Thoma Cressey Invests Over $100 Million in Companies Engaged With IBM Small and Medium Business Platform

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced Thoma Cressey's recent investment of over one hundred million dollars in technology companies that serve users of IBM's "all-in-one" System i business computing platform. A private equity investment firm known particularly in the Software, Services, and Healthcare industries, Thoma Cressey has made three major investments in this marketplace in as many months -- signaling the firm's positive view of the System i platform.

"Within the last five years, Thoma Cressey has increased its focus on mission-critical software for small and mid-sized businesses, making its investments around IBM's premier system for customers of this size a natural," said Orlando Bravo, a managing partner at Thoma Cressey. "Thoma Cressey's recent investment activity is a reflection of the System i market's potential for growth and the opportunities we expect it to provide."

The System i platform has built-in security, virus-resistance, database and storage as well as systems management recognized for its simplicity. This allows companies to run programs across the entire business -- from accounting, supply chain, customer relationship management, email and high availability -- all on one open, integrated system that automatically backs-up and helps manage the data.

"The System i provides value unique in the industry in that it is specially designed to free businesses from IT complexity -- helping them install applications faster and manage them more easily. Because companies continue to name IT simplification a top priority, this unique capability makes the System i marketplace an attractive investment," said Scott Crabill, partner at Thoma Cressey.

Thoma Cressey acquired in September high availability solution provider Vision Solutions International, Inc. Vision, of Irvine, Calif., offers its software exclusively on the System i platform and has more than 2,000 customers and 12,000 licenses around the world.

In November, Thoma Cressey announced that it would also acquire high availability solution provider iTera, Inc. and merge it with Vision, making the newly formed, privately held enterprise the world's largest provider of high availability solutions for the System i. By merging the two companies, Thoma Cressey plans to leverage Vision's global reach and the companies' innovative technology to penetrate a marketplace it believes has huge potential -- only 5 percent of the hundreds of thousands of System i customers are currently running high availability solutions.

Less than a week after the purchase of iTera, Thoma Cressey announced a recapitalization agreement under which it will acquire an equity interest in Sirius Computer Solutions, Inc., an IBM Premier Business Partner and the largest IBM System i business partner. Thoma Cressey's investment in Sirius was driven by the company's standing as the leading U.S.-based IBM Solution Provider and its track record of delivering real benefit to customers with advanced solutions. Thoma Cressey expects the financial partnership to allow Sirius to continue its aggressive growth strategy in the System i arena and beyond.

"We are pleased to see top investment firm Thoma Cressey influencing the future direction of the System i marketplace by helping companies that have catered to this space for years provide new value for our mutual customers," said Mark Shearer, general manager of IBM System i. "Thoma Cressey's growing interest in System i demonstrates the strength of IBM's integrated, open platform."

For more information on IBM System i, visit http://www.ibm.com/systemi

About Thoma Cressey Equity Partners Inc.

Thoma Cressey is a leading private equity investment firm that has been providing equity and strategic support to experienced management teams building growing companies for more than 25 years. In the software industry, Thoma Cressey has amassed a portfolio of software earnings in excess of $400 million. Thoma Cressey's investment focus is on companies in the software, healthcare, business services and consumer products industries. Thoma Cressey currently manages approximately $2 billion of equity capital. For more information on Thoma Cressey, visit www.thomacressey.com

ORCL: Oracle Application Server 10g Release 3 on HP Servers Sets World Record with Java Application Server Perf Benchmark; Outperforms BEA and IBM

Oracle today announced that Oracle® Application Server 10g Release 3, a component of Oracle Fusion Middleware, together with Oracle Database 10g Release 2, set a record-breaking result with the SPECjAppServer2004 industry standard benchmark(1). This achievement builds on Oracle's commitment of providing customers with the highest performing and most scalable Java Application Server. Oracle has a history of world records in Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition (J2EE) application server benchmarks, as Oracle Application Server 10g Release 3 continues to outperform rivals BEA WebLogic(2) and IBM WebSphere(3).

Oracle Application Server 10g Release 3, the industry's only grid-ready application server, together with Oracle Database 10g Release 2, achieved a world record performance result of 6812.79 JOPS@Standard (jAppServer Operations Per Second). The database was running on an HP Integrity Superdome server with 32 Dual-Core Intel® Itanium® 1.6 GHz processors. The J2EE application servers were 11 HP Integrity rx3600 servers each with 2 Dual-Core Intel Itanium 1.6 GHz processors. Both database and application server machines were running the HP-UX 11i v2 operating environment.

Oracle's world record result outperformed the best SPECJAppServer2004 result from BEA WebLogic. In addition, this winning combination of Oracle Application Server 10g Release 3 with Oracle Database 10g Release 2 surpassed the best IBM WebSphere with IBM DB2 UDB 9.1 SPECjAppServer2004 result by more than 55 percent.

"Oracle's customers run some of the largest and most sophisticated Java-based applications in the world and rely on the high performance and scalability of Oracle Application Server 10g Release 3," said Richard Sarwal, vice president of Server Performance at Oracle. "This benchmark is further validation that Oracle delivers the premier application server on which to develop, integrate, deploy and manage business critical enterprise applications, portals and Web services."

Over the past five years, Oracle has submitted record-setting application server benchmarks on a broad range of hardware and software platforms. Oracle is the performance and price/performance leader in multiple SPECjAppServer 2001(4) and SPECjAppServer2002(5) benchmark categories and also holds the world records for best performance and price/performance in the ECperf(6) benchmark of J2EE application servers reported in July 2002.

SPECjAppServer2004 is a client/server benchmark for measuring the performance of a representative J2EE application and each of the components that make up the application environment, including hardware, application server software, JVM software, database software, JDBC drivers, and the system network. The workload is an application that emulates information flow among an automotive dealership, manufacturing, supply chain management, and an order/inventory system.

About Oracle Application Server
Oracle Application Server 10g sits at the core of Oracle Fusion Middleware and delivers comprehensive software for developing, integrating, and deploying enterprise applications, portals and Web services. Based on a powerful and scalable J2EE server, Oracle Application Server 10g includes best-in-class business integration, business intelligence and portal capabilities. It is the only platform designed for grid computing and to have full lifecycle support for SOA. It features everything necessary to successfully develop and deploy enterprise Java applications, a certified J2EE 1.4 compatible container, a rich set of tools and runtimes, Oracle JDeveloper, Oracle Application Developer Framework (ADF) and Oracle TopLink® persistence architecture. For more information about Oracle Application Server 10g visit: http://www.oracle.com/appserver

ORCL: Oracle Streamlines Pricing with New Licensing Models, Approach Provides Customers with Consistency Across Oracle Applications

Continuing its commitment to provide customers with simple, flexible and transparent licensing models, Oracle today announced that it has streamlined pricing across the Oracle(r) Applications portfolio, including JD Edwards, PeopleSoft, Siebel, and Oracle E-Business Suite products.
With a number of pre-existing and newly acquired products, each with its own licensing metrics, Oracle's new simplified licensing model creates consistency across all product lines. Oracle now offers licensing models for Oracle Applications with simplified pricing designed to ensure that customers can find the pricing and licensing solutions that meet their specific business needs and can derive the most value from their software. The new models include:

* Component Model - simple a la carte pricing primarily based on named user metric;

* Custom Application Suite Model - provides the ability to create unique custom bundle based on a customer's specific business needs;

* Enterprise Applications Model - based on an enterprise metric, such as revenue or number of employees, and provides unlimited application usage; and

* SMB Model - offers specific SMB pricing for customers that generate less than $100M in revenue; also providing additional partner support in tools, pricing and territory protection.

Designed for "transitions to success," the new pricing models offer a range of options that align with customers' specific business goals as needs evolve. Successful transitions that enable customers to grow from one phase of their business to another with software licensing that supports each is a simple and consistent approach.

"We are combining the best of Oracle, PeopleSoft, Siebel and JD Edwards licensing programs to provide our customers with a variety of flexible licensing models from which to choose," said Jacqueline Woods, vice president, Global Pricing and Licensing Strategy, Oracle. "These new pricing models provide transparency and simplicity and helps ensure that our customers are getting the most value for their IT expenditures."

In keeping with the company's philosophy of providing flexible licensing options, customers can use either the new pricing models or previous licensing models when purchasing additional products from old price lists. Newly released products will be offered under the new pricing models. Oracle's award-winning, 24x7 global support for all Oracle Applications will continue to be offered at 22 percent of net license fees.

The Oracle Software Investment Guide provides comprehensive guidelines regarding its global software pricing and licensing. Oracle continues to provide customers with the most transparent pricing models to help them best manage their current and future software investments. Oracle's Software Investment Guide and all of its policies, metrics and options are published online on Oracle.com.

VZ: Verizon Names Denny Strigl President and Chief Operating Officer

Verizon Wireless President Denny Strigl has been named President and Chief Operating Officer of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), a new position reporting to Verizon Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ivan Seidenberg, effective January 1, 2007. Strigl will have responsibility for the operations of all of Verizon's network-based businesses - Verizon Wireless, Verizon Telecom and Verizon Business - as well as Verizon Services Operations, which provides financial, real estate and other functional services to all of the company's operations. He also will remain a member of the Verizon Wireless Board of Directors.

Verizon also named Lowell McAdam, currently Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Verizon Wireless, to become President and Chief Executive Officer of Verizon Wireless, succeeding Strigl. Separately, Verizon named John Stratton, currently Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Verizon Wireless, to the newly created position of Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, responsible for the marketing and brand initiatives of all Verizon's business units. Shaygan Kheradpir, currently Chief Information Officer for Verizon Telecom, has been named to the newly created position of Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer, responsible for the information technology initiatives of all Verizon's business units. McAdam, Stratton and Kheradpir will report to Strigl, and all of the positions are effective Jan. 1, 2007.

Also reporting to Strigl will be John F. Killian, President of Verizon Business; Daniel S. Mead, President of Verizon Services Operations; and Virginia P. Ruesterholz, President of Verizon Telecom.

The revised management structure will enable Verizon to focus more effectively on opportunities to grow and strengthen the business. As Chief Operating Officer, Strigl will provide a single point of accountability for all business units. The leadership provided by Stratton and Kheradpir will establish overall direction, policies and standards for marketing and information technology in the network-based business units and at Verizon Services Operations, which is focused on helping the customer-facing business units improve efficiencies, reduce costs and bring services to market faster. Stratton and Kheradpir will have oversight of functions common to all business units. The three network-based business units - Verizon Wireless, Verizon Business and Verizon Telecom - will execute their own network, sales and marketing strategies in their specific markets.

Verizon Chairman and CEO Seidenberg said, "This is a logical and effective evolution of our leadership structure, which recognizes the outstanding management talent and depth inherent in our businesses, as well as the rapidly changing dynamics of our markets. Denny Strigl, who has led Verizon Wireless, one of the nation's most successful high-technology companies and the largest wireless carrier by revenue, will be in a position to build partnerships that will develop the growth of our entire business, identify and take advantage of additional opportunities for synergies, and leverage Verizon's operational assets. Denny is a proven operational leader. He and his new team will focus on maximizing the full growth potential of Verizon's businesses."

Strigl said he will focus on driving organic growth from the investments Verizon is making in mobility, broadband and large-business services, while increasing speed to market. "Verizon is unique in the industry, having chosen a network-based investment strategy that will enable us to win market share and customer loyalty. Over the last year, we have established strong management teams with diverse capabilities in each of our business units, and we now are putting in place an execution-focused model that will give them overarching support while they expand their markets."

Verizon Vice Chairman Lawrence T. Babbio Jr., who announced on Dec. 11 that he will retire from Verizon at the end of the first quarter 2007, will continue to report to Seidenberg. Babbio will assist Strigl and Seidenberg in effecting the management transition, as well as advising on current business repositioning activities. Also continuing to report to Seidenberg will be Doreen A. Toben, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; William P. Barr, Executive Vice President and General Counsel; Thomas J. Tauke, Executive Vice President of Public Affairs, Policy and Communications; John W. Diercksen, Executive Vice President, Strategy, Development and Planning; Marc C. Reed, Executive Vice President, Human Resources; and Daniel C. Petri, Group President, International.

HPQ: HP Awarded Five-year U.S. Postal Service Contract

HP has been awarded a five-year contract extension by the United States Postal Service to deploy a breadth of products and services, including HP servers, desktops, notebooks, printers, and integration and warranty support services.

This indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract that dates back to 1994 builds upon a long-term mutually successful relationship. HP has delivered more than $1.8 billion worth of products and services to the Postal Service from 1994-2006.

“Our goal at the Postal Service is to become more streamlined and efficient while continuing to increase the number of innovative services we offer our customers,” said Bob Otto, vice president and chief technology officer, United States Postal Service.

HP will deliver a wide array of hardware, software and services to upgrade the Postal Service’s distributed computing environment and support more than 3,000 servers and 140,000 client systems.

“With more than 700,000 employees, 37,000 post offices and an extensive network of processing and distribution facilities, the Postal Service is a complex enterprise with evolving technology needs,” said Jack Novia, managing director and senior vice president, Technology Solutions Group – Americas, HP. “HP is building on our partnership with the Postal Service by delivering the infrastructure and support needed to enable continuous change.”

About United States Postal Service

Since 1775, the United States Postal Service and its predecessor, the Post Office Department, have connected friends, families, neighbors, and businesses by mail. An independent federal agency that visits more than 144 million homes and business every day, the Postal Service is the only service provider delivering to every address in the nation. It receives no taxpayer dollars for routine operations, but derives its operating revenues solely from the sale of postage, products, and services. With annual revenues of $70 billion, it is the world’s leading provider of mailing and delivery services, offering some of the most affordable postage rates in the world. The U.S. Postal Service delivers more than 46 percent of the world’s mail volume – some 212 billion letters, advertisements, periodicals and packages a year – and serves 10 million customers each day at its 37,000 retail locations nationwide.

BRCM: Broadcom Announces Industry's First All DSP-Based 10 Gigabit Ethernet Serial Transceiver With Breakthrough Equalizer Technology

Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced a new 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) physical layer (PHY) device that leverages its field proven digital signal processing (DSP) technology. The industry's first all DSP-based 10GbE serial transceiver enables IT professionals to preserve their existing multi-mode and single-mode fiber infrastructures by providing an upgrade path from 1 Gigabit Ethernet (1GbE) to 10GbE. The unique high-speed DSP provides significant performance, manufacturing and reliability advantages over competing analog solutions that will help drive significant growth in the 10GbE market. Utilizing the new Broadcom® DSP-based 10GbE PHY, enterprise data centers can now achieve higher bandwidth and performance, while maintaining significant savings in cost, resources and manpower when upgrading to 10GbE links.
Broadcom's 10GbE DSP PHY exceeds the requirements of the new IEEE802.aq standard, which was developed to provide a low cost 10x speed upgrade for existing Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) links in multi-mode fiber (MMF) applications. Today, more complex and higher cost 10GBASE-LX4 optical modules are currently servicing this market creating the need for simpler and lower cost solutions. Additionally, as density of 10GbE line cards increase from 8 to 16 channels today to as many as 48 channels on next generation designs, new smaller form factors and lower cost 10 Gigabit modules (such as SFP+) will be required. Broadcom is uniquely positioned to address these market deficiencies with its new 10GbE serial PHY.

"Broadcom's all DSP-based 10GbE PHY will enable future products that are consistent, predictable and have more tolerance to power supply noise and temperature variations. Additionally, when the PHY performs signal detection using advanced signal processing with DSP, it provides a significant performance advantage when compared to analog solutions," said Nariman Yousefi, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's Physical Layer line of business. "As a result of this new technology, the all DSP-based PHY provides the highest level of production quality that can also be easily integrated in complex ASICs, and together with Ethernet switch and controller products, provides a complete end-to-end solution that guarantees network design interoperability."

Broadcom changed the industry by being the first company to ship PHYs in high volume production based entirely on DSP technology. Today, all 10/100/1000 Megabit per second (Mbps) PHYs in the market are DSP-based, and Broadcom's new 10 Gigabit DSP equalizer technology will help to enable the rapid growth in data-intensive applications in next generation designs.

"With the growth of computational power and the number of servers in data centers, the requirement for high-speed connectivity becomes a critical requirement. As 10GbE technology becomes more cost-effective over the existing infrastructure that includes MMF, it will make strides to become the interconnection of choice in servicing the high bandwidth needs of the enterprise," said Jag Bolaria, Senior Analyst at The Linley Group. "We expect Broadcom's new 10GbE PHY technology to enable these high bandwidth links, which are expected to grow at a significant rate for the next few years."

Announced today is the Broadcom BCM8706 10GbE (SFP+ to XAUI) transceiver that builds on five generations of field proven 10GbE serial PHY technology, and will be used in SFP+ line card applications and inside X2 optical modules. The DSP equalizer provides optimal performance over 300 meters of multi-mode fiber that exceeds the IEEE specified link distance of 220 meters. An on-chip micro-controller provides additional flexibility to maintain optimal performance in even the most challenging operating conditions.

In support of the new SFP+ optical module standard, the BCM8706 product family incorporates multi-tap transmit pre-emphasis to compensate for FR-4 board material loss in line card applications. For additional flexibility, it supports backward compatibility using existing 1GbE SFP modules, providing a single PHY design that is capable of interfacing to both new and legacy Ethernet interfaces from a single PCB design.

Broadcom's complete end-to-end Ethernet networking product portfolio includes switching products, transceivers, security processors and high-speed controllers for servers, workstations, desktops and mobile PCs, providing the industry's most comprehensive portfolio of GbE networking solutions, and the most widely deployed and field proven in the industry.

Availability and Pricing

The BCM8706 serial 10GbE transceiver is a low power, 90nm device that is now sampling to early access customers. It is available in a 13mm x 13mm, PBGA, RoHS-compliant package and is compliant to all serial 10GbE interfaces including 10GBASE-SR, 10GBASE-LRM, 10GBASE-LR and 10GBASE-ER. Volume production is scheduled for the second quarter of 2007. Pricing is available upon request.

CSCO: Cisco and SAVVIS(NASDAQ: SVVS) to Launch Next-Generation Network for Enterprise Applications

Cisco® (NASDAQ: CSCO) and SAVVIS, Inc. (NASDAQ: SVVS), a global leader in IT infrastructure services for business applications, today announced an agreement to enable deployment of a next-generation Internet Protocol (IP) network based on Cisco products and services. This new network will enhance SAVVIS' global application infrastructure and expand SAVVIS' ability to deliver "IT-Infrastructure-as-a-Service" through:

• Integration of network and hosting infrastructures tuned to the unique needs of individual applications;


• An architected service provider model that connects network and hosting services to virtualized applications, policy decisions and automated management and provisioning systems;


• Rapid provisioning of new network-based high-availability services such as business continuity systems, packet-flow optimization with "bursting" capacity, and managed security services;


• MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS) core services combined with high-speed Metro-Ethernet access;


• End-to-end monitoring and management resulting in application-specific service-level guarantees; and


• Pay-as-you-go managed utility services.

"The concept of a global, high speed, QoS sensitive, interconnected IT infrastructure is something that the IT industry is embracing," said Melanie Posey, Research Director at IDC. "The integration of SAVVIS' global networking and hosting infrastructures creates the type of service-oriented architecture needed to support the high performance, high availability application delivery environments that business and government enterprises increasingly require."

This new SAVVIS infrastructure will be based on a combination of the Cisco IP Next Generation Network (IP NGN) service provider architecture, featuring Cisco CRS-1 routers and Cisco Internetworking Operating System (IOS) XR software at the core and Cisco 12000 Series routers as multi-service edge platforms; and the Cisco Service Oriented Network Architecture (SONA). SONA will deliver an architectural approach to connect network services to applications, transforming networks into service-delivery platforms designed to support critical business applications. SAVVIS has begun the planning and deployment of the core and edge infrastructure and plans to begin offering services over the network in mid-2007.

"SAVVIS' next-generation network is a leading high availability, highly-secure, integrated hosting and network application infrastructure," said Mike Volpi, senior vice president and general manager of the Cisco Router and Service Provider Technology Group. "We are pleased that SAVVIS has chosen Cisco technology as the cornerstone of this strategic initiative and we look forward to working with SAVVIS to realize its vision of delivering a responsive IT infrastructure designed to improve the availability and performance of enterprise applications."

SAVVIS' next-generation infrastructure will enable development and dynamic deployment of new network-based IT services based on SAVVIS intelligent networking and utility datacenter products and Cisco network technology and architectures. These services include business continuance and disaster recovery, application performance management and business-to-business integration services that align application performance and business priorities with IT infrastructure capabilities.

"The combination of Cisco technology and SAVVIS' global server, storage, network, security, and hosting infrastructure, enables a new service provider model that complements and extends current enterprise IT systems and truly delivers 'IT infrastructure as a service,' said Phil Koen, chief executive officer of SAVVIS. "It improves application performance and lowers overall costs presenting a compelling alternative to traditional approaches."

About SAVVIS
SAVVIS, Inc. (NASDAQ: SVVS) is a global leader in IT infrastructure services for business applications. With an IT services platform spanning North America, Europe, and Asia, SAVVIS leads the industry in delivering secure, reliable, and scalable hosting, network, and application services. These solutions enable customers to focus on their core business while SAVVIS ensures the quality of their IT systems and operations. SAVVIS' strategic approach combines virtualization technology, a global network and 25 data centers, and automated management and provisioning systems. For more information about SAVVIS, visit: http://www.savvis.net

ORCL: Actuate Corporation (NASDAQ: ACTU) Renews Agreement with Oracle

Actuate Corporation (NASDAQ: ACTU), the world leader in Enterprise Reporting and Performance Management Applications that empower 100% of users to achieve breakthrough corporate performance, and Oracle (NASDAQ GS: ORCL) today announced that the companies have signed an agreement to extend the use of Actuate's reporting capabilities within Siebel CRM for a further three years. The agreement marks a decade of Actuate's world class reporting technology constituting a fundamental part of Siebel CRM.
Encompassing 490 discrete applications and 21 industry-specific solutions, Siebel CRM is the market-leading, multi channel solution that enables organizations to establish an enterprisewide view of their customers across all lines of business, geographies and communication channels. With Siebel CRM, organizations are able to analyze and optimize customer, partner and employee interactions to dramatically increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, maximize revenue, and increase productivity and performance. With over four million CRM deployed seats and over 100 million registered self-service users, Siebel CRM applications are positioned in the Leaders quadrant in several Gartner Magic Quadrants for CRM. Actuate reporting capabilities will benefit Siebel CRM users.

"Actuate and Oracle have forged a relationship that adapts to current and future reporting needs for CRM as well as incentive compensation applications," said Edward Abbo, senior vice president of CRM Products at Oracle. "With Actuate, application users such as customer service professionals, sales representatives and partners will continue to have real-time visibility into everything from compensation associated with sales efforts to the steps required to improve customer satisfaction."

"Our decade long relationship with Siebel CRM is testament to the best in class reporting capabilities that Actuate provides," said Pete Cittadini, president and CEO of Actuate Corporation. "Our commitment to Siebel CRM is firm, and we will continue to deliver the best reporting technology in the market to ensure that users receive valuable insight across all of the business processes and associated systems that touch a customer."


About Actuate Corporation
Actuate Corporation is the world leader in Enterprise Reporting and Performance Management Applications that empower 100% of users to achieve breakthrough corporate performance. Actuate provides the most scalable, reliable, flexible and high-performing reporting capabilities for every application in the enterprise. Customers use Actuate to deliver information in context to users inside and outside the firewall as Performance Management and Customer Self-Service applications, managed spreadsheet applications and Java reporting applications. Actuate has over 3,500 customers globally in a range of industries including banking, insurance, manufacturing, communications, and government. Founded in 1993, Actuate has headquarters in South San Francisco, Calif., with offices worldwide. Actuate is listed on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol ACTU. For more information on Actuate, visit the company's Web site at www.actuate.com

VRSN: HSBC to Implement Fraud Detection Service from VeriSign to Enhance Customer Protection

HSBC USA Inc., the U.S. banking unit of one of the world’s largest financial services companies, and VeriSign, Inc., (NASDAQ: VRSN), the leading provider of intelligent infrastructure services for the networked world, today announced an agreement for HSBC USA to deploy the VeriSign® Identity Protection (VIP) Fraud Detection Service (FDS) to enhance the protection it provides to customers to prevent identity theft and fraud.

“The VeriSign Fraud Detection Service provides additional online authentication and fraud monitoring, which will enhance the measures the bank already employs to safeguard customer information and assets when banking over the Internet” said Martin Hayes, senior vice president and head of e-business, HSBC USA. “Protecting customers’ accounts and identities is of paramount importance.”

VIP FDS includes a state-of-the art risk engine that offers layered, risk-based authentication and fraud prevention capabilities. VIP FDS runs behind the scenes, utilizing advanced anomaly detection technology which flags potentially fraudulent activity while continuing to ensure a favorable user experience and timely delivery of services.

“We are extremely proud that HSBC has put its trust in VeriSign,” said Judy Lin, executive vice president and general manager, VeriSign Security Services. “We are confident that our solution will protect the online identities of HSBC consumers and allow HSBC to meet specific regulatory requirements, such as the FFIEC guidance, by the end of 2006.”

About HSBC USA Inc.
HSBC USA Inc. is the holding company for HSBC Bank USA, N.A., HSBC National Bank USA and other U.S. banking subsidiaries, which together have a U.S. branch network of more than 430 branches in nine states and the District of Columbia, with nearly 400 branches in New York State. These entities serve more than 3 million U.S. individual and corporate customers and offers a full range of banking products and services. HSBC USA Inc. is an indirectly held, wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC North America Holdings Inc., one of the nation’s 10 largest bank holding companies by assets.

ORCL: Oracle Corporation announced fiscal 2007 Q2 GAAP earnings per share

Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ-GS: ORCL) today announced fiscal 2007 Q2 GAAP earnings per share were up 20% to $0.18, compared to the same quarter last year. Second quarter total GAAP revenues were up 26% to $4.2 billion, while quarterly GAAP net income was up 21% to
$967 million. Total GAAP software revenues were up 23% to $3.2 billion with database
and middleware new license revenues up 9% and applications new license revenues up
28%. Services revenues were up 41% to $949 million, compared to the same quarter last
year.

Second quarter non-GAAP earnings per share were up 18% to $0.22, and non-
GAAP net income was up 20% to $1.17 billion, compared to the same quarter last year.
“We delivered strong top line revenue growth along with solid earnings for the
second quarter,” said Oracle President and CFO, Safra Catz. “We are now halfway
through our five year plan targeting EPS growth at 20% per year. For the first two-anda-
half years we are comfortably ahead of that target.”

“We continue to gain market share in applications from SAP, in middleware from
BEA, and in database from IBM,” said Oracle President, Charles Phillips. “In Q2 our
middleware new license growth was exceptionally strong. We expect to pass BEA in
total middleware new license sales later this year.”

“Our applications acquisition strategy has strengthened our competitiveness in
several industries including retail, banking, telecommunications and utilities,” said
Oracle CEO, Larry Ellison. “Now, the very first industry vertical we entered via
acquisition, our retail software business, is beginning to see the benefits of operational
integration with Oracle. In Q2, our retail new software license sales more than tripled.
During the second half of the year the retail business unit expects to do even better.
Eight of the top ten retailers in North America use Oracle retail software, only one uses
SAP.”

INTC: Intel Chairman Unveils Egypt's First 'Digital Village'

In a small city near the Nile River where cars compete with cattle and modern conveniences are scarce, Intel Corporation is using computers and wireless technology to help Oseem's 200,000 residents tap into vast "knowledge resources" on the Internet in hopes of bettering their lives.

"Technology has expanded what is possible for the people of Oseem," said Intel Chairman Craig Barrett. "Intel is committed to support Egypt's leaders in accelerating access to technology so its people can get better health care, education and work skills."

Working with Egypt's government, business and education leaders, Intel installed a state-of-the-art WiMAX network to connect two public schools, a health care center on wheels, a municipal building and an e-government services kiosk. Intel also donated and installed computers in the mobile health center and PC labs at the two schools where students and teachers can regularly connect to the outside world for the first time.

"The next billion Internet users will be from rural areas like Oseem," said Barrett, who toured the village to explore how similar programs could be replicated in other regions. This issue has led Barrett, who also chairs the United Nation's Global Alliance for ICT and Development, to 10 developing countries from the Amazon to Africa in the past 100 days.

In each country Barrett visited Intel unveiled efforts -- through its World Ahead Program -- to create economic opportunities and improve quality of life. The new programs focused on improving education and accelerating access to computers and the Internet.

"The Internet is a great technological advancement because it helps us learn and advance," said Khaled Mohamed Ragab, a 14-year-old student at Oseem's BORTOS School. "We can also talk to the rest of the world and meet new friends on the Internet."

To improve health care in Oseem, Intel enabled the use of electronic medical records and audio and video interaction between patients and specialists hundreds of kilometers away.

"In remote areas we cannot diagnose most cases, so we have to transfer or refer cases to the central location," said Dr. Osama El Gameel, house officer for Kasr El Aini Hospital. "To transfer a whole family to Cairo or Giza is a problem for most families. This way we can easily diagnose their condition without any complaints from the family. A junior doctor in these areas also does not have enough experience. With telemedicine they can gain experience through video conferences and by e-mail."

The WiMAX wireless infrastructure in Oseem has an extended transmitting range of up to 30 kilometers. WiMAX is designed to be a less costly and more efficient way to deliver Internet connectivity to cities and remote areas.

Intel's Platform Development Center in Cairo contributed to the development of the computers in the e-government kiosks and schools. The PCs were designed to operate in hot climates such as Upper Egypt. The Community PCs used in the kiosks can connect to car batteries for power and have dust filters that are easily removed for cleaning. The full-feature, energy-efficient PCs used in the schools are designed for first-time computer users and are equipped with Arabic software.

Barrett's visit and meetings with government officials culminates a year-long effort to use technology to help communities in the Middle East and Turkey. It is called the Digital Transformation Initiative.

To extend the reach of technology to benefit students, Intel pledged to donate 8,000 PCs to Egypt's schools. The PCs will be equipped with educational software supported by the Ministry of Education and Microsoft XP Professional Edition, Microsoft Office 2003 Small Business Edition and Learning Essentials software donated by Microsoft Corporation. Intel also plans to train 650,000 teachers in Egypt by 2010 on how to apply technology to enhance classroom learning with 54,000 teachers trained to date. For the first time in the world, the Intel® Teach Essentials training program is being offered online in Egypt. Intel aims to extend the training's reach to a larger number of Egyptian educators, in cooperation with the Ministry of Communications and Technology.

ORCL: SendThisFile Turns to Oracle With Despatch, Fast Growing Small Business Relies On Oracle 10g to Send Big Files

SendThisFile is a small company whose business is big files - and Oracle technology plays an important part in its success. SendThisFile, Inc. operates website sendthisfile.com, which offers an internet-based file transfer service for consumers and businesses alike. By expediting the fast, reliable and secure transfer of large files, SendThisFile enables its customers to bypass the usual problems associated with using e-mail for this purpose, such as inadequate quotas, ISP limitations, insecure transfers and more.
For consumers, SendThisFile operates a basic, fast transfer service for single large files at no charge to the user. For businesses, its Trusted File Transfer Service provides logging, encryption and integration into customer websites among its premium services. Using Oracle 10g technology as the backbone of its IT systems enables SendThisFile to offer a fast, reliable and secure service demanded by large enterprises such as Dupont and Siemens, who number among SendThisFile's 400,000 users.

"We need a bullet-proof infrastructure for our service, and Oracle has a great reputation for providing reliable, high-performance and scalable technology," said Aaron Freeman, founder of SendThisFile. "More than that, our use of Oracle gives us credibility when we do business with large enterprises, as this differentiates us from our competition and marks us out as using a world-class foundation with an award-winning support organization on call. We can thus feel comfortable going after the big business market, which again sets us apart from the rest."

Oracle Database 10g Standard Edition One is at the heart of their website, running on Linux-based commodity hardware. It offers small business like SendThisFile the performance, reliability and security of Oracle Database 10g at a low entry cost on two-processor servers. It also offers complete upward compatibility to larger servers, thus providing the scalability that SendThisFile needs. Currently, business is booming and the company is adding servers and capacity on a regular basis. The database itself has grown by over 150 per cent in only six months and SendThisFile has shipped well over 6 million files. .

"We started up using MySQL, but soon found that we had problems scaling up to meet the rising demand," continued Freeman. "Our prior experience with Oracle in a different firm led us to evaluate and select Oracle Database 10g Standard Edition One, which is doing a fantastic job for us now - administratively, it's practically hands-off. It's also very comforting to know that, as we go on, we can call on functions such as Oracle Real Application Clusters and Oracle Enterprise Manager to give us the cost-effective scaling and top-notch management capabilities that a service such as sendthisfile.com has to offer to stay ahead of the competition."

"Oracle Database 10g Standard Edition One is a key part of our proposition for small and medium-sized businesses," said Willie Hardie, vice president of Database Product Marketing, Oracle Corporation. "SendThisFile's adoption of it is a textbook example of what Oracle does very well - enable an organization to start small with competitively-priced IT that meets customers service level expectations, and easily to scale those IT systems to meet demand as it grows."

About SendThisFile
SendThisFile, Inc., based in Wichita, Kansas, USA, has operated its file transfer website -- http://www.SendThisFile.com -- since 2003. The website offers a wide variety of accounts, from free accounts for low volume users to Enterprise Plans capable of filling the needs of major multinational corporations and government entities that have to serve many users with maximum security. For more information see the SendThisFile.com website

VZ: Verizon Business Joins Asia-Pacific Consortium to Build First Next-Generation Optical Cable Directly Linking U.S., China

Verizon Business today signed a construction and maintenance agreement with a consortium that includes China Telecom and China Netcom to build the first next-generation undersea optical cable system directly linking the U.S. mainland and China.

The new system, to be named Trans-Pacific Express (TPE), will use the latest optical technology to provide greater capacity and higher speeds to meet the dramatic increase in demand for IP, data and voice communications with the Asia-Pacific region.

The new fiber-optic cable can support the equivalent of 62 million simultaneous phone calls, more than 60 times the overall capacity of the existing cable directly linking the United States and China.

While TPE will initially provide capacity of up to 1.28 terabits per second (Tbps), the system will have design capacity of up to 5.12 Tbps to support future Internet growth and advanced applications such as video and e-commerce. In another first, individual customers can access the cable system at wavelengths of up to 10 gigabits per second (Gbps), the equivalent of nearly 121,000 simultaneous phone calls.

Verizon Business is the only U.S.-based member among the initial parties of the consortium, which consists of - in addition to China Telecom and China Netcom - China Unicom, Korea Telecom and Chunghwa Telecom (Taiwan). The TPE cable also provides more diversity from other undersea routes and more efficient connections to a number of countries in Asia where Verizon Business has large business customers.

"This state-of-the-art cable will support high-speed traffic to the world's fastest-growing region - the Asia-Pacific," said Fred Briggs, Verizon Business executive vice president of operations and technology. "Our leadership in this project builds on our important existing relationships in China, further recognizes the emergence of China as a diverse communications hub for Asia, and reflects our company's commitment to help U.S. and other global companies compete worldwide."

Construction of the new cable system, which will extend more than 18,000 kilometers, will begin in the first quarter of 2007. Completion is scheduled in the third quarter of 2008. The project represents an investment by consortium members of more than $500 million (U.S.).

"In addition to a diverse route directly to China, this cable will add capacity and the higher-speed service customers are demanding," Briggs said. "We also will improve provisioning intervals and reduce latency for traffic between the United States and many countries in the region."

The cable will have a landing point provided by Verizon Business at Nedonna Beach, Ore., on the U.S. West Coast and will land on the China mainland at Qingdao and Chongming. TPE will also have landings in Tanshui, Taiwan, and Keoje, South Korea.

Verizon Business already owns and operates one of the largest global IP networks, spanning 150 countries across six continents with more than 446,000 route miles. The company is involved in more than 65 submarine cable networks carrying mission-critical traffic for multi-national customers worldwide. Recently, Verizon Business deployed an advanced technology trans-Atlantic "mesh" network that interconnects, or meshes, various existing cables, resulting in more diverse routes and multiple millisecond restoration paths.

When completed, TPE will complement the company's capacity in existing submarine cables in the Asia-Pacific region. It also represents a continuation of the company's strategy to remain an active leader in the development of submarine cable systems. Verizon Business has ownership in more than 18 cable systems in the Asia-Pacific region including: Japan-U.S., China-U.S., Southern Cross (United States, New Zealand and Australia) and the new SEA-ME-WE-4 cable, put into service in December 2005, linking Europe and Asia.

MSFT: Geeks to the Rescue: Best Buy(BBY) Bolsters Its Field Technicians and Business Consultants With Microsoft Solutions

Microsoft Corp. today announced that Best Buy Co. Inc., a leading specialty retailer of consumer electronics, computers and applications, has selected multiple Microsoft® technologies to help its field technicians and consultants increase productivity, better understand and serve consumers and small businesses, and develop stronger relationships with its customers.

The retailer’s Geek Squad service team, a group of more than 11,000 specially trained Agents who solve computer problems for customers by visiting their homes and small businesses, is now using 3,000 Windows Mobile®-powered Smartphones to schedule and route customer service calls, to improve communication and collaboration capabilities, and to easily access Internet-based technical content. In addition, Best Buy For Business — a growing unit of more than 1,000 consultants who sell, implement and support solutions for small-business customers — is now using Microsoft Dynamics™ CRM 3.0 in-house as part of a comprehensive solution for supporting its complex sales cycle.

“Microsoft technologies such as Windows Mobile are playing a key role in enabling Geek Squad to deliver on its fundamental commitment: to give the customer a superior service experience,” said Rich Christensen, vice president and business information officer at Best Buy. “It provides our field personnel with rapid and constant access to comprehensive real-time customer information, an obvious competitive advantage over businesses that don’t.”

“Microsoft Dynamics CRM provides tremendous insight into the most effective way to manage our outside sales force, as well as complete visibility into what our consultants are doing,” said Jay Devers, director of technology solutions for Best Buy For Business. “Today we have a comprehensive sales force automation tool in place that salespeople can use every day as a part of their regular business rhythm to maximize their customer relationships.”

Familiarity with other Microsoft technologies and the ability to utilize existing IT investments played a key role in Best Buy’s decisions. For Geek Squad, Best Buy preferred Windows Mobile’s easy collaboration with its current installation of Microsoft server technology, its native support for mobile messaging through Exchange Server 2003, and its ability to take advantage of emerging Exchange Server capabilities for direct push technology, security and management. In addition, with Windows Mobile-powered Smartphones, Geek Squad Agents have access to technical content when and where they need it and can easily communicate and collaborate with their peers.

For the retailer’s Best Buy For Business unit, feature-rich Microsoft Dynamics CRM was chosen for its native Microsoft Office Outlook® experience and the ability to implement it quickly and easily. Microsoft Dynamics CRM serves as a centralized repository of customer data that integrates with Microsoft Office applications which employees use every day, such as the Office Outlook messaging and collaboration client. Within the same familiar Office Outlook interface, employees can now access Microsoft Dynamics CRM sales, marketing and customer service modules to make sales decisions, market products, solve problems and obtain strategic views of their business.


“Best Buy is extremely focused on providing the best service and support for its customers, and recognizes how important its people are to that success,” said David Gruehn, industry solutions director for the U.S. Retail and Hospitality Industry Group at Microsoft. “We are pleased with Best Buy’s success using Microsoft software and solutions to help empower its employees to develop and strengthen customer relationships, respond decisively, and drive the business forward.”

Best Buy also recently decided to add Microsoft Dynamics CRM to its own IT services and solutions offerings. This will enable Best Buy For Business customers to benefit from the same features and functionality within the product that the major retailer uses in managing its customer relationships. Best Buy also offers Microsoft Dynamics – Point of Sale, an easy-to-use, affordable single-store application that enables small retailers to track and manage sales, inventory and customer information. Microsoft Dynamics – Point of Sale 2.0 will be demonstrated in select Best Buy For Business stores.

BRCM: Broadcom Announces Conclusions of Option Grants Conduct Review

Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM) today announced that its Board of Directors has approved the findings and recommendations of its Audit Committee's review of the conduct and performance of Broadcom management, employees and directors involved in the company's stock option grant and equity award processes. The Audit Committee conducted its investigation with the assistance of independent legal counsel Kaye Scholer LLP and with the forensic accounting assistance of LECG.
During the Audit Committee's four-and-a-half month investigation, more than six million pages of documents and electronic information were reviewed. The Committee's independent counsel also interviewed more than forty individuals. The investigation was accomplished with the full support and cooperation of the company's management and personnel.

Broadcom previously announced that the Audit Committee had determined that the accounting measurement dates (for purposes of Accounting Principles Board Opinion No. 25, Accounting for Stock Issued to Employees, and related interpretations) for most option grants awarded between June 1998 and May 2003 differ from the measurement dates originally used for such awards. The company is working expeditiously and presently expects to file an amended Annual Report on Form 10-K/A for 2005 and an amended Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q/A for the first quarter of 2006, reporting adjustments to its prior financial statements, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in January 2007.

Broadcom also previously announced that it received an informal inquiry from the SEC. On December 14, 2006, the company was informed that the SEC has issued a formal order of investigation. Broadcom continues to cooperate with the SEC.

The Audit Committee's Conclusions

The Audit Committee determined that in mid-2003 significant corrective changes were made to the option granting and documentation process. As a result, each of the option grants and other equity awards made since May 2003 has complied with prevailing accounting rules and is not subject to restatement.

The Committee also determined that between June 1998 and May 2003 Broadcom's informal option grant procedures and processes lacked adequate controls, and that the company's documentation and recordkeeping were insufficient to verify many of the original measurement dates.

The Committee concluded that, for option grant dates between November 3, 1998 and May 19, 2003, certain executives and employees selected numerous grant dates after the fact. The Committee further found that, particularly with respect to several company-wide option grants, allocations of grants to individuals occurred after the grant dates for the total shares awarded had been established.

Each of the individuals deemed to have been actively responsible for the selection of option grant dates after the fact has either previously left the company for reasons unrelated to the options investigation, or has recently departed Broadcom as a result of the investigation. In addition, acting on the Committee's recommendation, the Board of Directors is canceling outstanding unexercised options granted since Broadcom's initial public offering held by three of the responsible individuals. The value of the options cancelled, based on the difference between their original exercise prices and the fair market value of the underlying shares on December 15, 2006, is more than $37 million.

The Committee also concluded that certain other employees could have made additional inquiry or could have taken additional action to address the inadequacies in the option granting process. As a result of the Committee's investigation, those individuals have voluntarily agreed that the exercise prices of their outstanding options will be increased to the prices as of the new accounting measurement dates determined by the company.

The Committee further found that, reflecting the lack of adequate controls, there was uncertainty and confusion as to the accounting rules for options, and certain individuals may have acted without fully understanding the rules or whether compensation charges should have been taken.

The Committee determined that all options and other equity awards granted to the company's founders and all current and former members of the Board of Directors were properly granted. It also found that Broadcom's Chairman and Chief Technical Officer, Henry Samueli, and all outside Directors reasonably relied upon management and professionals regarding the correct option accounting treatment and grant approval process.

As a result of its investigation, the Audit Committee reaffirmed its full faith and confidence in the integrity of Broadcom's current President and Chief Executive Officer, Scott A. McGregor, and the company's Acting Chief Financial Officer, Bruce E. Kiddoo. The Committee further concluded that both Mr. McGregor and Mr. Kiddoo can appropriately serve as officers certifying Broadcom's financial statements. Finally, the Committee found that Broadcom's current equity award processes and procedures are appropriate and provide effective controls.

Management's Comments

Mr. McGregor said: "Broadcom is fully committed to compliance with all applicable accounting standards and regulations. The rigor with which the company has addressed this issue once it was discovered is testimony to our commitment. In addition to conducting an extremely thorough investigation with the assistance of experienced professional advisors and counsel, we have taken appropriate steps to ensure that the company maintains appropriate controls in its equity award processes, and complies fully with relevant accounting practices. Our investors deserve nothing less."

Approximately 95% of the stock options granted between June 1998 and May 2003 were awarded to employees other than executive officers.

HPQ: HP Strengthens and Simplifies UNIX Security

HP today reinforced its UNIX security offering with additions to the HP-UX 11i operating environment that extend and simplify the protection of data residing on HP Integrity servers.

The new features include encryption and hardening capabilities that help address growing data security and compliance challenges facing customers in virtually all industries, including public utilities, banking and healthcare. Fully integrated into the HP-UX 11i v2 operating environment and available at no extra cost, these enhancements allow customers with minimal security expertise to lock down and protect their IT environments.

“HP recognizes the importance of providing customers with rock solid, easily manageable security solutions. Unified protection is critical for companies looking to build a next-generation data center,” said Nick van der Zweep, director of virtualization and software, Business Critical Systems, HP. “Our new automated security features proactively mitigate risks, greatly reducing the costs of compliance.”

A part of HP’s Adaptive Infrastructure portfolio, HP-UX 11i now includes a comprehensive set of security features not found in any other UNIX operating system.

Comprehensive protection for data in-use and at-rest

With easy-to-deploy data protection features, HP helps IT administrators preserve their system’s integrity in the face of attack. The latest capabilities on HP-UX include:

• Encrypted Volume and File System – an operating system-based data encryption solution that helps ensure the confidentiality of critical business information by transparently protecting “data-at-rest.” The system automatically encrypts data on storage devices to prevent unauthorized use of data obtained through theft. It also allows customers to retain existing storage devices with no additional storage upgrades or modifications.
  
• Trusted Computing on Integrity – a low-cost embedded security chip option for select HP Integrity servers that offers solid, “machine-bound” protection for cryptographic keys, virtually eliminating vulnerabilities in software-only solutions.
  
• HP Protected Systems – applies the technology in HP-UX Security Containment to isolate data in compartments and allow customers to automatically configure and deploy more secure systems. By setting up fine-grained privileges and role-based access control, HP Protected Systems reduces configuration time and required customer skill level.

“HP Integrity servers running HP-UX 11i help ABB customers keep pace with the constantly changing, data-intensive regulatory issues found in the utilities industry,” said Gordon Woolbert, vice president and head of the Network Management business unit, ABB Inc. “The multiple layers of security in HP-UX increase adherence to stringent compliance requirements, helping to ensure network stability and optimum system performance.”

Addressing compliance challenges

To help reduce the rising costs of compliance, HP is expanding its portfolio of operating system-integrated offerings to further simplify common compliance-related tasks.

The latest version of HP-UX Bastille, an open-source software tool for security hardening, now features assessment and drift reporting features that check the consistency of a system’s hardening configuration with previously applied hardening policies. With HP Systems Insight Manager – HP’s Unified Infrastructure Management software for servers and storage – Bastille provides efficient multi-system deployment that increases the number of systems manageable by a single administrator.

The enhanced HP-UX AAA server offers enterprise customers simplified auditing and compliance for more flexible data base integration and easier user authentication. The server provides authentication, authorization and accounting services using RADIUS and EAP protocols to authenticate users and then account for time and billing use of network services.

More information about HP-UX security solutions is available at www.hp.com/go/hpux11isecurity

YHOO: Yahoo! Appoints Jill Nash Chief Communications Officer

Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO), a leading global Internet company, today announced the appointment of Jill Nash to senior vice president and chief communications officer.

In this role, Nash will direct Yahoo!'s global communication efforts, overseeing functions including media relations, policy communications, internal communications, product promotion, and corporate reputation management. Nash will also serve as the top advisor to the executive team and guide a world-class communications team.

Nash will be based in Sunnyvale, California and will report to Yahoo!'s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Terry Semel. Her appointment is effective January 16, 2007.

"Jill has had extensive experience and considerable success shaping the communications efforts for large, blue chip brands," said Semel. "Her proven track record developing strategic and holistic communications programs for both external and internal audiences makes her a valuable addition as Yahoo! enters its next phase of growth."

Previously, Nash was vice president, global communications for Gap Inc., where she led all aspects of communications including public relations, issues management, public affairs, business communications, employee communications and global recognition. Nash's communications efforts were focused on reputation management, cultural transformation and strategic change at both the corporate and brand levels. Nash was also a member of the Gap Inc. Foundation Board of Directors.

"I look forward to being part of a company that has such a significant impact by connecting people to their passions, their communities, and the world's knowledge," said Nash. "This is an exciting time to join Yahoo! as the company continues to expand its influence around the world and pursue new growth opportunities. I look forward to working with Terry and the talented communications team to tell the Yahoo! story."

Prior to Gap Inc., Nash served as senior vice president of corporate communications at Charles Schwab Corporation, where she helped position the company as a leader in technology and online brokerage. While at Schwab, her achievements included garnering a broad range of recognition for the company including placement on Fortune magazine's list of "Best Companies to Work For in America" as well as Working Woman's "Top 25 Companies for Executive Women."

Prior to Schwab, Nash worked in marketing and communications at KPMG and earlier headed corporate communications for the Transamerica Life Companies.

Nash has received numerous industry honors including multiple Gold Quill awards. A past president of Organization of Women Executives, Nash is active in a variety of community organizations.

Nash holds a B.A. in journalism from San Diego State University.

ADSK: Autodesk and PTC (NASDAQ: PMTC) Announce Interoperability Agreement

Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) and PTC (NASDAQ: PMTC) today announced a technology exchange agreement to expand interoperability options for their customers and the manufacturing industry. This agreement brings together two software leaders with the common goal of facilitating software interoperability for organizations with multi-CAD environments.

Today's manufacturers are under increased pressure to get high quality products to market faster, with increased efficiencies and lower costs to the consumer. As part of this effort, many have adopted a multi-CAD strategy, either internally between departments or externally with partners and supply chains. This interoperability agreement aims to decrease the overall effort and costs that are commonly associated with supporting these environments. Autodesk and PTC plan to provide customers with out-of-the-box integrations between their solutions that will enable organizations to work more efficiently with the product development strategies currently in place and the flexibility to adopt future strategies.

"Interoperability continues to be a major challenge in manufacturing sectors including aerospace, automotive, high technology and industrial machinery," said Robert "Buzz" Kross, vice president of Manufacturing Solutions at Autodesk. "We understand that our customers use a mix of products in their workflow and providing them with the flexibility they need to get their jobs done is our priority."

"PTC recognizes that manufacturers manage complex business processes which often include heterogeneous design environments," said Brian Shepherd, divisional vice president, product management at PTC. "We have chosen to continue our focus on eliminating interoperability challenges so that customers can place greater attention on the true value-added activities of product development."

This agreement enables PTC to leverage Autodesk's RealDWG™ software development toolkit and deliver solutions using Autodesk's DWG™ technology, so that PTC's solutions will be interoperable with Autodesk® Inventor™ 3D software for the manufacturing industry and AutoCAD® software. Similarly, Autodesk can utilize PTC's GRANITE® 3D modeling and interoperability kernel to provide enhanced integration with Pro/ENGINEER®, PTC's integrated 3D CAD/CAM/CAE software.


About PTC

PTC provides leading product lifecycle management (PLM), content management and dynamic publishing solutions to more than 40,000 companies worldwide. PTC customers include the world's most innovative companies in manufacturing, publishing, services, government and life sciences industries. PTC is included in the S&P 500 and Russell 2000 indices. For more information on PTC, please visit http://www.ptc.com/

IBM and Eurotech initial partnership in pervasive computing

IBM (NYSE: IBM) announces today an agreement with Eurotech (Star:ETH) to embed IBM Lotus Mobile Connect software in Eurotech's "NanoPC" devices that include: Embedded PCs, Network Appliances, Wearable PCs. Eurotech is an Italian leading designer and developer of high performance and low power embedded computing systems.

IBM Lotus Mobile Connect provides easier, more secure and more cost-efficient access to key information through the optimized usage of wireless technology. This allows mobile workers to improve productivity, protect the privacy of important data and maximize companies' return on their wireless IT investments.

With Lotus Mobile Connect, users can move with portable devices from location to location unaware of network issues across Wi-Fi, cellular, satellite data telecommunications or even wirelines without interruptions to Web or other application connections, while secured in a high speed access to information. The software creates a mobile VPN (Virtual Private Network), for Internet Protocol (IP) networks, that protects sensitive enterprise data by encrypting data, optimizing performances and reducing transmission costs.

Without the secure, seamless, cross networking roaming capability of this software, an end user would experience disconnections from their sessions and be forced to repeatedly re-authenticate to the firewall, obtain a new IP address, and renew the VPN connection to finally restart each application from scratch.

Eurotech's mobile device users like Zypad, a wearable PDA, can now benefit from a new customized network roaming feature, which enables enterprises to prioritize the network they prefer to use based on important business priorities -- for example, the most cost-effective network, which network offers the highest-speed access to data, or provides the better security. IBM Lotus Mobile Connect is used by the Eurotech Group to realize solutions for their customers wishing to get the maximum from their networks. Lotus Mobile Connect complements the current Eurotech's offering with an easy to integrate component that can optimize network usage, enhance effective throughput, enable networks roaming while keeping a VPN certified to FIPS 140-2 standard.

"This agreement extends the collaboration with Eurotech already in action with Arcom Inc (USA), an Eurotech Company with IBM Sensor and Actuators group to implement IBM Middleware in Eurotech devices", said Monica Tassinari, Manager of Lotus Italy, IBM Software Group.

Roberto Siagri, President and CEO of the Eurotech Group, says "I believe that this agreement could be considered as an important step in the development of pervasive computing, Eurotech and IBM are truly looking toward the future, this marks the migration of the information technology domain to a totally ubiquitous era where a single device has multiple capabilities."

For more information on IBM Lotus Mobile Connect go to: http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/product1.nsf/wdocs/mobileconnect

Lotus Mobile Connect V6.1 is the new version of IBM WebSphere Everyplace Connection Manager V5.1, with additional features and greater synergy with other Lotus products like Lotus Sametime and Lotus Expeditor.

Eurotech

Eurotech designs and develops innovative high performance and low power embedded computing systems. With operations in Europe, North America and Asia, the Group's product are used in industrial, defence, transportation and medical applications. Eurotech miniaturised computer business designs and manufactures products to the miniaturisation requirements of its customers. The product range from compact stationary PCs (headless or HMI) to embedded, ruggedised mobile computers designed to operate in harsh environments.

Eurotech through Arcom Inc (USA) has been in action for the last three years with IBM Sensor and Actuators group focused on developing software frameworks for pervasive computing devices used in vertical markets. The result of thus co-development is a line of RFID Edge Controller incorporating the IBM sensors and actuators group: IBM Websphere RFID Device Infrastructure (WRDI) framework.

IBM Enables Drug Authentication, E-Customs With Release of New RFID Technology

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced new technology to give clients the unprecedented ability to securely share and analyze accurate and real-time data generated by sensors like Radio Frequency ID tags, enabling significant consumer and business applications like drug authentication and e-customs for the first time.

The new technology, WebSphere RFID Information Center, is based on a recently completed EPCglobal standard called EPCIS, which provides a standard way to securely communicate the data created by sensors and RFID tags, and tie it to existing business information and trading partners.

The growing trend of item-level tagging will create exponential growth in sensor data well beyond that generated from conventional barcode technology. This creates a need for a new way to manage this explosion of data in a manner that does not overwhelm a business and its supply chain partners. In addition to managing the massive amount of data RFID creates, two other barriers to widespread RFID adoption to date have been the lack of standards and data sharing capabilities. RFID Information Center solves all of these issues, clearing the way for wider-spread RFID adoption in various industries.

The IBM WebSphere RFID Information Center has already been successfully deployed for a number of early-adopter IBM clients across several industries, including consumer packaged goods company Unilever, the e-customs project ITAIDE in Europe, and 'Big Three' pharmaceutical distributor AmerisourceBergen.

"AmerisourceBergen sees tremendous potential in the IBM WebSphere RFID Information Center, which will be a key component to meeting track and trace regulatory requirements in California," said Shay Reid, AmerisourceBergen Vice President, Integrated Solutions. "It will also become the data backbone in our pilot program that will enable AmerisourceBergen to improve its service by quickly and efficiently authenticating products and transactions through direct data exchange with pharmaceutical manufacturers."

IBM's WebSphere RFID Information Center is the first standards-based EPC Information Service (EPCIS) and high performance data repository that can manage the heightening volume of data, and also provide real time business information to support use cases that prove ROI. The system also integrates with Master Data systems to leverage product, location and supplier information to provide additional business context.

The technology is designed to help clients reliably and efficiently capture, manage, search and securely share RFID, sensor and 2D barcode events enterprise-wide, as well as with external trading partners and government agencies. The standards-based platform can help businesses more easily deploy and take advantage of RFID technology for better business decisions and improved operations.

"By enabling standards-based data sharing among trading partners, WebSphere RFID Information Center will give clients ROI that has not yet been possible," said Christian C. Clauss, Director, Sensor Information Management, IBM Software Group. "After years of testing and investing in RFID, companies can now begin to see real business benefits from the use of RFID data provided back to them by their trading partners."

RFID Information Center receives data from RFID middleware, which aggregates, filters and interprets data directly from the readers. Then RFID Information Center stores, manages and enables sharing of all or portions of the data with various business applications across the enterprise, and with trading partners. New classes of information-intensive solutions can be built on the latest generation of sensor network repositories linked to master data.

In addition to the base components of RFID Information Center, the new offering will also include a Shipment Verification capability which provides automated means to track shipments and confirm receipts. This capability is expected to help companies reduce losses and the significant labor required to resolve discrepancies when errors in the shipment/receipt process occur. WebSphere RFID Information Center will also provide the data platform to enable additional business use cases such as diversion tracking, inventory management, targeted recalls and enable regulatory compliance.

RFID Information Center allows businesses to prove return on investment in RFID, and begin to leverage the data created from the technology to link organizations and people for economic growth, improved healthcare and education, and enhanced security and safety.

For more information on IBM WebSphere RFID Information Center, please visit: http://www.ibm.com/software/data/masterdata/rfid/