Technology News, Earnings, Mergers And Acquisitions

Ariba Delivers Enterprise-Class Spend Management On-Demand

2008-03-03T11:51:00.000-08:00

Ariba, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARBA), the leading spend management solutions provider, has set a new standard for software delivered as a service. With the latest release of its on-demand spend management solutions, Ariba provides a full suite of enterprise-class offerings that can be quickly, easily and cost effectively deployed by companies of all sizes across functions to achieve fast, measurable results.

"For years, enterprise-class spend management was confined to on-premise, customized solutions, which only large companies could afford to purchase and deploy," said Alex Moissis, Vice President, Solutions Management, Ariba. "With the latest release of Ariba’s on-demand solutions, large and growing organizations alike can access a full range of applications on-demand that enable them to manage their spend from end-to-end and deliver bottom-line results."

According to the Supply Management Market Sizing Report 2006-2011 published by AMR Research, "alternative deployment (on-demand) models continue to be the largest growth driver of the supply management market..." And as noted in "Supply Management: A Market Update" issued by AMR Research on February 25, 2008, "Landing Procuri made Ariba the largest on-demand provider in supply management, giving it a whopping 50% of the market share."

More Value, More Quickly
A unique combination of technology, category expertise and services delivered in a single, integrated platform, Ariba’s on-demand spend management solutions require no investment in hardware or lengthy implementations. "With Ariba, companies can be up and running along the path to spend management excellence in weeks, not months or years," Moissis said. In addition, Ariba's solutions deliver low cost integration with ERP systems, allowing companies to accelerate and increase returns on their investments.

Expanded Reach and Impact
Enterprise-class features embedded across Ariba’s latest on-demand release, coupled with ease of use and deployment enable organizations of all sizes to expand the reach and impact of spend management across markets, functions and spend owners.

"Traditional installed software approaches once limited spend management savings to the procurement groups within large enterprises," said Tim Minahan, Chief Marketing Officer, Ariba. "With its latest on-demand release, Ariba delivers enterprise-class spend management functionality and expertise that enables companies of all sizes to drive savings in new functional areas, such as finance and legal and include a broader range of spend owners, such as marketing, human resources, and IT to increase and accelerate results."

Comprehensive Contract Management
Negotiating and managing contracts is an enterprise-wide activity that extends far beyond procurement. With enhanced buy and sell-side capabilities, Ariba® Contract Management™ enables companies to collaboratively create and manage contracts across categories and functions, including sales, marketing, real estate, legal, procurement and IT. Active compliance tools help organizations move beyond basic authoring and document archiving to drive compliance and achieve full value of their contracts regardless of their backend procurement or ERP systems.

Network-Driven Collaboration and Financing
In turbulent economic times, it is more critical than ever that buyers and suppliers work together to ensure the stability and health of their operations. To drive such collaboration, Ariba now provides direct access to third-party financing solutions from Orbian through the Ariba Supplier Network™. Leveraging the solutions, buying organizations can achieve cost savings or better trade terms and suppliers can receive certainty of payment timing and amount. And with enhanced discount management tools embedded in the network, suppliers can more effectively manage cash receivables by offering incentives to key trading partners for early payment. With more than 160,000 registered suppliers in 115 countries engaging in transactions worth more than $100 billion a year, the Ariba Supplier Network is one of world’s largest open business transaction networks. Through Ariba Supplier Connectivity™, companies using ERP and other non-Ariba procurement applications can seamlessly connect to the network and reap the benefits that it provides.

Complex Services Procurement
Companies are increasingly pursuing bottom-line savings through effective management of a broad range of services. Through services-specific, best-practice processes built into Ariba Services Procurement™, companies of all sizes can dramatically automate key steps in the spend management process, increase internal compliance to negotiated contracts in complex services, reduce costs and ultimately increase the amount of spend they capture and manage. Delivered on-demand as a service, the solution can be easily integrated with ERP and other third-party procurement applications, enabling companies to maximize IT investments and spend management results.

Deep Procurement Content
Ariba Procurement Content™ allows companies to access a single source of content
for all commodities through an easy-to-use search interface. A unique, end-to-end combination of proven technology, extensive domain expertise and expert services, Ariba Procurement Content enables companies to quickly drive procurement compliance across categories regardless of the specific applications they are using. Delivered on a subscription basis, Ariba Procurement Content is system neutral and eliminates the challenges of point-to-point integration, multiple data formats, managing content and ensuring contract compliance.

Robust Travel & Expense Compliance
Tighter Sarbanes-Oxley and New York Stock Exchange guidelines regarding the reporting of gift and entertainment expenses for non-employees have a growing number of companies struggling to bring themselves into compliance. Through new reporting features included in Ariba Travel and Expense™, companies can track the purchase of gifts and other physical items to customers, prospects, or other non-company individuals along with expenses for entertainment of them. Data can be easily accessed and shared across departments to ensure standardization and accuracy of reporting.

Availability
Ariba's on-demand spend management solutions are available and in use today. To learn more about how your organization can leverage these solutions to improve profits, reduce risk and gain competitive advantage, visit: www.ariba.com

About Ariba, Inc.
Ariba, Inc. is the leading provider of spend management solutions to help companies realize rapid and sustainable bottom line results. Successful companies around the world in every industry use Ariba Spend Management™ software and services. Ariba can be contacted in the U.S. at 1.650.390.1000 or at www.ariba.com.

Broadcom Acquires Sunext Design, Inc. for Optical Drive Technologies to Enable Single-Chip High Definition Blu-ray Disc® Players and Recorders

2008-03-03T11:49:00.000-08:00

Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced that it has acquired Sunext Design, Inc. ("Sunext Design"), a wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary of Sunext Technology Company Limited ("Sunext Technology"), and has licensed certain optical disk reader and writer technology from Sunext Technology. Sunext Technology is a privately-held fabless semiconductor company that specializes in optical storage technologies.

High definition optical disc players are emerging as a popular platform for in-home entertainment worldwide by combining the benefits of a high definition viewing experience with the convenience and familiarity of DVD media. Sunext single-chip front-end technology is a strong complement to the industry-leading Broadcom® system-on-a-chip (SoC) back-end Blu-ray Disc® platform, and key to an integration roadmap that will drive the cost of these devices down to levels that enable widespread consumer adoption of high definition optical disc players and recorders.

With the increasing adoption of full high definition 1080p digital televisions, and with the consumer electronics and media industries now united behind the Blu-ray Disc high definition DVD standard, demand for these high definition players and recorders is expected to increase significantly. As the market grows, manufacturers will strive to reduce prices by adopting optimized SoC solutions that integrate front-end and back-end functions. Broadcom, a leader in integrating advanced functionality, is responding to this trend by acquiring rights to the most highly integrated optical disc front-end technology available. The addition of Sunext's leading technology, along with the experienced engineering team from Sunext Design that can continue to enhance those technologies, will enable Broadcom to derive significant time to market advantages in the development of these highly integrated solutions.

"To further the widespread adoption of high definition Blu-ray Disc media players, it is imperative to have cost-effective, complete silicon solutions, and the acquisition by Broadcom of Sunext Design and license of its associated technology puts Broadcom firmly ahead in the race to offer a complete Blu-ray solution," said Michelle Abraham, Principal Analyst at In-Stat. "The merging of these technologies will help drive down the costs of next-generation Blu-ray Disc players and enable OEMs to deliver products that meet the price points required for mass adoption by consumers."

"The technology that will win the market share battle for Blu-ray Disc players and recorders will be the one that provides the highest quality audio and video processing while integrating the most advanced front-end and back- end functions into a single low cost device," said Dan Marotta, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's Broadband Communications Group. "Sunext's technology and strong engineering team will enable Broadcom to

integrate optical reader/writer capability into our industry leading Blu-ray Disc silicon solutions."

"Broadcom's strong position in the Blu-ray Disc player and other home digital multimedia market segments makes it an ideal partner for Sunext Technology, making our optical technologies available to an existing customer base that is demanding integrated, high performance yet low cost solutions," said Dr. Phil Mak, President of Sunext Technology. "Armed with our robust solution, Broadcom will help drive the next evolution of these devices to the digital home while Sunext continues to deliver products to our customers and core markets."

Sunext Design, Inc. is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with a highly experienced design team.

In connection with the transaction, which closed on Friday, February 29th, 2008, Broadcom will pay up to $48 million in cash in exchange for all of the outstanding shares of Sunext Design's capital stock and for the license rights granted by Sunext Technology. A portion of the consideration payable to the stockholders of Sunext Design will be placed into escrow pursuant to the terms of the acquisition agreement, and a substantial portion of the consideration payable to Sunext Technology for the license rights is subject to the achievement of certain deliverables post-closing. The boards of directors of both companies have approved the transaction. Broadcom may record a one-time charge for purchased in-process research and development expenses related to the acquisition in its first quarter. The amount of that charge, if any, has not yet been determined.

About Sunext Technology Company Limited

Sunext Technology Company Limited, with headquarters in Hsinchu, Taiwan, is privately held and a leading supplier of semiconductor products for Optical Disc Drive (ODD) applications. Sunext was formed in 2003 to capitalize on global demand for ODD silicon and operates design centers in Hsinchu, Taiwan; Taipei, Taiwan; Sunnyvale, USA; Eindhoven, The Netherlands and Shanghai, PRC. For further information visit the Sunext website at: www.sunext.com

About Broadcom's Broadband Communications Group

Broadcom offers manufacturers a range of broadband communications and consumer electronics SoCs that enable voice, video and data services over residential wired and wireless networks. These highly integrated silicon solutions continue to enable the most advanced system solutions on the market, which include digital cable, satellite and IP set-top boxes and media servers, broadband modems and residential gateways, high definition and digital televisions, Blu-ray Disc players, DVD recorders and personal video recorders.

About Broadcom

Broadcom Corporation is a major technology innovator and global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications. Broadcom products enable the delivery of voice, video, data and multimedia to and throughout the home, the office and the mobile environment. We provide the industry's broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art system-on-a-chip and software solutions to manufacturers of computing and networking equipment, digital entertainment and broadband access products, and mobile devices. These solutions support our core mission: Connecting everything®.

Broadcom is one of the world's largest fabless semiconductor companies, with 2007 revenue of $3.78 billion, and holds over 2,500 U.S. and 1,100 foreign patents, more than 7,400 additional pending patent applications, and one of the broadest intellectual property portfolios addressing both wired and wireless transmission of voice, video, data and multimedia.

Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and has offices and research facilities in North America, Asia and Europe. Broadcom may be contacted at +1.949.926.5000 or at www.broadcom.com.

Sun Microsystems Announces Completion of MySQL Acquisition; Paves Way for Secure, Open Source Platform to Power the Network Economy

2008-02-26T13:51:00.000-08:00

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) today announced it has completed the acquisition of MySQL AB, developer of the world's most popular open source database, for approximately $1 billion in total consideration. Sun also unveiled the immediate availability of MySQL's complete portfolio of products and enterprise services backed by its 17,000-strong global sales and services organization and its extensive international network of authorized distribution channels. Sun now provides a single, secure choice for customers and developers seeking to put MySQL into deployment on a global basis. Users can get started today with free downloads at www.sun.com/mysql/download.

"Since announcing our Sun-MySQL relationship, we've received an overwhelming response and embrace from customers and community members excited to see MySQL's tremendous innovation and community backed by Sun's financial muscle and global partners," said Jonathan Schwartz, president and chief executive officer, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "For the first time ever, businesses across the world can standardize on a commercially supported, open source platform that meets their needs for scale, quality and global service."

Around the Clock Enterprise Support and Services

Today Sun introduced immediate availability of 7X24 year round global, enterprise-class database subscriptions and services for the entire MySQL product line, enabling IT organizations worldwide to take advantage of the leading open database for the Network Economy. With broad multi-platform support - including Solaris, Linux and Windows - enterprise customers will face less risk and have greater flexibility and choice to achieve unlimited scale and enable MySQL deployments in mission critical applications. Customers can sign-up for MySQL Enterprise trial subscriptions at no cost at www.sun.com/mysql/trial. Sun is also offering MySQL Enterprise Unlimited, which helps customers deploy and manage an unlimited number of MySQL Enterprise Servers at a flat annual fee. To learn more, go to www.sun.com/mysql/unlimited. Current users of MySQL can also learn more about Sun's extensive services capabilities at http://www.sun.com/service.

Sun's new MySQL database is a key component in popular software stacks for building Web 2.0 applications. Its deployment with the Solaris OS, OpenSolaris project and highly complementary systems from Sun delivers powerful end-to-end platforms for customers of all scale, from individual developers to the largest global enterprises. And MySQL continues its commitments to its strategic partnerships with popular platform vendors such as Dell, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Red Hat and Zend. The acquisition cements Sun's entrance into the $15 billion database market, affirms Sun's leadership in open source software and positions the company as the leading provider of enterprise platforms for the Network Economy.

"As a developer of open source web applications and services that relies heavily on both Sun and MySQL, we believe that the combined companies will better address our IT needs today, tomorrow and beyond," said Joshua Rand, CEO, Sapotek, Inc. "We're confident that the MySQL acquisition will reinforce Sun's commitment to providing hardware, software and services that will save us money in having one integrated, end-to-end platform. The combination of MySQL and Sun provides the community with unlimited possibilities, ensuring the highest level of quality assurance and advanced feature contributions to the world's leading open source initiatives."

More than 100 million copies of MySQL's high-performance, open source database software have been downloaded and distributed in its history and since the announcement of Sun's intent to acquire MySQL, daily downloads have increased from 50,000 to more than 60,000 per day. This broad penetration coupled with MySQL's strength in Web 2.0, Software as a Service (SaaS), enterprise IT, telecom and the embedded OEM market, make it a significant addition for Sun. For more information on Sun's acquisition of MySQL AB, go to http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/media/presskits/2008-0116/index.jsp.

Catch the Sun-MySQL World Tour and Community Town Hall

To toast the success of the acquisition and engage with customers, employees, community developers and partners, Sun and MySQL executives will kick-off a global tour in March, hitting major cities worldwide leading up to the popular MySQL Conference & Expo in April. Every Sun-MySQL community can participate online, including videos, photos and comments from each stop at www.sun.com/mysqltour. This site will invite the public to visit the tour in a nearby city to meet Sun-MySQL executives, local developers and other open source enthusiasts. Details for an online tour stop will also be available; a Community Town Hall event is slated for March 4, 2008, and will be hosted by Jonathan Schwartz, Rich Green, executive vice president of Sun Software, and Marten Mickos, senior vice president of Sun's newly formed Database Group within Sun's Software division, among others.

MySQL Conference & Expo - April 14-17

Co-presented by Sun and O'Reilly Media, the annual MySQL Conference & Expo will take place April 14-17, 2008, in Santa Clara, California. The event is expected to bring together over 1,600 open source and database users from some of the most exciting and fastest-growing companies in the world, as well as the large and active MySQL Community. The program for 2008 will include keynote presentations by Jonathan Schwartz, Marten Mickos, Amazon CTO Werner Vogels, and Jacek Becla of the Stanford Linear Accelerator program. For more information, go to http://www.mysqlconf.com.

About Sun's MySQL Portfolio

MySQL is a business unit within Sun's Software organization and is the world's most popular open source database software. Many of the world's largest and fastest-growing organizations use MySQL to save time and money powering their high-volume Web sites, critical business systems and packaged software -- including industry leaders such as Yahoo!, Alcatel-Lucent, Google, Nokia, YouTube and Zappos.com. At http://www.sun.com/mysql, Sun provides corporate users with commercial subscriptions and services, and actively supports the large MySQL open source developer community.

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Sun Microsystems develops the technologies that power the global marketplace. Guided by a singular vision -- "The Network is the Computer" -- Sun drives network participation through shared innovation, community development and open source leadership. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at http://sun.com.

Dell, VMware Delivering Virtualization Everywhere

2008-02-26T13:48:00.000-08:00

Dell and VMware are helping to simplify virtualization for customers with a strategy that will deliver Dell PowerEdge™ servers embedded with VMware ESX 3i hypervisor with a "single click." The initiative, announced at VMworld, is the first in a series of innovations that will expand adoption of virtualization as a standard ingredient in datacenter technology.

Dell will begin the process of offering VMware ESX 3i hypervisor in all virtualization-certified Dell PowerEdge servers starting in early April. Customers will be able to purchase VMware with a single click easing virtualization planning, deployments and management. More information is available at www.dell.com/vmwarenow.

“Virtualization radically simplifies IT – and we’re the only vendor delivering it to customers in a single click,” said Brad Anderson, Senior Vice President, Dell Business Product Group. “We’re unleashing the potential of virtualization - from servers through storage - and we’re making it simple for customers.”

“Dell and VMware are delivering on a shared vision for virtualization,” said Diane Greene, president and CEO of VMware. “Dell is virtualization-enabling their servers with the VMware ESX 3i hypervisor, giving the PowerEdge line standalone server consolidation capability. Customers can upgrade from the VMware ESX 3i hypervisor to VMware’s datacenter virtualization and management suite, VMware Infrastructure 3 (VI3). VI3 provides automatic load balancing, business continuity, power management and the ability to move a virtual machine across physical machines with no service interruption.”

Accelerating the Value of Virtualization
By making virtualization a mainstream, pervasive datacenter architecture, customers can help reduce capital and operating costs, improve security, ensure business continuity and deploy green IT environments.

Dell PowerEdge servers provide an ideal platform for customers to deploy these environments. The Dell PowerEdge 2950-III and Dell’s new PowerEdge M-Series blade solution own the no. 1 scores for servers for virtualization performance in their respective classes 1. The M-Series also provides lead-free configurations that help customers further minimize their environmental impact.

When combined with the recently announced Dell EqualLogic PS5000 Series storage arrays and Dell Virtualization Readiness Assessment Services, these solutions give customers a complete, simplified and greener end-to-end virtualization-ready data center.

The VMware ESX 3i hypervisor is based on core VMware virtualization technology in use by more than 100,000 customers. It is the industry’s smallest hypervisor (32MB), enabling high levels of security and reliability, and it is the only OS-independent virtualization platform. VMware ESX 3i hypervisor delivers single-server consolidation with fast and easy deployment—the first virtual machine can operate within minutes of booting a server with pre-configured and optimized hardware configurations.

Customers can upgrade from VMware ESX 3i hypervisor to VMware’s datacenter virtualization and management suite, VMware Infrastructure 3 (VI3). VI3 provides automatic load balancing, business continuity, power management and the ability to move a virtual machine across physical machines with no service interruption. VI3 is also compatible with VMware’s desktop virtualization and management solutions.

About Dell

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services they trust and value. Uniquely enabled by its direct business model, Dell is a leading global systems and services company and No. 34 on the Fortune 500. For more information, visit www.dell.com

About VMware

VMware (NYSE: VMW) is the global leader in virtualization solutions from the desktop to the datacenter. Customers of all sizes rely on VMware to reduce capital and operating expenses, ensure business continuity, strengthen security and go green. With 2007 revenues of $1.3 billion, more than 100,000 customers and more than 10,000 partners, VMware is one of the fastest growing public software companies. VMware is based in Palo Alto, California and on the web at www.vmware.com.

Cisco Introduces World's Most Advanced Networking Semiconductor: Cisco QuantumFlow Processor

2008-02-25T07:32:00.000-08:00

Cisco® today introduced the Cisco QuantumFlow Processor, the most advanced piece of networking silicon in the world and the industry's first fully integrated and programmable networking chipset. More than half a decade in the making, the Cisco QuantumFlow Processor consists of 40 cores on a single chip and can perform up to 160 simultaneous processes, making it uniquely geared for today's network environments and several generations beyond what is currently available in network processors.

The Cisco QuantumFlow Processor was designed by a team of more than 100 Cisco engineers and has led to more than 40 patent submissions. Many of the same engineers who developed the Cisco Silicon Packet Processor (SPP) for the Cisco Carrier Routing System (CRS-1), which debuted in 2004, also worked on the Cisco QuantumFlow Processor. Continued advancements in technology, design and expertise enabled the team to increase the transistor density on the chip from a then networking-industry-leading 185 million on the Cisco SPP to more than 800 million on the Cisco QuantumFlow processor. Such density puts it in the tier of some of the most advanced processors developed by leading semiconductor companies.

About Cisco Systems
Cisco, (NASDAQ: CSCO), is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com.

Leading Companies Deliver RIAs on Adobe AIR

2008-02-25T07:19:00.000-08:00

Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced that global brands are embracing the Adobe technology platform for rich Internet applications (RIAs) to create new types of engaging experiences for their customers, partners and employees. Adobe RIA technologies, including Adobe® AIR™ and Adobe® Flex® 3 software, released today (see separate release), provide companies with a comprehensive solution for the creation and deployment of RIAs for the browser and the desktop.

“RIAs have moved beyond the stage of early adoption. They are being deployed by organizations worldwide that have recognized and embraced this revolution in Web software,” said Kevin Lynch, chief technology officer at Adobe. “The incredible momentum that we are already seeing with Adobe AIR demonstrates the real need for businesses to engage with customers in more effective ways, extending innovative RIAs as first class citizens on the desktop.”

AOL; eBay; The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc.; The New York Times Company; Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group’s Nick.com; Sharp Corporation and others today launched pioneering applications deployed on Adobe AIR. For more information and to download applications on Adobe AIR, visit www.adobe.com/go/airshowcase.

NASDAQ Market Replay leverages Adobe Flex and Adobe AIR to deliver a RIA on the desktop that enables financial professionals to replay market activity in detail at any point in time, helping investors understand how their orders interacted with the market. The complexities of equity trading are enormous — with millions of orders continuously traveling different paths to central markets. NASDAQ Market Replay lets brokers show their customers exactly what was going on in the market at the time a trade happened, and Adobe AIR allows for instant response to an extremely large data set, something not possible in a browser.

“Creating an application on Adobe AIR lets us deliver valuable data analysis at a lower cost,” said Randall Hopkins, Vice President, The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. “We are entering a world where people will be able to replay important market events — and better understand movement at any given moment in time. This not only helps financial advisors, but gives customers better insight into the market as a whole.”

The New York Times Company today launched ShifD, a new RIA that allows users to shift content between computers and mobile devices. ShifD works on — and between — the Web, mobile devices and through a downloadable AIR application, giving people an easier way to consume media on the go. Developers used Ajax technologies to build both the browser-based version of ShifD and the desktop version deployed on Adobe AIR. The New York Times Company is also developing a sophisticated blog reader on Adobe AIR.

“ShifD solves the problem of shifting data between all of a user’s Web-enabled devices,” said Michael Zimbalist, vice president, research & development operations, The New York Times Company. “We see a future for device-independent media, with convergence around the user experience and not around any particular delivery platform, which is why Adobe AIR is an excellent choice for ShifD.”

Other companies using Adobe Flex and Adobe AIR to create and deploy RIAs on the desktop include: Atlantic Records; BBC; Business Objects, an SAP company; Deutsche Bank; FedEx Corp.; Loyalty Management Group (Nectar); Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group's Neopets and Wilson Sporting Goods. These applications will span social communities, banking and retail experiences, powerful enterprise functionality, and interactive games.

Deutsche Bank is utilizing Adobe Flex and Adobe AIR to create a persistent, customer-facing RIA that alerts customers immediately of instruction status and account activity inclusive of balances. Deutsche Bank’s db-direct internet service provides an intuitive and effective online solution for corporate clients and financial institutions to handle their cash management needs. By deploying on Adobe AIR, Deutsche Bank will be able to deliver instant desktop alerts directly to the customer without the need for the client to remain logged into the internet service.

“When it comes to the financial services industry, ease of use, client service and communication are paramount,” said Mike LaCava, Director and Global Head of Internet Channels in Global Transaction Banking at Deutsche Bank. “Our challenge was to combine the right level of personal attention for our clients with an interactive solution that is both dynamic and customizable in the way it provides information back to the customer. With Adobe AIR, we can leverage the power of the desktop and the Web to immediately deliver customized desktop notifications that will keep our clients well-informed and empowered while they carry out their daily activities.”

To read what other companies are saying about the Adobe technology platform for RIAs,
visit www.adobe.com/go/riacustomers

Adobe Technology Platform for RIAs Propels Innovation on the Web, Adobe AIR and Adobe Flex 3 Now Available

2008-02-25T07:15:00.000-08:00

Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the availability of Adobe® AIR™ and Adobe® Flex® 3 software, furthering the Adobe technology platform for rich Internet applications (RIAs). Developers and designers use Adobe RIA technologies to rapidly create and deploy rich, branded content and applications. The release of Adobe AIR signals the next wave of Adobe RIA innovation by bridging the real-time, dynamic capabilities of the Web with the computing power and data capabilities of the desktop. Businesses that leverage the Web as a platform are now using the latest Adobe RIA technologies to build and deploy more engaging applications with the widest reach across browsers, desktops and operating systems.

“For 25 years, Adobe has delivered technology innovation for our customers, beginning with desktop publishing and extending to multimedia and the Web,” said Kevin Lynch, chief technology officer at Adobe. “Now, we continue to advance the future of digital experiences by enabling our customers to create highly interactive, expressive applications. This is an exciting time for Adobe, for innovation in software, and for designers and developers who are driving the Web forward.”

Industry Leaders Embrace Adobe RIA Technologies
Leading companies across industries such as entertainment, finance, media, retail and social networking are embracing Adobe RIA technologies. Deutsche Bank, The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc., and The New York Times Company, among others, use the Adobe technology platform for RIAs to help ensure customer interactions are engaging and effective. (See separate press release issued today.)

“Adobe has been focused on improving the Web experience and delivering the underlying technologies to produce more interactive and expressive Web sites and applications, and the Adobe technology platform for RIAs hits right at a key need companies have today,” said Al Hilwa, Program Director at IDC. “The ROI of RIAs is real. A more engaging product visualization experience in eCommerce applications for example, helps customers understand what they are buying, which leads to less online abandonment and increased average order size through cross-sell and up-sell visualization.”

Adobe is also delivering new applications built with Adobe Flex and deployed on Adobe AIR, such as Adobe Media Player, now in beta release, which is a fusion of TV and the Internet that allows users to watch their favorite shows anytime and anywhere, as well as Buzzword, an elegant online word processor that has built-in collaboration capabilities.

Adobe Technology Platform for RIAs
Adobe AIR, Adobe Flex and Adobe Flash® Player software are the foundation of the Adobe technology platform for RIAs. Adobe RIA technologies include tools, frameworks, servers, services, and runtimes that work together seamlessly, enabling the creation of engaging experiences with the greatest reach. There are a variety of learning resources at the Adobe Developer Connection (developer.adobe.com ) to help developers immediately start building RIAs for the browser and the desktop.

Adobe AIR enables developers to create RIAs on the desktop using the skills and Web technologies — such as HTML, Ajax, PDF, Adobe Flash and Adobe Flex — they already employ. Applications deployed on Adobe AIR have the advantages of browser-based RIAs, such as speed of development, ease of use, and access from virtually anywhere. Yet they also have the benefits of desktop applications, such as the ability to read/write local files, work with other applications on a user’s computer and maintain local data storage on the desktop.

Flex is a free, open source framework for building highly interactive, expressive RIAs. Adobe Flex Builder™ 3, an Eclipse™ based development tool, accelerates Flex application development and includes new capabilities for deploying RIAs on Adobe AIR. Adobe Flex Builder 3 integrates with Adobe Creative Suite® 3 software making it easy for designers and developers to work together more efficiently. Powerful new testing tools, including memory and performance profilers and integrated support for automated functional testing, speed up development and lead to higher performing RIAs.

Adobe Flash Player, which reaches over 98 percent of Internet-enabled PCs and hundreds of millions of mobile and set-top devices, delivers unparalleled creative options, highly engaging user experiences, stunning audio/video playback, and virtually universal reach.

Major portions of Adobe AIR, such as the WebKit HTML engine, Tamarin ActionScript™ Virtual Machine, and SQLite local database functionality, are open source. Adobe is committed to contributing to the open source community on multiple fronts, including the release of the free open source Flex framework and open source BlazeDS for high-speed data connectivity, as well as active membership in the SQLite Consortium. Visit opensource.adobe.com for more information.

Pricing and Availability
Adobe AIR and the Adobe AIR SDK are available immediately as free downloads in English and offered for both Windows® and Macintosh operating systems. Upcoming versions are expected to be available for Linux and other languages. For more information, please visit www.adobe.com/go/air

The Adobe Flex 3 product line is available now in English and Japanese, and offered for both Windows and Macintosh operating systems. The open source Flex 3 SDK is available free of charge and a beta version of Adobe Flex Builder 3 for Linux is freely available on Adobe Labs (labs.adobe.com). Adobe Flex Builder 3 is available as a standalone product or Eclipse plug-in, with the Standard edition priced at US$249 and the Professional edition at US$699. For more information about system requirements and supported platforms, please visit www.adobe.com/go/flex *

About Adobe Systems Incorporated
Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information - anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit http://www.adobe.com/

* Price does not include applicable sales tax, or shipping and handling fees. Reseller prices may vary. © 2008 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe, the Adobe logo, ActionScript, Adobe AIR, Creative Suite, Flex, and Flex Builder are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Macintosh is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. Windows is either a registered trademark or a trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Georgia State Adds New IBM Supercomputer to Keep Pace With Demand

2008-02-22T12:18:00.000-08:00

Georgia State University and IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced today that the university has purchased an IBM System Cluster 1350 supercomputer through a regional partnership program between IBM and the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA). This purchase is the latest addition to the school's expanding inventory of supercomputing resources.

Georgia State is building a diverse and powerful supercomputing center to support a growing body of academic and scientific research. In September 2006 three researchers began working with a new IBM System p5 575 with Power5+ processors running AIX 5.3 -- acquired as part of the IBM-SURA regional partnership. Those three users became a dozen in January 2007 and now include more than 40 faculty from many disciplines as well as from other SURA sites such as Virginia Commonwealth University, Louisiana State University and University of Delaware.

"We're experiencing increasing demand for supercomputer resources," said Art Vandenberg, director of the university's supercomputing center. "Our strategy is to build a center that supports a wide variety of disciplines. So, we're adding the Cluster 1350 to support research that requires commodity level, Linux computing."

The new IBM System Cluster 1350 will help meet this increasing demand. As researchers gain access to more capacity and capability, they naturally are expanding their goals, driving demand. Researchers in chemistry, biology, molecular dynamics, computer science, climate modeling and political science will be among the new machine's first users. The Cluster 1350 will be added to Georgia State's high-end IBM System p5 575 supercomputer to offer scientists a range of in-house computing capabilities.

The 320 Intel® Xeon® Quad-Core processors that make up Georgia State's new Cluster 1350 will also be shared by SURA -- a group of 60 schools that shares supercomputing resources via a grid setup known as SURAgrid. The university's Cluster 1350 configuration runs at approximately three teraflops, or three billion calculations per second.

"Georgia State University has been a long term contributor to the SURAgrid initiative and we are extremely pleased that SURA has been able to assist Georgia State and other SURAgrid participants by providing access to specially discounted hardware and services through our partnership with IBM," said Gary Crane, SURA Director of IT Initiatives.

Parasites & Politics
A partial list of the university's research projects that will benefit from the new IBM supercomputer includes:

Dr. Tarynn Witten, Virginia Commonwealth University, plans to create more complex and biologically realistic models to investigate Chagas' Disease. The long-term goal of this project is to apply novel mathematical and computational modeling technologies to develop new paradigms for understanding the infectious disease process. (http://www.vcu.edu/csbc/vpp)
Maryam Rahimian, PhD student in chemistry at Georgia State University, also plans to study parasitic diseases such as sleeping sickness, malaria and leishmania. The goal is to find new drugs with high efficiency and low cost. The IBM HPC Systems enable Rahimian to run more complex models which can provide valuable information on the influence of solvent and molecular motion in DNA complexes.
Eric Hurst, PhD student in political science, intends to apply the university's additional compute power to one of the first political science studies to run on a supercomputer. Hurst intends to study the complete voting history of independent regulatory commissions, such as the SEC, to help determine how ideology and bureaucracy affect the nation's policies and politics.
The IBM System Cluster 1350 will be configured with additional IBM solutions including: BladeCenter® H technology, HS21 XM Blade servers utilizing two Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors, 10G Ethernet backbone, IBM's xCAT and Loadleveler cluster management tools. It will also have access to existing Tivoli Storage Manager and 18 Terabytes of storage that Georgia State has acquired during the past year. This will allow researchers to easily share results from the IBM System p5 with the new IBM System Cluster 1350 -- and vice versa.

Georgia State University
Located in the heart of downtown Atlanta, Georgia State University is one of the leading research institutions in an urban setting. The university offers 52 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in 250 fields of study through six college-level units. Preparing students for lifelong learning in a global society, Georgia State's degree programs are relevant to the practical needs of both the student and the community. A member of the University System of Georgia, Georgia State is the USG's most diverse institution, with more than 50,000 students enrolled annually from every county in Georgia, every state in the nation and 159 countries. For more information, visit www.gsu.edu.

The Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) is a consortium of over 60 leading research institutions in the southern United States and the District of Columbia established in 1980 as a non-stock, nonprofit corporation. SURA serves as an entity through which colleges, universities, and other organizations may cooperate with one another, and with government and industry in acquiring, developing, and using laboratories and other research facilities and in furthering knowledge and the application of that knowledge in the physical, biological, and other natural sciences and engineering. For more information, visit www.sura.org.

About SURAgrid
SURAgrid is a consortium of organizations collaborating and combining high performance computing and advanced networking resources to improve the research and learning infrastructure of the SURA region. The vision for SURAgrid is to orchestrate access to a rich set of cyberinfrastructure capabilities to meet diverse needs of university researchers and educators. Capabilities being cultivated include locally contributed high performance computing resources, project-specific tools and environments, shared access to highly specialized high performance computing and cyberinfrastructure resources, and gateways to national and international cyberinfrastructure. For more information on SURAgrid see: www.sura.org/suragrid

IBM System Cluster 1350
The IBM System Cluster 1350 is designed for a broad range of supercomputer application environments, including industrial design and manufacturing, financial services, life sciences, government and education. The IBM System Cluster 1350 leverages IBM's extensive supercomputing experience to help minimize complexity and risk. Using advanced Intel® Xeon®, AMD Opteron™, Cell Broadband Engine and IBM PowerPC® processor-based server nodes, proven cluster management software and optional high-speed interconnects, the Cluster 1350 offers the best of IBM and third-party technology. For more information visit http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/clusters/hardware/1350.html

New 'Adria' Supercomputer Among 250 Most Powerful in the World

2008-02-14T09:07:00.000-08:00

Advancing development of hydropower as a green alternative to traditional energy sources, world-renowned hydro-energy research organisation Turboinštitut has turned to IBM (NYSE: IBM) to deliver the most powerful supercomputer in South East Europe.

Named 'Adria' and based at the newly-established Ljubljana Supercomputing Center in Slovenia, the Linux-based system will be used by Turboinštitut to carry out complex water turbine design simulations in fractions of existing timescales. Performing calculations 50 times faster than current systems, Adria will reduce time-to-result from weeks to hours.

"By applying our supercomputer expertise and industry leadership, IBM will be fundamental to advances in Turboinštitut's hydro energy development programmes," said Biljana Weber, Country General Manager, IBM Slovenia. "IBM is increasingly mobilising its research, technology and insight to help clients worldwide address complex energy and environmental challenges."

The system will be instrumental in accelerating Turboinštitut's hydro-power research and development programme, encouraging energy companies worldwide to introduce the energy source as an environmentally friendly alternative.

"We selected IBM because of their expertise and flexibility. They quickly provided reference architecture and actively worked with our experts on specific areas of supercomputing architecture. IBM put in place a local team who will bring Adria to life and also ensured the financing of the investment," explained Dr. Vladimir Kercan, Executive Director, Turboinštitut.

The 2.048-core system uses 256 IBM BladeCenter servers, each carrying two quad-core processors with 4100 GB of RAM, and is expected to become one of the world's fastest Linux clusters (based on Top500.org). 'Adria' utilises the latest IBM solutions that reduce its own energy consumption.

The installation will be performed by IBM Slovenia and business partner SIMT.

For more information about IBM Slovenia, visit http://ibm.com/si

Sun Introduces The Industry's First Carrier-Grade, 64-Thread Rackmount Server

2008-02-12T09:20:00.000-08:00

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) today introduced the Sun Netra T5220 server, the industry's first carrier-grade, 64-thread rackmount server. The Sun Netra T5220 server is the industry's only Network Equipment Building Standard (NEBS) Level 3 Certified Rack Server based on the UltraSPARC T2 processor. Powered by the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS), the most secure carrier-grade OS for the telecommunications industry, it delivers multithreaded world-record performance in a space-efficient, 20-inch-deep package.

Also at Mobile World Congress:

In its booth at the show (#2C12, Hall 2), Sun is demonstrating future Netra rackmount and blade servers that will be powered by Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors, delivering on its commitment to offer an entire line of carrier-grade telco servers based on energy-efficient Intel Xeon processor technology.

Sun announced that Bridgewater Systems and OpenClovis have joined the Sun Unified Network Platform (SUN-P) partner eco-system. SUN-P is an OEM solution set that enables radical consolidation of the network, significantly lowering the cost of wireless deployments such as WiMAX or Long Term Evolution (LTE). To see an interactive ROI tool showing the benefits of SUN-P in the development for WiMAX and LTE networks,please visit: http://sun.com/wimax.
"The Sun Netra T5220 server is yet another example of Sun's innovative systems design. Take a look at the market today, and no one else is offering 64 virtual servers in a single 2U box," said Mark Butler, Netra systems product line director, Sun Microsystems. "We're also extremely excited about the Intel Xeon-based Netra servers we are demonstrating at the show. When these servers are available next quarter, Sun will have the broadest line-up of telco servers in the industry, giving customers a choice of every major processor architecture and operating system in both ATCA blade and carrier-grade rackmount versions."

As the first carrier-grade, 64-thread rackmount server in the market, the Sun Netra T5220 server is an ideal platform for virtualization and consolidation, offering 64 virtual systems in a 2U, 20-inch-deep form factor. Other features include:

Integrated no-cost virtualization technologies with a choice of Solaris Containers and Sun Logical Domains (LDoms)
Integrated on-chip cryptographic acceleration and 10 Gigabit Ethernet computing
Expandability and I/O performance from six PCI slots and four Ethernet interfaces
Enhanced system uptime with high on-chip RAS, redundant power supplies, hot-pluggable disk drives and support for hardware RAID
Customers, ISVs and Partners Demonstrate Support for the Sun Netra T5220 Server and SUN-P Partner Ecosystem

"Alcatel-Lucent has been validating the Sun Netra T5220 server in our laboratory for several weeks now," said Alain Barlier, OAM Senior Architect, Alcatel-Lucent. "While we are still in the platform verification phase, the Netra T5220 server based on the advanced technology of the UltraSPARC T2 CMT processor and PCI Express I/O has exceeded our performance expectations."

AppGate Network Security and Zeus Technology have both signed on to develop applications for the Sun Netra T5220 server. For more information on customer and ISV support of the Sun Netra T5220 server, please visit: http://www.sun.com/netra/t5220/perspectives.xml

Bridgewater Systems has recently joined the SUN-P partner ecosystem. For more information about SUN-P partners, please visit: http://www.sun.com/servers/netra/wimax/offerings.jsp

"As part of the Sun Unified Network Platform partner ecosystem, Bridgewater Systems offers proven carrier-grade policy management solutions for mixed-network deployments," said Tyler Nelson, Vice President, Business Development and Marketing, Bridgewater Systems. "Because these solutions provide simultaneous support across all networks - WiMAX, LTE, 3G and wireline - using a common policy management infrastructure and subscriber repository, Service Providers can accelerate time to market for new services. The combination of Bridgewater Systems software with SUN-P, based on Sun's latest UltraSPARC T2-based carrier-grade Netra ATCA and rackmount servers, offers a powerful and scalable platform for WiMAX/LTE networks."

Availability and Pricing

The Sun Netra T5220 server powered by UltraSPARC T2 processors is available now with entry-level pricing starting at $14,995. For more information on the Sun Netra T5220 server, please visit: http://www.sun.com/netra/t5220

The Sun Netra T5220 server is part of a complete carrier-grade solution from Sun. For more information on NEBS-certified storage, including the Sun StorageTek 2510 array, Sun StorageTek 2530 array, Sun StorageTek 2540 array and Sun StorageTek 6140 array, please visit: http://www.sun.com/storage. For more information on Sun's virtualization offerings, please visit: http://www.sun.com/datacenter/consolidation/index.jsp. For more information on Sun's services, please visit: http://www.sun.com/services

Apple Releases Aperture 2

2008-02-12T07:03:00.000-08:00

Apple® today introduced Aperture™ 2, the next major release of its groundbreaking photo editing and management software with over 100 new features that make it faster, easier to use and more powerful. With a streamlined user interface and entirely new image processing engine, Aperture 2 also introduces new imaging tools for highlight recovery, color vibrancy, local contrast definition, soft-edged retouching, vignetting and RAW fine-tuning, and lets users directly post their portfolios on the .Mac Web Gallery* for viewing on the web, iPhone™, iPod® touch and Apple TV®. At a new low price of $199, anyone can easily organize, edit and publish photos like a pro.

“Many of the most respected photographers on assignment all over the world trust Aperture to organize, edit and deliver their images,” said Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of Applications Product Marketing. “With its simpler interface and lower price, anyone can take full advantage of Aperture’s power.”

“At the end of the day, it’s all about the quality of the image,” said Sports Illustrated contributing photographer David Bergman. “Even before I begin making adjustments, Aperture’s new RAW processing gives me better images with more visible detail and better color rendering than any other program I’ve tested.”

“I used to have so much stress about post-production on a shoot, having to juggle multiple applications to make sure they all worked,” said Bob Davis, PDN Top Knots Wedding Photographer 2007. “With Aperture that’s no longer a factor. I can do everything all in one application.”

Featuring a new, easier user interface designed to be more intuitive and accessible, Aperture 2 now lets users navigate between Viewer and Browser modes with a single key command. Screen real estate is maximized for images with an all-in-one heads up display that allows users to toggle between library, metadata and adjustment controls in a single tabbed inspector. The All Projects view, modeled after iPhoto’s Events view, provides a poster photo for every project and the ability to quickly skim through the photos inside, and the integrated iPhoto® Browser offers direct access to all the events and images in the iPhoto library.

Performance has been enhanced in Aperture 2 so it’s faster to import, browse and search large volumes of images. Embedded previews let photographers caption, keyword and rate images as they are being imported, and with the ability to export images in the background, photographers can continue working while images are processed to JPEG, TIFF, PNG and PSD file formats. Quick Preview allows users to browse RAW images in rapid succession without having to wait for files to load, and the Aperture library database has been re-architected to provide fast project switching and near instantaneous search results, even when working with extremely large libraries of 500,000 images or more.

Aperture 2 delivers powerful new imaging tools for getting the most out of each photograph. Apple’s next-generation RAW image processing is at the core of Aperture 2 offering uncompromising image quality and precision controls that let users fine-tune the image profile for each of their cameras. New tools for improving and enhancing images include Recovery for pulling back “blown” highlights, Vibrancy for selectively boosting saturation without adversely affecting skin tones, Definition, which offers local contrast for adding clarity to images, Vignette & Devignette filters for providing professional visual effects and a true soft-edged Repair and Retouch brush for quickly and easily removing blemishes, cleaning up sensor dust and cloning away problem areas.

Aperture 2 works seamlessly with Mac OS® X, iLife®, iWork™, .Mac and Apple print products, so any image in the Aperture library can be accessed directly from within other applications, such as iMovie®, Keynote® and Pages®, and even from within Leopard™ Mail. Now with .Mac Web Gallery support, Aperture users can publish their photos once to view them on the web, iPhone, iPod touch and Apple TV. Books in Aperture 2 feature new theme designs, layout tools, customized dust jackets (including full-bleed) and foil stamped covers.

Pricing & Availability
Aperture 2 is available immediately for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. Owners of previous versions of Aperture can upgrade to Aperture 2 for just $99 (US). Full system requirements and more information on Aperture 2 can be found at www.apple.com/aperture.

* The .Mac service is available to persons aged 13 and older. Annual membership fee and Internet access required. Terms and conditions apply.

IBM X-Force Security Report: Web Browsers Under Siege From Organized Crime

2008-02-12T07:00:00.000-08:00

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today released the findings of the 2007 X-Force Security report, detailing a disturbing rise in the sophistication of attacks by criminals on Web browsers worldwide. According to IBM, by attacking the browsers of computer users, cybercriminals are now stealing the identities and controlling the computers of consumers at a rate never before seen on the Internet.

The study finds that a complex and sophisticated criminal economy has developed to capitalize on Web vulnerabilities. Underground brokers are delivering tools to aid in obfuscation, or camouflaging attacks on browsers, so cybercriminals can avoid detection by security software. In 2006, only a small percentage of attackers employed camouflaging techniques, but this number soared to 80 percent during the first half of 2007, and reached nearly 100 percent by the end of the year. The X-Force believes the criminal element will contribute to a proliferation of attacks in 2008.

Using these techniques, cybercriminals can infiltrate a user's system and steal their IDs and passwords or obtain personal information like National Identification numbers, Social Security numbers and credit card information. When attackers invade an enterprise machine, they could steal sensitive company information or use the compromised machine to gain access to other corporate assets behind the firewall.

"Never before have such aggressive measures been sustained by Internet attackers towards infection, propagation and security evasion. While computer security professionals can claim some victories, attackers are adapting their approaches and continuing to have an impact on users' experiences," said Kris Lamb, operations manager, X-Force Research and Development for IBM Internet Security Systems. "The Storm Worm provides a microcosm of the kinds of threats users faced in 2007. All in all, the exploits used to spread Storm Worm are a blend of the various threats tracked by X-Force, including spam, phishing and drive-by-downloads by way of Web browser exploitation."

The Storm Worm, the most pervasive Internet attack last year, continues to infect computers around the world through a culmination of the threats the X-Force tracks, including malicious software (malware), spam and phishing. Last year, delivery of malware was at an all time high, as X-Force reported a 30 percent rise in the number of malcode samples identified. The Storm Worm comprised around 13 percent of the entire malcode set collected in 2007.

In other findings, for the first time ever, the size of spam emails decreased sharply to pre-2005 levels. X-Force believes the decrease is linked to the drop off of image-based spam. This decrease can be counted as a win for the security industry -- as anti-spam technologies became more efficient at detecting image-based spam, spammers were forced to turn to new techniques.

The X-Force has been cataloguing, analyzing and researching vulnerability disclosures since 1997. With more than 33,000 security vulnerabilities catalogued, it has the largest vulnerability database in the world. This unique database helps X-Force researchers to understand the dynamics that make up vulnerability discovery and disclosure.

The new X-Force report from IBM also reveals that:

The number of critical computer security vulnerabilities disclosed increased by 28 percent, a substantial upswing from years past.
The overall number of vulnerabilities reported for the year went down for the first time in 10 years.
Out of all the vulnerabilities disclosed last year, only 50 percent can be corrected through vendor patches.
Nearly 90 percent of 2007 disclosed vulnerabilities are remotely exploitable.

IBM is the world's leading provider of risk and security solutions. Clients around the world partner with IBM to help reduce the complexities of security and strategically manage risk. IBM's experience and range of risk and security solutions are unsurpassed -- from dedicated research, software, hardware, services and global business partner value -- helping clients secure business operations and implement company-wide, integrated risk management programs.

For more security trends and predictions from IBM, including graphical representations of security statistics, please access the full "2007 X-Force Trends Statistics" at: http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/index.wss/offerfamily/iss/a1029112

Google,IBM,Microsoft,Verisign and Yahoo Join OpenID

2008-02-07T11:21:00.000-08:00

The OpenID Foundation today announced that Google (Nasdaq:GOOG), IBM (NYSE: IBM), Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), Verisign (Nasdaq:VRSN) and Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) have joined as its first corporate board members.

With these companies’ deep expertise in Internet and security technology, the OpenID Foundation strengthens the industrywide effort to empower users with portable Web identities, or OpenIDs. This effort helps ensure the evolution of an open and interoperable Internet that helps people take control of how their personal information is used online and helps online businesses attract and retain more users by simplifying and securing the management of digital identities.

The OpenID Foundation was formed in June 2007 to support and promote the technology developed by the OpenID community. Members include individuals, students, nonprofits, startups and industry giants that have come together to develop and promote open identity management on the Web.

OpenID is free technology that simplifies the online user experience by eliminating the need for multiple user names across Internet sites, enabling individuals to take more control and ownership of their digital identities. This user-centric digital identity technology helps users reduce the pain of managing dozens, even hundreds, of user names and passwords, and gives users more control over what personal information they share with Web sites when they sign in using an OpenID.

Today more than 10,000 Web sites support OpenID log-ins, and an estimated 350 million OpenID-enabled URLs exist.

“With this support from these new company board members, the OpenID Foundation will be able to continue to promote and protect the technology and its community moving forward,” said Bill Washburn, executive director, OpenID Foundation. “The community has expanded quickly since the inception of the foundation, and these companies will help bring OpenID into the mainstream markets.”

The industry collaboration supporting OpenID extends not only to the technology itself, but also to the establishment of the OpenID Foundation as an open forum to promote, protect and enable the OpenID technologies and community. The OpenID community has matured rapidly from its inception as a loose coalition of volunteers to the establishment of the OpenID Foundation with a strong mission and intellectual property structure that enables all to participate in developing and implementing OpenID technology. This progress has been made with donations of legal resources by Microsoft and various contributions from Google, IBM, VeriSign and Yahoo!.

“Google shares the OpenID Foundation’s vision of a Web that’s easy to use and built on open standards available to everyone,” said Brad Fitzpatrick, a software engineer at Google. “OpenID was always intended to be a decentralized sign-on system, so it’s fantastic to join a foundation committed to keeping it free and unencumbered by proprietary extensions.”

“Privacy concerns have been escalating rapidly because of repeated incidents involving unexpected personal information loss and user identity theft,” said Anthony Nadalin, IBM Distinguished Engineer and chief security architect, IBM Tivoli software. “As a leader in identity, access and federated identity management and open standards-based software, this is an important step in IBM’s collaboration with other industry leaders to continuously enhance open source projects for user-centric identity management. This effort is intended to provide users with more control and help them to better manage and protect their digital identities.”

“The OpenID community is a key constituency in solving the digital identity problems Internet users face, and will benefit from being represented by the OpenID Foundation,” said Kim Cameron, chief identity architect, Microsoft. “Since Bill Gates and Craig Mundie announced our collaboration with the OpenID community last February at RSA, Microsoft has played a leading role in establishing the foundation’s open policy framework that allows everyone to participate in the development and use of OpenID specifications. Now we look forward to working with the community to refine and drive adoption of the specifications.”

“OpenID enables consumers to take control of their online identity, which in turn will drive trust, privacy and security on the Internet,” said Nico Popp, vice president of Innovation at VeriSign Inc. “Networked identity and authentication services are core elements of VeriSign’s current and future service offerings. Because of this, we applaud the creation of the OpenID foundation and we look forward to contributing to its mission.”

“Yahoo! believes that a truly open Web is the key to the next generation of Internet experiences; OpenID furthers this cause by delivering a free, standards-based solution that the entire industry can embrace,” said Ash Patel, executive vice president of platforms and infrastructure at Yahoo!. “Over the last year we have worked closely with the OpenID Foundation to develop the organization’s intellectual property framework, finalize the OpenID 2.0 specification and adopt OpenID for all 248 million active registered Yahoo! users worldwide. We look forward to collaborating with the OpenID Foundation, its board and community to further simplify the consumer experience of the Web and empower users to take control of their online identity with OpenID.”

OpenID Technology

With the increased use of the Internet to conduct business and the rise of new types of online interactions, such as social networking and user-generated content, innovative kinds of digital identifier technologies are necessary to sustain the “open Web.” OpenID enables individuals to convert one of their already existing digital identifiers — such as their personal blog’s URL — into an OpenID account, which then can be used as a login at any Web site supporting OpenID.

Wide adoption of OpenID reduces the frustration of repeatedly having to register username/password accounts and then later recalling login information for an ever-increasing array of Web sites. For online businesses, these efforts can lower password and account management costs, help reduce the overall risks of security breaches by limiting the amount of customer personal information businesses need to store and protect, and increase both new and return user traffic by lowering the barriers to Web site entry and reentry.

To learn more about the OpenID Foundation, please visit http://openid.net/foundation.

To learn more about the OpenID, please visit http://openid.net.

Reuters Selects Sun Java Real-Time System Software

2008-02-05T09:04:00.000-08:00

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA), today announced that a division of Reuters, PLC has selected the Sun Java Real-Time System to develop and deploy market-facing services.

The Sun Java Real-Time System (Java RTS) is a software product that provides a high-level development platform for creating applications which require absolute execution predictability. Compliant with The Real-Time Specification for Java it uses the power and scalability of the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS) and the flexibility of the Java platform to provide the environment necessary for the growing demand of predictable computing applications in industries such as financial services, aerospace, industrial automation and scientific research.

"Reuters Group has a wide range of systems that use Java technology as part of the solution to deliver core services to our customers. We wanted a Java technology-based solution that could address our demanding, and growing, requirements for predictability and low-latency, as well as enable us to leverage our existing code base and Java technology expertise. We look forward to working with Sun as we deploy the Sun Java Real-Time System as part of our market-facing projects," said Andrew Cunningham, Global Head of Transactions Platform Group, Sales & Trading Division at Reuters.

"We're very pleased to have Reuters as an early adopter of the Sun Java Real-Time System," said Jeet Kaul, vice president, Client Software Group at Sun, "Reuters has long been recognized as a market leader in the financial markets information and technology space, and it's no surprise that they recognize the power and value that the Sun Java Real-Time System can bring to their business. We look forward to a strong and ongoing relationship with Reuters around Java technology-based predictable infrastructure."

Sun Java Real-Time System

Sun Java Real-Time System is one of the first enterprise-class solutions to formally address the issues of latency and unpredictable temporal performance of Java applications. It enables hard, soft, and non-real-time functions to be combined in one system while keeping critical latencies as low as 20 microseconds. Using Sun Java RTS, developers can easily differentiate processes based on their importance and can take advantage of new, innovative memory models. These features allow them to precisely determine when time-critical functions should be executed and keep them insulated from garbage collection pauses. Additionally, developers can continue to take advantage of familiar development tools, such as the NetBeans Integrated Development Environment or Solaris Dynamic Tracing (DTrace), and get up to speed quickly with support from Sun and others in the Real-Time Java community.

When executing on the Solaris 10 Operating System, Sun Java RTS runs on over 900 standard x86 and SPARC technology platforms and can also leverage the real-time capabilities of Solaris 10. Solaris 10 enables Java RTS applications to take full advantage of multi-core and multi-processor environments, as well as providing world-class security, performance, and reliability. The upcoming release of Java RTS will also be available on real-time Linux distributions from Red Hat and Novell.

More information on Sun Java RTS is available at: http://java.sun.com/javase/technologies/realtime/.

Apple Adds New iPhone & iPod touch Models

2008-02-05T09:02:00.000-08:00

Apple® today added new models of the iPhone™ and iPod® touch which have double the memory, doubling the amount of music, photos and videos that customers can carry with them wherever they go. The revolutionary iPhone now comes in a new 16GB model for $499, joining the 8GB model for $399. iPod touch now comes in a 32GB model for $499, joining the 16GB model for $399 and the 8GB model for $299.

“For some users, there’s never enough memory,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide iPod and iPhone Product Marketing. “Now people can enjoy even more of their music, photos and videos on the most revolutionary mobile phone and best Wi-Fi mobile device in the world.”

Both iPhone and iPod touch feature Apple’s revolutionary Multi-Touch™ user interface and pioneering software that allows users to find and enjoy all their music, videos, photos and more with just a touch of their finger. All iPhone and iPod touch models include the latest software enhancements announced last month including the ability to automatically find your location using the new Maps application*; create Web Clips for your favorite websites; customize your home screen and watch movies from the new iTunes® Movie Rentals. Both iPhone and iPod touch feature the world’s most advanced mobile web browser in the world with Safari™ and great mobile applications including Mail, Maps, Stocks, Weather and Notes.

Pricing & Availability The new 16GB iPhone is available immediately for a suggested retail price of $499 (US) through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and AT&T retail and online stores. The 32GB iPod touch is available worldwide immediately for a suggested retail price of $499 (US) through the Apple Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. iTunes Movie Rentals are available in the US only. iPhone and iPod touch require a Mac® with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS® X 10.4.10 or later and iTunes 7.6; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows Vista or Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 2) or later and iTunes 7.6.

*Availability and precision of Maps positioning features will vary depending on actual location.

Windows Server 2008 Released To Manufacturing

2008-02-04T09:10:00.000-08:00

Approaching the company’s largest enterprise launch in its history, Microsoft reached another important milestone today with the release to manufacturing (RTM) of Windows Server 2008. The response from IT professionals and developers has been strong as the company moves toward the worldwide launch of Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 on February 27.

One indication of the momentum that is building around the latest server operating system is the number of beta and evaluation versions that customers and partners have obtained: more than two million.

IT professionals face increasing pressure from rapidly changing technology, increasing costs and security concerns, and expanding business needs. Windows Server 2008 helps alleviate these pressures by automating daily management tasks, tightening security, improving efficiency and increasing availability. It also offers virtualization solutions that will enable IT professionals to reduce costs, increase hardware utilization, optimize their infrastructure, and improve server availability.

Furthermore, because Windows Server 2008 was developed in tandem with the Windows Vista code base, it has most of that operating system’s advanced management and security features, such as integrated Network Access Protection (NAP) and Group Policy. Customers will also see system-wide performance improvements from an integrated system architecture, including network file sharing, managed quality of service and reduced power consumption. Common tools and processes across both operating systems will result in efficiencies for IT organizations.

“We’ve been working with partners around the world who are creating solutions that take advantage of the new platform’s feature set,” said Bob Visse, senior director, Windows Server Marketing Group at Microsoft. “There’s been tremendous support for the operating system and a lot of excitement around the opportunity it represents for the industry.”

Microsoft is also offering customers a Go Live License, which permits them to deploy beta releases of Internet Information Services 7.0 (IIS 7.0) into live production. So far, 28 companies worldwide have created and launched hosted offerings using this program, and hundreds more have downloaded the Windows Server 2008 beta and begun testing.

With Windows Server 2008, Microsoft is also embracing PHP hosting on Windows via the FastCGI module for IIS 7.0. PHP is a popular open-source scripting language used to build dynamic web applications. This allows IT Professionals to host PHP and ASP.net applications side by side. As a result, the PHP community will be able to take advantage of the increased reliability of PHP on Windows and simplified administration available on the Windows platform.

Customers: On Your Mark…

To help IT professionals evaluate the migration-readiness of their existing networks, Microsoft has created four automated assessment tools, or “solution accelerators:”

• the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) tool, which helps evaluate installed applications on servers, performs hardware assessments and makes recommendations regarding server virtualization;

• the Infrastructure Planning and Design guides, which describe the architectural considerations involved in implementing the upgrade to Windows Server 2008;

• the Windows Server 2008 Security Guide, which provides best practices and automated tools to help strengthen the security of servers running Windows Server 2008; and

• the Microsoft Deployment tool, which decreases the cost of client and server deployments by providing detailed guidance and job aids for every organizational role involved with large-scale deployment projects.

Enterprise customers planning to upgrade can follow a few basic steps to help prepare and plan for the move to Windows Server 2008:

1.
Use Microsoft’s free tools to assess their enterprise’s current servers and determine which can be upgraded and which servers will require a “clean install. “

2.
Engage with their application suppliers for prescriptive guidance.

3.
Test applications they’re planning to run for compatibility with Windows 2008.

4.
Research certified hardware and software solutions in the Windows Server Catalog.

Upgrade Options

Windows Server 2008 uses image-based deployment to make the installation process as efficient as possible. Installation images are the fastest way to deploy an operating system. Image-based setup also is less error-prone than a scripted installation process.

Customers upgrading from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008 will follow one of two methods, depending upon their current environment. Servers that are running only software applications that came with Windows Server 2003, such as Active Directory, Domain Name System (DNS) and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), are the best candidates for a simple upgrade.

Microsoft recommends other customers running a wider variety of applications follow IT community best practices and perform a “clean install” of Windows Server 2008. A clean install involves loading Windows Server 2008 on a partition that is not running an existing operating system. Microsoft advises those customers who want to pursue an upgrade to first contact the software manufacturer for prescriptive guidance. Customers running applications whose manufacturers do not provide support during the upgrade process, which did not ship with Windows Server 2003 or that weren’t delivered to Windows Server via Windows Update should remove those applications first, perform the upgrade to Windows Server 2008, verify the applications are supported on Windows Server 2008 and then reinstall the applications.

Windows Server 2008 also offers a barebones installation option called Server Core, in which only the services required to perform the Active Directory Domain Services, Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS), DHCP, DNS Server, File Services, Print Server, Streaming Media Services, Web Server (IIS), or Hyper-V (Virtualization), roles are installed. A Server Core installation offers base-level server functionality without any extra overhead, so it will typically require less maintenance and fewer updates than a full installation.

Ensuring Compatibility

To help original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), independent hardware vendors (IHVs), independent software vendors (ISVs) and other developers build solutions that IT professionals can deploy immediately with confidence, Microsoft created the Windows Server 2008 Logo Program.

“We’ve been working with more than 1,000 software and hardware partners to help ensure that their products take full advantage of the capabilities and features of Windows Server 2008,” said Visse.

Windows Server 2008 software certification comprises approximately 100 test cases that independently confirm an application’s compliance with best practices for compatibility, security, reliability and availability on the server operating system. The certification identifies top-performing technologies that are ready to deploy in mission-critical environments.

The program features two designations – the “Works with Windows Server 2008” designation ensures that an application is in compliance with best practices for the most common Windows Server 2008 functions, while the “Certified for Windows Server 2008” logo supports rigorous standards for stability, security, reliability and overall performance.

Microsoft expects there to be at least 80 software applications certified for Windows Server 2008 by the end of February, and roughly 300 more that are considered ready for the new platform. A complete list of compatible hardware and software products is available at http://www.windowsservercatalog.com.

In addition to encouraging customers to look for the certification logo when they make purchasing decisions, Microsoft has done something new for Windows Server 2008. The company has made the same tools that ISVs used to test their products for compatibility available to IT professionals so that they can test both commercial applications and custom applications they’ve developed in-house. The tools are downloadable at http://www.windowsservercatalog.com/ready.

There is also a Windows Server 2008 Developer Center site that is a portal for both ISV developers and enterprise developers working on custom applications. The site provides how-to videos, interviews with Microsoft engineers and related documents. It also links to a moderated technical forum for application readiness and certification discussions and questions http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/default.aspx.

Dell Completes EqualLogic Acquisition, Broadens Storage Portfolio, Doubles Down on Channel

2008-01-28T13:50:00.000-08:00

Dell today announced the completion of its $1.4 billion acquisition of EqualLogic, a leading provider of high-performance storage area network (SAN) solutions designed for virtualization and ease-of-use. The purchase extends Dell’s leadership in simplifying IT for customers and partners. For additional information, click on dell.com/storage.

“Virtualization and iSCSI are two keys to simplifying IT,” said Michael Dell, chairman and CEO, Dell. “Enterprises are creating data and consuming power at an exponential rate, driving up IT cost and complexity. What we did for PCs and servers we are now going to do for storage. Together with our PartnerDirect channel, we will unleash the power of iSCSI and virtualization to make storing and processing data easier and more affordable.”

“Customers face extreme challenges with data growth,” said Darren Thomas, vice president and general manager, Dell storage. “Their ideal solution is secure storage that uses existing infrastructure, installs in minutes not days, manages itself, grows easily as needs increase and plugs into the virtualized IT ecosystem. That’s EqualLogic. And that’s the incredible value we will deliver to customers.”

EqualLogic Expands Dell PartnerDirect
Dell plans to preserve and build on EqualLogic’s successful channel program in addition to offering products directly from Dell. Starting today in the United States and ultimately around the world, current EqualLogic partners will be enrolled into PartnerDirect and eligible for Dell’s newest certification - Enterprise Architecture. Dell modeled its certification requirements and benefits on EqualLogic’s widely-regarded channel program and include access to Dell’s full server and storage product lines.

“The channel is critical to our go-to-market strategy, and we are committed to our partners’ continued success,” said Bob Skelley, director Americas Channel Group. “This is just the beginning. Dell will continue to innovate and differentiate to earn the business of our channel partners.”

In addition to standard benefits offered through PartnerDirect - deal registration, pre- and post-sale support, partner financing and access to Dell’s partner e-commerce site, partners certified in Enterprise Architecture will be able to take advantage of: Free training (once only available to Dell’s direct sales force) for proficiency in Dell’s full enterprise product line, as well as EqualLogic;
EqualLogic’s same competitive pricing model; and
Lead generation and marketing incentive funds.

Oracle Releases Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Tools 8.97

2008-01-28T10:52:00.000-08:00

As another milestone for Oracle's "Applications Unlimited" program, Oracle today announced the general availability of Oracle's JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Tools 8.97. This latest release provides an open platform for customers to choose hardware, operating systems and database technologies based on their unique IT strategies and business requirements. Relying on JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Tools 8.97, customers may also adopt current advancements in Oracle(r) Enterprise Linux and many components of Oracle Fusion Middleware.

"Market dynamics and competitive pressures continue to force companies to improve productivity, simplify systems management and improve enterprise integration. As a result, standards-based technologies and development environments are a top priority for CIOs and CTOs," said Bob Mick, Vice President of Emerging Technologies, ARC Advisory Group. "With this latest release, JD Edwards applications further leverage Oracle software so that customers may capitalize on the benefits of a Service-Oriented Architecture, usability enhancements and a lower total cost of ownership."

JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Tools 8.97 continues the evolution of JD Edwards EnterpriseOne toward a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and provides customers with expanded functionality, performance and usability enhancements. Enabling customers to achieve a lower total cost of ownership, these latest tools provide streamlined system management, faster performance for client browsers and improved reporting based on XML standards.

"Our customers are under constant pressure to achieve substantial productivity gains with fewer resources. Through an evolving and more comprehensive technology platform, we are delivering a better ownership experience to our customers at a lower cost," Oracle Vice President Product Strategy, Lyle Ekdahl. "JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Tools 8.97 also continues our delivery on the Applications Unlimited commitment and allows customers to take advantage of the latest technology, in many cases without having to upgrade their applications."

Enhancements Expand Functionality, Improve Usability
Relying on customer insight and feedback, JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Tools 8.97 incorporates numerous security, development tools, platform support and usability enhancements including:

* Streamlined System Management: JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Tools 8.97 introduces Server Manager, a centralized web console for the monitoring and management of all JD Edwards EnterpriseOne server components. Server Manager increases visibility into system operations for improved updating, configuring, patching and monitoring activities.

* Web Client Performance and Usability Improvements: To give users significant performance and usability improvements, JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Tools 8.97 provides simplified menu navigation, use of browser tabs, easier import/export of data on JDE EnterpriseOne application forms and delivers support for the Firefox browser.

* Increased Support for SOA: With this latest tools release, JD Edwards EnterpriseOne applications are enabled to operate in an SOA natively, without dependency on third-party products. Design tools, wizards and reference implementations are provided to help customers and partners leverage these new integration capabilities.

* Improved Embedded Reporting: Deepening the embedded use of Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher, JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Tools 8.97 users can launch a complete run-publish-distribute cycle from a single user interaction, output multiple objects such as invoices from a single batch of data and gain the ability to produce reports in multiple formats including Adobe PDF, HTML, RTF, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint, XML and eText.

Customer Response to Improved System Management Capabilities
Forestar Real Estate Group tested the new installation and deployment procedure provided by Server Manager, as well as some of the improvements in the web client. "We were fortunate to be able to participate in the beta program for JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Tools 8.97," said Forestar Real Estate Group Application Support Manager, Charles Anderson. "The new Server Manager feature simplifies the installation and server monitoring activities and the web client has a lot of improvements that will benefit our users. Based upon our beta program evaluation, we're making plans to deploy 8.97 as soon as possible."

Availability
Oracle's JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Tools 8.97 is available now for licensed customers relying on JD Edwards EnterpriseOne versions 8.9 through 8.12.

About Oracle
Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) is the world's largest enterprise software company. For more information about Oracle, please visit our Web site at http://www.oracle.com.

New Xerox Kit Makes It Easier for Photo Retailers, Labs, and Printers to Boost Profits in Photo Specialty Business

2008-01-28T10:01:00.000-08:00

Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) today launched a new resource - the Xerox Picture Me Profitable Kit - to help photo labs, photo retailers and digital print providers design, market and produce a range of lucrative photo specialty products on Xerox digital printers.

"Many photo retailers and labs are just beginning to use digital printing. This collection helps them build on their photo expertise and expand their business to produce a wide range of new revenue-generating personalized applications such as photo books, calendars and greeting cards," said Quincy Allen, president, Xerox's Production Systems Group. "For those entering this lucrative photo specialty market, this kit will give them the tools they need to start, promote and grow their business."

Xerox's Picture Me Profitable Kit, developed based on feedback from customers and industry leaders, includes:

A white paper that gives an overview of the photo specialty market.
A guide to writing a marketing plan that includes tips and worksheets to allow a company to enter and build a profitable photo specialty business, including an example from Xerox customer MyPicTales.
Templates to help create applications such as greeting cards, postcards and other photo specialty products.
A sample book filled with 50 pages of digitally-printed applications and samples of Xerox's specialty media. This book helps photo retailers showcase the types of jobs they can create for their customers, such as greeting cards, personalized calendars and photo books, as well as business applications like invitations, menus and business cards.
A reference book to help photo retailers find answers to questions about digital book printing, finishing, workflow and what paper should be used for specific jobs.
A CD that contains industry articles and research reports. Included is an executive summary about the photo merchandise market from leading independent research firm InfoTrends, as well as a sampling of articles from top photography and printing publications.

"With Xerox equipment and support, we were able to recoup our initial investment less than two months after fulfilling our first order," said Prathibha Polapragada, owner of MyPicTales, which uses a Xerox DocuColor™ 242 Digital Color Printer/Copier to produce a variety of photo specialty applications. "Xerox is going beyond providing state-of-the-art digital printing equipment. It is making sure customers have everything they need to succeed."

The kit is the latest addition to Xerox's ProfitAccelerator™ Digital Business Resources portfolio, a collection of more than 75 tools to help customers maximize their digital investments. It will be launched at the 2008 Photo Marketing Association International Convention and Trade Show, the world's largest annual photo imaging trade show, Jan. 31 to Feb. 2 in Las Vegas.

Pricing and availability

Xerox's Picture Me Profitable Kit will be available worldwide March 1 to new and existing Xerox customers through Xerox sales representatives. It will also be available through authorized Xerox resellers Fujifilm Imaging Systems and FujiFilm Graphics Systems.

Sybase iAnywhere Announces SDK Support for Latest Bluetooth Wireless Specification

2008-01-28T09:57:00.000-08:00

Sybase iAnywhere today announced the availability of its Blue SDK 3.0, the latest version of the company’s leading embedded Bluetooth® software development kit. The new SDK provides support for the Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR specification enabling the use of the newest radio devices from companies such as Atheros Communications, Broadcom Corporation, CSR, Marvell, Qualcomm, STMicroelectronics, and Texas Instruments. The new Bluetooth wireless specification enables more secure communications and improves the ease of which Bluetooth wireless enabled devices can bond a connection.

The Sybase® iAnywhere® Blue SDK version 3.0 consists of the core protocol stack plus application level profiles that make Bluetooth wireless communications possible. All software is compliant with the Bluetooth Special Interest Group’s (SIG) specifications, ensuring device manufacturers that their products will adhere to industry standards.

“The Bluetooth SIG appreciates the contributions, commitment and dedication of Sybase iAnywhere within the Bluetooth community,” said Mike Foley, Executive Director, Bluetooth SIG. “Sybase iAnywhere contributions to the Bluetooth Core Specification v2.1 + EDR have supported the creation of user friendly and market needed improvements.”

“As a provider of embedded Bluetooth software since 2000, we are proud we can build support for the latest standards into our rock solid core protocol stack implementation,” said Mark Willnerd, vice president, Sybase iAnywhere. “We see this continuing the momentum around our Sybase Unwired strategy as Bluetooth implementations are now found everywhere, from mobile cell phones to stereo headsets to medical devices and automobiles.”

The Sybase iAnywhere Blue SDK version 3.0 software enhancements include features outlined in the Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR specification including:

Security Mode 4 (Secure Simple Pairing): addresses both enhanced security and ease-of-use when pairing Bluetooth devices.

Sniff Sub-rating: enhancements to the Bluetooth sniff mode resulting in the optimization of battery power.

Link Supervision Timeout Changed Event: improves the reliability of piconets (an ad-hoc computer network of Bluetooth devices) in larger networks.

Encryption Pause/Resume: introduction of a pause and resume command, whereby the encrypted link can be temporarily suspended to allow operations such as a master – slave switch to occur, followed by the re-establishment of the encrypted link.

Erroneous Data Reporting: improves application performance by allowing erroneous audio packets to be tagged and passed to the upper application layers instead of being discarded.

Extended Inquiry Response: addresses the need for a faster connect time between devices. It accomplishes this by incorporating into the inquiry process additional information such as local device name, profiles supported and additional manufacturer’s information.

Non-Flushable Packet Boundary Flag: provides improvements for streaming stereo audio applications while protecting the data of other applications.

Additional Quality of Service (QOS) improvements are included in the Sybase iAnywhere Blue SDK version 3.0 and all the profiles currently provided with Blue SDK version 2.x are compatible with version 3.0 as well. Example profiles include Hands Free, Audio/Video, File Transfer, Basic Printing and others.

With over ten years experience working with wireless connectivity and synchronization protocols and hundreds of product design wins, Sybase iAnywhere has become a world-leading provider of Bluetooth protocol stack and application profile technology. Its large base of OEMs ensures the highest quality code written to specification, with industry proven reliability, functionality, and portability. Credentials include:

Participation in the Bluetooth SIG on several levels

Member of the Core Specification Working Group

Section owner for many OBEX based profiles such as OPP, OPUSH, and FTP

Participation in the Automotive Working Groups

Participation in the AV Working Group

Availability
Version 3.0 of the Sybase iAnywhere Blue SDK is now available. Support for the Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR specification will follow for the Blue SDK for Linux and the Blue SDK for Windows CE products. A technical Webcast will be hosted on February 19th to provide the details of the enhanced features available in the Sybase iAnywhere Blue SDK version 3.0. Please visit www.sybase.com/blue_sdk_webcast to sign up or receive more information.

About Sybase iAnywhere Mobile Device Solutions
Sybase iAnywhere's software development kits (SDKs) for Bluetooth and IrDA wireless technology, OMA protocols (Data Sync and Device Management), and mobile device to PC synchronization software help manufacturers rapidly integrate this functionality into a wide range of mobile devices. Sybase iAnywhere has more than ten years of experience working in wireless networking protocols and hundreds of design wins representing tens of millions of enabled products in the market.

About Sybase iAnywhere
Sybase iAnywhere enables success at the front lines of business. The company holds worldwide market leadership positions in mobile and embedded databases, mobile management and security, mobile middleware and synchronization, and Bluetooth® and infrared protocol technologies. Tens of millions of mobile devices and over 20,000 customers and partners rely on the company’s “Always Available” technologies, including SQL Anywhere and its Information Anywhere suite. iAnywhere is a subsidiary of Sybase, Inc. (NYSE:SY).

Microsoft Hires Tony Scott as Chief Information Officer

2008-01-17T12:14:00.000-08:00

Microsoft Corp. today announced the appointment of Tony Scott to the role of chief information officer (CIO) and corporate vice president of Microsoft. Scott, 56, will manage Microsoft’s 4,000-person global information technology organization that manages critical technology systems supporting the company’s worldwide sales, marketing and services efforts, as well as enterprise systems and applications for all corporate processes. Scott will officially assume his new role at Microsoft in February and report to Kevin Turner, Microsoft’s chief operating officer.

A respected industry veteran, Scott brings more than 25 years of experience running global IT operations for leading corporations. Most recently, Scott served as senior vice president and chief information officer of The Walt Disney Co., where he was the first CIO to manage companywide IT. During his time at Disney, Scott led the company through a major transformation, which included improving the reliability and effectiveness of the company’s information systems, shifting focus more toward employee enablement, and upgrading core IT infrastructure including datacenter reliability. Before joining Disney, Scott served as chief technology officer at General Motors Corp. and vice president of operations at Bristol-Meyers Squibb Co.

“Our internal IT systems and operations play a critical role in the success of our business and how we deliver new technologies and advancements to our customers in the marketplace,” Turner said. “We will leverage Tony’s deep experience in running global IT organizations, and his focus will be in three key areas. First, we want to run a world-class IT department, leveraging Tony’s track record and deep knowledge of operational excellence to achieve the highest level of business value by utilizing IT. Second, as Microsoft’s biggest user of our products and solutions, Tony and the IT team will drive our solutions and deployment throughout our enterprise and provide valuable input and feedback to our product groups. In turn, this will ultimately improve our customer satisfaction in the marketplace. Third, we will call upon Tony to connect and collaborate with CIOs around the world to regularly share best practices with our customers and partners.”

“More than any other company, Microsoft knows how important it is to leverage IT for strategic business advantage, and I look forward to building on this success in my new role,” Scott said. “So few places offer the chance to expand your skills and have an impact across such a broad range of technologies — from services to unified communications to mobility. It is a great opportunity, and I am excited to work with this team to help Microsoft advance its business forward through IT.”

Oracle to Acquire BEA Systems

2008-01-16T08:36:00.000-08:00

Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) and BEA Systems (NASDAQ: BEAS) announced today they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Oracle will acquire all outstanding shares of BEA for $19.375 per share in cash. The offer is valued at approximately $8.5 billion, or $7.2 billion net of BEA's cash on hand of $1.3 billion. "We expect this deal to be accretive to Oracle's earnings by at least 1-2 cents on a non-GAAP basis in its first full year after closing," said Oracle President and Chief Financial Officer Safra Catz.

"The addition of BEA products and technology will significantly enhance and extend Oracle's Fusion middleware software suite," said Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. "Oracle Fusion middleware has an open "hot-pluggable" architecture that allows customers the option of coupling BEA's WebLogic Java Server to virtually all the components of the Fusion software suite. That's just one example of how customers can choose among Oracle and BEA middleware products, knowing that those products will gracefully interoperate and be supported for years to come."

"Over the past several months our Board of Directors, with the assistance of independent financial and legal advisors, has reviewed various ways to maximize stockholder value, including engaging in discussions with third parties about a possible sale of the company," said Alfred Chuang, BEA's Chairman and CEO. "This transaction is the culmination of that diligent and thoughtful process, and we believe it is in the best interests of our shareholders. I am confident our innovative products, talented employees and worldwide customer base will be key contributors to the success of the combined company over the long term. We look forward to working with Oracle toward a successful completion of the transaction."

"BEA is a pioneer in middleware, and this combination recognizes the innovation and customer success the company has achieved. Our joint customers have consistently suggested this deal for more than three years," said Oracle President Charles Phillips. "This transaction will accelerate the adoption of Java-based middleware technologies and SOA; advance innovation in enterprise applications infrastructure software; extend our strategic relationships with customers and partners; and increase our penetration in key regions like China."

The Board of Directors of BEA Systems has unanimously approved the transaction. It is anticipated to close by mid-2008, subject to BEA stockholder approval, certain regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

There will be a conference call to discuss the transaction at 6:00 a.m. PT today. Investors can listen to the conference call by dialing 719-325-4780. A replay will be available for 24 hours after the call ends at 719-457-0820, passcode: 3644405. A live audio webcast of the call will be made available at www.oracle.com/investor and a replay will be available for seven days after the call ends.

About Oracle
Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) is the world's largest enterprise software company. For more information about Oracle, please visit our Web site at http://www.oracle.com.

About BEA
BEA Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BEAS) is a world leader in enterprise infrastructure software. Information about how BEA helps customers build a Liquid Enterprise(tm) that transforms their business can be found at bea.com.

Sun Microsystems Reports Preliminary Results for Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2008

2008-01-16T07:18:00.000-08:00

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) reported preliminary results today for its second quarter of fiscal 2008, which ended December 30, 2007.

Sun expects to report revenues for the second quarter of fiscal 2008 of approximately $3.60 billion, an increase of approximately 1 percent as compared with $3.57 billion for the second quarter of fiscal 2007. Net bookings for the second quarter of fiscal 2008 were approximately $3.85 billion, an increase of approximately 7% year over year.

Total gross margin as a percent of revenues for the second quarter of fiscal 2008 is expected to be approximately 48%, an increase of approximately 3.0 percentage points as compared with the second quarter of fiscal 2007.

Net income for the second quarter of fiscal 2008 on a GAAP basis is expected to be in the range of $230 million to $265 million, or $0.28 to $0.32 per share on a diluted basis, as compared with net income of $133 million, or $0.15 per share, for the second quarter of fiscal 2007.

"Our preliminary results for the second quarter reflect solid execution and continued operational progress," said Jonathan Schwartz, CEO and president of Sun Microsystems. "The future is even brighter today as evidenced by our agreement to acquire MySQL, one of the fastest growing players in the $15 billion database market and a key component of many of the Web's premier properties such as Facebook, Wikipedia, China Mobile and Baidu. As the market for open source databases continues its spectacular growth, we look forward to this acquisition directly contributing to Sun's growth as the platform of choice for the Web economy."

Sun has scheduled a financial analyst conference call today at 1:00 p.m. (PT) to discuss its preliminary financial results for the second quarter fiscal year 2008 as well as the announcement of its intent to acquire MySQL. The call is being audiocast live at www.sun.com/investors.

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Sun Microsystems develops the technologies that power the global marketplace. Guided by a singular vision -- "The Network is the Computer" -- Sun drives network participation through shared innovation, community development and open source leadership. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at http://sun.com.

Sun Microsystems Announces Agreement to Acquire MySQL, Developer of the World's Most Popular Open Source Database

2008-01-16T07:13:00.000-08:00

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire MySQL AB, an open source icon and developer of one of the world's fastest growing open source databases for approximately $1 billion in total consideration. The acquisition accelerates Sun's position in enterprise IT to now include the $15 billion database market. Today's announcement reaffirms Sun's position as the leading provider of platforms for the Web economy and its role as the largest commercial open source contributor.

With millions of global deployments including Facebook, Google, Nokia, Baidu and China Mobile, MySQL will bring synergies to Sun that will change the landscape of the software industry by driving new adoption of MySQL's open source database in more traditional applications and enterprises. The integration with Sun will greatly extend the commercial appeal of MySQL's offerings and improve its value proposition with the addition of Sun's global services organization. MySQL will also gain new distribution through Sun's channels including its OEM relationships with Intel, IBM and Dell.

"Today's acquisition reaffirms Sun's position at the center of the global Web economy. Supporting our overall growth plan, acquiring MySQL amplifies our investments in the technologies demanded by those driving extreme growth and efficiency, from Internet media titans to the world's largest traditional enterprises," said Jonathan Schwartz, CEO and president, Sun Microsystems. "MySQL's employees and culture, along with its near ubiquity across the Web, make it an ideal fit with Sun's open approach to network innovation. And most importantly, this announcement boosts our investments into the communities at the heart of innovation on the Internet and of enterprises that rely on technology as a competitive weapon."

MySQL's open source database is widely deployed across all major operating systems, hardware vendors, geographies, industries and application types. The complementary product line-ups will extend MySQL's database reach and are expected to bring new markets for Sun's systems, virtualization, middleware and storage platforms.

"The combination of MySQL and Sun represents an enormous opportunity for users and organizations of all sizes seeking innovation, growth and choice," said Marten Mickos, CEO, MySQL. "Sun's culture and business model complements MySQL's own by sharing the same ideals that we have had since our foundation -- software freedom, online innovation and community and partner participation. We are tremendously excited to work with Sun and the millions of members of the MySQL open source ecosystem to continue to deliver the best database for powering the modern Web economy."

MySQL's open source database is the "M" in LAMP - the software platform comprised of Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP/Perl often viewed as the foundation of the Internet. Sun is committed to enhancing and optimizing the LAMP stack on GNU/Linux and Microsoft Windows along with OpenSolaris and MAC OS X. The database from MySQL, OpenSolaris and GlassFish, together with Sun's Java platform and NetBeans communities, will create a powerful Web application platform across a wide range of customers shifting their applications to the Web.

More than 100 million copies of MySQL's high-performance open source database software have been downloaded and distributed and an additional 50,000 copies are downloaded daily. This broad penetration coupled with MySQL's strength in Web 2.0, Software as a Service (SaaS), enterprise, telecom and the OEM embedded market make it an important fit for Sun. With MySQL, Sun will have the ability to deepen its existing customer relationships and create new opportunities with companies seeking the flexibility and ease-of-use of open source systems.

Following completion of the proposed transaction, MySQL will be integrated into Sun's Software, Sales and Service organizations and the company's CEO, Marten Mickos, will be joining Sun's senior executive leadership team. In the interim, a joint team with representatives from both companies will develop integration plans that build upon the technical, product and cultural synergies and the best business and product development practices of both companies. MySQL is headquartered in Cupertino, CA and Uppsala, Sweden and has 400 employees in 25 countries.

As part of the transaction, Sun will pay approximately $800 million in cash in exchange for all MySQL stock and assume approximately $200 million in options. The transaction is expected to close in late Q3 or early Q4 of Sun's fiscal 2008. Completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions. The deal is expected to be accretive to FY10 operating income on a GAAP basis.

The management teams of both companies will host a media and analyst conference call today at 10:00 am EST, 7:00 am PST. The call can be accessed at http://www.sun.com/investors. For those unable to listen to the live conference call, a telephone replay will be available for one week following the call by dialing (888) 566-0103 or outside of the U.S. by dialing (402) 998-0958. No passcode is required to access the replay.

About MySQL
MySQL AB develops and supports a family of high-performance, affordable database products. The company's flagship offering is 'MySQL Enterprise', a comprehensive set of production-tested software, proactive monitoring tools, and premium support services. MySQL is the world's most popular open source database software. Many of the world's largest and fastest-growing organizations use MySQL to save time and money powering their high-volume Web sites, business-critical systems and packaged software -- including industry leaders such as Yahoo!, Alcatel-Lucent, Google, Nokia, YouTube and Booking.com. With headquarters in the United States and Sweden -- and operations around the world -- MySQL AB supports both open source values and corporate customers' needs. For more information about MySQL, please visit http://www.mysql.com/ .

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Sun Microsystems develops the technologies that power the global marketplace. Guided by a singular vision -- "The Network is the Computer" -- Sun drives network participation through shared innovation, community development and open source leadership. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at http://sun.com/.

Library of Congress, Microsoft Announce Agreement to Support New Interactive Experience for Visitors

2008-01-10T10:05:00.000-08:00

The Library of Congress and Microsoft Corp. have signed a cooperative agreement that will change the way visitors experience U.S. history. The joint technology innovation effort between the Library and Microsoft will electronically expose the Library’s immense collection of historical artifacts to patrons visiting the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building in Washington, D.C., and will allow unparalleled and immersive interactive experiences that will bring the Library’s vast historical collections and exhibits to life onsite and online through the upcoming myloc.gov Web site.

Through the Microsoft investment of funding, software and technology expertise, training and support services, the Library will deliver its New Visitors Experience through a complex technology system with interactive kiosks in the Jefferson Building as well as rich Internet applications delivered through a robust Web infrastructure.

“Microsoft is helping to put a vast array of the Library’s unparalleled educational resources literally at the fingertips of students and lifelong learners alike, both onsite at the Library of Congress and virtually through the Web,” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. “The Library of Congress and the causes of inspiration and creativity will benefit immensely from this act of generosity and expertise.”

“Technology can play such a meaningful role in facilitating the learning and discovery process for people of all ages,” said Curt Kolcun, vice president of the Federal Division at Microsoft. “This relationship between the Library and Microsoft will help citizens explore the Library’s — and our nation’s — treasure trove of historical memorabilia in unprecedented ways.”

Passport to Knowledge

New interactive galleries will bring to life the world’s largest collection of knowledge, culture and creativity, with virtual hands-on interaction with items such as the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, the Gutenberg Bible, the 1507 Waldseemüller world map that first used the word “America,” and original volumes from Thomas Jefferson’s library. Key to these experiences will be interactive presentation software for kiosks running on Windows Vista and its Web equivalent, built utilizing Microsoft Silverlight. Together these technologies will enable incredible fidelity between the onsite and online experiences.

A new “Passport to Knowledge,” with a unique bar code linked to an online account, will allow visitors to bookmark areas of interest that can later be accessed and explored in depth at the upcoming myloc.gov Web site. “Knowledge Quest,” a game-based learning activity, will send visitors onsite and online searching for clues in the art and artifacts of the Library. Teachers will also have access to new educational resources.

The new experience for visitors, both onsite and online, will be powered by Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Web content management software.

The agreement is part of a larger effort to transform the public spaces of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building into an experience that combines unique artifacts with cutting-edge technology and invites visitors to explore the collections in engaging new ways, thanks to Microsoft Silverlight. The Library’s new “Exploring the Early Americas” exhibition, which opened Dec. 13, offers a sampling of the new experience. More exhibits and enhancements, including personalized Web sites at myloc.gov, are scheduled to debut in spring 2008.

“Later this spring, when we open the bronze doors of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building, we will unleash new ways to tap into the knowledge housed here,” said Jo Ann Jenkins, chief operating officer of the Library of Congress. “Through this new experience, a wealth of information will be accessible as never before.”

Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution, seeks to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its vast collections of books, manuscripts, films, and art objects from all over the globe. The Library’s award-winning Web site is at http://www.loc.gov. More information about the agreement can be found online at http://www.microsoft.com/industry/government/news/library_of_congress.mspx.

IBM Teams With METRO Group to Improve Customer Service and Efficiency With RFID

2008-01-10T10:03:00.000-08:00

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it has worked with METRO Group to implement Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to improve the availability of products in its stores, enhance consumers' shopping experience, and boost supply chain performance. The companies are successfully using RFID in a system which tracks shipments from suppliers to warehouses, distribution centers and stores. The companies are also teaming on an innovative customer focused RFID project in one of METRO Group's Galeria Kaufhof department stores.

Retailers worldwide are focused on deploying strategies aimed at meeting the needs of today's increasingly connected and information hungry customers. METRO Group and IBM have been working together since 2003 on projects aimed at improving operational efficiencies with RFID and ultimately improving customers' shopping experience. As part of the relationship, METRO Group has leveraged IBM's retail expertise, industry leading software products and RFID solutions.

"Our relationship with IBM has been a strategic component of our RFID programs," said Dr. Gerd Wolfram, managing director, MGI METRO Group Information Technology GmbH. "Innovation is at the heart of our strategy. Our use of RFID is improving our operational effectiveness as well as the experience of our customers."

Eye on the Supply Chain

IBM and METRO Group recently completed the rollout of Europe's largest RFID project. The system allows METRO Group to track shipments from suppliers to its warehouses and distribution centers to around 200 supermarkets and stores across Germany. It has enabled METRO Group to improve product availability and ensure that customers' expectations are met.

Pallets of goods destined for a METRO Cash & Carry or Real store contain an RFID tag when they leave the supplier or the group's distribution centers. The tags are scanned by RFID readers on delivery at a store location. The data captured by the readers is provided in real-time to METRO's merchandise information systems using the IBM WebSphere Premises Server, software which aggregates and analyzes RFID information.

Smarter Shopping with RFID

Galeria Kaufhof, a division of METRO Group, has teamed with IBM to develop and install a first of a kind system to enhance customer service in one of its department stores in Essen, Germany. As part of a pilot program, approximately 30,000 articles in the men's fashion department have been equipped with ultra high frequency second generation RFID tags.

Employees are using the system to find articles that shoppers are looking for and to monitor stock to ensure that popular items are always available. The store also features devices in the store's fitting rooms which recognize the tagged garments and display customer information such as price, fabric and care instructions.

A team of experts from IBM Global Business Services designed the system's software architecture and conducted an in-depth analysis of how to best execute the project. IBM also developed Galeria Kaufhof's Store Information System, which provides real-time information on inventory based on readouts of RFID tags. The system puts comprehensive reports on business-related performance indicators into the hands of store employees and managers.

The Galeria Kaufhof project is one of the first to use the EPCglobal architecture framework, which sets communication standards between hardware and software components while also defining data interfaces. Galeria Kaufhof can use the captured data to make better informed decisions on products it will sell in the future.

"Using RFID and Information on Demand software from IBM, METRO Group has enhanced the efficiency of its operations," said Martin Wildberger, vice president, RFID solutions, IBM. "With this project, METRO Group has proven that RFID technology is mature and reliable for use across a chain of retail stores at a reasonable cost, and with minimal effort for suppliers."

METRO Group began its move toward RFID in 2003 when it opened its "Future Store." In 2004, a first RFID pilot was run in 20 wholesale outlets. When the results proved the technology was reliable and easy to use, the company decided in 2007 to extend its use of RFID to all its Cash & Carry and Real stores.

Report: Worldwide, IBM Is Well Ahead of Traditional Competitors in SOA Consulting Services

2008-01-08T12:07:00.000-08:00

A recent spending survey of companies with active service oriented architecture (SOA) projects conducted by AMR Research shows IBM (NYSE: IBM) "is well ahead of its traditional competitors" doing SOA-related client work.

According to the AMR Research report, "SOA: The State of the Market" by research director Ian Finley, more than 67 percent of companies surveyed indicated they were either currently using or considering using IBM SOA consulting services. This figure was 40 percent higher than the results for the next-closest firm, which was named by fewer than half of respondents.

According to the AMR Research report, IBM's SOA-related software products -- based on its WebSphere portfolio -- were being used or considered by 63 percent of companies with active SOA projects.

Just more than half of the companies surveyed by AMR Research said they are currently working with IBM on SOA consulting engagements. The report also noted that, "While IBM's leadership is understandable, given its leading SOA product suite and concerted marketing efforts; its degree of penetration in companies with active SOA projects is impressive."
IBM offers the most comprehensive portfolio of software, services and hardware for building, maintaining and extending SOA environments. IBM has the largest number of SOA clients, with more than 5,700 SOA engagements all over the world.

"IBM's ability to deliver both the services and products that clients require to help them to realize the business value a true SOA environment sets us apart from any other company in the marketplace," said Robert LeBlanc, General Manager, Global Consulting Services and SOA, IBM Global Business Services. "Our market leadership shows that IBM is listening to clients' needs and responding with the capabilities to help them attain new levels of business value."
SOA is among the fastest-growing segments of the information technology industry.

For more information on IBM's SOA capabilities, visit www.ibm.com/soa
Source: AMR Research, Inc. report: "SOA: The State of the Market," by Ian Finley, Tuesday, December 18, 2007.

Oracle Announces New Integration Between Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise 9 and Oracle Customer Hub

2008-01-08T12:06:00.000-08:00

Oracle today announced out-of-the-box Oracle(r) Fusion Middleware based integration between Oracle's PeopleSoft Enterprise Customer Relationship Management (CRM) 9 and Oracle Customer Hub. PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM customers can now take direct advantage of the state-of-the-art MDM capabilities for data quality management, data enrichment, and customer mastering capabilities, enabling an even better customer experience through deep customer data integration that keeps incremental changes to customer records within PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM synchronized with the Oracle Customer Hub in real-time.

The need to better understand customer data and keep it up-to-date throughout the enterprise is a constant challenge, often leading to expensive and time-consuming implementations. With the new integration between PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM and Oracle Customer Hub, users can easily cleanse and remove customer information duplications across systems and realize effective customer information consolidation, data quality management, governance and sharing of data across the enterprise. The integration helps eliminate costly undertakings and deliver all the benefits of customer insight, reduced data management & marketing costs, and effective compliance with regulations.

Key functionality for the new integration includes:

* Real-time, bi-directional sync of customer data between PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM and Oracle Customer Hub through Oracle BPEL Process Manager.
* Enhanced "fuzzy" search capabilities in PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM customer search screens using data quality management (DQM) configurable match rules.
* Duplicate prevention in real-time from PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM customer entry screens.
* Identification of duplicate customers within PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM and merge of duplicate customers using the Oracle Customer Hub Data Steward. Customer records are merged in the Oracle Customer Hub and PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM.
* Real-time and batch customer data enrichment using out-of-the-box connection services to Dun & Bradstreet (D&B).

The PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM integration to Oracle Customer Hub is standards-based and provides the framework for customers to integrate other third-party customer data hubs and data quality tools that they may already have in place. Implementing Oracle Customer Hub as part of PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM is one of the first steps to start benefiting from Oracle Fusion architecture today.

"PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM customers need the ability to cost-effectively determine a single version of customer data across the enterprise," said Oracle Vice President of MDM Strategy Pascal Laik. "The integration helps the enterprise clear a major hurdle for data management and experience even further value and insight into their customer data."

SunGard Acquires Financial Technology Integrators (FTI)

2008-01-08T12:05:00.000-08:00

SunGard (http://www.sungard.com) today announced that it has acquired the assets of Financial Technology Integrators, LLC (FTI). FTI delivers portfolio management, pre-trade compliance, regulatory compliance, integrated performance reporting and modeling systems in a Web services environment. The acquisition, the terms of which were not disclosed, is not expected to have a material impact on SunGard’s financial results.

Founded in 1999, FTI has been a fast-growing provider of ASP-based financial service applications for the bank, trust and investment management community. FTI’s services combine financial data from multiple systems with a customized solution to enhance and streamline investment processes and workflows. FTI provides Web service-based software products, data integration and services that help lower cost and increase return on investment for mission-critical operations in the financial services industry.

“FTI has worked closely with SunGard over the past few years to integrate a number of our wealth management and investment solutions in order to bring added value to the customers we serve,” said Bill McFadden, chief operating officer and founder of FTI. “Joining SunGard’s wealth management business, further integrating our products and collaborating on innovative new solutions will help our customers improve productivity, increase processing efficiencies and streamline investment workflows.”

“Investment managers are facing a new set of complex challenges in managing their businesses,” said Kevin Rafferty, president of SunGard’s wealth management business. “In order to help our customers excel in this changing environment we are pleased that FTI has become part of SunGard’s growing wealth management business. Incorporating FTI’s offerings into SunGard’s suite of end-to-end wealth management solutions will better position us to help our customers attract, service, manage and grow their client relationships.”

About SunGard Solutions for Wealth Management
SunGard is a leading provider of wealth management solutions that help financial advisors, investment managers, bankers, compliance officers and financial services executives grow their businesses by meeting the needs of their mass affluent, high-net worth and institutional customers. SunGard provides an integrated suite of services and best-of-breed point solutions for financial planning, asset allocation, portfolio management, unified managed account programs, trade execution, asset management, custody, trust accounting, compliance and reporting. These solutions are designed to help wealth management firms and practitioners expand client relationships and increase assets while complying with regulatory mandates.

About SunGard
With annual revenue exceeding $4 billion, SunGard is a global leader in software and processing solutions for financial services, higher education and the public sector. SunGard also helps information-dependent enterprises of all types to ensure the continuity of their business. SunGard serves more than 25,000 customers in more than 50 countries, including the world’s 50 largest financial services companies. Visit SunGard at www.sungard.com.

Apple Introduces New Xserve—Most Powerful Apple Server Ever

2008-01-08T07:04:00.000-08:00

Apple® today introduced the new Xserve®, a 1U rack-optimized server that is up to twice as fast as its predecessor* and includes an unlimited client license for Mac OS® X Server Leopard™. Starting at just $2,999, the new Xserve has up to two Quad-Core 3.0 GHz Intel Xeon processors for 8-core performance, a new server architecture, faster front side buses, faster memory, up to 3TB of internal storage and two PCI Express 2.0 expansion slots for greater performance and flexibility.

“With the latest Intel processors and no client access licenses, Xserve offers unbeatable server performance and value for under $3,000,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Xserve’s power, storage and Leopard Server make it ideal for supporting Mac clients and mixed platform workgroups.”

Xserve is configurable with up to two Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5400 series processors running up to 3.0 GHz with 12MB of L2 cache per processor and features a new high-bandwidth hardware architecture, dual-independent 1600 MHz front side buses and up to 32GB of 800 MHz DDR2 ECC FB-DIMM memory for a 64 percent increase in memory throughput**. Two PCI Express 2.0 expansion slots provide up to four times the I/O bandwidth of the previous Xserve to support the latest high-bandwidth expansion cards including multi-channel 4Gb Fibre channel and 10Gb Ethernet cards.

Xserve now includes built-in accelerated graphics to drive up to a 23-inch Apple Cinema Display® and a new front-facing USB 2.0 port. Using Apple’s Server Monitor, an administrator can remotely turn Xserve on or off and manage server software from anywhere on the network. Each of Xserve’s three drive bays can be configured with 73GB or 300GB SAS drives or 80GB and 1TB SATA drives, providing a mix of high performance and vast storage capabilities for a wide range of server applications. Apple offers a hardware RAID card option that delivers hardware RAID levels 0, 1 and 5 with 256MB of cache and an included backup battery for up to 72 hours of cached data protection. The Xserve RAID card delivers up to 251MB/s RAID 5 performance*** for the most demanding server workloads, without using a valuable PCI Express expansion slot.

The new Xserve improves energy efficiency with Intel’s 45 nanometer core microarchitecture technology. The processors draw a maximum consumption of 80W, and drop as low as 4W when idle. Power supplies exceed Energy Star recommendations from the US Department of Energy and Apple’s thermal management technology cools the systems efficiently in a wide variety of environments while reducing power consumption.

Every Xserve ships with a preinstalled, unlimited client edition of Leopard Server software, offering true 64-bit support, easy-to-use management tools and support for Mac®, Linux and Windows clients. Leopard Server is fully UNIX compliant and extends Apple’s legendary ease of use by introducing over 250 new features, including Podcast Producer, the ideal way to automatically publish podcasts to iTunes® or the web; Wiki Server, allowing people to collaboratively create and modify their shared web sites with just a few clicks; and iCal® Server, the world’s first commercial CalDAV standard-based calendar server.

Pricing & Availability
The new Xserve is shipping today and will be available through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com) and Apple Authorized Resellers.

The Xserve standard configuration, with a suggested retail price of $2,999 (US), includes:

a single 64-bit 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Xeon processor with 12MB of L2 cache and a 1600 Mhz front side bus;

2GB of 800 MHz DDR2 ECC FB-DIMM RAM, expandable up to 32GB;

a single 80GB SATA Apple Drive Module;

dual Gigabit Ethernet on-board;

internal graphics;

two FireWire® 800 and three USB 2.0 ports; and

an unlimited client license for Mac OS X Server version 10.5 Leopard.

In addition to the standard configuration, Xserve offers numerous build-to-order options and accessories including: dual 2.8 or 3.0 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors; 80GB and 1TB 7200 rpm SATA or 73GB or 300GB 15,000rpm SAS Apple Drive Modules; internal Xserve RAID card; Gigabit Ethernet, 4Gb Fibre Channel and U320 SCSI expansion card options, and a 750W redundant power supply.

*Based on industry-standard SPEC jbb 2005 benchmark tests conducted by Apple in December 2007 using preproduction 3.0 GHz 8-Core Xserve units and shipping 3.0 GHz Quad-Core Xserve units. SPEC is a registered trademark of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC); see www.spec.org for more information. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Xserve.

**Testing conducted by Apple in December 2007 using preproduction 3.0 GHz 8-Core Xeon-based Xserve units and shipping 3.0 GHz Quad-Core Xserve units. All systems were configured with 8GB of RAM. Results are based on the STREAM v. 5.6 benchmark (www.cs.virginia.edu/stream/ref.html) using OMP support for multiprocessor-compiled builds. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Xserve.

***Testing by Apple in December 2007 using preproduction 3.0 GHz 8-core Xeon-based Xserve units configured with Xserve RAID card. Testing conducted using Iometer 2006.07.27 with a 30-sec ramp-up, 5-min run, 512KB request size, and 4 outstanding IOs. System configured with the OS and test volume on a single RAID volume. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Xserve RAID Card.

Apple Introduces New Mac Pro Fastest Mac Ever—Eight Processor Cores Standard

2008-01-08T07:01:00.000-08:00

Apple® today introduced the new Mac® Pro with eight processor cores and a new system architecture that delivers up to twice the performance of its predecessor*. The new Mac Pro combines two of Intel’s new 45 nanometer Quad-Core Xeon processors running up to 3.2 GHz, powerful new graphics and up to 4TB of internal storage to offer the ideal system for creative professionals, 3D digital content creators and scientists. The standard 8-core configuration starts at just $2,799.

“The new Mac Pro is the fastest Mac we’ve ever made,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With 3.2 GHz 8-core Xeon processing, a 1600 MHz front side bus and 800 MHz memory, the new Mac Pro uses the fastest Intel Xeon architecture on the market.”

The new Mac Pro features the latest Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5400 series processors based on state-of-the-art 45nm Intel Core microarchitecture running up to 3.2 GHz, each with 12MB of L2 cache per processor for breakthrough performance and power efficiency. With a new high-bandwidth hardware architecture, dual-independent 1600 MHz front side buses and up to 32GB of 800 MHz DDR2 ECC FB-DIMM memory, the new Mac Pro achieves a 61 percent increase in memory throughput**.

Every Mac Pro comes standard with the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT graphics card with 256MB of video memory. The Mac Pro includes a new PCI Express 2.0 graphics slot that delivers up to double the bandwidth compared to the previous generation, and supports the latest generation of graphics cards from NVIDIA, such as the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT with 512MB of video memory, or NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 with 1.5GB of video memory and a 3-D stereo port for stereo-in-a-window applications. With support for up to four graphics cards, the new Mac Pro can drive up to eight 30-inch displays at once for advanced visualization and large display walls.

The Mac Pro is the most expandable Mac ever, featuring four internal hard drive bays with direct-attach, cable-free installation of four 1TB Serial ATA hard drives, totaling 4TB of internal storage and support for two SuperDrives. With optional 15000 rpm SAS drives that can deliver up to 250MB/s of RAID 5 disk I/O performance, the Mac Pro is ideal for film and video editors. Combined with SATA or SAS drives, using an optional Mac Pro RAID card offers the ultimate data protection and disk I/O performance on the Mac Pro. The Mac Pro is easily and conveniently accessible in front and back so users can connect external devices with five USB 2.0, two FireWire® 400, two FireWire 800, optical and analog audio in and out, dual Gigabit Ethernet ports and a headphone jack.

Every Mac Pro includes Leopard™, the sixth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system. Leopard is packed with more than 300 new features and introduces a brand new desktop with Stacks, a new way to easily access files from the Dock; a redesigned Finder that lets users quickly browse and share files between multiple Macs; Quick Look, a new way to instantly see files without opening an application; Spaces, an intuitive new feature used to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them; and Time Machine™, an effortless way to automatically back up everything on a Mac. Featuring an improved scheduler and other multi-core technology, Leopard is a perfect companion to the Mac Pro, making applications faster and helping application developers take advantage of multi-core systems.

The new ultra-thin aluminum Apple Keyboard now ships with every Mac Pro and built-in Bluetooth 2.0 makes it easy to reduce cable clutter with the optional Apple Wireless Keyboard and Apple Wireless Mouse.

Pricing & Availability
The new Mac Pro is shipping today and will be available through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com ), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.

The standard 8-core Mac Pro, with a suggested retail price of $2,799 (US), includes:

two 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors with dual-independent 1600 MHz front side buses;

2GB of 800 MHz DDR2 ECC fully-buffered DIMM memory, expandable up to 32GB;

ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT with 256MB of GDDR3 memory;

320GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm;

16x SuperDrive™ with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);

two PCI Express 2.0 slots and two PCI Express slots;

Bluetooth 2.0+EDR; and

ships with Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse.

In addition to the standard configuration, the Mac Pro offers numerous build-to-order options including: one 2.8 GHz, two 3.0 GHz, or two 3.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors; up to 32GB of 800 MHz DDR2 fully-buffered ECC memory; up to four 1TB Serial ATA hard drives running at 7200 rpm or up to four 300GB SAS drives running at 15000 rpm; Mac Pro RAID card; up to two 16x SuperDrives with double-layer support; NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT or NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 graphics cards; AirPort Extreme 802.11n; Apple USB Modem; Apple wireless Aluminum Keyboard; Apple wireless Mighty Mouse; and Mac OS X Server Leopard. Complete build-to-order options and pricing are available at www.apple.com/macpro.

*Based on estimated results comparing a preproduction 2.8 GHz 8-core Mac Pro with a 2.66 GHz Quad-Core Mac Pro running professional applications like Maya, modo and Logic® Pro.

**Testing conducted by Apple in December 2007 using a preproduction 2.8 GHz 8-core Mac Pro with a 2.66 GHz quad-core Mac Pro. All systems were configured with 4GB of RAM. Results are based on the STREAM v. 5.6 benchmark (www.cs.virginia.edu/stream/ref.html) using OMP support for multiprocessor-compiled builds. All systems were configured with 8GB of RAM. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Pro.

Microsoft Announces Offer to Acquire Fast Search & Transfer

2008-01-08T04:24:00.000-08:00

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq “MSFT”) today announced that it will make an offer to acquire Fast Search & Transfer ASA (OSE: “FAST”), a leading provider of enterprise search solutions, through a cash tender offer for 19.00 Norwegian kroner (NOK) per share. This offer represents a 42 percent premium to the closing share price on Jan. 4, 2008 (the last trading day prior to this announcement), and values the fully diluted equity of FAST at 6.6 billion NOK (or approximately $1.2 billion U.S.). FAST’s board of directors has unanimously recommended that its shareholders accept the offer. In addition, shareholders representing in aggregate 37 percent of the outstanding shares, including FAST’s two largest institutional shareholders, Orkla ASA and Hermes Focus Asset Management Europe, have irrevocably undertaken to accept the offer. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of calendar year 2008.

“Enterprise search is becoming an indispensable tool to businesses of all sizes, helping people find, use and share critical business information quickly,” said Jeff Raikes, president of the Microsoft Business Division. “Until now organizations have been forced to choose between powerful, high-end search technologies or more mainstream, infrastructure solutions. The combination of Microsoft and FAST gives customers a new choice: a single vendor with solutions that span the full range of customer needs.”

The companies possess a number of complementary strengths that advance a shared vision for helping businesses deliver information worker productivity and improved business results. FAST has a deep talent pool and is respected throughout the technology industry for its expertise in best-in-class, high-end search solutions. Microsoft offers worldwide customer reach and an extensive partner network, and is the recognized leader in business productivity with the popular Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, which combines search with best-in-class collaboration, business intelligence, portal and content management capabilities.

“This acquisition gives FAST an exciting way to spread our cutting-edge search technologies and innovations to more and more organizations across the world,” said John Lervik, CEO of FAST. “By joining Microsoft, we can benefit from the momentum behind the SharePoint business productivity platform to really empower a broader set of users through Microsoft’s strong sales and marketing network. It validates FAST’s momentum and leadership in enterprise search.”

In addition to bolstering Microsoft’s enterprise search efforts, this acquisition increases Microsoft’s research and development presence in Europe, complementing existing research teams in Cambridge, England, and Copenhagen, Denmark, with new and significant capabilities in Norway.

The offer will be subject to customary terms and conditions, including receipt of acceptances representing more than 90 percent of FAST shares and voting power on a fully diluted basis, and receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals on terms acceptable to Microsoft. The complete details of the offer, including all terms and conditions, will be contained in the offer document, which is expected to be sent to FAST shareholders during the week of Jan. 14, 2008. The offer will not be made in any jurisdiction in which the making of the offer would not be in compliance with the laws of such jurisdiction.

News Teleconference and Playback

At 10:15 a.m. PST Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008, Microsoft and FAST will hold a teleconference to discuss the acquisition. To participate, U.S. residents can dial (877) 917-3408, Norwegian residents can dial 800-18393, and those outside the U.S. and Norway can dial +1 (630) 395-0346. The passcode is 5926426. A recording of the call will be available starting one hour after its conclusion and ending Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008, at 3 a.m. PST. To access this recording, callers can dial (800) 945-5760 (U.S.) or +1 (402) 220-3547 (international).

About FAST

FAST, which was founded in 1997, creates the real-time search and business intelligence solutions that are behind the scenes at the world’s best-known companies with the most demanding information challenges. FAST’s flexible and scalable integrated technology platform and personalized portal connects users, regardless of medium, to the relevant information they need.

FAST is headquartered in Norway and is publicly traded under the ticker symbol ‘FAST’ on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The FAST Group operates globally with presence in Europe, the United States, Asia, Australia, the Americas, and the Middle East. For further information about FAST, please visit http://www.fast.no/.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Intel Unveils 16 Next-Generation Processors, Including First Notebook Chips Built on 45nm Technology

2008-01-07T08:29:00.000-08:00

Intel Corporation unveiled 16 products today, including the company's first 45 nanometer (nm) processors for Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology based laptops.

All of these new chips include the company's new transistor formula and 45nm manufacturing process that boost a PC's speed, reduces power requirements, saves on battery life, helps the environment and comes in smaller packages for more fashionable and compact computer designs. With the introduction of the new processors, Intel will be offering a total of 32 desktop, laptop and server processors based on these industry-leading innovations.

The company also highlighted how it will take advantage of its transistor and manufacturing advances to spur a category of small form-factor, low-powered, high-performance devices that deliver broadband Internet access "in your pocket." The processors are up to 25 percent smaller than previous versions so computer makers can create sleek, new designs for consumers ranging from stylish all-in-one desktop PCs to smaller notebooks.

Among the 16 new products, 12 are designed for new laptops and desktops products and four are for servers. All are now lead-free1 and, starting this year, halogen-free2, making the processors more eco-friendly.

"The new products we're announcing today provide consumers and businesses with the benefit of sleeker and higher-performing laptops and more powerful and fashionable PCs that deliver for the most hard-core gamer, high-definition enthusiast and just about every other consumer demand," said Mooly Eden, vice president and general manager, mobile platforms group, Intel. "And later this year, Intel will begin delivering the mobile Internet with much smaller, lighter and powerful Internet-enabled devices that ultimately will fit right into your pocket."

Intel Adds Mobile Processors to Line-up
Intel is shipping five new mobile processors, enabling breakthrough performance and improved battery life, providing consumers with the ability to be more productive or just enjoy their digital entertainment while on the go. Helping to extend battery life is also a new Intel Core microarchitecture design feature for advanced power management state called Deep Power Down Technology that reduces the power of the processor when it's not running data or instructions to the laptop.

The processors are the foundation for the company's popular Intel® Centrino® technology for laptops, and deliver improved content and video capabilities with HD DVD* and Blu-Ray* support with an optional third-party decoder. Centrino-based notebooks also come with the Mobile Intel® 965 Express Chipset and wireless networking including the optional support for 802.11n networks with Intel® Next-Gen Wireless-N.

Intel has also added new video and graphics capabilities with Intel® HD Boost that includes Intel® Streaming SIMD Extensions 4 (SSE4) for speeding up workloads including video encoding for high-definition and photo manipulation.

Intel will also use this mobile technology foundation and energy-efficient performance to enable a variety of smaller, cooler and quieter, stylish desktop designs. These computers, including the increasingly popular "all-in-one" category, provide the performance to run a variety of digital media and the latest software simultaneously, as well as enhanced high-definition video and smoother playback using Intel® Clear Video Technology.

More Mobility on Tap: in Your Pocket; Wireless WiMAX
Pushing the power of the full Internet "in your pocket," Intel's strategy for using low-power Intel Architecture platforms that drastically reduce CPU and chipset power, and package size continues to gain momentum. Intel plans to ship in the first half of this year its first-generation low-power platform chipset that will help deliver a range of ultra mobile and mobile Internet devices from a growing ecosystem of customers.

Intel also continues to work closely with carriers around the world to deploy mobile WiMAX networks. These networks will help deliver true high-speed mobile Internet experiences to a variety of digital devices starting later this year.

Mainstream Desktop PCs Get 45nm Performance and Efficiency Boost
Building on its November 2007 introduction (the Intel® Core™2 Extreme quad-core processor QX9650), Intel announced three quad core and four dual core 45nm-based processors for mainstream desktop PCs arriving later this month and throughout the first quarter of the year.

The new Intel® Core™ 2 Quad and Intel Core™ 2 Duo processor offerings will speed the transition to Intel's newest processor line and multicore adoption, and are arriving at a time when digital and high-definition content, including photos, home videos, music, television shows and social networking, continues to grow exponentially.

Consumers will realize more performance at a variety of PC purchase prices as these processors feature a range of clock speeds, large L2 caches, and also come equipped with Intel® HD Boost (SSE4 instructions). These 45nm processors are also a requirement for computer-makers carrying the Intel Core™2 Processor with Viiv™ technology brand, making it easier for consumers to select a great entertainment PC with Intel's most innovative technologies.

Dual core desktop processor-based PCs using these new processors begin shipping this month; quad core-based systems plan to arrive later this quarter.

The company also introduced four Intel Xeon processors for servers and workstations; they are expected to ship this quarter.

About Intel
Intel, the world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom and blogs.intel.com .

Intel, Centrino, Xeon, and Core are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries.

* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

1 45nm product is manufactured on a lead-free process. Lead-free per EU RoHS directive July 2006. Some E.U. RoHS exemptions may apply to other components used in the product package.

2 Residual amounts of halogens are below November 2007 proposed IPC/JEDEC J-STD-709 standards.

HP Drives Digital Entertainment Industry with Connected PCs, TVs and Services

2008-01-07T07:14:00.000-08:00

Fueling the emerging connected entertainment industry, HP today introduced a broad lineup of products, services and relationships that make it easier than ever for consumers to adopt a high-definition, digital lifestyle.

Unveiled at the opening of CES 2008, the world's largest annual tradeshow for consumer technology, the new lineup includes dazzling entertainment PCs, an expanded portfolio of HP MediaSmart connected entertainment products, digital content services such as Upline, which allows people to store and share digital content over any Internet connection, and a range of partners involved in the creation and distribution of digital content.

"HP has made a focused effort around breakthrough solutions in digital entertainment, high-tech design and home computing technologies - and it has made us the world's leading consumer technology company," said Todd Bradley, executive vice president, Personal Systems Group, HP. "We're continuing that momentum today with an expanded portfolio of stylish, easy-to-use digital technologies that will help to make the hi-def lifestyle a reality for more people every day."

Stylish, easy-to-use products

One of the standout products in HP's updated portfolio of consumer PCs is the HP Pavilion tx2000 Series Entertainment Notebook PC.

The tx2000 offers an unmatched touch and pen experience with a new, resistive touch-screen technology and built-in digitizer that recognizes the rechargeable pen as it nears the screen and disables the touch feature to ensure easy transition between touch and handwriting.

Featuring a sleek, high-gloss "Echo" Imprint finish, this elegantly designed convertible notebook also comes with HP QuickPlay software, which provides access to a variety of entertainment options at the touch of a button. Using the HP Webcam, integrated microphone and instant messaging solution of their choice, people can engage in live video chat with friends and family across the world.(1) The new HP Pavilion tx2000 is available today starting at an estimated U.S. street price of $1,299.(2)

An impressive combination of size, performance and value, the HP Pavilion Slimline s3300 offers a dual-format Blu-ray and HD-DVD player,(3) plus a TV tuner(4) and NVIDIA GeForce 8500 card with HDMI port. The setup equips families and students with the functionality of a conventional tower PC in a desktop that's one-third the size - and it lists under $1,000.(2)

Buoyed by its tremendous success in PCs in 2007, HP is now making every TV it sells a connected HP MediaSmart TV, which feature advanced technology to allow consumers to stream movies,(5) music and photos from any networked PC in the home to a high-definition(6) LCD TV. In addition, with the new HP MediaSmart Receiver, the company is extending the same networking capability to any of the hundreds of thousands of HDTVs already in consumers' homes.

The HP MediaSmart Receiver features a piano-black finish as well as HP's exclusive "Zen" Imprint pattern and ambient blue lighting, making it a stylish addition to any room in the home. The receiver enables seamless aggregation of digital content from multiple PCs around the home so users can access and enjoy their favorite photos, music and movies on any HDTV.

The latest HP MediaSmart LCD HDTVs now feature Media Center Extender technology, new panels for dynamic blacks and enhanced image quality, and aesthetic updates such as a streamlined industrial design and a back-lighted remote control for an enhanced entertainment experience that allows people to enjoy all their digital content on a stunning HDTV.

HP also is making a variety of enhancements to its MediaSmart Server, including the addition of integrated server-side anti-virus software from McAfee(7) for added security as well as remote access and the availability of Photo Webshare and iTunes on the HP Media Vault for more robust and secure experiences.

New digital content services

HP makes online trip planning and sharing a snap with the new HP iPAQ Navigate website - www.ipaq.com/navigate. The site helps customers research points of interest and create tailored travel plans that then can be printed for easy reference or loaded onto the new HP iPAQ 300 Series Travel Companion for dynamic trip management.

The site allows users to share their travel plans with family, friends and colleagues online. Travelers also can edit itineraries directly on their device and instantly share new updates when logging back online or even add notes about their travels into their trip plan so others can use the information to create and customize their own trips.(8,9)

Expected to be available in March, the new HP Upline online service at www.upline.com allows customers to readily access, share, manipulate and store digital content over any Internet connection.(1) Friends and family near and far can access shared digital files in just a few simple steps.

The new service is a result of HP's recent acquisition of Opelin, a small, privately held San Jose, Calif., company that provides secure, scalable online services including storage, backup and data migration. The new online service complements HP's existing hardware storage offerings by providing consumers and SMB customers the security of knowing their digital world is protected in a secure, offsite location in case their local PC gets lost, damaged or destroyed.

More information on HP's new CES product and services lineup is available in an online press kit at www.hp.com/go/CES2008.

New relationships drive innovation in design and marketing

HP also is for the first time displaying its new Artist Edition notebook at CES. Available later this spring, the limited-edition Artist Edition HP Pavilion notebook features the "Asian Odyssey" personal design of 20-year-old Joao Oliveira of Porto, Portugal, the winner of the "Take Action. Make Art." global notebook-design competition.

Also on display are the "extreme makeover" notebooks created as part of the HP and PC Magazine "The Computerlicious Design Experience." These one-of-a-kind, fully functional works of art designed by rap superstar Nelly's Apple Bottoms clothing line, handbag designer Rebecca Minkoff and renowned street muralist James de la Vega, among others, will be auctioned off on eBay to benefit tech non-profit the National Cristina Foundation.

During CES, the notebooks will be on display in HP's booth and at PC Magazine's 25th anniversary celebration at Tabú. View all the designs online and find out more about the charity auction at www.pcmag.com/computerlicious.

About HP

HP focuses on simplifying technology experiences for all of its customers - from individual consumers to the largest businesses. With a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure, HP is among the world's largest IT companies, with revenue totaling $104.3 billion for the four fiscal quarters ended Oct. 31, 2007. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com

(1) Internet access required.

(2) Estimated U.S. street price; actual prices may vary.

(3) As HD DVD and Blu-ray are new formats containing a new technologies, certain disc, digital connection, compatibility and/or performance issues may arise, and do not constitute defects in the product. Flawless playback on all systems is not guaranteed. In order for some HD-DVD and Blu-ray titles to play, they may require a DVI or HDMI digital connection and your display may require HDCP support. Some HD DVD and Blu-ray advanced features may not be supported.

(4) Availability of signals limited by the strength and accessibility of the originating TV signal, location and other factors. Performance issues may arise, and do not constitute defects in the product.

(5) DVD movies cannot be streamed.

(6) High definition (HD) source content varies and will depend on source input, signal, aspect ratio and other factors. HD content may require separately purchased service contract or other fees. HD content may not be available in your service area, check with service provider.

(7) 60 day trial period. Internet access required to receive updates. First update included. Subscription required for updates thereafter. This McAfee Total Protection for Small Business software is licensed to you by McAfee under the terms of the McAfee end user license agreement which can be read at http://us.mcafee.com/root/aboutUs.asp?id=eula .

(8) GPS Navigation software is included in select countries. Purchase of additional maps and/or software may be required to enable some features or allow navigation in certain areas. Map coverage may vary and is not guaranteed.

(9) Bluetooth™-enabled devices, separately purchased equipment and a service contract with a wireless airtime provider may be required for applicable wireless communication. Wireless Internet use requires a separately purchased service contract. Check with service provider for availability and coverage.

Bluetooth is a trademark owned by its proprietor and used by Hewlett-Packard Company under license.

Bill Gates Looks Ahead at Next Digital Decade

2008-01-07T07:11:00.000-08:00

At the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates and Microsoft President of the Entertainment & Devices Division Robbie Bach today unveiled several new entertainment services and partnerships, including new deals with Disney-ABC Television Group, NBC Universal and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM), that demonstrate how software is improving people’s ability to connect with their favorite content and communities through new and expanded forms of entertainment experiences.

In his 11th CES opening keynote address, Gates looked at the sweeping changes since 2001 that have created the first true Digital Decade, including the continued expansion of the popularity of Windows-based PCs, the growing prevalence of broadband networks, the spread of mobile phones and the advent of portable digital media devices.

“Since I first started talking about the Digital Decade in 2001, the speed with which digital technology has become central to the way we work, learn and play has been amazing,” Gates said. “But in many ways, we are at the very beginning of the transformation that software will enable. During the next Digital Decade, technology will make our lives richer, more connected, more productive and more fulfilling in profound and exciting ways.”

Gates went on to outline his vision for the next Digital Decade — an era in which dramatic advances in hardware and software will make the power of computing a ubiquitous part of day-to-day life. Gates referenced how natural user interfaces will more closely reflect the way people interact with each other. High-definition experiences will be nearly everywhere. Services-connected devices running on the Web and huge amounts of storage accessible via the Internet will mean that information and capabilities people want will be available instantly and seamlessly, no matter where they are.

Partnership With NBC Universal for the First “Long-Tail” Olympics

A joint Microsoft-NBC Universal announcement provides just one indication of the power of software to change the way people experience online entertainment. NBC Universal and Microsoft will raise the bar for live and on-demand Internet broadcasting through an exclusive agreement where Microsoft and NBC will deliver NBCOlympics.com on MSN, the official U.S. online home of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In the first “long-tail” Olympics, online viewers will have access to more than 3,000 hours of live and on-demand content so they can watch their favorite athlete or sport, regardless of whether the sport has seven fans or 7 million. NBCOlympics.com on MSN will be available free and powered by Microsoft Silverlight technology, a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering high-quality video experiences on the Web.

“With Microsoft’s cutting-edge technology and MSN’s enormous reach, we will be positioned on NBCOlympics.com to enable Olympic fans to tailor their Olympic online viewing experience — they can watch Olympic sports content when and where they want,” said Gary Zenkel, president of NBC Olympics. “An on-demand Olympics means online viewers will be able to return to their favorite Olympic moments over and over or watch a performance they may have missed for the first time.”

Hit ABC and Disney Channel Programs Join Xbox Live Video Lineup; MGM Brings Legendary Library of Films to Xbox LIVE

Bach announced that hit TV programs from ABC Television and Disney Channel will join the Xbox Live programming available for download directly to the Xbox 360 console. In addition, MGM will bring its library of hit movies.

Under the agreement with Disney-ABC Television Group, later this month, all U.S. Xbox LIVE members will begin to have access to select TV shows and movies from the ABC Television Network, ABC Family, ABC News, Disney Channel and Toon Disney as part of an agreement with Disney-ABC Television Group. More than 500 hours of content, in both standard definition and high definition when available, will be offered including hit ABC Television shows “Lost,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Ugly Betty” and “Desperate Housewives.” Past and current ABC shows will be available on demand, with new episodes arriving on the service the day after they air on television.

Under the agreement with MGM, Xbox 360 will offer MGM’s legendary movie library on demand for Xbox 360 including such titles as “Rocky,” “Terminator,” “Legally Blonde,” “Silence of the Lambs” and “Barbershop.” United Artists, an MGM sister company, will also make select films available on demand.

With more than 10 million Xbox LIVE members and more than 3,500 hours of premium content, Xbox 360 has established itself as a premier platform for on-demand TV shows and movies, including impressive high definition experiences, for TV.

“Xbox LIVE Marketplace is the destination for high-definition movies, TV shows and music videos,” Bach said. “And, with the new Disney-ABC and MGM partnerships, we are bringing even more compelling high-definition content to people through their Xbox 360.”

Xbox 360 on Track to Register Biggest Year in Video Game History

According to Bach, the continuing success of Xbox is another indication of the power of digital technology to transform the way people access and experience entertainment of all kinds. Sales of 17.7 million consoles this holiday season surpassed original expectations and put Xbox 360 on track to register the biggest year in video game history as U.S. consumers spent more on the Xbox 360 platform in 2007 than on any other gaming platform.

“With its continued momentum in games, accessories and digital entertainment via our leading online service Xbox LIVE, and record-setting games and accessory attach rates, evidence is everywhere that Xbox 360 is thriving,” Bach said.

Zune to Launch in Canada; Zune Social Grows Rapidly

Adding to the entertainment momentum, Bach announced that Zune will be available in Canada in spring 2008, the first time the family of digital music players will be available outside the U.S. Microsoft also announced that since the November launch of Zune Social, more than 1.5 million people have joined the music-focused social network, demonstrating how Zune is tapping into consumers’ desire to share their musical passions with their broader community.

Windows Vista Hits 100 Million Licenses; Shows Latest “Fashion” PCs

During the keynote, Gates talked about the ongoing transformation of the personal computer and he shared sales figures for Windows Vista that indicate that the PC and the Windows platform remains a central catalyst for the advances of the Digital Decade. According to Gates, the company has sold more than 100 million Windows Vista licenses to date.

“For more than 25 years, Windows has unlocked the power of personal computing,” Gates said. “Now we are expanding Windows to go where you want to go and do what you want to do on PCs, the Web and mobile devices. The result is connected experiences that extend across people’s lives, interests and communities, at home and at work.”

In addition to technology advances that continue to make PCs more powerful, more portable and more affordable, there is a growing emphasis on style. Independent research firm Forrester Research Inc. has predicted that the period between now and 2012 will be the “Age of Style” for the consumer PC industry, with “strategists and marketers weaving design concerns into their thinking about every facet of their company’s strategies as style and design becomes a critical brand attribute.” (“The Age Of Style In Consumer PCs,” Forrester Research, June 25, 2007). Examples from several hardware manufacturers were shown in a video during the CES keynote, including these:

• ASUS-Lamborghini VX3. Available in the first quarter of 2008, this PC is ultrathin and lightweight, and comes with a 12.1-inch-wide LED backlit panel and premium leather-bound palm rest with exquisite stitch detailing reminiscent of that in a Lamborghini automobile.

• Lenovo IdeaPad U110. Available in January 2008, this super-slim notebook weighs just over two pounds and is embellished with a tendril texture etched into a red metal cover and includes a Dolby Home Theater system and optional Solid State Drives.

New IPTV Experiences; Microsoft Mediaroom Now on 1 Million Set-Top Boxes

Other announcements highlight the ongoing impact that digital technology and software plus services are having on the way people experience television. Showtime Networks Inc. and Turner Broadcasting System Inc.’s TNT and CNN networks all introduced new TV applications capable of delivering the most advanced digital TV services on the Microsoft Mediaroom Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) platform, which is enabling over 20 of the world’s leading broadband service providers to deliver advanced digital TV services.

Examples of innovative new television experiences include the ability to view NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races from the driver’s vantage point by choosing from a series of in-car cameras on broadcasts by TNT; to watch boxing matches by selecting different camera angles and audio feeds on Showtime; and to access the richness of CNN.com’s 2008 presidential election coverage while watching CNN’s television broadcast.

Microsoft also announced that Mediaroom is now running on 1 million set-top boxes worldwide and unveiled a new offering called DVR Anywhere, giving customers the flexibility of watching their recorded programs on multiple TVs in the home.

In addition, Microsoft announced that Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. will support Extender for Windows Media Center, enabling televisions to stream HD content from any Windows Vista-based PCs with Windows Media Center over a wired or dual-band Wireless-N home network. This partnership builds on strong momentum and a growing set of online services, including the recent beta release of Windows Media Center Internet TV, which offers more than 100 hours of ad-supported entertainment from MSN Video, including full-length shows, music concerts and movie trailers.

New Interfaces Drive Future of Computing: Speech, Vision, Touch and More

Examples of the growing prevalence of more natural user interfaces were also on display during the keynote. Bach previewed a new version of Tellme, Microsoft’s integrated voice-and-visual mobile service that enables people to use voice commands to say what they want and see the answer on their phone’s screen. The new service uses Global Positioning System (GPS) capabilities to identify the caller’s location, yielding results that are significantly more relevant. Tellme is available today on AT&T Wireless and Sprint phones and will be available in future versions of Windows Mobile.

For example, a person can “call” the Web on a mobile phone and say “movies” and the software will recognize where the person is located and send to that mobile phone’s screen a list of the theaters closest to that location. Furthermore, Microsoft gave an early glimpse of how future versions may also offer the ability to purchase movie tickets from a mobile phone and share the movie information with friends and family via a text message.

Bach also demoed voice-activated technology for the car, including Sync, a fully integrated in-car communications and infotainment system for mobile phones and digital music players that has been available in select Ford models since September. Ford Motor Co., which expects to sell more than 1 million vehicles with Sync by early 2009, unveiled the new 911 Assist feature that connects drivers with emergency services in the case of an accident or emergency.

Windows Home Server Breaks Ground on New Features, Expands Into More Homes Worldwide

2008-01-07T07:08:00.000-08:00

Attendees of this week’s 2008 International CES will be introduced to Windows Home Server Power Pack 1. The new software delivers a range of enhancements for customers who have embraced Windows Home Server since its launch last November, helping them protect, organize and share their digital photos, music, videos and documents.

Microsoft Corp. is committed to continually enhancing the capabilities and benefits of Windows Home Server for partners and consumers. With Power Pack 1, the Windows Home Server Connector software for home computers is compatible with 64-bit editions of Windows Vista. This update release also provides a new way to protect data, in case of a disaster such as a fire or theft, by enabling the backup of a home server to external storage. In addition, Power Pack 1 improves its remote access features by providing a simple way to upload multiple files, presenting photo thumbnail views and enabling more control of remote user access.

With Power Pack 1, power consumption of Windows Home Server is more efficient, complementing the power management capabilities in Windows Home Server-based hardware products such as the Fujitsu Siemens Computers SCALEO Home Server and Tranquil Home Servers. Power Pack 1 also adds support for the Chinese and Japanese languages, and will be available to customers automatically in spring 2008 through Windows Update. More information about the update is available on the Windows Home Server blog at http://blogs.technet.com/homeserver.

Unveiled by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates at CES 2007 and launched in November, Windows Home Server represents a new product category embraced by both customers and industry partners. Forrester Research Inc. forecasts that home server adoption will reach 4.56 million households in the next five years.

“Windows Home Server will spearhead the growth of an important new product category,” said J.P. Gownder, principal analyst at Forrester Research, in his December 2007 teleconference, “Forrester’s Windows Home Server Outlook and Forecast.” “The proliferation of consumer digital assets creates a need for the functionality of a home server. And multi-PC households are growing rapidly, along with home networks.”

Delighted Customers

Customer demand for Windows Home Server has been strong; the HP MediaSmart Server, powered by Windows Home Server, sold out on leading retailer Web sites after it launched. Customers in more than 30 countries are now using Windows Home Server to help secure and enjoy their digital content and experiences. For example, in the United States, Brian Driscall used Windows Home Server to quickly restore all of his 9-year-old son’s progress on the “LEGO Star Wars” computer game, after his 4-year-old son had deleted the information.

“I saved the day for my son,” Driscall said. “I love being able to stream music, videos and pictures from my home server, too. We had some friends over recently, and we were able to show them pictures from our Thanksgiving vacation on our TV.”

Brian Irvin is a technical sergeant in the New York Air National Guard, stationed in Antarctica. He posts videos of himself to the server back home, so he can stay connected with his wife and children.*

“The kids really love it. My 5-year-old daughter even talks to the computer while the videos are playing,” Irvin said. “I’m able to read my kids a bedtime story, even though I’m on the other side of the planet.”

Partners Build On the Windows Home Server Platform

More than 15 hardware makers around the world have announced Windows Home Server-based products. Third-party software developers have released or announced approximately 50 Add-in programs to extend Windows Home Server capabilities, including personal blogging, family Web sites, media sharing, home security features, home automation, and protection against viruses and malware.

In its pressroom at CES, Microsoft will demonstrate Windows Home Server working with partner solutions such as the Sonos Digital Music System and CEIVA digital photo frames. In France, the OMSERVER from OMWAVE is a new Windows Home Server-based hardware product with home automation Add-in software. Information about other Windows Home Server-based hardware products and third-party Add-ins is available at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/homeserver.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

* Use of Windows Home Server’s remote access features may require additional services from your broadband provider, such as access to certain “ports” that some providers may block for customers on some service plans. Contact your broadband provider if you have questions about their services or service terms.

For more information about Windows Home Server:

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/homeserver (virtual pressroom)

http://www.microsoft.com/windowshomeserver (product page)

For more information about the HP MediaSmart Server:

http://www.hp.com/go/mediasmartserver

Seven Logitech Products Win CES Innovations Awards

2008-01-06T04:22:00.000-08:00

Seven Logitech (SWX: LOGN) (NASDAQ: LOGI) products were named 2008 CES Innovations award winners for excellence in design and engineering, including the Logitech® Harmony® One advanced universal remote, which won the prestigious Best of Innovations award in the Home-Entertainment Accessories category. All of the award-winning Logitech products will be on display at the 2008 International CES tradeshow in the Logitech booth (No. 35512, South Hall, Las Vegas Convention Center).

“It is truly an honor for Logitech to be recognized alongside so many other great products,” said Jerry Quindlen, chief executive officer of Logitech. “These awards validate our deep commitment to world-class design and acknowledge our design and engineering organizations for their persistent devotion to delivering products that delight our customers.”

The award-winning products include:

Best of Innovations: The Logitech Harmony One Advanced Universal Remote
Winner of the CES 2008 Design and Engineering Award: Best of Innovations in Home-Entertainment Accessories, the Harmony® One advanced universal remote control marks a significant leap in the evolution of the best-selling line of Harmony remotes. Offering the same one-touch, activity-based control as other Harmony remotes, the Harmony One makes controlling home entertainment even easier with a full-color touch screen, an intuitive button layout and an exceptionally comfortable user-friendly design.

To better address ergonomics, the Harmony One remote features a curved, exceptionally comfortable shape that is easy for anyone in the family to hold, regardless of hand size. Presenting an elegant piano-black top and a silver base, and black buttons with white backlighting, Harmony One is the perfect complement for any living room. And the rechargeable remote’s recharging station has a sleek profile with an adjustable light that makes it easy to find, even in the dark.

Honoree: Logitech diNovo Mini Palm-Sized Keyboard with Media Remote and ClickPad
For people who have connected their PC to their TV, the Logitech® diNovo Mini™ keyboard with media remote and ClickPad makes it easy to control PC entertainment from the sofa. For easy navigation, the diNovo Mini palm-sized keyboard features backlighting and an innovative ClickPad, which can be used as a touch pad to point, scroll and click – or as a directional pad to navigate menus and make selections. For unfettered use from anywhere in the living room, the mini-keyboard uses Bluetooth® 2.0 wireless technology.

Honoree: Logitech Squeezebox Duet Network Music System
The Logitech® Squeezebox™ Duet network music system extends the promise of the award-winning Squeezebox products, which allow people to access and listen to the music they love in any room of their home. The Squeezebox Duet offers an innovative controller, which includes a full-color LCD screen, and a compact receiver – enabling people to wirelessly browse, select and play their digital music on their existing stereo speakers anywhere in the home.

To help people navigate their digital music collections, the new Squeezebox Controller features a 2.4-inch full-color LCD screen. The multi-room controller uses a convenient scroll wheel, familiar menus and intuitive buttons, making it easy for people to browse, select and play their personal music collection, Internet radio and online subscription services.

Honoree: Logitech G9 Laser Mouse
The Logitech® G9 Laser Mouse takes customization to the extreme, giving PC gamers the ability to modify nearly every part of the G9 mouse for the best personal fit, feel and performance. With the G9 mouse, gamers can enjoy interchangeable grips, on-the-fly dpi switching ranging from 200 dpi to 3200 dpi, full-speed USB laser tracking, an onboard-memory profiling system, weight tuning, a custom-color LED and the hyper-fast MicroGear™ Precision Scroll Wheel.

Honoree: Logitech Pure-Fi Dream Premium Bedroom Music System for iPod
The Logitech® Pure-Fi Dream™ Premium Bedroom Music System for iPod® establishes a new category of iPod speakers for the bedroom. The Pure-Fi Dream speakers feature an innovative application of motion- and light-sensing technology, premium audio, a built-in radio and alarm clock functions all in a stylish, compact speaker system perfect for any night stand. A premium accompaniment to any iPod, the Pure-Fi Dream speakers offer one-button access to iPod playlists and radio stations.

Honoree: Logitech MX Air Rechargeable Cordless Air Mouse
The Logitech® MX Air™ Rechargeable Cordless Air Mouse works on the desk and in the air. Similar to the way people use a remote to control a television, when holding the MX Air mouse, people can now lean back and relax while navigating the computer and enjoying media content. To enable effortless in-air navigation, the new mouse combines three important technologies – Freespace™ motion-control, gesture command and wireless – so people can point, select and play media files with just a flick of the wrist.

Honoree: Logitech VX Nano Cordless Laser Mouse
The Logitech® VX Nano Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks offers the tiny, plug-and-forget Nano-receiver. The mouse’s Nano-receiver provides highly mobile notebook PC and MacBook® users with a mouse that simplifies life on the road. Because the USB receiver is so small, people no longer need to constantly plug and unplug it when moving from place to place.

About Logitech
Logitech is a world leader in personal peripherals, driving innovation in PC navigation, Internet communications, digital music, home-entertainment control, gaming and wireless devices. Founded in 1981, Logitech International is a Swiss public company traded on the SWX Swiss Exchange (LOGN) and on the Nasdaq Global Select Market (LOGI).

Ariba Helps Companies Rein in Marketing Spend

2008-01-03T13:24:00.000-08:00

Marketing and sales go hand in hand. If you don’t market your goods and services, it’s tough to sell them. But, in an increasingly global economy, the costs of marketing have become significant. Which poses a unique challenge to today’s chief marketing and procurement officers: how can we expand our reach through marketing projects and control our costs while maintaining our brand identity and increasing our ROI? On January 17, Ariba, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARBA), the leading spend management solutions provider, will host an interactive webcast to discuss ways in which companies can do just this. The live session will take place at 1 p.m. ET.

"Marketing organizations are under constant pressure to find innovative ways to promote their brand. And they must carefully balance their investments across print, online and broadcast channels," said Kris Colby, Director, Spend Management Services, Ariba. "With budgets typically very tight, CMOs must identify the right mix of programs and work closely with their peers in procurement to maximize their investments and the returns they generate."

During the January 17 webinar, Ariba will outline best practices that companies can implement to achieve dramatic and sustainable savings across their marketing spend while maintaining the quality of their programs and improving productivity, including:

Get a grip:

The key to successfully sourcing marketing spend lies in understanding the unique requirements and concerns of key stakeholders and developing an integrated approach to address them. Be sure to allow stakeholders to communicate their needs and be willing to make the trade offs necessary to drive savings without sacrificing quality.

Remove the fear factor:

Demonstrate how cost-efficiency and quality can co-exist and increase the value that marketing delivers through re-pricing and aggregating vendors, re-defining specifications, formalizing processes and tying them to contract compliance, and increasing collaboration with key suppliers.

Educate:

By outlining the value and opportunities created by effective spend management - for instance, money saved can be used to fund additional projects - you can gain the buy-in needed to drive your program on an enterprise-wide basis.

Customize your approach:

Marketing projects have unique requirements that must be taken into account when developing strategic sourcing events. By adapting your approach to account for their nuances and allowing suppliers to outline their creative capabilities, you can adequately compare price and non-price factors to make optimal decisions that align with and advance both marketing and overall business goals.

Look beyond technology:

When it comes to effectively managing marketing spend, software alone is not enough. By leveraging solutions that combine technology, commodity expertise and services, you can more effectively compare suppliers based on unique characteristics and make optimal sourcing decisions that lower costs while increasing quality.

"With the right processes in place, companies can maximize their marketing investments and execute innovative and highly creative programs that deliver results," Colby said.

To learn more about Ariba's spend management solutions and services and the results they are helping organizations of all sizes deliver across categories, please visit www.ariba.com.

To register for the January 17 webcast, please visit: https://event.on24.com

About Ariba, Inc.

Ariba, Inc. is the leading provider of spend management solutions to help companies realize rapid and sustainable bottom line results. Successful companies around the world in every industry use Ariba Spend Management™ software and services. Ariba can be contacted in the U.S. at 1.650.390.1000 or at www.ariba.com.

Broadcom Announces High Definition PVR Satellite System-on-a-Chip Solution for Direct Broadcast Satellite Set-Top Boxes

2008-01-03T07:31:00.000-08:00

Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced a new single-chip, multi-format high definition (HD) satellite set-top box solution that enables manufacturers to develop low cost satellite set-top boxes (STBs) with personal video recorder (PVR) functionality.
The new Broadcom® satellite system-on-a-chip (SoC) is manufactured in 65 nanometer (nm) process technology that features the highest level of functionality, fully integrating a dual tuner/demodulator, and the latest generation of AVC (advanced video coding) decoder that supports multiple video formats. By reducing the number of components required to develop satellite set-top box products, Broadcom has reduced power consumption by more than 50% over competing solutions, lowering system bill of materials (BOM) cost while reducing the complexity and size of designing next generation satellite STBs with watch-and-record capabilities.

Announced today is the single-chip BCM7335 satellite SoC set-top box solution with PVR functionality that supports worldwide standards for direct broadcast satellite (DBS) set-top boxes based on DVB-S2, DVB-S and 8PSK, and is backward compatible with the DVB-S standards. Built around previous generations of Broadcom digital cable and satellite STB chips and technology, service providers that deploy set-top boxes designed around the BCM7335 can cost effectively provide their subscribers with advanced HD television viewing features, improved picture quality and PVR functionality.

"The BCM7335 offers the highest level of integration in a single chip that enables service providers to offer advanced features, such as watch-and-record functionality, to their subscribers to enhance the viewing experience," said Nicholas Dunn, Director of Marketing for Broadcom's Satellite Set-Top Box line of business. "With this new SoC, coupled with our successful 65 nanometer process technology, Broadcom continues to fuel the technical innovation in the satellite industry and highly integrated single-chip solutions that reduce power, PCB size, complexity and overall system cost."

"With the expanding number of HDTV channels being delivered by satellite pay-TV providers, it has become essential for them to continue offering advanced STBs with robust features and improved functionality as a differential advantage," said Michael Inouye, Research Analyst at In-Stat. "Broadcom's BCM7335 with PVR functionality, and higher capacities enabled by 8PSK modulation, is one of those SoCs well suited for more efficient HD channel delivery and widespread adoption."

Technical Information

The BCM7335 is Broadcom's next generation satellite set-top box system on a single chip manufactured in the 65nm process. It integrates a dual tuner/demodulator from the BCM4506 front-end device and the latest generation of AVC decoders that supports multiple video formats.

It operates on a dual-threaded MIPS® CPU core running at 450 MHz resulting in over 950 DMIPS in performance. The BCM7335 is designed to support UMA and non-UMA memory architectures, utilizing a 400-MHz clock, 32 + 16-bit wide double date rate (DDR2) memory interface for enhanced performance and allows cost effective memory implementations.

The BCM7335 supports several interfaces for TV output on-chip that is integrated on-chip including the HDMI, baseband composite, component or S-Video, and incorporates Broadcom's advanced 2D graphics engine that enables true studio-quality text and graphics, efficiently using its memory and bandwidth.

The BCM7335 is designed using the 65 nanometer process -- the most advanced lithographic node for manufacturing semiconductors in large volumes today that provides significant benefits over 90nm and 130nm processes by enabling lower power consumption, smaller size and higher levels of integration. For Broadcom, the move to 65 nanometer process technology is changing the competitive landscape because of the breadth and depth of the communications intellectual property the company possesses. Without a broad portfolio of market-leading solutions to integrate, competitors are not able to take full advantage of the benefits that these next generation processes provide.

Availability and Pricing

The BCM7335 high definition PVR satellite SoC is sampling to early access customers. Pricing is available upon request for manufacturers of satellite TV set-top boxes.

Broadcom also makes available to early access customers a fully supported reference design (BCM97335) that ensures cost efficient design and manufacturing, and faster time-to-market. The BCM97335 reference design is a development platform for set-top box design based on the BCM7335 and is available with complete software source code, schematics and Gerber files, and provides detailed design information for manufacturers of satellite TV set-top box terminals.

About Broadcom's Broadband Communications Group

Broadcom offers manufacturers a range of broadband communications and consumer electronics SoCs that enable voice, video and data services over residential wired and wireless networks. These highly integrated silicon solutions continue to enable the most advanced system solutions on the market, which include digital cable, satellite and IP set-top boxes and media servers, broadband modems and residential gateways, high definition and digital televisions, HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc® players, DVD recorders and personal video recorders.

About Broadcom

Broadcom Corporation is a major technology innovator and global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications. Broadcom® products enable the delivery of voice, video, data and multimedia to and throughout the home, the office and the mobile environment. We provide the industry's broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art, system-on-a-chip and software solutions to manufacturers of computing and networking equipment, digital entertainment and broadband access products, and mobile devices. These solutions support our core mission: Connecting everything®.

Broadcom is one of the world's largest fabless semiconductor companies, with 2006 revenue of $3.67 billion, and holds over 2,300 U.S. and 1,000 foreign patents, more than 7,100 additional pending patent applications, and one of the broadest intellectual property portfolios addressing both wired and wireless transmission of voice, video and data.

Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and has offices and research facilities in North America, Asia and Europe. Broadcom may be contacted at +1.949.926.5000 or at http://www.broadcom.com.

Cisco to Demonstrate 'Visual Networking' Experiences at 2008 International CES

2008-01-03T06:14:00.000-08:00

Cisco® today announced it will feature new consumer products and innovative prototypes at the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show, January 7-10 in the Las Vegas Convention Center. The featured demonstrations highlight new visual networking experiences that combine streaming digital video technology and social networking applications.

Internet video accounts for 40 percent of Internet traffic today.* YouTube alone receives more than 65,000 new videos everyday.** This explosion of professional and user-generated video content, including video for use as entertainment and communications, can now span three screens via the TV, PC and mobile phone. Visual networking is enabling video content to be transparently created, further customized, stored and delivered on a single, integrated wire-to-wireless network.

"Video is the next wave of Internet disruption," said John Chambers, chairman and CEO, Cisco. "Cisco is at the forefront of this market transition, providing consumers with more choice, better navigation of content, higher quality video, and faster, more personalized interaction. Together with our partners, we are expanding the Human Network to create compelling visual networking experiences by connecting consumers to digital content in ways never before possible - when, where and how they want it."

The company will showcase several existing products and innovative prototypes at the 2008 International CES that deliver a superior multi-media experience and allow consumers to experience visual networking:

Next-Generation Cable Set-Top Boxes and OpenCable Applications - Cisco offers access to the Internet and premium content services on consumers' TVs via its next-generation set-top boxes. The set-top boxes are also designed to stream digital video content through the entire home and offer consumers added storage for storing music, movies, programs and photos, and feature new interactive guide capabilities, search functions and more;

Internet Protocol Set-Top Boxes and Middleware Solutions - Cisco's Internet Protocol Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) set-top boxes integrate the home media experience by delivering many services including data, voice and video to many screens such as a television, PC, game station, mobile phone or other devices;

Integrated Connected Home and Connected Life Technologies for Service Providers and Retail - Linksys Media Center Extenders work with PCs from most major manufacturers to stream video, including home video, live TV and movies plus music and photos to other devices in the home. Cisco also offers Interactive & Community Applications making it easy for service providers to support communications outside the home, across a broad range of devices; and

High-Speed Data, Voice and Wireless Solutions - Wireless-N Dual Band Home Networking technology from Cisco's Linksys division offers video-grade wireless networking that can help consumers to stream high-quality premium video content on media devices throughout the home.

Cisco creates "connections" between people and what they treasure most. The company offers consumers innovative new ways to communicate with friends and family, discover entertainment content and access information in different locations via multiple devices. Cisco's consumer business includes the Linksys family of home networking products, Scientific Atlanta's set-top boxes, and Cisco's media solutions and content delivery system. Through a close collaboration with its technology partners, service providers, content publishers, retailers and consumer electronic device manufacturers, Cisco is expanding the Human Network to create new visual networking experiences.

To see demonstrations of Cisco's consumer products and prototypes at 2008 International CES, please visit room N246 in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. For more information about Cisco at 2008 International CES, go to http://newsroom.cisco.com/CES2008/.

About Cisco Systems
Cisco, (NASDAQ: CSCO), is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.

Cisco, the Cisco logo and Cisco Systems, Linksys and the Linksys logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. This document is Cisco Public Information.

* RBC Capital Markets Video 2.0, September 10, 2007
** CIBC World Markets, Internet Video is Set to Reach Critical Mass, November 15, 2007

SEC Announces 100 Percent Return of Funds to Defrauded Bio-Heal Investors

2007-11-14T10:43:00.000-08:00

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the mailing of checks totaling more than $2.7 million to 833 investors who were victims of the fraudulent promotion and sale of illegally issued shares of Bio-Heal Laboratories, Inc. The Fair Fund distribution represents a 100 percent return of the defrauded investors' money.

In April 2005, the Commission sued Bio-Heal, a publicly-held company that claimed to develop topical natural healing products in Nicaragua, and five other corporate entities that received the illegally issued shares and sold them. When the Commission filed its complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, it obtained an emergency asset freeze against Bio-Heal and the other entities, freezing their proceeds from the sale of the illegally issued shares.

"The Commission's quick action in this case ensured this money would not be dissipated and lost to innocent investors," said David Nelson, the Commission's Regional Director in Miami. "We are particularly gratified that it has resulted in a 100 percent return of investors' losses through this Fair Fund."

In the Fair Funds provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, Congress gave the Commission increased authority to distribute ill-gotten gains and civil money penalties to harmed investors. To date, the Commission has returned more than $3 billion to investors through Fair Fund distributions.

The Commission's complaint against Bio-Heal alleged the company improperly issued 12 million shares of its stock to several entities without a restrictive legend based on a fraudulent attorney opinion letter claiming they were exempt from registration with the Commission. The complaint further alleged that two of those entities then dumped their Bio-Heal shares on the market at the same time as the stock was being fraudulently touted to investors over the Internet.

The Commission obtained a final judgment by consent against Bio-Heal, and default final judgments against the entities that received and sold the Bio-Heal shares, in April 2006, at which time the District Court also created the Fair Fund. The investors who were mailed distributions today bought Bio-Heal stock during the fraudulent touting in February, March, and April 2005.

Questions regarding the Fair Fund distribution may be directed to the Court-appointed distribution agent, Melanie E. Damian, Esq., by:

Visiting the fund Web site at http://www.biohealfund.com;

Calling toll-free 1-800-648-0755;

Writing to Melanie E. Damian, Esq. at either Damian & Valori LLP, 1000 Brickell Avenue, Suite 1020, Miami, FL, 33131 or c/o Global Risk Solutions, Inc., P.O. Box 310130, Miami, FL, 33231.

Dell and Sun Microsystems Announce Solaris 10 Distribution Agreement

2007-11-14T09:24:00.000-08:00

Dell and Sun Microsystems have signed an OEM agreement for Dell to make the Solaris Operating System (OS) and Solaris support services available directly to customers for select Dell PowerEdge servers.

The multi-year distribution agreement was announced live from Oracle OpenWorld, where Sun President and CEO, Jonathan Schwartz and Dell Chairman and CEO, Michael Dell, are keynote speakers. With this announcement, Dell is expanding the range of enterprise-class operating systems it offers to its customers and Sun is expanding the reach of its Solaris OS.

As part of the relationship, Dell and Sun will cooperate on system certification and the development of offerings based on Solaris and Dell solutions. In addition, Dell and Sun have agreed to work together to secure support from key ISVs for Solaris on Dell PowerEdge servers. Both companies will work to ensure the combination of Dell PowerEdge servers and the Solaris OS delivers customer choice and value for applications that demand reliability, security, scalability, performance and integrated virtualization.

"Dell's offering of Solaris redefines the market opportunity for both companies," said Jonathan Schwartz, president and CEO, Sun Microsystems. "The relationship gives Dell broader reach into the global free software community with Solaris and OpenSolaris and gives Sun access to channels and customers across the volume marketplace."

"Part of our focus to simplify IT means delivering customers choice and by adding Solaris to our solutions set we are able to do that," said Michael Dell, chairman and CEO, Dell.

For more details on the agreement, visit: http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/dell or http://www.sun.com/news.

HP Advances Flexibility, Efficiency of Blades Across the Data Center

2007-11-12T12:36:00.000-08:00

HP today announced virtualization and power management technologies that help customers streamline IT operations to realize dramatic cost savings, increased flexibility and improved energy efficiency.

Based on the market-leading HP BladeSystem c-Class infrastructure – a self-contained unit of servers, storage, network, management software and power and cooling technology – the new offerings mark the next major phase of HP’s strategy to build modular, integrated, automated data centers that reduce administrative time and free resources to focus on the needs of the business.

Highlighting the announcement is the HP Virtual Connect Enterprise Manager, which improves IT processes by extending the capability of HP BladeSystem Virtual Connect technology to all blade enclosures in a data center.

Virtual Connect technology allows customers to pre-assign network and storage connections once and then add, move, replace or upgrade servers in minutes. The new Enterprise Manager enables IT administrators to manage and control these connections across 100 c-Class enclosures, or up to 1,600 blade servers, from a single console.

By dynamically moving server connections across a data center, or to remote sites, customers can more effectively and efficiently meet changing application workload and performance needs. In addition, the new software can be operated by a single administrator, which helps eliminate process steps and administration time, while providing an audit trail and limiting configuration conflicts.

“Enterprises need to dramatically simplify management on a large scale,” said Jonathan Eunice, principal IT advisor at Illuminata Inc., a research and advisory services company. ”HP Virtual Connect Enterprise Manager is important because it lays the foundation for coordinating IT infrastructure across the data center.”

HP’s advancements in virtualization, management, power and cooling have helped it secure the No. 1 position in blade server market revenue and units worldwide, according to IDC.(1) The company shipped more than 150,000 virtual connect-enabled servers in the past year; these systems can now be enhanced by the capabilities of HP Virtual Connect Enterprise Manager.

“HP Virtual Connect gave us amazing flexibility to add and recover servers very quickly, speeding up our processes and eliminating wait time in response to our organization,” said Scott Hemmerlein, systems administrator, Information Systems and Technology Management, Indiana University School of Management. “We hope to expand those same time savings beyond one blade enclosure to the rest of our data center with HP Virtual Connect Enterprise Manager.”

Managing physical and virtual environments

HP also is delivering new and enhanced offerings based on HP Insight Control that help manage physical and virtual environments:

HP Server Migration Pack Universal Edition now combines virtual and physical migrations into a single tool to speed migration time of HP ProLiant and BladeSystem servers. A new “queued migration feature” helps to automate, plan and execute multiple migrations at once, with expected support to include Citrix XenServer™, Microsoft® virtual machines, Oracle® VM and VMware.
HP Virtual Machine Management Pack 3.0, another key offering within the Insight Control management portfolio, provides central management of Citrix XenServer, Microsoft virtual machines, Oracle VM and VMware. It helps reduce downtime interruptions with a new predictive failure alert capacity that can relocate virtual machines before hardware failures occur.
HP PolyServe Software for Microsoft SQL Server consolidates large SQL environments onto a single cluster so customers can manage all instances at once, freely add and recover multiple instances, and roll out business applications more quickly while improving reliability.

“Infrastructure issues of cost, time, change and energy continue to challenge our customers, even as great technologies like virtualization help lower costs and speed the pace of making changes,” said Mark Linesch, vice president of marketing, Infrastructure Software, HP. “With these offerings, our recently acquired assets from Opsware and more products on the horizon, HP continues to drive toward an Adaptive Infrastructure inclusive of both physical and virtual resources.”

HP’s data center automation technology acquired from Opsware automates the management of IT infrastructure and assesses the impact of changes, while providing a unified view that spans all infrastructure tiers of an application. HP plans to integrate the Opsware Automation Platform with its existing management solutions, bringing together hardware and software for future data center automation capabilities across the full stack.

Providing IT and facilities with energy-aware control across the data center

The cost to cool a data center can be more than the cost of powering the IT equipment. In fact, a recent study suggests that in a majority of the world’s data centers, 60-70 percent of a data center’s power is associated with cooling the IT equipment.(2)

The new HP Power Distribution Rack controls three-phase power distribution across a row of server racks to more efficiently deliver power where and when it is needed most for significant cost and environmental benefits. The offering allows IT managers to:

Connect to power once across a row of server racks and adapt power distribution as needs change;
Prevent overloads and resolve problems fast with energy-aware, HP Thermal Logic technology; and,
Reduce cabling which lowers complexity and the chance for error with one set of input cables to the end of a row and short power drops to each rack.

The new HP Rackmountable Parallel 3 Phase UPS provides the highest level of power protection from HP and dissipates less than half as much heat into a data center compared to the nearest competitor offering.(3) It enables attached servers to save all work in progress and initiate a shutdown in the event of power loss, and restores it with Thermal Logic power policies to ensure business picks up where it left off.

When compared to competing, less efficient offerings, HP’s new 3 Phase UPS can save more than $1,000 a year in power and cooling costs in the 12-kilowatt rack-mount model and more than $6,000 for the 60-kilowatt row-level configuration.(3)

More information about HP’s solutions for the Adaptive Infrastructure is available at www.hp.com/go/adaptiveinfrastructure.

(1) IDC, Q207 Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, August 2007.

(2) HP, Christopher Malone, PhD, Christian Belady, P.E.: “Metrics to Characterize Data Center & IT Equipment Energy Use,” Digital Power Forum, Richardson, Texas, September 2006.

(3) Based on internal HP studies.

Sun Teams With Oracle To Deliver Pre-Configured Data Warehouses

2007-11-12T12:31:00.000-08:00

Oracle and Sun Microsystems, Inc., (Nasdaq: JAVA) today announced the availability of the Oracle Optimized Warehouse for Sun. The Oracle Optimized Warehouse for Sun is a complete, out-of-the-box, high-performance data warehouse solution built upon the world's leading database and Sun's leading hardware and operating systems.

The solution, which will be sold by Sun, consists of Oracle Database Enterprise Edition, Oracle Real Application Clusters and Oracle Partitioning on a Sun Fire E20K server, the Sun open source Solaris operating system (OS) and Sun StorageTek 6540 arrays. With all hardware and software components pre-installed, configured, optimized, and ready to run, the Oracle Optimized Warehouse for Sun is the fastest, simplest and lowest-risk way to buy and implement a data warehouse on Oracle and Sun technology.

The Oracle Optimized Warehouse for Sun announced today is sized for data warehouses containing 10TB of raw data. Future validated Oracle Optimized Warehouse configurations are planned to provide larger solutions through the use of modular building blocks. This packaging delivers simplicity and speed of implementation along with the flexibility and power of the world's leading database platform. Oracle's advanced analytic and management capabilities combined with the power and reliability of Sun hardware make the Oracle Optimized Warehouse for Sun a compelling offering.

"The appeal of this pre-configured solution is simple: customers can have a fully functioning, optimized, scalable data warehouse up and running very quickly," said Juan Carlos Soto. "And when that pre-configured solution includes Oracle Database and Sun's open source Solaris operating system, customers know they are getting a reliable, secure, powerhouse computing environment."

"With the Oracle Optimized Warehouse for Sun, it is easier than ever to purchase a world-class data warehouse platform," said Ray Roccaforte, vice president of Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence Platform, Oracle. "Sun and Oracle's joint engineering efforts in testing and optimizing this data warehouse will help reduce costs and implementation times for our customers, while delivering a solution capable of the most demanding workloads and the most complex business analytics."

Based upon years of combined Sun and Oracle engineering expertise in large-scale data warehouses, the Oracle Optimized Warehouse for Sun delivers the ideal database, server, and storage configuration to match customers' business analytic requirements and enables decreased data warehouse implementation time without limiting future growth and analytic agility. Learn more about the Oracle Optimized Warehouse for Sun at: http://www.oracle.com/solutions/business_intelligence/sun.html

Product Availability

The Oracle Optimized Warehouse for Sun is generally available from Sun today. For additional information on the Oracle Optimized Warehouse for Sun, go to: http://www.sun.com/oracle. More details on the Oracle Optimized Warehouse Initiative is available at: http://www.oracle.com/solutions/business_intelligence/optimized-warehouse-initiative.html.

IBM Launches Center for CIO Leadership

2007-10-11T11:07:00.000-07:00

To address the increasing role that Chief Information Officers (CIOs) are playing in developing and executing business strategies, IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced today the creation of the Center for CIO Leadership. The Center will bring together executive leaders, academics and other experts from around the world to build practical research and executive development initiatives focused on advancing the CIO profession.

The Center for CIO Leadership will serve as a global community for CIOs through which they can collaborate and learn in order to uncover opportunities where Information Technology will drive business value. The Center -- led by Executive Director, Harvey Koeppel -- will be governed by an advisory council comprised of leading CIOs as well as professors from some of the world's most prestigious universities, including Harvard Business School, MIT and INSEAD.

In addition to creating unique research aimed at the concerns of today's CIOs, the Center will also provide new leadership development and other educational programs. Content for these online and classroom-based education programs will be based on CIO feedback, ongoing research, and outreach to executives with whom CIOs interact, such as CEOs, line-of-business leaders, boards of directors, and government leaders.

"The new Center for CIO Leadership will enable CIOs to share and learn in a community environment in a way that will enhance the profession," said Linda Sanford, senior vice president, IBM enterprise on demand transformation. "Our survey research indicates that CIOs and their teams are looking to break out and create new value and long term growth for their companies, and the education, learning and collaboration provided by the Center for CIO Leadership will help accomplish this."

As part of the opening of the Center, IBM launched the global 2007 CIO Leadership Survey. The Survey, conducted in collaboration with Harvard Business School and MIT Center for Information Systems Research (CISR), included more than 175 CIOs from leading companies around the world.

"Practical research that addresses the needs of today's CIOs is a key pillar of the Center's mission. Understanding from CIOs themselves where they think the gaps are provides an excellent starting point to effect change," said Harvey Koeppel, the Center's executive director.

The Survey reveals that CIOs are increasingly becoming trusted members of the executive business team. Eighty percent of CIOs responded that they are a valued member of the senior leadership team, with 69 percent indicating significant involvement in strategic decision-making. Further, organizations whose CIOs have high levels of strategic involvement demonstrate higher levels of business model and product and service innovation, as well as shared, centralized IT services.

However, critical gaps remain. CIOs believe there are significant opportunities to further apply IT for competitive advantage in the areas of external partnering and reaching new markets. In addition, CIOs are also frustrated at their own skills in managing their career development, with only 37 percent considering themselves highly or exceptionally skilled in this regard. They also see a need to develop change management skills and political savvy in order to be more successful. Furthermore, they feel that the value of their work is not fully recognized from a business perspective. Only 35 percent of respondents felt that the value of IT was adequately measured within the enterprise.

IBM Introduces New Version of IMS Software

2007-10-10T11:59:00.000-07:00

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today unveiled Information Management System (IMS) 10, a new hierarchical database management and transaction system that delivers enhanced XML and Web services capabilities, making easier for customers to better use information as a strategic asset by evolving existing business critical applications to Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) .

Initially developed to power the Apollo space program, IMS is recognized as the industry's first modern database and transaction management software. Over the past three decades, the reliability, security and performance of IMS has led it to become the backbone for much of the world's corporate data. In fact, almost ninety five percent of Fortune 1000 companies use IMS for their most critical IBM System z data management needs with more than 50 billion transactions running through IMS databases on a daily basis.
Today's announcement supports IBM's cross-company Information on Demand initiative which is helping global organizations use information for a competitive advantage. Specifically, IMS 10 features a range of new technologies and enhancements that will alter and improve the way information is stored, managed and accessed in mainframe computing environments.

"With IMS 10, standard XML Query language will be available to hierarchically structured data for the first time, delivering unprecedented versatility and information management options to IBM System z customers," said Arvind Krishna, vice president IBM data servers. "This will help customers simplify their development environments while continuing to realize the proven performance benefits and data integrity of IMS."

Early customer and partner tests and evaluations of IMS 10 have prompted overwhelmingly positive responses.

"A major part of Wachovia's SOA environment is supported by IMS, IBM WebSphere software and IBM eServer zSeries hardware," said Keith Harris, Manager of Architecture at Wachovia. "Wachovia has built a set of foundational and business services that it needs to support its delivery channels, such as its online banking, call center and interactive voice response channels. With the IMS Connect solution, users can access all of the client's core business applications -- such as its retail banking, customer information, and relationship and deposit systems -- on the IMS system. Currently, the SOA environment supporting the OLB channel supports over four million users."

The introduction of IMS 10 completes an upgrade of the entire IBM data server portfolio, including the new DB2 9 "Viper" and Informix (IDS) 11 "Cheetah" data servers, as well as new versions of the UniVerse and UniData (U2) data servers. During the first half of 2007, IBM outpaced its competitors in the database software industry -- generating double-digit revenue growth in consecutive quarters and gaining share.

New Technologies Strengthen Mainframe SOA Capabilities

The new IMS 10 includes:

New XQuery, Enhanced XML and Web Services Support - Opening up IMS data to off-the-shelf third party tools, such as those for query generation, and offering a standard, shareable integration point between IMS and other industry databases.
Broader XML and Java Tooling - Encourages new application development and expands connectivity by supporting open standards such as Web 2.0, XML, SOAP, Java, and JDBC.
Dynamic Resource Definition - Eases manageability, simplifying installation and operations which reduces total cost of ownership
Enhanced Database Recovery Control, Multiple Systems Coupling and Security - Increases scalability with availability, recovery, performance, security and capacity enhancements
In addition, the IMS SOAP Gateway, which enables as web services IMS transactions for interoperation with client applications independent of location, programming language, and platform, has been enhanced to provide z/OS environment, PL/I applications and Asynchronous Callout support. This is in addition to its earlier support for COBOL applications and for Windows, AIX, and Linux on System z environments. This new support has been well received by IMS customers including automaker Volvo.

"The IMS SOAP gateway enables Volvo to exploit SOA in their development environment," said Anders Ohrnberg, Senior IMS Technical Specialist, Volvo Information Technology. "Because of this, we can inter-operate with applications independent of location, programming language and platform. This enables reuse and maximizes business flexibility."

IMS 10 will begin shipping worldwide on October 26. For more information about IBM, visit http://www-306.ibm.com/software/data/ims/v10/launch.html

Microsoft Announces Response Point Phone System Pricing and Preorders

2007-10-02T07:02:00.000-07:00

U.S. small businesses are one step closer to phone technology that is easy to set up and simple to use: Microsoft Corp. has released its Microsoft® Response Point™ phone system software to manufacturing.

Xuedong Huang, general manager for Response Point at Microsoft, said that working alongside D-Link Corp. and Quanta Computer Inc. has helped Microsoft develop a flexible solution that meets the needs of small-business customers. “Response Point helps deliver value to small-business telephony through the power of software,” Huang said. “Our team has worked hand in hand with small-business customers to deliver a new and fundamentally better user experience.”

Customers can preorder Quanta Syspine models beginning Friday, Oct. 5. A complete package that includes a base unit with built-in analog telephone adapter (ATA) and secure gateway, plus four phones, will cost approximately $2,500 (all prices U.S.). Additional phones will be available for $159 each.

In addition, D-Link VoiceCenter phone systems will be available in the fourth quarter of 2007. The VoiceCenter system will include a base unit, ATA and five phones for approximately $2,999. Additional phone lines will cost approximately $149.

Microsoft Financing will also allow customers who purchase through an authorized Microsoft reseller to pay for fully installed Response Point phone systems on a monthly basis, giving small businesses access to advanced phone technology without straining their credit lines or requiring a large upfront investment.

Telecom Leader to Manufacture Response Point Systems

Microsoft also announced Aastra Technologies Ltd. as the newest hardware vendor that will manufacture and ship Response Point phone systems. Aastra, a global leader in the enterprise telecommunications systems industry, will offer complete, end-to-end Response Point phone systems with wireless handset options by next year.

“Response Point is a great addition to our offering, and we are looking to reinforce our relationship with Microsoft,” said David Sayson, vice president of business development at Aastra. “Aastra has a strong expertise in enterprise communications as well as a very comprehensive range of VoIP terminals, including campus wireless handsets. Partnering with Microsoft allows Aastra to expand its line of enterprise communications offerings and provide an affordable solution for small businesses.”

Telephony Software That Grows With Business Needs

Response Point is an integral piece of Microsoft’s comprehensive voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) strategy, which addresses communications and messaging needs for businesses of all sizes through the power and flexibility of software. Response Point’s user-friendly management center empowers an average computer user to set up a phone or make system changes in minutes. And the unique voice-enabled user interface instantly connects employees and customers with the people or information they need.

Broadcom Shatters Three Mobile Multimedia Records: HD Video, 12 Megapixel Camera and 3D Gaming Coming Soon to Your Cell Phone

2007-10-02T06:13:00.000-07:00

Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced sampling of the industry's first low power multimedia processor that enables a high definition (HD) video camcorder and playback in cell phones and portable media players. The Broadcom® VideoCore® III multimedia processor also supports an up to 12 megapixel digital camera and delivers high performance yet ultra-low power 3D graphics for a world-class gaming experience. HD video, 3D games and high resolution 12 megapixel pictures can be displayed at top quality on full-sized HD televisions and monitors using an on-chip industry standard HDMI interface.
This groundbreaking technology adds a very significant competitive advantage to Broadcom's mobile platforms portfolio. Next generation cell phones based on VideoCore III technology will offer a quantum improvement in mobile audio, video, imaging, navigation and gaming experiences -- all with similar battery life and size of today's compact multimedia handsets.

"Mobile handsets with compelling multimedia features are capturing the imagination of consumers and phone developers alike, driving the industry to push the limits of what a handset can do," said Will Strauss, Principal Analyst from Forward Concepts. "Enabling HD quality video without draining the battery will provide another leap forward for mobile devices, taking high definition multimedia from novelty to must-have feature."

Large Market Opportunity

Two-thirds of cell phones sold in 2006 included built-in cameras, and most supported basic games and audio playback, according to Forward Concepts. The current generation of cell phones only supports low resolution video recording and playback, and most consumers do not consider it sufficient to replace their "real" digital cameras. Additionally, low resolution cell phones are not capable of playing pre-recorded and TV content without the cumbersome step of optimizing the content for the particular phone model. Today's phones are also not capable of supporting emerging 3D user interfaces and navigation applications. Advances in high resolution mobile displays, the rapidly dropping cost of mobile content storage, faster mobile networks and advances in low power media processing are enabling a new generation of high definition mobile devices with significantly improved multimedia quality.

To address this market opportunity, Broadcom delivers the BCM2727 high definition mobile multimedia processor. The BCM2727 is Broadcom's first product based on its new VideoCore® III multimedia architecture, also announced today. VideoCore III is the third generation of Broadcom's popular and field-proven VideoCore mobile multimedia technology, which has shipped in over 25 million mobile products to date. VideoCore III extends the VideoCore architecture to new performance levels and adds high definition video and multimedia capabilities. By maintaining a superior level of software programmability, VideoCore III can support rapid integration of new features and applications, as well as new and evolving video and audio CODECs in the future. The architecture is based on dual core vector processors tightly coupled with hardware accelerators for video, image processing and 2D/3D graphics. Substantial performance increases for imaging and gaming applications can be achieved while preserving ultra-low power -- a hallmark of the VideoCore architecture.

"VideoCore III raises the bar for mobile multimedia, and for the first time, enables a high definition mobile user experience," said Mark Casey, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's Mobile Multimedia line of business. "The BCM2727 delivers a 'triple-play' of technology combining HD camcorder with professional quality camera and next generation graphics, all at extremely low power."

First Cell Phone HD Video Camcorder

The BCM2727 mobile multimedia processor is the first in the industry to support mobile phone HD camcorder functionality by providing 720p HD video encode and decode with H.264 main profile compression at low power levels. Consumers will now be able to capture video on their cell phones with the same quality used in high definition broadcast television. Handsets can support more than 5 hours of high definition video playback or around 3 hours of HD recording using a standard-sized cell phone battery. Content on the handset up to HD resolution can be played back on televisions via an integrated HDMI 1.3 or analog interface.

Advanced Photo Effects with Integrated Image Signal Processor (ISP)

In addition to HD camcorder functionality, the BCM2727 also includes built-in high quality camera processing of up to 12 megapixels. Professional quality picture capture and video recording are enabled with an extremely advanced on-chip image signal processor (ISP) supporting features such as sensor and lens compensation, sharpening, exposure compensation, color correction, red eye reduction and image stabilization. A programmable image pipeline provides additional control, as well as rapid development and integration of new features and further image processing. Images are processed at speeds unparalleled in any mobile phone today: with the ability to process up to 144 million pixels per second, VideoCore III supports on-the-fly photography at up to 12 pictures per second at 12 megapixel camera resolution, or even faster for lower resolution camera sensors.

High Performance 2D/3D Graphics

The BCM2727 features on-chip advanced 2D and 3D graphics accelerators and efficient audio technology that provides not only a rich viewing and listening experience, but also a powerful platform for mobile gaming applications. The graphics pipeline is optimized for efficient Open VG 1.0 and Open GL ES 1.1/2.0 operation and is capable of 32 million triangles per second peak performance. Supporting over fifty multimedia standards, formats, codecs and resolutions, VideoCore III provides the broadest mobile multimedia content support in the industry.

Availability and Pricing

Samples of the BCM2727 processor, with VideoCore III mobile multimedia technology, are now available to early access customers. Pricing is available upon request.

About Broadcom

Broadcom Corporation is a major technology innovator and global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications. Broadcom products enable the delivery of voice, video, data and multimedia to and throughout the home, the office and the mobile environment. We provide the industry's broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art, system-on-a-chip and software solutions to manufacturers of computing and networking equipment, digital entertainment and broadband access products, and mobile devices. These solutions support our core mission: Connecting everything®.

Broadcom is one of the world's largest fabless semiconductor companies, with 2006 revenue of $3.67 billion, and holds over 2,200 U.S. and 900 foreign patents, more than 6,600 additional pending patent applications, and one of the broadest intellectual property portfolios addressing both wired and wireless transmission of voice, video and data. Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and has offices and research facilities in North America, Asia and Europe. Broadcom may be contacted at +1.949.926.5000 or at http://www.broadcom.com.

Adobe to Acquire Virtual Ubiquity

2007-10-01T09:44:00.000-07:00

Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Virtual Ubiquity and its ground-breaking online word processor, Buzzword. The acquisition furthers Adobe's commitment to foster a vibrant ecosystem for rich Internet application (RIA) development that delivers breakthrough experiences built on Adobe AIR. Separately, Adobe added a new file sharing service to its current online document services. Codenamed “Share,” the beta service will make it easier than ever for people to share, publish and organize documents online.

“For over a decade, Adobe® Acrobat® software and PDF have been the standard way people share and collaborate on high value documents across platforms, with perfect fidelity. Buzzword will build on that leadership and enable fundamental improvements in how people collaborate on documents,” said David Mendels, senior vice president, Business Productivity Business Unit at Adobe. “At the same time, it is an exciting showcase of the power of Adobe’s RIA technology that raises the bar for the quality of experience people should expect in their applications.”

Buzzword, an elegant online word processor, enables individuals to work together to create high quality, page perfect documents. Because it was built with Adobe Flex™ software and runs in the Adobe Flash™ Player, Buzzword enables greater document quality, outstanding typography, page layout controls, and robust support for integrated graphics, regardless of the browser or device. The application also will run on Adobe® AIR™, offering users a hybrid online/offline experience and the ability to work with both hosted and local documents. The powerful collaboration capabilities in Buzzword enable multiple authors to edit and comment on documents from anywhere, at anytime, while document creators can set permissions that virtually eliminate version control chaos. For more information on the acquisition and access to Buzzword beta software, please visit http://www.adobe.com/go/buzzwordfaq.

The founders of Virtual Ubiquity will be joining Adobe, bringing with them a wealth of knowledge and experience in online document collaboration. With extensive background in the development of Lotus Notes and eRoom, the Virtual Ubiquity team developed a rich, collaborative authoring environment for the next generation of work. “We were inspired by the way today’s youth spend their lives working and playing together online, and how this is influencing the way we all think about collaboration,” said Rick Treitman, CEO of Virtual Ubiquity. “This inspiration resulted in an online word processor for the ‘Facebook generation’ that focuses on working together online, without sacrificing quality.”

Increasingly, the Web is becoming the platform for the “future of work,” where people come together to share each other’s work anytime, anywhere. As a leader in RIA development, Adobe is revolutionizing the way people come together to engage with ideas, information and each other. This announcement marks a milestone for Adobe as it expands its leadership in the emerging domain of online document collaboration.

Adobe also made available today a free online document sharing service, codenamed “Share.” Users simply select the documents they want to share, send a message to recipients, and set whether the files will be publicly accessible or restricted. Built with Adobe Flex technology, the rich interface provides a smooth experience, integrating simple workflows to upload and share documents with high quality online previews to speed up finding the right document. Additionally, the beta will include a set of REST APIs to let developers create mash-ups with their applications, including storing and accessing files, as well as creating thumbnails and Flash-based previews of documents. People can learn more about the service and sign-up for access at http://www.adobe.com/go/labs_share .

Virtual Ubiquity is based in Waltham, Massachusetts. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close by the end of November 2007. The addition of Virtual Ubiquity is not expected to have a material impact to Adobe revenue and earnings in fiscal year 2007. Terms were not disclosed.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated
Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information - anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit www.adobe.com

Microsoft and Novell Open Interoperability Lab

2007-09-12T10:52:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Corp. and Novell Inc. today announced the opening of the Microsoft and Novell® Interoperability Lab in Cambridge, Mass. Announced last fall as part of Microsoft and Novell’s groundbreaking collaboration agreement, the opening of the lab delivers on a promise the two companies made to work together to create a joint development facility at which Microsoft and Novell technical experts will design and test new software solutions and work with customers and the community to build and support technologies that allow Microsoft® Windows Server® and SUSE® Linux Enterprise to work well together.

“The Microsoft and Novell Interoperability Lab is officially open for business,” said Tom Hanrahan, director of Linux interoperability at Microsoft. “We are pleased to be working with Novell on this joint interoperability effort and are eager to roll up our sleeves and continue the challenging technical work required to make Windows Server and SUSE Linux Enterprise interoperability a reality for our customers.”

“Today’s lab opening is another indicator of the high priority that Novell and Microsoft are giving this collaboration,” said Suzanne Forsberg, Interoperability Lab manager for Novell. “This kind of technical interoperability work requires disciplined effort and dedicated resources, and that’s what this lab is built around. Enterprise customers are demanding exactly the kinds of interoperable solutions that will be the focus of this lab’s work and output.”

Located in Cambridge, the 2,500-square-foot lab and workspace will be home to a combined team of the best and brightest Microsoft and Novell engineers focused on making Windows Server and SUSE Linux Enterprise work better together. The first priority for the lab team will be to ensure interoperability between Microsoft and Novell virtualization technologies. Additional work will include standards-based systems management, identity federation and compatibility of office document formats.

The lab houses more than 80 servers of varying architectures as well as a storage area network. Microsoft and Novell are committed to including other vendors and technologies as the lab continues to grow to create a heterogeneous lab environment that reflects the current IT environments and interoperability challenges facing enterprise customers today.

More information on SUSE Linux Enterprise is available at http://www.novell.com/linux. More information on Microsoft is available at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass.

SAP Acquires Software License and Maintenance Business from Exclusive Partner SAP Arabia to Strengthen Operations in the Middle East and North Africa

2007-09-11T13:01:00.000-07:00

SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced the acquisition of the software license and maintenance business of SAP Arabia, its exclusive long-term partner in the region. Under the terms of the agreement, SAP will acquire selected existing assets, including all existing software license and maintenance customer contracts, and trademarks from SAP Arabia. Aligned with SAP’s global go-to-market strategies, SAP will first establish subsidiaries in Dubai and Saudi Arabia to reinforce its ongoing commitment to deliver value and continuous innovation to customers in the region.

“SAP Arabia has created a good foundation, which we intend to build upon in our goal to meet growing market demand in the region,” said Ernie Gunst, president, Customer Solutions Operations Europe Middle East and Africa, SAP. “This acquisition brings SAP closer to its customers and partners, enabling us to offer them greater business value and innovation.”

Sergio Maccotta, who was formerly managing director in charge of the SAP Arabia relationship, has been named managing director of SAP in the Middle East and North Africa. In his new role, Maccotta will be responsible for strategic planning, operational excellence, sales and field operations, professional services and overall performance for the region. Maccotta will report into Bernd Kraus, who has overall responsibility for the South East Europe and Middle East Market Unit.

As part of the agreement, the formerly named SAP Arabia will continue to work with SAP AG as a strategic partner and non-exclusive value-added reseller within the scope of the SAP Partner Edge program.

“This important step in the overall SAP business strategy has been part of our ongoing discussions with SAP to bring product development closer to the region,” said Essam Enany, president of SAP Arabia. “With over 13 years of experience we have acquired a deep understanding of the local market and are well positioned to become one of SAP’s strongest partners. In the future, we plan to focus our resources on the emerging markets and specialized sectors such as SME, public sector and education.”

The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and expected to be completed in SAP’s fourth quarter of 2007. Financial terms of the all cash transaction were not disclosed.

IBM Completes Acquisition of DataMirror

2007-09-04T09:46:00.000-07:00

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it has completed its acquisition of DataMirror Corporation (TSX: DMC), a publicly held company based in based in Markham, Ontario, Canada.

IBM announced an agreement to acquire DataMirror on July 16, 2007. DataMirror's operations will be integrated into IBM's Information Management software business.

IBM acquired DataMirror to advance its Information on Demand initiative, IBM's strategy for pursuing the growing market opportunity around helping clients capture insights from information so it can be used as a strategic asset. DataMirror is a provider of technology that identifies and captures data that has been added, updated or deleted and allows the changed data to be delivered in real time to processes, applications and databases. This ensures that continuous, trusted information is available for accurate and timely decision-making.

With today's announcement, IBM has completed 21 strategic acquisitions in support of its cross-company Information on Demand effort. The DataMirror acquisition also furthers two important growth areas for IBM's software business -- information integration and dynamic warehousing -- by delivering new, real-time capabilities to each.

DataMirror has approximately 220 employees and more than 2,200 customers, including Debenhams, FedEx Ground, First American Bank, Priority Health, Tiffany & Co. and Union Pacific Railroad.

For more information, go to http://www-306.ibm.com/software/data/.

IBM and TDK Launch Joint Research & Development Project for Advanced MRAM

2007-08-20T07:11:00.000-07:00

IBM (NYSE: IBM) and TDK Corporation today announced a joint research and development program to develop high capacity MRAM (Magnetic Random Access Memory) technology utilizing the spin momentum transfer effect. The companies believe that harnessing the spin momentum transfer effect will allow a much more compact memory cell than is possible with present approaches.

The companies will leverage their respective expertise in areas of fundamental research for new memory technology and magnetic device development to create a high density, high capacity MRAM integrated circuit which can be used as standalone memory or embedded into other IC solutions.
"This collaborative initiative reinforces IBM's commitment to explore new phenomena for memory applications," said Dr. T.C. Chen, vice president, Science and Technology, IBM Research. "The project will focus on creating and demonstrating advanced magnetic materials in demanding memory chip designs."

"This joint research and development will broaden the application of magnetic materials which has been TDK's core technology since 1935," said Mr. Minoru Takahashi, CTO, TDK Corporation.

IBM has been a leader in the development of MRAM memory technology and a pioneer in the fundamental research and development of the magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) and in the prediction and study of the spin momentum transfer effect upon which the memory is based. TDK Corporation is the leader in applying MTJ technology into recording heads for Hard Disk Drives. Both companies have extensive research and patents in design and materials for magnetic data recording.

The research work will be conducted at IBM's TJ Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY, IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, CA, IBM's ASIC Design Center in Burlington, VT and TDK's subsidiary R&D Center in Milpitas, CA.

MRAM offers significant advantages over competing memory technologies including low power usage, high speed, unlimited endurance (read and write cycles), and inherent non-volatility (retains data without the need for continued power). Market adoption of MRAM has been limited by the inability to cost effectively increase capacity. Spin momentum transfer technology enables MRAM to significantly reduce cell size and thereby increase capacity cost-effectively while maintaining the low power, endurance and non-volatility advantages, potentially making MRAM a preferred solution for memory applications in the automotive, cell phone, handheld computing, and industrial controls.

For more information about IBM Research, visit http://www.ibm.com/research

For more information about TDK, visit http://www.tdk.co.jp/tetop01/index.htm

Microsoft Licenses Graphics Technology to Award-Winning Weta Digital

2007-08-08T10:25:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Corp. and Weta Digital Ltd., an Academy Award-winning visual effects company, today announced a licensing agreement that will enhance Weta’s ability to create graphics and special effects for its movie, commercial and other multimedia productions.

“We are pleased that one of the leading visual effects companies in the world has selected computer graphics technologies developed at Microsoft Research to deliver newer, richer graphics and special effects to audiences around the world,” said Louis Carbonneau, general manager for the Intellectual Property Licensing Group at Microsoft. “We believe the graphics technologies developed in our research labs to be among the best in the world, and are pleased that we can collaborate with entertainment industry leaders, through our new graphics technology IP licensing program, to bring new visual experiences to consumers.

Weta Digital, formed in 1997 by a group of New Zealand filmmakers — including Academy Award-winners Peter Jackson, Jamie Selkirk and Richard Taylor — offers world-class visual effects for international feature films and commercials. The company is best known for its visual effects work on “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy (New Line Cinema), and more recently for its work on “King Kong” (Universal Studios), all of which were directed by Peter Jackson.

“Last year, Microsoft showed us some new research in computer graphics that we thought would be a great addition to our toolkit,” said Joe Letteri, senior visual effects supervisor at Weta Digital. “We realized that by working directly with Microsoft Research, we could develop these ideas faster and spend more time on the creative effects. It’s great to be working with a talented group, like Microsoft Research, whose aim is to open up new horizons in digital imaging for filmmakers.”

Microsoft Research will present graphics research this week at SIGGRAPH 2007, the Association for Computing Machinery’s 34th annual international conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques, in San Diego. Microsoft will present 13 percent of the papers on the 2007 papers program, more than any other organization. Links to the papers Microsoft contributed to the conference this year as well as in previous years are available at http://research.microsoft.com/news/featurestories/publish/SIGGRAPH_2007.aspx.

More information on Microsoft Research is available at http://research.microsoft.com.

New Release of BEA AquaLogic BPM Designed To Help Drive Better Business Decisions And Give IT More Power

2007-08-06T10:41:00.000-07:00

BEA Systems, Inc. a world leader in enterprise infrastructure software, today announced the general availability of BEA AquaLogic® BPM 6.0, a market-leading software suite designed to integrate the modeling, execution and monitoring of end-to-end business processes to support real-time process optimization. The new release of BEA AquaLogic® BPM 6.0 introduces improved ad-hoc collaboration and business intelligence capabilities that can help business participants share knowledge, coordinate business activities more effectively, and conduct real-time process simulations to help optimize process outcomes. It is also designed to provide IT and developers a more powerful process application platform by offering one of the most comprehensive supports for industry standards, including Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN), XML Process Definition Language (XPDL 2.0) and the Business Process Execution Language (BPEL 2.0). For developers, BEA AquaLogic® BPM 6.0 introduces a new Eclipse-based development environment and maintains its industry-leading role in extensibility to Java, .NET and emerging development languages and frameworks.

“Companies that have been successfully using business process management at the project or division level are now asking for a process platform that is designed to grow with their business needs to support thousands of complex, multinational, and often mission-critical processes. Businesses cannot take a chance on an unproven, departmental product,” said Shane Pearson, vice president of marketing and product management for BEA Systems. “IT needs a product that can scale and business users need clear and intuitive tools and this major release of BEA AquaLogic® BPM offers both in a single, unified solution.”

"We started with BPM at the tactical level to address a few processes that were slow, manual and time consuming," said Peter Haas, director of technology at the Supreme Court of Louisiana. "But with the rapid success we've seen using BEA's collaborative BPM, we're growing our process improvements to the strategic level, tackling mission-critical items that affect the overall success of the Court."

More Business Value, More Power for IT

The “B” in BPM stands for business, yet many business process management solutions underserve the diverse and nuanced needs of business users. Early business process management projects focused on well understood business processes, like employee on-boarding or order automation. Today, companies are pursuing strategic adoption of BPM, using business process management software to optimize highly complex processes, like distributed healthcare claims processing or financial trading settlement. These strategic processes involve complex decision-making and exception-handling, where the most ideal outcome is dependent on the assembly of diverse information from multiple systems and the effective collaboration between process participants.

BEA AquaLogic® BPM 6.0 is designed to help companies evolve their use of BPM from simply optimizing the business to transforming the business. This new release delivers one of the most comprehensive support for user, system or event-initiated business processes with an expanded set of capabilities focused on the BPM business-user experience. These include:

Smarter processes with decision activities – Many processes involve decision points where business guidelines are in place, but where the final decision must be carefully considered by a human. BEA AquaLogic® BPM 6.0 is designed to help organizations learn from past decisions by capturing actions, offering inline quantitative data based on past decisions history, and allowing advanced simulation testing, yielding more effective participant decisions or activity automation;

Process participation through business users’ tool of choice – An updated user experience framework within BEA AquaLogic® BPM 6.0 called WorkSpace Extensions is designed to provide support for a variety of end-user experiences, helping participants engage in process activities through their tool of choice, including enterprise portals, stand-alone process workspaces, email clients and RSS readers.

Define and change business rules with ease – Any well-mapped process contains a number of implicit or explicit business rules about how processes should run. BEA AquaLogic® BPM 6.0 is designed to let users easily define business rules through web-based tools and allows them to change rules on-the-fly.

Industry-leading service orchestration and integration – BEA AquaLogic® BPM 6.0 is designed to allow business processes to be easily registered as services with any standards compliant Enterprise Service Bus or Service Registry. In addition, BEA AquaLogic® BPM 6.0 features pre-built integration with BEA AquaLogic® Service Bus and BEA AquaLogic® Service Registry to optimize and automate the end-to-end management and governance of process services.

All in One

While many BPM suites are optimized for a single audience – either IT or business users - BEA is a leading company with a proven solution that is designed to fully support both groups in their collaborative quest for process excellence. BEA AquaLogic® BPM 6.0 moves beyond the limits of traditional human workflow or system-to system process technology by bridging the two into a single, unified, enterprise-class BPM suite built to support the complex, collaborative processes of today's heterogeneous enterprise.

BEA AquaLogic® Business Process Management 6.0 is now generally available and downloadable at: http://commerce.bea.com/products/aqualogic/bpm/albpm.jsp.
For more information, please join a Web seminar titled “Collaborative BPM - Bridging Business and IT” on July 31, 2007 at 11:00 a.m. PST. To register, please visit http://www.bea.com/framework.jsp?CNT=bea_albpm_31jul2007.htm&FP=/content/news_events/events. For additional information, please visit http://www.bea.com/bpm.

About BEA
BEA Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BEAS) is a world leader in enterprise infrastructure software. Information about how BEA is enabling customers to transform their business by building a Liquid Enterprise(TM) can be found at bea.com.

HP Resolves Ink Patent Infringement Suit Against Pelikan

2007-08-02T06:53:00.001-07:00

HP today announced that Germany-based Pelikan Hardcopy Deutschland GmbH and the Swiss Pelikan Hardcopy (International) AG have admitted claims asserted by HP in an action for patent infringement filed with the Düsseldorf Regional Court in Germany.

Based on this admission, the court issued a judgment ordering Pelikan to stop importing and distributing the infringing cartridges and to pay damages to HP. Pelikan also was ordered to recall all infringing products that might still be in the distribution channel.

In May, HP alleged that Pelikan infringed multiple HP patents related to the print cartridges and the ink formulation found in Pelikan products. Pelikan has admitted HP’s claims regarding all patents.

The accused Pelikan products were new cartridges, as opposed to remanufactured, and had been sourced from a third party and imported into Germany. They were sold under the Pelikan brand and designated as H06 and H08 color cartridges.

"At HP, we take our investment in intellectual property very seriously and are pleased to resolve this matter without extensive litigation," said Michael Hoffmann, senior vice president, Supplies, Imaging and Printing Group, HP. “We will remain vigilant in monitoring Pelikan and others for possible patent infringement as part of our ongoing worldwide testing and enforcement efforts.” ntries where such patents are held, and promised to withdraw infringing products from the market in those countries.

About HP

HP focuses on simplifying technology experiences for all of its customers – from individual consumers to the largest businesses. With a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure, HP is among the world’s largest IT companies, with revenue totaling $97.1 billion for the four fiscal quarters ended April 30, 2007. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.

Dell Plans to Acquire ASAP Software

2007-08-02T06:51:00.000-07:00

Dell announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire ASAP Software, a leading software solutions and licensing services provider and a subsidiary of Corporate Express.

The acquisition will strengthen Dell’s existing software business by integrating ASAP’s complementary expertise in managing software licensing, purchasing, renewals, and compliance.

Under the agreement, Dell will purchase ASAP for approximately $340 million. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. It is anticipated to close during Dell’s fiscal third quarter.

“Merging Dell’s software business with ASAP is part of our effort to re-invent and simplify the way our customers get access to IT,” said Paul Bell, senior vice president and president, Dell Americas. “After the acquisition is completed, our customers will have one of the world’s leading software solutions providers as a single point of expertise and accountability for software licensing, compliance, renewal and asset management.”

ASAP is a provider of IT products and services to corporations and government organizations. Its subsidiary, License Technologies Group, specializes in licensing and e-commerce services for software publishers and their partners. Dell is increasingly being asked by corporate, government and institutional customers to deliver solutions that simplify software management. The ASAP acquisition is a key step in answering the needs of Dell customers.

“Maximizing the value of our customers’ technology investment is a hallmark of ASAP,” said Paul Jarvie, ASAP president. “We're excited about the opportunity to leverage the systems, processes, and teams we've developed over the past 23 years to serve Dell customers.”

The acquisition of ASAP furthers Dell’s long-term initiative to radically simplify IT for customers by removing cost and complexity and making technology more efficient, manageable and flexible. Dell’s strategy, developed through millions of direct conversations with customers, is based on a set of core beliefs that: Information technology shouldn’t be as complex as it is.
Customers should spend less on maintaining IT and more on innovation.
Every IT project should not require an army of consultants.
Computing should have minimal environmental impact.
Superior information drives efficiency in an IT environment.

About Dell

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services they trust and value. Uniquely enabled by its direct business model, Dell is a leading global systems and services company and No. 34 on the Fortune 500. For more information, visit www.dell.com, or to communicate directly with Dell via a variety of online channels, go to www.dell.com/conversations. To get Dell news direct, visit www.dell.com/RSS

About ASAP

ASAP provides IT products and services to corporations and government agencies headquartered in North America and Europe. Since its founding in 1984, the company has helped thousands of clients evaluate, purchase, deploy, and manage their software assets. Its expertise in volume licensing and innovative asset management solutions makes ASAP the single-source provider of choice for organizations whose objective is to maximize the value of their technology investments. With over 600 employees, ASAP serves customers through sales offices in 48 locations across North America and Europe. For more information, visit www.asap.com

HP Strengthens Thin Client Computing Offering with Acquisition of Neoware Inc.

2007-07-23T08:44:00.000-07:00

HP today announced that it has signed a definitive merger agreement to purchase Neoware Inc. (Nasdaq: NWRE), a provider of thin client computing and virtualization solutions, at a price of $16.25 per share, or an enterprise value (net of existing cash) of approximately $214 million on a fully diluted basis.

The acquisition is part of HP's strategy to expand in growth markets and further its leadership in personal computing. Acquiring Neoware is intended to accelerate the growth of HP's thin client business by boosting its Linux software, client virtualization and customization capabilities, expanding its regional sales footprint and broadening its hardware portfolio.

"Our objective is to become the preferred brand of thin clients and software for virtualized client computing," said Kevin Frost, vice president, Business Desktops, Personal Systems Group, HP. "Thin clients are an important component in today's overall computing strategy and play a critical role in HP's virtualization strategy. Acquiring Neoware confirms our commitment to thin client computing and client virtualization solutions."

Thin clients provide reduced maintenance costs, minimal application updates and a higher level of security compared to other desk-based computing products. The solid-state devices connect over a network to a server where all processing and storage takes place.

The transaction will combine the respective strengths of each company: Neoware's Linux-based thin client solutions and software with HP's thin clients based on Microsoft Windows® XPe and Windows CE and its virtualized client solutions, such as blade PCs, blade workstations, virtual desktop infrastructure and server-based computing. HP plans to leverage the acquisition to remain an industry leader in reducing its environmental footprint through reduced noise, power and packaging versus desktop PCs.

"Acquiring our company will further strengthen HP's PC business as it extends its portfolio of remote client solutions and delivers secure, low-cost access to centralized personal computing," said Klaus Besier, president and chief executive officer, Neoware Inc. "We are proud to be joining HP, where together we will continue to promote the shift to virtualized client computing."

Following completion of the transaction, HP plans to integrate Neoware into the Business Desktop Unit of HP's Personal Systems Group.

Under the terms of the merger agreement, Neoware stockholders will receive $16.25 for each share of Neoware stock that they hold at the closing of the merger. The acquisition is subject to a number of customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals and the approval of Neoware's stockholders. HP expects the closing to occur in the fourth quarter of calendar year 2007.

Media conference call

HP and Neoware plan to conduct a joint audio conference call today at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT with media and analysts to discuss HP's intent to acquire Neoware.

The call will be hosted by Kevin Frost, vice president of Business Desktops in the Personal Systems Group at HP, and Klaus Besier, president and chief executive officer, Neoware Inc.

Dial-in phone number: +1 866 825 1692

Passcode: 45109820

About Neoware

Neoware Inc. (Nasdaq: NWRE) is a global provider of thin client computing solutions that allow organizations to cut costs by centralizing desktop management, alleviating threats of security breaches and reducing energy consumption. Forward-thinking companies enable their desktop virtualization strategies with Neoware's desktop, laptop and software offerings. Headquartered in King of Prussia, Pa., Neoware has offices in Europe and Asia.

About HP

HP focuses on simplifying technology experiences for all of its customers – from individual consumers to the largest businesses. With a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure, HP is among the world's largest IT companies, with revenue totaling $97.1 billion for the four fiscal quarters ended April 30, 2007. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.

HP to Acquire Opsware Inc.

2007-07-23T08:42:00.000-07:00

HP today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to purchase Opsware Inc. (Nasdaq: OPSW), a market-leading data center automation software company, through a cash tender offer for $14.25 per share, or an enterprise value (net of existing cash and debt) of approximately $1.6 billion on a fully diluted basis.

Upon closing, the acquisition will enhance HP's portfolio of Business Technology Optimization (BTO) software. Combining Opsware's solutions with HP's enterprise IT management software will deliver a comprehensive and fully integrated solution for IT automation. Opsware is the latest in a series of strategic software acquisitions, including Mercury Interactive and Peregrine Systems, which expands HP's leadership in BTO.

"The acquisition of Opsware is intended to enable HP Software to help our customers resolve one of their critical pain points: controlling the increasing complexity and cost of managing the data center," said Thomas E. Hogan, senior vice president, Software, HP. "We expect Opsware's outstanding team will help us drive leadership across our BTO offerings."

Opsware Chief Executive Officer Ben Horowitz said, "We are about to see one of the biggest application and infrastructure build-outs in history. The addition of Opsware to the HP Software portfolio will make HP the obvious choice for powering the next generation of data centers to come."

The acquisition of Opsware is intended to extend HP Software's capabilities to automate the entire data center – from initial provisioning of servers, networks and storage devices to managing ongoing changes and compliance requirements – with integrated process automation, removing the latency inherent in today's IT environments.

"Following last year's acquisition of Mercury Interactive, the addition of Opsware is expected to enhance HP's standing as one of the world's leading software companies and drive profitable growth for HP," said Ann Livermore, executive vice president, Technology Solutions Group, HP. "With this strategic acquisition, I believe customers will see HP as the clear vendor of choice to help them transform how they manage and automate IT to drive better business outcomes."

Following the close of the transaction, Opsware will become part of the HP Software business. At that time, HP also expects to appoint Ben Horowitz to lead the Business Technology Optimization organization reporting to Thomas E. Hogan, senior vice president, HP Software.

The acquisition will be conducted by means of a tender offer for all of the outstanding shares of Opsware, followed by a merger of Opsware with an HP subsidiary. The tender offer is subject to a number of customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, and is expected to close before the end of HP's fourth fiscal quarter of 2007.

IBM Completes Acquisition of Watchfire

2007-07-23T08:41:00.000-07:00

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that on July 20, 2007, it completed the acquisition of Watchfire Corporation, a privately held security and compliance testing software company based in Waltham, Massachusetts.

IBM announced a definitive agreement to acquire Watchfire, a leading provider of web application vulnerability assessment and compliance solutions, on June 6, 2007, to help customers guard against online security attacks and compliance breaches.

The acquisition extends the IBM Governance and Risk Management strategy by broadening security and compliance management capabilities in the software development lifecycle. Successfully managing IT governance and risk management as a lifecycle is critical as businesses today are facing increasing globalization, staggering regulatory complexity and an ever-evolving security threat landscape.

Watchfire helps customers manage web application security and web content quality and compliance to help ensure the business integrity of their online businesses. The combination of Watchfire and IBM will help customers integrate web application security and compliance management early on and throughout the software development process -- effectively allowing them to define, test and track the compliance of their applications with security, legal and corporate guidelines.

"For the past 11 years, Watchfire has provided customers with innovative and effective web application security software to help minimize exposure to personal information, customer records and corporate intellectual property," said Dr. Danny Sabbah, general manager, IBM Rational software. "Watchfire technology incorporated into the IBM Rational Software Delivery Platform will help our customers address online security and compliance management requirements early in the software development process -- before their applications go live."

IBM is integrating its Rational software quality management solutions with Watchfire's security and compliance testing services to enhance and simplify the web application development process. With the ability to create applications with protective measures against attacks, infringement, and violations of compliance standards, customers will be able to deliver better products to market faster while reducing costs and improving efficiency in the application development process. As part of the IBM Rational Software Delivery Platform, Watchfire also complements existing IBM Tivoli identity, access and compliance management software offerings and IBM Internet Security Systems by extending security and compliance testing as an integrated element of the application development lifecycle.

"Watchfire has long been committed to helping customers avoid online security breaches," said Peter McKay, vice president, Watchfire, IBM Rational software and former CEO of Watchfire Corporation. "With the Watchfire technology fully integrated into the Rational portfolio, our customers will be able to guard against online attacks long before they happen. By integrating Watchfire technology early in the software development process, IBM will help customers deliver more secure and compliant applications to the market."

In addition to Watchfire, IBM has added several governance and risk management capabilities through recent acquisitions in its Global Technology Services and Software Group divisions, including Internet Security Systems, Consul, FileNet and Micromuse.

For more information, visit www.ibm.com/rational

IBM to Acquire DataMirror to Deliver Real-Time Information on Demand

2007-07-16T13:05:00.000-07:00

IBM (NYSE: IBM) and DataMirror Corporation (TSX: DMC) today announced an agreement for IBM to acquire DataMirror based in Markham, Ontario. Under the Arrangement Agreement, IBM will acquire all of the outstanding DataMirror common shares at a price of C$27.00 per common share payable in cash, amounting to total consideration of approximately C$170 million (approximately $161 million USD).

DataMirror is a provider of technology that identifies and captures data that has been added, updated or deleted and allows the changed data to be delivered in real time to processes, applications and databases, ensuring that continuous, accurate and trusted information is available for decision-making.

"Organizations need the ability to capture and use information in real-time to help them make better business decisions, better serve their customers and increase operational efficiencies," said Ambuj Goyal, general manager, IBM Information Management. "The combination of DataMirror technology and IBM information management software will help customers bring real-time data analysis closer to actual business processes, allowing them to be more competitive and to generate more value from their information."

"IBM's global reach and industry leading integration solutions will rapidly expand the impact of DataMirror software," said Nigel Stokes, chief executive officer and founder, DataMirror. "This transaction represents a validation of the hard work of the DataMirror team over the last ten years, and an opportunity for our customers to continue to leverage our unique solutions."

The acquisition of DataMirror will further IBM's cross-company Information on Demand business initiative, aimed at capturing the growing market opportunity for enabling customers to use information as a competitive and strategic business asset. IBM's strategy is to provide customers with the data they need -- when they need it -- to help them quickly respond to changing market demands, rapidly identify new business opportunities, and improve business results.

For example, with DataMirror technology, a retailer can incorporate information from point of sale systems into a data warehouse in real-time and automatically trigger important business decisions and events, such as replenishing low stock based on current sales and inventory figures. Likewise, a telecommunications company's billing system information can be integrated into customer resource management systems for a near real-time view of customers.

Following completion of the acquisition, IBM intends to:

Integrate DataMirror with IBM's Information Management Software unit led by General Manager Ambuj Goyal.
Employ DataMirror software to support IBM Information Server, IBM's first-of-a-kind information integration platform, making it easier for clients to apply real-time data integration techniques from a single platform across their businesses.
Utilize DataMirror technology to bring heterogeneous real time change data capture to clients.

DataMirror has approximately 220 employees and more than 2,200 customers including Debenhams, FedEx Ground, First American Bank, Priority Health, Tiffany & Co., and Union Pacific Railroad.

The acquisition is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. It is anticipated to close in the third calendar quarter of 2007.

The desire by businesses to access, manage and deliver information more efficiently is driving rapid change in the information technology marketplace. Companies grappling with business demands are striving to capture and integrate information in a more seamless, real-time fashion across their enterprises. The combination of IBM and DataMirror allows both sets of customers to utilize DataMirror's industry leading data-change event capture technology together with the industry's most powerful information integration platform, IBM Information Server, delivering more value to customers by allowing information integration to be driven at the speed of business.

About IBM

For more information about IBM, go to http://www-306.ibm.com/software/data/

About DataMirror

DataMirror, a leading provider of real-time data integration and data protection solutions, improves the integrity and reliability of information across all of the systems that create and store data. DataMirror's flexible and innovative integration solutions allow customers to easily and continuously detect, translate, and communicate all information changes throughout the enterprise. DataMirror helps customers make better decisions by providing access to the continuous, accurate information they need to take timely action and move forward faster. More than 2,200 companies have gained tangible competitive advantage from DataMirror software. DataMirror is headquartered in Markham, Canada, and has offices around the globe. For more information, visit www.datamirror.com

Information About the Transaction

This transaction reflects significant value for DataMirror shareholders, representing a premium of 19.42 percent over the twenty-day volume weighted average trading price of C$22.61 for DataMirror common shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The Arrangement Agreement has been reviewed by a Special Committee of the Board of Directors of DataMirror and has been unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of DataMirror following the unanimous recommendation of the Special Committee. The Board of Directors of DataMirror unanimously recommends that the shareholders vote in favour of the transaction. PageMill Partners, LLC acted as financial advisor to DataMirror, and the Special Committee and the Board of Directors have received an opinion from Orion Securities Inc. that the consideration offered under the transaction is fair, from a financial point of view, to DataMirror shareholders. The fairness opinion of Orion Securities Inc. will be included in the meeting materials to be sent to DataMirror shareholders. Holders of 2,543,669 DataMirror common shares, representing approximately 40.3% of DataMirror's outstanding common shares, have agreed to vote in favour of the transaction.

The transaction will be carried out by way of a statutory plan of arrangement. Subject to court approval, the transaction must be approved by not less than two-thirds of the votes cast by DataMirror shareholders at a special meeting of shareholders expected to be held on or about August 24, 2007. Closing is subject to certain other conditions, including receipt of applicable regulatory approvals.

Shareholders may obtain a copy of the Arrangement Agreement, management information circular, and other meeting materials when they become available at www.sedar.com.

IBM and APC Partner to Create Energy Efficient Green Data Center for Bryant University

2007-07-13T08:11:00.000-07:00

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that it has implemented the IBM Scalable Modular Data Center at Bryant University, in order to meet the school's technology requirements of its growing enrollment while simultaneously being energy conscious by implementing a "green data center." The IBM Scalable Modular Data Center is a cost saving, energy efficient solution that was rapidly deployed as a pre-engineered data center, using IBM Global Services' capabilities, coupled with APC's InfraStruXure® data center architecture.

In addition to these services, Bryant replaced their Sun Microsystems hardware infrastructure with IBM Power processor-based BladeCenter servers running Linux and IBM virtualization software technology, driving higher utilization rates and helping save energy costs. These technologies are part of Project Big Green, a plan which IBM recently announced to help clients sharply reduce data center energy consumption.

Founded in 1863, Smithfield, R.I.-based Bryant University has a history of excellence and innovation, both academically and technologically. The university prides itself on being wired with "one port per pillow" in each of its dorm rooms, but as the university was growing, its three data centers were not able to handle enterprise information technology (IT) for either communication or computing. After years of working with both IBM and APC, Bryant University learned about their alliance and turned to them to create this new solution.

"In the past 10 years, Bryant University has added 144,000 square feet of new facilities and has experienced a 300 percent rise in applications," said Arthur Gloster, CIO of Bryant University. "We were not properly set up to handle this growth and it was time for Bryant University to make a cost-saving and energy efficient change. The IBM Scalable Modular Data Center solution allows us to concentrate on continuing to provide the student body, faculty and staff with the tools necessary to succeed."

The Scalable Modular Data Center service product is available from IBM's Site and Facilities Services business unit. IBM's data center design and build experience and services expertise are utilized to bring the solution to clients. Scalable Modular Data Center services include data center strategy, data center design, server and storage integration, relocation planning, project management, infrastructure equipment sourcing, installation services and management, data center testing and start-up management. The entire solution can be implemented in eight to 12 weeks and is 15 percent less expensive than traditional data center builds.

"IBM's long history and expertise with data center implementations enabled us to create a solution to save energy and ensure efficient server performance for Bryant University," said Steven Sams, vice president of IBM Global Site and Facilities Services. "IT departments won't be as concerned with growing energy costs when selecting the IBM Scalable Modular Data Center solution, which provides an efficient, reliable and secure data center."

The IBM Scalable Modular Data Center solution uses the APC InfraStruXure design, which integrates power, cooling, rack, management, services and security, allowing for selection of standardized components to create a solution through modular configurations. By using standardized components, the architecture easily scales to meet the evolving needs of the university.

"Bryant University is the beneficiary of what happens when two leading companies combine to create the best of both worlds," said Dave Johnson, senior vice president and chief sales officer at APC-MGE. "IBM and APC have created an energy efficient solution that addresses Bryant's current and future IT needs. By adopting a scalable, modular approach to building its new data center, the university also realized increased speed in system design and deployment. This enabled the university to move quickly from design to commissioning the system."

About Bryant University

More information about Bryant University is available at www.bryant.edu

About IBM

More information about IBM Site and Facilities Services and IBM Scalable Modular Data Center is available at www.ibm.com/services/siteandfacilities, and more information about IBM's Project Big Green and efforts around the green data center is available at www.ibm.com/press/greendatacenter.

About APC-MGE

APC and MGE UPS Systems recently combined to form a $3 billion (EUR 2.4 billion) Critical Power & Cooling Services business unit of Schneider Electric. Together, APC and MGE offer the industry's most comprehensive product and solution range for critical IT and process applications in industrial, enterprise, small and medium business and home environments. APC and MGE solutions include uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), precision cooling units, racks, and design and management software, including APC's InfraStruXure architecture the industry's only integrated power, cooling, and management solution. Backed by the industry's broadest service organization and an industry leading R&D investment, the combined company's 12,000 employees help customers confront today's unprecedented power, cooling and management challenges. Schneider Electric, with 112,000 employees and operations in 190 countries, had 2006 annual sales of $18 billion (EUR 13.7 billion). For more information on APC and MGE, please visit www.apc-mge.com. All trademarks are the property of their owners.

Merck Names Peter Kellogg as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

2007-07-02T12:16:00.000-07:00

Merck & Co., Inc. announced that Peter N. Kellogg has been named Merck's executive vice president and chief financial officer, effective August 14, 2007. He is currently serving as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Biogen Idec Inc.

Mr. Kellogg will oversee Merck's worldwide financial organization, investor relations, corporate development and licensing. He also will be responsible for leading the Company's relationships with AstraZeneca and DuPont. Mr. Kellogg will report directly to Richard T. Clark, Merck's chairman, president and chief executive officer, and will succeed Judy C. Lewent, who is retiring from Merck.

"In every aspect of our business - from the discovery, manufacture and sale of medicines, to our internal supporting operations and systems - we look to the chief financial officer for business leadership and financial discipline to ensure that we have the necessary financial flexibility to execute our strategies. This is critical to our ability to deliver value to our shareholders and to the patients, payers, and health care community," said Mr. Clark.

"We conducted a comprehensive search for the right person and considered a number of excellent candidates both inside and outside of Merck," Mr. Clark continued. "Our objective was to find an individual with exemplary financial experience and a proven track record. And, we looked for a person with the right values and the kind of personal leadership attributes that are required for the important responsibilities that come with this position. Peter Kellogg has all of the credentials, experience, and qualities that we were seeking."

"This is an outstanding opportunity to work with Merck's very talented management team, Board of Directors and Dick Clark as they transform Merck's business and better position the Company for the future. I am excited about the plan they have in place and my role, along with others, in achieving it," Mr. Kellogg said. "I'm pleased to be able to join a financial organization that is known throughout the industry and the business community as one deeply committed to excellence and the highest standards."

As executive vice president and chief financial officer at Biogen Idec Inc., a position he held since 2004, Mr. Kellogg was responsible for the company's worldwide finance function. A member of the Executive Committee at Biogen Idec, he provided strong leadership in long-range planning, business development, and merger and acquisition processes. While in this role, he had key responsibility for investor relationships, and was accountable for Board review of financial performance, long-range plans, and all Board Finance and Audit Committee activities.

Prior to that position, Mr. Kellogg held the same position at Biogen, Inc. - which merged with IDEC Pharmaceuticals in 2003. Earlier in his career, Mr. Kellogg was with PepsiCo Inc., where he held senior financial and general management roles, including senior vice president of PepsiCo E-Commerce, and senior vice president and chief financial officer of Frito Lay International. Mr. Kellogg was also a senior partner at both Booz Allen & Hamilton Inc., and Arthur Andersen and Co., two respected consulting firms.

Mr. Kellogg holds an MBA in Management from the University of Pennsylvania, and a B.S. in Engineering from Princeton University.

About Merck

Merck & Co., Inc. is a global research-driven pharmaceutical company dedicated to putting patients first. Established in 1891, Merck currently discovers, develops, manufactures and markets vaccines and medicines to address unmet medical needs. The Company devotes extensive efforts to increase access to medicines through far-reaching programs that not only donate Merck medicines but help deliver them to the people who need them. Merck also publishes unbiased health information as a not-for-profit service. For more information, visit www.merck.com

Amazon.com and Microsoft Team Up to Help Indie Filmmakers Jump Into HD DVD

2007-07-02T08:25:00.000-07:00

Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. today announced the 1,000 HD DVD Indies Project, designed to lower the barriers to entry for filmmakers to produce and distribute movies in the HD DVD format through the innovative manufacturing-on-demand technology of CustomFlix, a part of an Amazon group of companies. Jointly sponsored by Amazon and Microsoft, the project will provide free authoring and setup services for up to 1,000 selected indie titles.

“This collaboration with Microsoft is a great opportunity for independent filmmakers to reach Amazon customers with their films via the HD DVD format,” said Peter Faricy, vice president of music and movies at Amazon.com. “By working together with Microsoft and leveraging the proven CustomFlix DVD on Demand model, we can lower the barriers to entry for independent filmmakers and dramatically increase the selection we offer our customers.”

The project will be spearheaded by CustomFlix, which will bring as many as 1,000 feature-length independent films to Amazon customers using the CustomFlix DVD on Demand technology, which produces and ships DVDs only as they are ordered. This model greatly improves the cost structure for independent filmmakers by eliminating the need for costly inventory.

“From a technical standpoint, we found that the HD DVD format fits our business model perfectly,” said Dana LoPiccolo-Giles, co-founder and managing director of CustomFlix. “With retail shelf space at a premium, our model eliminates the risk of carrying inventory and immediately expands the number of great HD DVD titles available to consumers.”

“Programs like this one from Amazon lower barriers to entry for independent artists and provide audiences with increased access to high-quality, high-definition content,” said Christian Vesper, senior vice president of programming, acquisitions and scheduling for Sundance Channel.

Sundance Channel will be reviewing the high-definition features for potential broadcast on the network as well as making its own HD original eco-series, “Big Ideas for a Small Planet,” available for purchase through Amazon’s HD DVD program.

“Amazon’s participation in this project will be a major benefit to independent filmmakers wanting to break into the high-definition market segment,” said Amir Majidimehr, corporate vice president for the Consumer Media Technology Group at Microsoft. “The use of Microsoft® technology and authoring expertise will ensure that all the HD DVD titles offered by Amazon have impeccable quality, thanks to the VC-1 codec and innovative interactive scenarios with HDi™.”

Amazon.com offers a broad and growing selection of HD televisions, players and DVDs through its HD DVD store at http://www.amazon.com/hddvd. Filmmakers interested in submitting their HD DVD work for consideration as part of the 1,000 HD DVD Indies Project can go to http://www.customflix.com/hddvdindies

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc., (Nasdaq: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as health and personal care, jewelry and watches, gourmet food, sports and outdoors, apparel and accessories, books, music, DVDs, electronics and office, toys and baby, and home and garden.

Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, and www.joyo.com.

About CustomFlix

CustomFlix, a member of the Amazon.com group of companies, is the leader in manufacture on demand services for independent and enterprise media content owners. CustomFlix was founded in 2002 with the mission of profitably connecting content owners to a worldwide audience. Today, CustomFlix offers professional digitization into the Future-Proof Archive service, as well as inventory-free physical media distribution via both CD and DVD on Demand and video downloads through Amazon Unbox.

IBM Brings Collaboration and Search Together to Enhance Enterprise Information Access

2007-07-02T08:20:00.000-07:00

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today introduced enhanced enterprise search software designed to allow users to quickly and securely search intranet portals, databases, public Web sites and file systems to obtain results highly-relevant to their individual needs.

The new version of IBM's OmniFind Enterprise Edition search software provides a single interface for enterprise search, discovery and analysis for IBM Lotus Domino environments. The new software also delivers an unprecedented view into the rich content that can be exposed when the Lotus software platform is mined from a seamless enterprise search interface. Also announced today are new security and search capabilities for WebSphere clients.

By providing full-text indexing and search of Domino databases, users can find and access information stored in IBM Lotus Document Manager, IBM Lotus Quickr and in IBM Lotus QuickPlace documents, as well as other enterprise information from applications, repositories and shared files from across an organization. New Web 2.0 features in the OmniFind Enterprise Edition administrative console make it easy to customize the search application and preview changes immediately.

With extensive server-side support for Lotus Domino, the new software enhances search and sharing of business-critical information like collaborative documents, presentations, specifications and other files, improving productivity and knowledge sharing. OmniFind Enterprise Edition also provides an ideal foundation for enterprise search and text analytics strategies for organizations that need to easily access all their information.

CB&I, a global engineering, procurement and construction company specializing in large-scale, turnkey projects, relies on IBM OmniFind Enterprise Edition to manage the challenge of sharing knowledge and expertise of the company's 13,000 employees spread across 60 locations. With information stored in more than 50 project-specific databases along with myriad other sources -- customer account and contact applications, document distribution and project control systems, Lotus Domino files and even local file servers in each office -- employees can now use a single search interface to access project-related information, knowledge and specialized expertise spread across the enterprise.

"With OmniFind software, we can now provide our staff with fast access to documents that they might not have even known existed," said John Shaull, senior technical analyst, CB&I. "Employees have told us that this is making their jobs easier, which, in turn, is increasing staff productivity and efficiency. The OmniFind implementation beat our expectations and was in place well ahead of schedule. Additionally, the administration and maintenance of the software is much easier than we had anticipated."

IBM OmniFind Enterprise Edition delivers rich indexing of all Lotus Domino fields including attachments, as well as fielded search. It also understands the structure of Lotus Notes databases and comes with pre-built support for Lotus Quickr, Lotus QuickPlace and Domino.Doc databases, Windows SharePoint Services and Microsoft Exchange as well as the ability to crawl IBM Workplace Web Content Management.

Additionally, the software provides scalable and secure enterprise search directly from within IBM WebSphere Portal. This provides WebSphere Portal clients the ability to scale to millions of documents and provides secure search of non-Web enterprise content sources. It also allows WebSphere Portal clients to conduct searches through the familiar WebSphere Search Center portlet or the OmniFind portlet directly through WebSphere Portal using native security.

OmniFind Enterprise Edition has the ability to bring conceptual understanding to keyword search through semantic interpretation and can also serve as a platform for text analytics applications. Using the advanced information extraction capabilities through the Unstructured Information Management Architecture (UIMA), an open source framework for building advanced search and text analytics applications, OmniFind Enterprise Edition enables users to search for facts and concepts within the underlying content. It also includes a sample text analytics configuration to detect phone numbers, URLs and e-mail addresses included together with a matching synonym dictionary.

The new version of IBM OmniFind Enterprise Edition optimized for Lotus Domino and WebSphere Portal supports Lotus Domino on Linux, Windows, and System i platforms. It comes with pre-built crawlers for WebSphere Portal Document Manager, WebSphere Portal Web pages and Workplace Web Content Management. The software is currently available from IBM and IBM Business Partners.

For more information visit: http://www-306.ibm.com/software/data/enterprise-search/omnifind-enterprise/

IBM Expands High Performance Computing Capabilities for Clusters

2007-06-28T07:15:00.000-07:00

IBM Introduces Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 for IBM Clusters; Microsoft Deploys IBM System Cluster 1350 for AIDS Research
IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced today the availability of Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 for the IBM System Cluster 1350, to help enable more mid-market and enterprise clients -- including those in life sciences, computer-aided engineering (CAE) and financial services -- to take advantage of high-performance cluster computing. IBM also announced today expanded server, storage and networking options for the cluster solution, to help provide unprecedented levels of speed, choice and flexibility for high performance computing environments.

"IBM has successfully enabled clients to leverage clusters for high-end supercomputing work for over six years," said Wendy McGee, director, IBM Cluster Solutions. "Today by combining leading IBM systems and storage along with the familiar computing interface from Microsoft and new networking offerings from Cisco, IBM has extended high performance computing capabilities to a broader client base."

Microsoft Research is using the IBM System Cluster 1350 to aid in HIV vaccine research. To run simulations of how the HIV virus mutates in response to attacks by the immune system, Microsoft researchers required a system that could manage massive amounts of computation with a technology interface that was easy to use. Using Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 (CCS) on the IBM cluster has enabled researchers to achieve at least 100 CPU years of results in less than two years, and run simulations 50 percent faster than before.

"Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 running on the IBM System Cluster 1350 has allowed us to dramatically increase the speed at which we process calculations critical to HIV vaccine research," said David Heckerman, lead researcher of Microsoft Research's Machine Learning and Applied Statistics Group. "We have been able to provide relevant solutions for our client base and leverage the same leading technology solutions for our own efforts to advance AIDS Research."

High performance computing clusters can range from as few as two to thousands of servers woven together to deliver high-speed performance demanded by a broad range of applications. IBM hardware offerings in this space include the IBM System Cluster 1350, an integrated, factory built and tested cluster with networking from leading vendors, as well as System x, System p and BladeCenter servers and IBM System Storage. For customers interested in running Microsoft Windows CCS along with IBM's latest cluster technology, the IBM benchmarking center at the IBM Customer Center in Montpellier, France just added a new program on customer benchmarking around Microsoft-based clusters.

Product Details and Availability

Today IBM updated the System Cluster 1350 to include IBM multi-core processor-based BladeCenter and System x servers, IBM System Storage and networking technologies from Cisco, SMC and Voltaire. The new systems include Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor technology to enhance high performance computing with more capability. The clustered system is also designed to leverage Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), and now supports the SLES10 operating system.

Products available in the new IBM System Cluster 1350 portfolio today include:

IBM BladeCenter and System x servers featuring multi-core and dual-core processors from AMD and Intel, including: BladeCenter HS21-XM, HS21, LS21, LS41; and System x3550, x3650, x3455, x3655, x3755
New storage options, including: IBM System Storage DS3400 SAS/SATA Fiber Channel Host Interface, DS3200 SAS Host Interface, EXP 3000 (SAS/SATA)
New networking options, including a range of both Ethernet and InfiniBand switches from Cisco, SMC and Voltaire.
IBM System Cluster 1350 pricing will vary depending upon specific configuration.

For more information about IBM, go to: www.ibm.com

IBM Blue Genes Dominate List of Fastest Supercomputers

2007-06-27T09:20:00.000-07:00

IBM's (NYSE: IBM) Blue Gene®/L supercomputer continued its four-year reign atop the TOP500 Supercomputer Sites list announced today. IBM systems account for 42% of the combined computational might of the planet's most powerful computers -- more than any other supercomputer vendor, according to the list.

In addition, the development version of IBM's newest Blue Gene/P solution(1) burst onto the list at number 30. Launched yesterday, the two-rack test system delivers 20.86 teraflops in a space the size of two refrigerator-sized racks. When it is fully scaled out, Blue Gene/P can be configured to reach up to three petaflops -- or three thousand trillion calculations per second.

IBM dominates the Top 10 with a total of six systems -- four of them Blue Gene supercomputers. The number one Blue Gene/L system, installed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, delivers a sustained performance of 280.6 trillion operations per second or teraflops.

IBM systems account for 46 of the Top 100. Thirty-nine of them are built on IBM's POWER® architecture hardware running versions of Unix (AIX) and Linux software.

This year, two new IBM Blue Gene supercomputers entered into the Top 10. "New York Blue," at the New York Center for Computational Science in Stony Brook, N.Y., and the Blue Gene system at the Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y.

Joining the Blue Gene/L system at Lawrence Livermore in the TOP500 list's Top 10 are IBM Watson Research Lab's own Blue Gene system at 91.29 teraflops. In addition to Blue Gene systems, IBM's POWER-based ASC Purple supercomputer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is number six.

IBM's MareNostrum supercomputer, built on IBM BladeCenter JS21 blade servers and located at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, retained its position as the most powerful supercomputer in Europe, ranking number 9 on the overall list. IBM also has the biggest system in China, a BladeCenter cluster at Sinopec ShengLI Oilfield Branch Company, Geophysical Research Institute.

Based on IBM's POWER Architecture, the IBM System Blue Gene Solution is optimized for bandwidth, scalability and the ability to handle large amounts of data while consuming a fraction of the power and floor space required by today's fastest systems. A variety of industries are using Blue Gene systems to advance their research capabilities for life sciences, financial modeling, hydrodynamics, quantum chemistry, molecular dynamics, astronomy and space research and climate modeling.

The "TOP500 Supercomputer Sites" is compiled and published by supercomputing experts Jack Dongarra from the University of Tennessee, Erich Strohmaier and Horst Simon of NERSC/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Hans Meuer of the University of Mannheim (Germany). The entire list can be viewed at www.top500.org

HP and Microsoft Alliance Continues to Drive Productivity in High-Performance Computing

2007-06-26T08:01:00.000-07:00

HP and Microsoft Corporation today announced an extension of their worldwide sales and marketing agreement that addresses the high-performance computing (HPC) market.

The companies have come together to drive high-performance computing into the mass market by delivering supercomputing clusters that are easier to deploy, support and manage for enterprise and mid-market customers.

The extension of the alliance entails a multimillion dollar investment by both HP and Microsoft, and includes HP selling Microsoft Windows® Compute Cluster Server (CCS) 2003 direct and via reseller channels as part of the HP Unified Cluster Portfolio, which is supported on HP ProLiant servers, HP BladeSystem and HP Cluster platforms.

“High-performance computing is poised for continued strong growth, averaging over 20 percent a year for the last four years, with HPC standards-based clusters growing at even higher rates. End-users are looking for easy-to-use systems and will likely go with vendors that can provide an easy transition from their desktop to HPC servers,” said Earl Joseph, program vice president, IDC, an industry analyst firm. “The HP and Microsoft partnership to provide Windows Compute Cluster Server on ProLiant and Blades platforms has the potential to address these key user requirements and enable more customers to take advantage of HPC technologies. Many users, especially desktop users, are already familiar with the Windows environment, and this partnership provides an easy transition to an HPC solution.”

The combination of Windows CCS and HP servers enables users to effortlessly expand their compute capability and easily tap into the power of clusters. Windows CCS is designed specifically to make HPC clusters easier to design, integrate and manage within organizations so employees are more productive.

HP enhancements to Windows CCS include custom installation scripts and documentation that greatly streamline deployment. The optional HP Message Passing Interface and InfiniBand drivers offer increased scalability and performance in applications that require high-speed, low-latency communications. Using HP’s custom installation kit for Windows CCS, a customer can realistically expect to have a 64-node cluster deployed and running within two hours.

“We see the addition of Microsoft as an important part of our Unified Cluster Portfolio program to expand the market and bring HPC technology to the mainstream,” said Winston Prather, vice president and general manager, High Performance Computing, HP.

As part of the alliance, HP and Microsoft have established technology centers in Houston and Grenoble, France, for customers and independent software vendors. The technology centers provide a venue for benchmarking, testing and validating applications on HP servers based on AMD and Intel® processors running Windows CCS.

HP and Microsoft team with ANSYS to bring HPC to vertical industries

HPC resources are in wide use in industries such as computer-aided engineering (CAE), oil and gas and financial services. To help more customers take advantage of HPC solutions based on Windows, HP and Microsoft are teaming with ANSYS, Inc., a global innovator of simulation software and technologies. The three companies are delivering the ANSYS portfolio of CAE applications as part of a cost-effective, easy-to-use and security-enhanced Windows HPC solution.

“By working collectively with HP, an industry leader in HPC, and Microsoft, the world’s leading software provider, ANSYS is providing customers with access to the most productive and powerful engineering simulation solutions available,” said Chris Reid, vice president of marketing, ANSYS. “ANSYS software is a valuable tool for anybody making fundamental design and engineering decisions, and our joint solutions with HP and Microsoft allow those decision makers to stay focused on innovation instead of lengthy IT deployment.”

Recently, Microsoft and ANSYS agreed on worldwide sales and marketing initiatives focused on joint solutions for the manufacturing industry. As part of these initiatives, ANSYS worked through the Microsoft and HP technology center to port, performance-tune and conduct benchmarks with its ANSYS® 11 and FLUENT® 6.3 CAE applications and the 64-bit Windows Server® platform.

“Microsoft is making long-term investments in HPC to help the community collaborate on innovative solutions that can accelerate the pace of discovery and insights,” said Bill Laing, general manager, Windows Server Division, Microsoft Corp. “Microsoft’s work with HP and ANSYS will deliver greater productivity and performance so they can tackle today’s most complex, technical computing challenges. Our long-established relationship with HP, and strong reseller channels, will enable us to bring HPC solutions to enterprise and mid-market customers.”

More information about HP high-performance computing is available at www.hp.com/go/hptc Further information about Microsoft high-performance computing is available at www.microsoft.com/hpc

IBM Triples Performance of World's Fastest, Most Energy-Efficient Supercomputer: New Blue Gene/P Designed to Break the Quadrillion Barrier

2007-06-26T06:49:00.000-07:00

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced Blue Gene/P, the second generation of the world's most powerful supercomputer. Blue Gene/P nearly triples the performance of its predecessor, Blue Gene/L -- currently the world's fastest computer -- while remaining the most energy-efficient and space-saving computing package ever built.

The result is a machine that towers over other systems. It enables science and commercial supercomputing to attack vital problems in ways never before possible -- modeling an entire human organ to determine drug interactions, for example. Drug researchers could run simulated clinical trials on 27 million patients in one afternoon using just a sliver of the machine's full power.

The IBM® System Blue Gene®/P Solution scales to operate continuously at speeds exceeding one "petaflop" -- or one-quadrillion operations per second. The system is 100,000 times more powerful than a home PC and can process more operations in one second than the combined power of a stack of laptop computers nearly 1.5 miles high. The Blue Gene/P supercomputer can be configured to reach speeds in excess of three petaflops, a performance level that many thought unattainable only a few short years ago.

"Blue Gene/P marks the evolution of the most powerful supercomputing platform the world has ever known," said Dave Turek, vice president of deep computing, IBM. "A new group of commercial users will be able to take advantage of its new, simplified programming environment and unrivaled energy efficiency. We see commercial interest in the Blue Gene supercomputer developing now in energy and finance, for example. This is on course with an adoption cycle -- from government labs to leading enterprises -- that we've seen before in the high-performance computing market."

A Green Design Ahead of its Time

The Blue Gene® supercomputer line was born from a visionary IBM initiative to develop a hugely scalable and highly reliable scientific computing platform. With Blue Gene, designers sidestepped two key constraints on state-of-the-art supercomputing -- power usage and space requirements. The Blue Gene supercomputer was purpose-built to fit in smaller spaces and use less electricity compared to other commercially available designs. Today, the Blue Gene/P supercomputer is at least seven times more energy efficient than any other supercomputer.

The influence of the Blue Gene supercomputer's energy-efficient design and computing model -- once considered exotic -- can be seen everywhere in the industry where people have attempted to lower energy use and get performance without traditional reliance on chip frequency. The breakthrough BlueGene supercomputer design uses many small, low-power embedded chips each connected through five specialized networks inside the system.

Some of the world's leading research laboratories and universities have already placed orders for Blue Gene/P supercomputers. The U.S. Dept. of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Ill., will deploy the first Blue Gene/P supercomputer in the U.S. beginning later this year. In Germany, the Max Planck Society and Forschungszentrum Julich also plan to begin installing Blue Gene/P systems in late 2007. Additional Blue Gene/P system rollouts are being planned by Stony Brook University and Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y., and the Science and Technology Facilities Council, Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire, England.

"We view the installation of the Blue Gene/P system as the next phase of a strategic partnership furthering advances in computation in support of breakthrough science," said Robert Rosner, director, Argonne National Laboratory.

At FZ Julich, where researchers have been using a Blue Gene/L machine for two years, a Blue Gene/P system will allow for more breakthrough science -- in such areas as particle physics and nanotech, for example -- while keeping the research facility within acceptable power budgets. "The big computing power at low electricity rates allows us to boost the performance of very complex and computationally intensive algorithms," said Thomas Lippert, director of the supercomputing center at FZ Julich.

Inside the Fastest Computer Ever Built

Like its predecessor, the Blue Gene/P supercomputer is a modular design, composed of "racks" that can be added as requirements grow.

Four IBM® (850 MHz) PowerPC® 450 processors are integrated on a single Blue Gene/P chip. Each chip is capable of 13.6 billion operations per second. A two-foot-by-two-foot board containing 32 of these chips churns out 435 billion operations every second, making it more powerful than a typical, 40-node cluster based on two-core commodity processors. Thirty-two of the compact boards comprise the 6-foot-high racks. Each rack runs at 13.9 trillion operations per second, 1,300 times faster than today's fastest home PC.

The one-petaflop Blue Gene/P supercomputer configuration is a 294,912-processor, 72-rack system harnessed to a high-speed, optical network. The Blue Gene/P system can be scaled to an 884,736-processor, 216-rack cluster to achieve three-petaflop performance. A standard Blue Gene/P supercomputer configuration will house 4,096 processors per rack.

For Programmers, Friendlier Interfaces & Application Compatibility Speed Productivity

There are some key differences between Blue Gene/L and Blue Gene/P supercomputers. In hardware, the Blue Gene/P supercomputer moves to more (four vs two) and speedier (850 MHz vs 700 MHz) processors per chip; more memory and an SMP mode to support multi-threaded applications. This new SMP mode moves the Blue Gene/P system to a programming environment similar to that found in commercial clusters. The Blue Gene/P supercomputer dramatically scales up collective network performance to minimize common bottlenecks inherent in large parallel-computing systems. Software marks the third key upgrade for the Blue Gene/P solution -- system management, programming environment and applications support have all been refined in Blue Gene/P.

In Germany, a Blue Gene/P supercomputer will become the platform for new applications scaled for petaflop-level performance at the Max Planck society. "The next-generation Blue Gene system will improve our capacity to prepare, develop and optimize applications from the Max Planck Society for future peta-scale computing," said Hermann Lederer, head of application support at Max Planck's RZG/Garching Computing Center.

The Blue Gene supercomputer operating system is based on the open-source Linux operating system. Applications are written in common languages such as Fortran, C and C++ using standards-based MPI communications protocols. The Blue Gene/P supercomputer is compatible with the diverse applications currently running on the Blue Gene/L supercomputer, including leading research in physics, chemistry, biology, aerospace, astrophysics, genetics, materials science, cosmology and seismology.

A variety of independent software vendors have plans to port existing tools and applications to the Blue Gene/P supercomputer. These include Gene Network Sciences, TotalView Technologies, Inc., Tsunami Development LLC and Visual Numerics, developers of IMSL.

For more information, go to: http://www-03.ibm.com/servers/deepcomputing/bluegene.html

Broadcast-quality video clips of Blue Gene systems, and of IBM Vice President David Turek discussing Blue Gene/P are available for download by journalists at http://www.thenewsmarket.com/ibm

IBM and OECD to Focus on Global Collaboration for Innovation

2007-06-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

IBM (NYSE: IBM) has contributed a new social computing software called 'Many Eyes' for use during the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development) World Forum on Measuring and Fostering the Progress of Societies, this week in Istanbul. The innovative technology allows for the democratization of complex data by enabling users to upload any type of data and collaborate on the analysis of that information.

For example, Many Eyes users are currently uploading publicly available or personally gathered data regarding local or global issues -- such as tax rates, crime statistics, global warming, water safety, and healthcare -- and are offering opinions and insights on these topics. The information is displayed in a dynamic, easy to understand format that allows for real-time knowledge sharing.

IBM and OECD representatives believe that social computing software will help people from all over the world make more informed decisions and create a new level of civic dialogue about the issues affecting them in their communities, their countries and at a global level.

Nick Donofrio, IBM's executive vice president, Innovation and Technology, and a keynote speaker at the OECD World Forum, will address the issue of collaboration on a global level. "Nations, institutions and enterprises must work together to create a climate and culture for innovation; one that embraces cross-border, cross-organizational and cross-disciplinary collaboration," said Donofrio. "Innovation is more than just the availability and accessibility of information technology; it is fostered when information technology combines with deep insight to create new value for business, government, academia and our global society."

"Global discussion based on solid statistics allows society to understand its current state and provides a base from which to make progress and innovate," said Enrico Giovannini, Director of Statistics and Chief Statistician of OECD. "Providing OECD's 2007 Factbook data to the public offers citizens around the world an opportunity to collectively explore, discuss and tackle the societal challenges of our time."

IBM's Many Eyes enables users to upload and view large amounts of complex scientific data or playful, social content. Communities of people can then explore, discuss, and collaborate on visual content. Current data sets and visualizations reflect a diverse range of interests, including scientific (temperature and CO2 levels over time), political (U.S. political party affiliation over time), global (fertility rates around the world), and financial (venture capital investment in Europe). The addition of OECD 2007 Factbook data to Many Eyes will enable an even broader range of discussion, as data on health, science and technology, trade, GDP, energy use, education, and other globally relevant topics will now be available.

IBM and OECD will demonstrate the innovative technology during the conference by providing access to the OECD 2007 Factbook information guide to the general public. The data can be accessed by visiting http://services.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes and searching for OECD Factbook. The Factbook includes information on a variety of issues such as the environment, individual country economies, and healthcare. Concerned citizens, leaders, and institutions all over the world are invited to upload other sources of data they think are relevant to major world issues and to engage in debate and discussion using the technology.

The OECD World Forum (June 27-30, 2007) will bring together representatives from public and private sectors, and developed, developing and emerging countries for discussions on "Measuring and Fostering the Progress of Societies" (see www.oecd.org/oecdworldforum). Key world issues, such as changes in climate, health, and economic globalisation, are among the topics that more than 900 ministers, parliamentarians, academicians, business executives, and non-governmental organizations from over 100 countries will explore.

For more information on IBM, please visit www.ibm.com and for more information on OECD, please visit www.oecd.org

IBM Data Center Technology Helps Solar-Powered Web Hosting Firm AISO.Net Build on Its 'Green' Commitment to Customers

2007-06-18T08:53:00.000-07:00

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that AISO.Net, the world's first and only 100 percent solar-powered Web hosting company, has completed a massive data center consolidation initiative using IBM technology, resulting in a 60 percent reduction in overall power and cooling costs associated with the company's IT operations.

Romoland, Calif.-based AISO.Net worked with IBM and IBM Business Partner Sirius Computer Solutions to overhaul its data center and implement a high-end, scalable technology infrastructure solution based on the IBM Cool Blue portfolio that will help the company better serve its dedicated and shared hosting clients. IBM's Cool Blue portfolio is a gathering of IBM hardware and software technologies that allow customers to increase their energy efficiency in the data center.

"For the past decade, AISO.Net has used solar power to power our data center and network, providing customers with environmentally friendly Web hosting," said Phil Nail, technology manager, AISO.Net. "As a result of the tremendous growth in Web hosting and dedicated server client demand, we were faced with the dilemma of how to remain true to our commitment to the environment and continue to see rapid, top-line growth."

Faced with the challenges of rising hardware costs and maxed-out capacity within its data center, AISO.Net initiated a strategy to gain greater control over computing resources, while continuing to deliver high-quality performance to its customer base. After a four-month planning process and three months of implementation, AISO.Net was able to meet its efficiency goals. Data center consolidation through virtualization eased the strain on AISO.Net's solar panel system and helped ensure the company's 100 percent commitment to solar power. This was a significant accomplishment for AISO.Net, which had already eliminated nearly 10 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year from its operations by relying solely on 120 solar panels to generate power.

AISO.Net, by filling their data center with IBM System x3650 servers and introducing IBM Virtualization and IBM partner technologies, has achieved its goal of dramatically improving its internal energy efficiency while also continuing to reduce its environmental impact.

"AISO.Net's success in optimizing its data center is an excellent example of the work we are doing with clients through IBM's recently announced Energy Efficiency Initiative, called Project Big Green," said Rich Lechner, vice president of IT Optimization, IBM. "The $1 billion industry commitment that we launched in May 2007 to help our customers become more energy efficient, combined with our ongoing drive to help clients virtualize more and manage less, is resulting in outstanding, real-world examples like AISO.Net."

In addition to the immediate reduction in data center energy demands, the technology solution delivered by IBM Business Partner Sirius Computer Solutions also freed up space on AISO.Net's existing servers, eliminated the need to budget for new servers and solar panels for the foreseeable future and guaranteed 99.9% availability of data to customers, while also increasing the company's server utilization rate by more than 50%.

"We are finding that customers of all sizes and scopes are interested in more energy efficient computing," said Chris Lusk, VP of Systems and Storage at Sirius Computer Solutions. "Technologies like virtualization are helping them reduce their energy consumption. It is great to be able to offer companies like AISO.Net with solutions that advance green computing."

Nail, of AISO.Net, was recently named one of InfoWorld Magazine's top CTOs of 2007. The annual list honors 25 innovative senior IT executives who've demonstrated leadership within their companies and the IT community. Nail was commended for AISO.Net's commitment to "green" technologies in the data center and as an overall business practice.

About AISO.Net

AISO.Net has been a trusted name in environmentally friendly web hosting since 1997, providing a level of service that is unmatched in the industry. All network and server hardware is fully redundant with 24x7-automated systems monitoring to ensure the highest possible uptime. Using solar panels to power its data center and network, AISO.Net is the first and only 100% completely solar powered web hosting company in the world. Customers as far away as Kenya, East Africa rely on the service and reliability offered by AISO.Net.

About Sirius Computer Solutions

Sirius (www.siriuscom.com) is a national IT solution provider and IBM Premier Business Partner dedicated to helping customers implement advanced infrastructure solutions that provide a competitive advantage and a positive return on their investment. Backed by 26 years of IT experience, Sirius has a certified team of sales and technical professionals with the skills, product knowledge and commitment to help customers develop and implement the right solution to solve their business needs.

Cable Operators Can Deliver and Extend the Connected Life via Complete Cisco Cable ServiceMesh Solution

2007-06-18T08:49:00.000-07:00

Cisco® today announced it is launching the Cisco Cable ServiceMesh solution, the industry's first integrated, end-to-end wireless architecture designed for cable operators who want to extend indoor Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) to outdoor mesh networks in municipalities, tourism centers, small businesses and universities in North America. This new architecture offers the foundation layer for broadband mobility.

Building on the Cisco Internet Protocol Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) architecture, the Cisco Cable ServiceMesh solution is a fully integrated outdoor wireless platform that helps enable operators to quickly deploy a variety of value-added, revenue-generating services via a single network infrastructure. By using the Cisco Cable ServiceMesh solution, cable operators can create new revenue opportunities through the deployment of an outdoor wireless mesh solution that utilizes existing infrastructure to cost-effectively expand their service offerings and their market reach, bringing the Connected Life to customers at home, at work or on the move.

The new Cisco Cable ServiceMesh solution is a comprehensive wireless broadband system comprising:

Cisco Aironet® 1520 Series Lightweight Outdoor Mesh Access Points, a new set of wireless access points with integrated Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) 2.0 cable interfaces used to create metropolitan-scale, outdoor wireless networks, providing access to any Wi-Fi compliant device;

Cisco Wireless Services Modules, which provide the control, scalability and reliability needed to build highly secure, carrier-grade indoor and outdoor 802.11 wireless networks;

Cisco Wireless Control System software, an industry-leading platform for wireless local area network (LAN) planning, configuration, management, troubleshooting, and mobility services for the Cisco Cable ServiceMesh solution;

Cisco Intelligent Services Gateway, which delivers advanced subscriber awareness, resource provisioning and access control capabilities. The Cisco Intelligent Services gateway also simplifies the creation and speeds the delivery of advanced IP services over Cisco IP NGNs. The Cisco Intelligent Services Gateway has been designed to support both IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and non-IMS based applications;

Cisco Service Control Engine, a solution that controls packets on a Layer-7 application level while utilizing the existing IP wireless network infrastructure to provide a variety of services; and

Cisco 7600 Series Router, the industry's leading edge router that delivers robust, high-performance IP/MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS) features for a range of service provider edge applications.

This combination makes possible multiple applications, including extending data, voice and video streaming outside the home, police, fire and emergency services, as well as those for city operations, such as remote access to city applications, automated meter reading, and permit verification and compliance.

The Cisco Cable ServiceMesh solution is a proven solution for delivering pervasive wireless access and network services required for outdoor Wi-Fi networks. The network convergence layer of the Cisco IP NGN architecture helps enable the convergence of disparate, service-specific networks to a single, more efficient and flexible IP-based infrastructure. With the Cisco IP NGN, service providers can deliver services more efficiently and effectively and provide the means to support tomorrow's bandwidth-intensive municipal, residential and business services.

Cisco Cable ServiceMesh Solution Offers Benefits to Multiple System Operators

The Cisco Cable ServiceMesh design allows operators to rapidly deploy and monetize value-added services in new markets. In turn, cities, convention centers and small businesses can improve productivity and economic growth, while streamlining their operations with the wide variety of applications enabled by new Wi-Fi networks.

Key benefits to service providers include:

Reduce customer churn by offering mobility extensions to existing service offerings;

Generate new revenue by offering indoor/outdoor wireless services to municipalities, universities and businesses;

Cost efficiently deploy ubiquitous Wi-Fi by using existing cable infrastructure;

Efficiently manage the new operations with an integrated end-to-end architecture that includes management for all application, services, devices, and users; and

Position the company for future rollouts of broadband mobility services.

"Service providers can extend their existing network with an outdoor mesh and offer a multitude of services, not just to cities, but to educational and health care institutions, public utilities, convention centers and even to consumers," said Jeff Spagnola, vice president, service provider marketing at Cisco. "A well-planned outdoor wireless mesh network can address all customer groups and allow them to interact securely on the same network. The Cisco Cable ServiceMesh solution offers all that and more."

Cisco Unveils New Aironet 1520 Series Lightweight Outdoor Mesh Access Point

A new component of the Cisco Cable ServiceMesh solution is the Cisco Aironet 1520 Series, an outdoor wireless mesh platform that integrates Wi-Fi client access and wireless backhaul in a rugged, outdoor enclosure and features an embedded DOCSIS 2.0 cable modem to connect to existing cable plant.

Scheduled to be available in July 2007 in North America, the Cisco Aironet 1520 Series is designed to support dual-band radios compliant with IEEE 802.11a and 802.11b/g standards. The integrated DOCSIS 2.0 cable modem also provides the ability to power by cable plant helps enable cable operators to easily deploy mesh networks without requiring pole access rights which can be costly and time consuming. The ability to strand mount the Cisco Aironet 1520 Series on existing cable strand provides the ultimate flexibility for cable operators to easily expand their cable services to reach new customers.

Multiple power and mounting options provide flexibility in outdoor installations for the mesh access point. Wireless mesh radio performance is improved with the 802.11g 3-channel Maximal Ratio Combining (MRC) technology for better access coverage. The Cisco Aironet 1520 Series uses an intelligent wireless routing algorithm to create a mesh network with other Cisco Aironet 1520 Series mesh access points providing network reliability and availability to meet the challenging requirements of outdoor deployments.

The Cisco ServiceMesh solution recently won the International Engineering Consortium InfoVision Award that recognizes the leading broadband products in deployment. For more information on Cisco Cable ServiceMesh solution and Cisco Aironet 1520 Series, visit Cisco booth 865 at SCTE Cable-Tec EXPO (June 20-22) at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla., or click the following URL:

www.cisco.com/go/cableservicemesh

About Cisco
Cisco, (NASDAQ: CSCO), is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.