planning as well as short and long-term resource planning.

TotalView offers these powerful features with a single-server architecture that enables easy system installation and maintenance.

About IEX

IEX Corporation is a leading provider of contact center workforce management and optimization technology. IEX has a strong market presence worldwide in over 45 countries, with more than 840,000 agents in over 2,900 sites.

Founded in 1988, the company delivers award-winning products and services that help customers improve planning, enhance performance, streamline tasks and integrate data. IEX has been recognized as the 2005 Growth Strategy Leader by Frost & Sullivan and has been named the 2005 Workforce Management and Optimization Leader by CRM Magazine.

The company has several strategic partnerships with global contact center solution providers that enhance the value of its flagship product, the TotalView Workforce Management system. IEX is based in Richardson, Texas. For more information, visit http://www.iex.com

Centric Software Introduces Collection Management For Manufacturers

2006-03-07T15:38:00.000-08:00

(www10.mcadcafe.com)

Centric Software Introduces Collection Management Solution for Apparel and Consumer Goods Manufacturers

Reduces Cycle Time with Real-Time Visibility into Key Technical, Product and Scheduling Information as well as Financial Data

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Centric Software, the leading provider of Product Intelligence solutions for the extended enterprise, announced today a new solution for apparel and consumer goods manufacturers.

Centric's Collection Management solution enables manufacturers to reduce new product development cycle time and deliver on tight deadlines by providing real-time visibility into key technical, product and scheduling information as well as financial data. Separately today, Centric announced that Artsana, a global supplier of children's apparel, toys and family care products, based in Como, Italy, has successfully completed a pilot program utilizing this solution. Due to the success of the pilot, Artsana plans to deploy this and other Centric Software solutions across all worldwide operations and brands.

"As the successful Artsana pilot demonstrates, Centric has developed a very compelling solution that addresses the most urgent needs of apparel and consumer goods manufacturers," said Chris Groves, chief executive officer at Centric Software.

"Centric's Collection Management solution derives intelligence from existing, scattered repositories of data, delivering additional, real value from existing repositories of information while accelerating business processes."

Centric's Collection Management solution intelligently captures and presents through user-defined dashboards the key performance indicators on the development and launch of the many thousands of items in a season, product line or collection.

By automatically gathering and maintaining live links to data from multiple systems such as design, material management, forecasting and sales systems, Centric's Collection Management solution rolls-up information from individual products to product families to entire company collections, providing complete visibility into design, planning, sourcing, development and sales schedules and activities.

This automated multi-level visibility into the status of every task enables apparel and consumer goods manufacturers to rapidly make informed decisions on individual items, execute against targets and assess overall success of each item against plan.

The automation of data collection reduces cycle times and provides the product intelligence needed to select new products that will promote brand loyalty and maximize revenue. Collect information from multiple, disparate source systems Centric's Collection Management solution gathers and combines critical product and business data from source systems, to provide executives and product teams with multi-level visibility into collection status.

The solution provides: Information roll-up to multiple levels with visibility based on role Drill down to root causes for problem solving Make decisions on potential issues as they arise Centric's Collection Management solution provides immediate identification and actionable intelligence on potential issues that could cause delays, enabling manufacturers to manage growing product volumes and tight deadlines.

The solution provides: Insight into which products are on target and which are at risk Different views of key performance indicators for different teams Execute with improved communications and coordination between distributed teams Centric's Collection Management solution eases the communication challenges that arise with large distributed, cross-functional teams by providing:

Collection item creation for seasons, down to styles, with technical information Drill down functionally to find details, including comments, notes and dates associated with each item and activity Secure, role-based access to all collection metrics Detailed schedules for each collection item with associated task descriptions and their planned start dates, end dates and real/actual dates Assess collection performance Executives see live, critical information presented in combinations and formats that generate the greatest meaning to make informed decisions. Centric's Collection Management solution provides:

Collection performance monitoring that presents the key information necessary to kill products early and promote with confidence those products and product lines most likely to provide the highest value Rolled-up metrics that are calculated at each level to automatically measure status and completion About Centric Software, Inc. With Product Intelligence solutions from Centric Software, global executives and multidisciplinary teams collect all relevant information for any product or capital program initiative, decide on the appropriate action, execute on the initiatives, and assess progress against business goals.

Global enterprises, such as Bristol-Myers Squibb, Coleman, Emerson, Moen, Hamilton Sundstrand, Siemens, Timex, Volvo, Iowa State University and others, use Centric's solutions to achieve top line revenue growth, direct cost reductions and insight into capital programs.

Customers represent multiple industries, including aerospace, automotive, consumer goods, AEC/owner operator, life sciences, consumer electronics and universities.

California taps Unisys for tax management project

2006-03-07T15:36:00.000-08:00

(www.gcn.com)

The California Employment Development Department has awarded a six-year, $31.6 million contract to Unisys Corp. to upgrade and expand the state’s tax engineering and modernization systems. Unisys originally implemented the Document Management Refresh and Consolidation system, which is central to the state’s capability to calculate and collect employment taxes.

The system is an enterprise document management and remittance solution that processes employment-related tax payments from businesses operating in California.

The system helps collect more than $1 billion dollars each day during peak periods and $35 billion annually in employment taxes for California.

It is integral to the operations of the state’s Paid Family Leave system, and is expanding to process approximately 17 million weeks claimed and pay out more than $4.8 billion in unemployment insurance benefits in 2006.

Unisys will perform a range of managed services for the project, including upgrading and replacing business applications and equipment such as the network infrastructure, server and workstation equipment; consolidating applications; and establishing a Microsoft.NET architecture strategy.

New version of change management software

2006-03-06T15:09:00.000-08:00

(www.instrumentation.co.za)

GE Fanuc Automation has introduced Proficy Change Management Version 5.50, a powerful tool to manage automation systems and protect software and engineering assets.

"This release provides significant enhancements with a focus on delivering better integration with GE Fanuc products, providing support for new programs and devices, and providing increased functionality," says Daniel Coetzee, manager of Sub-Saharan Africa for the GE Fanuc Automation division of GE Industrial.

"For companies to stay competitive, they must keep their automation systems running securely and efficiently. Proficy Change Management assists in monitoring software and data assets, protecting against device failure or operator error and meeting government regulatory requirements," says Coetzee.

With powerful capabilities including security, version control, audit trails, central storage and automated backup and recovery, Proficy Change Management ensures that automation systems continue to run safely and efficiently.

The latest version Proficy Change Management 5.50 provides enhanced compare capability for identifying differences between versions, allowing for improved support of Proficy HMI/scada iFIX and Proficy HMI/scada Cimplicity.

The compare functionality provides complete reports that identify changes made in the tag database and screens or picture files.

In addition to the existing project management capabilities for managing Proficy Machine Edition controller program projects, Proficy Change Management 5.50 provides the ability to schedule automatic upload and compare operations.

This enables users to ensure that the PLC program matches the master version on the server; or make sure they have a backup of what is running on the PLC. This functionality is now available for GE Fanuc Series 90-30, Series 90-70 and VersaMax Controllers.

New features include:

* An e-mail configuration tool that allows users to configure what events trigger an e-mail and to whom to send them.

* An enhanced history report for viewing change history on a project that provides an HTML based report.

* A checked out projects report that allows administrators to determine who has which projects checked out, where, and for how long.

In line with Proficy's open and layered architecture, the Proficy Change Management 5.5 offers support and new functionality for the Rockwell RSLogix 5, 500, and 5000 projects. The new version also permits users to manage and control Wonderware projects.

Version control for Wonderware applications allows users to utilise the compare tools to identify changes made to screens and tags. Publish and retrieve functions allow backup and deployment of changes to nodes.

The Electronic Signature capability has also been enhanced to allow external handling of signature routing.

The new Application Programming Interface (API) allows users to control how the signatures are handled for custom applications.

Also, a new utility allows the archiving and documentation of existing Proficy Change Management databases as well as maintenance of a set number of versions based on a selected date.

Client Configuration Management

2006-03-06T15:01:00.000-08:00

(www.it-observer.com)

In today’s information technology marketplace, necessity remains the ubiquitous mother of invention. Stakeholders now value technology as a business tool enabling them to do more with less in an increasingly complex and changing business environment.

IT administrators are thus expected to facilitate business continuity even while juggling the challenges of security, availability, and compliance.

To meet these demands, IT teams must be able to leverage the expertise of a variety of functional IT groups to ensure that corporate assets and the information they hold are both secure and available. Client/Configuration management provides the means by which key technologies from different areas combine and work together to preserve business service availability.

What is client/configuration management?

Client/Configuration management is found in the combination of different technologies, from systems management to security management and storage management, to optimize the flow of information throughout an organization and preserve business service availability. Although traditionally regarded as separate functional spheres of activity, these technologies are converging to provide cost-effective, flexible client/configuration management.

How did client/configuration management emerge?

The evolution of client/configuration management began when traditional systems management transitioned from its primary focus on software distribution to include technologies that would meet the new challenges that IT administrators faced. As the complexity and connectivity of computer systems grew over time, so did the complexity of an organization’s IT infrastructure. Instead of having to manage computer systems in a predominantly centralized, site-by-site environment, IT administrators had to support increasingly distributed and heterogeneous infrastructures.

How, in your opinion, does client/configuration management help IT administrators support growing infrastructures?

Organizations need a tool that automates the process of identifying all systems and networks that make up their IT infrastructures, including all hardware and software components. This information provides IT administrators with an overview of the components of a computing device and details on what is on the device, where it is located, who is using it, and if and how it might change.

This, in turn, allows administrators to determine if the device is configured appropriately. Risks are better assessed because asset and inventory management capabilities, which are part of client/configuration management, became a key component of risk mitigation, helping IT administrators ensure that only approved programs were running on employees’ systems, creating a safer infrastructure.

What role does security play in the development of client/configuration management?

Mounting security concerns brought patch management to the forefront of many IT organizations. As more and more software vulnerabilities were disclosed—and exploited—it was clear that ensuring system and data security and availability would be virtually impossible unless systems were kept up-to-date with the latest patches, service packs, and other security updates. At the same time, IT administrators had to ensure that changes made to one system did not adversely affect its configuration or the integrity of other systems in the infrastructure.

Given the increasing mobility of employees, what are some specific challenges that IT administrators face in client/configuration management?

The need to manage endpoints in highly distributed infrastructures with limited resources lead organizations to add remote control to their systems and configuration management toolboxes. With remote control, IT administrators can solve endpoint problems more quickly and cost-effectively while also increasing the productivity of remote users.

The increasing mobility of users and the explosion of the amount of corporate information definitely add to the need for a more efficient storage management plan.

Storage management transitions from being a data center concern to including all devices that access the corporate network, melding with systems and security management to keep critical systems and data secure and available. For IT organizations, this convergence promises to enable IT administrators to understand and manage the state of any system at any point in time, from deploying antivirus definitions to patching systems, blocking behavior or applications, forcing a backup, or restoring systems to a working state.

How does the compliance issue factor into client/configuration management?

The emergence of new industry and government regulations call for organizations to verify the security of their data and demonstrate their ability to meet certain fiduciary and governance responsibilities.

To that end, IT organizations now deploy a wider variety of traditional security technologies to protect corporate assets at the gateway, server, desktop, and mobile client levels of their infrastructures. To satisfy these regulatory and license compliance requirements, IT audit and reporting capabilities are now an important part of an organization’s infrastructure management implementation. All the while, limited budgets and the need to do less with more require IT organizations to take a closer look at IT purchases and operating expenses. Overspending on IT assets and not optimizing IT operations will remain a concern. Client/configuration management ensures that IT organizations can stay on top of new management challenges.

Today, managing the state of the corporate infrastructure involves different areas, from security to storage. How can IT administrators accomplish that in the infrastructure?

The intersection of systems, security, and storage management calls for a new infrastructure to manage and administer a wide variety of previously distinct disciplines of activity—across multiple platforms. Today, managing the state of the corporate infrastructure is about ensuring systems security and availability, proactive protection and disaster prevention, policy and license compliance, disaster recovery, and more. To that end, solutions that manage the desired state—or live state—of an organization’s infrastructure are emerging from the pool of client/configuration management offerings available today.

What will these “live state” solutions accomplish?

These solutions have the ability to incorporate or wrap around virtually any technology, including third-party packaging technologies. They are also highly scalable—from just one server to thousands of systems—and extensible to allow IT administrators to add additional modular components, such as disaster recovery capabilities, to meet specific business needs.

How do you ensure the successful integration of the client/configuration management process into existing IT processes?

As organizations face new business demands and an ever-changing IT environment, the market continues to move from individual point-solutions toward solutions that address more than one functional area. The demand for integrated and interoperable end-to-end management solutions will continue to increase. Solution sets that are easy to install, use and maintain will result in a better return on investment and lower total cost of ownership.

At the same time, systems management will continue to blur with security and storage management as the dependencies of the different functional areas become increasingly obvious.

To stay ahead in the game and to prevent disasters from occurring in the first place, the traditional mindset of solving problems reactively will change toward a more proactive approach.

To that end, policy-based management capabilities and the implementation of IT processes will become increasingly critical. IT organizations look to automation to ensure the availability and security of their systems and the information they hold, to obtain maximum value from their IT infrastructures, and to satisfy internal and external auditing requirements—even as IT budgets shrink.

How has client/configuration management remain competitive in the ever-changing IT environment?

To adapt to today’s IT challenges and to stay competitive, a growing number of client/configuration management offerings are now comprised of comprehensive solution sets for software distribution, system migration, patch management, asset discovery, IT audit, application and security configuration management, helpdesk and secure remote control, and system retirement. The combination and interoperability of these components provide organizations with a more holistic approach to security and systems and storage management to ensure that the organization’s systems and information are both secure and available.

What do you see as the future for client/configuration management and how will this help IT infrastructures and corporations?

Client/configuration management solutions will continue to evolve as IT environments are likely to continue to increase in complexity and importance. With a unified, extensible and scalable solution, IT organizations are better prepared to adapt to change and to gain control of their IT infrastructures. Corporations, in turn, will see greater productivity and efficiencies, improved governance and compliance, enhanced security and availability, and a significant competitive edge as they thrive in a rapidly evolving and highly challenging market.

Management fees ‘a scam to enrich greedy developers’

2006-02-28T13:48:00.000-08:00

(www.breakingnews.iol.ie)

Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins has launched a scathing attack on the local authorities in Dublin over the imposition of management fees on the residents of housing estates.

Speaking at a press conference in Dublin today, Mr Higgins said the councils were basically privatising public services by foisting management companies on thousands of householders.

Such companies are being established on new housing estates all over the city to maintain open spaces, roads, lighting and other services.

Residents are required to pay annual fees to these firms, which are often linked directly to the developers who built the estates in the first place.

A number of householders in the Tyrrelstown area of Dublin are being taken to court this Friday for refusing the pay the fees.

Mr Higgins said today that the whole management company structure was a scam designed to enrich greedy developers and help local authorities avoid their responsibility to provide upkeep services.

Express management tools lighten the load for SMBs

2006-02-28T13:46:00.000-08:00

(www.searchsmb.techtarget.com)

IBM announced last week the phased release of Tivoli Express, an automated system management software portfolio that promises to be affordable and easy to deploy at midsized companies.

Tivoli Express will allow midsized companies with limited IT resources, such as online retailers, hospitals and local banks, to view and integrate hardware, software, storage networks and computer systems.

This release is the latest of IBM's Express products, a suite of scaled-down enterprise system products that have been reworked to serve small and midsized businesses (SMBs). IBM has been using its Express products to expand into this market -- in 2005 the company added 26,000 SMB customers through the program.

The Tivoli Express portfolio includes four new Express products that will be released in phases over the next five weeks.

Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT Research, said technology at midsized companies has become more complicated in recent years. At the same time, IT managers are being asked to do more with their resources. The automated solutions offered by Tivoli Express could allow midsized companies to free up those resources, King said.

"The pressure most IT managers and technicians are under to do right now is to squeeze additional capacities out of their budget, to do more with the people and tools they have," King said. "Rather than making another (IT) hire, they can spend a few thousand bucks on an automated solution and get more work done."

Illuminata senior analyst and IT advisor Gordon Haff said Tivoli Express will help midsized companies eliminate ad hoc system management.

"Basically, a lot of identity functions have historically been handled in an ad hoc and siloed way," Haff said. "It's pretty much common-sensical that if five different systems need to be changed for a departing employee, there's much more opportunity to have mistakes or to have an omission than if it's in one location."

Haff said Tivoli Express should reduce security problems with its automated identity management. However, he said, the product isn't necessarily a panacea. He said any management system must be accompanied by good company policies to make sure the software can do its job.

XN Risk Introduces Law Firm Management Liability Policy

2006-02-23T15:07:00.000-08:00

(www.home.businesswire.com)

BOCA RATON, Fla.- XN Holdings, parent company of XN Risk Insurance Services (Canada) Inc., today announced the launch of a Law Firm Management Liability Policy designed to meet the evolving needs of Canadian legal professional firms.

The groundbreaking Law Firm Management Liability Policy is the first of its kind in Canada designed to address a wide range of liabilities law firms may confront from customers, suppliers, job applicants and employees, unrelated to the provision of legal services. Policy limits are routinely available up to $5,000,000 CDN in the aggregate over a minimum retention of $10,000 CDN, while limits of up to $10,000,000 CDN can be made under select circumstances.

"Recent amendments to provincial partnership legislation have impacted the governance structure of law firms, while expanding firms have recognized that management on the part of the entire partnership is impractical," said XN Risk's Managing Director Phil Hoyt. "Many law firms are now operating as limited liability partnerships with a governance structure wherein decisions are made by legal professionals and non-lawyer executives. These practical imperatives give rise to a host of liabilities unaddressed by traditional programs."

The Law Firm Management Liability Policy provides critical liability coverage for errors and omissions arising in the governance of limited liability partnerships including claims from staff lawyers, non-professional staff, customers and suppliers, liability coverage for wrongful employment practices. Outside directors and officers coverage (ODL) for lawyers in a limited liability partnership who hold positions on outside Boards of privately held companies is automatic, with certain allowances possible as respects ODL for lawyers in a LLP who hold positions on outside Boards of publicly traded companies.

"XN Risk continues to innovate by packaging adapted insurance products that respond to the changing governance environment in Canada," said XN Holdings CEO Dan Anber. "The Law Firm Management Liability Policy reflects the broadest coverage currently available in the Canadian Market for governance liability arising out of the operations of a limited liability law firm".

"This new product is a tool of unquestionable value in a law firm's efforts to mitigate its management liability exposures", said Eric Dolden, Partner at Vancouver-based law firm Dolden Wallace Folick, counsel for XN Risk.

XN Risk Insurance Services (Canada) Inc.'s Law Firm Management Liability Policy is supported by Lloyd's of London. Lloyd's is the world's leading specialist insurance market with an A claims-paying rating from AM Best and an A+ rating from Standard & Poor's.

About XN Risk

XN Risk is a premier, Web-based service provider for today's far-sighted privately owned companies, offering information, products and services designed to soothe worries and answer uncomfortable questions surrounding executive error, misconduct, and liability. XN Risk offers comprehensive insurance solutions that embrace the versatility, simplicity and security that modern businesses require. XN Risk Insurance Services (Canada) Inc is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Boca Raton-based XN Holdings, Inc. For more information on XN Risk, please visit www.xnrisk.ca.

About XN Holdings

XN Holdings is a leading online provider of insurance and financial products designed specifically for the needs of expatriates and internationally mobile employees. XN offers both corporate- and association-sponsored employees "24/7" global access to personalized insurance and financial information through both the Web and a multilingual call center.

XN enables expatriates to access customized products and information designed to ease common concerns about security issues, health care, travel arrangements, relocation and tax planning.

XN Holdings is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, with the Global Service Center in Montreal, Canada. For an in-depth look at XN, please visit www.xn.com.

XN Holdings, XN Risk and XN Financial Services are registered trademarks of XN Holdings, Inc. in the United States, and other countries.

UPDATE 1-3i and management buy UK's Chorion for 111 mln stg

2006-02-23T15:05:00.000-08:00

(www.today.reuters.com)

LONDON - Private equity firm 3i Group Plc (III.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and management of Chorion Plc (COR.L: Quote, Profile, Research) have agreed to buy the British media firm that owns the rights to the children's character Noddy for 110.7 million pounds ($193 million) in cash.

Planet Acquisitions, a firm set up by 3i, said on Thursday it had agreed with Chorion's independent directors to pay 425 pence a share, a 23 percent premium to the closing price on Feb. 21, the day before Chorion said it announced a bid approach.

Planet Acquisitions said it was working with Chorion Chairman Waheed Alli, Chief Executive Nicholas James, Finance Director Sue Murphy and Deputy Chairman William Astor.

The independent directors of Chorion, which also owns the rights to Mr Men children's characters as well as crime brands such as Miss Marple and Maigret, said the firm had agreed to be bought in part because of uncertainty over the transition from DVD and video products to home entertainment platforms.

Trading in the current financial year had also been hit by difficult conditions in the United States and Japan, where Noddy was growing more slowly than expected, and a significant drop in the pre-school DVD market, they said in a statement.

Planet Acquisitions said 3i investors would provide 79.8 million pounds of the purchase price, with 7.4 million provided by Chorion management. The rest will be funded by debt.

Planet Acquisitions is being advised by UBS, while KPMG is acting for Chorion management and Rothschild is acting for Chorion's independent directors. GE Commercial Finance has arranged the finance facilities for Planet Acquisitions.

PAS Launches Third-Generation Alarm Management Software to Improve Process Plant Alarm Management Systems

2006-02-23T14:59:00.000-08:00

(www.chron.com)

AMO-Rt(TM) Provides the Most Advanced Performance Visualization for Optimal

Alarm Management at Process Plants

HOUSTON -- PAS, a global leading supplier of software products and consulting services for the process industries, today announced the launch of its next generation suite of Alarm Management software under the brand name AMO-Rt (Alarm Management Optimization - Real-time).

AMO-Rt is the third generation alarm management solution from PAS. Key features versus traditional products in this area are the real-time performance visualization and optimization of alarm systems leading to superior abnormal situation mitigation and improved plant reliability. With AMO-Rt, PAS continues to assert its leadership role in the alarm management market that began with the release of the industry's first commercial alarm management software in 1996.

As a third-generation product, AMO-Rt is the industry's most complete alarm management solution. It is the only product to integrate data collection, archive, analysis, real-time dynamic alarm management, alarm shelving, operator interface and more in a single application framework.

"Manufacturers tell us that effective alarm management is a key ingredient to effective operation", according to Dick Hill, VP Manufacturing Services at ARC Advisory Group. "They also tell us that most alarm management applications are inadequate to deal with the increasingly dynamic environment found in today's process manufacturing plants. PAS customers should find this latest generation of alarm management software a comprehensive solution to their needs."

According to PAS Founder and CEO Eddie Habibi, "PAS is in the business of innovation through the creativity of our people; when we combine that with our voice-of-customer development process we end up with another first-to-market solution that is 1-3 years ahead of competition."
The AMO-Rt software provides for a comprehensive alarm management strategy including:

* Automatic Data Collection and Archive -- provides long term alarm history
* Alarm Analysis -- benchmarks vs. best practices (eg EEMUA)

* Alarm Documentation & Rationalization -- documents and reduces alarm loading

* Alarm Shelving -- safely deactivates nuisance alarms with management of change

* Alarm Flood Suppression -- suppresses alarm floods and highlights most relevant alarms

* State-Based Alarms -- dynamically adjusts alarm settings to match plant operations

* Alarm Audit & Enforce -- protects alarm settings from improper change

* Alarm Viewer -- provides performance visualization and advisory/knowledge support

* Performance Metrics Management -- provides visualization vs key metrics

AMO-Rt is a component of PlantState Suite(TM) application framework, which also hosts other PAS applications for plant performance enhancement with applications focused from the individual control loop to plant-wide optimization. The common framework reduces life-cycle-cost of ownership for PAS customers.

About PAS

PAS is a leading supplier of People & Asset Solutions to the process industries worldwide and has been delivering value to customers around the world since 1993. Key applications include Alarm Management, Control Loop Performance Monitoring, Real-time Performance Metrics Management, Knowledge Management, Linear and Non-Linear Multivariable Control & Optimization, and Asset Management. Our Microsoft .NET-based PlantState Suite platform provides the foundation for consistent implementation of applications across any control and information platform.

IBM to launch systems management for SMBs

2006-02-20T14:24:00.000-08:00

www.techworld.com

IBM's Tivoli Software unit is to launch its Express family of systems management products aimed at small and midsize businesses (SMBs) next month.

An IBM web page, that has since been taken offline, listed six Tivoli Express products that the company is going to introduce: Tivoli Identity Manager Express, Tivoli Monitoring Express, Tivoli Provisioning Manager (TPM) Express for Inventory, Tivoli Provisioning Manager (TPM) Express for Software Distribution, Tivoli Storage Manager Express version 5.3 and Tivoli Continuous Data Protection (CDP) for Files.

An IBM representative would not comment on record about the products.

However, IBM has announced plans to ship the first of the products listed on the page: a version of Tivoli Identity Manager for SMBs. The identity management software can be used by a maximum of 5,000 users, has fewer customisation features than the enterprise version and will be simpler to both install and manage, said Joe Anthony, a Tivoli programme director with IBM. It will cost US$24 per user and ship on 28 February.

Pricing for the other new Tivoli products which IBM may target at the SMB market remains unavailable, yet one analyst said that may be the most important factor in their reception by customers.
"Pricing is the number one issue for success," said Stephen Elliott, research manager at IDC. In the SMB market, IBM competes with freeware or "almost freeware," he said, and open source has improved the quality of low-cost products.

Enterprise-focused vendors such as IBM are particularly challenged in developing products that are right for the SMB market and in pricing them appropriately, Elliott said. "The products have to be very easy to use, functional, and at a low price point," he added.

New management

2006-02-20T14:22:00.000-08:00

www.miningmx.com

KUMBA.- Resources and Anglo American, which last year outlined plans to form an empowerment company and a separately listed iron ore venture, would announce management of the two companies "within a week", reported I-Net Bridge, a newswire.

"We are probably about a week away from maybe announcing at least the top structure," Kumba Resources CEO, Con Fauconnier, said.

"As you can well imagine, given the parties involved, there is a lot of discussion, a lot of the partners are coming into this deal not knowing a lot about the company so we have had to do lot work getting them to understand the business and people," he told the newswire.

The parties involved in the transaction were Anglo, Kumba Resources, Eyesizwe Mining and a women's group called Basadi Ba Kopane, I-Net said.

In early January, Kumba announced that Ras Myburgh had been appointed as the CEO designate of Kumba Iron Ore and GM of Sishen Iron Ore Company.

Last week, speaking on the Moneyweb Power Hour, Fauconnier said he would like to end his career setting the Newco (the rump of Kumba after splitting out the iron ore assets) on a growth path.

Management misses its chance to reduce the productivity gap

2006-02-20T14:19:00.000-08:00

www.business.guardian.co.uk

Bad management by firms and public bodies is a key factor behind Britain's woeful productivity performance but is being paid too little attention by the government, a report says today.

Released ahead of official data expected to show Britain still lagging behind the productivity of the United States, France and Germany by some margin, the report urges the government to encourage more "smart working" by managers and staff.

Productivity, or output per worker, is the ultimate driver of living standards and successive British governments have attempted to raise it with little success.

Dr John Philpott, chief economist at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), which compiled the report, says: "Coming after a year when UK productivity growth plummeted to ground zero, the latest international comparisons will be disappointing for a chancellor who has for almost a decade put considerable effort into closing the productivity gap."
The CIPD says that the country's productivity performance will continue to disappoint in the absence of a joined-up public policy agenda that promotes improved workplace management practices.

The CIPD says Gordon Brown, like his predecessors in the Treasury, has struggled against UK Plc's reluctance to invest enough in skills, capital and technology despite his tenure having seen a stable economy, low interest rates, reasonable rates of return on investment and a generally favourable corporate tax regime.

"However, the underlying problem, mostly overlooked by government policy, is that the vast majority of UK organisations still don't make a good enough fist of managing the productive resources they do have, especially their people."

The government should make improving people management and working practices central to its policy agenda, rather than treating it as subsidiary to investment, innovation, skills and competitive labour and product markets.

Shillong to get Indian Institute of Management

2006-02-20T14:17:00.000-08:00

www.hindustantimes.com

A new Indian Institute of Management (IIM) will be set up in Shillong.

IIM-Bangalore has started examining the viability of setting up a campus abroad.

This was stated on Monday by Minister of State for Human Resource Development MAA Fatmi in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

Fatmi also said the National Council of Educational Research and Training had begun the process of developing textbooks based on the National Curriculum Framework 2005.

In the first phase, textbooks for Classes 1, 3, 6, 9 and 11 will be introduced from the academic session 2006-07.

Police to host emergency management systems course

2006-02-17T16:45:00.000-08:00

www.zwire.com

Bloomfield Police Chief Betsy Hard announced during a Feb. 13 Town Council meeting that representatives of her department would administer a course on emergency management systems to town officials and public safety employees in March on a date to be determined.

Members of the Town Council and the directors of local departments will participate in a basic course on the National Incident Management System (NIMS) that will last between two and four hours and will include an online written test.

The course discusses how the system provides a model for different administrators and departments to coordinate their efforts during anything from a local incident to a national disaster, according to Hard.

She said the course allowed everyone from elected officials to firefighters and ambulance volunteers to understand how the system would collectively work during certain scenarios while understanding how to work within it.

She said that while the course was not required, it did make participating towns eligible for federal emergency preparedness funding."Our goal is to have everyone trained," she said.

The course will provide an overview of the system and a discussion of certain types of scenarios.Hard said an officer certified with the NIMS program will administer the entry-level course at an undetermined location.

President George W. Bush established the program in 2003.Hard reported that the program was initially implemented at a federal level. She said that local public safety employees and others began to receive training last year.

Some Bloomfield police officers have already received NIMS training, she said.Chief Art Gold of the Blue Hills Fire Department reported that most firefighters serving with his department have also received training.

UNI Global Union Cable & Wireless Alliance Meeting

2006-02-17T16:40:00.000-08:00

www.union-network.org

UNI Global Union condemns "cut and run" C&W management

Trinidad & Tobago, Caribbean Cable & Wireless unions, members of the UNI Cable & Wireless Global Union Alliance from 7 different countries, met in Trinidad, Friday 17 February with UNI Head of Telecom, Neil Anderson, to discuss issues of serious mismanagement affecting the company particularly the situation now that the CEO, CFO and Chairman of the Board had all recently left the company.

The unions condemned the actions of Cable & Wireless corporate management who have taken a large, historically strong telecom corporation and turned it into a company with serious financial problems.The unions said the incompetent corporate management had virtually destroyed a profitable and viable company to the point it was in danger of being split into little pieces and sold off.

These managers had been paid huge sums of money running into millions of dollars and had failed to prudently manage the company thus putting all the workers jobs at risk.

Now these same managers have taken their big bonuses and run leaving the workers once again to take the pain of the changes that are to be made to keep the company viable.

UNI Head of Telecom Neil Anderson, said that "following on the heels of massive retrenchments and job lay offs, the workers are now faced with a new crisis concerning the future for the company.

Undoubtedly, the renewed need to cut costs to cover for managements ongoing mistakes would come down to job cuts, and attempts by the company to cut wages and conditions. So while the management had "cut and run" the workers are left with the mess to deal with.

Inevitably this will lead to a downgrading of quality of services for Caribbean customers."The unions demand that the company deal with the workers and customers of Cable & Wireless with openness and with respect for the partnership that should be present between the company and it's workers.

All partners left in the company need now to work to ensure it can operate as a strong progressive company investing in the people and equipment needed to make sure the Caribbean region is able to participate fully in the new digital and IP (Internet Protocol) revolution that is taking place.

It is vital for the future of employment, tourism and industry in the Caribbean region that Cable & Wireless are able to invest and provide quality services.

The unions therefore also call upon the respective Governments in the region to urgently demand the company be clear about their plans and to start discussions with the workers, their unions and the respective authorities to make sure that the Cable & Wireless management is put back on a stable footing and the perilous financial situation of the company is urgently addressed.

Ecosystem management not quite required in proposed bill

2006-02-17T16:36:00.000-08:00

www.newportnewstimes.com

Marine scientists and conservation organizations have often supported an ecosystem approach to fisheries management, seeking a management system that expressly addresses all the living resources and the non-living ones within an ecosystem, as well as all the sources of environmental stress (not just fishing operations).

The proposed reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act would encourage scientists, regulators and fishers to think in the terms that ecosystem management calls forth - of competition for food sources, predator-prey interactions, and groups of species that tend to use and affect the same habitats. But it does not mandate a shift to ecosystem management.

The Pacific Fisheries Management Council, which regulates the federal fisheries off the three West Coast states, has moved in this direction, managing fish stocks in the aggregate and reducing the catch of stronger species to protect weak stocks.

The result has been the establishment of the Rockfish Conservation Area, a huge region of the continental shelf where trawling for groundfish has for several years been prohibited.

In the reauthorization act, "The goal is to move towards a management approach that considers linkages between the living and nonliving components of the sea, land, atmosphere, balancing ecological needs with the health and vitality of human communities. While we are not looking for legislatively mandated standards for ecosystem-based management, reauthorization offers an important opportunity to introduce ecosystem-based management as a central concept," Admiral James D. Watkins said.

Watkins is a retired U.S. Navy Admiral and chairman of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy.

He was one of the speakers before the Senate committee that reviewed, and in December, passed on to the full Senate, the Magnuson-Stevens reauthorization bill.The bill would give the regional fishery management councils the tools and authorization to develop regional fishery ecosystem plans. Its findings "affirm the importance of ecosystems and ecosystem-related objectives," according to the Congressionally prepared "Sectional Analysis" of the bill.

It authorizes the management councils to "incorporate conservation and management measures necessary to protect and enhance the health and productivity of marine ecosystems," as well.

And it directs the Commerce Department of prepare guidance "concerning ecosystem considerations in fishery conservation and management."The bill uses terms like "encourage," "authorize" and "promote," but it does not mandate and the ecosystem approach, notes Tony DeFalco, director of the West Coast office of the Marine Conservation Network.

Apartment Investment and Management Company Announces Closing on the Sale of a Portion of the Flamingo South Beach Property

2006-02-17T16:35:00.000-08:00

www.finanzen.net

DENVER -- Apartment Investment and Management Company ("Aimco") announced today that the company has entered into a purchase and sale agreement with MCZ/Centrum Florida XVI, LLC to sell a portion of the Flamingo South Beach property known as the South Tower.

The South Tower sale price is $163.5 million and includes 562 residential units and Aimco's rights to the property's marina. Aimco owns 99.1% of the Flamingo South Beach property. The agreement also provides the buyer with the option to purchase the North and Central Towers at later dates.

The buyer paid $5 million to Aimco, non-refundable, for the option to purchase the 614-unit North Tower for $169 million between September 1, 2006 and February 28, 2007, and the option to purchase the 513-unit Central Tower, along with the remainder of improvements on the property, for $267.5 million between December 1, 2007 and May 31, 2008. The buyer may extend these periods under certain conditions.

"Flamingo South Beach is an extraordinary property. We are pleased to close this transaction. By converting the property to for-sale use, Aimco achieves an excellent return on its investment," comments Harry Alcock, Aimco's chief investment officer.

The agreement also provides Aimco with a profit participation if certain thresholds are met.

Aimco will receive the first $19.8 million in proceeds in the proposed condominium conversion after certain development fees and certain returns on the buyer's equity have been achieved, plus 20% of the buyer's net profits thereafter. The agreement also provides Aimco with $600 per unit per year for the use of the health club, if and when each tower is sold.

Aimco will continue to operate the South Tower for up to one month and will continue to operate the remainder of the property if and until the subsequent options are exercised.

Due to the staggered timing of the proposed sale of all three towers and improvements, Aimco projects the effect of the sale of the South Tower on 2006 FFO to be a benefit of approximately $0.02 per share, assuming net proceeds are used to pay down corporate debt. Existing debt on the South Tower was $76 million.

Aimco is a real estate investment trust headquartered in Denver, Colorado that owns and operates a geographically diversified portfolio of apartment communities through 21 regional operating centers. Aimco, through its subsidiaries, operates 1,370 properties, including approximately 240,000 apartment units, and serves approximately one million residents each year. Aimco's properties are located in 47 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Aimco common shares are included in the S&P 500.

Simolari: Water management is a local issue

2006-02-17T16:31:00.000-08:00

www2.townonline.com

The following are excerpts from the Water Management Show recorded in Sharon, MA on Nov. 15, 2005. Refer to your local cable network for viewing of these most important issues of water conservation and management.

In attendance were Colleen Tuck, producer, Duane LaVangie, Department of Environmental Protection, Water Management, and the following town water superintendents, Jack Marsh, Easton; Leo Potter, Foxborough; and Eric Hooper, Sharon.

In April 2004 the Department of Environmental Protection implemented a new policy, the Water Management Act, which applies specific performance standards in ways to measure water usage, and restrictions based on environmental triggers.

This new policy was in response to a number of studies across the state, which includes in particular the Ipswich and Charles Rivers to better understand water withdrawal. The goal of the act is to balance the quantity of water usage. A focus group of concerned members have reviewed the performance of this policy over the past year and as a result the DEP is now proposing new changes.

Easton is one of our lead communities on water conservation. Easton's annual average water use per capita is 65 gallons per person per day. The DEP standard is 65 gallons per person per day. Foxborough is at 75-77 gallons per person per day.

Summer irrigation is driving the problem. Sharon has water restrictions in place therefore new restrictions will have little effect. All towns file a statistical report to the DEP to show water usage.

What changes have been made in order to manage your water department?
Easton does quarterly water billing, which is a drive-by system. It grabs and reads all accounts in one day. New meters were installed to accommodate this system.

Foxborough is looking at several options to improve its billing process. The next phase will be automatic meter readings. Sharon is advancing a meter project. The town is starting over after a bid process was challenged.

Easton will ask for a moderate water rate increase. Leak detection programs will be addressed. Sharon water is still inexpensive. The town is looking at a monthly billing process to better detect water leaks and to control water usage.

Water management and restriction are very important. You may pick up a DVD at the Easton Water Division, 417 Bay Road, Easton, to view this program.

Janet R. Simolari of Easton is a member of the Canoe River Aquifer Advisory Committee

Linux Management Cheaper Than Windows?

2006-02-16T13:44:00.000-08:00

www.internetnews.com

Is Linux cheaper than Windows to manage?

As part of its "Get The Facts" campaign, Microsoft has argued for years that Linux is more expensive to manage than Windows. A new study out this week from Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), sponsored by the Linux backers OSDL and Levanta, asserts that Linux is now in fact cheaper to manage than Windows.

Eighty-eight percent of survey respondents reported that they spend less effort managing Linux than Windows. Some 97 percent noted that, at worst, systems management effort is the same whether it's Windows or Linux.

The report also contends that Linux is cheaper to manage than Windows from a security point of view. 88 percent of respondents indicated that they spend fewer than 10 minutes per week per server managing malware and spyware.

"When asked to compare security management between Linux and Windows, the interviewees strongly endorsed Linux as easier to manage and inherently less vulnerable," the report states. "Only a small minority spend the same amount of time managing spyware and viruses on Linux and Windows. None reported spending more time on Linux than Windows."

Acquisition and resource costs for Linux are apparently lower, as well. EMA said that Linux acquisition costs may be nearly $60,000 less per server than Windows. The report also found that Linux is more productive since Linux system administrators typically handle more systems than Windows administrators.

The cost of those Linux systems administrators is also not necessarily that much higher (if at all) than their Windows counterparts, either. 17 percent of Windows administrators reported earning more than $70,000 a year, in comparison to 22 percent for Linux administrators.

For systems administrators earning less than $60,000 per year, 60 percent were Windows and 52 percent were Linux.

"One of the big issues over time has been that Linux skills were more expensive to acquire than Windows skills," OSDL CEO Stuart Cohen told internetnews.com. "I'm glad that's gone away.

"Linux has gone mainstream enough that there are enough people out there that companies can now hire Linux skills and take advantage of that."

Though the report identifies Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, (at least in its hardware costs comparison) Cohen doesn't think it's the distribution that matters when it comes to cost of management.

"I don't think it's a given flavor of the distribution that matters, "Cohen said. "I think it's more experience level than anything else."

So what does Microsoft think of the OSDL-sponsored study?

"We're excited to see the OSDL join Microsoft in working to deliver insights and facts we know customers need to help inform their IT decisions," Microsoft's Martin Taylor, general manager of Platform Strategy said in an e-mailed statement.

Taylor noted that there is a need for more collaborative industry research that delivers a level of transparency in the methodology so customers are able to apply it in their technology decision-making.

"Microsoft continues to be open to working with partners and competitors, alike, to jointly commission research that helps all our customers engage in an informed and respectful debate on the facts," Taylor said.

The OSDL's Cohen sees Microsoft's Get The Facts efforts as being "just business."
"I don't think there was anything offensive about it," Cohen said. "Obviously they were just concerned about Windows keeping the market share that it has. It's just territorial. It's just business and I think that's fine."

It's important to note, though, that the EMA study does not specifically compare total cost of ownership (TCO) of Linux versus Windows.

Rather, the report focuses on whether server management on Linux is a barrier to cost-effective operations. Cohen noted that the OSDL has no plans at this time to commission or sponsor a study on Linux TCO either.

"We didn't really feel that it was necessary to invest in a lot of research based on the fact that Linux was already having a lot of success -- double-digit, quarter-on-quarter growth for the last 15 quarters," Cohen said.

Apparently, success speaks for itself.

Best Practices in Selecting Performance Management Software

2006-02-16T13:37:00.000-08:00

www.cfo.com

When moving performance reporting and standard budgeting off of transactional systems and onto the multi-dimensional systems that are part of Corporate Performance Management (CPM), companies are often astounded at their new capabilities. Reporting becomes easier and far more powerful, delivered in real time. Instead of struggling with report creation, executives, managers, and analysts are suddenly empowered with business insight. Dramatic time savings are realized in standard budgeting and planning processes.

Multi-dimensionality, or OLAP, facilitates “slice and dice”, “drill down”, and the creation of planning templates re-usable across multiple cost centers. Trying to force a transactional system like an ERP or a GL to perform these multi-dimensional functions is like trying to force a round peg into a square hole. It is for this reason that almost all CPM software utilizes the reporting power of an OLAP engine. And this is the cause for the initial delight to new users of CPM.

But euphoria can quickly turn to frustration if detail-laden and process-intensive planning processes must be compromised for the sake of multi-dimensional reporting. You see, the same OLAP architecture that facilitates analytical performance reporting and the delivery of re-usable budget templates can actually hinder other important planning processes. The creation and monitoring of projects, HR planning, and capital expenditure planning, -- these are not naturally multi-dimensional. Trying to force an OLAP system to perform these “relational-type” functions is like trying to force a square peg into a round hole, and it has compromised the success of many CPM implementations.

This is why AIMCO, the United States’ largest owner and operator of apartment communities (250,000 units and managing more than $13 billion in assets), implemented a CPM system that leverages the best of OLAP and Relational functions. Join us to see how AIMCO delivered all of the value inherent in multi-dimensional budgeting and reporting -- without sacrificing the critical processes of HR and capital expenditure planning.

In this session you will learn:

Why CPM delivers reporting and budgeting capabilities beyond the reach of transactional systems

How to avoid sacrificing other important planning processes when delivering the above capabilities

Why OLAP and Relational are both necessary components of CPM

Speakers will include:

Stephen Nelson, Director of Product Marketing, Clarity Systems

Craig Schiff, President and CEO, BPM Partners

Brad Mauvais, Product Manager, AIMCO

Arms Length Management Organisations to get 538 million funding

2006-02-15T15:44:00.000-08:00

www.publictechnology.net

Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMOs) are to receive further funding of £538m over the next two years, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has said.Nine, Round 3 ALMOs in Barnet, High Peak, Islington, Newcastle, Poole, Sheffield, Solihull, South Lakeland and Warrington and four, Round 2 ALMOs in Leeds will gain from the extra funding.Housing Minister Yvette Cooper said the ALMOs had made excellent starts to their programmes.

"Tenants are clearly benefiting from improvements to their homes, from a dedicated day-to-day landlord service and more control over the future of their homes thanks to one third representation on the Board."

These ALMOs are doing an important job making more than 190,000 homes warm, weatherproof and more modern.

Above all the funding will enable them to continue this work, in line with the Government's Decent Homes programme."The ALMOs and the others already on the Government's programme are currently bringing 3,000 homes a month up to the Decent Homes standard.ALMO funding allocations are made in two year tranches.

The allocations made today confirm funding for the next two years for four Round 2 and nine Round 3 ALMOs.The nine Round 3 ALMOs were awarded funding in July 2003.

Initial allocations were for the first two years - i.e. 2004/05 and 2005/06, with the expectation that future funding would be available for the ALMOs' decent homes programmes if progress was satisfactory and funding was available.The four Leeds ALMOs - Leeds East, Leeds North West, Leeds South East and Leeds South were awarded funding under Round 2 of the ALMO programme in May 2002.

Their second tranche of funding is being confirmed now because they initially qualified for funding later than the other ALMOs on Round 2.Following a detailed assessment by ODPM of the ALMOs' costs and sources of other income, today's announcement confirms second tranche funding allocations as follows:

Round 3 ALMOs Allocation 2006/07 - 2007/08
Barnet £29,684,200
High Peak £4,606,000
Islington £59,623,200
Newcastle £106,820,000
Poole £15,037,120
Sheffield £115,490,060
Solihull £29,645,000
South Lakeland £10,682,000
Warrington £11,922,680
Round 3 total £383,510,260

Round 2 ALMOs Allocation 2005/06 - 2006/07
Leeds - East £40,285,000
Leeds - NW £36,000,000
Leeds - SE £24,180,000
Leeds - South £54,656,000
Round 2 total £155,121,000

(BW) ENTRIX Opens Chicago-Area Office, Expands Environmental Liability Management and Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) Services

2006-02-15T15:35:00.000-08:00

www.chron.com

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)- Environmental managers today are facing ever-increasing scrutiny from various stakeholders to manage potential environmental liabilities. Compounding these pressures are the imminent changes of accounting methods for environmental liabilities related to FAS 143/FIN 47 and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

In a move to respond to these demands in the marketplace, ENTRIX, Inc., a professional environmental consulting services firm, announced today that it is expanding its environmental consulting service capabilities into the Midwest and Great Lakes region by opening a Chicago-area office.

With an experienced staff in the field of environmental liability management, risk assessment and natural resource management, the Chicago office has the capability to provide Strategic Environmental Liability Management, Ecological and Human Health Risk Assessment, Natural Resource Damage Assessment, Natural Resource Asset Valuation/Disposition and Restoration services.

"The addition of the Chicago office results in an even deeper knowledge base and expertise to provide to our clients," stated Dan Taylor, President and CEO of ENTRIX. "In addition, we are in a better position to provide clients with expanded environmental liability management and natural resource asset valuation/disposition services in this region of the country."

The new office is located at: 800 Hart Road, Suite 250
Barrington, Illinois 60010
Phone: 847-277-2850

About ENTRIX

ENTRIX, Inc., is an environmental consulting services firm specializing in environmental planning, natural resource management, environmental risk management, water resource management, permitting and compliance, and natural resource economics. ENTRIX was founded in 1984 and has offices throughout the United States and in Canada and Ecuador.

For more information about ENTRIX, please visit www.entrix.com.

Monopoly management.

2006-02-14T13:47:00.000-08:00

www.crash.net

MONOPOLY MANAGEMENT: GO DIRECTLY, DO NOT PASS GO, AND DO NOT COLLECT $200

One shoe was dropped Monday by NASCAR in Daytona Beach with the announcement that CHAD KNAUS, NASCAR Nextel Cup crew chief for RICK HENDRICK driver, JIMMIE JOHNSON/#48 Lowes Chevrolet, has been "ejected from any further participation in 2006 Daytona 500 activities as a result of a rules infraction discovered following pole qualifying runs Sunday."

Basically, Knaus has been sent straight home. He can't pass Go and can't collect $200. He could receive a large fine, and he can't go any place requiring the use of his NASCAR license or 'Hard Card', because they have been pulled by NASCAR - which is its prerogative and totally under its control.DARIAN GRUBB, Hendrick lead engineer for both Johnson's team and JEFF GORDON/#24 DuPont Chevrolet, has taken over for Knaus at the track.

Knaus can work at the Rick Hendrick race shop. He said: "It's obviously disappointing to miss the biggest race of the year, but I'm confident in Darian and the rest of my team-mates. There's been a lot of effort put into the Daytona 500 and I know the team will be successful with the support they'll receive from the entire organisation."Hendrick said: "We understand NASCAR's position.

Our expectations for the team remain high. It's a deep, championship-calibre group and they'll step up this weekend."NASCAR is mad and not going to take it any more. There WILL be further NASCAR penalties, after the Daytona 500. Those further penalties will apply to Johnson's car, and could apply to the #96 DLP Chevrolet driven by TERRY LABONTE for the new team of TROY AIKMAN and ROGER STAUBACH.

That car was penalised for an unapproved carburettor, found in post-qualifying inspection.Among the penalty possibilities is NASCAR taking the cars. And there's always the NASCAR fine system, which has been escalating with each incident. Knaus was fined in 2002, 2003 and 2005, with his last fine being $35,000. Fines and suspensions are appeal-able. Ejection is not.Both Johnson and Terry Labonte will start at the rear of the first Gatorade Duels Thursday at Daytona International Speedway.

The Duals are Twin 150-mile qualifying races which set the rest of the field for Sunday's Daytona 500. The Daytona 500 front row was set Sunday with two Jeffs - JEFF BURTON/#31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet on pole, and last year's Daytona 500 winner, Jeff Gordon, next to him.

Waste Management quarterly profit rises

2006-02-14T13:45:00.000-08:00

www.abcnews.go.com

CHICAGO - Waste Management Inc. , the largest U.S. trash hauler, on Tuesday posted a stronger-than-expected 7.8 percent increase in quarterly profit as it pushed through higher prices, sending shares to a 6-1/2 year high.

The company also said it can achieve Wall Street's profit expectations for the full year.
"An increasingly aggressive pricing campaign gained traction in (the fourth quarter) driving a 7-cent earnings per share beat versus our forecast," J.P. Morgan analyst Amanda Tepper said in a research note.

Waste Management's strong results pushed the stock up to $33.93 — its highest level since July 1999 — and continued a strong run for waste management stocks. Last week, Allied Waste Industries Inc. hit its highest price in about 18 months after posting a profit that was almost double Wall Street's expectations.

Waste Management Chief Executive David Stiner said the company believes the strong pricing environment will continue and it plans to further reduce operating costs.

Fourth-quarter net income rose to $290 million, or 52 cents a share, from $269 million, or 47 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter.

The quarter included a $43 million reduction in income tax expense and after-tax charges of $8 million related to asset impairments.

Excluding one-time items, profit was 46 cents a share, compared with the 40 cents analysts had expected, according to Reuters Estimates.

Sales at the Houston-based company rose 5 percent from a year earlier to $3.37 billion, topping the $3.31 billion analysts had expected.

Waste Management said it can reach analysts' expectations for a 2006 profit of $1.65 a share. However, Tepper, who rates the stock "overweight," called the company's profit outlook "conservative" and said the company should beat it if pricing continue to improve.

It sees 2006 net cash provided by operating activities in the range of $2.4 billion to $2.5 billion and projects capital spending of about $1.45 billion. The company expects share buybacks in the range of $700 million to $725 million.

Waste Management also said it has identified operations with more than $500 million in annual gross sales that may be sold, but it did not project proceeds or timing of the possible sales. In the third quarter last year, it identified operations with more than $400 million in annual sales that it might sell.

Shares of Waste Management were up 86 cents, or 2.6 percent, at $33.90 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has risen 13 percent since the start of 2005.

Sony BMG Music announces management realignment

2006-02-13T15:41:00.000-08:00

www.indiantelevision.com

MUMBAI: Following the successful creation of the global music recording joint venture Sony BMG Music Entertainment 18 months ago, the parent companies Sony America and Bertelsmann are moving forward with a management realignment that will further strengthen the operation of the company.

Rolf Schmidt-Holtz who was formerly chairman of the company's board will be the CEO. Andrew Lack, who has been the CEO will be the chairman of the board. The company which is headquartered in New York, will continue to be governed by a Board of Directors consisting of six representatives of Bertelsmann and Sony.

Schmidt-Holtz will have overall management responsibility for the company. Lack will lead the company's public policy and industry initiatives, and assume operating responsibility and oversight for the theatrical film business of Sony BMG.

The joint venture Sony BMG Music Entertainment was formally announced on 5 August, 2004. It is equally owned by Bertelsmann and Sony America. It encompasses some of the most influential and successful record labels in the world and a wide array of recording artistes and operates worldwide.

Kronos(R) Declares Leadership in Healthcare Workforce Management

2006-02-13T15:38:00.000-08:00

www.genengnews.com

Expertise in services has brought more than two million healthcare employees live on innovative suite of solutions

Based on its ability to help healthcare organizations reduce labor costs and improve employee satisfaction while delivering the highest quality healthcare, Kronos(R) Incorporated (Nasdaq: KRON) has become the leader in healthcare workforce management. Kronos is able to deliver these benefits to the healthcare industry through Kronos for Healthcare, a comprehensive suite of time and labor, scheduling, analytics, and absence management solutions.

Today, more than two million healthcare employees around the world depend on Kronos for workforce management. These employees come from a variety of healthcare organizations including Banner Health, Brookdale Senior Living, CHRISTUS, Cincinnati Children's, Cleveland Clinic Health System, HCA, Intermountain Health Care, Montefiore Medical Center, North York General, OhioHealth, Sutter Health, and Tenet Healthcare Corporation. Further exemplifying its leadership in the healthcare industry, Kronos solutions are being leveraged in more than 100 of the hospitals named to the U.S. News and World Report's list of "America's Best Hospitals".

"As the leader in helping organizations manage their workforce, Kronos is poised to continue to deliver innovative solutions and unmatched services expertise to the healthcare industry," said Charles DeWitt, vice president of vertical marketing at Kronos. "We truly understand the challenges that healthcare organizations face such as improving labor productivity while delivering the highest quality patient care. We develop our solutions to specifically solve those challenges as well as others that will impact their business in the future."

Kronos for Healthcare solves myriad of workforce management challenges

Kronos for Healthcare enables the reduction of direct labor costs and improved employee satisfaction and also ensures the highest levels of patient care are delivered. It also helps healthcare organizations develop and implement the right labor plans for long term success while simplifying day-to-day staffing. With the use of Kronos for Healthcare, organizations are able to automate and centralize time and labor processes, ensure fair and accurate application of attendance and scheduling rules, and manage recruiting, performance, learning, and training processes.

Services expertise leads to quick implementations

Helping healthcare organizations achieve immediate benefits from Kronos for Healthcare, Kronos is able to leverage its world-class services team with deep-rooted healthcare expertise.

Kronos' healthcare services team is comprised of experts that are intimately familiar with the obstacles that the healthcare industry faces including balancing quality care and employee satisfaction, complying with healthcare-specific regulations, and minimizing the effect of the nursing shortage. This team is focused on the goal of completing implementations on time and on budget, helping Kronos healthcare customers achieve rapid and measurable ROI.

Kronos made this announcement from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Annual Conference & Exhibition being held Feb. 12-16, 2006 in San Diego. Kronos is exhibiting in booth #2036.

About Kronos Incorporated

Kronos Incorporated is the most trusted name in workforce management. Kronos helps organizations staff, develop, deploy, track, and reward their workforce, resulting in reduced costs, increased productivity, better decision-making, improved employee satisfaction, and alignment with organizational objectives. More than 20 million people use a Kronos solution every day. Learn more about Kronos' high-impact enterprise solutions at www.kronos.com.

Mellon Global Cash Management To Host Free Cyberconference on Risk Management in Electronic Payments

2006-02-13T15:34:00.000-08:00

www.finanzen.net

PITTSBURGH - Mellon Global Cash Management will present a cyberconference on "Regulatory Risks and Rewards: CFO Stakes Get Even Higher," on Wednesday, February 15, from 2-3 p.m. EST.

Registration for this event can be done online at http://www.mellon.com/insight06 or by calling 1 800-424-3004. In addition to comments by Mellon GCM experts on this topic, Karen Shaw Petrou, managing partner of Federal Financial Analytics, will be a special guest and discuss some of the current top regulatory priorities.

"Organizations that work with third-party vendors to deliver services to their customers are aware that this is one of the toughest areas to oversee in terms of risk management.

Not only have bank regulators made it clear that banks are responsible for their vendors, but markets have also proven unforgiving over the reputational problems that can result from a vendor's poor performance or ethics issues," said Greg Cicero, director of Mellon GCM.

"In an era when banks and other providers are teaming to use new electronic- payments technology to move money, customer confidence will hinge on flawless initial performance. This presentation will center on the risk management issues pertinent in the electronic payments era."

Petrou, a widely respected analyst whose comments appear regularly in trade and general-circulation media, has experience in walking companies through difficult compliance issues.

One of the topics she will discuss are the Basel II rules.

Mellon GCM's next cyberconference, "Fraud Trends: Are Your Internal Controls Adequate?," is on Wednesday, March 15. During this session, Mellon GCM payments experts will use case studies to discuss how factors such as image exchange, Check 21 and electronic payments may create new opportunities for criminals intent on perpetrating fraudulent transactions. They also will provide participants with some best practices that can help protect companies.

Mellon Global Cash Management, a payments industry leader synonymous with quality performance and known for its innovation and expertise, designs comprehensive solutions through its broad line of cash management services to meet the specialized treasury needs of corporations, nonprofit organizations and financial institutions.

Independently-administered customer satisfaction surveys consistently reveal that Mellon GCM continues to distinguish itself from its competition in the areas of operating quality, commitment to cash management and customer service. In addition, Mellon GCM was one of only two providers to achieve an A+ average for product performance in the latest Phoenix-Hecht(R) Quality Index(TM) of 33 major cash management providers.

Mellon GCM also is the only electronic payments services provider in the U.S. to successfully complete both a Level 3 Capability Maturity Model(R) (CMM(R)) assessment for its software engineering practices and attain ISO 9001:2000 Registration. More information on Mellon GCM is available at http://www.mellon.com/gcm.

Mellon Financial Corporation is a global financial services company. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Mellon is one of the world's leading providers of financial services for institutions, corporations and high net worth individuals, providing institutional asset management, mutual funds, private wealth management, asset servicing, payment solutions and investor services, and treasury services. Mellon has approximately $4.7 trillion in assets under management, administration or custody, including $781 billion under management. Its asset management companies include The Dreyfus Corporation and U.K.-based Newton Investment Management Limited.

News and other information about Mellon is available at http://www.mellon.com/.

Negotiators Finish Pact On Chemical Management

2006-02-07T13:28:00.000-08:00

Deal provides voluntary guidelines listing policy options

(pubs.acs.org).- Negotiators at the United Nation's International Conference on Chemicals Management completed a voluntary global strategy for safely managing chemicals late on Feb. 6.

The meeting in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, began on Feb. 4 and is the culmination of three years of talks on a Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM).

The deal is designed to protect people and the environment from the potentially harmful effects of chemicals. It is primarily aimed at helping developing countries with weak or no regulatory systems for chemicals management.

SAICM would be a guideline, not a binding treaty, providing a list of possible policy options that these nations could employ, such as regulations on the management of chemical waste (C&EN, Sept. 19, 2005, page 27). Countries both rich and poor, the chemical industry, and labor and environmental activists around the world endorse the concept of SAICM.

The Bush Administration took a series of hard-line positions on seemingly arcane points that had threatened to derail the talks.

For instance, Claudia A. McMurray, deputy assistant secretary of state for environment, said the U.S. wanted a global exemption to SAICM for pharmaceuticals and food additives.

The U.S. objected to a draft provision that would have exempted these products only if a country had separate regulations for these products and for commercial chemicals.

Under a compromise, SAICM will not cover products whose health and environmental safety is regulated by a food or pharmaceutical agency, such as the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.

The U.S. also spent much time working to delete any reference in SAICM to the World Bank and other international financial institutions. U.S. delegates said mentioning the institutions could distract these organizations from their primary mandate: reducing poverty in the developing world. Ultimately, negotiators agreed to eliminate most references.

However, Klaus Töpfer, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, told negotiators that eradication of poverty cannot happen without the safe use and management of chemicals.

The World Bank released a report on Feb. 5 in which it concludes that safe management of chemicals is a key part of strategies for helping lift developing countries out of poverty.

Study: Businesses lack cash management strategy

2006-01-31T15:32:00.000-08:00

(austin.bizjournals.com).- A study released by Guaranty Bank shows that nearly one in four small- to medium-sized businesses in Texas don't have a cash management strategy.

The study surveyed 485 decision makers in major markets in Texas and California. Guaranty's study shows that successful SMB managers know where their finances stand.

"Small businesses should be using basic services such as Internet banking to view account balances, verify transaction details, or pay bills," says Scott Martin, Vice President, Guaranty Bank Treasury Management Services. "Larger companies often use these tools plus wire transfers, Automated Clearinghouse payment services and wholesale lockboxes."

The study found that the most important needs in terms of improving overall cash management are increasing the speed of collections, gaining better control of cash outflow and maximizing return on idle cash.

Guaranty Bank is owned by Austin-based Temple-Inland Inc. (NYSE: TIN), a manufacturer of corrugated packaging and forest products.

Gujarat shows the way for water management

2006-01-31T15:26:00.000-08:00

(news.webindia123.com).- Gujarat, a drought-prone state, is establishing a Sardar Sarvora Canal-based drinking water grid, which will provide potable water to more than 14,000 villages and 154 towns, covering three-fourths of the population.

This was stated by Gujarat Water Resources and Water Supply Minister Narrotambhai Patel at the Conference on Rural Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here today.

Mr Patel also sought from the Centre an amount of Rs 740 crore for the speedy implementation of the Bharat Nirman scheme, which, nationally, seeks to provide safe drinking water and sanitation to every single habitation within next four years.

''For the implementation of Bharat Nirman scheme, the state will require an investment of Rs 1922 crore. The available resources of the Central and state governmets will only add to a maximum of Rs 1186 crore,'' he said, adding that the gap of around Rs 740 crore should be borne by the Centre.

Pointing out that the drinking water grid is mainly based upon water supply from the Sardar Sarovar Canal, Mr Patel said the state government had also drawn up a three-pronged strategy for three different projects to provide drinking water to the entire population of the state.

These are: 'The Sardar Sarvar Canal-based Drinking Water Supply Project', 'Sujalam Suphalam Yojana' and 'Regional Rural Water Supply Projects'.

''These three big projects, involving an estimated expenditure of Rs 13,600 crore, will cover 14,000 villages and 154 towns,'' the minister said, adding that the state government had been able to shift the dependence of more than 50 per cent of the population from ground water resources to surface resources in a short period of five years.

''Earlier, we had taken an initiative by providing drinking water through trains and tankers, but such measures were not only insufficientbut but also a huge burden on the state exchequer,'' he said.

But the adoption of the three new projects, coupled with a well-planned startegy of the state government, had enabled Gujarat to ensure water supply to the drought-prone areas of Saurashtra, North Gujarat and Kutch regions, accounting for 50 per cent of the state's population, he pointed out.

Mr Patel said under Bharat Nirman Programme, the state government had taken steps to cover all the NC (not covered) and PC (partially covered) habitations with safe drinking water supply.

''Augmentation of ground water recharge has also been made a public movement and more than 5 lakh water garvesting structures have been created in the state during last five years,'' he said.

IT companies ‘can no longer avoid empowerment targets’

2006-01-28T17:34:00.000-08:00

INFORMATION Technology (IT) companies no longer have an excuse for procrastinating on empowerment because the empowerment charter for their sector is an active document they should already be following, says a member of the charter steering committee.
The information and communications technology charter is widely believed to have been put on ice until the government finalises its own codes of good practice for black empowerment.
But the cabinet had accepted the charter as the prevailing document for hi-tech players to abide by, said Andile Tlhoaele.
The codes being drafted by the trade and industry department would apply to government bodies and the state’s procurement practices, said Tlhoaele, but private entities were expected to meet the stricter goals set by the charter.
“We as an industry have created a charter which spells out exactly what needs to be done,” he said.
“The cabinet has agreed that our charter will be gazetted as a sector code. That can’t be done until the government code is gazetted, but we have a charter that companies should be following now.”
Members of the Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises Forum, a body representing small black businesses, were disillusioned at the lack of change, said forum president Tebogo Khaas.
Some large companies were using the government’s delay in gazetting its policies as an excuse not to increase their procurement from or investment in black partners, he said.
Tlhoaele said the final shape of the government codes would not affect the charter, as the industry had unique needs and its members had agreed to set tougher targets for certain criteria.
Once the codes and the charter were both gazetted, the charter would take precedence over the “more lenient” government codes, he said.
The charter expects companies to be 30% black-owned by 2015, for 60% of the managers to be black and for 2% of the payroll to be spent on skills development.
Another target for 2015 is to procure 80% of goods and services from black suppliers, while the government favours a far lower procurement target of 50%.
The charter had a long and painful gestation, with the original working group ousted by a government-led committee long after an initial charter was drafted. That followed complaints by companies including Telkom that they had not been properly consulted.
Then some key US-based technology giants including Microsoft, Oracle and IBM, called on the American Chamber of Commerce to intervene and fight for the right to apply for immunity from black equity ownership.
Multinationals can now apply for equity exemption and can earn the 20 points designated for equity through joint ventures with black enterprises or small businesses.

Penetrate the Marketing Clutterwith Seamless Customer Dialogues

2006-01-28T17:26:00.000-08:00

Attend this Webinar to hear from Forrester analyst Elana AndersonThe average consumer is bombarded with an average of 1 million marketing messages per year – how do you penetrate the clutter? Not just with traditional outbound marketing campaigns, that’s for sure.Enter inbound marketing – the process of delivering cross-sell, upsell or loyalty offers when the customer initiates an interaction over multiple channels (e.g. web, IVR, call center, ATM). Performed with the customer’s time, permission and attention, it is far more effective and more likely to produce the right offer to the right customer at the right time.Even better is the concept of a seamless customer “dialogue” – the coordination of outbound, event-triggered and real-time inbound interactions, putting the customer at the heart of the conversation. The dialogue can be initiated by the marketer or the customer - regardless of channel – and can continue over time with knowledge of every interaction that has happened before.What you will learn:
How to revolutionize marketing with seamless customer dialogue techniques
Why bringing together disconnected initiatives across inbound and outbound channels can maximize the value of the customer relationship
How leading companies can benefit from adopting the next evolution of marketing automation Join us to hear case studies and best practices from Forrester Research’s Elana Anderson.Bonus OfferAll attendees will receive a free copy of the Forrester trend report “Inbound Marketing Goes Mainstream” by Elana Anderson.

A successful business plan requires focused marketing

2006-01-28T17:24:00.000-08:00

The marketing plan for a small business doesn't have to threaten the ecological balance of the world. Save on your paper budget and focus on the marketing of what you plan to offer.
You know the concept that it takes longer to prepare to make a five-minute speech than it does to talk for an hour. The same is true of a marketing plan for a small business. Because you have limited resources for marketing in a small business startup you have to be more focused, devote more time to its planning and be creative in how you intend to market your "wares."
Let's look at the bare elements of what needs to go into a marketing plan that will WOW a banker or potential investor.
• Focus on what you are going to sell.
If you are offering a service, you must be able to describe what it is that you will be doing so that is immediately understandable by your potential customer.
Your service description must provide more clear answers than it raises questions in the mind of the prospect. (And when I say "prospect" I am including that banker or investor you are pitching your business to.)
Your "sales pitch" must be short, sweet and clear.
• Focus on who's ahead of you, set on burying you.
Who is your competition isn't always clear. When Southwest Airlines started, its founder realized that its competition wasn't necessarily other airlines but rather it was people who preferred to drive short distances rather than fly and the Greyhound Bus Lines.
Think about whether your market is under-served, poorly served, disserved or over-served. Look for a niche that is large enough and willing to pay enough to help make you a living.
• Focus on customer "wants" and less on "needs."
I can't think of anything much that I buy that is a "need" other than fuel, toiletries, office supplies and medications. What I buy mostly is what I "want." Wants far outsell needs at my house and I suspect at yours as well.
We are thinking about a new refrigerator not because we need it, but because we want one. Moreover, we rarely allow not having the money stand in our way of buying what we want.
So don't lose sight of the role of "want" in purchase-decision making.
• Focus on specialization.
My usual response to people who ask me, "Whadayaknow?" is to say "More and more about less and less." I once thought that I was a generalist, knowing a fair amount about a lot of things. Today, like it or not, I am a specialist.
Most small businesses must focus on your niche or it will be focused for you. In spite of what the Apostle Paul said, you can't be all things to all people as a small business. You have to concentrate on a niche or market segment and be better at it than anyone else.
• Focus on your compelling message.
Behind door number one is your customer's "want." Behind door number two is the customer's problem that needs to be solved. Behind door number three should be a simple explanation of how you can solve the problem while at the same time create a "want" in the customer's mind.
Sounds simple doesn't it? Well, it is far from it. What it does take is a great deal of thought, research, trial and error, and a true focus on your customer.
Mr. Ferguson is an attorney, businessman, and management consultant in Kingsport. His e-mail address is shelburne@ferguson-lawoffice.com.

Joint venture to streamline benchmarking survey

2006-01-28T17:00:00.000-08:00

Joint venture to streamline benchmarking business survey
MYOB and the Waikato University Management Research Centre (MRC) have recently entered into a joint venture to fully integrate The New Zealand Business Benchmarking Survey data submission and reporting processes within MYOB software.
The New Zealand Business Benchmarking Survey is an annual financial survey detailing business performance, trend analysis and startup information of SME businesses in New Zealand. In association with MRC, MYOB has developed a tool that will automate the data collection process, enabling participating Accountants to easily submit business information to the MRC's secure online site.
Associate Director of the Centre for Executive Education at Waikato University, Rob Douglas says that after 25 years of manual data entry and report generation, the move toward partnering with a software developer to develop a benchmarking solution was a natural progression.
"Discussions between MYOB and MRC over the past two years have culminated in this joint venture, enabling both parties to focus on what they do best and provide the combined benefits in one easy package," says Rob Douglas.
"This will significantly expand and enhance the robustness of benchmarks and offer the benefits of an integrated and automated service, including access to results and generation of comparison reports online."
"With its software expertise and track record of service to the accountants market, MYOB was the clear and preferred choice."
For MYOB, the joint venture with MRC offers an opportunity to add further depth to the financial reporting processes available for SMEs through benchmarking.
"MRC is an established, credible and independent source of financial information, recognised in the industry as the accepted standard for benchmarking SMEs in New Zealand," says MYOB Managing Director David Lowe.
"In combining with MRC we are able to extend our service offering of business resources to better equip accountants - making it easier to submit survey information online and pass on the benefits of timely comparison reports to their clients."
As a first step, MYOB has provided a software program for manual entry and online submission of data to the current survey. A fully integrated and automated submission system is scheduled as part of a future MYOB Accountants Office update, combining the power of the NZ Business Benchmarking survey with MYOB ProfitCents.
Data submission for the 2006 survey closes on March 10, with the web-based and hardbound reports available at the end of May.

iLumen Announces Financial Benchmarking for Private Companies in the Manufacturing Industry

2006-01-28T16:59:00.000-08:00

First in a Series of Industry Announcements for Expanding Financial Benchmarking Availability
ATLANTA, Jan. 25, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- iLumen, Inc. announced today that the iLumen Financial Network has made financial benchmarking analysis available for private companies in the US Manufacturing Sector including comparative trend reports for the majority of the sub segments within the sector.
"Members of the iLumen Financial Network now have access to comparative benchmarking trends for key segments within the Manufacturing Sector," said Robert H. Woosley, Chief Executive Officer of iLumen. "The iLumen Financial Information Network is unlike traditional benchmarking offerings because the industry data is comprised exclusively of information contributed directly by private companies. Members of the iLumen Financial Network submit their information, as often as monthly, directly from their accounting systems - enhancing data accuracy and timeliness."
"iLumen's benchmarking service is a unique information offering for private companies," said Tom Murphy, Executive Vice President Manufacturing and Wholesale Distribution of RSM McGladrey, Inc. a leading business services company, headquartered in Bloomington, Minnesota. "iLumen's service allows private companies to upload their financial information electronically from any accounting system and see directional industry comparisons on an annual or trending monthly basis. Understanding how our private business clients compare to their industry peers is an important part of how RSM McGladrey serves our mid-market clients."
Annual benchmarking coverage is made available when a threshold of participating private companies in the network is reached to guarantee the anonymity of all financial information. Financial benchmarking analysis for additional industries is announced by iLumen as the threshold is achieved industry by industry.
"The iLumen Financial Network is an information portal used by private companies to track their own financial trends against customizable peer groups," said Woosley. "Members of the network can compare annual trends to averages of like companies in their industry and sort by geography, size and financial attributes. Trend comparisons are updated continuously as private companies submit interim financial information every month."
About iLumen Financial Benchmarking
iLumen technologies enable a private business to transmit financial information electronically and anonymously to the iLumen Financial Network and allows the private company to view their company's updated trends, dashboards and industry comparisons. The service is compatible with all electronic accounting packages and provides secure transmission of interim and year end financial information. The iLumen Financial Network covers a growing number of industry sectors, classifications and groups.
About iLumen
iLumen, Inc. is a financial information technology company that delivers and manages private-company data gathering and analysis solutions designed to solve critical problems in risk management, financial compliance and financial oversight within the banking, accounting and corporate environments. iLumen's services are based on a proprietary (patent pending) data warehousing engine known as iMonitor(R) that automates and standardizes the gathering, mapping, analysis and benchmarking of electronic accounting data from private companies.
iLumen and iMonitor(r) are trademarks of iLumen, Inc., all rights reserved.
For more information, visit www.ilumen.com. CONTACT: iLumen, Inc.
Leeann Morris, Media Relations
(404) 446-1613
mediarelations@ilumen.com

Optocouplers feature highest CMR rating

2006-01-28T16:54:00.000-08:00

The new FOD0708 (single-channel) and FOD0738 (dual-channel) 15MBd optocouplers from Fairchild Semiconductor are touted to feature the industry's highest common-mode noise rejection (CMR) rating, while providing the high-bandwidth (15Mbps), low-power-consumption characteristics demanded by industrial control applications.

According to the company, its patented Optoplanar technology reduces package capacitance by more than 30 percent compared to competitive solutions. This low package capacitance leads to a guaranteed 25KV/µs minimum CMR rating that is said to be two-and-a-half times higher than the closest competitor, allowing the FOD07X8 series to operate in noisy industrial environments. Unlike open collector bipolar-equivalent solutions, added Fairchild, these optocouplers feature a push-pull detector that eliminates the need for a pull-up resistor and the power-consuming current it draws.

"Noise can cause data errors in industrial control environments, adversely affecting applications such as line receivers on an automated factory floor," said John Constantino, manager of Fairchild's optoelectronics product Line. "The FOD07X8 optocouplers offer our customers the industry's best available common-mode noise immunity to solve this problem. To address the other key requirements of the industrial market, we developed our new 15MBd optocouplers with a push-pull configuration that reduces power consumption without penalizing bandwidth."
The electrical characteristics of the FOD07X8 product series are guaranteed beyond the full industrial temperature range (-40°C to 100°C). Their performance makes these devices suitable for interfacing with microprocessors, peripheral I/O and other high-speed applications. They are also well-suited for industrial networks such as Profibus, Fieldbus, DeviceNet and SDS.
The optocouplers' high-speed LED and a high-speed photodetector utilize the company's proprietary 0.8µm CMOS technology. Compared to typical face-to-face optocoupler/LED combinations, the FOD07X8 devices employ a side-by-side Optoplanar configuration and integrated proprietary silicon design on the detector chip. The resulting package capacitance enables these optocouplers to deliver excellent 50KV/µs common-mode immunity when a 2KV (peak) pulse is applied. These devices are available in a compact S0-8 package, with the dual-channel FOD0738 offering optimum mounting density. They also offer a 2500VRMS isolation voltage rating and UL-certification for increased reliability.

The FOD0708 and FOD0738 are Pb-free products that meet or exceed the requirements of the joint IPC/JEDEC standard J-STD-020B and are compliant with the European Union now in effect.
The FOD0708 is priced at $1.45, while the FOD0738 is available for $2.83.

Bison hope to end CMR win streak

2006-01-28T16:51:00.000-08:00

Two talented girls' basketball teams with dramatically different defensive personalties clash tonight at C.M. Russell Fieldhouse.

Defending their home court will be the unbeaten (10-0) and top-ranked C.M. Russell High Rustlers, who rely on an attacking, fullcourt defensive style to generate a lot of their points.

Challenging the Rustlers will be third-ranked Great Falls High (8-2), which plays a rolling zone defense that is almost unique among prep girls' programs.

Defense will make the difference, suggested Chad Olson, the rookie CMR coach who has yet to taste defeat at the varsity level.

"The Great Falls match-up zone always presents problems, because nobody else really runs it," said Olson. "It's a bit of a challenge for us. We'll have to make some shots to get in our press."
If the Rustlers don't have success slicing through or shooting over the Bison zone, they won't be able to set up their fullcourt press, which allows the Rustlers to best utilize their speed and quickness. Athletes like 5-10 senior wing Shantell Marquis and 5-9 junior forward Kelsey Hopkins are perhaps the fastest players in Montana at their positions. Senior guards Dani Walsh and Kassie Holmlund also are good ball-hawkers, and 6-1 sophomore Mary Anderson patrols the paint at the other end.

GFH coach Chris Lander, who's coached about 20 Bison-Rustler games, knows her ballhandlers face a challenge.

"We know play their defense is designed to create opportunities," she said. "We have to limit our mistakes, then play good halfcourt offense."

In seniors Sam Schermele and Kiri Winkler, and Bison have experienced players who have faced the CMR defense many times before. Schermele is a 5-10 senior guard who may have to support her sister, sophomore Gina Schermele, in advancing the ball upcourt. Winkler is a 6-0 senior post player who needs to match Hopkins in the paint if the Bison are going to spring an upset.

Olson knows the Bison present matchup problems in the halfcourt game. Sam Schermele can shoot over shorter defenders and can drive around bigger players. Schermele, who averages 15 ppg, probably will be guarded by Marquis, whose defensive abilities already have earned her a scholarship next season to MSU-Billings.

"Sam Schermele can play anywhere on the floor, and they've got two nice big girls (Winkler and 6-0 junior Marissa Francis) who get about seven rebounds apiece," said Olson. "Frankie Brady and Francis are both nice athletes ... we've got a lot of players to worry about."

Both teams are healthy. Marquis was bothered earlier by back spasms, but scored 37 points in her last two games and is shooting the ball better than ever. Hopkins, Marquis, point guard Holmlund and Anderson are usually good for 12 to 15 points per game apiece.

Russell has the advantage off the bench with guards like Quincy Carter, Alyssa Frank and Maxi Walteri, and 5-10 sophomore Amanda Barringer has given the team good minutes in the frontcourt. Lander uses 6-1 Sara Hocker and 5-9 Megan Stubbs for relief, but the Bison starters usually play a lot of minutes.

The game tips off at 7:30 at CMR, where upwards of 2,500 fans are expected.
"It's always exciting for the kids with a big crowd, and it's my first (rivalry game), too," said Olson, who was promoted after Kerry Parsons stepped down.
Both teams are idle Friday, then hit the road Saturday. The Bison play at Havre, and the Rustlers are at Helena High; both are afternoon games.

IBM hosts forum on enterprise content management

2005-06-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

Monday, June 27, 2005 11:23:00 am
IBM Middle East has hosted a two-day conference on enterprise content management that gathered key customers and organizations from across IBM’s Central Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMA) region. Partnering with Gulf Business Machines (GBM), the distributor for selected IBM products and services in the GCC excluding Saudi Arabia, global players such as Adobe and Nokia and content management partners such as Raqmiyat and Intertec, the conference looked at how content management solutions can provide the necessary infrastructure to manage content across the enterprise and enable organizations access to strategic information that will help them support their own customers. “Content Management enables organizations to tap into one of their most valuable assets—business information. It allows them to get information into the hands of the right people easily and efficiently and is a key component in sustaining a competitive advantage. However, with ever-growing volumes of critical information distributed across a variety of systems and in various formats, deploying and maintaining effective content management methodologies can be a significant challenge,” said Bashar Kilani, software group manager, IBM Middle East, Egypt and Pakistan. “IBM has put an enormous amount of investment in research and development in this technology over the past years-together with our partners, we are bringing forward some important measures that organizations need to consider in regards to their content management strategies,” he continued.IBM kicked off the first day of the event by talking about the adoption of content management in the region, followed by featured sessions on data management, e-mail and ERP data management. On the second day, the IBM ECM event looked at Information Lifecycle Management, Information Access with IBM’s WebSphere Portal offering and a session from Adobe on their eForms solution.The event also hosted a pavilion area where IBM partners such as Raqmiyat and Nokia demonstrated different content management solutions for the enterprise. IBM and Nokia have collaborated for several years where together with Nokia's Communicator platform and IBM's mobile software, the two companies have offered increased functionality, such as instant messaging, enhanced personal productivity, ubiquitous connectivity and superior user experience of enterprise applications into the hands of mobile workers worldwide.At the pavilion, Raqmiyat featured a Cheque View application it has developed for the banking sector that uses cheque scanning solutions with IBM’s content management offerings. IBM and GBM’s content management software business partner, Intertec, showcased its e-C2 management system that is also built on IBM’s CM platform. The system enables the automation of all types of correspondent material, including e-mails, electronic documents, paper documents, phone calls and faxes, as well as providing a comprehensive audit trail.
http://www.strategiy.com/inews.asp?id=20050627112257

Content Management Acquires Further Compliance Capabilities

2005-06-27T09:26:00.000-07:00

22 Jun 2005 06:19 GMT
New Acquisition for Stellent
Stellent, provider of content management solutions, has acquired select assets of privately held e-Onehundred Group, a leading financial compliance solutions provider, for $5.0 million in cash, approximately 274,000 shares of Stellent common stock valued at $2.0 million and a potential $2.0 million cash earn-out over a one-year period based upon revenue performance. e-Onehundred provides products and consulting services for financial compliance applications. The company’s domain expertise and product set will enable Stellent to more quickly capitalize on the growing financial compliance market by efficiently building a portfolio of applications on top of its scalable compliance platform. e-Onehundred has been a strategic Stellent partner for approximately two years, and its technology is a key component of the Stellent® Sarbanes-Oxley Solution. “Based on Forrester’s research1, fewer than 800 companies invested in the leading SOX compliance solutions prior to this initial compliance cycle,” stated Paul Hamerman, vice president for Forrester Research. “Sarbanes-Oxley ranks as one of the top three IT spending priorities for 2005 as many companies recognize the need to make Section 404 compliance repeatable and sustainable to reduce compliance costs and their reliance on external service providers.” According to Gartner2, “Through 2005, Sarbanes-Oxley solutions based on process management or document management platforms will be more successful than those from any other vendor category; companies that choose one-off solutions to each regulatory challenge they face will spend 10 times more on compliance projects than their counterparts that take a proactive approach; and by 2006, public companies that do not adopt a compliance management architecture will spend 50 percent more annually to achieve Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.” The Stellent Sarbanes-Oxley Solution features an industry leading content and records management foundation provided by the Stellent Universal Content Management™ system in combination with a robust, second-generation Sarbanes-Oxley application. The result: companies can easily turn Sarbanes-Oxley projects into ongoing business processes, and deploy new financial compliance and risk management applications quickly from a common enterprise content management architecture. “Financial compliance and risk management is one of our top growth markets due to the thousands of companies that are automating these processes,” said Robert Olson, president and chief executive officer for Stellent. “We already brought to market a successful financial compliance application – the Stellent Sarbanes-Oxley Solution – which was developed in close partnership with e-Onehundred and Protiviti, another key compliance partner. We are confident the domain expertise and supplemental resources gained from the acquisition of e-Onehundred will accelerate Stellent’s momentum not only in the Sarbanes-Oxley market, but in the larger financial compliance and enterprise risk management arenas as well, by enabling us to build out additional financial compliance application services based upon our robust Stellent Universal Content Management platform more quickly.” www.stellent.com

Elsevier Honored For Success In Enterprise Content Management

2005-06-18T08:41:00.000-07:00

Elsevier, a publisher of scientific, technical and medical information, was recently honored by EMC Corporation for its achievement in Enterprise Content Management (ECM). The award was conferred on Elsevier for deployment of one of the most innovative software applications based on EMC’s ECM technologies, in this case, Documentum. Elsevier faced the challenge of devising a Web Content Management solution for its Corporate Website (www.elsevier.com), that allowed creation, editing and publishing of localized web content, images, automated newsfeeds and multimedia, featured world class search capability, but removed dependence on developers to manage the site. Highly successful consolidation to one Documentum ECM platform solution, providing a suite of tools for diversity of uses and making content accessible and re-usable instead of hidden away in widespread legacy systems, won Elsevier the EMC “Outstanding Success Story” award. Using the Documentum platform, Elsevier was able to broaden the application into an enterprise solution with real potential to maximize reuse, not just of content, but also workflows and best practices. Additional benefits included improved communication and collaboration within and across work groups and sites, as well as ongoing convergence of back office solutions, such as scanning of global orders, accounts payable and receivable invoices and global contracts. Implementation of a second web application that uses Documentum Web Content Management as the solution for Elsevier’s leading Health Science platform MDConsult (www.mdconsult.com) will shortly be completed, as well.Comments Paul Leland, Elsevier’s ECM Programme Director, “We are very pleased to receive this recognition from EMC, aligning with our own corporate value of Innovation. Implementation of the single Documentum solution provides manageable central storage in line with our XML content repository strategy. It gives us the ability to integrate with existing applications, and serves the demands of multiple websites. By taking this route, we now have the room to accommodate the growth necessary to meet the constantly changing and increasing needs of the business.
www.managinginformation.com

How better content management helps Benchmark Brands generate more sales

2005-06-18T08:38:00.000-07:00

Benchmark Brands Inc., which operates FootSmart.com, is making several changes to its internal content management system to give shoppers a more personalized shopping experience.
The result is helping Benchmark, which sells shoes and hosiery in nearly a dozen online merchandising categories such as specialty or therapeutic socks and hosiery, increase its online sales in 2005 by as much as 60%, says Karen Stern, director of Internet marketing. In 2004, the web generated sales of more than $17 million for Benchmark, a privately held catalog and e-commerce company headquartered in Norcross, GA.
The company is expecting its content management program to help increase sales and visitor traffic, which today numbers about 100,000 visitors per month, because of new upgrades such as technology from Scene7 Inc. which lets shoppers zoom in on particular products and click on color swatches.
FootSmart.com also recently added a “Buy this Product” box to the home page that gives customers more access to content such as shopping by size, width and color. Over time Benchmark has built and upgraded a content management system that is linked directly to the company’s various product databases and back-end applications.
The result is a content management system that gives marketing and merchandising managers more control and makes it easier to make text and image changes to reflect changing shopping behavior. “When we launched the site in 1998 the priority was content that gave shoppers a lot of information about the brands so that visitors would know that we knew our products and our space,” says Stern. “Now we use information and content management to get customers closer to the sale.”
In the healthcare products space, customers expect lots of educational content, which is a prime reason Benchmark surrounds its 1,000 product pages with additional content such as application treatment tips and links to related merchandise.
In the works over the next year are additional enhancements that include using more analytics to spot buyer behavior and then making faster content adjustments to attract and retain shoppers.
“Over time our content management system has become more dynamic,” Stern says. “Better content management has helped us reduce returns because our customers can now read more product information and see details of the merchandise up close.”

http://internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=15230

Web Content Management System fr Window: Search Engine Typos

2005-06-18T08:37:00.000-07:00

Oops! I meant “web content management system for windows.” Do search engines understanding consumer search engine typos? Typing something so close to what you are looking for, like typing “web content management system fr window” instead of “web content management system for windows” may not seem like a big deal, but search engine bloopers alter consumer searches more than we know.
The phrase used in the title, “web content management system fr window” is a real-life example of a common search engine typo. In fact, within that phrase, the “o” and the “s” are missed so often that search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN have recorded the phrase “web content management system fr window” as searched about 481 times on a monthly average.You might ask how this affects your search engine searches. Well, let us use the same phrase for an example. Typing the phrase you are looking for, “web content management system for windows,” yields about 29.6 million indexed pages in Google, 14.7 million in Yahoo, and 2.3 million in MSN. However, the typo “web content management system fr window,” only slightly different from what you really meant to type, yields drastically different results: 654 thousand indexed pages in Google, 131 thousand in Yahoo, and 56.5 thousand in MSN.That doesn’t seem so bad. Who doesn’t want to narrow down the search? The problem is that the number of indexed pages is not the only difference with search engine typos; the poor search engines are trying to find the most relevant pages they can to the misspelled search, but it may not find what you need. On the one hand, you have tens of millions of relevant pages with a correct search; on the other hand, you have hundreds of thousands of semi-relevant pages. Which would you rather have?Search engine typos are very common, but they do alter the relevance of your results.

http://www.selfseo.com/story-2273.php

FileNet Announces New Capability for Enterprise Content Management

2005-06-18T08:32:00.000-07:00

FileNet Corporation, a provider of Enterprise Content and Business Process Management solutions, has introduced FileNet P8 Active Storage and Retrieval services, a technology capability of its FileNet P8 Enterprise Content Management platform and the main element of the Company's strategy in an attempt to provide customers with an approach to the policy-driven movement of content throughout its storage lifecycle, also known as Information Lifecycle Management.
ASAR services are designed to enable integration between the FileNet P8 ECM platform and storage vendor's technologies including EMC, HP, Hitachi Data Systems, IBM, Network Appliance, Plasmon and Sun, are designed to enable content lifecycle management--the ability to manage content migration to different data storage tiers and individual storage platforms based on the business value of content.
ASAR services are intended to provide new capabilities, delivered in the 3.5 version of FileNet P8, to allow customers to dynamically and intelligently manage content throughout the entire content, process, and storage lifecycle, designed to integrate with many types of storage media--irrespective of technology or vendor platform.
The FileNet P8 ASAR services solution also features a BPM capability which enables users to leverage a programmed step within automated business processes that can, again, move data from one storage media to another as needed. For example, a step can be added within any business transaction that if certain criteria are met, the document is declared a record. In this case, the process would map the document to protected storage media in accordance with specific compliance mandates.
ASAR services offers an open application interface supporting virtually any type of magnetic disk storage device, as well as removable media technologies. Specialized connectors to magnetic WORM products such as SnapLock from Network Appliance enable tight integration with compliance storage devices.
www.filenet.com

The Carlyle Group Selects Equinix for Asia Pacific IT Hub; Global Private Equity Firm to Outsource IT Operations in Equinix's Secure, High-Performance

2005-06-12T20:01:00.000-07:00

The Carlyle Group Selects Equinix for Asia Pacific IT Hub; Global Private Equity Firm to Outsource IT Operations in Equinix's Secure, High-Performance Hong Kong Data Centre

HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 12, 2005--Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq:EQIX), the leading provider of network-neutral data centres and Internet exchange services, today announced that The Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm, has selected Equinix's Hong Kong Internet Business Exchange(TM) (IBX(R)) centre to deploy the company's Asia Pacific IT operations. The move will enable Carlyle to increase the efficiency and the security of the transfer of sensitive data between the company's many global locations and business units.
The Carlyle Group is one of the world's largest private equity firms, with nearly $30 billion under management. With investments in a diversity of global businesses, Carlyle has an extensive IT infrastructure that requires the ability to rapidly exchange data within the company's Asia Pacific operations under the highest levels of security and performance.
After evaluating several options, Carlyle selected Equinix for the company's industry-leading physical infrastructure, as well as the company's innovative exchange and professional services. Additional factors included Equinix's ability to resolve specific technical and logistical issues for Carlyle, Equinix's managed connectivity services, and Equinix's Smart Hands Service, which provides Carlyle with access to an on-call and on-location professional support staff of trained engineers to ensure reliable operations.
With its deployment, Carlyle will establish the company's Asia Pacific regional hub within the most secure and redundant physical environment to ensure the uninterrupted and reliable IT operations. Power operations at each center include a high-performance backup system that provides uninterrupted power even in the event of utility power disruption. Security features include interlocking "mantrap" doors, multiple layers of biometric hand-geometry scanners controlling access, as well as 24-hour security officers and hundreds of surveillance cameras.
"The confidential and sensitive nature of our business dictates the need for a high-performance data center environment and professional services that ensure high-availability for our critical operations," said Mr. David Roth, IT Principal of Carlyle. "We were especially impressed with the customized solution that Equinix provided to meet our specific needs. I am confident that the deployment into Equinix's Hong Kong IBX data centre will increase the flexibility and reliability of our communications infrastructure across Carlyle's offices in Asia Pacific."
"Equinix is committed to providing the highest performance colocation and operational support for our customers," said Samuel Lee, Managing Director of Equinix Hong Kong. "Our world-class facilities and security features, combined with our network neutral model, create a supportive environment that many clients have come to depend upon."
About Equinix
Equinix is the leading global provider of network-neutral data centers and Internet exchange services for enterprises, content companies, systems integrators and network services providers. Through the company's 15 Internet Business Exchange(TM) (IBX(R)) centers in five countries, customers can directly interconnect with every major global network and ISP for their critical peering, transit and traffic exchange requirements. These interconnection points facilitate the highest performance and growth of the Internet by serving as neutral and open marketplaces for Internet infrastructure services, allowing customers to expand their businesses while reducing costs.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from expectations discussed in such forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to, the challenges of operating IBX centers and developing, deploying and delivering Equinix services; a failure to receive significant revenue from customers in recently-acquired data centers; competition from existing and new competitors; the ability to generate sufficient cash flow or otherwise obtain funds to repay outstanding indebtedness; the loss or decline in business from our key customers and other risks described from time to time in Equinix's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In particular, see Equinix's recent quarterly and annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which are available upon request from Equinix. Equinix does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release.
Equinix and IBX are registered trademarks of Equinix, Inc. Internet Business Exchange is a trademark of Equinix, Inc.
Contacts
Equinix Asia Pacific Pte LtdCharles W.H. Chow, +(65) 6723-8943charles.chow@ap.equinix.com

TFH Flashback: Critical Mass

2005-06-12T19:57:00.000-07:00

by Timothy Prickett Morgan.- Editor's note: The following story is from the November 1993 issue of The Four Hundred, in which I talked about how IBM's future is in software and services and how the company should consider getting into the application software business, particularly on the AS/400, given this fact. I also talked about how IBM's love affair with the Smalltalk object-oriented programming language would probably not pan out. Java burst onto the scene two years later to obliterate Smalltalk, but the issues they both faced among midrange customers were essentially the same. I hope you enjoy this flashback and find it interesting.
The bigger the customer base, the better. You could probably sum up all of computer system marketing, in both theory and practice, in that single sentence. Or the selling of just about any other product for that matter. Size is everything, because reaching critical mass ultimately determines the long-term success of a product. The widespread acceptance of a piece of hardware, software, or any other system component has positive benefits not only for its creator, but for the customers that make use of these products, too. The reason is simple: Competition and secondary businesses follow where customers' pocketbooks lead.

IBM is justifiably proud of the fact that there will be some quarter of a million AS/400s installed at customer sites by year's end. Though 250,000 is certainly a large installed base, there are as many System/3Xs still plugged in around the world. We think that the number of AS/400s out there could be--and needs to be--much, much higher. Maybe closer to a million, which might be attainable . . . provided IBM changes the way it sells AS/400s.
IBM has enormous control over the AS/400 base. It makes all the processors and just about all the main memory. With the exception of a relatively few disks, tape drives, and printers, it designs and builds nearly all AS/400 peripherals. Big Blue owns the operating system, and more importantly, its only data base management program--the feature that gives the AS/400 its unique personality. IBM also controls most of the programming products that customers and third parties use to build applications software--RPG and Cobol mostly, plus utilities such as its Applications Development Tools. IBM's PC Support software, which allows information to be shared between the AS/400 and PCs, has competition in the market, but few customers go outside of the IBM fold. Perhaps the most important thing IBM has that no one else has is foreknowledge of how all the AS/400's hardware and software will be enhanced over time. The thing that baffles us is that IBM doesn't leverage this coveted position. In particular, we are astounded that IBM has not seen fit to do for customers the thing they spend so much money and time doing: developing applications software.
Figure 1: Right now, AS/400 software represents a very small part of the AS/400 division's revenues, but it is a very profitable business for IBM. These numbers are estimates based on market information supplied by IBM. Maintenance figures include fees for System/3Xs and AS/400s.
Sure, IBM has dabbled in the selling AS/400 applications. When the AS/400 family was announced five years ago, IBM ported its applications software for manufacturers, distributors, construction firms, and educators from the System/36 and System/38 to the AS/400. But IBM's heart wasn't really in the sales and support of applications software. The reason IBM didn't push hard with software was not a technical one--IBM has as good (or bad) a reputation for software development as Apple, Microsoft, and other prominent vendors--but rather a practical one. IBM intended to sell a lot of AS/400s by letting other companies--those with software expertise--sell them for it. As resellers like System Software Associates, J.D. Edwards, Software 2000, Lawson, and others have gotten stronger, IBM has gradually backed away from the applications business, and has even sold the applications software it did own to outside companies.
The AS/400 resellers are important to IBM, and one cannot underestimate their part in the success of the AS/400 so far. Upwards of 70 percent of the AS/400s sold in the world are sold directly or indirectly by third party resellers. These companies have developed over 20,000 AS/400 applications programs. They buy their hardware and systems software at a discount from IBM, put their applications software on it and resell the resultant systems to customers. Because IBM has essentially substituted an indirect sales force--resellers--for a direct one, it cannot in good faith sell applications software and systems in competition with those resellers. Unless it changed the way it sold AS/400s, that is. IBM could decide to sell AS/400s more directly, and bundle applications software with the machines. IBM would then have to compete with the resellers on the turf it gave them.
IBM could, if it wished, be to AS/400 users what Microsoft is PC buyers. Microsoft has shown that it is possible to make very big bucks from little pieces of software. The company holds what some would call a monopoly on desktop systems software and a strong position in applications by keeping software costs very low. It has the added benefit of knowing how the two most popular operating systems for PCs--DOS and Windows--are going to change over time, so it can never be blindsided by a new feature in the operating system (or one that has been removed) like competitors Lotus, Borland and WordPerfect have to deal with. Because DOS and Windows are cheap, and systems that use this software are based on Intel processors that are also inexpensive, Microsoft is able to sell customers loads of applications software. A large portion of Microsoft's growing profits come from applications software, not operating systems. IBM has even more control over the AS/400 platform than Microsoft and Intel together have in the PC world, but IBM doesn't use its position to full advantage. It gives its opportunity away.
IBM has good reasons for acting the way it has. For instance, IBM has an aversion to running its resellers out of business. And it seems that IBM isn't keen on being an AS/400 applications software developer because it views that business as too arduous.
Figure 2: Microsoft, the biggest personal computer software vendor, has grown at a slightly faster rate than System Software Associates, the largest AS/400 software developer.
As above chart shows, System Software Associates--the biggest AS/400 applications developer--has grown pretty much at the same rate as Microsoft. But its profits, as a percentage of revenue, are less than half that of Microsoft. The old IBM, with its big overhead and bureaucratic ways, couldn't afford to be in such a low-margin business. Though the new (and presumably more efficient) IBM could change its mind and go back into the applications business, we doubt it will. However, we still think that there is a big market for small AS/400s equipped with very inexpensive systems and applications software. This market may be, in fact, much more lucrative and important than the one at which that the new server machines, announced last month, are targeted. Every company that installed a big PC server to run its bookkeeping in the last five years is in theory a prospect for a small AS/400. So, too, is every business with a local area network.
IBM says that what AS/400 customers really want is good tools that let them build their own applications more easily. Well, IBM is right, but not completely right. Big companies that write their own applications want systems software and development tools. Software houses that write applications for other companies want IBM to stick to its present plan. For these customers, programming tools ought to be IBM's focus for the foreseeable future. And so far AS/400 customers that are not professional software houses or companies big enough to have substantial programming staffs have gone along. This scheme would work as well tomorrow as it did yesterday except for one thing: IBM is about to radically change the way AS/400 applications software is written.
IBM's vision of the future of software development on the AS/400 can be summed up in a single bit of computer jargon: object-oriented programming. IBM's first attempt at giving AS/400 customers OOP development tools is Envy/400, which is an offshoot of the Smalltalk/V programming language. (We have taken a careful look at Envy/400 in this month's issue to help customers figure out how--and if--this type of software will be useful to them.)

IBM is absolutely convinced that OOP software is going to revolutionize the development of applications, much as microprocessors have redefined the hardware end of the computer business. The company figures that the OOP tools IBM and its business partners create will boost programmer productivity by one or two orders of magnitude. (Similar claims were made about fourth generation languages and computer-aided software engineering tools. Not too many AS/400 shops use such tools, but instead stick to RPG.)
We think that it will be a long time before typical customers jump on the OOP bandwagon; maybe they won't get on it at all. System vendors and third party software developers can probably reap benefits from OOP because the emerging technology does seem to reduce the cost of developing software that will be used, with variations, by a large number of customers. But the only way OOP could become universal is if it is not only good but also economical. So far, the price of OOP development software is far too great to make it a hit among ordinary AS/400 customers. The AS/400 division has to ask itself if it wants to succeed as Microsoft has by offering applications software deals too good for customers to refuse, or if it will be content to reach a small audience with its new software and therefore charge more per unit to make money in a low volume business. If the future of IBM is in software and services, as two IBM chairmen have said in the past year, then the future is now and the only route open is the one with low tolls for customers.

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