ADSK: Autodesk Connects with Customers to Help Drive the Development of New Software Solutions

Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK), the world's leading 3D software company, today introduced Autodesk Labs (http://labs.autodesk.com/), a site that provides free, early access to prototypes, experimental and beta applications and technologies. The site strengthens the company's commitment to connecting with its new and existing users, enabling direct feedback that leads to better products and solutions.

Autodesk Labs offers downloads for everything from plug-ins and web services to new applications, giving testers an easy way to provide feedback that will help Autodesk product development teams focus on the most innovative features and functions. This direct feedback loop will enable customers to offer insight and creative ideas to the product feedback cycle, thereby giving users a voice in the development of products and services.

"Autodesk Labs is for anyone interested in trying state-of-the-art design tools while they're in development -- and it provides a rapid feedback mechanism for our product designers and developers who need to get direct customer input on out-of-the-box ideas early in the development cycle," said John Sanders, vice president, Autodesk Platform Technology. "In addition to customer interviews, surveys and formal beta trial programs, Autodesk Labs provides an informal opportunity for users to tell us what they want through early, hands-on access to technology -- all at their convenience."

Several beta applications are available immediately: a public beta trial of Google Earth Extension for AutoCAD-based applications; a translator for sharing AutoCAD DWG and Bentley MicroStation 2D V8 DGN files; a Web client for viewing DWF files without downloading any software; a utility for storing a copy of vaulted data: and a technology preview that allows users to convert non-native 3D parts into fully featured Inventor parts. Users do not have to be Autodesk customers to try the technology at Autodesk Labs.

First Autodesk Labs Tools Enhance Interoperability and Communication

The first five beta tools offered are diverse, but their impact is similar: All five tools address an aspect of making drawings and related data easier to use across applications and users:

-- Google Earth Extension (beta) provides a wizard-driven interface to
publish 3D models from AutoCAD 2007, Autodesk Architectural Desktop
2007, Autodesk Civil 3D 2007 and Autodesk Map 3D 2007 directly into the
Google Earth interface. Architects and engineers can offer contextual
insight into projects and concepts from the planning stage to public
approval.
-- Autodesk DGNV8 Translator (beta) lets users share AutoCAD DWG and
Bentley MicroStation 2D V8 DGN files among engineers, architects, and
extended team members. Built into Autodesk Civil 3D, Autodesk Land
Desktop and Autodesk Map 3D products, now users of any AutoCAD 2007-
based application can submit and work with DGN and DWG files
interchangeably.
-- Project Freewheel (technology preview) offers browser-based access to
view and navigate DWF file-based CAD drawings in Web pages or on a
mobile device without requiring the installation of viewing software.
-- Autodesk Vault Mirror Utility (beta) provides a simple way for
companies to create a duplicate copy of their vaulted data that will
allow them to provide external access to the files from locations
either internal or external. Companies can also use this utility to
schedule regular updates to their "mirrored" data to ensure that
changes made to one vault are reflected in a "mirrored" version.
-- Feature Recognition for Inventor (technology preview) allows users to
convert non-native 3D parts into fully featured Inventor parts
automatically, or with user guidance. Resulting features are native
parametric Inventor holes, fillets, chamfers, extrudes or revolves,
easily modified using standard editing commands. This is especially
helpful for Inventor customers who need to modify non-native 3D
content.

Due to the early-stage nature of applications and technology offered at Autodesk Labs, the software is not intended for mission-critical projects, nor is it supported. User feedback, however, will play a crucial role in further development of these technologies as well as their possible incorporation into commercial products. Users are encouraged to comment via dedicated e-mail feedback which goes directly to the development teams.

Initial Feedback
Since going live about two months ago, Autodesk Labs has received more than 190,000 hits and over 49,000 unique visitors from 150 countries. There have been more than 10,000 downloads of the beta products available on the site, and hundreds of positive emails about the offerings and the overall experience, including suggestions for new products.

AAPL: Apple Releases Aperture 1.5

Apple® released Aperture™ 1.5, a major update to the all-in-one post production tool for photographers that delivers enhancements across each phase of the entire workflow. Aperture 1.5 delivers a powerful new open library, seamless iLife® ‘06 and iWork™ ‘06 integration, XMP metadata support, powerful new adjustment tools and an export API that makes it easy to extend the Aperture workflow to third party applications and services.

“Aperture has given photographers around the globe the confidence to work in exciting new ways,” said Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of Applications Product Marketing. “Now with Aperture 1.5, we’ve opened the library and extended the workflow to provide a solution that is as flexible as it is powerful.”

Managing RAW, JPEG and TIFF images in Aperture 1.5 is incredibly flexible, with a new open library system that allows photographers to store image files wherever they want—either within the Aperture library itself, or in other disk locations, including external hard drives, CDs or DVDs. Aperture can now generate high-resolution previews of each image so that users can review, rate and organize images as well as perform slideshows—even when the master images are offline. The previews, which can be generated at a range of size and quality levels, make it possible for photographers to keep their original images safely stored on a desktop system at home or in the studio, while still being able to take a compact version of their entire photographic library on the road using a MacBook™ or MacBook Pro.

“In less than a year, Aperture has become as essential to me as my camera, lens and tripod,” said Steve Winter, contributing photographer for National Geographic. “At the end of a day’s shoot, it’s so easy to find photos in my Aperture library and use these amazing tools like the Light Table to quickly piece something together and figure out what I need to make the story complete.”

“Aperture has been a rock for me, and I'm now using it to build an archive of all my professional work—25 years’ worth,” said Bill Frakes, staff photographer for Sports Illustrated. “With everything tagged and organized, including my current projects, I can retrieve any photo I want in a matter of seconds.”

Aperture 1.5 is now supported across Apple’s full line of Macintosh® computers, from Mac® mini to Mac Pro, and offers powerful new integration with the iLife ’06 suite of digital lifestyle applications and iWork ’06 productivity software. The tight integration means that photographers can build complete websites with iWeb™, create self-contained slide presentations with Keynote™, or produce stunning DVD slideshows with iDVD®, all using JPEG versions of photos directly from their Aperture library, which is never more than a click away. Integration also includes syncing to iPod® using iTunes® 7 and the ability to access and copy Aperture photos from within iPhoto®.

Aperture 1.5 dramatically streamlines the process of adding metadata to photo shoots with new pre-filled IPTC Metadata Presets. Captions, credits and other critical metadata that photographers rely on can be added on import automatically or via a batch process at any point in the workflow. Another major enhancement to metadata support within Aperture is the ability to export RAW images with IPTC data stored in XMP sidecar files for easy use with other applications like Adobe Photoshop and even the ability to generate XMP files automatically through AppleScript®.

Powerful new adjustment options in Aperture 1.5 include a sophisticated luminance-based Edge Sharpen filter for extremely high-quality sharpening results and a new Color tool that lets photographers tune the hue, saturation and luminance of specific color ranges within each image. Aperture’s popular Loupe magnifier has been dramatically enhanced with a set of onscreen controls, smooth zooming with up to 1600 percent magnification and a new option that enables it to be detached from the cursor while making adjustments. Individual image adjustment settings can now be saved as presets that can be automatically applied through a menu command, so that photographers can quickly and easily make standard adjustments.

An innovative new export API plug-in architecture in Aperture 1.5 allows third party developers to tap into the expanding Aperture user community with plug-ins that seamlessly connect Aperture’s workflow to complementary applications and services. Plug-ins from industry leading companies, including Getty Images, iStockphoto, Pictage, Flickr, PhotoShelter, DigitalFusion, Soundslides and Connected Flow, will be demonstrated at photokina 2006. These plug-ins will demonstrate a range of printing, publishing and storage workflows that take advantage of this new architecture.

Pricing & Availability
Aperture 1.5 is available this week in English, French, German and Japanese as a free Software Update to current Aperture 1.0 customers. Aperture 1.5 is available to order for new customers for a suggested retail price of $299 (US) through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com ), Apple’s retail stores and through Apple Authorized Resellers. Full system requirements and more information on Aperture can be found at www.apple.com/aperture

AGIL: Cimmetry Releases AutoVue 19.1 for Solaris

Cimmetry Systems Corporation, an Agile Software company, today announced the immediate availability of AutoVue v19.1 Client-Server, web edition for versions 9 and 10 of Sun Solaris servers.


AutoVue 19.1 for Solaris servers provides organizations world-wide with the ability to view, markup, digitally mockup and collaborate in real-time on hundreds of native document types, including 2D/3D CAD, EDA and Office, with one, comprehensive web-based solution.

AutoVue 19.1 on Solaris, Client-Server Edition, can be purchased from Cimmetry Systems or through a global network of Value Added Resellers.

ADBE: Adobe Brings Lightroom into Photoshop Family with Introduction of Beta 4 At Photokina

Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) announced an update to the public beta of Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom™ software at the Photokina tradeshow in Cologne, Germany. Available immediately for download from Adobe Labs (http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom ), this update unites the product feature set for Windows® and Macintosh platforms, giving professional photographers a new way to import, manage and showcase large volumes of digital photographs. More than 325,000 people have opted to try Lightroom during the beta period and feedback has been fueled by over 3,400 of them sharing input in Adobe online forums. The final version of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is expected to ship in early 2007.

“From the moment we introduced Lightroom beta we opened up the process to photographers, making them a part of our 'virtual development team' and allowing them to tell us exactly what this application needs,” said Deborah Whitman, vice president of product management for Digital Imaging. “Engaging with this community has helped us build a better workflow solution and has made watching its evolution more exciting and dynamic.”

The final branding of the software, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, confirms its place within the Photoshop family, a line of products that meet the needs of novice snapshooters, photo hobbyists and a diverse set of professional customers.

Lightroom Feature Advancements and Raw Processing Support
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom beta 4.0 offers improved digital photography workflow tools, including a precision white balance selection option and a more streamlined and elegant user interface experience with customizable controls. An intuitive new tone curve adjustment feature provides powerful image correction capabilities, allowing users to visually obtain excellent midtone, shadow and highlight adjustments.

New enhancements in the Develop and Library modules include time-saving tools such as the ability to re-name and convert files to Adobe Digital Negative Format (DNG) after importing into the Lightroom library. New filters, search presets and organizing options allow for quick retrieval of images and greater flexibility.

Lightroom supports over 125 native raw file formats, in addition to JPEG and TIFF, and brings raw conversion into a single workflow experience. The latest camera models supported by this beta are the Nikon D2Xs, Sony A100, as well as preliminary support for the Canon Digital Rebel XTi (400D) and Nikon D80. This support means that photographers can use Lightroom with even the newest cameras on the market, knowing that the image files will be recognized today and into the future.

Thriving Community Support
Adobe hosts an online community site for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom beta which features artists in the Lightroom Showcase Gallery (http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom/gallery ) and provides an arena for photographers to share their portfolios using Lightroom slideshow functionality. Photographers will find inspiration in the documentaries of well-known photographers posted in the community and gallery.

Pricing and Availability
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom beta is available for free download from the Adobe Labs Web site at http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom Recommended system requirements are Macintosh OSX 10.4.3, 1 GHz PowerPC G4 processor or Windows XP SP2, Intel Pentium 4 Processor, and 768 MB RAM and a 1024x768 resolution screen. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom beta is a universal binary application that will run natively on PowerPC and new Intel-based Macintosh systems. The final version of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is expected to ship in early 2007. Further details around pricing, system requirements and availability have yet to be determined.

INTC: Intel, Omnicom Media Group Announce Collaboration to Bring Internet-Delivered Ads to TVs Through Intel Viiv Technology

Intel Corporation and Omnicom Media Group (OMG), which includes global media agencies OMD Worldwide and PHD Network, today announced a collaboration to develop "10 foot" or large screen advertising templates for Internet-delivered advertising to TVs connected to Intel® Viiv™ technology-based computers. The effort will connect content owners and advertisers to advance how interactive, broadband-delivered advertising is best tailored to specific programming and audiences, and best presented on large screen sizes in TV-like "10 foot" viewing environments.

The enabling of ad-supported interactive viewing in the "10 foot" environment will help fuel more compelling and premium entertainment experiences. Intel Viiv technology delivers a variety of rich, entertainment content to the TV from the Internet and provides a foundation for interactive and highly targeted advertising in the living room. Creating such an environment will require the development and design of easily repeatable, "10 foot" user-interface advertising templates, which will help generate new business opportunities for advertisers and content creators alike.

Through the "NEXT Fund," an emerging-media group supported by a large number of OMG clients, OMG and Intel will collaborate to develop criteria for advertising templates, including interactive options optimized for "living room" viewing. For the initial research environment, Intel and OMG selected AOL's 10 foot AOL* Video service for its leading online library of high-quality, branded content and innovative and compelling user interface. Zetools' MediaModeler* software, which recently merged with TANDBERG Television, was used to help complete the test interface.

Testing will be conducted by recognized market research firms to define the easiest and most effective ways to reach consumers. The advertising models or templates will provide consumers with more flexibility to personalize the content they want to watch by linking it to relevant advertising.

"The '10 foot' interactive viewing environment is largely unexplored space, but it's a huge opportunity in terms of advertising effectiveness and consumer engagement, which are top priorities for all our clients," said Daryl Simm, CEO, Omnicom Media Group. "We couldn't be happier about launching this effort with a company of Intel's capabilities and reputation."

"Intel is focused on bringing the best digital entertainment experience to consumers with Intel Viiv technology, including movies, television programs, games, music or photos," said Kevin Corbett, vice president of Intel's Digital Home Group and general manager of the company's Content Services Group. "Coupling Intel's worldwide technology leadership with Omnicom's marketing strength makes this collaboration a natural and exciting combination for accelerating ad-based, free-to-consumer content."

The foundation of this effort strategically builds on Intel's work to drive technology to accelerate the 10 foot experience, as well as OMG's expertise in developing innovative and creative advertising techniques. Intel and OMG are also exploring adding more participants in the effort to exchange information and foster industry collaboration around standards that everyone can openly use and share.

IBM: Symbol Technologies (SBL) Launches Customer Financing Program With IBM Global Financing

IBM Global Financing (NYSE: IBM) and Symbol Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: SBL), The Enterprise Mobility Company™, today announced completion of a five-year strategic financing services agreement, enabling Symbol customers to benefit from more options to finance their enterprise mobility products, software and services.

As Symbol's financing partner, IBM Global Financing will provide Symbol's worldwide corporate and small-business customers with a variety of payment plans to acquire Symbol's hardware, software and services.

"We are excited to extend our relationship with IBM, leveraging their position as the world's leading IT financing company to add value to Symbol customers and partners who desire financing solutions for Symbol-based solutions," said Sandy Preizler, Symbol's vice president of worldwide channels. "Our market-leading enterprise mobility solutions -- paired with the IBM's unique financing capabilities -- enhance our business potential, further building on the Symbol-IBM Global Strategic Alliance."

"Symbol Technologies is a leader in enterprise mobility. This agreement highlights IBM Global Financing's expanding scope of providing non-IBM IT suppliers with the financing tools they need to go-to-market with their end-user clients," said Mark Young, vice president of IBM Global Financing. "With limited capital being an inhibitor to wholesale adoption of enterprise mobility solutions, this deal provides a solution for customers wanting to capture the benefits of this emerging technology."

IBM Global Financing's worldwide presence, with operations in more than 40 countries, and a global sales team of nearly 1,000 finance sales executives will provide a significant base to help support Symbol's corporate plans.

JNPR: Juniper Networks Demonstrates Multivendor Ethernet Interoperability at Carrier Ethernet World Congress

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: JNPR) today announced its participation in an interoperability event designed to serve as a blueprint for multivendor infrastructures offering residential IPTV, multiplay and business Ethernet services. The interoperability showcase is being held at the Carrier Ethernet World Congress in Madrid, Spain from September 25-29. Organized by the European Advanced Networking Test Center (EANTC), the demonstration features more than 50 Carrier Ethernet solutions from 16 vendors.

The eight day hot staging for the interoperability event was conducted in EANTC's lab in Berlin, Germany. All services in the test network were based on Carrier Ethernet as specified by the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) with additional standards defined by IEEE 802 committee and the ITU. Juniper Networks M320 and M10i Multiservice Edge Routers, featuring the JUNOS operating system, demonstrated interoperability with other vendors’ equipment for the following technologies:

User-Network Interface (UNI) Type 1 services – E-Line (point-to-point) and E-LAN (multipoint) business applications. The event demonstrated a massive test bed of the MEF 10 architecture.

Ethernet scalability techniques include Link Aggregation and Q-in-Q VLAN stacking.

Strict Quality of Service (QoS) – specifically including MPLS Differentiated Services Traffic Engineering (DiffServ-TE).

Fault Management using MPLS Operations, Administration and Management (OAM) methods.

Ethernet Bandwidth Profile Definition.


"Participating in this multivendor interoperability event demonstrates Juniper Networks’ continuing commitment to the Carrier Ethernet market and to delivering best-in-class solutions for our service provider customers," Paul Gainham, director, EMEA Service Provider Marketing, Juniper Networks. "Our Ethernet-based solutions deliver the performance, quality and reliability required by our service provider customers as they deploy and continue to scale converged Ethernet and IP-based networks to support IPTV and multiplay service offerings."

JUNOS E-LAN services are built on Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)-based Virtual Private LAN Services (VPLS), and therefore, Juniper Networks platforms are designed to scale multipoint Ethernet services beyond metropolitan area networks. Some examples of these enhanced features include:

Inter-Carrier E-LAN services: An important feature for VPLS providers of all sizes, Inter-Carrier VPLS capabilities allow large providers who have multiple autonomous systems (AS) to easily set up VPLS domains across them. Important for smaller carriers, Inter-Carrier VPLS allows them to partner with other providers to provide global VPNs or to use other carriers for transport of VPLS.

Multi-homed Ethernet services: Multi-homing enables service providers to provide their customers with added reliability by allowing one E-Line or E-LAN customer site to be connected to the carrier network by way of two independent connection points. One access point is the primary connection, and the other is a standby or back-up connection activated in the event of a failure of the operating connection. This is achieved using BGP and does not require the carrier to run technologies like Spanning Tree.

Improved Control Plane Scaling: BGP-VPLS can leverage BGP Route Reflectors to improve control plane scaling of E-LAN services without interfering in the data path of the service.

SLAB: Silicon Laboratories introduces Highly Integrated FM Radio Transmitter Family

Silicon Laboratories Inc. (Nasdaq: SLAB), a leader in high-performance, analog-intensive, mixed-signal ICs, today announced a highly integrated FM transmitter family offering superior audio performance in a very small 3 x 3 x 0.55 20-pin QFN package. By reducing the bill of materials and power consumption of existing solutions, the Si471x FM transmitter family allows customers to cost effectively add wireless FM audio playback capability to any portable media device including cell phones, MP3/digital media players, navigation/GPS devices and satellite radios.

The Si471x FM transmitter family leverages Silicon Laboratories’ patented and proven digital architecture to provide industry-leading integration and high-quality sound fidelity. This innovative architecture improves the stability of volume output on the receiving system and through unique audio dynamic range control, increases delivered audio fidelity of the transmitting system. The result is a higher fidelity music experience for the end user and a simplified design for the manufacturer. The Si4711 FM transmitter supports Radio Data Service (RDS) and Radio Broadcast Data Service (RBDS), enabling the display of the artist and song title on an RDS/RBDS-enabled FM receiver.

“Our FM tuner and FM transmitter broadcast audio products work hand in hand to enable portable device manufacturers to cost effectively build high quality audio capabilities into their products,” said Tyson Tuttle, vice president of Silicon Laboratories. “The FM transmitter family offers unmatched audio quality in an extremely small, highly integrated package, allowing customers to add audio features without complicating their designs.”

The Si471x FM transmitter family offers customers a fully tested solution that speeds time-to-market and simplifies manufacturing. It requires only two external components and is implemented in 15 mm2 of printed circuit board area. Current consumption is about one-third less than competing solutions, resulting in a 33 percent increase in battery life. In addition, programmable power scaling allows customers to comply with both US FCC and pending European Union transmitted power regulations with a single implementation.

The FM transmitter function easily coexists with active cellular networks as well as GPS, WLAN, Bluetooth and other wireless transmitters due to integrated on-chip filtering, reducing noise and harmonics. Complete programmability enables one hardware solution to ship globally.

Pricing and Availability
The Si4710 is sampling now to lead customers. Pricing for the Si4710 begins at $3.91 in quantities of 10,000. Pricing for the Si4711, which samples in January 2007 and supports RDS/RBDS transmission, begins at $4.69 in quantities of 10,000. A Si4710 evaluation board is available for $250. For more information on the FM tuner products, please visit
www.silabs.com/fmtuners

IBM Launches New Virtualization Engine for Tape With Grid Computing Capabilities: IBM System Storage TS7700 Virtualization Engine

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the next generation of tape virtualization solutions, with the introduction of the IBM System Storage TS7700 Virtualization Engine, a mainframe virtual-tape offering designed to improve tape processing while also supporting business continuity through Grid connectivity and automated replication.

Building on almost 10 years of tape virtualization solutions, the TS7700 Virtualization Engine introduces a new modular, scalable, high-performance architecture designed to address the demands of today's clients and to provide for future growth and expandability.

The new TS7700 is built on a new hardware and software architecture that incorporates global awareness functionality, enabling a Virtual Tape Grid computing environment. With the introduction of global awareness functionality, data can reside on TS7700s at different sites, and each TS7700 is able to track where the data is located and access it. This design improves disaster recovery capabilities; for example, the TS7700 can automatically duplicate data to another TS7700 at a second site over standard TCP/IP communications. IBM also announced plans to expand this capability to TS7700s located at three different sites in the future.

"IBM was the first company to introduce a tape virtualization solution in 1997," said Cindy Grossman, vice president, tape storage systems. "IBM continues to lead the industry with the introduction of the most advanced tape virtualization solution available today. This solution allows our customers to manage their data from online application storage to offline, permanent archive media."

As the successor to the highly successful IBM TotalStorage® Virtual Tape Server (VTS), the TS7700 Virtualization Engine is designed to provide improved performance and capacity to help lower the total cost of ownership for tape processing. The TS7700 integrates the advanced performance, capacity, and data integrity design of the IBM System Storage TS1120 Tape Drives, with high-performance disk and a new controller based on the advanced IBM System p™ server technology, to form a storage hierarchy managed by robust storage management firmware with extensive self-management capability. It includes functions such as advanced policy management to control physical volume pooling, cache management, dual copy, automatic copy across a grid network, and copy mode controls. The TS7700 offers a new standards-based management interface and enhanced statistical reporting.

The TS7700 Virtualization Engine contains a TS7740 Server, which provides host connection of up to four FICON™ channels, and connections to the tape library and tape drives for back-end tape processing. A TS7700 with Grid Communication features can be interconnected with another TS7700 to provide peer-to-peer copy capability between Virtualization Engines for tape using IP network connections.

The TS7740 Server cache provides over 6 TB of tape volume cache capacity before compression. Each TS7700 supports up to a maximum of 128 3490E virtual tape drives and up to 500,000 logical volumes, each with a maximum capacity of 1.2 GB (assuming 3:1 compression) to 12 GB (assuming 3:1 compression and using the 400 to 4000 MB volume sizes).

Today's launch builds on IBM's industry leadership in tape products and services. Last week, IBM introduced the industry's first tape drive with drive-based encryption capabilities, the IBM System Storage TS1120, bringing powerful security capabilities to small, medium and large businesses alike. This history-making drive is designed to provide protection of data in the event that it is lost or stolen, rendering it unreadable to anyone who finds it.

This solution joins IBM's growing portfolio of Grid storage solutions designed to address massive amounts of data and the need for businesses to have a means to effectively and reliably access that data across the grid.

Pricing and Availability

The TS7700 Virtualization Engine will be available on September 29, 2006 with a starting list price of $493,080.

For more information about IBM and IBM storage, visit http://www.ibm.com/storage

IBM And Genome Institute of Singapore Collaboration May Lead to Better Understanding of Cell Process Regulation

IBM (NYSE: IBM), in collaboration with the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), today revealed results from a joint research study that could potentially alter our views of how cell processes are regulated.

The two teams have discovered that microRNAs, small molecules that are an important regulatory component in the machinery of living cells, likely exert their influence much more widely than previously thought.

Extensive experiments conducted by the GIS validate findings generated by a mathematical model developed by the IBM team. The work is expected to provide insight on microRNA-based regulation in diseases such as cancers, neurodegenerative disorders, diabetes and others, and to suggest possible avenues for novel diagnostics and the development of therapeutics.

"Our collaboration with the GIS team illustrates the increasing impact that joint work between computational scientists and biologists can have in facilitating advances in basic biology," said Isidore Rigoutsos, Manager of the Bioinformatics Group in IBM Research's Computational Biology Center.

"The scientific community continues to reveal the increasing importance of microRNAs in determining a cell's type and function. This joint effort is generating new insights regarding the function of these molecules," said Bing Lim, Leader of the Stem Cell Biology Group at GIS.

The results, which are reported in today's issue of the journal Cell, suggest that some microRNAs may exert their influence by targeting as many as a few thousand messenger RNAs (the intermediate forms from which proteins are made), and that nearly all genes in higher organisms such as humans or mice may be under microRNA control. The analysis also suggests that likely tens of thousands of microRNAs remain to be identified. These results propose a significantly expanded view of microRNAs' influence within a cell and their potential roles in health and disease.

The report on this work, "A pattern-based method for the identification of microRNA binding sites and their corresponding heteroduplexes," by Miranda K., Huynh T., and Rigoutsos I. of IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY; Tay Y., Ang Y.S., Tam W.L., Thomson A., and Lim B. of Genome Institute of Singapore, is published in the September 22nd issue of the journal Cell.

TXN: Neuf Cegetel Finalizes Agreement to Acquire Time Warner's AOL France Internet Access Business for €288 Million

Neuf Cegetel and Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) today announced that they have finalized their agreement, after exclusive negotiations, for Neuf Cegetel to acquire AOL France's Internet access business for €288 million ($365 million) in cash.

Once the transaction closes:

Neuf Cegetel will acquire AOL's French Internet access business, including 500,000 broadband customers, and its AMSE operation, which manages AOL France's customer service operations (500 people).
AOL will provide audience services and manage the online advertising sales for Neuf Cegetel's Internet portal audience on www.neufportail.fr and www.cegetelportail.fr as well as www.aol.fr, which together total 9 million unique visitors monthly.
With this acquisition agreement, Neuf Cegetel reinforces its position as the leading alternative provider in its markets: mass market, enterprises and operators. In the mass market, AOL's 500,000 broadband customers should allow Neuf Cegetel to reach 2 million ADSL subscribers before the end of 2006, a year earlier than planned. And, by encouraging AOL's dial-up customers to migrate to broadband access, Neuf Cegetel expects to accelerate the growth of its market share.

In addition to the Internet access business and AMSE, Neuf Cegetel has made a commitment to hire up to 140 AOL France employees, who will fill open positions within its group. This “light" transaction structure will allow Neuf Cegetel to optimize quickly the margin generated by AOL's subscriber base, which will benefit from its cost structure.

The agreement requires the approval from the French competition authorities, which could be reached end of October. The price of the transaction amounts to some €288 million, which Neuf Cegetel will pay with its cash assets.

A powerful enlarged customer base with a strong value creation potential

“With the integration of AOL France's Internet access business, Neuf Cegetel should benefit from an increase in its revenues (it already provides most of AOL's DSL links on a wholesale basis) and margins, with the switch from a wholesale margin to a margin in line with its other retail activities."

In the short term, nothing will change for AOL customers (all DSL customers are in fact already connected to Neuf Cegetel's network), who will continue to enjoy their current Internet access plans and portal services. At the end of 2006, all of AOL's broadband customers will benefit from innovative services offered by Neuf Cegetel, such as Neuf TV DSL TV, mobile telephony and TWIN TM *, among others. This should enable Neuf Cegetel to grow its revenue per subscriber progressively, as well as increase customer loyalty. Neuf Cegetel will also make attractive offers to AOL France's dial-up customers to migrate to the group's broadband offers, which are among the most attractive and innovative on the market.

Thanks to the agreement on portal services, AOL customers will continue to benefit from their portal services and AOL software.

* TWIN TM : the first French GSM-WiFi phone

An attractive portal: “AOL pour Neuf"

In 2007, AOL will start providing audience services, including editorial content, and manage online advertising sales for all of Neuf Cegetel's Internet portals. AOL's expertise as well as its content and other services will enhance the www.neufportail.fr and www.cegetelportail.fr portals, which together serve 3 million unique visitors per month. The portals' advertising and other revenues will be shared between Neuf Cegetel and AOL.

AOL will continue to program its www.aol.fr portal and pursue the development of all its content and other audience services. The AOL portal now attracts nearly 5.5 million unique visitors per month (source: Nielsen Net Ratings August 2006).

Jacques Veyrat, Chairman and CEO of Neuf Cegetel said: “This agreement allows Neuf Cegetel to reach the target set for the mass market a year ahead of time. Furthermore, all our customers will now benefit from attractive portal content and services thanks to the partnership with AOL".

Dick Parsons, Chairman and CEO of Time Warner Inc., said: “This agreement is the second stage of our current initiative to build a more competitive and profitable AOL Europe – a strategy that we're pursuing in all of our businesses. Once the pending sales of our Internet access businesses in Germany and France, as well as negotiations underway in the United Kingdom, are successfully concluded, AOL will be a leading provider of audience services in Europe. This robust platform will position AOL Europe well for developing – in line with AOL's overall strategy – its online advertising business."

Jon Miller, Chairman and CEO of AOL LLC, said, “The partnership between AOL and the Neuf Cegetel group is an important next step in AOL developing its Web business in Europe. AOL France has an ideal partner to work with, and the collaboration will benefit the subscribers and users of each company's online services."

IBM Offers New Technology, Sales and Marketing Resources to Venture-Backed Start Ups

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a new initiative to help spur innovation in the marketplace with the venture capital (VC) community. As part of the new program, IBM will provide venture capital firms and their portfolio companies with unprecedented access to its worldwide Innovation Centers to help co-develop leading-edge technology solutions.

IBM will also offer technology, sales, and marketing resources to help VC-backed start ups worldwide go to market faster with tailored technology support at 30-plus IBM Innovation Centers, allowing the companies to reduce development costs of advanced and emerging technologies such as virtualization, security, service-oriented architecture (SOA), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), blade servers, POWER architecture, Web 2.0, and wireless.

"IBM is at the center of innovation and this effort is evidence of IBM's continued commitment to helping small companies gain access to IBM's specialized expertise, hardware, software, and global marketing and sales teams," said Kevin Fong, managing director, Mayfield Fund. "IBM is playing a significant role in the market with its forward-thinking approach to accelerating the pace of innovation. Access to IBM technology and expertise at no charge offers an invaluable advantage to our portfolio companies, saving them money and enabling them to speed their solution to market."

The combination of IBM's technical and business expertise, with the increased funding by the venture capital community, creates a tremendous opportunity for IBM, VCs, and a new generation of technology companies to direct the future of the industry. By exchanging ideas and information, venture capital partners, IBM, and start ups will gain technology and business insight into specific directions that technology is likely to take, allowing high potential portfolio companies to develop their solutions faster and at a lower cost.

This new initiative was announced today at IBM's Venture Capital Symposium, the second annual meeting bringing together over 140 top tier venture capitalists, portfolio companies, IBM, and faculty members at IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center. The symposium serves as a venue for these innovative organizations and individuals to share ideas, establish collaborative relationships, and discuss the future of technology.

"It has become increasingly beneficial for companies and individuals to share ideas and work together to develop breakthrough technologies," said Claudia Fan Munce, managing director, IBM Venture Capital Group. "We're bringing together IBM, venture capital community, and start ups in an effort to spark new ideas, encourage collaborative innovation, and ultimately help start ups around the world go to market and succeed."

Expand Globally through Regional IBM Innovation Centers and Virtual Resources

As part of today's announcement, IBM will now provide venture capital firms and their portfolio companies with access to technical, sales, and marketing resources at no charge. These resources will help them implement emerging technologies, secure porting labs, and obtain access to expert assistance throughout the development process of a technology solution.

Now venture capital firms and qualified portfolio companies can gain direct insight into emerging technologies coming out of IBM Innovation Centers across the globe. This year alone, IBM Innovation Centers carried out over 4,000 technology enablements with business partners, with nearly 9,500 developers gaining skills in IBM technologies taught by e-architects and brand experts.

"Access to IBM's experts has been a tremendous asset that is helping expedite our .NET to J2EE porting services at a limited cost, as well as optimize the performance of customers' .NET applications running on IBM middleware and Linux," said Yaacov Cohen, CEO of Mainsoft Corporation. "IBM architects' hands-on guidance helps speed the development of our solution, enabling us to go to market faster with each update. Most importantly, our collaboration with IBM has given us greater credibility to extend our cross-platform services beyond our traditional customer base of software vendors to enterprise IT customers, and the global presence and regional assistance through the innovation centers is helping us meet the localized needs of customers in each market."

Venture Capital-backed start ups gain access to:

• IBM Innovation Centers for Business Partners - Venture-backed start ups will have access to experienced technical architects at IBM Innovation Centers, at no charge, to help them expand solutions to different platforms and provide access to new markets.


• Virtual Loaner Program - VC-backed portfolio companies gain remote access to IBM services, operating systems, and middleware. This will enable start ups to test their application environment at no charge while developing their solution. IBM will also provide consultation with e-   architects during the development process of the solution to help fine-tune the product or solution under development.


• Virtual Workshops - Start-ups will also gain access to virtual  workshops on IBM hardware and software that will be taught by skilled technical architects from the IBM Innovation Centers. Start ups can attend classes from their home, office, or even local coffee shop -- simply by dialing into a lecture via phone or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and    can access courses from their desktop.


• Virtual Innovation Center - Start ups not close to one of the regional IBM Innovation Centers can remotely access the same testing, enablement, and deploying benefits through IBM's Virtual Innovation Center.


• New Sales Incentives and Marketing Resources for VC-backed Start Ups - IBM is introducing new ways to invest and promote solutions developed by VC- backed start ups. IBM will help start ups host web seminars for demand    generation to drive awareness about new solutions, offer discounted advertising for VC-backed partners, and offer access to IBM's sales force enabling them to shorten sales cycles, close deals faster, and gain instant credibility with new customers.

IBM already has received positive interest in Innovation Centers from VCs and start ups located in Brazil, India, and China. Start ups including Ranal Group in India, Altair in Shanghai, China, and others are already collaborating with IBM experts to build and test solutions.

HPQ: HP Announces Press Briefing on Board Leak Investigation

HP announced that Mark Hurd, HP chief executive officer and president, will lead a press conference on Friday, Sept. 22, at 1:05 p.m. PT, to discuss the actions HP is taking to address issues regarding the investigation of leaks from its boardroom.

The press conference, to be held in the company’s Palo Alto head office and also to be webcast, will include a representative from the outside law firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. The representative will provide information regarding the investigation of the leaks.

Morgan Lewis was retained on Sept. 8 by HP to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the leak investigations. Morgan Lewis also is representing HP in connection with several government inquiries.

“This has nothing to do with the strategy or operations of HP,” said Hurd. “What began as an effort to prevent the leaks of confidential information from HP’s boardroom ended up heading in directions that were never anticipated. HP is working hard to determine exactly what took place and when, and without all the facts it has been difficult for us to respond to the questions that have been raised. We plan to give as much clarity as we can to these matters.”

YHOO: Yahoo! and Current TV Launch the Yahoo! Current Network; A Unique Video Experience and Community Built by and for the Internet Generation

Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO), a leading global Internet company, and Current TV, a pioneer in "viewer created content" (VC2) for television and the Web, have partnered to deliver high-quality video content to the largest audience on the Web(1). The launch of the Yahoo! Current Network, available today at http://video.yahoo.com/currenttv , raises the bar for what consumers should expect from their online video experience. It combines the best in user submitted videos plus professional, studio-produced content to air side by side in a co-branded environment, leveraging the highly customizable Yahoo! Video platform.

"Current TV empowers young adults to actively participate in creating the television they want to watch, but in a broader sense, we're about giving young adults a voice," states Current TV co-founder and chairman Al Gore. "Current's mission has always been to spark a global conversation among young adults. Partnering with Yahoo! helps us advance this mission."

Every day, Yahoo! Current Network's unique video offerings blend pop culture awareness with journalistic sensibilities to offer a smart, irreverent take on trends, news and personalities. Videos created and submitted by users will be featured alongside professionally produced segments narrated by Yahoo! Current Network hosts to inform and entertain enthusiast and mainstream audiences. All Yahoo! Current Network content can be easily found, via a search shortcut, by going to Yahoo.com and searching for "Current."

"Current TV's strengths in producing and programming some of the most creative video content available, combined with Yahoo!'s leadership in online video and user-centered communities creates a unique experience. The new Yahoo! Current Network helps publishers find an audience and be discovered on the biggest network on the planet," said Dan Rosensweig, chief operating officer for Yahoo!. "In addition, the Yahoo! Current Network allows advertisers to reach highly targeted audiences in an engaging environment."

The Yahoo! Current Network debuts with four channels on Yahoo! Video that allow users to view and upload videos, participate in rich communities and share their passions. Channels include:

-- Yahoo! Current Buzz: A daily feature that reflects what the Yahoo! community is searching for, with segments that showcase the best of what's buzzing around the world and on the Web. Current Buzz is executive produced by Madeleine Smithberg, the Emmy and Peabody-winning co-creator and former executive producer of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."

-- Yahoo! Current Action: The spot for action sports news and videos, straight from the people who love it and live it.

-- Yahoo! Current Driver: The destination for everything automotive from hot rods and classics to tricked-out imports and exotic super cars.

-- Yahoo! Current Traveler: A globe-spanning bulletin board of video postcards from people's greatest adventures.

Each channel will feature a daily selection of the best viewer created video submissions and professionally produced Buzz videos. These featured videos will be programmed into a set of custom branded channels with all content discoverable through Yahoo! Video. Every Monday at 5:00 p.m. PT, the best user created submission from each Yahoo! Current channel will air on Current's television broadcast and its producer will be paid $500 by Current TV. Additional channels will be launching as part of the Yahoo! Current Network over the next several months, with eight individual channels available by the end of 2007.

Through user participation features found on Yahoo! Video, including the ability to rate, review and share videos, all viewers can voice their opinions and share their favorite content. Users can personalize their experience by subscribing to channels, grouping videos related by source or topic and making videos viewable from their blogs or websites.

The Yahoo! Current Network offers advertisers the unique opportunity to reach a large, highly attractive audience of engaged, creative, media savvy young adults in a video rich environment. Yahoo! and Current TV will work with advertisers to develop new ad formats and integration opportunities to reach this audience in the most relevant ways. Advertisers will be able to purchase premier sponsorships and other packages, as well as pre-roll video ads and media banners on key Web pages.


(1) According to comScore Media Metrix

STX: Seagate Wins Prestigious 2006 Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award

Seagate Technology (NYSE: STX)announced it has been selected as the winner of the 2006 Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award in the category of Technology Design. The award, selected from a field of over 600 applicants in approximately two dozen countries, recognized Seagate for its design innovation and implementation of perpendicular recording technology in hard disc drives.

Perpendicular recording technology has enabled a dramatic increase in the amount of information that can be stored. Seagate was first to release products using perpendicular recording for use in consumer, hand-held, enterprise, PC and notebook applications, and the entire hard drive industry is expected to follow suit. Advances made in perpendicular recording have not only enabled capacity and performance increases required by today's digital devices, but are helping enable the creation of entirely new categories of devices.

Perpendicular recording reads and writes data bits on the disc vertically, rather than horizontally, which enables more information to be stored in the same space. Seagate scientists and engineers hold well over 100 patents on various aspects of perpendicular recording technology.

Bill Watkins, Seagate CEO, commented, "Seagate is honored by this prestigious Wall Street Journal award and views it as a testimony of the strength and commitment of our employees around the world. The advances from perpendicular recording are helping create solutions that have changed the way people create, share, store and protect their digital information. Seagate will strive to always lead at the forefront of technology by developing the necessary solutions for tomorrow's storage needs."

Accenture (ACN) and SAP to Team on New Collaborative Health Network Solution

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced a global agreement to co-develop a collaborative health network (CHN) solution, which is designed to help healthcare organizations improve patient care by streamlining the way they access, integrate and share information.

Under this agreement, the CHN solution will be based on SAP NetWeaver® and designed to help the industry enhance quality of care and control healthcare costs by providing an infrastructure to link a range of information and data. The solution will also help organizations to maintain reliable, accurate electronic health records that are accessible quickly by multiple parties. It will use an enterprise service-oriented architecture (enterprise SOA) to help reduce IT costs and enable automated collaborative processes among industry participants—including healthcare providers, health insurance companies, public health authorities, pharmaceutical companies, physicians and pharmacies.

Industry experts expect the global healthcare industry to continue on its path of rapid technological advances. Gartner research projects that with a 4.6 percent increase in IT spending, healthcare will lead all other industry sectors in the growth of information technology in 2006.¹

"Today, government-driven initiatives are underway to improve healthcare delivery through collaboration between providers, insurance payers, policy makers and pharmaceutical companies," said Thomas Shirk, president, SAP Global Public Services. "CHNs are the highways on which healthcare information will flow in the future. Together with Accenture, we look forward to delivering a comprehensive healthcare network solution, which integrates people, information, business processes, and technology standards to create collaboration beyond organizational boundaries."

SAP and Accenture will work together to market, support and service the new solution. The two companies expect the first release of the solution to be available mid-2007. As appropriate, the CHN solution will also be a component of the Accenture Electronic Health Record (EHR) Connection Platform, the company’s global approach to providing information management and exchange services to the healthcare industry. SAP has more than 15 years of experience in the healthcare industry, and the SAP for Healthcare solution is installed in more than 800 sites throughout the world.

"As the industry moves into the digital age, healthcare organizations must streamline their approaches to information sharing by collaborating and organizing around patient needs," said Ken Lacey, global managing partner of Accenture's Health & Life Sciences practice. "By combining our strengths, SAP and Accenture will provide a key component to support the level of collaboration necessary to improve the accessibility, quality and affordability of healthcare."

This collaborative effort will utilize the Accenture Innovation Center for SAP NetWeaver, located at SAP's development headquarters in Walldorf, Germany. This is Accenture's global hub for developing and delivering next-generation SAP-based solutions. The center leverages predefined development architecture templates, Accenture's skilled resources and close collaboration with global Accenture Delivery Centers to accelerate delivery of Accenture solutions with SAP NetWeaver.

¹ Dataquest Alert: Financial Services and Healthcare Industries Lead IT Five-Year Spending Growth, Lovelock, et al., 30 August 2006

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Committed to delivering innovation, Accenture collaborates with its clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With deep industry and business process expertise, broad global resources and a proven track record, Accenture can mobilize the right people, skills and technologies to help clients improve their performance. With more than 133,000 people in 48 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$15.55 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2005. Its home page is www.accenture.com

ORCL: Oracle reports earnings ahead of forecasts, revenue in line

ORACLE REPORTS Q1 GAAP EPS UP 28% TO 13 CENTS, NON-GAAP EPS UP 24% TO 18 CENTS

Applications New License Revenues Up 80%, Database and Middleware New License Revenues Up 15%

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., Sept. 19, 2006 -- Oracle Corporation (NASDAQGS:
ORCL) today announced fiscal 2007 Q1 GAAP earnings per share were up 28% to
$0.13, compared to the same quarter last year. First quarter total GAAP revenues were
up 30% to $3.6 billion, while quarterly GAAP net income was up 29% to $670 million.
Total GAAP software revenues were up 29% to $2.7 billion with database and
middleware new license revenues up 15% and applications new license revenues up 80%.
Services revenues were up 33% to $846 million, compared to the same quarter last year.
First quarter non-GAAP earnings per share were up 24% to $0.18, and non-
GAAP net income was up 26% to $931 million, compared to the same quarter last year.

“We reported record revenues and earnings for the first quarter,” said Oracle
President and CFO, Safra Catz. “We exceeded our guidance on every metric and
delivered strong revenue growth across all product lines and geographies. We are now
in year three of our five year plan targeting EPS growth at 20% per year. We continue to
deliver results comfortably ahead of target.”

“We’re rapidly taking applications market share from SAP,” said Oracle
President, Charles Phillips. “Q1 was the second consecutive quarter that Oracle’s
applications new license sales growth was 80% or more. That’s ten times SAP’s 8%
new license sales growth rate in their most recently completed quarter.”

“SAP appears to be rethinking their strategy as they lose application market share
to Oracle and confront the difficulties of moving their application software to a modern Service Oriented Architecture (SOA),” said CEO, Larry Ellison. “They’ve just
announced that they are delaying the next version of SAP applications until 2010. That’s
a full two years behind Oracle’s scheduled delivery of our SOA Fusion applications.
And now Kagermann is talking about an acquisition strategy to augment SAP’s slowing
organic growth. These are major changes in direction for SAP.”

ORCL: Oracle Introduces Oracle Remote Data Capture Onsite to Help Life Sciences Organizations Accelerate and Simplify Clinical Trial Data Collection

Oracle today introduced Oracle® Remote Data Capture Onsite, a next-generation electronic data capture (EDC) system designed to accelerate and simplify the collection of clinical data and the deployment of EDC studies at clinical trial investigative sites, helping to improve site personnel productivity and trial data accuracy.
Individuals at clinical trial sites tasked with collecting data must be able to locate and enter patient case report form (CRF) data quickly. Time wasted searching through records takes away from site personnel's primary task – collecting timely and accurate patient data. Oracle Remote Data Capture Onsite, a new interface that can be applied on top of Oracle Remote Data Capture v4.5.1, streamlines navigation to CRFs for accelerated data display and/or update.

"The environment at many clinical sites is unpredictable, with patients coming in for unplanned visits that require on-the-spot data collection," said Mychelle Mowry vice president for Global Health Industries at Oracle. "Oracle Remote Data Capture Onsite helps busy clinical trial site personnel manage this unpredictability by accelerating patient identification and data entry. Site personnel can easily locate and update patient information, as well as add unplanned CRF pages and/or patient visits by quickly searching on the patient or drilling down within the study hierarchy."

Oracle Remote Data Capture Onsite provides an extremely intuitive data entry interface, allowing site personnel to interact with CRFs electronically as if they were working in a native paper environment. The system also performs robust online edit checks instantaneously in the data entry environment, invoking a discrepancy management module from the CRF to capture, route and resolve discrepancies, when necessary.

The Onsite interface presents CRF(s) as icons, which graphically illustrate the status of the CRF data – clean, verified, and/or approved – to site personnel. This feature allows Onsite users to perform a fast, visual inspection of the status of each report form.

Oracle Remote Data Capture Onsite helps further enhances clinical site productivity by enabling electronic messaging between users, which allows personnel to verify and approve patient data as quickly as possible. Users can conduct verifications against a group of CRFs or individually, as well as back up approvals with electronic signatures to assist in complying with regulations regarding Electronic Records and Electronic Signatures (21 CFR Part 11).

IBM and Telenor Develop Mobile Devices and Networks That Learn and Adapt

IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Telenor have developed new mobile communications technology for global business users that will allow mobile devices and networks to automatically learn about their users' whereabouts and preferences as they commute, work and travel.

Code-named PASTA for "Presence Advanced Services for Telco Applications" and developed by the two companies as part of a joint research initiative, the technology provides infrastructure for deploying next-generation mobile presence services. "Presence" technology -- used in applications such as instant messaging -- makes it possible to locate and identify a computing or communications device wherever it might be, as soon as the user connects to the network. Privacy issues are addressed by allowing users to control when they are available.

Eases Network Congestion for Telenor

The pilot test for the PASTA project will use an application that was designed to streamline the routing of wireless phone traffic on the Telenor network.

"The PASTA technology can have a direct benefit to our mobile phone business," said Hans-Christian Haugli, SVP and head of Telenor R&D. "Now we want to explore other applications with our enterprise customers and applications developers, who we think will find incredible new uses for this technology."

"The PASTA infrastructure has the ability to 'learn' about users' preferences. As the network becomes 'smart' about its users' preferences, we believe we can reduce outgoing network load by up to 70 percent," said Vova Soroka, IBM's lead researcher on the project. "That is a huge benefit to a network operator, but PASTA can also be used to create new end-user applications -- to enable new services in medicine, tourism, financial services, logistics and home care industries among others. Any business with a large mobile workforce will find potential uses."

Standards-based for Open Access

Presence technology is an integral part of third generation (3G) wireless networks, and is being employed across a wide variety of devices, including mobile phones, notebook computers, PDAs and pagers. IBM and Telenor plan to extend the IP-based PASTA infrastructure to make it available to enterprise customers and third-party applications developers.

The standards-based PASTA infrastructure works with a variety of wireless networks -- GSM, GPS, RFID and Wi-fi, for example.

PASTA's state-of-the-art machine-learning and pattern-recognition capabilities are the key features which separate it from other presence tools currently in use by mobile telecom providers. It was developed by IBM Research scientists in Haifa, Israel and Yorktown Heights, N.Y.

PASTA is built on the recently released IBM WebSphere Presence Server (WPrS), part of the company's next-generation services platform for telecommunications. It uses data gathered by WPrS and interprets it to provide real-time services for mobile users. WPrS uses a services-oriented architecture approach that provides reusable functionality to allow service providers and enterprise customers to leverage presence technology across a range of services and applications.


About the IBM Research Division
IBM Research is the world's largest information technology research organization, with about 3,000 scientists and engineers in eight labs in six countries. IBM has produced more research breakthroughs than any other company in the IT industry. For more information on IBM Research, visit http://www.research.ibm.com


About Telenor
Telenor is a leading telecommunications provider with significant commitments in emerging markets in Europe and Asia and a key position in the Nordic region. Telenor is one of the world's largest mobile operators with more than 74.5 million subscriptions. Telenor is the leading telecommunications company in Norway and the largest provider of TV services to the Nordic market. Total workforce is 23,400 man-years of which 12,400 are outside Norway. Telenor R&D gives important contributions to innovation and new services. http://www.telenor.com/

IBM Global Financing and Juniper Networks (JNPR) Announce Financing Program for Juniper Resellers and End-User Customers

IBM Global Financing (NYSE: IBM) announced today that it has signed a five-year agreement to provide Juniper Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: JNPR) with a leasing and financing program.

The financing will be used to provide Juniper's worldwide corporate and small-business customers with a wide variety of payment plans to acquire the company's hardware, software and services. In addition, IBM Global Financing will provide asset-backed, inventory and floor-financing for Juniper's business partners in Europe.

"This marks an important step in the evolution of our company," said Frank Vitagliano, vice president Worldwide Channels and U.S. Enterprise Operations at Juniper Networks. "Our competitive positioning in the marketplace is strong, and this new relationship with IBM Global Financing partners us with the world's leading IT financing company. As we focus on accelerating growth opportunities with corporate and small-business customers, we couldn't ask for a better partner than IBM."

"Juniper is a rapidly growing networking company and IBM Global Financing is pleased to have been selected as a key partner. Our extensive country reach, large global sales team and significant customer base will help drive Juniper's corporate growth plans," said John Callies, general manager of IBM Global Financing. "Juniper has excellent growth potential and we're proud to play a role in its future."