Grundfos Group Chooses IBM Information Server to Deliver Customer, Material and Supplier Information on Demand

IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced that Grundfos, one of the world's leading pump manufacturers for industrial purposes, heating, water supply and wastewater, has selected IBM Information Integration Solutions to create an integrated information management environment that delivers precise and trusted customer, material and supplier information to its business processes and SAP applications.

Grundfos is undertaking a comprehensive master data integration project to become more flexible and responsive to changing market conditions as demand increases. At the heart of this technology transformation is the new IBM Information Server, a first-of-a-kind software platform that will analyze, cleanse, transform and deliver trusted information for Grundfos, which runs one of the largest SAP R/3 implementations with more than 6,000 users across 40 companies in 25 countries.

"Our company relies upon accurate and trustworthy data, so in order to ensure we get the right order at the right time to the right customer, it is essential to have a single version of information to drive all our business transactions," said Karsten Sørensen, vice president, Information Service, Grundfos. "IBM Information Server enables us to take complex data from SAP and other data sources and make use of it throughout the organization while trusting its quality."

Represented by 73 companies in 41 countries, Grundfos Group depends upon the availability and reliability of all customers, material and supplier information across its worldwide network.

For example, Grundfos has three sales companies in Germany with different product groups and needs to seamlessly merge and share knowledge about common customers to capitalize on up- and cross-selling opportunities. Additionally, Grundfos needs to minimize the cost of maintaining three separate customer databases. Grundfos is using IBM Information Server to provide master data integration services for customer sales data, along with enabling similar initiatives for customer data quality, material data quality and supplier data quality throughout this master data project.

"Key business initiatives, such as the Grundfos's project to harmonize heterogeneous master data from SAP and other data sources, cannot succeed without effective information integration," said Pete Fiore, vice president, IBM Information Integration Solutions. "IBM Information Server is built from experience with more than 5,000 customers and allows organizations to turn complex, heterogeneous data into trusted information to drive new innovation, increase operational efficiency and lower risk."

IBM Information Server is currently available worldwide through IBM and IBM Business Partners.

For more information, visit www.ibm.com/software/data/integration/info_server/

Dell Sets New Standard In Systems Management

Dell today announced a series of moves to drive industry standards further into systems management architectures, resulting in new capabilities that can simplify and automate the administration of IT resources in the enterprise.

The company unveiled the Unified Manageability Architecture that provides a blueprint to standardize infrastructure management, a new console architecture in collaboration with systems management leader Altiris and new industry partnerships. Dell also announced that it is simplifying its existing portfolio of OpenManage tools.

"Dell is committed to simplifying the management of IT resources so customers can focus on what is most important to them – growing their business," said Brad Anderson, senior vice president, Dell Product Group. "Today we’ve taken a tremendous leap forward in enterprise systems management. Thanks to our partnerships with Altiris, Microsoft, Novell and other industry leaders, customers get more control, choice and peace of mind in their enterprise IT environments."

Dell Provides Blueprint for Simplified Infrastructure Management
Dell's Unified Manageability Architecture (UMA) is a vision for a standards-based blueprint for simplified, modular systems management. UMA delivers a layered framework that enables a path to "built-in" management for hardware and software using standard instrumentation such as CIM and SMI-S, and access protocols including WS-Man. The result is a cross-vendor approach that can yield more robust systems modeling, enabling high availability and standards-based building blocks for business process management.

Dell is integrating the new architecture into its own products, including the Dell Remote Access Controller and Baseboard Management Controller for Dell PowerEdgeTM servers. Hardware, operating system and application partners such as AMD, Intel, Avocent, Broadcom, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle and VMware have already adopted many of these standards.

Dell Delivers Two Paths for Integrated Systems Management
Dell's unique approach to systems management gives customers two paths to integrated enterprise systems management. For customers who value choice of tools and seamless integration, the company collaborates with partners to integrate software and hardware management on a single console using industry-standard protocols. This gives customers control of Dell hardware using leading systems management applications and can minimize the tools required to deploy, monitor and update their enterprise infrastructure while helping reduce cost and simplifying operations.

Dell and Altiris have extended their partnership to co-develop the next generation of OpenManage applications based on the Altiris platform for customers who want a single console from Dell that delivers increased hardware and software management. The company will also offer advanced management with "pay as you grow" upgrades, designed to enable increased control and choice compared to proprietary offerings. This adds functionality, not infrastructure, while helping eliminate the expensive "forklift" approach customers have had to manage in the past when upgrading to software management.

"Altiris and Dell have had a long-standing partnership to provide Dell customers with industry-leading hardware and software management solutions. In a logical extension of our work together, we are revolutionizing the systems management market by delivering an open and unified industry-standard management platform," Greg Butterfield, Altiris president and CEO, said. "Altiris service-oriented management is uniquely positioned to deliver heterogeneous hardware and software management that aligns business and IT through automated operations, enforceable security and IT lifecycle management."

The next generation of Dell OpenManage will also integrate critical functionality in areas such as operations, security and storage management, helping customers easily secure their corporate environments.

New Partner Program, Redesigned Portfolio Drive Functionality and Choice
To help customers avoid a single, high-cost proprietary management solution, the company is enabling more systems management applications to manage Dell hardware.

The Dell OpenManage Certified Partner Program provides systems management vendors with OpenManage developer toolkits that enable them to add integrated control of Dell hardware to their applications – resulting in new ways for customers to leverage their investments in existing systems management tools. When the hardware integration is complete, Dell engineers validate and certify the functionality with the company’s hardware. Certified partners are granted an OpenManage Certified Partner logo to affix to certified products.

This tight integration enables customers to simplify their software and hardware management needs from a single console. Customers can use their choice of application consoles such as Altiris’ service-oriented architecture, CA Unicenter Management, Microsoft System Management Server 2003 R2, Oracle Enterprise Manager, LANDesk management solutions and Novell ZENworks to manage Dell systems. Dell is also collaborating with virtualization management vendors to integrate that functionality as the technology continues to grow. Dell expects Certified Partner Program participants to adopt will adopt the standardized framework for systems management as described by the Unified Manageability Architecture.

Dell is also simplifying its OpenManage product suite by combining multiple point products into simplified, more comprehensive offerings. The first installment in the new set of offerings is the Dell Client Manager suite. Replacing three individual utilities, Dell Client Manager Standard includes client hardware inventory, monitoring and BIOS configuration. A snap-in upgrade, Dell Client Manager Plus provides software delivery, imaging, PC migration and software inventory. Future offerings from Dell will follow this format: basic hardware management available from Dell at no additional charge, with cost-effective upgrades to provide value-added features, including advanced management capabilities.

Industry Support for UMA and Certified Partner Program

UMA and Dell’s OpenManage Certified Partner Program have received broad support from industry leaders such as Intel, AMD, EMC, Novell and Microsoft, to name a few. To see what these and other vendors have to say about the program, visit www.dell.com/sysmgmtquotes For more information about OpenManage, visit www.dell.com/openmanage

Siemens wins major order for the further expansion of the power supply system – Order worth 700 million euros

As part of the further expansion of the power supply system in Qatar, Siemens Power Transmission and Distribution (PTD) has been awarded an order worth over 700 million euros by Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa). The order comprises the delivery of 25 turnkey substations of the voltage levels 220 kV, 132 kV and 66 kV and 11 kV, including transformers as well as station control and protection systems. In addition, it includes the expansion of 14 existing substations and the modification of ten more stations. All in all Siemens is delivering gas-insulated switchgear systems (GIS) with 54 switchbays for 220 kV and 200 switchbays for 132 kV/66 kV from its production plants in Berlin and Grenoble. The project is scheduled for completion by February 2009.

“For Siemens PTD, this is not only the largest order in the Group’s history. Furthermore this is a highly challenging project in which nearly all of our products and systems will be employed. It also extremely demanding in terms of project management since several substations will have to be constructed in parallel within a very short time,” said Dr. Udo Niehage, President of the Siemens Power Transmission and Distribution Group.

Siemens is implementing the order as part of the “Qatar Power Transmission System Expansion – Phase VII” project currently running in Qatar. The substations are to be built in the cities of Doha, Ras Laffan, Maesaeed and spread all over the country. This is not the first major order that Siemens PTD has received from Qatar in the course of the country’s ambitious project to expand its power supply system. Since November 2005, the company received several orders to a value of about 600 million euros for the delivery of turnkey transformer substations.

Within a few decades, Qatar has developed into a modern state with a high standard of living matched by growing energy requirements. The peninsula on the lower Gulf, with its abundant petroleum and natural gas reserves, posts double-digit economic growth rates and invests continuously in the country’s infrastructure.

MSFT: Microsoft Announces New Corporate Vice President of Worldwide Services Maria Martinez

Microsoft Corp. announced that Maria Martinez has been named corporate vice president of Worldwide Services, effective Jan. 5, 2007. Martinez will continue in her role as corporate vice president of the Communications Sector at Microsoft through the remainder of the calendar year. Martinez will work with Rick Devenuti, who recently announced his plans to retire from his role as senior vice president of Worldwide Services, as she transitions into her new role.

“Maria brings a strong track record to the services business of driving impressive results for the company,” said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer of Microsoft. “I have great confidence in her leadership and the team’s ability to continue our success in building our worldwide services business while successfully upholding our commitments to the partner channel.”

Martinez comes to the Microsoft® Worldwide Services organization from her current role as the corporate vice president of the Communications Sector. Microsoft’s Communications Sector works with service and content providers around the globe, addressing the specific needs of wireline and wireless telecommunications companies, cable operators, hosting service providers, and media and entertainment organizations.

Before joining Microsoft, Martinez served as CEO of a startup software vendor in the San Francisco Bay Area. Before that, Martinez was a vice president at Motorola Inc.

Martinez has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Puerto Rico, and a master’s degree in computer engineering from Ohio State University. Following college, Martinez worked for the prestigious Bell Laboratories for 12 years, developing and patenting disk storage systems and leading development of UNIX systems for symmetric multiprocessing and high availability.

MSFT: MSN Shopping Sees Record Traffic From Holiday Gift Buyers

Shoppers rang in the traditional start of the holiday gift-buying season with unprecedented traffic on MSN® Shopping over the Thanksgiving weekend.

From the day after Thanksgiving, known as “Black Friday” in the retail industry, through “Cyber Monday,” the unofficial kickoff of the online holiday shopping season, MSN Shopping (http://shopping.msn.com ) recorded 21 percent more visits compared with the same period in 2005. Site visits on “Cyber Monday” increased 63 percent from 2005 and consist of more than double the number visits to the site on “Black Friday” this year. Increase in traffic is believed to be due to MSN Shopping’s improved selection, handcrafted gift guides, popular Sales and Deals page, and tighter integration with MSN and Live Search

This year, visitors to MSN Shopping can consult an even broader selection of gift guides with recommendations for every person on their list, and save money with MSN Shopping online coupons. The site also offers expert buying advice provided by Consumer Reports and MSN’s own staff of editors to help shoppers find the best values.

“Gifts for Him,” “Gifts for Her,” and “Stocking Stuffers” were the popular MSN Shopping gift guides over the weekend. Jewelry, massagers, picture frames and beer-making equipment were among the most popular items. The most popular video game was “Madden NFL 07,” and the most popular toy was the Marshmallow Fun Company Marshmallow Shooter.

Also, MSN Shopping lets people compare more than 30 million products from over 8,000 stores to get the right gift at the lowest price. Shoppers could compare products from 26 percent more merchants this year than in 2005. The items that garnered the most price comparisons on “Cyber Monday” were the Garmin StreetPilot i3 GPS Receiver, The Marvel Comics Encyclopedia and Cannon PowerShot SD600 Digital ELPH. Shoppers’ top five most popular searches were for “Burt’s Bees,” “heart jewelry,” “Swarovski,” “Nintendo Wii,” and “hoodies.”

For online shoppers who begin their shopping with a Web search, MSN Shopping powers answers within Live.com. Shoppers can simply enter a term such as “digital cameras” or “perfume” in the Live Search tool to trigger instant answers that direct them to merchants featured on MSN Shopping.

“Online shoppers are always on the lookout for the perfect product, but they also want to find that item from the widest possible selection,” said Jim Barr, general manager for MSN Shopping at Microsoft. “Offering more than 30 million products from over 8,000 merchants in one place, MSN Shopping gives consumers the best of both worlds with easy access to our hand-picked collections, extensive reviews and comparison features that help them make sense of all of the choices we provide.”

IBM to Acquire Vallent

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it has agreed to acquire Vallent Corporation, a privately held company based in Bellevue, Washington with more than 400 employees. Financial details were not disclosed. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and is anticipated to close in the first quarter of the 2007 calendar year.

Vallent is a leading supplier of network performance monitoring and service management software for wireless service providers worldwide. Vallent's software helps service providers manage the performance of their network infrastructure through monitoring and reporting problem areas such as dropped calls and traffic bottlenecks. It also helps operators improve wireless service quality and identify network problems before they impact a customer's experience.

The combination of Vallent's software and IBM's comprehensive management capabilities will enable service providers to deliver and manage end-to-end high quality services across wireline, wireless, IP and converged fixed/mobile network infrastructures. Adding Vallent to IBM Tivoli Software's Netcool portfolio creates a broad set of service assurance capabilities spanning fault, network performance and service quality management over a wide array of technologies and third-party equipment and applications. Vallent will augment IBM's ability to help communications service providers manage their networks as they deploy innovative new services while migrating from legacy to next generation infrastructures.

Vallent complements IBM's existing system and service management capabilities with deep wireless expertise and capabilities to address an even broader set of critical service management issues -- from handset and base stations to IP application servers. Through the addition of Vallent technology, IBM will be able to offer a more complete picture that enables operators to provide network performance, service and customer quality information to teams such as network operations, engineering, marketing, customer care, and other service stakeholders that need to know how a service is performing, who is affected by service issues and service level agreement (SLA) performance.

The acquisition of Vallent extends the Netcool operations support system portfolio acquired with Micromuse in February of 2006 and will further enhance IBM's ability to address the growing needs of its customers in this area, especially communications service providers.

"Today's service provider landscape is changing dramatically," said Al Zollar, General Manager, IBM Tivoli software. "Mergers, partnerships, and technology are making fixed-mobile convergence a reality. To compete, operators must manage the customer experience across large, heterogeneous, and complex service delivery infrastructures. The combination of Vallent and Netcool software will offer service providers an unparalleled set of network and service management tools with insight spanning from the IP core all the way to service quality as perceived by the end user."

IBM and Vallent will help service providers manage services efficiently while improving service quality, which can enable them to bring new services to market faster, reduce their operating expenses, and use service quality as a differentiating factor to attract and retain customers.

Vallent has more than 200 customers worldwide, including worldwide market leaders such as KPN, Bharti, China Mobile, and Brasil Telecom, as well as equipment providers such as Lucent, Motorola, and Alcatel.

"Service providers face tremendous competition and pressure to differentiate through rapid deployment of innovative, high quality services," said John Hansen, chief executive officer, Vallent. "With proven technology and extensive customer experience, Vallent and IBM can help clients manage their existing network environments while capitalizing on new services, next generation networks, continued growth in wireless connectivity, and fixed-mobile convergence."

Following completion of the acquisition, IBM's intent is to integrate Vallent into IBM's Software Group as a part of its Tivoli Software unit, the same unit into which the Netcool assets from IBM's February, 2006 Micromuse acquisition have been integrated.

ADSK: MapGuide Open Source and Autodesk Mark Record Downloads in First Year

Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) today marked the one-year anniversary of the release of its MapGuide Open Source product and its feature data objects (FDO) source code. Over the past year, this web-mapping platform has gained traction among the geospatial developer community, which is now incorporating it into new and innovative spatial applications. The MapGuide Open Source community currently numbers over 600 members, and the source code has been downloaded more than 23,000 times. Additionally, the FDO source code has been downloaded 3000 times.


As part of its mission to deliver advanced technologies that help customers realize ideas, Autodesk released MapGuide Open Source and its FDO data access technology to the open source development community in November 2005. As more organizations adopt mapping applications, users want software that makes it easier to gather and publish geospatial information for purpose-specific business solutions, including engineering, construction, utilities and government.

"Open source is fueling unbelievable technology advances in the geospatial community, and we're proud to do our part to help that growth," said Gary Lang, vice president of Autodesk Infrastructure Solutions. "With MapGuide Open Source as part of the open source community, our customers benefit from more frequent product updates, including community-sponsored innovations, as well as a dramatically lower total cost of ownership."

Autodesk's MapGuide Open Source software supports the most popular geospatial file formats, databases and standards, simplifying map development and deployment. This critical interoperability, along with the open source code, facilitates easy and flexible analysis and distribution of geospatial information to key stakeholders. The FDO functionality within MapGuide Open Source provides access to multiple spatial data types.

OSGeo: Fostering geospatial collaboration

MapGuide Open Source is now an active project hosted by the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo). OSGeo, an independent not-for-profit entity, was established to support the needs of the open source geospatial community and provides a common forum and shared infrastructure for cross-project collaboration. Under the umbrella of OSGeo, users, developers and community participants coordinate development efforts that are crucial to the success of open source web mapping.

"It's amazing to see the groundswell of interest and activity that has occurred during the past year," said Tyler Mitchell, executive director of OSGeo. "Autodesk's commitment to open source development methodologies has encouraged others in the open source geospatial community to start contributing. We are already starting to see new code contributions and application extensions that build upon the platform provided by Autodesk."

Yesterday at Autodesk University, more than 80 Autodesk MapGuide users and partners met in an open forum to share best practices and discuss the product roadmap. Members of OSGeo also showcased MapGuide Open Source applications under development.

"The open source development process allows me to influence the software's evolution by actively participating in the community," said Jason Birch, senior applications analyst for the city of Nanaimo, British Columbia and MapGuide Open Source user. "Additionally, the city's IT department gets earlier insight into product direction which helps us to plan strategically."

About Autodesk MapGuide and MapGuide Open Source

Applications built using the MapGuide Open Source platform give users a faster and more flexible way to query, analyze and view critical spatial information. In June, Autodesk launched Autodesk MapGuide Enterprise, a commercial version of MapGuide Open Source, which includes additional support from Autodesk. Autodesk MapGuide Enterprise is certified by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) as compliant with its WMS 1.1.1 specification.

ADSK: Williams-Sonoma Designs Its Future With Autodesk Inventor

Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) today announced that Williams-Sonoma, Inc., one of the nation's premier specialty retailers of home furnishings, is using Autodesk Inventor software to increase the efficiency of its furniture manufacturing operations. While the company designs and engineers its furniture in the United States, it relies upon a global network of manufacturing vendors to fabricate the pieces. By incorporating Autodesk Inventor 3D models into its design processes, Williams-Sonoma is able to more effectively communicate to offshore vendors details as to what each finished product is supposed to look like, reducing the overall time required to develop new furniture products.


"Once we get a sketch from the design department, we can quickly and efficiently create a 3D visual appearance model using Autodesk Inventor," said Brad Bransen, manager of Furniture Engineering for Williams Sonoma Home. "The model provides a 3D visual representation of the designer's furniture concept. We wind up saving a lot of time. The more detail we can give our vendors up-front, the more accurately they're able to develop the finished product."

Historically, Williams-Sonoma used 2D drawings containing specs to communicate to its offshore vendors. Because of the inherent challenge of describing a three dimensional object with a two dimensional medium, there were often several iterations necessary to get the finished product in line with what the designers had originally envisioned.

Using Inventor to supplement the 2D spec sheets with 3D drawings helps Williams-Sonoma to greatly reduce the number of iterations with its vendors.

"We now have a high success rate for getting furniture samples built correctly on the first go-around, with minor modifications being necessary," commented Bransen. "We're saving up to two weeks in the sampling process and additional time in the overall manufacturing process, which means we're faster to market with our new product lines."

Moving forward, Williams-Sonoma intends to continue exploring the powerful Inventor functionality and learning new ways that Autodesk can help them effectively collaborate with their global network.

"In the age of global manufacturing, effective communication among partners and vendors isn't an option -- it's a necessity," said Robert "Buzz" Kross, vice president of Autodesk Manufacturing Solutions. "Williams-Sonoma is truly a leader in its field and is seeing the real business benefits of creating a universal 3D language between its partners."

About Williams-Sonoma, Inc.

Founded in 1956, Williams-Sonoma, Inc. is the premier specialty retailer of home furnishings in the United States. Our brands are among the best known and most respected in the industry. We successfully market them through all three major channels -- retail stores, catalogs, and the Internet.

SUNW: Rush University Medical Center Deploys Sun Microsystems Infrastructure for Electronic Medical Records

Sun Microsystems (NSDQ: SUNW) today announced that Rush University Medical Center in Chicago has deployed a Sun technology infrastructure to run a critical new Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system. The Sun system, comprised of the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS), UltraSPARC IV+ processor-based Sun Fire servers and Sun StorageTek solutions, provides the rigorous high-availability environment required for the hospital's patient information system from Epic Systems Corporation. Rush University Medical Center, a leading teaching and research hospital, chose Sun over other vendors principally for the superior reliability and price/performance of the Sun Solaris 10 OS and UltraSPARC system.


The EMR system Rush University Medical Center is deploying from Epic captures all clinical, financial, and operational data related to a patient and organizes it into a consistent record accessible to users across the care continuum at the hospital. With a single, integrated record combining information from radiology, cardiology, surgery, labs, pharmacy and other departments, doctors are able to make more well-informed decisions about patient care. The Sun powered system also streamlines non-medical operations for the hospital, helping to improve the healthcare provider's financial performance and regulatory compliance.

"Rush University Medical Center is deeply committed to continuously improving patient care. That's why we made a major investment in upgrading our EMR system and why we entrusted the IT infrastructure to Sun," said Michael Sorensen, senior director of IT at Rush University Medical Center. "Sun's technology performance combined with the ability to provide a complete solution including operating system, servers, storage, support and professional services made it clear that Sun was the partner we wanted for this essential initiative."

Return on investment and upfront cost were also decisive factors. By taking advantage of Sun promotions, Rush University Medical Center received discounts of up to 50 percent on its hardware purchases. In addition, Rush University Medical Center will save significantly on operational costs over its previous mainframe environment.

"What Rush University Medical Center is doing to break down information silos and streamline data flow at the hospital is fundamental to the improvement of patient safety and the reduction of medical errors," said Joerg Schwarz, Director of healthcare & Life Sciences, Sun Microsystems. "But an excellent EMR system such as Epic needs a reliable and secure IT infrastructure to provide 24x7x365 service. Sun's highly available server and storage products help to ensure that an EMR system can operate at its full potential within the given IT budget, and thus delivers on the promise of better healthcare."

Building on decades of experience working with hospitals, clinics and insurers, Sun is leveraging its leading-edge technologies to create and deploy complete healthcare infrastructure solutions that help organizations to achieve secure health information exchange, cost-efficient data management, regulatory compliance and caregiver mobility. Sun healthcare solutions help reduce costs and medical errors while improving organizational efficiency and patient-centric care.

About Rush University Medical Center

Rush University Medical Center is an academic medical center that encompasses the more than 600 staffed-bed hospital (including Rush Children's Hospital), the Johnston R. Bowman Health Center and Rush University. Rush University, with more than 1,270 students, is home to one of the first medical schools in the Midwest, and one of the nation's top-ranked nursing colleges. Rush University also offers graduate programs in allied health and the basic sciences. Rush is noted for bringing together clinical care and research to address major health problems, including arthritis and orthopedic disorders, cancer, heart disease, mental illness, neurological disorders and diseases associated with aging. More information can be found on the Web at http://www.rush.edu

SUNW: Sun Microsystems Showcases Healthcare Solutions and Momentum at RSNA 2006

Sun Microsystems (NSDQ: SUNW) today announced that it is showcasing its advanced portfolio of healthcare industry solutions based on the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS) and other Sun server, software and storage technologies at the RSNA 2006 conference in Chicago this week. Sun today also announced new customer deployments at Karmanos Cancer Institute and Rush University Medical Center, demonstrating the range and depth of Sun technology for solving complex healthcare information management and archival challenges.


Building on decades of experience working with hospitals, clinics and insurers, Sun is leveraging its leading-edge technologies to create and deploy complete healthcare infrastructure solutions that help organizations to achieve secure health information exchange, cost-efficient data management, regulatory compliance and caregiver mobility. These solutions reduce costs and medical errors while improving efficiency and patient-centric care. Sun solutions featured at RSNA 2006 (McCormick Place, South Building, Hall A, Booth # 5554) include Sun technologies such as StorageTek 5800, SunRay and Sun Secure Global Desktop Software thin-client and mobility technologies, Sun Java technologies including Java Composite Application Platform Suite and Sun Java Identity Management Suite, as well as Sun Systems offerings.

Premier Hospitals Sign with Sun

Indicative of momentum for Sun solutions in the healthcare industry, the Karmanos Cancer Institute (KCI) in Detroit recently adopted a Sun StorageTek solution for its file-based clinical applications archive, which stores crucial patient data from a variety of hospital departments such as radiology and cardiology. KCI has been recognized as one of the 39 top cancer treatment centers in the United States by the National Cancer Institute. The Institute strives to prevent, detect and eradicate cancer, caring for more than 6000 new patients annually, and conducting more than 400 scientific investigations and clinical trials. The complete Sun archival system, which includes Sun StorageTek SAM-FS data-management software, a midrange SATA disk array and a tape library running on the Solaris OS, helps provide KCI physicians with easy and immediate access to patient records and medical imaging whenever it is needed.

"The Sun storage and retrieval system we are deploying at Karmanos is already improving our ability to make timely and accurate care-giving decisions by putting patient information at clinicians' fingertips in seconds," said Richard Doak, IT Technical Architect Manager, Karmanos Cancer Institute. "Beyond the healthcare benefits, the Sun system is cost-effective, dependable and flexible. Its tried and true design has been time-tested for 20 years, and its open architecture easily integrates with best-of-breed software and low-cost hardware, allowing us to expand its use over time throughout KCI."

In further evidence of its healthcare market momentum, Sun also announced Chicago-based Rush University Medical Center's deployment of a complete Sun infrastructure for its new Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system. The Sun system, comprised of UltraSPARC-based Sun Fire servers, Sun StorageTek solutions and the Solaris 10 OS, powers mission-critical patient information and financial applications at the renowned teaching hospital, to further improve their efficiency of delivering patient care and streamline operations.


"Sun's customer deployments are proof positive that Sun is extending its broad history in the healthcare marketplace and using our technology expertise to transform the healthcare system as a whole. Sun has more than 400 customers and more than 1000 heathcare sites where our solutions are powering the accessibility, liberation and integration of data trapped in disparate health IT systems," said Joerg Schwarz, director of Healthcare & Life Sciences, Sun Microsystems. "When medical information is better managed through its lifecycle, medical errors are reduced, costs associated with business and administration of healthcare services are cut, and processes are streamlined, maximizing the return on investment from IT budgets."

Sun Steps up OEM Partnerships

Sun is also driving momentum in the healthcare industry through its OEM program for Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) vendors. The program creates opportunities for healthcare informatics organizations to partner with Sun and develop solutions for providers, payers, regional and national healthcare organizations. Sun enables OEM partners to succeed by providing an expanded set of cost-effective, innovative platforms and solutions that support their delivery of high performance, differentiated products to the healthcare community. Sun's dedicated sales, pricing, supply chain and product support throughout the product lifecycle are some of the specialized OEM offerings for PACS vendors.

"Leading healthcare informatics vendors choose to team with Sun because we understand that a trusted OEM relationship involves more than just great technology," said Peter Ewens, vice president, OEM Group, Sun Microsystems. "Sun's standing in the healthcare industry and our shared dedication to the cause of improving healthcare has been integral in growing our OEM healthcare partner relationships.

For more information on Sun's healthcare solutions and OEM partner program, please visit: http://www.sun.com/solutions/landing/industry/health_care.xml

About Karmanos Cancer Institute

Based in midtown Detroit, the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute is committed to a future free of cancer. The Meyer L. Prentis Comprehensive Cancer Center of Metropolitan Detroit, operated by the Institute, is one of 39 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the United States. Caring for more than 6,000 new patients annually on a budget of $200 million, conducting more than 400 cancer-specific scientific investigation programs and clinical trials, the Institute is among the nation's best cancer centers. The Institute strives to prevent, detect and eradicate cancer through 1,200 staff including 300 faculty members supported by hundreds of volunteers and thousands of financial donors. More information can be found at http://www.karmanos.org

About Rush University Medical Center

Rush University Medical Center is an academic medical center that encompasses the more than 600 staffed-bed hospital (including Rush Children's Hospital), the Johnston R. Bowman Health Center and Rush University. Rush University, with more than 1,270 students, is home to one of the first medical schools in the Midwest, and one of the nation's top-ranked nursing colleges. Rush University also offers graduate programs in allied health and the basic sciences. Rush is noted for bringing together clinical care and research to address major health problems, including arthritis and orthopedic disorders, cancer, heart disease, mental illness, neurological disorders and diseases associated with aging. More information can be found on the Web at http://www.rush.edu

XRX: Experimental Xerox Paper Erases Itself, Results In Temporary Documents On Reusable Paper

Xerox Corporation (NYSE:XRX) scientists have invented a way to make prints whose images last only a day, so that the paper can be used again and again. The technology, which is still in a preliminary state, blurs the line between paper documents and digital displays and could ultimately lead to a significant reduction in paper use.
The experimental printing technology, a collaboration between the Xerox Research Centre of Canada and PARC (Palo Alto Research Center Inc.), could someday replace printed pages that are used for just a brief time before being discarded. Xerox estimates that as many as two out of every five pages printed in the office are for what it calls "daily" use, like e-mails, Web pages and reference materials that have been printed for a single viewing.

"Despite our reliance on computers to share and process information, there is still a strong dependence on the printed page for reading and absorbing content. Of course, we'd all like to use less paper, but we know from talking with customers that many people still prefer to work with information on paper. Self-erasing documents for short-term use offers the best of both worlds," said Paul Smith, manager of XRCC's new materials design and synthesis lab.

Xerox has filed for patents on the technology, which it calls "erasable paper." It is currently part of a laboratory project that focuses on the concept of future dynamic documents.

To develop erasable paper, researchers needed to identify ways to create temporary images. The "a-ha" moment came from developing compounds that change color when they absorb a certain wavelength of light but then will gradually disappear. In its present version, the paper self-erases in about 16-24 hours and can be used multiple times.

While scientists at XRCC work on the chemistry of the technology, their counterparts at PARC - the birthplace of the laser printer - are investigating ways to build a device that could write the image onto the special paper. PARC researchers developed a prototype "printer" that creates the image on the paper using a light bar that provides a specific wavelength of light as a writing source. The written image fades naturally over time or can be immediately erased by exposing it to heat.

While potential users have shown interest in transient documents, there is still much to be done if the technology is to be commercialized. "This will remain a research project for some time," said Eric Shrader, PARC area manager, industrial inkjet systems. "Our experiments prove that it can be done, and that is the first step, but not the only one, to developing a system that is commercially viable."

Temporary documents are part of Xerox's ongoing investments in sustainable innovation - or "green products" - that deliver measurable benefits to the environment, such as solid ink printing technology, which generates 90 percent less waste than comparable laser printers; more energy-efficient printers, copiers and multifunction devices; and other paper-saving innovations.

The Xerox Innovation Group conducts work in color science, computing, digital imaging, work practices, electromechanical systems, novel materials, linguistics, work practice analysis, and nanotechnology connected to Xerox's expertise in printing and document management.

PARC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Xerox. It consistently creates value through its inventions and innovations by embedding them in the products, solutions and services of its strategic sponsors, using them as the foundation for creating new businesses, or licensing them to technology customers.

VRSN: VeriSign Confirms Reasons for Expected Restatement of Previously Issued Financial Statements

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) announced on November 21, 2006 that it has determined the need to restate its historical financial statements for the years and interim periods from 2001-2005 and for the first quarter of 2006 to record additional non-cash, stock-based compensation expense related to past stock option grants.

VeriSign confirmed today that the reasons for this determination are that it has identified certain grants with incorrect measurement dates, without required documentation, or with initial grant dates and prices that were subsequently modified. Based on the findings to date, the non-cash charge to the financial statements for the periods 2001 - 2005 is not expected to exceed $250 million; however, the investigation is still on-going.

VRSN: VeriSign To Acquire inCode Wireless

VeriSign, Inc., (NASDAQ: VRSN), the leading provider of intelligent infrastructure for the networked world, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire inCode Wireless, a global business and technology consulting firm.

“With a focus on next generation mobility solutions, inCode professionals have a firm grasp of all aspects of the wireless marketplace – from business strategy to emerging trends,” said Stratton Sclavos, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of VeriSign. “Combined with VeriSign’s market-leading portfolio of managed communications and content offerings, we plan to offer end-to-end solutions that enable our customers to launch compelling services that drive new revenue streams and improve customer loyalty.”

inCode has become a global force in wireless business and technology consulting, with 14 offices in 10 countries. The company provides strategy consulting services to nearly every major wireless, wireline, cable operator and telecom equipment manufacturer, as well as leading enterprises.

“By joining VeriSign, inCode is able to take our renowned industry thought leadership to the next level,” said John Donovan, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of inCode. “VeriSign’s strength in communications solutions and our global consulting teams will help customers accelerate their transformation to a next generation digital world.”

The acquisition purchase price is approximately $52 million and is being accounted for as a purchase transaction. Additional information will be provided following the closing of the transaction; however, revenue and earnings contributions from the acquisition will not be material to VeriSign’s 2006 financial results.

Iowa Health System Collaborates With IBM to Improve Access to Medical Data

Iowa Health System (IHS) today announced it will utilize IBM Grid Medical Archive Solution (GMAS) to allow cardiology, radiology and other digital images to be shared across multiple sites and securely stored for years to help improve patient care, advance research and reduce administrative costs.

Working with IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Bycast, Inc., IHS will establish an enterprise-wide storage system, based on IBM GMAS to address the exponential growth of IHS' imaging and other fixed content data, such as audio, video and medical documents. Fast, reliable solutions like GMAS will help IHS clinicians gain 24X7 access to medical data so they can respond quickly to changing patient conditions. And, with this new solution, IHS will be able to cost effectively establish baseline technologies and enable Picture Archive and Communication System (PACS) applications and other systems to more readily access medical images, scans and other documents.

"Providing our patients with the best possible healthcare, while controlling costs, is a top priority for IHS," said Jim Mormann, CIO, Iowa Health System. "In order to manage our existing 13TB PACS, that is expected to double in size over the next year, we turned to IBM and its industry standard grid solution to give us the scalability and a secure, high availability archive at significantly lower operational costs than our previous solution."

By implementing GMAS, which is a key component of IBM's Information Lifecycle Management Infrastructure Solution Portfolio for Healthcare, IHS will be able to easily deploy a disaster recovery plan over a wide area network, maintain business continuance by allowing clinical applications to operate in the presence of faults and verify authenticity of retrieved data, auto-rebuild corrupted data.

"Customers like Iowa Health System are utilizing innovative technology to help deliver improved patient centric care," said Bruce Gardner, director, IBM Healthcare and Life Sciences. "A solution such as IBM GMAS can help reduce the complexity and cost of managing medical images and data so clinicians can effectively and efficiently access patient information."

IBM GMAS utilizes Bycast StorageGRID Software and integrates IBM System Storage DS4000, IBM System Storage EXP100 Expansion Unit and xSeries servers. Both single and multiple rack configurations are available for additional secure disaster recovery and to support affordable entry and expansion as healthcare providers' needs change.

IBM Grid Medical Archive Solution, which is part of IBM's broader Grid solution offerings, incorporates open standard grid technology and joins the IBM portfolio of archive solutions that includes IBM System Storage DR550, IBM System Storage Archive Manager, the recently announced "E-mail Archiving and Storage Solution" and IBM WORM tape offerings, usable to address regulatory compliance and resiliency requirements for long-term healthcare data retention.

About Iowa Health System

Initially formed in 1995, Iowa Health System today includes 11 hospitals in Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Dubuque, Fort Dodge, Sioux City, Waterloo and the Quad Cities, along with a group of nearly 354 physicians and 125 clinics in more than 30 communities in Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois and South Dakota. Iowa Health System is the first and largest integrated healthcare system in Iowa with revenues of more than $1.7 billion. For more information visit: www.ihs.org

About Bycast

Bycast is a leading provider of software solutions to simplify the management of massive fixed-content storage systems. For more information visit www.bycast.com


For more information about IBM Healthcare and Life Sciences visit: www.ibm.com/industries/healthcare

CSCO: Cisco Small & Medium Business Partners Continue to Accelerate

Cisco® demonstrated the continued success of its SMB Select Partner program by announcing at the Cisco European Channel and SMB Press Forum in Milan that it had doubled its number of partners in Europe to more than 2,300 members this year. Cisco also announced two new initiatives, the Unified Communications Accelerator Program and SMB University, which will deliver 5,000 days of free instructor-led training to Cisco partners. The improved program has been introduced to address the increasing need for skilled partners specialising in providing security, wireless and especially voice solutions to small and medium-sized businesses.

Launched in 2004, the Cisco SMB Select Partner program offers incentives and resources specifically geared to support partners who provide a valuable service to organisations of between 20 and 249 employees. SMB University is being launched across all of Europe to provide free instructor-led training, and the Unified Communications Accelerator Program has been developed to address a growing demand for Unified Communications technologies.

"The lack of skilled staff for partners and even at their customers is a major issue today, and Cisco has gone a long way in helping its SMB Select Partners train their staffs in addressing technologies such as wireless, security and Unified Communications," says Keith Humphries, managing consultant for EuroLan. "SMB customers look for solutions and not products, and Cisco's SMB Select Partner program allows partners to become skilled in selling more solutions, becoming their trusted advisor and relieving them of their pain points."

SMB University has been running in Latin America for the past eight months, developing a breadth of skills among SMB-focussed partners. As a result of its success, the expert training is rolling out across 21 countries in Europe. Primarily an instructor-led initiative with updates and refresher training provided online, it offers daylong courses with both foundation and technology-focussed sessions on security, wireless and Unified Communications. All training is free of charge to SMB Select Partners. Cisco's SMB University also help partners by providing training in the general sales skills needed to sell technology to SMBs.

As small and medium-sized businesses continue to demand integrated voice and data networks, which enable the deployment of smart, simple and highly secure solutions that help improve customer responsiveness, the Unified Communications Accelerator Program will provide comprehensive free training focussed on voice. The program offers SMB Select Partners four days of instructor-led training focussed exclusively on Unified Communications technologies. Two days of the program focus on training in sales, and the remaining two provide hands-on technical training.

Cisco also announced details of its first global SMB Select Partner survey. More than 1,200 European partners participated in the research that highlights the considerable value of Cisco's SMB-focussed partner program. Eighty nine per cent of the European respondents stated that the SMB Select Partner Program was either important or very important to them. The research also highlighted that Cisco's partners believe that quality support services and a strong knowledge of a customer's business are the two main factors in ensuring customer loyalty among small businesses.

"The adoption of the SMB Select Partner program by our partners has been incredible, and it continues to flourish. This is an increasing part of our business and we need to ensure that our customers can easily address their technology needs. As we see demand for wireless, security and especially voice solutions flourish, our aim is to ensure that the SMB Select Partner program continues to evolve alongside this growing trend," said Andreas Dohmen, vice president of European Channels, Cisco.

The Unified Communications Accelerator Program is available now in UK and the Netherlands and will be introduced across the rest of Europe in the coming six months. SMB University will start providing training to partners this December.

IBM Expands Global Delivery Capabilities to Inland China

IBM (NYSE: IBM) signed an agreement today with the Chengdu High-Tech Zone, to establish a Global Delivery Center within the Chengdu Tianfu Software Park. Scheduled to be operational by February 2007, this new center will provide multi-lingual application development and maintenance services to clients globally in English, Japanese and Chinese, and to the IBM Global Procurement Center, recently located to the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

"As part of our transformation to becoming a globally integrated business, IBM is focused on amassing the right skills and expertise where they exist to deliver the right services to our clients. The presence of a vast talent pool, technical capabilities and business friendly economic policies make China one of our key locations to deliver world-class services to clients around the world," said Frank Kern, General Manager, IBM Asia Pacific.

The new center at Chengdu further strengthens IBM's existing network of global delivery centers in China across Shenzhen, Dalian and Shanghai. Established since 1999, China Global Delivery Services has been assessed at SEI CMMI Maturity Level 5, the highest in the industry, providing support to clients in America, Europe and Northeast Asia. IBM also plans to aggressively grow the scope of services according to client needs. The globally benchmarked Chengdu center will have local talent working with highly-trained staff from other parts of China and from IBM operations around the world.

Henry Chow, Chairman and CEO of IBM Greater China, said, "The expansion of IBM's Global Delivery Center network to Chengdu is a testament to our commitment to the talent and opportunities we see here."

Henry Chow further added, "The emerging opportunities in western China will enable IBM to further strengthen our global delivery network in China. We look forward to working with our local partners from government, academia and business to see these opportunities to fruition."

The capital of Sichuan Province, Chengdu, boasts a population of 12.2 million(1). Chengdu is also home to a large number of highly-trained IT professionals, providing a strong pool of talent for the IBM Global Delivery Center. IBM has further committed to work with local universities and government bodies to ensure key skills, such as languages are developed locally.

IBM established the Chengdu branch office in 1996. The product and services have expanded rapidly in the last ten years for Chinese domestic clients covering across public, finance, telecom, distribution and industrial sectors.

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

(1)ChengDu government Chinese site: http://www.cdstats.chengdu.gov.cn/ReadNews.asp?NewsID=1677

ORCL: Oracle Delivers Oracle Production Scheduling and Oracle Strategic Network Optimization

Oracle today announced the availability of Oracle(r) Production Scheduling and Oracle Strategic Network Optimization. By integrating capabilities from Oracle's JD Edwards and PeopleSoft Supply Chain Planning suite with Oracle's Supply Chain Management applications, manufacturing companies can optimize supply and distribution networks, mitigate risk, maximize shop floor throughput and dramatically reduce supply chain costs.
"As a valued end user of the Oracle Advanced Planning solution, we are looking forward to a rapid deployment of Oracle Production Scheduling," said Teva Pharmaceuticals Vice President, BPI Peter Billiaert. "As an experienced user of Oracle Advanced Supply Chain Planning, we're excited about Oracle's integrated offering of a truly best in class manufacturing planning, scheduling and execution solution, to drive our company to an even higher level of performance that will benefit our customers in terms of on-time delivery."

Customers can now leverage Oracle Strategic Network Optimization to simulate supply chain risk, develop long-range plans and create holistic supply strategies. Companies can analyze "what-if" scenarios - such as the effects of opening or closing a distribution center, adding a new supply source, fuel cost increases, and unplanned disasters - to detect the vulnerabilities in their supply networks. As a result, pre-emptive measures can be established to overcome challenges that may arise and mitigate risks. Additionally, with Oracle Strategic Network Optimization, customers are better equipped to address the challenges of globalization by comparing potential business scenarios such as rationalization strategies, effects of mergers and acquisitions, impact of currency fluctuations, cost of outsourcing and new transportation contracts. As a result, companies are able to make more informed, profitable business decisions.

Oracle Production Scheduling helps manufacturers to optimize process, semiconductor and discrete manufacturing shop floor operations through out-of-the-box integration with Oracle Discrete Manufacturing, Oracle Process Manufacturing, and Oracle Shop Floor Management. Customers can create highly detailed shop floor schedules that automatically detect floating bottlenecks, simulate corrective actions and measure shop floor performance improvements. This gives companies the ability to pre-empt supply chain disruptions and maximize shop-floor efficiency and throughput while minimizing cost.

"The unique capabilities that the acquired and quickly integrated scheduling product provides, such as campaign run optimization, advanced sequence dependent set-up optimization, embedded performance management and a real-time interactive scheduling board designed by schedulers for schedulers, will enable us to maximize our plant throughput at optimal resource utilization without any concerns of ongoing data mappings and integrations," said Billiaert.

"Companies competing in the global market place are exposed to risk at every point in their supply chain," said Oracle Vice President Advanced Planning Products Nadeem Syed. "By integrating functionality from the JD Edwards and PeopleSoft Supply Chain Planning suite with the Oracle E-Business Suite, we are providing customers with comprehensive tools to develop end-to-end supply chain plans that account for any number of scenarios."

Oracle Production Scheduling and Oracle Strategic Network Optimization are currently available and can be leveraged as part of the Oracle E-Business Suite or as a stand-alone product.

Customers looking for more information on Oracle Applications are encouraged to attend one of the 1000 events that are being held around the world as part of the Oracle Applications World Tour. These events are designed to communicate the Oracle Application strategy and product roadmaps. Please visit the World Tour website for more information, at www.oracle.com/worldtour

HPQ: ProCurve Networking by HP Climbs to No. 2 in Enterprise Networking Revenue and Ports

ProCurve Networking by HP is now the world’s second largest global enterprise networking vendor in revenue, ports and Power over Ethernet (PoE), according to a recent report by market research firm Dell’Oro Group.(1)

For the third calendar quarter of 2006, ProCurve grew its revenue share by 15.5 percent quarter-over-quarter and increased its overall port shipments by 20.4 percent sequentially. Both figures are higher than industry growth rates for the respective areas.

Dell’Oro Group also identified ProCurve as the fastest growing networking vendor in Layer 2 through Layer 7 total ports, and PoE.

“ProCurve sets itself apart from the industry by focusing on five key areas: advanced and differentiated solutions, ease of use, reliability, security, and open standards with interoperability,” said John McHugh, vice president and general manager, ProCurve Networking by HP. “That we have surpassed the competition to take over as the second largest networking vendor in total revenue share is yet another validation that the market recognizes ProCurve’s commitment to providing networks that enhance security, increase productivity and reduce complexity.”

The Dell’Oro Group report, which examined the overall Ethernet switch market for the third calendar quarter of 2006, showed that ProCurve increased its overall port share to 8.4 percent of the market and increased PoE shipments 82.5 percent compared to the industry growth rate of 24.5 percent.

For the period, ProCurve’s port market share in Europe, Middle East and Africa grew 35 percent sequentially, giving ProCurve nearly 16.4 percent port share in the region.

With more than 25 years of experience, ProCurve offers customers standards-based, highly reliable and advanced technology solutions that include an industry-leading lifetime warranty featuring next-day replacement, free telephone and email support, and free software updates for as long as a customer owns the product.

About ProCurve Networking by HP

The ProCurve Networking business unit of HP delivers enterprise networking solutions comprising wired and wireless LAN and WAN networking products, services and solutions. Recognizing the necessary migration of intelligence and functionality to the network edge, the ProCurve Adaptive EDGE Architecture strategy is the industry’s only comprehensive and inclusive network design strategy that is adaptable, scalable and completely interoperable for achieving command from the center with control to the network edge. ProCurve was positioned in the challenger quadrant in research and advisory firm Gartner, Inc.’s 2006 Magic Quadrant Report for Global Campus LANs.

Further information on ProCurve networking solutions and products is available at www.procurve.com


(1) Dell’Oro Group, Q306 Ethernet Switch Quarterly Report, November 14, 2006.

IBM Agrees to Resolve Claims of Rosenburg, et al. v. IBM

IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced that it has agreed to resolve all claims in Rosenburg, et al. v. IBM, Case No. C-06-0430, an overtime pay class action lawsuit filed in federal district court in the Northern District of California in January 2006.


This case focused on certain current and former IBM employees within IBM’s Technical Services Professional and Information Technology Specialist job categories, alleging, among other things, that those employees were classified as exempt from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act and certain state laws, and that they should have been classified as non-exempt and paid overtime compensation. Under the terms of the settlement, still subject to final approval by the Court, each qualified individual in these two job categories will be entitled to apply for a payment, in accordance with an agreed formula, in full and complete settlement of all claims in the case.

Litigation of this case would have been lengthy, burdensome and expensive, and IBM chose to resolve it, without admitting any wrongdoing or liability, for a total of $65 million. IBM had established a provision for the probable settlement of this case in the third quarter of this year.

IBM states that during its 90-year history as a major employer in the U.S., it has a long-standing and proven track record in accurately and appropriately paying many hundreds of thousands of employees. IBM continues to believe that its payment practices are fair and comply with all applicable laws and regulations.

MSFT: Microsoft Statement on Completion of the Initial European Commission Review of Microsoft’s Technical Documents

In accordance with the March 2004 decision by the European Commission, Microsoft submitted 8,500 pages of detailed technical documentation in July 2006. The Commission has now completed its initial review of this extensive documentation. The documentation is now available for review by any potential licensees. Microsoft is committed to full compliance with the March 2004 decision.

In the wake of the completion of the Commission’s initial review of Microsoft’s documentation, the company issued the following brief statement:

"This is another important step in the process. The Trustee and Microsoft have now completed the technical review and edits to the more than 100 documents, totalling 8,500 pages, that we submitted in July of this year, in accordance with the deadline established by the Commission. We are pleased that the Commission has recognized our efforts to comply with our documentation obligations, and we will continue to work closely with the Commission and the Trustee to ensure that we are in full compliance with every aspect of the Commission’s decision.

The submission of technical documentation in July, and the revision process since then, has been an unprecedented undertaking involving over 300 engineers and technical writers at Microsoft.

The Trustee’s team of 7 technical experts has worked tirelessly over the past four months to give us feedback on the enormous volume of technical documentation that we submitted in July, and we have incorporated their input into the documents.

The next phase in the process, established by the Commission, is that the documentation is now available for review by any potential licensee, and we look forward to receiving feedback from the industry."