Mac-based Flashback click fraud campaign was a bust

The hackers in charge of the Flashback botnet managed to generate $14,000 from their click fraud campaign, but have not been paid, Symantec said Thursday. New analysis of the Flashback botnet and the traffic between infected Macs and C&C (command-and-control) servers exposed the earnings and the lack of payment, Liam O Murchu, manager of operations at Symantec's security response center, said in an interview.

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 10:52 am

Dear Mozilla: Don't give up on Windows RT

Yesterday, Mozilla product director Asa Dotzler posted yet another broadside about Microsoft preventing access to the Windows 32 API in

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 8:47 am

Download the Insider Threat Deep Dive Report

Insiders are responsible for as much as 80 percent of malicious attacks. Because insiders are trusted by nature, detecting their illicit activities requires an array of monitoring, scanning, and other techniques. Roger Grimes, an InfoWorld contributing editor -- and a working security professional who tracks down unscrupulous insiders -- explains how to plan and execute a complete insider threat strategy. In this Deep Dive special report, InfoWorld takes you through the three stages of dealing with insider threats:

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 4:00 am

We're not waiting for Android 5 'Jelly Bean,' developers say

Unconfirmed reports say that Android 5 "Jelly Bean" could be released this fall, featuring such improvements as Chrome browser integration, better enterprise security, better power management, and maybe dual-booting support for Microsoft's Windows 8.

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 4:00 am

Cyber spies exploiting Java, Flash flaws

Cyber spies have planted Java- and Flash-exploiting malware on websites focused on human rights, defense, and foreign policy. Over the last two weeks, the Shadowserver Foundation, a nonprofit group that tracks Internet threats, has discovered several such compromised Web sites that download the malware through visitors' browsers. The malware, which exploits known flaws in Adobe Flash and Java, is aimed at Mac and Windows systems.

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 4:55 pm

Enterprise BI models undergo radical transformation

About two years ago, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield implemented a self-service business intelligence platform to aggregate and analyze vast amounts of data from multiple repositories scattered throughout the company. The technology, from Palo Alto, Calif.-based QlikTech, was brought in as a supplement to a project management product from CA Technologies. So far, it has saved CareFirst $10 million in project costs and helped the health insurer reduce the number of outside contractors it uses by 25 percent.

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 4:36 pm

iPhone beats Android as top mobile browsing device

The market share battle between Android smartphones and iPhones may be turning a corner. The latest data from StatCounter on Web usage in North America shows the iPhone beating Android smartphones for the first time, though a variety of research firms say Android continues to best the iPhone in unit sales. When you factor in the iPod Touch -- enjoying steady Web traffic for a year -- the margin between iOS and Android handheld devices becomes significant.

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 12:01 pm

Cisco bundles target BYOD, mobile virtual desktop

Cisco announced yesterday three pre-tested bundles of products and services designed to cut through the confusing complexity of enterprise mobility.The new Smart Solutions packages are by themselves not new at all: they're formed of existing Cisco hardware and software, third-party partnerships, and consulting services from Cisco or its partners. But Cisco says they represent a shift in the company's thinking about how to deploy mobile technology for businesses.

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 7:34 am

Startup claims hard drive prices for its all-flash arrays

Flash array startup Pure Storage, whose marketing pitch is selling flash at the price of enterprise disk, has announced the second generation of its all-flash array that now includes a highly-availability (HA) configuration.

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 6:08 am

Ubuntu Business Desktop Remix gets an update

When Canonical launched its Ubuntu Business Desktop Remix back in February, it was based on Ubuntu Linux 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot," which was then the most current stable version of the free and open source operating system.

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 5:47 am

Windows Phone: Down but not out in fight with Android

Android is sitting pretty atop the smartphone market, accounting for more than 56 percent of the 144.4 million smartphones sold worldwide this past quarter, according to Gartner.

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 5:23 am

AMD launches Trinity APUs to take on Intel's Ivy Bridge

AMD has announced its second-generation "Trinity" Accelerated Processing Units. The A-Series APUs are aimed at laptops, PCs, and embedded hardware. AMD's latest processors will come in dual- and quad-core variations and go toe-to-toe with Intel's third-generation Ivy Bridge Core chips.

Posted on 16 May 2012 | 3:50 pm

Google search will incorporate 'knowledge graph' into main search results

Google will begin in the next few days to incorporate the "knowledge graph" it has been building for two years into its search results . The new search format will deliver context-sensitive information about the people and things users search for to the right of the conventional list of links to Web pages, said Johanna Wright, Google's director of product management.

Posted on 16 May 2012 | 2:43 pm

Let the managers go

Fire the managers and purge the language of the term "management". Long live leaders and let everybody manage themselves. Most people manage themselves with great success: they manage to get out of bed in the morning, they manage to get...

Posted on 21 February 2012 | 4:34 am

Where's Waldo?

Go back to your student days and try to remember your best textbooks... They always started out with the basics, then went deeper and deeper. Each chapter led you stepwise through a concept, using examples, painting a picture then rounding...

Posted on 7 December 2011 | 3:29 am

Say goodbye to the organisational hierarchies please

It all started by John Tropea's post, then the discussion moved onto Google+. My first comment was "I'm still puzzled why all still accepts "organisational hierarchies" as a given... after all they're nothing but frameworks for work processes, of the...

Posted on 25 October 2011 | 7:05 am

Gamification, dashboards, search and enterprise failure

Ooh, I love a good disagreemnt, and when my friend JP Rangaswami who's views I respect highly, writes a post that I heartily disagrees with I'm tickled pink! It was his views on Gamification and Dashboards in the enterprise that...

Posted on 27 September 2011 | 5:43 am

Evidence vs. belief and enterprise software

Just recently "evidence vs belief based management" has been raised again, and that's good, it should be in the forefront at all times if you ask me. The whole thing seems utterly unbelievable, the indisputable fact [sic] that hugely important...

Posted on 6 September 2011 | 6:50 am

Strategic software vs non-strategic software

I can just as well be upfront about it and invite ridicule at once: There is no business / enterprise software that is first and foremost built to enable strategies, and thus could be termed "strategic". Let's look at some...

Posted on 2 August 2011 | 7:29 am

Stifling growth? Challenge some assumptions!

McKinsey Quarterly has an article in their May edition - "Preparing your organization for growth" - that yet again reminds me about the total inability to ask the right question. Or question any assumptions at all. If you live in...

Posted on 24 May 2011 | 7:49 am

Enterprise software's wrong focus

Let me start by refining my earlier "who's you customer" post: Primary customer/user: This is where your value delivered is appreciated. It's the daily users and the real reason why you have a business at all. But alas, they often...

Posted on 12 May 2011 | 7:52 am

Software and the Complexity Excuse

I am a bit fed up with the (mis)use of the term 'complex' as an excuse for not doing the right thing. Especially in Enterprise Software: Costs, implementation times and unwillingness to make me something bespoke - "it's because enterprise...

Posted on 26 April 2011 | 7:39 am

Social Media - Nouns but no Verbs

Practical use of Information Technology seems to follow the same maturity trajectory as languages. But being a young phenomena IT still has a way to go: It has the words in place, i.e. the data model is often precise enough,...

Posted on 6 April 2011 | 7:00 am

Gamification?

One recent buzzword that I hear a lot is "gamification". Especially gamification of utterly boring Enterprise Software and consumer experiences in commercial transactions. A heroic attempt to solve one of life's mysteries; why work sometimes drifts towards boring and in...

Posted on 23 March 2011 | 10:16 am

On Productivity

"Productive effort, measured in terms of the rate of output per unit of input" And I bet you that the next word that is popping up in your head now is efficiency: "Achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or...

Posted on 1 March 2011 | 6:04 am

Social Business and the Command & Control Excuse

A few days ago I had the usual pleasure of reading one of Euan's posts, where there was one paragraph that triggered something in my mind: "On the same day I get an email from a senior official in a...

Posted on 8 February 2011 | 2:27 am

Work is Communication

Work relies on, no, consists of two things: brains and hands communication Brains and hands: The appropriate and best-possible ability must be available, that's a good start. But what can brains and hands do unless they know what to do?...

Posted on 27 January 2011 | 5:48 am

Get rid of the Calendar, and the Watch too

Those are leftovers from the industrial age and the biggest impediment to an effective society. Before I hear the protest I can just as well agree that sometimes it's needed; like when I'm to meet somebody for a spot of...

Posted on 4 January 2011 | 8:20 am

Strategy, Business Model, and Who's Your Customer

As a vendor or SI you can approach the delivery of enterprise software in two ways: The good old and safe way; accept the premises, scope their processes and ways, then deliver something that makes the existing more efficient. Do...

Posted on 14 December 2010 | 10:44 am

"Business" is nothing but "Social Networks"

We have a plethora of hugely successful cloud based social networks, but why only fulfil banal social needs? Those way up in the Maslow pyramid kind of needs. Why stop there? [This was inspired By @dahowlett's post the other day...

Posted on 24 November 2010 | 8:13 am

Don't touch the core

Or how SAP chooses stability over change. Sounds smart on the surface until you start to think: Change is the only possible path to survival, stability can only be temporary, that's a law of nature. Now back from yet another...

Posted on 19 October 2010 | 6:25 am

Romans, Barbarians, and Innovation.

Yesterday, Thomas Friedman of NYT quoted from the historian Lewis Mumford’s book, “The Condition of Man,” about the development of civilisation. Mumford was describing Rome’s decline: “Everyone aimed at security: no one accepted responsibility. What was plainly lacking, long before...

Posted on 6 October 2010 | 3:57 am

Creating a new business: The old way or the smart way

@jobsworth tweeted the other day "Whenever I hear talk about business models, I am reminded of Peter Drucker's wonderful cautionary words: People make shoes, not money" I would venture that it's because the term "Business Model" today is mostly understood...

Posted on 21 September 2010 | 2:34 am

Who killed big corp innovation?

The Product Manager. Look no further, that's the one, the main Big Corp innovation killer. OK, do take that with a pinch of salt. It's not personal either, if you're a PM, it's not your fault. But please read on,...

Posted on 7 September 2010 | 6:53 am

Enterprise Software Innovation - mostly Spray Paint and Fast Food

As Vinnie puts it, "Big Tech is Broken - badly". And broken needs fixing, but is the patient ready for that? I wonder if the issue is a semantic issue; how the fix, the innovation, is understood. If you don't...

Posted on 24 August 2010 | 7:30 am

Business Software is in need of some leaps and bounds!

Most business software is created to help you do what you do today, in the same manner, but hopefully better, faster, and with less effort. Efficiency is the siren call. But alas, the usefulness and ROI of upgrading have a...

Posted on 11 August 2010 | 5:49 am

Unlearn or Challenge?

What's the diff? David Heinemeir Hansson of 37signals and Ruby on Rails fame spoke at Stanford the other day - Unlearn your MBA! Good concept of course, provocative title for a talk for business students, and old stuff is old...

Posted on 30 July 2010 | 10:57 am

Summer and all that

Been quiet for awhile now, and not because I've had a spot of vacation, quite the opposite. Delivery-time now, meaning programming, helping to build a new business model (and delivery using Thingamy of course) for a very interesting and ambitious...

Posted on 29 July 2010 | 9:36 am

Simple errors and big consequences, same procedure as always.

Hat tip to Eapen Thomas who pointed me to this year's commencement speech at Stanford’s School of Medicine given by Atul Gawande. Here is an excerpt of what he told the graduating class: We’ve been obsessed in medicine with having...

Posted on 30 June 2010 | 6:36 am

Three types of GUIs - past, present and the future

There are three types of Graphical User Interfaces: First we had to interact with our early IT tools, as on our Apple IIs with Visicalc, then we had to face an ever increasing number of apps that made our screen...

Posted on 8 June 2010 | 7:42 am

SAPPHIRE Now - huge surprise, good stuff and a couple of important issues

I have to admit I went to Orlando and this year's SAPPHIRE Now with lower than normal expectations. Boy was I surprised, and in a good way. Overall I found a turbocharged and far, far nimbler SAP. To the extent...

Posted on 21 May 2010 | 8:52 am

Plans, Budgets, Deadlines, not what you think

You know the stuff that makes the corporation hum and spin it's wheels, the workflow mechanism, the process framework activities and not the value creation work per se: Plans, Budgets, Deadlines, Rules, Meetings, Reports... Are they as efficient as they...

Posted on 11 May 2010 | 7:24 am

How business hoodwinks itself

When you create a new company you have an idea, some sketches, then you develop a product or a service while trying to understand your potential customers by listening and testing. Then the production/service org gets cranking, channels established and...

Posted on 20 April 2010 | 9:12 am

Fixing Greece

I've been chirping about how automating the flow part of workflows, by adding a proper IT based process framework to BRPs, would suggest a possible 67% increase in World Wide GDP. But I completely forgot an important issue; Corruption and...

Posted on 16 April 2010 | 6:15 am

Disregarding BRP is like being long on subprime CDOs

Now and then. If you, as a developer and vendor of products, create a new product that has the promise of value for your customer you're onto something. Say going back a few years starting up Facebook or creating the...

Posted on 13 April 2010 | 8:56 am

Organisational Effectiveness vs. Personal Efficiency

Wherever you turn you'll find that Enterprise Software is on a never ending quest to increase your personal efficiency. It says so on the vendor's site, it seeps through in discussion about User Interfaces, one is constantly reminded how good...

Posted on 19 March 2010 | 10:37 am

Happiness and a better Enterprise Software Data Model

Funny thing, seems the human brain uses same tricks as Enterprise Software to save disk space :) Thanks to Zia I found Daniel Kahneman at Ted's site (go see): Kahneman's premise being "confusion between experience and memory: basically it’s between...

Posted on 16 March 2010 | 10:20 am

Enterprise Apps User Interface - the wrong discussion

Imagine an Enterprise App with UI design lifted from World of Warcraft? A tad gothic? But games work, kids dive into them in droves and never seem to scratch their heads. Electronic games now being a bigger industry than the...

Posted on 10 March 2010 | 7:38 am

Elegant Organisations? Daily Simplicity? Fugetaboutit!

"Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem" Occam's razor keeps it simple - "entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity". Or in short form; simple is better. A basic philosophy of science - simple is better. Einstein could be a signatory...

Posted on 2 March 2010 | 8:13 am

Enterprise Software's blind spot

A Project is a temporary activity or sequence of activities with a specific goal initiated by an issue, an idea or a request, often with multiple participants. It is usually unstructured, at least somewhat unpredictable and hence Barely Repeatable. There...

Posted on 19 February 2010 | 9:31 am

Work Flows and Wealth Creation

Inseparable since the beginning. Following the last post about Information, Knowledge, Wisdom and Innovation let's add one particularly interesting and dynamic object organiser, an object by itself: The Workflow. The representation of a particular sequence where value is created and...

Posted on 2 February 2010 | 7:16 am

Information, Knowledge, Wisdom, and Innovation

These four concepts makes humanity move forward. They're basic requirements for every day work as well as for Big Important Decisions, hence nothing to take lightly. Indeed, if possible to grasp, sort, handle, and model efficiently we would all be...

Posted on 19 January 2010 | 7:42 am

Process Engine + Social Media -> Thingamy and ESME

For a long while I've been keeping an eye on the E 2.0, collaboration and social media efforts meant for enterprise use. I have to admit to being a sceptic, still viewing such as mainly single-task tools with little or...

Posted on 7 January 2010 | 3:34 am

BizTechTalk Briefs 08/24/2011

Infographic Of The Day: An Animated GIF Of The Music Industry's Death | Co. Design Interesting data on the rise/fall of music delivery - eye-wateringly ugly animated GIF - Tufte would have a field day with this. Small multiples or...

Posted on 24 August 2011 | 7:30 am

BizTechTalk Briefs 08/22/2011

The University of Untyped – Untyping I love the idea of teams getting together to specifically learn together. That's one of the many reasons I'm joining up with several teams to round out 2010 and into 2011. Only so much...

Posted on 22 August 2011 | 7:30 am

BizTechTalk Briefs 08/19/2011

Gamification 101 | BigDoor Big collection of gamification tips, links, glossaries, articles - provided by BigDoor, a gamification platform. Very rich set of information here. tags: gamification Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted on 19 August 2011 | 7:30 am

BizTechTalk Briefs 08/17/2011

About | Influitive: Customer Advocacy Program Experts "We Believe in Two Big but simple ideas: * Game-otivation: Making it fun for advocates to do their best work. We think that it should be just as engaging for advocates to help...

Posted on 17 August 2011 | 7:30 am

BizTechTalk Briefs 07/29/2011

Welcome to the Brave New World of Persuasion Profiling | Magazine Taking persuasion to the next level (ultimately) in mapping reactions to target interactions downstream (next page, next button) to what an individual reacts to. Key takeaway point - people...

Posted on 29 July 2011 | 7:30 am

Sebastien International - Episode 6 � San Francisco

In October 2010, Australian entrepreneur Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin embarked on a bold business challenge: become the Smallest Multinational in the World. Follow Sebastien's whirlwind journey around the world as he attempts to prove that with the right entrepreneurial spirit, you don't need to be big to be big. Sebastien International tells the inspiring story of a unique business adventure.

Episode 6 - San Francisco

Sebastien's journey ends appropriately in the venture capitalist capital of the world. Has he done enough so far to convince potential investors, or will he return to Sydney Australia with much still to be done?

HOW TO WRITE A BUSINESS SYSTEM (AND WRITE YOURSELF OUT OF A JOB)

It is always my goal or aim in my startups to build the business to a point where it can be sold to someone else - hopefully at a large profit which makes the journey to get there all the more worthwhile!

One of the best things any business can do to improve the value at the point of sale is to systemise all aspects of the business. An organisation that is well documented and does not require the specific talent(s) of the founder will sell more easily (and for a higher price) than one that the founder has all the corporate IP in their head.

Whilst you could wait until you're thinking of selling to start documenting, it is far more efficient to begin writing processes and systems from the day you start. The bonus from this is you get to experience much higher efficiency and be in control even when you're on the other side of the world working remotely!

The franchise model

If I haven't convinced you, and you think you can't afford to spend the time documenting your processes think about fast food chains (or any successful franchise for that matter).

McDonalds isn't in the business of selling hamburgers - they (the corporate) sell franchises - highly systemised businesses that are so well documented that 16 year old employees can run them.

So start thinking of your business as a franchise. How can you document every aspect of your business so someone can pick it up and run it with almost the same efficiency as you.

How can you write yourself out of a Job?

Writing a system

The first step is to have a system for writing systems. This may seem a little silly, but it will ensure you have a consistent approach to documenting your processes - and it will enable you to get your staff (if you have any) to contribute by writing systems on their jobs too.

I teach a Systems course as part of a NSW Government Program and go in to much more detail but here's a basic guide for getting started.

Each system should be broken down into four sections:

• What is the system?
A paragraph or two explaining what this system is
• Why do this system?
A paragraph or two explaining why you would implement this system and what benefit it provides the organisation. If you're struggling to answer this section you might want to reconsider if you need this system at all!
• When do you use this system?
When would you break out this system, how does it fit in with other systems and where does it sit in your workflow.
• Process
A step by step guide or checklist with very easy to follow steps of how to go about this system.

Keep your systems in an easily accessible place, preferably an online secure location (such as dropbox) but you can use a private wiki or a specific systemisation too.

I actually wrote a web-based software application to manage systems and manage people working through them, but even a simple text file in a shared drive is a good start.

Finally you should have a step in your system to somehow capture the results and provide a feedback loop so you or your staff can tweek and improve it as you learn more and work through the processes.

 

Posted on 17 February 2011 | 11:40 am

Sebastien International - Episode 5 � New York

In October 2010, Australian entrepreneur Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin embarked on a bold business challenge: become the Smallest Multinational in the World. Follow Sebastien's whirlwind journey around the world as he attempts to prove that with the right entrepreneurial spirit, you don't need to be big to be big. Sebastien International tells the inspiring story of a unique business adventure.

Episode 5 - New York

It's the toughest city in the world to crack and New York first-timer Sebastien certainly has his work cut out. But a meeting with a contact Sebastien describes as "like someone from The Godfather" is promising, and an encounter with a celebrity mentor soon have Seb on top of the world in the Big Apple.

 

The business idea - one for one for a better world

There's nothing like arriving in a city of 8.2 million people to remind you that you're a very small fish in a global pool of movers and shakers. That's why, as an entrepreneur trying to get noticed in New York, it's important to have a strong support network - either business or personal - that can help open doors.

But don't be fooled by the warm welcome at the door. If you don't have a mighty powerful business proposition, the door won't open twice.

Fortunately, the ‘one for one' model has already been proven by a handful of entrepreneurs around the world - another key to getting serious airtime in New York, and critical for me when I had only a matter of weeks to put together a business plan and take it around the world.

So what does a One-for-one business do?

The idea is simple but powerful: Every time you buy something, a one-for-one business donates the same item to someone in need.

It's charity as part of everyday life and it empowers you to make a difference, one transaction at a time.

The revenue model is that of a ‘for profit' business, proving you can have a charitable aspect and still be profitable. Where it makes money is through selling one-for-one branded products - from FMCG to financial services products. The criteria is that they have either a very low cost-per-sale, so a donation with every purchase does not significantly affect the bottom line, or, the commercial platform is a scalable online service that requires minimal resources to operate.

Currently, the model is providing shoes, spectacles and condoms to the underprivileged in African and Asia, and it's no surprise that the philosophy has been embraced in New York - a place where generosity is as much a sign of success as profitability. But it will take significant interest from the global business community before ‘one for one' marketed products become synonymous with supporting third world communities.

Until then, the one for one business platform will remain the domain of that handful of dedicated entrepreneurs. Without wishing myself out of a job, I sincerely hope the landscape changes soon.

Find previous episodes here...

ep 1, ep 2, ep 3, ep 4

Posted on 19 January 2011 | 8:03 am

Sebastien International - Episode 4 � Paris

In October 2010, Australian entrepreneur Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin embarked on a bold business challenge: become the Smallest Multinational in the World. Follow Sebastien's whirlwind journey around the world as he attempts to prove that with the right entrepreneurial spirit, you don't need to be big to be big. Sebastien International tells the inspiring story of a unique business adventure.

Episode 4 - Paris

Nothing is going right in France for Sebastien. His hotel room is double booked and he's failed to secure any meetings. Will he be down and out in Paris, or can Sebastien pull something out of the entrepreneurial bag?

OVERCOMING OBSTACLES

We face them all the time. It doesn't matter if you're an entrepreneur, a business person, a writer*, an athlete or an entire country. These are the complications that hinder the progression of your goals. However, I find, with the right balance of strategic thinking and a good dose of persistence, obstacles can actually turn into prime motivators. *I particularly suffer from writers' block!

Map it out

The proverbial has hit the fan. The first thing I do is pick myself off the ground and try to work out what happened, why it happened and where I was going. Map this out. Not only will this process create a path of logic, it may help identify new obstacles you can avoid. I personally use butcher paper and whiteboards as I find they promote brevity and keep things nice and visual, but use any process that works for you.

Test what you know

Don't ever underestimate the value of past experiences and how they can apply now - empirical methodology is where scientists start when they enter unexplored territory and you can use some of this in your own problem solving. Take some time out, think about how you have dealt with major obstacles in the past and what the resolution involved. You might pull out a forgotten tactic, an emotional response, or a resource that can help you push through. This might also be a good time to hit up your contacts on LinkedIn and see what you can learn from their experiences. (As it's always better to learn from someone else's mistakes!)

Return to your vision

Sometimes the most confronting thing you can be asked when you're starting out is "why" you're doing it. As the diary becomes full and the business plan stretches in different directions, it's easy to let your vision sit unnoticed in the background and that's when issues arise. Before they threaten your business confidence, dig out the original vision and remind yourself of why. If what you're doing doesn't align itself with your primary goal and original vision then you should ask yourself "why you are not" doing it.

Go to lunch

Lunch could be a sandwich in the park with the sunglasses on and the headphones in, it could be 3 courses and wine with a trusted friend, or it could be a metaphor for simply making some space in your head. Whatever it is for you, make sure you do it to clear your mind. In Paris I had a few issues with the direction of the business, I took a lunch break (aka gastronomic adventure) in the Eiffel Tower and came back refreshed, clear minded and scored a meeting within minutes of returning to the office. (Evidenced in the Paris video above)

Whilst it's desirable to have everything go your way, the truth is something will not quite work out. Stepping away calmly and asking the right questions of yourself and others are the best things you can possibly do when things don't go to plan.

Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin

Catch episode 1 here

Catch episode 2 here

Catch episode 3 here

Posted on 4 January 2011 | 3:29 am

Sebastien International - Episode 3 � London

Sebastien International - The Web Series

In October 2010, Australian entrepreneur Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin embarked on a bold business challenge: become the Smallest Multinational in the World. Follow Sebastien's whirlwind journey around the world as he attempts to prove that with the right entrepreneurial spirit, you don't need to be big to be big. Sebastien International tells the inspiring story of a unique business adventure.

Episode 3 - London

Sebastien has just two days to strike a deal in London and a tube strike has brought the city to a stand still. It's far from ideal for the young man who is trying to become the world's smallest multinational, but as every successful entrepreneur knows - it's about how you adapt and overcome.

Top apps when you're on the road

If there is anything that my last business trip to London taught me, it's to make sure you've got your apps in order before you go.

With the right technology you can be prepared for anything, even a tube strike the day you've got a major presentation, an interview and a networking event.

Here are some of the apps I rely on to stay productive - on the road and in the back of a London cab:

Todo
- a very powerful to do list designed for both the iPhone and iPad. You can create projects and checklists and even get a little help in ‘Getting Things Done' GTD. More about Todo

Cisco Mobile
With this app I can make ‘local' calls from any office number in my virtual network and make calls over a Wi-Fi network to save on roaming charges. This app only works as part of an enterprise buy, but anyone connected to Servcorp Online can benefit from it. More about Cisco Mobile

Dropbox
A great cloud computing app, dropbox let's you access your files from anywhere, syncs from multiple computers so you'll always have the latest version of the file, and it lets you share files with others via a private URL - it's simple and beautiful and a great timesaver. More about Dropbox

Servcorp Meetings
Book a meeting room anywhere in the world, arrange lunch, tea and coffee, request a white board for a presentation or make sure a personal assistant is on hand to translate. The meetings app highlights what's truly unique about Servcorp's Virtual Office packages. More about Servcorp Meetings

Flight Track
This app allows you to stay on top of last minute changes to your travel schedule. Check the times and status of flights anywhere in the world, view boarding gate numbers, baggage claim numbers, temperature in destination cities and much more. More about Flight Track

LinkedIn
All the contacts of the world via a very intuitive application. Don't underestimate the power of LinkedIn, particularly when you're on the road. The portal is a constant source of inspiration and can put you within reach of business opportunities in an instant. More about LinkedIn app

Of the 300,000 or so apps now available for iOS, there must be a few more that Business Management readers can add to this list.

Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin

To see episode 1 click here.

To see episode 2 click here.

To see episode 4 click here.

Posted on 16 December 2010 | 3:26 am

California's High-Speed Rail Network

Below is a video outlining California's potential high-speed rail network (HSR), which, if everything goes to plan, will begin construction in 2012, with the main line, linking San Francisco and Los Angeles completed by 2015.

Currently, there are 500 million travellers' trips between the states different regions, which analysts estimate will increase to one billion travellers by 2030. California's HSR will service 10 percent of those commuters.

The track will run for 800 miles, and incorporate San Francisco, San Jose, Merced, Sacremento, Fresno, Bakersfield, Palmdale, Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Diego. The train is projected to run at 220 miles-per-hour which would halve the travel time for travellers.

As an environmental option, the HSR is three times more efficient than air travel and five times more efficient than cars - a key component in the US' turn towards reducing its carbon footprint. In total, the HSR should reduce California's oil use by 12.7 million barrels annually.

With construction of the HSR beginning in 2012, 650,000 contracting construction jobs will be created, along with 450,000 permanent positions - which will constitute the largest public works on US soil in 50 years.

Related articles:

Intersate Wars | Business Management | Tourism Management | Business Management | Enterprise Search | Business Management | Honda | Business Management

Posted on 10 December 2010 | 1:51 am

Borders Disastrous Third Quarter, Loses $74 Million

Borders, the Ann Arbor-based bookseller, has failed to turn around a poor 2010 with revenue falling 17.6 percent in the third quarter, to $470.9 million. The loss from continuing operations was $74.4 million compared to a loss of $37.7 million a year ago.

The losses impacted the share price, with the chain losing $1.03 a share in the three months up to the end of October. Sales on Borders.com fell 8.6% to $12.5 million in the third quarter. It reduced its inventory by $233.7 million in the quarter. But it signed up more than 580,000 customers for its rewards plus program, bringing in $11 million in revenue.

Borders Group President Mike Edwards said during a conference call with analysts that a new strategic plan had not been in place long enough to improve results.

"We have a comprehensive, executable plan in place that supports our goal of transforming the iconic Borders brand into a profitable economic model over time," Edwards said on the call.

Borders faces a number of challenges ongoing challenges. It is competing directly as a walk in store with store giants like Walmart and Barnes & Noble, and online against the likes of Amazon.

"With Google, Amazon and Walmart, you have three 800-pound gorillas in the room. And you are a 98-pound competitor," Dalto said of Borders.

"If you go four years with all these losses, the core of your strategy is not working," Dalto said. "It is faulty. This just shows it."

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Posted on 10 December 2010 | 1:51 am

Hackers Crash Mastercard Site, Claim Cyberwar

 

WikiLeaks has hailed a ‘cyberwar' after hackers have illegally brought down Mastercard's official website mastercard.com, after the credit card company stopped donations going to the whistle-blowing website.

The hackers, dubbing themselves Anonymous, launched ‘Operation: Payback' following Mastercard's halting of donations by overloading the Mastercard website, making it unavailable at around lunchtime (and still unavailable at the time of writing).

A message on Twitter from @Anon_Operation, read: 'WE ARE GLAD TO TELL YOU THAT http://www.mastercard.com/ is DOWN AND IT'S CONFIRMED! '#ddos #wikileaks Operation:Payback(is a b****!) #PAYBACK'

Another, from AnonyWatcher, added - in a play on MasterCard's advertising: 'There are some things Wikileaks can't do. For everything else, there's Operation Payback.'

WikiLeaks Europe - also on Twitter - declared it was 'cyberwar'. The organisation said: 'Group That Took Down Swiss Bank Site Have Now Taken Down Mastercard.com.'

Mastercard said Monday that it was blocking payments because WikiLeaks was engaging in illegal activity, and soon after Visa followed suit as did other US organisations embarrassed by the site continues to embarrass the US political elite by publishing leaked diplomatic cables.

In a statement today, Mastercard confirmed it is "experiencing heavy traffic on its external corporate website" but claims it "remains accessible" and that "there is no impact whatsoever on our cardholders' ability to use their card for secure transactions."

The boycott has angered DataCell, the Iceland-based firm that enables Wikileaks to accept card payments. In a statement, DataCell CEO Andreas Fink confirmed that DataCell has "decided to take up immediate legal actions to make donations possible again."

Fink goes on: "The suspension of payments towards Wikileaks is a violation of the agreements with their customers. Visa users have explicitly expressed their will to send their donations to Wikileaks and Visa is not fulfilling this wish. It will probably hurt their brand much much more to block payments towards Wikileaks than to have them occur. Visa customers are contacting us in masses to confirm that they really donate and they are not happy about Visa rejecting them. It is obvious that Visa is under political pressure to close us down."

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Posted on 8 December 2010 | 8:15 am

Sebastien International - Episode 2 - Tokyo

Sebastien International - The Web Series

In October 2010, Australian entrepreneur Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin embarked on a bold business challenge: become the Smallest Multinational in the World. Follow Sebastien's whirlwind journey around the world as he attempts to prove that with the right entrepreneurial spirit, you don't need to be big to be big. Sebastien International tells the inspiring story of a unique business adventure.

Episode 2 - Tokyo

In February 2010, Sebastien Eckersley Maslin left the Australian Navy and became an Entrepreneur. Shortly after, he started a successful business in seven days with just AU$500. And now, he's taking on his biggest challenge ever: become the Smallest Multinational in the World. In episode 2, we join Sebastien in Tokyo.

 

Doing business in Japan is like a lesson in fine art. While the pace of Tokyo can make your head spin at street level, step inside the cool calm of any highrise and the attention to time honoured traditions is as detailed as an 18th century block print.

You'll also find that being skilled in these customs is powerful currency. The Japanese are extremely polite and place significance on respect and social rank. From ceremonial rituals like the exchange of business cards, to the importance of attire and the formality of meetings, etiquette is to be observed with reverence. Here are some tips that will help you make a good first impression and build a lasting relationship with your Japanese partners.

1. Exchanging business cards
The exchange of business cards during a meeting is a ceremony in itself. Always present your business card to the most senior member at the meeting first. Always bow when presenting or receiving a business card and handle with both hands. Always treat the business card with respect, take the time to read it carefully, never write on it or play with it. A symbol of your name and your credibility, business cards are very important in Japanese business culture.

2. What to wear
Business attire must be formal. Wear a dark suit with a white shirt and subdued tie, but steer clear of a black suit and tie worn with a white shirt, as this is traditional Japanese funeral attire. A red tie is traditionally the colour of someone heroic. The combination of red and white (tie and shirt) is also a symbol for auspicious or happy occasions (business meetings). Men in power - like the Presidents of the United States - are often seen sporting dark power suits with white shirts and a red tie.

3. Business meetings
Punctuality is a must in Japan. Arrive 10 minutes early and plan a detailed agenda. Wait to be seated in the meeting room, as it is customary for the most important or senior associate to sit the furthest away from the door. Business meetings are about relationship building and decisions are rarely made on the spot. Meetings may feel a bit slow and key details are often discussed in a round-about way - but don't mistake indirectness as non-commitment. Be patient, it will pay off. Silence is also a virtue, if things go quiet during a meeting do not panic, reflection is taking place.

4. Language
Another important aspect to consider is language. If you don't speak Japanese, your meetings will be done through an interpreter. Documents, presentations and even business cards need to be translated. It's important to find yourself a trusted partner on the ground in Japan to help you with these services and anticipate your needs if you visit regularly. This is where the services of a virtual office provider like Servcorp can be invaluable.

5. The Experience
The natural partner to a Tokyo business trip is a stay in a capsule hotel. You might choose a regular city hotel or even the more traditional Ryokan for the majority of your stay, but if you have a sense of adventure it's an experience not to be missed. Once inside, the capsules are larger than they appear, but still definitely not for the claustrophobic. Or those particularly sensitive to hospital style robes, communal showers and smoking. Sometimes all at once!

They might seem like small things, but the few pointers above can make all the difference to a trip to Japan for business. Take some time to consider them before you go and you'll be glad you did your homework.

Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin

Catch Episode 1 here.

And episode 3 here.

And episode 4 here.

Posted on 7 December 2010 | 3:26 am

Ian Read to Replace Jeffrey Kindler as Pfizer CEO

Pfizer, the world's largest pharmaceutical company has announced that CEO Jeffrey Kindler has retired, paving the way for global biopharmaceutical operations, Ian Read, as his successor.

Jeffrey Kindler cited his retirement was due to the "extremely demanding" role and the effects it had on him personally.

"The combination of meeting the requirements of our many stakeholders around the world and the 24/7 nature of my responsibilities has made this period extremely demanding on me personally," said Kindler in a prepared statement released late Sunday. "I am excited at the opportunity to recharge my batteries, spend some rare time with my family, and prepare for the next challenge in my career."

Ian Read will inherit a company who has reduced its workforce by 6000 employees, and its shares fall by 35 percent to $16.73, as of Dec. 3 in New York Stock Exchange trading. Pfizer will also lose patent protection in the U.S. next year for Lipitor, which had $11.4 billion in sales last year. While the drugmaker moved to make up for the loss by paying $68 billion last year to acquire Wyeth, adding the Enbrel arthritis treatment and Prevnar pneumonia vaccine, it also has had four setbacks this year in developing its research pipeline.

Pfizer also said yesterday it was creating a $75 million fund and new compliance panel to settle shareholders' lawsuits that charge top company officials failed to stop illegal marketing of drugs. Pfizer last year paid $2.3 billion to settle US claims it marketed treatments for unapproved purposes.

"It is in the best interests of the company and our shareholders to reach an agreement that allows us to put this matter behind us on favorable terms," Pfizer's Kerins said in an e-mail to Bloomberg. "Subject to court approval, the agreement includes measures that reinforce and build on existing provisions of our compliance program and that formalize actions the directors and officers undertook in connection with matters at issue."

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Posted on 6 December 2010 | 6:46 am

Samsung Galaxy Tab Hits 1 Million Sales

It may not have sold with the speed of its rival iPad, but the recently available Samsung Galaxy tablet has reached the one million sales plateau after only two months on the market.

The mark is a positive result for Samsung, who had come under scrutiny from Apple's Steve Jobs about the size of the Galaxy screen. At Apple's quarterly review, Job's claimed that a 10-inch screen was "the minimum required to create great tablet apps." He also expressed that 7-inch tablets like the Galaxy would be "DOA, dead on arrival and manufacturers will realize they're too small and abandon them next year. They'll then increase the size, abandoning the customers and developers who bought into the smaller format."

Despite a successful result for the Galaxy, the tablet still took a month longer to sell the same number of units as the iPad, however the result is still positive for Samsung and Google Android, the tablets operating system.

Samsung's success could be attributed to the popularity of its Galaxy S smartphones, which is sold by the majority of US carriers. According to a ComScore survey, 24.2 percent of the 3000 surveyed said they were using a Samsung phone or a similar Samsung device.

iPad have now estimated to have sold eight million tablets since hitting the market earlier this year, with fourth quarter sales peaking at four million.

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Posted on 6 December 2010 | 2:58 am

Google Comes Under Scrutiny from EU

The European Commission has launched an investigation against Google Inc. in light of claims that the company has abused its dominant position by penalising the search results of competing services.

Ciao.de, Foundem.co.uk, and Ejustice.fr prompted the antitrust investigation after making allegations that Google manipulates its search results to promote its own services above those offered by competitors. Foundem said in its complaint filed against Google in February 2010, "Google is exploiting its dominance of search in ways that stifle innovation, suppress competition, and erode consumer choice."

Should the allegations be proven that Google has abused a dominant position in online search, this would be in violation of European Union rules. However, the European Commission stresses that the launch of the investigation does not imply that it has any proof of infringements and states, "It only signifies that the Commission will conduct an in-depth investigation of the case as a matter of priority."

The Commission will probe whether Google has decreased the ranking of unpaid search results of competitors' services in favor of its own. It will also look into whether the ‘Quality Score' was lowered by Google, which influences the amount paid by advertisers to have their ad displayed with the search result.

Google denies deliberately lowering the ranking of competitors. In the case of Foundem, Google ascertains that the poor page ranking is due to that fact that the website duplicates a majority of its content from other sites.

However, the search engine giant has agreed to work with the EC. "Since we started Google we have worked hard to do the right thing by our users and our industry," Google stated, "But there's always going to be room for improvement, and so we'll be working with the Commission to address any concerns."

It is predicted to take six months for the EC to arrive at a conclusion over the investigation. In the worst-case scenario for Google, they could be fined up to $2.4 billion by the EC, although this is unlikely. To date, the largest fine raised in a similar case was against Intel for £930 million.

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Posted on 1 December 2010 | 8:06 am

JPMorgan Staff to Trial iPad

According to Bloomberg, JP Morgan is to issue its investment banking staff with iPad tablets as part of a six-month trial.

"We believe there are real benefits in our working environment that can be realised using this device - as well as the personal productivity and enjoyment that come as part of the package," two managing directors at New York-based JPMorgan said in an e-mail obtained by Bloomberg News.

Depending on its success we will evaluate if we should repeat this one time initiative and/or expand it to others," they are quoted as saying.

JPMorgan outlined that the trial will allow associates to access e-mails, contacts, calendar and attachments via the iPad, as well as have the ability to mark-up and annotate confidential documents and make client presentations, says Bloomberg.

"There are a variety of ways to leverage the iPad. Some work off-the-shelf whilst others rely on JPMorgan software/security tools," the managing directors wrote in the e-mail. "Depending on its success we will evaluate if we should repeat this one time initiative and/or expand it to others.

Shift away from RIM

With JPMorgan staff utilizing the iPad, competitors like Research in Motion (RIM) will have its work cut out to reconnect with financial institutions - RIM specifically have been the mobile of choice for Wall Street financiers, according to Finextra. In response, RIM has announced its plans to launch a tablet computer in Q1 of 2011. But it may be too late, as big ticket banks - including JPMorgan, BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse - roll out client applications for the iPad.

The shake-up of the corporate smartphone market was demonstrated last month when it emerged that Bank of America and Citi are the latest financial services giants to consider letting their staff use iPhones and Google Android-based handsets as an alternative to BlackBerrys for corporate e-mail, following in the footsteps of JP Morgan Chase and Standard Chartered.

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Posted on 1 December 2010 | 7:57 am

Sebastien International - Episode 1 � Sydney

Sebastien International - The Web Series

In October 2010, Australian entrepreneur Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin embarked on a bold business challenge: become the Smallest Multinational in the World. Follow Sebastien's whirlwind journey around the world as he attempts to prove that with the right entrepreneurial spirit, you don't need to be big to be big. Sebastien International tells the inspiring story of a unique business adventure.

Episode 1 - Sydney

In February 2010, Sebastien Eckersley Maslin left the Australian Navy and became an Entrepreneur. Shortly after, he started a successful business in seven days with just AU$500. And now, he's taking on his biggest challenge ever: become the Smallest Multinational in the World. In episode 1, we join Seb at home in Sydney, preparing to set off to establish his business in Tokyo, Paris, London, New York and San Francisco in just 12 days.

So Sebastein, tell BM what you're doing right now.

Basically I'm in the middle of a round the world trip to become the world's smallest multi-national. It's a bit of a challenge. I'm also going do it in record time - two weeks. That's the end objective.

I'm no stranger to challenges. I've done a few of these business challenges in the past. One was a start-up in 7 days for under $500.00, a business which is still going today quite successfully. This is all just basically a way of inspiring other people and pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved in really just demonstrating that someone doesn't really have to be big to be big.

Tell us a bit more about Sebastien International. Sebastian International is the global organization. It's just a name. It's a branding exercise. The real business itself is called One for One, and it's basically an organization that for every product that you purchase through us, we donate a like product to someone of need.

It's just a really good way of increasing social conscience in consumers. I found through a lot of research that charities are fantastic and do a lot of good in the world, but people sometimes get a little disenfranchised about the whole charity concept.

They can't really see exactly what their donations actually do because charities work on a much larger scale. What One for One does is it gives people a direct understanding of exactly what their contribution is doing. So, for example, with a bottled water product, you buy a bottled water through One for One and we donate clean drinking water to a child in South Africa for a month. It's a very clear understanding of exactly what their purchases have done.

So talk us through the business model

Firstly, the One for One organization will promote other businesses in this space that currently do this, and there are others out there that already use this concept. We've got them on board already.

Secondly, we really want to show with One for One is that businesses can still have a charitable aspect and be profitable at the same time, and going to show that by having our own product line. So that's really where the actual business sense is.

So the One for One group is more of the marketing and PR aspect to the organization. We'll make our revenue in business in the actual One for One product line.

So why philanthropy?

Well for two reasons. One, I was heavily involved in the Club Kidpreneur Program in Australia, which is a not-for-profit organization that teaches our primary school children basic leader skills. I helped write the curriculum for that. I felt really good about doing that and I wanted to continue down that path.

Secondly, because this challenge is over a very short amount of time I needed a product or an idea that people would jump on and support. One for One is something people will get really excited about because they can see that you're doing good in the world.

It seemed like a really natural fit for this opportunity to go around the world and make a global organization, and also change the way people think and perceive products and consumerism.

Biggest challenges?

There have been a few challenges, some of which we've managed to overcome on the way. The biggest challenge is time. I'm doing this in a very short amount of time, but things are going well and the support of the virtual office provider, Servcorp, just made it so much easier because I had the staff, systems and office space I could call my own.

The other real challenge is that large organizations have long lead times. They'll only meet businesses who want to sell them something in certain time periods and if you're not in that one week period they won't even talk to you. So it's a bit of a challenge to get around that. Calling lots of personal favors, using LinkedIn to identify the exact individual I want to talk to and leveraging my network and going through agents is my way around that.

Catch episode 2 here.

And episode 3 here.

Ad episode 4 here.

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Posted on 1 December 2010 | 3:27 am

Google Could Buy Groupon Deals Site

Google, the internet giant is in talks to buy Groupon for $6 billion, according to sources from the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

The move would solidify Google's move into the local advertising space, adding a welcome addition to its multibillion-dollar online advertising business. The purchase would also extend Google's dominance against surging competition from Facebook, which has rolled out its own deals initiative last month.

If the deal is completed, it would be Google's biggest acquisition ever, easily surpassing the $3.1 billion it spent for online display advertising firm DoubleClick in 2007 and the $1.6 billion for YouTube in 2006.

"I give it a 70-30 chance of going through," says Martin Tobias, CEO and founder of Groupon rival Tippr. "It's something that Google needs to do."

Groupon has seen a meteoric rise since it began only two years ago. In just two years, Groupon has staked claims in more than 300 markets worldwide and has more than 33 million subscribers, making it one of the fastest-growing companies in history. The local advertising market is extremely lucrative, and according to BIA/Kelsey, a consulting firm, total spending will reach $133 billion in the US this year. According to analysts Groupon's customers will spend $500 million through the website this year.

The possible buy-out is not without risk for Google, as Groupon has stiff competitors, yet Lou Kerner, a social media analyst at Wedbush Securities, said he's betting that Groupon has staying power.

"What we've seen is new businesses on the Internet can emerge and be immensely valuable. Quite often, the first company in these kinds of new and emerging fields on the Internet gain market share and continue to be the leaders," he said. "There's every reason to believe that Groupon will continue to grow and continue to command significant market share."

"Google's got the cash to spend, and Groupon is one of the few properties worth hunting. If Google buys Groupon, we will have to wait and see if it's worth the premium Google has to pay," BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis said.

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Posted on 1 December 2010 | 2:28 am

Walmart Buying 51 Percent Stake in Massmart

Walmart - the biggest retailer in the world - has made a formal bid for the South African Massmart, a deal that would help Walmart's move into the fast-growing African market.

"South Africa possesses attractive market dynamics, favorable demographic trends and a growing economy," executive vice president Andy Bond said in a statement.

According to Reuters the offer is 148 rand a share, or 15.2 billion rand ($2.13 billion) which would account for a 51 percent stake, meaning Walmart would have the majority share. In September Walmart confirmed it was looking to purchase all of the South African retailer, but scaled back its bid to 51 percent in order to keep the retailer listed in Johannesburg - something that was critical in gaining regulatory approval.

Massmart, with 290 stores in 13 countries in Africa, is the continent's third-largest distributor of consumer goods, the leading retailer of general merchandise, liquor and home improvement equipment and supplies, and it is the leading wholesaler of basic foods.

"The more we learn about South Africa and the surrounding countries the more we are convinced that this is an important region with attractive growth characteristics," said Doug McMillon, president and chief executive of Wal-Mart International. "This combination fits perfectly with our strategy to enter high-growth markets in which we can apply our global expertise and generate strong returns."

Walmart were quick to reiterate that it will honor all existing contracts with organized labor bodies after labor unions spoke out against the proposed tie-up, accusing Walmart of poor labor relations and arguing its arrival in South Africa will hurt suppliers.

Walmart's overseas business now accounts for 25 percent of its total revenue.

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Posted on 29 November 2010 | 2:34 am

Lego Lays Building Blocks for New Business Model

Traditionally a family run business, Lego Group has made drastic changes within its business strategy bringing on Jorgen Vig Knudstorp as CEO.

From its humble beginnings in 1932, Lego has gone from strength to strength and has grown to be a global enterprise and a household name; it is now the fifth-largest toy manufacturer globally.

However, after decades of success, the toy giant began to lose footing in 1998, and by 2003 had made record losses. Kjelf Kirk Kristiansen, grandson of Lego's founder, put a substantial sum of his own money into the company, but it soon became apparent that a more dramatic change was needed. In 2004, the decision was made for 36-year-old Jorgen Vig Knudstorp to replace Kristiansen as CEO. This marked a significant transformation in Lego's business model, as, for the first time, the company would be run by someone removed from the Kristiansen family.

Although he had only been with the company for three years, Knudstorp had the advantage of being able to offer a unique perspective as an outsider to the company. After graduating from the University of Aarhus, Denmark, with a BA in Economics and PhD in Business Economics, Knudstorp began his career as an Engagement Consultant at McKinsey & Company before joining Lego Group as Director of Strategic Development in 2001.

Since taking up the position of CEO, Knudstorp has driven the design of Lego's new business model and system around the question ‘why do we exist'? Instead of diversifying the business further into new areas, he encouraged the concept of ‘rediscovering Lego' and focusing on what made Lego unique as a company. "So, that was the question; getting back to the simple thing that makes you really unique, and then everything else evolves from that question," he tells MeetTheBoss.tv.

Knudstorp believes that Lego's diversification strategy in the 1990s was too ambitious and fast moving, "I think it's a golden rule in business that most companies don't die from starvation; they die from indigestion because there is so much opportunity if you open your eyes to it," he explains. "One rule I stick to is that you can only really build an adjacency to your core business every three to five years because it is such a major undertaking in terms of culture and capabilities. That's what we did wrong in the past: rather than doing it every three to five years, we did three to five adjacencies every year. That is what nearly killed us."

Focus returned to Lego's most successful and traditional favourites - its building system for children - and abandoned products such as Legoland, which had become a distraction from the company's main product line. Emphasis was placed on the quality of the moulding and the precision of the manufacturing process.

Under Jorgen's leadership, Lego's profits have again skyrocketed from a €259 million net loss in 2004, to making an astonishing €181.5 million net profit in 2008. The future is once again looking bright for the Danish toy company.

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Posted on 26 November 2010 | 8:14 am

Johnson & Johnson Recalls Benadryl Allergy Tablets

Johnson & Johnson has recalled four million packages of Children's Benadryl allergy tablets and 800,000 bottles of junior-strength Motrin caplets. The news is a setback for the world's largest healthcare manufacturer, as it is still reeling from a number of recent high-profile recalls.

Although J&J didn't confirm particulars about the recall, it did state that the products were safe and were still useable, citing that there were "insufficiencies in the development of the manufacturing process."

"There is no indication that the recalled products do not meet quality standards," the company said in a notice posted last week on the individual websites of the drugs, "and this recall is not being undertaken on the basis of adverse effects."

The recalls were made at in Fort Washington, after a review of manufacturing procedures at McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a subsidiary based there. The review was launched back in April after a FDA inspection uncovered several deficiencies. McNeil also ordered the recall of 146 million bottles of children's medication made at the facility, including liquid Tylenol, Motrin, and Benadryl. The plant remains closed.

Specifically, children's Benadryl allergy Fastmelt tablets, in cherry and grape flavours, and junior-strength Motrin caplets, 24 count were recalled. The medicines have a wide circulation, including distribution in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Belize, Barbados, St. Martin, and St. Thomas.

The recall adds further pressure on J&J, who recalled thousands of vials of anti-cancer drug Velcade following reports of white particles floating in the medicine. The recalls were carried initiated in January and June in Europe, Japan, Malaysia and the US. Europe was the most affected, with 195,000 vials requested back.

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Posted on 24 November 2010 | 7:31 am

The Turn Back to Globalization in HR

Globalization across workforces has seen exponential growth in the last two decades, and after a dip during the most recent recession, is now emerging again within HR, creating challenges as well as opportunities, and tremendous uncertainty.

In a new major study by the IBM Institute for Business Value, more than 700 chief HR officers and senior executives from 61 countries and 31 industries worldwide found that China and India are leading the way by increasingly hiring in North America and Europe. In fact, the study found 45 percent of companies in India and 33 percent of companies in China plan to increase their head count in North America alone.

The study outlines the new global workforce that is emerging as companies start to deploy talent globally once again in order to achieve their corporate objectives.

In the past, North America has always been perceived as a fertile state for workers from the east, however there is a distinct change today, as North American companies' struggle to stop top talent from seeking better opportunities in the east.

"Western companies used to be able to attract workers from India or China, for example, because of the quality of life they could have here. But the economies there are growing fast, and the quality of life and lifestyle available to people from those countries in their home country is quickly becoming similar to that in North America. The bright people of the world may want to stay where they were or go back home," says Ian Cook, director, research & learning at the B.C. Human Resources Management Association.

The market for skilled workers is back to being global and highly competitive. "You can't think of it in any other terms and therefore it is expensive to play in it because you've got relocation costs, all the costs of managing talent and competing for it across the globe," Mr. Cook says.

Many of the world's top HR executives will be at the HR Summit to discuss globalization issues, as well as important HR topics including creating a corporate culture of health, developing an integrated talent management strategy, CHRO challenges for 2011, the importance of effective compensation plans and methods for businesses keen to retain their top talent.

Those on hand will include: David Fairhurst, VP People, McDonald's; Ceree Eberly, Chief People Officer, The Coca-Cola Company; Desiree Dancy, Chief Diversity Officer and VP Corporate Human Resources, The New York Times Company; Michele Golden, VP Talent Management, Time Warner; Shannon Brown, CHRO, FedEx and Felicia Fields, Group VP HR and Corporate Services, Ford Motor Company.

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Posted on 24 November 2010 | 3:51 am

PayPal to Introduce Online Purchasing on TV?

PayPal is working with a US cable TV consortium to develop a new 'T-commerce' initiative in which consumers can pay for goods and services on their television.

The prototype service is being created at Canoe Ventures Innovation Lab, according to reports it is a 'test bed' environment created by the cable collective. Canoe's members include Bright House Networks, Cablevision Systems, Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox Communications, and Time Warner Cable.

The consortium has invited Catalina Marketing, Delivery Agent, FourthWall Media, icueTV, and PayPal to address the use of RFI and T-commerce in interactive television.

Osama Bedier, vice president of platform, mobile and new ventures at PayPal explains the concept on the company blog:

"Today, I'm happy to say we're one step closer to equipping every living room in America with T-commerce powered by PayPal. We're working with Canoe Ventures, which was founded by the country's leading cable operators to create interactive products and services, to make this a reality. Other major players that have joined us include Catalina Marketing, Delivery Agent, FourthWall Media and icueTV. Canoe's "test bed" is Canoe Ventures Innovation Lab, where work is already underway.

"Together, we are pushing forward the very future of television as an interactive shopping experience that harnesses the ease and safety of PayPal. Imagine this: lounging on your couch and channel surfing, then finding that perfect birthday present. A few clicks of your remote, and you've purchased the gift via your PayPal account. Pretty cool, right?!

"We at PayPal believe that the wallet should live and will live "in the cloud." Internet-connected devices will be the very fabric of the digital lifestyle. And as televisions increasingly become Internet enabled, they open up whole new avenues for new ways to connect and sell to consumers directly. We are proud to support our developers as they push forward with this vision."

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Posted on 23 November 2010 | 8:46 am

The Daily - Murdoch�s Exclusive Tablet Alternative

Rupert Murdoch, the News Corp. CEO is planning on an iPad newspaper, according to reports. ‘The Daily', as it will be called, will have 100+ staff and break stories like similar news outlets.

Unlike Reuters and other online news resources, ‘The Daily' won't be free, with initial costs around $.99 a week. ‘The Daily' will not have foreign correspondents or any staff in Washington D.C.

"There are three managing editors," reports John Koblin of WWD Media. "Mike Nizza, a veteran of The New York Times, AOL News and The Atlantic; Steve Alperin, a producer at ABC News, and Pete Picton, an online editor at The Sun in the U.K. Alperin's TV experience gives a hint to a valuable part of the newsroom: In addition to journalists, there will be plenty of people producing videos. Also, there will be lots of design staff."

‘The Daily' will be exclusive to the iPad and other tablets, meaning it will not be available on normal desktops, or printed as a hard copy. According to reports, "It will be produced into the evening, and then a button will be pushed and it will be ‘printed' for the next morning. There will be updates - the number of which is still under discussion - but not at the velocity or with the urgency of a news website."

Murdoch is outlaying $30 million for the news outlet.

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Posted on 23 November 2010 | 2:13 am

New Business Models In The Middle

Technology is fueling new markets previously unforeseen. These new markets are not being created from old business models rather new models that leverage the human network. The new models are in the middle and on the edge. On the edge being at the fringes of markets being served by the older models and buyers looking [...]

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 5:39 am

harmon.ie Goes Mobile, Bringing SharePoint to the iPad

I have written about harmon.ie several times. See for example - Harmon.ie Provides Social Email to Help Drive Enterprise Collaboration Adoption. Their tools focus on increasing user adoption of collaboration tools include bringing central components of SharePoint into both Outlook...

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 2:20 am

Data Science at LinkedIn: My Team

Lots of people ask me what it’s like to be a data scientist at LinkedIn. The short answer: it’s awesome. Folks like Pete Skomoroch and team are building data products related to identity and reputation, such as Skills and InMaps. Yael Garten is leading the effort to understand and increase mobile engagement. And other folks work [...]

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 1:15 am

Links for 2012-05-17 [del.icio.us]

Knoco stories: Making knowledge visible

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 1:15 am

iNSIDER Perspective: Too Much Work and Not Enough Staff

Downsizing, right-sizing, layoff, restructuring, whatever word you use, accounting departments have been consistently trimming staff for decades. Computers are taking on more and more of the daily routine. While this is good news for cost control and efficiency, it’s not so good for accounting controls and segregation of duties.

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 10:15 am

Part 2: Are You Ready for Momentum at EMC World in Las Vegas?

Okay, so I’m following up on my blog posting last week about getting ready for Momentum at EMC World. The energy is definitely building and as we prepare for what I expect to be an outstanding conference, I wanted to share a few final thoughts and suggestions. As in past years, there is no shortage of sessions to [...]

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 9:44 am

Gautam Ghosh: India's Social Media Thought Leader

There was a recent article in Forbes about my long time virtual friend, Gautam Ghosh. Titled, Social Media Thought Leader: India's Gautam Ghosh by Shel Isreal, it goes into many of the great things Gautum has done over the years...

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 2:32 am

I Like to Mix and Match

A somewhat feeble attempt at explaining why I've decided to mix my blog posts all together, regardless of whether they're personal, political, professional, or whatever. So sue me.

Posted on 16 May 2012 | 4:57 pm

Publish is not just a button

Clay Shirky is one my favorite writers on digital publishing. Whenever I run across one of his articles, I read it twice and I usually wind up agreeing with him even if I object at first. But one of the points that I have not come around on is when he says: Publishing is not [...]

Posted on 16 May 2012 | 7:35 am

Public Records Perils – Transparency Lets You See the Solution

One positive effect of transparency in the public sector is that it gives city and county government an opportunity to assess current practices and make needed changes. Given the increase in public records requests and the scrutiny

Posted on 16 May 2012 | 6:31 am

AppFusions Integrates iRise® Visualization with Atlassian JIRA, Confluence

I have known about AppFusions for some time and respect the vision of their leader Ellen Feaheny. I spoke with Ellen at the most recent Lotusphere and they have been working on a number of integration tools. Recently AppFusions announced...

Posted on 16 May 2012 | 2:01 am

3 ways to improve knowledge worker productivity

One of the simplest definitions of productivity can be found in Wikipedia: "Productivity is a measure of the efficiency of production. Productivity is a ratio of production output to what is required to produce it (inputs). The measure of productivity is defined as a total output per one unit of a total input." Knowledge worker productivity in the digital age is something completely different. We are still trying to figure out what it's ...

Posted on 15 May 2012 | 3:16 pm

iNSIDER Perspective: The World of Information Management

In this interview, business consultant and information management professional Steve Weissman covers the need to know topics in Information Management and how too many businesses make the mistake of thinking about the technology first, and the business problem second, when it needs to be the other way around.

Posted on 15 May 2012 | 8:07 am

The Social Organization According to Gartner

Here is a book that I recently put at the top of my business reading list thanks to a suggestion by my Merced Group partner, Catherine Shinners. She posted an excellent review, Social Business for Executives. As she opens her...

Posted on 15 May 2012 | 2:10 am

Links for 2012-05-14 [del.icio.us]

Create Infographics | Data Visualization Tools | Visual.lyeasel.lyHow We Get Fat | Paleo Diet LifestyleWhat Is Wrong With Grains | Paleo Diet Lifestyle

Posted on 15 May 2012 | 1:20 am

Network Security Podcast, Episode 275

By the grace of FSM, schedules synced up this week so we could all get together (despite Martin’s perpetual jet lag). Narrowly avoiding a discussion of CISPA (we’ll save that for later), the gang touches on some vulnerability disclosure gaffes, an “attack back” proposal (what year is this?), and more. Network Security Podcast, Episode 275, May [...]

Posted on 1 May 2012 | 6:58 pm

Network Security Podcast, Episode 272 v2

As a follow up to last week’s episode, Martin was joined last week by Josh Corman to talk to Wade Baker about the 2012 Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report.  Wade talks to us about how the information for the report was gathered, some of the strengths and weaknesses of the analysis and finally how the amazing puzzle [...]

Posted on 24 April 2012 | 6:30 pm

Something to think on from Source Boston

“The Internet will never again be as free as it is this morning” – Dan Geer at SOURCE Boston Think on that for a while.  If it doesn’t scare you, it should. Update:  Here’s the full text of Dan Geer’s talk at SOURCE Boston

Posted on 18 April 2012 | 7:26 am

Network Security Podcast, Episode 274

The gang is scattered to the wind.  Rich is off at some random Margaritaville and Zach is pretending he has a real life and a new job or something.  So Martin called out the cavalry and is joined tonight by none other than Dave Lewis, aka Gattaca on twitter (I bet many of you didn’t [...]

Posted on 17 April 2012 | 5:36 pm

This is why CISPA scares me

Unlike it’s brethren, SOPA and PIPA, CISPA doesn’t scare me because it’s aimed at shutting down piracy and giving the media companies unheard of powers. CISPA scares me because it is aimed at letting companies share information between each other and with the government in order to stop bad guys, which is a noble cause. [...]

Posted on 12 April 2012 | 9:12 pm

Network Security Podcast, Episode 273

Zach is off settling in to the new job and prepping for Source Boston, but Rich and Martin managed to get together to discuss travel, the latest security news, and Rich’s rant on the whole Mac malware thing.  And Martin apologizes to listeners for the mixup with episode 272. … Network Security Podcast, Episode 273, [...]

Posted on 10 April 2012 | 4:30 pm

Network Security Podcast, Episode 272

As a follow up to last week’s episode, Martin was joined last week by Josh Corman to talk to Wade Baker about the 2012 Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report.  Wade talks to us about how the information for the report was gathered, some of the strengths and weaknesses of the analysis and finally how the amazing puzzle [...]

Posted on 5 April 2012 | 5:38 am

Global Payment Systems delisted by Visa

Last Friday Brian Krebs broke the story that MasterCard and Visa were warning of a major processor breach.  Later in the day it was announced that the payment processor was Global Payment Inc. and that approximately 50,000 card numbers had been compromised, a number that was later revised to 1.5 million card numbers.  Global Payment [...]

Posted on 2 April 2012 | 8:44 am

Network Security Podcast, Episode 271

Since Rich is on the road this week, Martin and Zach are joined by none other than friend of the podcast, Josh Corman.  Which is not that surprising, since there’s only one story we’re talking about tonight, the latest Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report.  There’s a lot to talk about again in this year’s report, [...]

Posted on 27 March 2012 | 6:44 pm

TSA blocks Schneier from testifying

If you don’t know who Bruce Schneier is, I hope you’re coming to my site because I wrote about the TSA, not because your a security professional.  He wrote several books that are staples on almost every security professionals’ shelves.  You could literally say he wrote the book on applied cryptography, since that’s the title [...]

Posted on 27 March 2012 | 9:00 am

Dancing MODEL Links: Part V(a) - Dancing in 2D

The one-dimensional vanish-and-reappear act, now in two dimensions!

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 3:45 pm

Good Habits are worth it in the long run

When I first started in this profession, I had a very wise mentor (although, at the time, I just thought of him as "a friend" ;-) who would occasionally make suggestions to me about my code. I met him at "The Computer Center" which was located across from the Student Union at OU and was where all the geeks went to use the card punch machines (yes, I just dated myself and, yes, I did use those 80 column

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 2:00 pm

This Just In...2011 Top Bloggers!

Okay we are a little slow on getting this post out but we didn’t think the bloggers should suffer because we don’t know how to use an abacus...

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 1:26 pm

Sweating Hardware in the Private Cloud

The Register UK has posted up the results and color commentary of its recent Private Cloud Survey (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/05/18/el_reg_survey_results_private_cloud/) and it’s well worth a read even if your business or you personally have n...

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 12:27 pm

Dancing MODEL Links: Disorientation, Notation, and Representation

Tripping over your own feet is frustrating. It's like my favorite joke...

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 11:38 am

Free Whitepaper to Ensure Your Emails are Secure

Online communications are essential for any business, but they can also be dangerous due to their virtual nature. Care must be taken to procure an email client that will prevent any information leaks in the future.

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 11:00 am

A “Complete List” of Windows 8 features

There’s a lot of hype about Windows 8 ,what it is and what it includes. Let me say up front, I’m not a big fan so far. I see it as a huge learning curve for tose of us who do not use touch screens or Windows phones/tablets. Here’s the most complete&...

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 7:17 am

Learning to code, should everyone do it?

Jeff Atwood thinks that not everybody should learn to write code. I disagree.

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 1:19 am

facebook IPO is on! Will it be another GroupOn or Zynga or break out wildly?

facebook IPO is on! Will it be another GroupOn or Zynga or break out wildly? GroupOn and Zynga opened to good IPOs but their stock prices have been languishing. Will facebook IPO be another one like them or will they break out and head to higher levels? Will their ad strategy work?

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 9:42 pm

Ice Cubes

My seven-year-old decided he wanted to participate in the science fair, and he came up with his own sciene experiment.  It was to test how ice cubes are made.

 

His hypothesis was that when you put a cup of water in the freezer, you get back a cup full of ice cubes.  At first, it seems funny, but then after a minute of thinking more about it, he has never seen ice

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 5:06 pm

Effect of cutting staff to the bone

We deal with small businesses, and have found since the beginning of the recession in 2008, that they have been gradually cutting down on staff. Ok, on the face of it, that seems sensible ......

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 4:09 pm

I Guess Integrity Doesn't Matter After All?

Whenever I write about the leadership quality of integrity, I get comments from those who either don't like my definition or don't think it's a black and white issue or just plain think I'm some kind of naive nut who...

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 12:02 pm

Forecast or Plan?

Many businesses have a number of things they call forecasts, ideally they are refining their planning processes to produce a single number forecast from which planning and plans can be generated!

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 6:56 am

The Housewife Syndrome in Employee Motivation

 Last week at work, we were discussing an important problem - employee motivation on a support project. A Support Project involves solving tickets. Some of those tickets are pure evidence of user ignorance or carelessness. Some of them present a technical challenge. The vast majority of tickets lie somewhere in between.

 

The team in question has been on the support project

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 6:17 am

Some good tips on having a positive experience patching Windows

All too often, folks don’t patch because they they are too lazy of have experienced (or heard of) hassles due to patching. Here are some tips from Susan Bradley, the recognized expert on Windows patching. Best practices for trouble-free Windows pat...

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 6:13 am

Here’s a way to secure a USB stick using Windows 7 “Bitlocker to Go”.

With the explosion of USB thumb drives, the size increasing to incredible sizes and the cost plummeting (I paid $20 recently for a 32GB), it’s become something of a security issue. Massive amounts of potentially personal or critical business data can...

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 5:36 am

A New Attitude Needed for HIPAA Compliance

Recent legal action means that compliance for the HIPAA is shifting from a voluntary matter to one that is heavily regulated. To be successful, this change will require the development of several universal policies and reforms.

Posted on 16 May 2012 | 11:00 am

SAP Classification vs Enhancing Master Data Tables - part III

I've recently learned of a better way to select classification data without the need for many join's or subselect statements....

Posted on 16 May 2012 | 9:00 am

Who is the biggest control freak of them all?

When it comes to computing, especially operating systems, the trend seems to reducing the amount of control the end users have over their operating system environments [stares hard at garden gnomes]. Of course with any Linux based system you can always pop the hood to access the internals however, some distributions, along with proprietary operating systems, seem intent on making it harder and harder.

 

Things

Posted on 16 May 2012 | 7:59 am

Avira Antivirus update cripples millions of Windows PCs

If you use (or know someone who uses the paid version of Avira AV, read on…Before we go off the deep end and condemn them, remember that every AV vendor out there has done this one or more times. Reportedly, there is an update out there that will fi...

Posted on 16 May 2012 | 5:52 am

A Significant Number of Home PC Users Don’t Practice Effective Personal Data Safety Measures, According to Paragon Software Survey

Paragon Software recently did a survey of 10,000 folks asking about their disk and data management/backup/erase policies. Some interesting stats. Most disturbing to me is that 15% back up their data to the same drive. Kinda defeats the purpose, espec...

Posted on 16 May 2012 | 5:05 am

Why does ERP SaaS Technology Speak to Your Business?

These days technology moves faster than the speed of light. Just when you think you have the industry jargon and acronyms down a new implementation method, business management system and/or add-on solution is released.

Posted on 16 May 2012 | 12:24 am

Rising of Mobile Business Applications

With introduction of iPhone by Apple, we have entered a new era of computing. Mobile phones that we had used for the past decades for voice and text messaging are being replace by smartphones with much higher computing power.

Posted on 16 May 2012 | 12:08 am

Deprecated: Such a cool word yet a word so misunderstood

(Posted May 15, 2012) I wanted to talk about the DSNZPARM keys deprecated in DB2 10.  And yes I do realize that I listed them out in a previous post.  However, this time I wanted to discuss why it’s important today, maybe even before migrating to DB2 10, to plan...

Posted on 15 May 2012 | 9:39 pm

Dancing MODEL Links: Part IV(a) - eXploring the Search Tree

Pac-Man dancing around the search tree?

Posted on 15 May 2012 | 9:37 pm

Where have all the bloggers gone?

As is my custom, I was just performing my periodic scan of the bloggers I have followed in the past. The Good News is that I found that a few (a [i]very[/i] few) of them have been blogging fairly regularly. The Just News is that I also found that many have been blogging on a more sporadic basis. The Bad News is that many of them have not posted a new blog entry for quite a while.

Posted on 15 May 2012 | 2:00 pm

Retailers use SOA, APIs and Mobility to Compete - Shouldn't you?

The SOA approach to multi-channel should be applied across industries; retail is just very visible with their efforts with APIs, mobile and web presences (including social). All these channels should be supported by a solid SOA foundation.

Posted on 15 May 2012 | 1:30 pm

Keep ePHI on Secure Networks, Not Mobile Devices, Recommends OCR

Of the 425 reported breach events to the OCR (Office of Civil Rights), two-thirds of all large breach cases involved loss or theft of information and more than half of these large breaches involved electronic devices.

Posted on 15 May 2012 | 1:06 pm

CIO and CFO Hunger Games: The Risks and Rewards of Rapid ERP Implementations

ERP implementations are a lot like the "Hunger Games" for CIOs, CFOs and other executives tasked with making their ERP projects successful. For those that aren’t familiar with the novel or movie, Hunger Games is predicated on a story where two children from each “district”

Posted on 15 May 2012 | 12:31 pm

Integrity Matters

"Yahoo confirmed in a Sunday afternoon press release that CEO Scott Thompson will step down, effective immediately," writes Catherine Smith for the Huffington Post. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States and supreme commander of the Allied forces during World War II, said, "The supreme quality of leadership is...

Posted on 15 May 2012 | 9:31 am

Speed of business propels SaaS expansion

SaaS adoption is rife among fast-growing companies that want to adapt to change and stay up-to-date. That leaves conventional on-premise vendors competing for the laggards.

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 11:46 am

The idiot guide to multi book accounting

Is SuccessFactors operating multi book accounting across its parallel NetSuite and ByDesign instances? Or is it just pantomime?

Posted on 16 May 2012 | 8:32 pm

SuccessFactors swaps NetSuite for ByDesign

NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson claims SuccessFactors is a NetSuite customer. SAP says it runs on ByDesign now. Who’s right?

Posted on 15 May 2012 | 1:00 pm

Paving the cowpaths to the denial cloud

Enterprises are being sold over-specified, inefficient private cloud infrastructure that will end up as shelfware, a conference heard last week.

Posted on 14 May 2012 | 7:16 pm

Tech-hugging eurocrats imperil innovation puppy

Europe needs growth and cloud computing has a role to play. But are policy makers too eager for rapid results? An event later this month may yield some answers.

Posted on 10 May 2012 | 2:06 pm

Crowd scale, friction and the nature of the firm

Why a new, digitally enabled, contract-based online business model is disrupting long-established enterprises.

Posted on 24 April 2012 | 10:29 am

The day software ate Cisco

Cisco’s track record with software tells us the company will not survive the shift to software-defined networking

Posted on 22 April 2012 | 5:44 am

Marketo buys Crowd Factory? You read it here first ...

Read my analysis of today’s news in the blog post I published last November … the trouble with prescience is that people forget too easily these days

Posted on 18 April 2012 | 9:23 am

Cloud apps, big data and the wisdom of swarms

Siri’s approach to deciphering voice recognition has lessons for SaaS vendors who are debating how to mine their stores of big data for value.

Posted on 6 April 2012 | 9:57 am

Cloud: disruptive good, disruptive bad

Adoption of cloud in the enterprise is disruptive in a bad way for IT and in a good way for business. No wonder IT wants to put the brakes on.

Posted on 29 March 2012 | 11:59 am

Are There Too Many Storage Solutions?

It's a challenge to sort through the maze of storage products to find a solution to your problem--but it's better than not having choices.

Posted on 30 January 2012 | 12:18 pm

Smartphone Adoption Higher In Europe

More U.S. consumers hold on to feature phones and dumb phones. Are U.S. carriers to blame?

Posted on 30 January 2012 | 10:46 am

Solid State Storage Can Save You Money

Solid-state storage is still expensive. Is it worth the benefits?

Posted on 26 January 2012 | 11:29 am

Smartphone Option Overload Confuses Consumers

Vendors have bombarded consumers with conflicting information about smartphone costs, network data speeds, and features, slowing adoption and upgrade rates.

Posted on 26 January 2012 | 8:54 am

Google Has Lost Control Of Android Fragmentation

Fragmentation allows variety among device makers, but can cause frustration for developers and lower satisfaction among end users.

Posted on 25 January 2012 | 10:17 am

InformationWeek's RSS Feed is brought to you by

Posted on 25 January 2012 | 10:17 am

RIM Investors Give Thumbs Down On New CEO

Stock drops after new chief Thorsten Heins said he'll stay the course laid out by his predecessors.

Posted on 24 January 2012 | 9:45 am

Windows Phone Predicted To Overtake iOS By 2015

Nokia partnership will launch Microsoft's platform to second place in global smartphone market share, iSuppli forecasts.

Posted on 23 January 2012 | 9:35 am

Solid State Disk's True Cost

IT pros focus on SSD's hefty startup costs, but you must consider other costs when evaluating the storage technology.

Posted on 20 January 2012 | 10:40 am

Can Nokia Crack The Verizon Nut?

To be successful in North America, you have to have a device on the biggest network, Verizon.

Posted on 20 January 2012 | 9:30 am

Why RIM Should Cut BlackBerry Losses

RIM's best move may be to cut its losses on BlackBerry 10 and adopt Android or Windows Phone instead.

Posted on 19 January 2012 | 9:55 am

Biggest Storage Trend of 2012

Performance management skills--in both software and IT professionals--promises to be the biggest storage story this year.

Posted on 18 January 2012 | 8:00 am

Microsoft Releases Windows 8 Tablet Specs

Microsoft's forthcoming tablets have the bar set high for minimum hardware requirements.

Posted on 18 January 2012 | 6:30 am

InformationWeek's RSS Feed is brought to you by

Posted on 17 January 2012 | 12:54 pm

RIM Taps Goldman Sachs To Explore Options

Is hiring the investment firm a sign that the BlackBerry maker is ready to seriously entertain buyout offers?

Posted on 17 January 2012 | 12:54 pm

Big Data Changes Storage Needs

Growth of unstructured data forces IT managers to look for new ways to scale storage capabilities, with cloud storage a leading option.

Posted on 13 January 2012 | 2:07 pm

Verizon Gains More Than Consumers With LTE Shift

To ease traffic on its 3G network, Verizon wants all future smartphone releases to support LTE.

Posted on 13 January 2012 | 12:59 pm

Windows Phones To Flood Market In 2012

Microsoft failed to gain much ground in the mobile phone market in 2011, but its partners should help it grab a piece of the market this year.

Posted on 12 January 2012 | 1:02 pm

Nokia Promises Exclusive Phones To U.S. Carriers

Will unique devices appease carriers and change Nokia's Microsoft Phone fortunes?

Posted on 11 January 2012 | 1:06 pm

2 Storage Management Trends To Watch In 2012

Why are consolidated storage and compute infrastructures hot now? Storage management issues can cause virtualization projects to slow down or stall.

Posted on 10 January 2012 | 12:55 pm

Tips For Multi-Platform Mobile App Development

New Forrester report has advice for enterprises supporting the consumerization of IT.

Posted on 10 January 2012 | 9:01 am

Apple's Cool Factor Waning?

Apple's best years are behind it, opines one financial reporter. Really? We don't see anyone getting a Samsung tattoo.

Posted on 6 January 2012 | 12:30 pm

Flash Dependent Storage Systems Take Off In 2012

Whether flash-only, or a combination of flash and mechanical storage, the technology is poised for significant gains.

Posted on 5 January 2012 | 12:06 pm

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Posted on 5 January 2012 | 12:06 pm

SMS Text Messaging Declines

SMS isn't going away, but looks to have peaked. That hits carriers in the pocketbook.

Posted on 5 January 2012 | 9:30 am

Will Windows Phone Take Off In 2012?

Microsoft has two updates planned for its mobile platform next year, and its application store has a lot of apps. Will it spur sales?

Posted on 29 December 2011 | 7:17 am

Will RAID Die In 2012?

The time it takes to rebuild a RAID-protected volume makes it unwieldy with today's high-capacity drives.

Posted on 28 December 2011 | 10:33 am

Androids Everywhere, But Update Model Broken

In 2011, 93 different Android phones have been released across nine U.S. carriers. But there's a downside to this diversity.

Posted on 28 December 2011 | 8:00 am

Italian Court Upholds Apple Warranty Fine

The court upheld a $1.2 million fine for violating consumer protection laws

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 10:00 pm

Facebook Buys Mobile E-commerce App Karma

The acquisition was announced just after the markets closed on Facebook's inaugural day as a public company

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 10:00 pm

Facebook IPO Madness: Own a Piece of the Giant Social Network

Not a wheeler-dealer? You still can own some Facebook stock if you really want to. Here's how.

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 10:00 pm

Social Networking Security in the Workplace

Enterprise social media tools can benefit businesses in many ways. The inherent risks of social networking, however, can be very bad for business. Educating employees on the acceptable use of social media, and having a security strategy and policies in place are essential to containing the risks.

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 10:00 pm

Facebook IPO: Why Your Data Is Worth $93 Billion

"If the product is free, you are the product."

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 10:00 pm

Anonymous Hater Claims Responsibility for Pirate Bay DDoS Attack

A hacker who claims to hate both Anonymous and notorious BitTorrent website The Pirate Bay (TPB) has claimed responsibility for the DDoS attack that TPB has been suffering under for the last 24 hours.

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 10:00 pm

Facebook Hit with Lawsuit Alleging Privacy Wrongs: Seeks $10K for Each Member

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Facebook seeking $15 billion in damages, or $10,000 per member, for violating the privacy of its members.

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 10:00 pm

Academics Propose Groundbreaking Uses for Watson

Three winners of an academic competition at the University of Rochester to create the most innovative and useful applications for IBM's Watson cognitive computing systems were announced yesterday by Big Blue.

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 10:00 pm

IT Should Forget Development, Focus on Requirements and Release Management

Despite all the changes to application lifecycle management (ALM), IT organizations are doing just fine when it comes to core development processes. It is the "bookend" processes of requirements management and release management that need help.

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 10:00 pm

Consumerization Trend Creates IT Worries, Worker Benefits

A Cisco-commissioned survey of 600 businesses found that 95% permit the use of employee-owned smartphones and tablets in the workplace.

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 10:00 pm

Windows 8 Security: What's New

Windows 8 is a major OS overhaul, but some of the most important additions might be the ones you can't see.

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 10:00 pm

Facebook IPO Stumbles Out of the Gate

The first hours of Facebook's IPO got off to a shaky start today with the share price wavering around the $40 mark, never gaining the astronomical momentum many had anticipated.

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 10:00 pm

Want Privacy on Twitter? Use Firefox

True privacy can be hard to come by in the socially enabled online world, but Twitter on Thursday announced that it has joined Firefox maker Mozilla in taking a big step forward for users.

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 10:00 pm

Facebook Employees React to IPO on Facebook

What did those in the middle of the action have to say about Facebook's historic IPO? Take a look at some of their Facebook posts.

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 10:00 pm

Microsoft Reprises Free Xbox Back-to-School PC Promo

Microsoft will repeat last year's back-to-school promotion, kicking off the deal Sunday with an offer of a free Xbox 360 game console to eligible U.S. students who buy a new Windows 7 PC.

Posted on 17 May 2012 | 10:00 pm

Facebook stock finishes flat in debut

In the hours before Facebook's stock began trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market for the first time, CEO Mark Zuckerberg reminded the company's 3,500 employees not to get caught up in the hoopla surrounding its long-awaited initial public offering.

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 5:03 pm

Inconvenient truths to a ban on texting while driving - CSMonitor.com

Ohio is the latest state to propose a ban on texting while driving. The bill is awaiting the governor’s signature. Media outlets in the state report there was a heated debate on the Senate floor. Really? Who could possibly be opposed to a ban on texting while driving? Even  …

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 4:23 pm

Sudden wealth part of Silicon Valley's everyday

In Silicon Valley, where sudden wealth is hardly something new and CEOs favor hoodies over bespoke blazers, Facebook's IPO on Friday didn't bring everyday life to a halt.

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 4:09 pm

Beyond Facebook: A look at social network history

Facebook may have made social networking a worldwide cultural phenomenon, but it wasn't the first Internet company to connect people online. And it won't be the last. Here's a look at how social networking has evolved. Some companies have come and gone. Some are mere shells of their former selves. And others show promise, even as Facebook dominates the social Web.

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 3:14 pm

Social media stocks tumble on tepid Facebook IPO

The lukewarm response to Facebook Inc.'s initial public offering sent shares of other social-media companies tumbling Friday.

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 2:59 pm

India's proposal for government control of Internet to be discussed in Geneva

The raging controversy over possible excessive state regulation of the internet based on the IT Rules 2011 is now likely to be dwarfed by discussions in Geneva later this week over India's proposal to the United Nations General Assembly, for government control of the Internet.

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 2:35 pm

VW Passat 78.5 MPG in the Uk

Video of a guy who found out about better fuel efficiency in cars in the UK.

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 2:08 pm

Twitter to adopt Do-Not-Track option

Twitter said it will officially support “Do Not Track,” a standardized privacy initiative that has been heavily promoted by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, online privacy advocates and Mozilla, the non-profit developer of the Firefox Web browser.

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 1:55 pm

Facebook users weigh in on, well, Facebook

While Facebook's initial public offering Friday had all of Wall Street abuzz, its 900 million users had other things on their minds. They were busy sharing with the world their thoughts about the presidential election, Haitian Flag Day and the weekend.

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 1:48 pm

Ultra-Orthodox plan huge NYC meeting on Net risks

Ultra-Orthodox Jews who believe that the Internet threatens their way of life have rented the New York Mets' stadium for an unprecedented gathering on how to use modern technology in a religiously appropriate way.

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 12:47 pm

Midmarkets invest in Cloud based ERP services

Midmarket companies are increasingly investing in Cloud Computing and are offering Cloud based ERP services to their customers.

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 11:16 am

Gov. mistakenly says Facebook invented in Calif.

Apparently, California Gov. Jerry Brown forgot to rent "The Social Network."

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 11:07 am

Facebook stock up slightly in public debut - Yahoo! Finance

Facebook stock up slightly in public debut "Facebook stock up slightly in first day of trading after raking in $16 billion in IPO"  

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 10:53 am

The reality of Mobile Malware

Mobile Malware is no longer in theory but has become a real world security issue to be dealt with. 6 things have proved the impact of Mobile security breach.

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 10:48 am

Toppingo - the latest in App Stores -

Toppingo lets you explore internet stores through story, video and image reader. Keep a tab on what is new and what is hot in all Social Media channels through this new iTunes App.

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 10:21 am

Unlimited data options grow limited- MSN Money

Unlimited data options grow limited- MSN Money

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 9:55 am

Demand for High Speed Data Driving 'Dark Fiber' Spending

As the amount of data traffic has grown in recent years, the demand for broadband networks that support it has increased as well, driving industry revenue growth among dark-fiber providers. According to IBISWorld, by the end of 2012 dark fiber revenues will grow at an average ann …

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 8:47 am

File-Sharing Is Linked to Depression, Researchers Find

A new paper published by researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology reveals that people with depressive symptoms are more avid file-sharers than those without them. The research in question was conducted among students whose connections to the campus network w …

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 8:45 am

All-time top 10 IPOs for Internet companies

Facebook Inc. and its shareholders raised $16 billion in an initial public offering of stock. It is the largest IPO by far for an Internet company. The amount raised comes from how many shares were sold by the company and its early investors — 421.2 million — at the IPO price of $38.

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 8:27 am

German privacy official warns Facebook investors

A German data protection official has warned Facebook investors that the social networking site's $38 starting share price is based on practices that breach European privacy rules.

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 8:02 am

100-Year Starship: Mae Jemison reaches for the stars

Within 100 years, the goal is to develop interstellar travel.

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 7:28 am

Driverless Google Car Rides Around DC

Kind of cool to have a driverless car, but I really don't see the point.  I guess it would make a good taxi because you wouldn't have to deal with the driver!

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 7:14 am

FACEBOOK FACE-OFF: Press the 'like' button, soon - ABC6 - Providence, RI and New Bedford, MA News, Weather

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 2:04 am

Should angry Verizon subscribers ditch Big Red? | Mobile - CNET News

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 2:00 am

China rejects US ruling in solar dumping case

China's government on Friday rejected a U.S. antidumping ruling against its makers of solar power equipment and Chinese manufacturers warned possible higher tariffs might hurt efforts to promote clean energy.

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 12:52 am

AU10TIX, A Wholly Owned Subsidiary Of ICTS Intl, Teams Up With 3M To...

AU10TIX, a wholly owned subsidiary of ICTS International N.V., has entered into a Teaming Agreement with the UK subsidiary of the diversified technology company, 3M. AU10TIX will offer a new...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9514457.htm

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Now Playing: Choice Logistics’ Mike Beck Shares Insights in Bank of...

Financial executive of high-tech logistics services firm discusses opportunities and challenges ahead.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/critical/logistics/prweb9517612.htm

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Tammi Murphy Joins Nova Mobile Systems as Marketing Coordinator

Mobile Computing Solutions Company Selects New Marketing Coordinator to Increase Marketing Efforts and Online Presence

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9518953.htm

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The 1st Computer Glove on Hand, The New Ion 3D Computer Mouse Glove,...

Bellco’s Ion 3D Computer mouse controls the computer cursor from up to 35 ft away works on any computer. No desktop required.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9520904.htm

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T-Mobile Sidekick 4G Now Has a Presence on the Cellphone-Repair-Shop...

T-Mobile Sidekick 4G parts can now be found on Cellphone Repair Shop. These parts are available...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/sidekick/4g/prweb9521463.htm

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Telax Added to A Midsummer Night’s Run’s Sponsor List

Charitable 5k run to donate proceeds to the SickKids Foundation.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521702.htm

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Piyanka Jain of Aryng to Speak at Data Science Summit 2012 – Las Vegas

Piyanka Jain, President and CEO of Aryng to present “Navigating the Road from Business Intelligence to Data Science: Trials and Triumphs” at this year’s Data Science Summit held in Las Vegas May...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/DataScienceSummit/Aryng/prweb9521999.htm

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New Apps Enable Better Tracking of Mobile Workforce

Whether the person to be tracked is a lone worker, a VIP, or someone else, a pair of new apps from Position Logic has users covered on both Android and Blackberry devices.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/GPS-Tracking-Software/Mobile-Apps/prweb9522742.htm

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FedSolutions Earns Gold Competency for Virtualization in the Microsoft...

FedSolutions, the IT Management and Consulting firm, is proud to announce that they have achieved the Microsoft Gold status in the competency for Virtualization as part of the Microsoft Partner...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516365.htm

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AnswerNet Launches Video Chat Moderation Service in the Call Center...

AnswerNet is among the first call centers to include Video Chat Moderation in their list of products and services.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516872.htm

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QTS Commits to Solar Power Generation at its Richmond and Atlanta Data...

Company announces additional energy efficiency enhancements in compliance with its Green Program.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9518840.htm

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Global Financial & Remarketing Services Launches Revamped Website

Global Financial & Remarketing Services, LLC, an equipment leasing and alternative financial solutions firm, is pleased to announce the launch of their newly revamped website,...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9510399.htm

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GL Conveys the Availability of Scripted MGCP Protocol Emulation

GL Communications Inc.conveyed today the availability of its product MAPS™ MGCP Protocol Emulator – Scripted MGCP...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/GLcommunicationsinc/MAPS-MGCP-Emulator/prweb9513490.htm

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Latest Post from iPhone Tips Blog, iPhoneSamurai.com, Announces a New...

iPhone Samurai offers iPhone addicts around the world the latest tips and advice for their handheld device. In his latest blog post, Benny Meyer announces new information on how the iPhone is now...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/iphonesamurai/iphonetips/prweb9514086.htm

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Synacor (Booth 2247) at The NCTA Cable Show 2012 to Showcase Next-Gen...

At NCTA Cable Show 2012, Synacor Demos TV Everywhere Services, and Carbyn HTML5, Cloud-Based, Mobile Platform, and Solutions for Independent Operators to Enable Digital Entertainment, TVE Adoption...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516703.htm

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Bad Product Outcomes Often Due to Product Complexity

Accept Software releases their latest video discussing what is at the root of companies producing unsuccessful products and having bad product outcomes – product complexity. These complexities are...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516707.htm

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Vertical Consultants Announces it will Donate a Portion of its Fees to...

Vertical Consultants will donate a portion of its telecom consulting fees to charities across the nation located in the same communities of the telecom leases negotiatied.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/cell-tower-lease/cell-tower-experts/prweb9517622.htm

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2012 Phenomenon Inspires Newly Curated Collection of Apocalyptic...

As interest in the end of the world increases for 2012 phenomenon followers, Stocktrek Images has put together a stunning collection of apocalyptic art showcasing diverse belief sets. Shoppers are...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/endofworld/apocalypse2012/prweb9456331.htm

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Contact Solutions and Global Payment Technology Provider Improve...

Calls transferred to live agents reduced by 57%, average call length shortened by 22%

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9509696.htm

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Sovran Celebrates 25 Years of Technology for Business at TechFest...

From the origin of the PC to Cloud computing, technology innovations from the past generation will be on display at Sovran June 14, 2012.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9510528.htm

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Total i Repair Launches National Two-Day Turnaround Apple Mobile...

Total i Repair (http://totalirepair.com) today announced the availability of their fast Apple mobile device repair services on a two day...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/AppleiPadiPhoneRepair/TotaliRepair/prweb9510753.htm

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BenchmarkPortal and Symmetrics Presents a Live Webinar on iBenchmark,...

BenchmarkPortal’s complimentary webinar will be held on Thurs., May 31, 2012 at 10am PT/11am MT/12pm CT/1pm ET. iBenchmark automates the process of benchmarking, transforming a valuable but...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/call-center-technology/benchmarking-ibenchmark/prweb9511399.htm

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New MTWD Digital Torque Wrench by Mountz, Inc.

The MTWD is a new digital torque wrench from Mountz Inc. that provides a digital display of torque readings. The tool is designed for screw tightening, fastener audit and general torque measurement...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9512333.htm

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Real Estate Investing Becomes More Efficient Through New Marketing...

This week, Matt Gerchow and Corey Boatright reached a new marketing agreement that allows members of Real-Estate-Investing.com to directly access the products and services of Shortsaleology.com.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/real-estate-investing/prweb9513112.htm

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Pixatel Selected for Mobile Learning Initiatives Recognition Award at...

Pixatel’s Android Productivity Suite awarded 2012 Asia Pacific Mobile Learning Initiatives Recognition

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/pixatel/gomobileaward/prweb9513302.htm

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Learn How Creating a Browser Add-on Can Help Your Business

Besttoolbars releases free whitepaper “6 Ways Distributing Your Own Browser Add-on Can Help Your Business” containing key statistical data and revealing tactics and key success factors from industry...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9513642.htm

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Money Transfer: Why Has this Taken so Long? Genkiosk, the Kiosk...

In days gone by, transferring money from one place to another – especially internationally – was costly, arduous and time-consuming. Those days are long gone. Especially in countries where...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9513809.htm

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Top SEO Company Wins 2012 SmartCEO Volt Award

Blue Corona, a leading provider of inbound marketing and SEO services was honored by SmartCEO Magazine for developing technologies that create a competitive advantage for their customers.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/seo-company-wins-award/may-15-2012/prweb9513838.htm

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North Florida Broadband Authority and Main Street Broadband Announce...

Agreement Expands High Speed Internet Service to Rural North Florida.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9514231.htm

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Rishidot Research Announces DeployCon 2012, Industry's First...

Rishidot Research announced an enterprise conference focused on Platform as a Service

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/rishidot/2012/prweb9514908.htm

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Noble Systems Unveils New Products, Features and Strategies at 2012...

Global contact center technology leader follows successful users group conferences in Australia, UK with flagship event near global headquarters in Atlanta

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/noblesystems/snug2012/prweb9515063.htm

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Belatrix Software Factory Appoints Karin Nauth-Shelley as Vice...

Previously with technology firms Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro Technologies and Forrester Research, Nauth-Shelley joins Belatrix Software Factory to expand its brand globally.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9515744.htm

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VISI to Host Enterprise Cloud Computing Seminar in May

Jason Baker, VISI’s Chief Technology Officer, will cover a recommended three step approach when contracting services from an enterprise cloud provider including on how to identify the business IT...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516078.htm

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Network Monitoring Software Company Releases Enterprise-level Fault...

Boston-based tech startup releases network fault management program Trap Manager this month.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516597.htm

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Optimum Lightpath Healthcare Services Suite Drives Latest Healthcare...

Optimum Lightpath Healthcare Services Suite helps New York metro area healthcare organizations support new services, streamline operations, better communicate about patient care and cut costs.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516661.htm

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Teen iPhone Owners Get More Listening Pleasure Out of Their Smartphone...

Teens who use their iPhone as their main music device have a new way to get the most out of their song-listening experience. The recently released iHangy™ Music Necklace™ has been designed my mobile...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9517342.htm

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FairPoint Teams with Vermont Attorney General, AARP and Rutland Police...

Vermont seniors are targets of lottery scam originating from area code 876.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9517636.htm

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Arrival of LTE in Kansas City Boosts Verizon and AT&T Ahead of...

Verizon Earns Top Spot in Kansas City after 14,657 Real-world Data, Call and Text Tests

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9517949.htm

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Localphone.com Rewards Customers with 1/3 Off Calls to Ghana

Leading international call provider, Localphone, is rewarding customers with 1/3 off all calls to Ghana for a whole week.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9519323.htm

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Multi-Tech Systems Unveils New Look at CTIA

M2M Industry Invited to Weigh in on Router/Gateway Chassis Prototype Designs

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9519782.htm

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Micron Optics Releases Free ENLIGHT 1.5 Optical Sensing Software

ENLIGHT 1.5 is a major new software release that enhances existing features and adds new functionality, principally in the areas of data management, archiving, analysis, and access for Micron...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/sensing_software/ENLIGHT/prweb9521150.htm

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PSCo Technical Distribution To Demonstrate Trenton Systems - Matrox...

Matrox Graphics validated video controller solutions built on Trenton Systems platform features Matrox Mura™ MPX Series controller boards to maximize video display wall performance and application...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9509883.htm

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Android Smartphone Activations Reached 331 Million in Q1'2012...

Android Maintains Market Dominance in the Smartphone Sector

(PRWeb May 16, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9514037.htm

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Free Mobile App for Sage Peachtree: IntelleApps Releases ConnectBooks,...

IntelleApps of Chantilly, Virginia introduced its flagship product, ConnectBooks for Sage Peachtree accounting, to the Sage sales and development staff at the Sage Development Partners Conference held...

(PRWeb May 16, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/accounting_systems/ConnectBooks/prweb9499022.htm

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GL Announces Handheld Portable Test Instruments for TDM and IP...

GL Communications Inc. announced today the release of their Handheld Portable Test Instruments for TDM...

(PRWeb May 16, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/glcommunicationsinc/handportable-units/prweb9508569.htm

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Cayman Enterprise City - A Bold Vision, An Exciting Reality

The Chief Executive Officer of the Caribbean's first knowledge-based Special Economic Zone brings a wealth of experience to the position. Jason Blick, who worked with successful technology and...

(PRWeb May 16, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9509933.htm

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Vertical Consultants Adds Indiana Based Company as Client

Vertical Consultants to provide counsel to Bloomington, Indiana area based AMI equities.

(PRWeb May 16, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/cell-tower-lease-experts/cell-tower-leases/prweb9511516.htm

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TDS® continues partnership with Lotus HVM Racing at Indy 500

Lotus HVM Racing is pleased to welcome TDS Telecommunications Corp. (TDS®) and their guests back the Indianapolis 500 for the third consecutive year. TDS® continues its partnership as the...

(PRWeb May 16, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9512003.htm

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Steve Bederman, CEO, thē Call Center Corporation, US Distributors of...

thē Call Center Corporation, authorities in call center software and technology, adds Steve Bederman’s blog to thecallcentercorp.com website. thē Call Center Corporation aims to provide education to...

(PRWeb May 16, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012call-center-software/05VoIP-predictive-dialer/prweb9512594.htm

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EC-Council Foundation Announces Innovative Child Online Protection...

Online Global Cyber Defense Competition comprised of computer network defense and computer forensics games that mimics real world scenarios to attract over 15,000 players from 6 continents for both...

(PRWeb May 16, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9512624.htm

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Exxova Announces Opening of Subsidiary Office in Europe

Exxova opens UK office to better serve the European, African, and Middle Eastern markets.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9505129.htm

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Deloitte Survey has Americans Looking to Travel, Big4.com Reports on...

Travel expenses still a concern

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9514025.htm

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CUSTOMS Info Releases CUSTOMS Info News App for Android

Free app keeps users up-to-date on the latest International Industry trends and developments.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9515790.htm

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Time Management Is The Key To Internet Marketing;...

Most business owners realize the value of time management but with internet marketing, it takes on a whole new level. DreamWareEnteprise.com takes a look at proper time management to help improve the...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9515888.htm

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Top VoIP Equipment Supplier TelcoDepot.com Launches Special Discounts...

Leading VoIP equipment provider TelcoDepot.com now provides special discounts for factories on bulk purchases of phone systems, VoIP equipment, video surveillance equipment, access control systems,...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/TelcoDepot/Phone-Systems/prweb9519892.htm

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The Business Finance Store Discusses Small Business Outsourcing

The Business Finance Store discusses things and places to consider when thinking about outsourcing small business tasks.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521366.htm

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EzTimeSheet: Robust Employee Attendance Tracker Designed with...

Computerized employee time tracking is quick and painless with ezTimeSheet- the robust timesheet software designed with all the features a small business needs and simple enough for anyone to use. Try...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/business/HR-software/prweb9521784.htm

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Keller Williams Realty, Inc. Ranked in America’s Top 10 Workplaces

National employee survey ranks Keller Williams offices as one of nation's best workplaces.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9523437.htm

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Top 10 Trends in the Executive Employment Market

ExecuNet’s 2012 Executive Job Market Intelligence Report reveals what’s happening in the executive workplace, according to search firm recruiters, corporate talent acquisition professionals and...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9523474.htm

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EPM Live’s Project Portfolio Management Software Gets Praised for Its...

GetApp Releases an In Depth Review of EPM Live and Identifies Three Key Areas Where the Solution Stands Out

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/EPMLive-project-managemen/getapp/prweb9513764.htm

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Listen To The Karla Dennis Webinar Series: Facebook Co-Founder Saverin...

Karla delves into the topic of saving on taxes like Eduardo Saverin, co-founder of Facebook does. Now that Facebook is going public, he stands to make a LOT of money. learn what he does in part to...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516518.htm

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Elearning! Opens Nominations for Best of Elearning! 2012 Awards

Ballots now open for Elearning! Media Group’s Exclusive Reader’s Choice Awards Program

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9519597.htm

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Benefits Veteran to Lead Businessolver Client Service Team

Businessolver continued the expansion of its service delivery teams with the addition of Diane Pohlmeier.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/d/pohlmeier/prweb9523432.htm

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Premier Advantage Marketing Attends Issues & Trends in Medicare...

Premier Advantage Marketing attends a conference as it expands its industry reach and branches out to the Medicare Supplement and Medicare Advantage mailings.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9523986.htm

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Financial Recovery Technologies Announces New Management Hires

Experienced Industry Leaders to Manage Significant Growth of Global Settlement Recovery Services

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9514097.htm

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Exxova Announces Clariba as New Channel Partner

Clariba enters reseller agreement with Exxova to include MyBI Mobile™ as part of their solution range.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9505038.htm

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Big4.com Reports on Accenture’s Expanding Scope and Capabilities...

First SAP Partner to make large investment in SAP HANA®

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9509084.htm

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China’s E-Commerce Explosion Calls for Stronger Distribution...

Tompkins International Podcast Weighs Strengths, Weaknesses of E-Retail Supply Chains

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9510123.htm

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Popular Printing Firm 4OVER4.COM Launches Discount Printing Offer for...

Leading NY business printer 4OVER4.COM has launched a special discount printing offer for fast food restaurants. With the new offer, fast food restaurants can take advantage of discounted printing...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/4OVER4/flyer-printing/prweb9511660.htm

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Lean Supply Chain and Logistics Workshop Set for Lean Transportation...

The Lean Enterprise Institute and LeanCor, a third-party logistics provider, partner to offer a hands-on workshop.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012LeanLogistics/05SupplyChain/prweb9511707.htm

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Hauber to Speak at ACUA Annual Conference on Construction Auditing and...

Ryan Hauber is speaking on “Construction Auditing and Risks of Fraud in 2012 and Beyond” at the Association of College and University Auditors (ACUA) Annual Conference Tuesday, September 11, 2012 in...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9514688.htm

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Tata Technologies eMO EV Design Chief to Moderate Global Micro-Cars...

Peter Davis, Tata Technologies Chief Designer - Vehicle Design, will moderate a panel discussion titled "Global Micro-Cars Interiors" at the 2012 Wards Auto Interiors Conference.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/tatatechnologies/eMO/prweb9515290.htm

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Crazy Tuesday: The Black Friday Of The Storing And Moving Business...

The self storage industry gears up for "Crazy Tuesday" and the start to the busiest moving and self storage time of the year.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/StorageMart-Crazy-Tuesday/May-29th-2012/prweb9515412.htm

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WorldStrides Acquires Educational Travel Provider NETC

Student travel industry leader expands its International Division

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9515876.htm

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National Association of Tax Debt Resolution Companies to Set the...

TRS CEO Michael Rozbruch among tax relief experts convening to unearth challenges and polish an image tarnished by unscrupulous acts of a few bad tax actors

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516620.htm

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Chris Chrisbens Joins Holland & Hart’s Denver Office

Chrisbens' addition to the firm marks the introduction of a new business line within Holland & Hart’s Labor and Employment practice – Affirmative Action Plan Design and Development.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516760.htm

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VoIP Equipment Supplier TelcoDepot.com Launches Discount Offer on...

Telecom equipment provider TelcoDepot.com has rolled out a special discount offer on phone systems and communications equipment for Data Centers which will allow them to save costs on the purchase of...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/TelcoDepot/voip-phone-systems/prweb9517215.htm

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The Business Finance Store Discusses Balance Transfer Cards for Small...

The Business Finance Store discusses some things to consider when seeking out a balance transfer card to consolidate business debt.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9517351.htm

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Vertical Consultants Announces it will Donate a Portion of its Fees to...

Vertical Consultants will donate a portion of its telecom consulting fees to charities across the nation located in the same communities of the telecom leases negotiatied.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/cell-tower-lease/cell-tower-experts/prweb9517622.htm

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Ash Brokerage Selects Aplifi’s AFFIRM for Annuities as its Annuity...

Ash Brokerage has adopted Aplifi's AFFIRM for Annuities to support its brokerage annuity sales.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9517715.htm

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TEKsystems and Aerotek Inspires a New Generation of Diverse Business...

TEKsystems, a leading provider of IT staffing solutions, IT talent management expertise and IT services and Aerotek, a leading provider of recruiting and staffing services, announce a $25,000 annual...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9518002.htm

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The Stop TB Partnership and The Lilly MDR-TB Partnership, in...

A joint Innovation Summit seeks to find solutions for identified barriers to treating tuberculosis.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9519167.htm

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Firm Successfully Handles Office Lease Renegotiation for Metering...

Silent Partner Negotiators recently completed a lease renegotiation for a small sub-metering business.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9520582.htm

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Cost-Effective Legal Services for Commercial, Employee and Customer...

The Business Dispute Clinic is the revolutionary concept of Marti G. O'Hare, a New York attorney of Mg O'Hare Law. It offers small and mid-size companies alternative options to...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/resolvebusinessdisputes/businessowners/prweb9448628.htm

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Katzman Garfinkel & Berger Partner Donna DiMaggio Berger Honored...

Leading Community Association Attorney Celebrated for Business & Community Leadership in Award Presented by The Boys and Girls Clubs of Broward County

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/DonnaDiMaggioBerger/100OutstandingWomenAwards/prweb9508467.htm

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The 25 Most Popular Cloud Apps for Business in April 2012

GetApp, the #1 Cloud Business Apps Marketplace, releases the list of the most popular apps with its users in April 2012. Zoho remains the most popular app with Desk.com and AtTask in second and third...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/top-business-apps/2012/prweb9509930.htm

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BenchmarkPortal and Symmetrics Presents a Live Webinar on iBenchmark,...

BenchmarkPortal’s complimentary webinar will be held on Thurs., May 31, 2012 at 10am PT/11am MT/12pm CT/1pm ET. iBenchmark automates the process of benchmarking, transforming a valuable but...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/call-center-technology/benchmarking-ibenchmark/prweb9511399.htm

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Formal Rules of Engagement Key in Co-opetition—Yet Only 39% Use Them

“Talk with the Experts” webinar host Jodi Bailey Gill, speaking on Co-Opetition, Collaboration and Strategic Alliances, shared that “only 39% of companies surveyed said they have a formal agreement in...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9511650.htm

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Certified Scrum Product Owner Course August 7th & 8th in Boulder...

Certified Scrum Product Owner training with Scrum expert Mike Cohn is coming to Boulder on the 7th and 8th of August. Register by July 9 and save $100.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9511717.htm

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Afterburner, Inc. Delivers Corporate Team Development Workshop to...

Leading Global Producer of Safe Flame Retardant Products Attends Flawless Execution(SM) Debriefing Workshop in Saint Thomas

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/corporate-team/development/prweb9512277.htm

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New Tax Reductions Present Opportunities for Small Business Owners

Dolman Bateman & Co, a specialist Chartered Accounting firm says"the reductions in the tax rates announced in the 2012 Australian Government Budget were aimed at low income earners but also...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9512882.htm

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Safety Management Systems Expands to California

Lafayette, Louisiana, based Safety Management Systems is expanding its reach westward, having just acquired Safety and Training Consultants, Inc, an occupational safety, health and environmental...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9514256.htm

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Johns Hopkins University and Cordys to Present at PlanetPTC Live 2012

Cordys, the leading BPMS and Paas software vendor that helps companies drive operational excellence, will be presenting a customer use-case study together with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9514663.htm

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Franchise ASAP Set to Open New office in Austin, TX

Franchise ASAP, a successful Franchise Development company with corporate offices in Big Canoe, GA today announced plans to open a new office in Austin, TX.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9515653.htm

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Smashburger Tops FastCasual.com’s Top 100 for 2012

The 2012 report ranks the top 50 concepts, 20 people, 10 menu trends and 10 technology trends in the fast-growing restaurant industry segment.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9515679.htm

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Everest Group Study Finds Procurement Outsourcing Market Saw Second...

Companies with Revenues Over $1 Billion Expected to Lead PO Market to 15 Percent Growth in 2012

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/everestgroup/POAnnualReport2012/prweb9515840.htm

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Management Concepts Introduces Unique, Configurable Supervisor...

Management Concepts, Inc., the nation’s leading provider of practical, effective training for the federal government, today announced the launch of the Professional Government Supervisor Program...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516170.htm

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Narragansett Bay Insurance Company Issues 100,000th Homeowner’s Policy

The 100,000th policy was issued to Rogers & Gray Insurance in their Kingston, Mass. office.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516249.htm

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ClinicServer Releases PencilThat: An Affordable, Easy to Use...

ClinicServer offers a time-saving, revenue increasing solution to their cloud-based practice management software. This new feature, called PencilThat, enables clients to book their own appointments...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516345.htm

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ReadyFUND$ Launches eZbenefits, a Health Discount Plan For All...

With the addition of eZbenefits, ReadyFUND$ now provides cardholders and their families a way to receive discounts on prescription drugs and a wide variety of...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516508.htm

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Socialdashboard.com Emerges on Eve of Facebook's IPO

SOCIAL DASHBOARD (http://www.socialdashboard.com) is a social media desktop combining browser functionality like Chrome, Explorer and Firefox with built-in...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9494387.htm

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Exxova Announces Opening of Subsidiary Office in Europe

Exxova opens UK office to better serve the European, African, and Middle Eastern markets.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9505129.htm

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Uniblue Launches the New softwarepatch.com

Redesigned, revamped, re-launched

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9509235.htm

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Allied Wallet and 3dcart Partner to Simplify Payment Processing

Credit Card Processing Made Easy for Online Merchants

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9517494.htm

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Jagged Peak’s eCommerce Platform Offers Seamless ‘Buy Anywhere,...

While “omni-channel retailing” is the latest buzz-phrase for the multitude of consumer shopping options, retailers may soon coin “omni-channel fulfillment” to describe the growing number of choices...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9520776.htm

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BrideLive Announces Dramatically Redesigned Website

The aim of BrideLive’s new site design is to allow visitors to gain a better understanding of BrideLive and the benefits it brings to their...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/BrideLive/Website/prweb9521398.htm

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EzTimeSheet: Robust Employee Attendance Tracker Designed with...

Computerized employee time tracking is quick and painless with ezTimeSheet- the robust timesheet software designed with all the features a small business needs and simple enough for anyone to use. Try...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/business/HR-software/prweb9521784.htm

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The Benefits of Translating Website into Spanish

http://www.merrillbrink.com: Few US-based firms targeting the domestic market cannot afford to overlook the growing Hispanic population on their doorstep and...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/merrill-brink/language-services/prweb9522096.htm

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Retail Expert Lindsay Carpen Says Retailers Should Think Nationally...

In New Series of Blog Posts on WhatsNextRetail.com, Retail Customer Experience Expert Carpen Tackles the Challenges Social Media is Causing Retailers and Offers a Bounty of Solutions to Improve the...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9523700.htm

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NextServices Proudly Announces the Launch of Enki Mobile EHR on the...

NextServices announces the launch of their mobile electronic health records software, enki, and will be showcasing the mobile EHR at the Digestive Disease Week 2012 show in San Diego from May 20th to...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9505048.htm

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Are You Ready for Adobe Indesign CS6?

Language translation specialists, StorePoint is pleased to announce the forthcoming release of PointandGo Localise will fully support Adobe InDesign and CS6 files as part of a major upgrade.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/translate-indesign-docs/language-translation-tool/prweb9513677.htm

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EPM Live’s Project Portfolio Management Software Gets Praised for Its...

GetApp Releases an In Depth Review of EPM Live and Identifies Three Key Areas Where the Solution Stands Out

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/EPMLive-project-managemen/getapp/prweb9513764.htm

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Media SOS Makes it Easy to Copy Content from iOS and Android Devices

Copy music, photos and videos in three simple steps.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9514749.htm

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Rocket Matter Launches Blazingly Fast Bulk Document Upload Feature

Leading cloud based legal software now enables rapid, drag-and-drop uploading of simultaneous multiple documents, creating a seamless document management platform for legal professionals.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9517117.htm

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iXsystems Announces MeetBSD California 2012

iXsystems to host this year’s conference at the Yahoo! campus in the San Francisco Bay Area

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9517517.htm

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MASA SWORD at ITEC 2012: Extends Interoperability with C2/C4ISR...

SWORD 5.0 features new missions, behaviors and models, easier and improved exercise creation

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9518522.htm

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iCIMS Talent Platform Honored as Best IT Product & Service for...

Leading SaaS provider recognized by Network Products Guide Hot Companies & Best Products Awards

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9518759.htm

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SoftCafe Releases MenuPro 10 – World’s Leading Menu Design Software

MenuPro 10, the latest version of SoftCafe’s award winning menu software, has been recently released and includes more menu styles, artwork, and features than ever before.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9518907.htm

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Tesla Motors and Standard Textile Both Select EASEworks®...

Tesla Motors and Standard Textile select EASEworks® Manufacturing Change Control software to monitor and track changes throughout their manufacturing operations.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9519983.htm

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Deseret Health Group Makes Strategic Decision with Move to HealthMEDX...

Deseret Health Group has chosen HealthMEDX Vision to manage resident records across over 20 locations in Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Utah. System architecture and focus for multi-site,...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9520702.htm

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contentAI Studios Release “My Tooth Fairy Chat” -- A Children's...

The new addition to the contentAI studios' children's library of mobile and desktop apps is an interactive chat with a magical version of the Tooth Fairy. contentAI studios are expanding to...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521346.htm

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Telax Added to A Midsummer Night’s Run’s Sponsor List

Charitable 5k run to donate proceeds to the SickKids Foundation.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521702.htm

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Secure Delivery Center 2012: A Private OSS Marketplace to Challenge...

Genuitec's management technology, Secure Delivery Center, defines market desire for security and reliability by managing developer technologies in a customizable marketplace.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521741.htm

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Connections.com Announces Launch of ConnectCARE to Safely Protect Your...

Connections for Business’ new signature service gives clients peace of mind with a complete off-site data backup and solid protection from malicious threats to their business network.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521746.htm

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New and Relaxing Free Chat Box Launched By Chat Wing for Myspace Users

Chatwing is now available for Myspace users. This website chat app is known for successful connection in just few clicks. Additionally, Chatwing is very easy to use.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9522295.htm

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Professionally-Designed Myspace Templates Now Common Topics in...

Myspace template hunters can now use Chatwing’s website chat tool to widen their search. This chat application excels in providing efficient communication for everyone. Chatwing is also very easy to...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9522322.htm

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MacScan 2.9.3 with Google Chrome & SeaMonkey Support Released

SecureMac is proud to announce the release of MacScan 2.9.3, the latest version of its award-winning anti-spyware and security software, which features tracking cookie detection and cleaning for...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/macscan293/googlechrome/prweb9522991.htm

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SalesKatz to Launch June 11, 2012

Development and beta testing proceeding at an accelerated rate.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9523976.htm

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Shula’s 347 Grill Uses Uptown Network to Take iPad Menus Well Beyond...

‘Personal Sommelier’ Expands iPad Wine List To Highlight Desserts, Scotch, Martinis And More

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9524389.htm

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Cloverleaf Insurance Provides Assistance to Consumers Looking for...

Shopping for insurance can be confusing for many consumers and making decisions about the right coverage can sometimes be difficult. Cloverleaf Insurance understands these consumer concerns and has...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/missouri/auto-insurance/prweb9524775.htm

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Update of AKVIS Artistic Bundle: Sketch 13.5, ArtWork 6.5, ArtSuite...

AKVIS is glad to announce the update of three artistic programs: Sketch 13.5, ArtWork 6.5, ArtSuite 8.0. Bugs have been fixed, and the plug-in versions are now compatible with Adobe Photoshop CS6.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9513447.htm

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AppPoint Recognized as a Cool Vendor of 2012 for its Enterprise...

AppPoint, a provider of an enterprise business application platform today announced that it has been included in the list of “Cool Vendors in Application and Integration Platforms, 2012.” According...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9513905.htm

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PDF2Office Professional v6.0 Ships - PDF Converter for Mac Converts...

Recosoft ships PDF2Office Professional v6.0 - PDF Converter for Mac converts PDF files and XPS files to Mac Excel, Word, PowerPoint and OmniGraffle files.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9504104.htm

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3dcart Merchants Can Now Centrally Manage Amazon & Sears...

New Integration Helps Save Time & Hassle with Product Feed Management

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9488688.htm

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Lectora User Conference Releases Mobile App for Leading e-Learning...

Mobile Application Provides Convenient Access to Valuable Resources for Learning, Networking & Fun for the e-Learning Conference & Chicago

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/Lectora/e-Learning/prweb9505008.htm

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Exxova Announces Clariba as New Channel Partner

Clariba enters reseller agreement with Exxova to include MyBI Mobile™ as part of their solution range.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9505038.htm

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PrestaShop Partners with Shipwire to Create Dynamic Shipping and...

PrestaShop, the world’s leading Open-source e-commerce solution, recently partnered with Shipwire, a company designed to help online businesses expand into new markets by eliminating the hassles of...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9509490.htm

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Memory Improvement Soars to New Heights, Following Launch of Ultimate...

Providing a structured and proven approach to memory improvement, Ultimate Memory™ announces its launch to the US market.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9512234.htm

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AvantLink Introduces Proprietary Web Analytics Platform

AvantMetrics, a new analytics platform from AvantLink, provides online advertisers with complete customer path-to-purchase data insight, rather than just data on the last click that leads to a...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/affiliate/analytics/prweb9512296.htm

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GL Conveys the Availability of Scripted MGCP Protocol Emulation

GL Communications Inc.conveyed today the availability of its product MAPS™ MGCP Protocol Emulator – Scripted MGCP...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/GLcommunicationsinc/MAPS-MGCP-Emulator/prweb9513490.htm

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Athena Software partners with Australian consulting firm Sinapse

Waterloo Region tech company Athena Software signs agreement with Australian-based consulting company Sinapse to provide training and support for Athena's expanding client base in Australia and...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9514447.htm

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Best Search Engine Optimization Companies Ranked in Australia by...

topseos.com.au, the independent authority on search vendors in Australia, has released their list of the best SEO Companies for May 2012.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516366.htm

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Bad Product Outcomes Often Due to Product Complexity

Accept Software releases their latest video discussing what is at the root of companies producing unsuccessful products and having bad product outcomes – product complexity. These complexities are...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516707.htm

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GXS to Hold Strategic Advisory Board Meeting

B2B integration company’s annual forum addresses key business and product developments.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516717.htm

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Aventura CMO T. (Teo) Forcht Dagi, MD, MPH, DMedSc, Presents...

Madison-based thought leadership forum provides opportunity to close gaps in healthcare IT disparities.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9517445.htm

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Ash Brokerage Selects Aplifi’s AFFIRM for Annuities as its Annuity...

Ash Brokerage has adopted Aplifi's AFFIRM for Annuities to support its brokerage annuity sales.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9517715.htm

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Church Payroll Software: EzPaycheck Increases Flexibility And...

Payroll software ezPaycheck was updated with more flexibility and control for the unique needs of church and non-profits. 30-day free trial is available at...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/church/payroll-solution/prweb9517866.htm

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TEKsystems and Aerotek Inspires a New Generation of Diverse Business...

TEKsystems, a leading provider of IT staffing solutions, IT talent management expertise and IT services and Aerotek, a leading provider of recruiting and staffing services, announce a $25,000 annual...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9518002.htm

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Unlock iPhone 4 and Unlock iPhone 4S with JailbreakForDummies.com

http://www.jailbreakfordummies.com offers you a guaranteed unlock. Easiest unlock for dummies.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9489798.htm

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Tablet PC Provider MobileDemand Announces Partnership with RHx Systems

Rugged Tablet PC systems increase driver efficiency and productivity. xTablets will be used by RHx Systems' customers with an in-cab solution to allow trucking companies to better control expenses...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9500677.htm

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Socialdashboard.com Emerges on Eve of Facebook's IPO

SOCIAL DASHBOARD (http://www.socialdashboard.com) is a social media desktop combining browser functionality like Chrome, Explorer and Firefox with built-in...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9494387.htm

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Exxova Announces Opening of Subsidiary Office in Europe

Exxova opens UK office to better serve the European, African, and Middle Eastern markets.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9505129.htm

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Top VoIP Equipment Supplier TelcoDepot.com Launches Special Discounts...

Leading VoIP equipment provider TelcoDepot.com now provides special discounts for factories on bulk purchases of phone systems, VoIP equipment, video surveillance equipment, access control systems,...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/TelcoDepot/Phone-Systems/prweb9519892.htm

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DNSChanger Trojan Still Prevalent In 350K Computers – FBI,...

The FBI ended a major online DNS threat last year, but the arrest of the criminals, and killing the servers would have left millions without internet service, so the servers were replaced. Here’s how...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9520194.htm

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MRIS CEO David Charron Receives Coveted Industry Leadership...

Charron is a 2012 Inductee to the National Association of REALTORS® Dr. Almon R. (Bud) Smith, AE Leadership Society at the NAR Midyear Conference today in Washington, D.C.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/MRIS/DavidCharron/prweb9520732.htm

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The Benefits of Translating Website into Spanish

http://www.merrillbrink.com: Few US-based firms targeting the domestic market cannot afford to overlook the growing Hispanic population on their doorstep and...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/merrill-brink/language-services/prweb9522096.htm

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Online Insurance Marketplace Specializes in Selling Family Life...

Online Insurance Marketplace (http://www.onlineinsurancemarketplace.com) announces a new section on their site, tips for buying family life...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/familylifeinsurance/lifeinsurancenomedexam/prweb9523835.htm

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Now Playing: Choice Logistics’ Mike Beck Shares Insights in Bank of...

Financial executive of high-tech logistics services firm discusses opportunities and challenges ahead.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/critical/logistics/prweb9517612.htm

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US Department of Defense Selects Oversight Systems to Extend the...

Oversight’s Big Data predictive analytics help save billions of dollars by identifying and preempting improper payments before cash is disbursed

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521353.htm

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US Department of Defense Selects Oversight Systems to Help Achieve...

Oversight’s predictive analytics to deliver Fund Balance with Treasury through automatic reconciliation across multiple systems

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521362.htm

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Telax Added to A Midsummer Night’s Run’s Sponsor List

Charitable 5k run to donate proceeds to the SickKids Foundation.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521702.htm

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Connections.com Announces Launch of ConnectCARE to Safely Protect Your...

Connections for Business’ new signature service gives clients peace of mind with a complete off-site data backup and solid protection from malicious threats to their business network.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521746.htm

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Piyanka Jain of Aryng to Speak at Data Science Summit 2012 – Las Vegas

Piyanka Jain, President and CEO of Aryng to present “Navigating the Road from Business Intelligence to Data Science: Trials and Triumphs” at this year’s Data Science Summit held in Las Vegas May...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/DataScienceSummit/Aryng/prweb9521999.htm

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Crawford Technologies Announces Partnership With Perficient, Inc.

Perficient partnership extends range of CrawfordTech’s enterprise content management solutions

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9522240.htm

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A Few Perth Suburbs Experience a Positive Growth Percentage within the...

The recent one year tally of all Perth suburb growth percentages showcased in one of Western Australia’s leading real estate and property portals show unexpected results involving a few of the listed...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9522342.htm

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FedSolutions Earns Gold Competency for Virtualization in the Microsoft...

FedSolutions, the IT Management and Consulting firm, is proud to announce that they have achieved the Microsoft Gold status in the competency for Virtualization as part of the Microsoft Partner...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516365.htm

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Globalization Partners International expands eLearning Translation...

Globalization Partners International (GPI), a provider of comprehensive document, software and website translation services, announced today the expansion of its eLearning localization practice.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9511856.htm

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QTS Commits to Solar Power Generation at its Richmond and Atlanta Data...

Company announces additional energy efficiency enhancements in compliance with its Green Program.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9518840.htm

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Media Alert: Clearwater Compliance Begins Registration for its HIPAA...

Presented by leading experts, you will get an intensive education on HIPAA-HITECH 101; tools to prepare for the OCR audits; and a critical understanding of the enforcement and penalties—in one day

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/registrationbootcamp/hipaaauditprep/prweb9497133.htm

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Exxova Announces Clariba as New Channel Partner

Clariba enters reseller agreement with Exxova to include MyBI Mobile™ as part of their solution range.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9505038.htm

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GRM Participates in the MdHIMA Annual Conference

GRM was proud to be a part of the recent MdHIMA Conference

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9509249.htm

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eLogic Learning Expands Sales Team to Reach New Markets Featuring its...

Increased Sales and Growing Markets for its Learning Management System Prompts eLogic Learning to Expand its Sales Team.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/elearning/lms/prweb9510761.htm

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Popular Printing Firm 4OVER4.COM Launches Discount Printing Offer for...

Leading NY business printer 4OVER4.COM has launched a special discount printing offer for fast food restaurants. With the new offer, fast food restaurants can take advantage of discounted printing...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/4OVER4/flyer-printing/prweb9511660.htm

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AFA Announces the Semi-Pro Football Hall of Fame - "Class of...

The AFA’s Hall of Fame selection committee has completed its annual task of reviewing personal profiles of qualified individuals nominated for induction into the Semi-Pro Football Hall of Fame as the...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9513128.htm

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GL Conveys the Availability of Scripted MGCP Protocol Emulation

GL Communications Inc.conveyed today the availability of its product MAPS™ MGCP Protocol Emulator – Scripted MGCP...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/GLcommunicationsinc/MAPS-MGCP-Emulator/prweb9513490.htm

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Qosmos Receives Information Technology Industry's 2012 World's...

Information Technology Winners From All Over the World Honored In Las Vegas

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9513727.htm

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Best Search Engine Optimization Companies Ranked in Australia by...

topseos.com.au, the independent authority on search vendors in Australia, has released their list of the best SEO Companies for May 2012.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516366.htm

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VoIP Equipment Supplier TelcoDepot.com Launches Discount Offer on...

Telecom equipment provider TelcoDepot.com has rolled out a special discount offer on phone systems and communications equipment for Data Centers which will allow them to save costs on the purchase of...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/TelcoDepot/voip-phone-systems/prweb9517215.htm

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k12itc Lands Multi-year Service Agreement with De Soto Unified School...

Agreement estimated to save district nearly $1.2 million over five years.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9517826.htm

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VietnamOnline.com Releases New Updates for Hoi An Travel Guide

Hoi An ancient town – listed by Smart Travel Asia magazine as one of the top ten most attractive destinations in Asia, is now able to be explored in the fullest detail on Vietnamonline.com. Hoi An has...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9517972.htm

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High-Performing Ohio School District Aims to Create “Great...

digits From Pearson Fully Aligned to Common Core State Standards

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9518476.htm

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Internet Marketing Company Conducts a Poll on the Google Penguin...

Internet Marketing Company (http://www.internetmarketingcompany.biz) reveals results of the poll, "After the Google Penguin Update, Did You...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/seocompany/internetmarketingwebsite/prweb9521474.htm

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Updated Oxygen Forensic Suite 2012 Retrieves Passwords from iOS...

Oxygen Software updates Oxygen Forensic Suite 2012, the company’s flagship mobile forensic tool, offering investigators a greatly improved experience with more information accessible in easier ways....

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/mobile-forensics/password-recovery/prweb9509320.htm

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MonolithIC 3D Inc. Participated at IP Counsel Café, 2012

Patent Reform: Is it all we hoped for?

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/monolithic3d/2012/prweb9509386.htm

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Contact Solutions and Global Payment Technology Provider Improve...

Calls transferred to live agents reduced by 57%, average call length shortened by 22%

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9509696.htm

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Sovran Celebrates 25 Years of Technology for Business at TechFest...

From the origin of the PC to Cloud computing, technology innovations from the past generation will be on display at Sovran June 14, 2012.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9510528.htm

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BenchmarkPortal and Symmetrics Presents a Live Webinar on iBenchmark,...

BenchmarkPortal’s complimentary webinar will be held on Thurs., May 31, 2012 at 10am PT/11am MT/12pm CT/1pm ET. iBenchmark automates the process of benchmarking, transforming a valuable but...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/call-center-technology/benchmarking-ibenchmark/prweb9511399.htm

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Infolinx® System Solutions Exhibits at 28th ARMA Canada...

Physical Records Management Applications in Conjunction with ECM

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9512058.htm

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New Precast Concrete Septic Tank Forms Just Released by Gizmoplans.com...

Gizmoplans.com, the leader in easy-to-follow, do-it-yourself plans, has released a new complete lineup of concrete septic tank forms on its website. Now precast concrete companies can build their own...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9512219.htm

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Join the Free Webinar - Private Equity: Maximizing Valuation in a...

Datasite.com: Since the financial collapse of 2008, many have speculated that the transaction market would come back to life as soon as the economy showed signs...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/merrill-datasite/virtual-data-room/prweb9514492.htm

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Johns Hopkins University and Cordys to Present at PlanetPTC Live 2012

Cordys, the leading BPMS and Paas software vendor that helps companies drive operational excellence, will be presenting a customer use-case study together with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9514663.htm

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Rishidot Research Announces DeployCon 2012, Industry's First...

Rishidot Research announced an enterprise conference focused on Platform as a Service

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/rishidot/2012/prweb9514908.htm

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Lafourche Parish Public Schools to Recognize Students for Literacy...

Lafourche Parish Public Schools will host a year-end celebration to recognize those students who have significantly improved their reading scores during the 2011–2012 school year, as well as the...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9515911.htm

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Metalogix Announces Release of Replicator for SharePoint 5.0 With...

New Features Including Adaptive Replication and Compression Address The Needs of Multi-Server SharePoint Environments and Reduce Network Overhead Costs

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/SharePoint/Replication/prweb9516210.htm

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topseos.com Names Best SEO Companies for May 2012

The independent authority on Search vendors, topseos.com, has released their list of the best search engine optimization companies for May 2012.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516322.htm

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ROI.com.au Named Best Search Engine Optimisation Company by...

The independent authority on Search vendors in Australia, topseos.com.au, has named ROI.com.au the best search engine optimisation company for May 2012.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516338.htm

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Joe Davis to Present Session at PDX Webvisions 2012

Presentation will explore what’s missing from the current geolocation landscape

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516347.htm

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Netmark.com Announced as Top Rated Search Engine Optimization Company...

The independent authority on Search vendors, topseos.com, has named Netmark.com as the top search engine optimization company for May 2012.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516354.htm

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V-Rooms Board Portal Adds Additional Security Features, Joins Safe...

V-Rooms Board Portal announced that it is now certified for the UK Safe Harbor List and that it has improved its security features.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516588.htm

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Network Monitoring Software Company Releases Enterprise-level Fault...

Boston-based tech startup releases network fault management program Trap Manager this month.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516597.htm

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Socialdashboard.com Emerges on Eve of Facebook's IPO

SOCIAL DASHBOARD (http://www.socialdashboard.com) is a social media desktop combining browser functionality like Chrome, Explorer and Firefox with built-in...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9494387.htm

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Thought Leaders Dietrich and Livingston add Integrated Marketing...

Marketing in the Round Authors to Provide How-to Tips for Developing an Integrated Marketing Campaign in the Digital Age

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521336.htm

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The Newly Released Alarm Clock Ultra Android App Developed by Appsdev...

Appsdev newly created Android App, "Alarm Clock Ultra", is a super slick looking mobile phone alarm with on-screen internet feed. Specially tailored tones to both wake you up and also send...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9459071.htm

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Vizu Provides Proof Points for Social Media Advertising

Announces Initiative to Benchmark the Brand Building Efficacy of Different Social Media Tactics and Channels

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/marketresearch/brandlift/prweb9506737.htm

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Domain.com Issues “Next Great Idea” TechCrunch Disrupt NYC Challenge

Startups, hackers, and entrepreneurs tasked with turning vision into reality

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9517439.htm

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Top VoIP Equipment Supplier TelcoDepot.com Launches Special Discounts...

Leading VoIP equipment provider TelcoDepot.com now provides special discounts for factories on bulk purchases of phone systems, VoIP equipment, video surveillance equipment, access control systems,...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/TelcoDepot/Phone-Systems/prweb9519892.htm

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DNSChanger Trojan Still Prevalent In 350K Computers – FBI,...

The FBI ended a major online DNS threat last year, but the arrest of the criminals, and killing the servers would have left millions without internet service, so the servers were replaced. Here’s how...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9520194.htm

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Mobile Website for InProCorp.com

Development of a user-friendly mobile site for InPro Corporation has reached completion by interactive web development agency BlueBolt Solutions. InPro...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/BlueBoltSolutions/InProCorpMobile/prweb9520686.htm

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MRIS CEO David Charron Receives Coveted Industry Leadership...

Charron is a 2012 Inductee to the National Association of REALTORS® Dr. Almon R. (Bud) Smith, AE Leadership Society at the NAR Midyear Conference today in Washington, D.C.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/MRIS/DavidCharron/prweb9520732.htm

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Jagged Peak’s eCommerce Platform Offers Seamless ‘Buy Anywhere,...

While “omni-channel retailing” is the latest buzz-phrase for the multitude of consumer shopping options, retailers may soon coin “omni-channel fulfillment” to describe the growing number of choices...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9520776.htm

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InternetMarketingSpeed.com Podcast Uncovers the Ugly Truth about...

Internet marketing expert James Schramko recently got together with another seasoned online marketing strategist Luke Moulton to deliver a podcast detailing what really goes on behind the scenes of a...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/James_Schramko/InternetMarketingSpeed/prweb9522268.htm

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appsbar.com Recognizes “Psych Resident” as the appsbar App of the Day

Every day appsbar identifies an excellent example of an app built with appsbar's iPhone app builder, Windows app builder or Android apps builder. This free app exemplifies how mobile apps can be...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9522563.htm

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Rowdy Robot Secures Funding for Internet of Things Device Known as TOD

Raises $50,000 and counting on crowdfunding site Kickstarter.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/RowdyRobotGains/TODFunding/prweb9523380.htm

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Charity Bids Launches Atlantic Salmon Federation Fundraising Auction...

Charity Bids, providers of the world’s most advanced auction platform built specifically for non-profit fundraising has announced that it has launched an auction to benefit Atlantic Salmon Federation,...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/online_charity_auction/atlantic_salmon_deals/prweb9523520.htm

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Online Insurance Marketplace Specializes in Selling Family Life...

Online Insurance Marketplace (http://www.onlineinsurancemarketplace.com) announces a new section on their site, tips for buying family life...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/familylifeinsurance/lifeinsurancenomedexam/prweb9523835.htm

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SMBs get $1.7 Billion in Online Co-op Advertising, According to New...

A recent survey of 1,354 SMBs shows that many are using online co-op programs to buy banner ads and build websites, but a lack of education is leaving $450 million in play.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/coop/2012/prweb9524041.htm

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EPAM Content Center and eZ Systems Partner to Bring Open-source...

EPAM Systems, a leading software engineering and IT services provider with development centers across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), announced today a partnership with eZ Systems, a Norwegian web...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9471597.htm

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Wiley Partners with Quantum to Deliver Intelligent Adaptive Learning...

Quantum is proven more effective than traditional learning tools, increases student mastery and test scores, reduces study time and is rated as "most helpful resource" by students.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9499136.htm

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RemodelingCentral.com Launches Step by Step Guide

Remodeling guides provide a helpful path for any project. RemodelingCentral.com’s new guide focuses on providing beginner and even experienced remodelers with a walkthrough of all the necessary steps...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9505032.htm

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Clothing Retailing in Australia Industry Market Research Report now...

Since the economic downturn, consumer spending behaviour has changed and clothing retailers are suffering as a result. Consumers became savvier about spending and online shopping has gained wider...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9513493.htm

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EPM Live’s Project Portfolio Management Software Gets Praised for Its...

GetApp Releases an In Depth Review of EPM Live and Identifies Three Key Areas Where the Solution Stands Out

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/EPMLive-project-managemen/getapp/prweb9513764.htm

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Pediatrician Launches Innovative New Baby Product Review Website,...

Founded by a Pediatrician and Mother of Two, BabyGearLab.com Aims to Help Moms Find the Best Products for their Baby

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516921.htm

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Now Playing: Choice Logistics’ Mike Beck Shares Insights in Bank of...

Financial executive of high-tech logistics services firm discusses opportunities and challenges ahead.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/critical/logistics/prweb9517612.htm

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Lorna Jane Reaches Benchmark 350,000 Likes on Facebook

Lorna Jane, one of Australia’s top retail companies and leading Activewear brand, has recently reached a benchmark with its Facebook following, hitting 350,000 ‘Likes’ on the world’s biggest social...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9517656.htm

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World’s First Player to Reach Level 60 in Diablo 3

Jonathan Bradley Smith, a 28 year old Diablo 3 fanatic, is the first player to reach level 60 on the 16th May 2012 after an estimated 43 hours of game play.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/diablo3/leveling/prweb9518418.htm

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John P. Donohue Funeral Home Marks Progress with New Website

John P. Donohue Funeral Home, a greater Philadelphia funeral home, launched its new website yesterday at http://www.jpdfh.com. Bart Cavanagh, Jr., owner of the John...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9519586.htm

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The 1st Computer Glove on Hand, The New Ion 3D Computer Mouse Glove,...

Bellco’s Ion 3D Computer mouse controls the computer cursor from up to 35 ft away works on any computer. No desktop required.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9520904.htm

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R.J. Finlay & Co. Launches Control Audio Video Division Offering...

Full-service real estate, construction and building materials firm, R.J. Finlay & Co.’s newest division, Control Audio Video, offers...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9520989.htm

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America's Addiction…Could Help Cure Cancer?

The Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance promotes one of America's biggest addictions for a good cause.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521105.htm

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WebSupportTeam.com Launches New Redesigned Website To Better Serve...

WebSupportTeam.com, the pioneer in providing affordable, outsourced, subscription based, technical services to Online Entrepreneurs announces the launch of a new, redesigned website with focus on...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521261.htm

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MyParkingSign.com Issues New Buckle Up Signs to Save Lives

Buckle Up Signs are in compliance with state laws. Durable aluminum and bright 3M ink ensures visibility and longevity.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521298.htm

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Company.com, the Network for Social Businesses, Partners with Hearst...

Using advanced digital marketing strategies, Hearst Media Services / Bay Area will manage the introduction of Company.com’s social business networking platform to the online business community.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521691.htm

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Telax Added to A Midsummer Night’s Run’s Sponsor List

Charitable 5k run to donate proceeds to the SickKids Foundation.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521702.htm

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Connections.com Announces Launch of ConnectCARE to Safely Protect Your...

Connections for Business’ new signature service gives clients peace of mind with a complete off-site data backup and solid protection from malicious threats to their business network.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521746.htm

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The C-Radio Show, a national business radio program, airs a new...

Business Talk Show Host, Cynthia Nevels, Interviews Technology Startups that Share Lessons Learned in the Quest to Create the Perfect VC Pitch and Become the Next Facebook.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/facebook/prweb9521941.htm

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Piyanka Jain of Aryng to Speak at Data Science Summit 2012 – Las Vegas

Piyanka Jain, President and CEO of Aryng to present “Navigating the Road from Business Intelligence to Data Science: Trials and Triumphs” at this year’s Data Science Summit held in Las Vegas May...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/DataScienceSummit/Aryng/prweb9521999.htm

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New and Relaxing Free Chat Box Launched By Chat Wing for Myspace Users

Chatwing is now available for Myspace users. This website chat app is known for successful connection in just few clicks. Additionally, Chatwing is very easy to use.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9522295.htm

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Professionally-Designed Myspace Templates Now Common Topics in...

Myspace template hunters can now use Chatwing’s website chat tool to widen their search. This chat application excels in providing efficient communication for everyone. Chatwing is also very easy to...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9522322.htm

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A Few Perth Suburbs Experience a Positive Growth Percentage within the...

The recent one year tally of all Perth suburb growth percentages showcased in one of Western Australia’s leading real estate and property portals show unexpected results involving a few of the listed...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9522342.htm

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Blacknight Take Home Irish Social Media Award for Best Business Blog

Ireland’s number one domain registrar and hosting company also have the best business blog in Ireland.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9522432.htm

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SalesKatz to Launch June 11, 2012

Development and beta testing proceeding at an accelerated rate.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9523976.htm

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Toyota's Camry and Prius Remain Top Cars for Auto Shoppers in...

For the third straight month, the Toyota Camry and the Toyota Prius topped Dataium's ASI New Vehicle Ranking

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9524388.htm

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TypePad Blogging Crowd Are Now Using Chatwing’s Simply Unique Chat...

Chatwing’s website chat app is now on another level as TypePad users began recognizing it. The chat application is known for its simplicity and professionalism. It provides TypePad users another form...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9525258.htm

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IM-Creator Makes Website Building Easy

A new, small company is charging into the well established industry of website builders, knocking out some of the older players, with an innovative HTML5 interface.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9485604.htm

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Envida.com Launches an Innovative Life Insurance Website That Makes...

Honest quotes, lowest rates, and incredible service - all handled internally by licensed life agents, so your personal information isn't sold to the masses.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9501102.htm

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Sony Chooses ZEDO for Video Taggi

Multi Screen Media (SONY Entertainment Television India) Chooses ZEDO for Video Advertising

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9515910.htm

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Exclusive - Microsoft & Google CEOs Speak Out on the Facebook IPO...

Digital Agency http://www.ymarketing.com/blog Imagines What Responses from Rival CEOs Might be Like

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9524858.htm

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QTS Commits to Solar Power Generation at its Richmond and Atlanta Data...

Company announces additional energy efficiency enhancements in compliance with its Green Program.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9518840.htm

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Nearly 75 Percent of U.S. Android Smartphone Users Accessed Facebook’s...

Facebook’s app and website were accessed by nearly three-fourths of U.S. Android smartphone users in March

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9519156.htm

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Small Business Owners Find a New Secret Weapon to Battle the Recession

Yoobly.com is an online internet marketing company specifically geared towards helping the small business owner successfully market their business online.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/yoobly/online-marketing-company/prweb9506789.htm

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Revolutionary Receipt Catcher App from DNA Apps Redefines the Way...

Launched by DNA Apps in November 2011, Receipt Catcher, a simple and user friendly app that appeared on charts in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand,...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9513712.htm

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The Newly Released Alarm Clock Ultra Android App Developed by Appsdev...

Appsdev newly created Android App, "Alarm Clock Ultra", is a super slick looking mobile phone alarm with on-screen internet feed. Specially tailored tones to both wake you up and also send...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9459071.htm

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Exxova Announces Opening of Subsidiary Office in Europe

Exxova opens UK office to better serve the European, African, and Middle Eastern markets.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9505129.htm

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Cellular Sales Opens New Store in Flourtown

Premium Verizon retailer opens new store, boosts local economy with new sales jobs.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9519353.htm

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Cellular Sales Opens New Store in Graham

Premium Verizon retailer opens new store, boosts local economy with new sales jobs

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9519382.htm

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Mobile Website for InProCorp.com

Development of a user-friendly mobile site for InPro Corporation has reached completion by interactive web development agency BlueBolt Solutions. InPro...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/BlueBoltSolutions/InProCorpMobile/prweb9520686.htm

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BrideLive Announces Dramatically Redesigned Website

The aim of BrideLive’s new site design is to allow visitors to gain a better understanding of BrideLive and the benefits it brings to their...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/BrideLive/Website/prweb9521398.htm

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CookieCoo Dancing Star: Fun App for Kids Features Freebie

ThinkCube’s CookieCoo Dancing Star is an educatational, entertaining app for youngsters that features sing-and-play along children’s songs accompanied by adorable cartoon dancers. Originally priced...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9522009.htm

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InternetMarketingSpeed.com Podcast Uncovers the Ugly Truth about...

Internet marketing expert James Schramko recently got together with another seasoned online marketing strategist Luke Moulton to deliver a podcast detailing what really goes on behind the scenes of a...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/James_Schramko/InternetMarketingSpeed/prweb9522268.htm

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appsbar.com Recognizes “Psych Resident” as the appsbar App of the Day

Every day appsbar identifies an excellent example of an app built with appsbar's iPhone app builder, Windows app builder or Android apps builder. This free app exemplifies how mobile apps can be...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9522563.htm

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Prepaid Pioneer, Ceridian Stored Value Solutions, Inc. (SVS), Debuts...

SVS, a leading stored value provider, announced the launch of a new mobile application that allows consumers to access their merchant-branded loyalty rewards direct from their smart phones.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/storedvaluesolutions/mobileapp/prweb9522854.htm

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Rowdy Robot Secures Funding for Internet of Things Device Known as TOD

Raises $50,000 and counting on crowdfunding site Kickstarter.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/RowdyRobotGains/TODFunding/prweb9523380.htm

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Woodhome Insurance Group Offers Comprehensive Insurance Services to...

One of the industry’s premier Insurance brokers, Woodhome Insurance Group offers an array of insurance programs catering to the affluent client.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/woodhomeinsurance/auto-life-health/prweb9521856.htm

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NextServices Proudly Announces the Launch of Enki Mobile EHR on the...

NextServices announces the launch of their mobile electronic health records software, enki, and will be showcasing the mobile EHR at the Digestive Disease Week 2012 show in San Diego from May 20th to...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9505048.htm

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Media SOS Makes it Easy to Copy Content from iOS and Android Devices

Copy music, photos and videos in three simple steps.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9514749.htm

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HighPoint Solutions Wins 2012 Informatica Innovation Award for ICD-10...

HighPoint and its client, BCBS Michigan, recognized for Innovative Use of Informatica MDM Hub for ICD-10 Compliance.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9515660.htm

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Tammi Murphy Joins Nova Mobile Systems as Marketing Coordinator

Mobile Computing Solutions Company Selects New Marketing Coordinator to Increase Marketing Efforts and Online Presence

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9518953.htm

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Web Provider TECKpert Breaks New Ground in Legal Technology with...

TECKpert launches the CSK Legal iPhone application. The innovative app is breaking new ground in legal technology with this first iPhone app enabling law firms to engage new clients and maximize their...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9519658.htm

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contentAI Studios Release “My Tooth Fairy Chat” -- A Children's...

The new addition to the contentAI studios' children's library of mobile and desktop apps is an interactive chat with a magical version of the Tooth Fairy. contentAI studios are expanding to...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521346.htm

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T-Mobile Sidekick 4G Now Has a Presence on the Cellphone-Repair-Shop...

T-Mobile Sidekick 4G parts can now be found on Cellphone Repair Shop. These parts are available...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/sidekick/4g/prweb9521463.htm

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One Stop Green Releases Online Tool to Allow Users to Create and...

One Stop Green releases its online tool for users to create and manage green projects for their home or business. Also included is a comprehensive Energy Savings Calculator that estimates potential...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521924.htm

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Inferno Codex Now Available Worldwide Revealing the Best Diablo 3...

Inferno Codex Diablo 3 Guide is a new guide from Jonathan Bradley Smith that helps players learn useful combinations of skills, builds, leveling, and efficient strategies. More informationa available...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/InfernoCodexDiablo3Guide/InfernoCodex-Review-Build/prweb9521986.htm

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DbyDx Software to Showcase Its Innovative Mobility Solutions at TiEcon...

DbyDx Software, leader in mobility solutions space, will exhibit at the 2012 TiEcon Expo starting from today at Santa Clara.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/DbyDx/TiEcon2012/prweb9522685.htm

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Shula’s 347 Grill Uses Uptown Network to Take iPad Menus Well Beyond...

‘Personal Sommelier’ Expands iPad Wine List To Highlight Desserts, Scotch, Martinis And More

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9524389.htm

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Exclusive - Microsoft & Google CEOs Speak Out on the Facebook IPO...

Digital Agency http://www.ymarketing.com/blog Imagines What Responses from Rival CEOs Might be Like

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9524858.htm

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Use Blue to Track 176 Markets Direct From Your Mobile.

Introducing the next generation of financial information and trading on mobile.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/mobiletradingapp/blue/prweb9504447.htm

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Nearly 75 Percent of U.S. Android Smartphone Users Accessed Facebook’s...

Facebook’s app and website were accessed by nearly three-fourths of U.S. Android smartphone users in March

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9519156.htm

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Yellowfin Distribution Introduces Innovative Mobile POS Device to Help...

Pidion BIP-1500 puts a complete POS system in the palm of your hand with scanner, PIN pad, MSR and integrated thermal printer. Innovative device addresses growing interest in mobile POS.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9479131.htm

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eMazzanti Featured in New Microsoft Windows Server 2008R2 Case Study

A case study from Microsoft captures how eMazzanti Technologies uses the new Windows Server 2008R2 in the consultant’s business to increase productivity by 12 percent

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/virtualization/Windowsserver/prweb9496248.htm

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Exxova Announces Clariba as New Channel Partner

Clariba enters reseller agreement with Exxova to include MyBI Mobile™ as part of their solution range.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9505038.htm

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Salettel Joins PerfectServe’s Growing Chicago Hospital Implementation...

Clinical communication leader supports its strategic mission with growth

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9505487.htm

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Cellular Sales Opens New Store in Virginia Beach

Premium Verizon retailer opens new store, boosts local economy with new sales jobs

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9506461.htm

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FusionHealth and Navistar Present 2012 Healthy Trucking Fleet of the...

The first-ever Healthy Trucking Fleet of the Year award, a collaboration between FusionHealth and Navistar, was presented to Celadon Group, Inc. at their headquarters in Indianapolis. The Healthy...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9510625.htm

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CooponTree Announces Innovative Approach to Marketing Via Social Media

Marketing firm Treewards Inc. today announced the launch of a new subsidiary, CooponTree (http://www.coopontree.com),...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9513453.htm

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GL Conveys the Availability of Scripted MGCP Protocol Emulation

GL Communications Inc.conveyed today the availability of its product MAPS™ MGCP Protocol Emulator – Scripted MGCP...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/GLcommunicationsinc/MAPS-MGCP-Emulator/prweb9513490.htm

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Latest Post from iPhone Tips Blog, iPhoneSamurai.com, Announces a New...

iPhone Samurai offers iPhone addicts around the world the latest tips and advice for their handheld device. In his latest blog post, Benny Meyer announces new information on how the iPhone is now...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/iphonesamurai/iphonetips/prweb9514086.htm

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Los Angeles Largest Night Club installs ISISPOS

ISISPOS developers of the most advanced Apple based iPad for Restaurants POS for announces new agreement with celebrity restauranteur Michael Rubino allowing servers to take orders and process...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9514604.htm

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Sports Teams and Community Clubs Score Custom Apps with Andromo App...

Sports teams and community clubs are now able to create their own custom app to share news, images, and events – all without programming. Using Andromo App Maker for Android, a free do-it-yourself...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/sports-teams/android-app-maker/prweb9514892.htm

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iBargain App Helps Users Find the Best Deals, Launches on iTunes June...

Cutting edge entertainment app finds the best deals on music, movies, books, apps, and more in iTunes and iBookstore.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9515462.htm

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QA Graphics Expands Graphic Outsourcing and Marketing Department

QA Graphics, an Iowa based creative design firm, is pleased to announce the hiring of four new employees as an expansion of their HVAC graphic outsourcing department and marketing department.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/hvac-graphics/iowa-design-company/prweb9516708.htm

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Relive a Classic Fairy Tale Starring your Child in It's Me! Peter...

This iOS ebook for children presents a truly impressive list of interactive features, the most delightful of which being the ability for users to customize Peter’s appearance by utilizing photos of...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9518140.htm

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Nearly 75 percent of U.S. Android Smartphone Users Accessed Facebook’s...

Facebook’s app and website were accessed by nearly three-fourths of U.S. Android smartphone users in March, making it the most used social networking website and app on the Android platform.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9518284.htm

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appsbar.com Recognizes “Cowgirls Bar” as the appsbar App of the Day

Every day appsbar identifies an excellent example of an app built with appsbar's iPhone app builder, Windows app builder or Android apps builder. This free app exemplifies how mobile apps can be...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9518929.htm

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Timex Marathon GPS Offers A Sub-$100 Pacing GPS For Runners, Cyclists...

The Timex Marathon GPS Offers Runners, Cyclists and Outdoor Athletes Accurate Pacing and Distance Data at a...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9519831.htm

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7-Eleven Kicks Off Summer with Slurpee® Lite, Its First...

7-Eleven Launches New Slurpee Lite, a Sugar-Free Frozen Drink That Contains 50% Fewer Calories Than a Traditional Slurpee. May 23rd is SlurpFREE Day Where Everyone Can Get a Free 7.11 oz. Slurpee...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9520901.htm

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Unlock iPhone 4 and Unlock iPhone 4S with JailbreakForDummies.com

http://www.jailbreakfordummies.com offers you a guaranteed unlock. Easiest unlock for dummies.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9489798.htm

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Tablet PC Provider MobileDemand Announces Partnership with RHx Systems

Rugged Tablet PC systems increase driver efficiency and productivity. xTablets will be used by RHx Systems' customers with an in-cab solution to allow trucking companies to better control expenses...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9500677.htm

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Handzon Website Builder Launches a Free Website Version to Build a...

Handzon provides an online website builder to build a website with the same kind of quality and effectiveness that was once reserved only for webmasters and professional designers.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/free-website-builder/start-a-website/prweb9508625.htm

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Updated Oxygen Forensic Suite 2012 Retrieves Passwords from iOS...

Oxygen Software updates Oxygen Forensic Suite 2012, the company’s flagship mobile forensic tool, offering investigators a greatly improved experience with more information accessible in easier ways....

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/mobile-forensics/password-recovery/prweb9509320.htm

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Intertech to Deliver Free Webinar on Groovy

Intertech (http://www.Intertech.com) will be delivering a free webinar on Groovy. The webinar will be delivered May 31, 2012 from 2:10 - 3:10 CDT. Registrations...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9510022.htm

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The Newly Released Alarm Clock Ultra Android App Developed by Appsdev...

Appsdev newly created Android App, "Alarm Clock Ultra", is a super slick looking mobile phone alarm with on-screen internet feed. Specially tailored tones to both wake you up and also send...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9459071.htm

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Exxova Announces Opening of Subsidiary Office in Europe

Exxova opens UK office to better serve the European, African, and Middle Eastern markets.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9505129.htm

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Uniblue Launches the New softwarepatch.com

Redesigned, revamped, re-launched

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9509235.htm

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Banc De Binary’s CEO Teaches Customers How to Trade

Following the success of their interactive trading lessons, leading binary options brokerage, Banc De Binary, is expecting thousands to attend CEO Oren Laurent's webinar on "Binary Options -...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9518637.htm

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MRIS CEO David Charron Receives Coveted Industry Leadership...

Charron is a 2012 Inductee to the National Association of REALTORS® Dr. Almon R. (Bud) Smith, AE Leadership Society at the NAR Midyear Conference today in Washington, D.C.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/MRIS/DavidCharron/prweb9520732.htm

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The Benefits of Translating Website into Spanish

http://www.merrillbrink.com: Few US-based firms targeting the domestic market cannot afford to overlook the growing Hispanic population on their doorstep and...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/merrill-brink/language-services/prweb9522096.htm

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appsbar.com Recognizes “Psych Resident” as the appsbar App of the Day

Every day appsbar identifies an excellent example of an app built with appsbar's iPhone app builder, Windows app builder or Android apps builder. This free app exemplifies how mobile apps can be...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9522563.htm

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Rowdy Robot Secures Funding for Internet of Things Device Known as TOD

Raises $50,000 and counting on crowdfunding site Kickstarter.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/RowdyRobotGains/TODFunding/prweb9523380.htm

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Charity Bids Launches Atlantic Salmon Federation Fundraising Auction...

Charity Bids, providers of the world’s most advanced auction platform built specifically for non-profit fundraising has announced that it has launched an auction to benefit Atlantic Salmon Federation,...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/online_charity_auction/atlantic_salmon_deals/prweb9523520.htm

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Retail Expert Lindsay Carpen Says Retailers Should Think Nationally...

In New Series of Blog Posts on WhatsNextRetail.com, Retail Customer Experience Expert Carpen Tackles the Challenges Social Media is Causing Retailers and Offers a Bounty of Solutions to Improve the...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9523700.htm

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Online Insurance Marketplace Specializes in Selling Family Life...

Online Insurance Marketplace (http://www.onlineinsurancemarketplace.com) announces a new section on their site, tips for buying family life...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/familylifeinsurance/lifeinsurancenomedexam/prweb9523835.htm

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Clothing Retailing in Australia Industry Market Research Report now...

Since the economic downturn, consumer spending behaviour has changed and clothing retailers are suffering as a result. Consumers became savvier about spending and online shopping has gained wider...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9513493.htm

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EPM Live’s Project Portfolio Management Software Gets Praised for Its...

GetApp Releases an In Depth Review of EPM Live and Identifies Three Key Areas Where the Solution Stands Out

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/EPMLive-project-managemen/getapp/prweb9513764.htm

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Media SOS Makes it Easy to Copy Content from iOS and Android Devices

Copy music, photos and videos in three simple steps.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9514749.htm

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Amirsys RADPrimer® Favored by German Radiology Residents

RADPrimer® is favored in study by radiology educators at Universitatsmedizin Berlin presented at the German Roentgen Congress in Hamburg

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9515406.htm

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iXsystems Announces MeetBSD California 2012

iXsystems to host this year’s conference at the Yahoo! campus in the San Francisco Bay Area

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9517517.htm

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Sertifi to Host eSignatures for Medical Staffing Webinar

Sertifi, a leading eSignature provider, will host its second webinar focused on simplifying the medical staffing process with eSignatures on May 30.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012esignature-healthcare/05medical-staffing-esign/prweb9519286.htm

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The 1st Computer Glove on Hand, The New Ion 3D Computer Mouse Glove,...

Bellco’s Ion 3D Computer mouse controls the computer cursor from up to 35 ft away works on any computer. No desktop required.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9520904.htm

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Christie Japan Lights Up Tokyo Sky Tree East Tower For NHK (Japan...

27 Christie Projectors tell Sky Tree Story with Projection Mapping

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9520971.htm

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Connections.com Announces Launch of ConnectCARE to Safely Protect Your...

Connections for Business’ new signature service gives clients peace of mind with a complete off-site data backup and solid protection from malicious threats to their business network.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521746.htm

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Update your Adobe Flash player immediately, as computers are...

Adobe issued a critical update to its popular Flash player this week. According to Daily Safety Check, users should update their Flash Player immediately to avoid potential cyber attacks, even if they...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/DailySafetyCheck/MayFlashUpdate/prweb9521976.htm

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Crawford Technologies Announces Partnership With Perficient, Inc.

Perficient partnership extends range of CrawfordTech’s enterprise content management solutions

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9522240.htm

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New and Relaxing Free Chat Box Launched By Chat Wing for Myspace Users

Chatwing is now available for Myspace users. This website chat app is known for successful connection in just few clicks. Additionally, Chatwing is very easy to use.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9522295.htm

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Professionally-Designed Myspace Templates Now Common Topics in...

Myspace template hunters can now use Chatwing’s website chat tool to widen their search. This chat application excels in providing efficient communication for everyone. Chatwing is also very easy to...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9522322.htm

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Blacknight Take Home Irish Social Media Award for Best Business Blog

Ireland’s number one domain registrar and hosting company also have the best business blog in Ireland.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9522432.htm

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DbyDx Software to Showcase Its Innovative Mobility Solutions at TiEcon...

DbyDx Software, leader in mobility solutions space, will exhibit at the 2012 TiEcon Expo starting from today at Santa Clara.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/DbyDx/TiEcon2012/prweb9522685.htm

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Intelligent Decisions, Inc., Sponsors Saturday School Charity Event...

Annual Golf Tournament in Honor of Dr. Harry Martin, Sr., Raises Funding for Tutoring and Mentoring Services That Significantly Benefit Children in Montgomery County, Maryland

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9523922.htm

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SalesKatz to Launch June 11, 2012

Development and beta testing proceeding at an accelerated rate.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9523976.htm

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WS Live Agent Patrice Finger Finalist for Genesys® Customer...

Great customer experiences start with customer service agents. Patrice Finger went that extra mile to be one of three finalists for the coveted Genesys Customer Service Heroes award.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9515162.htm

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eRacks Announces AresPro Line of High Performance Desktop Computers...

eRacks Open Source Systems announces the AresPro line of high-performance fully customizable desktop workstations powered by the Intel Xeon chipset. The AresPro line is the perfect solution for...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9517067.htm

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PlanetCPU Earns Industry Credential for Managed IT Services Providers

PlanetCPU, a leader in I.T. support services for home and business users announced today it has received the CompTIA MSP Partners Trustmark for its use of industry-accepted best practices for service...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9517785.htm

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PDF2Office Professional v6.0 Ships - PDF Converter for Mac Converts...

Recosoft ships PDF2Office Professional v6.0 - PDF Converter for Mac converts PDF files and XPS files to Mac Excel, Word, PowerPoint and OmniGraffle files.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9504104.htm

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QTS Commits to Solar Power Generation at its Richmond and Atlanta Data...

Company announces additional energy efficiency enhancements in compliance with its Green Program.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9518840.htm

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eMazzanti Featured in New Microsoft Windows Server 2008R2 Case Study

A case study from Microsoft captures how eMazzanti Technologies uses the new Windows Server 2008R2 in the consultant’s business to increase productivity by 12 percent

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/virtualization/Windowsserver/prweb9496248.htm

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Media Alert: Clearwater Compliance Begins Registration for its HIPAA...

Presented by leading experts, you will get an intensive education on HIPAA-HITECH 101; tools to prepare for the OCR audits; and a critical understanding of the enforcement and penalties—in one day

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/registrationbootcamp/hipaaauditprep/prweb9497133.htm

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Laptop Power UK Announces LED Screen Laptops At Heavy Discounts

Laptop Power UK, the leading replacement laptop parts supplier, is offering LED laptop screens and laptop battery replacements at the best prices. Every leading laptop brand is now adopting LED laptop...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9504537.htm

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Lectora User Conference Releases Mobile App for Leading e-Learning...

Mobile Application Provides Convenient Access to Valuable Resources for Learning, Networking & Fun for the e-Learning Conference & Chicago

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/Lectora/e-Learning/prweb9505008.htm

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Exxova Announces Clariba as New Channel Partner

Clariba enters reseller agreement with Exxova to include MyBI Mobile™ as part of their solution range.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9505038.htm

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Laptop Power UK Launches AUO, CPT and Samsung laptop screens

When it comes to laptop screens, there are only a very small number of manufacturers. These include AUO (AU Optronics), CPT (Chunghwa Picture Tubes) and Samsung. While you may not have heard of the...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9510190.htm

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Memory Improvement Soars to New Heights, Following Launch of Ultimate...

Providing a structured and proven approach to memory improvement, Ultimate Memory™ announces its launch to the US market.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9512234.htm

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GL Conveys the Availability of Scripted MGCP Protocol Emulation

GL Communications Inc.conveyed today the availability of its product MAPS™ MGCP Protocol Emulator – Scripted MGCP...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

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Athena Software partners with Australian consulting firm Sinapse

Waterloo Region tech company Athena Software signs agreement with Australian-based consulting company Sinapse to provide training and support for Athena's expanding client base in Australia and...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9514447.htm

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Best Search Engine Optimization Companies Ranked in Australia by...

topseos.com.au, the independent authority on search vendors in Australia, has released their list of the best SEO Companies for May 2012.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516366.htm

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Study: American Consumers Reducing Spending on Most Categories Except...

According to the Empathica Consumer Insights Panel, 61 percent of American consumers report reduced spending, citing concerns around debt and increasing costs for basic needs.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516584.htm

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Bad Product Outcomes Often Due to Product Complexity

Accept Software releases their latest video discussing what is at the root of companies producing unsuccessful products and having bad product outcomes – product complexity. These complexities are...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516707.htm

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Startup Rowdy Robot To Enable Hackers, Makers And DIYers To Connect...

Open Development Platform and Low Energy Device Works With Bluetooth 4.0 Compatible Smartphones, Laptops & Tablets

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516850.htm

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k12itc Lands Multi-year Service Agreement with De Soto Unified School...

Agreement estimated to save district nearly $1.2 million over five years.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9517826.htm

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Dell Coupon Code for $100 Additional Savings on 25% off Dell XPS 17...

Today CouponBuzz.com featured a new Dell coupon code which offers online shoppers $100 dollars off the Dell XPS 17 Laptop, which is currently being offered for 25% off standard retail pricing after...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9517898.htm

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High-Performing Ohio School District Aims to Create “Great...

digits From Pearson Fully Aligned to Common Core State Standards

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

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appsbar.com Recognizes “Cowgirls Bar” as the appsbar App of the Day

Every day appsbar identifies an excellent example of an app built with appsbar's iPhone app builder, Windows app builder or Android apps builder. This free app exemplifies how mobile apps can be...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9518929.htm

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Revolutionary Receipt Catcher App from DNA Apps Redefines the Way...

Launched by DNA Apps in November 2011, Receipt Catcher, a simple and user friendly app that appeared on charts in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand,...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9513712.htm

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Exxova Announces Opening of Subsidiary Office in Europe

Exxova opens UK office to better serve the European, African, and Middle Eastern markets.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9505129.htm

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Vizu Provides Proof Points for Social Media Advertising

Announces Initiative to Benchmark the Brand Building Efficacy of Different Social Media Tactics and Channels

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/marketresearch/brandlift/prweb9506737.htm

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AU10TIX, A Wholly Owned Subsidiary Of ICTS Intl, Teams Up With 3M To...

AU10TIX, a wholly owned subsidiary of ICTS International N.V., has entered into a Teaming Agreement with the UK subsidiary of the diversified technology company, 3M. AU10TIX will offer a new...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9514457.htm

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CUSTOMS Info Releases CUSTOMS Info News App for Android

Free app keeps users up-to-date on the latest International Industry trends and developments.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9515790.htm

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Jagged Peak’s eCommerce Platform Offers Seamless ‘Buy Anywhere,...

While “omni-channel retailing” is the latest buzz-phrase for the multitude of consumer shopping options, retailers may soon coin “omni-channel fulfillment” to describe the growing number of choices...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9520776.htm

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QualityStocks News - SilverSun Technologies (SSNT) Reports Financial...

Total revenues up 5%, net service revenues up 35%

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521734.htm

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EPAM Content Center and eZ Systems Partner to Bring Open-source...

EPAM Systems, a leading software engineering and IT services provider with development centers across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), announced today a partnership with eZ Systems, a Norwegian web...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9471597.htm

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EPM Live’s Project Portfolio Management Software Gets Praised for Its...

GetApp Releases an In Depth Review of EPM Live and Identifies Three Key Areas Where the Solution Stands Out

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/EPMLive-project-managemen/getapp/prweb9513764.htm

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HighPoint Solutions Wins 2012 Informatica Innovation Award for ICD-10...

HighPoint and its client, BCBS Michigan, recognized for Innovative Use of Informatica MDM Hub for ICD-10 Compliance.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9515660.htm

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Sertifi to Host eSignatures for Medical Staffing Webinar

Sertifi, a leading eSignature provider, will host its second webinar focused on simplifying the medical staffing process with eSignatures on May 30.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012esignature-healthcare/05medical-staffing-esign/prweb9519286.htm

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Elearning! Opens Nominations for Best of Elearning! 2012 Awards

Ballots now open for Elearning! Media Group’s Exclusive Reader’s Choice Awards Program

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9519597.htm

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US Department of Defense Selects Oversight Systems to Extend the...

Oversight’s Big Data predictive analytics help save billions of dollars by identifying and preempting improper payments before cash is disbursed

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521353.htm

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US Department of Defense Selects Oversight Systems to Help Achieve...

Oversight’s predictive analytics to deliver Fund Balance with Treasury through automatic reconciliation across multiple systems

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521362.htm

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Telax Added to A Midsummer Night’s Run’s Sponsor List

Charitable 5k run to donate proceeds to the SickKids Foundation.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521702.htm

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Secure Delivery Center 2012: A Private OSS Marketplace to Challenge...

Genuitec's management technology, Secure Delivery Center, defines market desire for security and reliability by managing developer technologies in a customizable marketplace.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521741.htm

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Connections.com Announces Launch of ConnectCARE to Safely Protect Your...

Connections for Business’ new signature service gives clients peace of mind with a complete off-site data backup and solid protection from malicious threats to their business network.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521746.htm

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Crawford Technologies Announces Partnership With Perficient, Inc.

Perficient partnership extends range of CrawfordTech’s enterprise content management solutions

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9522240.htm

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DbyDx Software to Showcase Its Innovative Mobility Solutions at TiEcon...

DbyDx Software, leader in mobility solutions space, will exhibit at the 2012 TiEcon Expo starting from today at Santa Clara.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/DbyDx/TiEcon2012/prweb9522685.htm

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New Apps Enable Better Tracking of Mobile Workforce

Whether the person to be tracked is a lone worker, a VIP, or someone else, a pair of new apps from Position Logic has users covered on both Android and Blackberry devices.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/GPS-Tracking-Software/Mobile-Apps/prweb9522742.htm

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SalesKatz to Launch June 11, 2012

Development and beta testing proceeding at an accelerated rate.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9523976.htm

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WS Live Agent Patrice Finger Finalist for Genesys® Customer...

Great customer experiences start with customer service agents. Patrice Finger went that extra mile to be one of three finalists for the coveted Genesys Customer Service Heroes award.

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9515162.htm

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An Open-Source eCommerce Application AspxCommerce 1.1 Released

Merchants aspiring to operate online web stores are continuously searching for an ecommerce platform that is flexible, expedient, and that which is capable of developing online storefronts in minutes....

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9508918.htm

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FedSolutions Earns Gold Competency for Virtualization in the Microsoft...

FedSolutions, the IT Management and Consulting firm, is proud to announce that they have achieved the Microsoft Gold status in the competency for Virtualization as part of the Microsoft Partner...

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516365.htm

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Exclusive - Microsoft & Google CEOs Speak Out on the Facebook IPO...

Digital Agency http://www.ymarketing.com/blog Imagines What Responses from Rival CEOs Might be Like

(PRWeb May 18, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9524858.htm

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QTS Commits to Solar Power Generation at its Richmond and Atlanta Data...

Company announces additional energy efficiency enhancements in compliance with its Green Program.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9518840.htm

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eMazzanti Featured in New Microsoft Windows Server 2008R2 Case Study

A case study from Microsoft captures how eMazzanti Technologies uses the new Windows Server 2008R2 in the consultant’s business to increase productivity by 12 percent

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/virtualization/Windowsserver/prweb9496248.htm

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Exxova Announces Clariba as New Channel Partner

Clariba enters reseller agreement with Exxova to include MyBI Mobile™ as part of their solution range.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9505038.htm

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FusionHealth and Navistar Present 2012 Healthy Trucking Fleet of the...

The first-ever Healthy Trucking Fleet of the Year award, a collaboration between FusionHealth and Navistar, was presented to Celadon Group, Inc. at their headquarters in Indianapolis. The Healthy...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9510625.htm

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Qosmos Receives Information Technology Industry's 2012 World's...

Information Technology Winners From All Over the World Honored In Las Vegas

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9513727.htm

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Edison Ventures Invests in Vox Mobile

Fuels growth for best in class managed mobility services leader.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/edison_ventures_vox/it_business_capital/prweb9515003.htm

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Best Search Engine Optimization Companies Ranked in Australia by...

topseos.com.au, the independent authority on search vendors in Australia, has released their list of the best SEO Companies for May 2012.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516366.htm

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Study: American Consumers Reducing Spending on Most Categories Except...

According to the Empathica Consumer Insights Panel, 61 percent of American consumers report reduced spending, citing concerns around debt and increasing costs for basic needs.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516584.htm

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Bad Product Outcomes Often Due to Product Complexity

Accept Software releases their latest video discussing what is at the root of companies producing unsuccessful products and having bad product outcomes – product complexity. These complexities are...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516707.htm

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GXS to Hold Strategic Advisory Board Meeting

B2B integration company’s annual forum addresses key business and product developments.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9516717.htm

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AeroMetric Recognized as MAGIC Champion

AeroMetric was recognized as a “MAGIC Champion” at the 2012 MidAmerica GIS Consortium (MAGIC), held in Kansas City, Missouri. The award reflects AeroMetric’s long term support for this organization....

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9517420.htm

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Ash Brokerage Selects Aplifi’s AFFIRM for Annuities as its Annuity...

Ash Brokerage has adopted Aplifi's AFFIRM for Annuities to support its brokerage annuity sales.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9517715.htm

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TEKsystems and Aerotek Inspires a New Generation of Diverse Business...

TEKsystems, a leading provider of IT staffing solutions, IT talent management expertise and IT services and Aerotek, a leading provider of recruiting and staffing services, announce a $25,000 annual...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9518002.htm

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Dynamic Signal Wins Grandparents.com; The Ultimate Resource and...

Dynamic Signal Wins Grandparents.com

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9520063.htm

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Tablet PC Provider MobileDemand Announces Partnership with RHx Systems

Rugged Tablet PC systems increase driver efficiency and productivity. xTablets will be used by RHx Systems' customers with an in-cab solution to allow trucking companies to better control expenses...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9500677.htm

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The 25 Most Popular Cloud Apps for Business in April 2012

GetApp, the #1 Cloud Business Apps Marketplace, releases the list of the most popular apps with its users in April 2012. Zoho remains the most popular app with Desk.com and AtTask in second and third...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/top-business-apps/2012/prweb9509930.htm

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Intertech to Deliver Free Webinar on Groovy

Intertech (http://www.Intertech.com) will be delivering a free webinar on Groovy. The webinar will be delivered May 31, 2012 from 2:10 - 3:10 CDT. Registrations...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9510022.htm

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Sovran Celebrates 25 Years of Technology for Business at TechFest...

From the origin of the PC to Cloud computing, technology innovations from the past generation will be on display at Sovran June 14, 2012.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9510528.htm

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Infolinx® System Solutions Exhibits at 28th ARMA Canada...

Physical Records Management Applications in Conjunction with ECM

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9512058.htm

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Pixatel Selected for Mobile Learning Initiatives Recognition Award at...

Pixatel’s Android Productivity Suite awarded 2012 Asia Pacific Mobile Learning Initiatives Recognition

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/pixatel/gomobileaward/prweb9513302.htm

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Top SEO Company Wins 2012 SmartCEO Volt Award

Blue Corona, a leading provider of inbound marketing and SEO services was honored by SmartCEO Magazine for developing technologies that create a competitive advantage for their customers.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/seo-company-wins-award/may-15-2012/prweb9513838.htm

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AlgoSec Named Finalist for 2012 Red Herring Top 100 North America...

AlgoSec has been selected as a Finalist for Red Herring's Top 100 North America award, a prestigious list honoring the year's most promising private technology ventures from the North American...

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9513987.htm

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Rishidot Research Announces DeployCon 2012, Industry's First...

Rishidot Research announced an enterprise conference focused on Platform as a Service

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/rishidot/2012/prweb9514908.htm

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Beyond the Easy Button Whitepaper Released

Outlines the Role of Cloud for IT Leaders and Professionals

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9515103.htm

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FileCatalyst to Show Secure and Accelerated File Transfer at CANSEC

FileCatalyst will be at CANSEC, Canada's premier defense technology showcase, demonstrating the acceleration and security features of their file transfer software.

(PRWeb May 17, 2012)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/fast-file-transfer/filecatalyst-at-cansec/prweb9515145.htm

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NetSuite Manufacturing: Right Direction, Long Road Ahead

As one of the first cloud ERP providers, NetSuite is looking to grow its customer base across multiple industries and up-market to larger customers. Those efforts include NetSuite’s renewed focus on the manufacturing sector, as unveiled at NetSuite’s annual user conference, which I attended this week.

Bottom Line: NetSuite is making the right decision and good progress to build out manufacturing functionality as part of its core system, but there is still much work to be done to achieve functional parity with other cloud and on-premises solutions in the marketplace. Nevertheless, the rapid development capabilities of NetSuite's platform offer hope that it will get there quickly.

From Partner Solutions to a Core Offering

Until recently, NetSuite’s approach to serving manufacturers was to provide what it called “light manufacturing,” coupled with customer-specific customizations, supplemented by partner solutions such as Rootstock when heavier manufacturing functionality was required. But this approach could only take NetSuite only so far.

• Support for manufacturers is essential in light of NetSuite’s product strategy. As explained by Zach Nelson in a small group briefing, the customer order is central entity in NetSuite, and NetSuite wants to “own” anything that is input into, or output from, the customer order. In the manufacturing sector, this would include production work orders. It makes no sense, therefore, for NetSuite to hand off these business processes to partners.
• At the same time, the manufacturing sector represents a large potential market for NetSuite. There are more manufacturing companies—especially small manufacturers—in the US than in any other sector. Inadequately serving such a large potential market made no sense as NetSuite looked to accelerate its growth.
• However, some basic features for manufacturers have been missing. For example, standard costing were not addressed in the core product, and few prospects would be willing to customize their implementations for such a fundamental need.

As a result of this realization, NetSuite in 2011 began work in earnest to build out its manufacturing functionality. In a briefing during NetSuite's conference I met the key players hired for this mission. They include:

• Roman Bukary, Head of Manufacturing and Distribution Industries. Roman previously worked for SAP, Baan, and other software companies. Earlier in his career, he was a manufacturing engineer.
• Ranga Bodla, Director, Industry Marketing. Ranga held product management positions at SAP and Pilot Software.
• Thad Johnson, Sr. Product Manager for Wholesale Distribution and Manufacturing Verticals. Earlier in his career, Thad was a product manager at QAD and also held several materials management positions in industry.
• Frank Vettese, Practice Manager. Frank has manufacturing software experience with IFS and Effective Management Systems.
• Gavin Davidson, Vertical Market Expert, Manufacturing. Gavin’s experience includes implementation work with manufacturing systems from Baan, Epicor, Microsoft Dynamics, and Visual.

I’m pointing out the experience of these individuals to show that NetSuite’s push into manufacturing is more than a marketing campaign. It has put together a serious team of individuals to lead the product development effort for this vertical.

An Expanding Footprint

In terms of manufacturing methods, NetSuite is primarily targeting discrete manufacturers although it intends to provide some support for process manufacturing down the road. An ideal prospect would be a discrete manufacturer that does a mix of in-house and contract production.

Let’s take a look at some of the manufacturing functionality that NetSuite has recently added or will be adding. From these few points we can get a sense for where NetSuite is in its current and near-term ability to better support manufacturing customers.

• Standard costing. As mentioned above, the lack of this capability in the past was a showstopper for many manufacturing prospects. But NetSuite reports that it added this capability in 2011, along with standard cost rollups.
• Bills of material. NetSuite has had BOM capabilities for some time, and it will soon support revision levels on BOMs along with effectivity dates. Users can also set a default scrap percentage on BOM components. Support for alternate BOMs is not in the roadmap.
• Routings. NetSuite added production routings to the standard system in 2011. These, of course, are used to create production work orders. Alternate routings will not be provided. .
• Cycle counting. Standard NetSuite code will now support cycle counting of inventory by ABC code.
• Material Requirements Planning (MRP). NetSuite now does a BOM explosion, but it does not generate reschedule messages for purchase orders or production work orders. Neither does it support all types of lot-sizing methods.
• Unit of measure conversions for purchasing, receiving, and inventory management have been part of the standard system for some time.
• Multi-facility planning. It appears that NetSuite will allow customers to maintain separate material plans for multiple facilities while still providing a global view of inventory. If so, this would go beyond what is typically offered in most Tier III on-premises manufacturing systems.
• Labor reporting. The team demonstrated a basic clock-in, clock out process using a tablet computer that can be used to report production completions and labor from the shop floor. This capability is currently in proof-of-concept.
• Capacity Planning will be supported, based on the NetSuite’s “demand plan,” but it does not appear that it will highlight capacity constraints as it will not track available work center capacity.
• Inventory Allocations and Available-to-Promise (ATP). This basic capability—to allocate available inventory and scheduled receipts against customer orders, and to provide visibility into projected inventory availability—is also scheduled as part of standard NetSuite functionality. (Kudos to NetSuite CTO Evan Goldberg for providing a layman’s explanation of ATP during his keynote.)
• Lot and serial number traceability. The team claims capabilities in tracing lot numbers and serial numbers from receipt through production into finished goods. I did not have a chance to verify this functionality, but if present, it would be of interest for a number of manufacturing sub-sectors such as high tech electronics and medical devices.

I believe that NetSuite means business in pursuing the manufacturing sector. However, as can be seen, many of these capabilities (e.g. routings, cycle counting, labor reporting) are very basic manufacturing requirements, things that have been present in systems such as ManMan, AMAPS, BPCS, and others back into the 1980s. Furthermore, some of the planned capabilities will lack key things that a manufacturing prospect would expect. For example, the team characterized NetSuite’s material planning system as a “lean manufacturing system,” which to me is a polite way of saying, “minimal.”

Contrast this with NetSuite’s current capabilities and roadmap for eCommerce (SuiteCommerce) or support for back-office processes of software vendors, which go far beyond what most other ERP providers offer.

Now, it may be that the major opportunities for NetSuite will not be in the hard-core job shops or industrial manufacturing companies. Inasmuch as many manufacturing companies in the United States and elsewhere in the world are outsourcing much of their heavy production processes, it might be that the feature set in NetSuite’s roadmap will be enough to satisfy the majority of its target manufacturing market.

The Time and Place for Customization

One thing that I do not think will satisfy such prospects, however, is the use of customization to fill basic functionality gaps. NetSuite promotes its ability to augment its standard processing with customer-developed or partner-developed customizations, without modifying standard NetSuite code. During his keynote, Evan Goldberg gave an impressive demonstration of the latest version of NetSuite’s development platform, SuiteCloud. I continue to be impressed with the ease-of-use that providers such as NetSuite and Salesforce.com are delivering with their Platform-as-a-Service offerings.

However, the ability to customize and extend the solution should not be taken as an excuse for not offering expected features/functions in the standard product. When prospects need full-blown work center capacity planning, for example, the last thing they want to hear is, “Oh, we can use SuiteCloud to build whatever you need.” For customer-unique requirements, SuiteCloud is a powerful attraction. For what should be standard functionality, no.

Rapid Progress Possible

I’m encouraged by NetSuite’s renewed interest in serving the needs of the manufacturing sector. However the feature set currently in the roadmap does not go as far as I would like to see in building comprehensive functionality for manufacturers. Nevertheless, I believe NetSuite will see success with its product strategy for two reasons. First, as mentioned earlier, it may be that a comprehensive footprint is really not needed to serve the majority of prospects. Second, NetSuite’s cloud platform—like other PaaS systems—offers a rapid development environment. NetSuite will certainly make more rapid progress in filling out its feature set than it would if it were a traditional on-premises vendor.

Compared to the services industries, the number of cloud ERP providers for manufacturers has been limited. But with NetSuite’s renewed focus, the list is now getting a little longer.

Disclosure: NetSuite paid for my travel expenses for its user conference in San Francisco

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The Simplicity and Agility of Zero-Upgrades in Cloud ERP

Posted on 18 May 2012 | 4:47 pm

The Simplicity and Agility of Zero-Upgrades in Cloud ERP

I am coming to the conclusion that a primary benefit of cloud ERP is the reduction or complete elimination of version upgrades. This observation was reinforced again this week in my one day attendance at the Plex Systems user conference in Indianapolis. Plex is a great example of what a cloud ERP vendor can accomplish by taking what I call a “zero upgrades” product strategy.

The Goal: Zero Upgrades

Originally founded in 1995, Plex went through a complete product overhaul in 2001, when it completely rewrote its ERP system as a cloud offering. At the time, NetSuite was the only other product that came close to cloud ERP and even then, NetSuite was largely a financials-only service.

Interestingly, in my interview this week with CEO Mark Symonds, becoming a “cloud ERP” provider was not their primary goal, but rather a means to an end. Passing through the client-server era, Plex grew tired of the difficulty in getting customers upgraded to new versions and rolling out patches and fixes to its installed base. The move to an online system (Plex Online)—the term “cloud computing” had not yet been coined—was the means by which Plex would to solve this problem. Customers would not have their own installations of the system. Rather they would access one central instance of Plex, which would be developed and maintained directly by Plex. Customers would never have to upgrade.

Implications of Zero Upgrades

Actually, I've known about the Plex approach for some time. But the implications of this strategy became more apparent as I sat through the keynote and some of the individual workshops.

1. You Like It? You’ve Already Got It. A good part of the opening keynote included the announcement and live demo of a new embedded report writer, called IntelliPlex. Now I wouldn’t say that the demo blew me away. It's good. It has an easy drag-and-drop method to allow users to create their own reports, generate charts and graphs, calculate new columns based on formulas, produce pivot tables and cross-tabs—all good stuff. Is it as powerful as the embedded BI capabilities that other vendors have demonstrated recently? In some cases, no.
   
   But here’s the catch. Every Plex customer watching that demo knew that they could immediately log on to their Plex system and have access to that report writer. They don’t need to order it, pay separately for it, install it, or be on a certain version of Plex to use it. Perhaps that’s the reason I didn’t see a single person walk out early from that keynote.
    
2. Functionality is Front and Center. I attend a lot of vendor conferences. Many of the sessions are taken up with subjects such as “Planning for Version X,” “What’s New in Release 7.2.345b,” “Prerequisites for Migrating Product X to Version Y of Database Z.” The Plex conference has none of these tactical, infrastructure-type subjects. All attention is on what the software does, not what you need to do to get it to do those things.
   
   For example, I sat in on part of a presentation on work center production scheduling—not a subject that I would consider a major draw. In much larger vendor conferences, I might see 20 or 30 people in this sort of presentation. But, as shown in the photo nearby, there were about 150 (out of 800 total) conference attendees in this session. Because Plex users do not have upgrades to deal with and plan for, they can devote all of their time to learning how to use the functionality that they already have access to. There appeared to me to be a much greater percentage of line-of-business users than I see in many vendor events.
    
   
3. User-driven Enhancements. Plex’s approach frees it from having to spend time managing multiple versions of its product, creating sandboxes, and phasing in customers from one version to the next. This gives its developers more time to work on product enhancements, which are largely driven by customer-funded requests. Although one customer may fund a change, all customers have the option to “flip the switch” and use it if they so choose, without having to schedule a version upgrade. All new functionality is delivered with the switch set “off,” so that individual customers can choose what and when to implement it.

Ultimately, the zero upgrades strategy enables business agility for customers. This point was stressed to me in an interview I did with Plex customer Ben Stewart of Inteva. His company has a growth-by-acquisition strategy and needs to be able to bring new plants and new locations on-board quickly. Plex’s zero upgrade approach and rapid response to his change requests (e.g. enable a new EDI partner) supports this strategy of agility to accommodate rapid change. Other customers report Plex implementations of new plants in timeframes of weeks, not months.

Are There Downsides?

I have discussed the zero upgrades approach with other cloud ERP vendors, and many of them disagree. They maintain that ERP is different from CRM or other non-critical applications, that cloud customers want control over their environments, that they want to choose when to upgrade and to be able to regression-test their business processes against new versions. In some cases, I think this is simply a legacy of the on-premises world: we’ve always released new functionality as version upgrades. In other cases, I believe that this position is taken for the vendor’s convenience, especially when their cloud ERP systems are using the same code base as their on-premises systems. Because the on-premises customers have to have version upgrades, the cloud ERP customers of the same system must also have version upgrades. Otherwise, the two classes of customers do not have the same code base.

This does not mean I am against the hybrid model—allowing a customer to run the same system on-premises and in the cloud, or to go from one deployment model to another. I have written that there are some advantages to the hybrid model. But forcing customers to do version upgrades is not one of them.

There is one scenario, however, where version upgrades are desirable, and that is in a regulated environment, an area I have some experience in. For example, current US FDA regulations require pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers to demonstrate that they have control over software configurations that are used to support regulated processes. This does not necessarily rule out use of cloud computing, but it does make it difficult to claim that the user has control over the system if the vendor is changing it on a daily basis. In such cases, it is easier to defend the use of a cloud ERP version that is frozen in its configuration, where the customer can choose when to upgrade and can run testing to confirm acceptance of the new version prior to upgrade. In non-regulated environments, however, I believe that the Plex practice of delivering new functionality “with the switch turned off” is better, as it promotes agility.

Some may argue that the Plex approach may lead to bugs being introduced into the production system on a daily basis. For example, Plex may implement a new feature in one part of the system and it may affect processing in another part of the system—even though a customer may not flip the switch for the new functionality. One long-standing Plex customer indicated that this does happen from time to time, but still he is strongly in favor of the zero-upgrades approach. I would add, I have seen many cases where traditional on-premises vendors ship code that notoriously bug-ridden, where they are shipping “patch releases” for months, even years, later. At least with the Plex approach, when bugs are discovered, they can be fixed in a few hours.

One final issue has to do with the practice of letting customers drive new enhancements. This approach may have worked well when Plex was small, but I question its wisdom as Plex scales. If uncontrolled, this can lead to many one-off enhancements being introduced into the core system, which only pertain to a single customer.

Fortunately, I heard two things during the conference that mitigate this problem. One is that Plex is establishing a formal product management function to review and clear all customer change requests and to evaluate which ones have merit for multiple customers. Second, Plex has introduced a web services platform capability called VisionPlex, which allows customers and partners to develop their own enhancements to interoperate with Plex, but outside of the core systems. This capability is just being rolled out in several pilot projects, but if successful it will go a long way toward keeping one-off enhancements out of the core system. It also has the benefit of enabling an ecosystem of Plex partners to build on Plex as a platform—something that has been lacking to date in Plex’s strategy.

Plex is not a large cloud ERP vendor, having only about 750 customers. It is narrowly focused on a few manufacturing industries, such as automotive, industrial products, plastics, electronics, and a few others. However, it is showing strong and steady growth—30% revenue growth in 2011 and expecting 20% growth in 2012. Furthermore, it is an existence proof for the principle that a zero-upgrades product strategy has major benefits for both customers and the vendor.

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Posted on 16 May 2012 | 2:09 pm

Making Sense of the New Epicor

Epicor held its annual Insights user conference this week in Las Vegas. This was the first gathering for customers of both Epicor and Activant since the two firms merged last year. As such, it was a good opportunity for the firm's executives to introduce what they are calling the "New Epicor" to 4000 conference attendees.

Three Elements of Strategy

1. Blending of Two Cultures. CEO Pervez Qureshi and other presenters made a point of emphasizing the new Epicor as a blending of the best of "heritage Epicor" and "heritage Activant." (In the enterprise IT world, the word heritage is preferred to legacy.) Qureshi characterized heritage Epicor as having been a global company, technology-oriented, entrepreneurial, and top-line focused. Heritage Activant, he said, was oriented more toward service, process excellence, and profitability. The new Epicor blends the best of these two cultures, he claimed.
    
2. Protect, Extend, Converge. The second element is Epicor's strategy and vision to protect, extend, and converge the product portfolio. "Protect" means to continue investment in the current products in its portfolio. "Extend" means to introduce new applications and infrastructure capabilities that deliver additional value across current products. Finally, "converge" implies a gradual evolution of current products with new technologies.
    
3. Azure as the Cloud Platform. The third element is Epicor's evolving cloud strategy. Prior to the conference, Epicor's cloud strategy was limited to a small business cloud version of its Epicor ERP product ("Epicor Express") along with some hosted solutions for functions such as HCM and retail merchandising. However, the strategic direction announced at Insights went much further. Wading through the dense language of the press release, I see the Azure announcement as having three sub-parts: (a) Epicor will allow its Epicor ERP product to be deployed on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform, planned for Q3, 2013, (b) Epicor will also use Azure to provide interoperability between on-premises Epicor systems and Epicor point solutions deployed on Azure. (c) A new version of Epicor's SOA middleware ("ICE") will also be deployed on Azure to provide a PaaS offering, facilitate mobility apps, and satisfy other integration needs between Epicor and third-party products.

Epicor executives were upbeat in presenting these and other elements of the new Epicor. But how differentiated is Epicor's strategy, and what does it mean for Epicor customers? Here's my take.

The Azure Strategy is a Winner

Taking these three elements in reverse sequence: although I do not see the Azure strategy as unique, I do see it as attractive. In fact, it is more attractive because it is not unique.  Epicor is at least the fourth major enterprise software vendor in the past three months that has announced plans to deploy ERP in the Azure cloud. The first, of course, is Microsoft Dynamics, which in March announced its plans to deploy Dynamics GP and Dynamics NAV on Azure by the end of 2012.Then, earlier this month, Sage announced similar plans. And now, Epicor.

I have no doubt that others will follow, making Microsoft Azure a first choice for delivery of cloud-based enterprise applications. I have long felt that, just as on-premises database management systems have been standardized on just a few popular products, so also cloud platforms should be standardized. By way of analogy, very few on-premises vendors today write their own DBMSs, with Oracle being the exception that makes the rule. Why then should SaaS providers build their own cloud infrastructure? Salesforce.com did it. NetSuite did it. Workday did it. But how many more can or should roll their own IaaS and PaaS platforms? There is a tremendous amount of cost and effort involved in doing so, not to mention the economies of scale that can only be realized by having thousands of customers. Epicor, Sage, and others are making the right choice by building on an established public cloud infrastructure provider.

Why didn't this happen earlier? Essentially, because Azure (specifically, SQL Azure database capabilities) has not been robust enough to support ERP-class applications. But in speaking with Microsoft earlier this year, it appears that these limitations are now being overcome, which explains why Microsoft Dynamics, Sage, and Epicor are all moving to Azure at about the same time.

There is one more advantage to the Azure strategy. The current Epicor Express offering is limited to customers with under 20 users. I do not believe Epicor's current infrastructure architecture allows customers to scale beyond that point in a multi-tenant environment. Moving to Azure frees Epicor from that limitation, allowing it to sell cloud ERP to larger customers, though I suspect in practice it will still be most attractive to small and midsize businesses.

Finally, moving to Azure immediately allows Epicor to offer cloud ERP in a number of geographies where it does not have partner data centers. Epicor ERP has good international capabilities. Now customers in international locations will also be able to choose cloud deployment in their own geographies to meet regulatory or performance requirements.

Strategy of "Protect, Extend, Converge" Is a No-Brainer

The protect/extend/converge message has two things going for it: it's easy to remember and and it's customer-friendly. It also happens to be the only product strategy that makes any sense for a vendor such as Epicor. Epicor's growth strategy, like Infor's and Oracle's, has been to acquire or roll up a number of smaller vendors to build a large customer base with a diverse portfolio of products. The benefits of such a strategy is clear: growth. The downside of such a strategy is the diverse portfolio. But with a certain level of attention paid to customer support, the large number of existing customers will continue to pay maintenance revenues (the mother's milk of enterprise software) and will also be candidates for cross-selling other Epicor products.

It is interesting, therefore, to compare Epicor to Oracle and Infor and to see the similarities. All three have large customer bases. All three have diverse portfolios. All three have some sort of middleware offering to connect all the solutions: Oracle has Fusion middleware, Infor has ION, and Epicor has ICE. All three have customer programs to "protect" existing customer investments: Oracle has its "Applications Unlimited" program, Infor made its promise to "never sunset" a product, and Epicor has its strategy of "protect." Likewise, all have their strategies to "extend," such as Oracle with its continued point releases of J.D. Edwards, PeopleSoft, Siebel and others; and Infor, with its continued investments in its portfolio. Finally, all have some sort of convergence strategy, such as Oracle with its Fusion Applications, Infor with its development of ION, common user interface, and other common functions.

In other words, Epicor's strategy is the only rational way to deal with a large and diverse installed base built through acquisition. Qureshi's plan to continue aggressively with new acquisitions means that successfully protecting, extending, and converging its product portfolio will become even more important.

The Culture Message Has a Subtext

I found Qureshi's keynote regarding the blending of the Activant and Epicor cultures to be interesting, if not unusual for a customer conference. It would be the sort of thing one would expect to be presented internally, in an "all hands" meeting, for employee consumption. Delivering this message to customers, however, also sends an implicit message: heritage Epicor needed  improvement in product quality and customer service.

Perhaps this subtext is so well understood by the majority of Epicor customers that there was little risk in sending this message.  Still, if Activant's strength--in contrast with Epicor's--was (among other things) process excellence and customer service, what does that say about heritage Epicor?

It didn't end with the keynote. Later in the day, there was a session on the product roadmap for Epicor ERP. The presenters were proud of reports from early adopters of the most recent point release (ERP 9.05.700). But in touting the quality of the release, they were, in effect, reminding Epicor customers of their past experiences. One customer quote was damning with faint praise, referring to the new version as:

A more solid product than we've seen before.

If my wife makes me a nice dinner, the last thing I would tell her is, "This is a more delicious dinner than you've made me in the past."

But, if Epicor customers are all-too-familiar with product quality and service delivery problems in the past, perhaps Qureshi's approach is best: to tacitly acknowledge the problem. Key executives in the new Epicor come from Activant, starting with Pervez Quereshi (CEO), Kevin Roach (EVP and GM, ERP Americas), and Paul Salsigiver (EVP and GM, Retail), sending the message that Activant's focus on software quality and service delivery processes will prevail in the new Epicor.

My question, however, is this: are customers seeing an actual improvement in Epicor's product quality and customer service? Or, is it too early to tell?

I invite Epicor customers and partners to send me an email, or leave a comment on this post. As always, confidentiality is assured.

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Infor’s Two-Pronged Cloud Strategy

Posted on 12 May 2012 | 9:00 am

Infor’s Two-Pronged Cloud Strategy

While enterprise cloud computing pioneers such as NetSuite and Salesforce.com get much of the attention, there is some interesting cloud-work going on among traditional enterprise software providers. One such provider is Infor.

I had the opportunity to get an update on Infor’s cloud computing program last week, at Infor’s annual user conference, Inforum. The bottom line: I see Infor’s cloud strategy as having two prongs, and it is beginning to bear fruit.

I gave a brief overview of my thoughts on Infor’s cloud strategy in my video interview with Dennis Howlett. In this blog post, I expand on those initial thoughts.

Infor Representative of Traditional Enterprise Software Providers

Infor is generally known as a vendor that has accumulated a huge portfolio of enterprise software, by acquiring a number of players over the past decade. As a result, it claims an installed base of over 70,000 customers, making it the third largest enterprise applications provider by revenue, following SAP and Oracle. As such, it epitomizes the dilemma that such enterprise software providers face:

1. They are competing against cloud-only ERP providers, such as NetSuite, Plex, Intaact, FinancialForce, Rootstock, Kenandy, and others, who offer simple one-stop subscription-based cloud ERP. Infor is increasingly seeing these providers in net-new deals for core ERP systems, especially in the SMB market.
    
2. They are also battling against a host of cloud-based point-solution providers, who are creeping into Infor’s installed base offering everything from CRM to expense management to talent management. Infor has a number of good on-premises point solutions, but customers are increasingly finding cloud-based point solutions more attractive in terms of ease-of-implementation, flexibility, and time to value.
   
   The largest of these cloud providers, of course, is Salesforce.com, which a number of Infor customers have already chosen for CRM. Interestingly, Infor does not have its own best of breed CRM system—even on-premises. It does have its Epiphany CRM system, but that is more of a marketing automation solution, not a sales force automation system, which is what most prospects are looking for. 

 Infor, as typical for most established enterprise software providers, needed an answer to both of these competitive challenges. In response, Infor has a two-pronged strategy, as I see it.

First Prong: Infor Business Cloud

The first prong of Infor’s strategy is to offer customers its own cloud solutions, both for full ERP and for point solutions. This program, first launched as Infor24 in 2006, is now branded as the Infor Business Cloud. The products offered therein are not merely hosted offerings—some of them were originally built as cloud offerings, while others are originally on-premises offerings that have been re-architected, allowing them to be deployed as multi-tenant cloud services.

In other words, Infor is not merely hosting its on-premises offerings and relabeling them as “cloud” (so-called “cloud washing). In my interview with Jim Ploude, who is responsible for Infor’s cloud business, he made it clear: the cost for Infor to deliver multi-tenant cloud services is orders of magnitude lower than it is for single tenant hosted services. There are also great advantages in terms of economies of scale, administrative overhead, risk reduction, and flexibility.

For Infor customers that insist on traditional single-tenant hosted services, Infor or one of its partners can provide that. But those services are separate from Infor’s Business Cloud, which offers the full benefits of cloud computing, and are more cost-effective.

• In terms of ERP, the Infor Business Cloud currently offers only its Syteline product as a cloud service. But other products—which Jim was reluctant to name—are also in the pipeline for re-architecture as cloud offerings. These will give new customers additional choices for cloud ERP.
   
• In terms of point solutions, Infor has a broader selection of cloud services, including Infor’s Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) product (originally the Datastream acquisition), expense management, property management, workforce management, and hospitality management. Jim himself came onboard with Infor as part of the Datastream acquisition and already had extensive experience in deploying that product as a cloud service.

As I point out in the accompanying video, most of Infor’s large customer base cannot move their entire applications portfolio to the cloud. They have already invested in on-premises systems. But they are increasingly interested in cloud solutions that interoperate with their on-premises investments. Infor, therefore, must provide hybrid offerings. Hybrid cloud offerings are not a compromise—they are necessary to meet customers where they are. This first prong of Infor’s strategy, therefore, represents a pragmatic approach that can work for the majority of Infor’s customers.

Infor’s Business Cloud is more than a statement of direction—it already boasts 1,200 customers and somewhere in the neighborhood of 2.4 million named users consuming its services. Although Jim would not give specifics, I have reason to believe that the majority of these customers are for the point solutions, with cloud ERP (Syteline) representing a small, but growing, number. This is not surprising, as ERP is really the last bastion for enterprise cloud computing.

Cloud Services to Facilitate Version Upgrades

There is one more angle to Infor’s business cloud that Jim was not able to discuss at length, because Infor still has announcements pending in this area. This is in regard to the use of cloud infrastructure, such as Amazon Web Services, to facilitate customer upgrades to new versions of Infor products.

When customers are considering to upgrade an existing on-premises system, much of the preliminary planning work—such as exploring features of the new version, conference room piloting, and analyzing differences between the customer’s version (which may include source code modifications or extensions)—requires a second working instance of the application. Those activities are a natural use-case for cloud infrastructure. For vendors such as Infor, who have a large installed base of customers—a significant percentage of whom are trapped in older, highly modified versions—cloud infrastructure represents an opportunity to more quickly move those customers to new versions, where they can benefit from the new products that Infor is developing.

At Inforum, Infor was not ready to announce plans for leveraging cloud infrastructure to support customer upgrades. But there is a real need in this area, and I’m looking forward to hearing more about how Infor plans to move in this direction.

Second Prong: Partnering with Salesforce.com

The second prong of Infor’s cloud strategy is its partnership with Salesforce.com, branded “Inforce.” As Salesforce already has made inroads into Infor’s installed base, and as Infor does not have its own best-of-breed salesforce automation system, a partnership between the two players makes a lot more sense than Infor attempting to build or buy its own cloud CRM offering.

I discussed the first deliverable of this partnership, Inforce Everywhere, in my blog post, Infor and Salesforce.com: More Than a Barney Relationship, and I was happy to see one Infor executive “borrow” this phrase in an analyst briefing.

Inforce Everywhere is an application, built natively on the Force.com platform and using Infor’s lightweight ION middleware, that allows a Salesforce.com users to see Infor ERP data in Salesforce.com screens. Conversely, it gives Infor ERP users access to Salesforce.com data. As a result, users can have a 360 degree view of customer information encompassing both CRM and ERP data.

For most ERP customers buying Salesforce.com, system integrators build such integration on a one-off basis. What Inforce Everywhere does is to provide such integration as a standard product. During Inforum I had an opportunity interview Julia Klein, CEO of CH Briggs, one of the first early adopters of Inforce Everywhere, and she gave a powerful testimony of how important this integration is to her company. She said that if Infor didn’t build this integration, she would have to hire someone to do it for her company.

Success Hopeful but Not Guaranteed

Infor’s two-pronged cloud strategy is coherent, but as with any strategy there are obstacles. On the first prong, the Infor Business Cloud, I see difficulties moving a sales force accustomed to selling software licenses with large up-front payments to selling cloud subscription services. I did receive some indication that Infor is aware of this problem and is taking steps to mitigate the sales disincentive to sell cloud services.

The second prong, the relationship with Salesforce.com, also has the same challenge related to the sales model, which it hopefully will address. In addition, the pricing I have seen so far for Inforce Everywhere appears a bit rich, especially when combined with Infor’s own ERP pricing and Salesforce.com subscription fees. Of course, nothing stops Infor or Salesforce.com from negotiating more aggressive discounts, but wasn’t cloud computing supposed to simplify the rug-merchant nature of enterprise software sales? My concern is that if the pricing is too rich, many good prospects may find it more attractive to just do a minimal amount of one-off integration between the two products, just like they’ve done in the past.

In spite of these challenges, I think Infor has a good chance of success. If so, it will be a good sign for other traditional vendors working on making the transition to the cloud.

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Posted on 3 May 2012 | 3:04 pm

SAP’s Mobility Strategy: One Million Developers Blooming

SAP in its press conference last week provided a major update on its database and mobility strategy. In my first post, I outlined my view of SAP’s database strategy. Now, in this second post, I provide my perspective on SAP’s mobility strategy.

SAP recognizes mobility as a critical element of its product strategy going forward, along with social business, cloud, and in-memory computing. But as some of my associates been hammering over the past two years, success in mobility requires SAP to enable thousands of small development firms and individual developers to build applications for SAP. Not just a few large system integrators or ISVs: SAP needs the enterprise equivalent of Apple’s App Store ecosystem.

SAP’s thinking on this front has been evolving. After its Sybase acquisition, it put the “Sybase Unwired Platform” (or SUP, but now renamed, the SAP Mobility Platform) at the center of its mobility strategy. You want to build mobile apps for SAP? Wonderful—buy, borrow, or otherwise get access to the SAP products you want to integrate with, plus an instance of SUP, and have at it. The problem was, however, that this approach limits the number of developers to the following categories:

• Large or midsize ISV-partners of SAP, who were willing to make the investment in an SAP development environment, to develop mobility apps for sale to current and future SAP customers. This would be a small number.
  
• System integration partners of SAP, who had live project opportunities that included mobility apps as deliverables. The SI could use the client's SAP development environment. These resulting apps would be to meet the needs of a specific client, although the SI might reuse the code in future projects. But this approach would produce few apps for a wider audience.
  
• Individual developers or small SAP partners who understand SAP’s middleware and development architecture well enough to forgo use of SAP’s platform and can write mobility apps directly against SAP’s back-end databases. This is where many "app store" type apps could be produced. But here is where small developers come up against a brick wall: SAP does not make it easy to gain access to trial or development versions of many of the SAP products that a mobility programmer would need.

For some reason, Oracle, Microsoft, and IBM are able to make life easier for small developers. But for a hint of what it’s like for a small developer to work with SAP, take a look at this blog post (on SAP’s own SCN community site!): Why Does SAP Make This So Complicated?

Two Good Announcements, But More Work Needed

SAP, to its credit, appears to understand the problem. In its announcements, two were especially noteworthy in terms of addressing the needs of the developer masses and in terms of filling out SAP’s own mobile apps portfolio.

• First, to enable those thousands of developers, SAP announced partnerships with three leading mobility development tools providers: PhoneGap (recently acquired by Adobe), Appcelerator, and Sencha. These will allow developers, working with tools they are already familiar with, to build apps using a new OData connector to integrate with SAP’s back-end systems. In addition, these tools will allow many simple apps to be built without having to rely upon SAP’s Mobility Platform.
  
• The second big announcement was that SAP is acquiring Syclo, which has its own mobility platform as well as a suite of well-regarded field service and asset management applications. SAP said that what it is really after here is not the platform (which overlaps functionality of SAP’s Mobility Platform) but the field service apps. This is another step in SAP building out its portfolio of its own out-of-the box mobile apps. Based on my own work with clients, I know that field service and asset management, in fact, are top use cases for mobility in enterprise systems. If SAP can continue to buy or build collections of key mobility apps like Syclo’s, it will begin to fill out the major white spaces in its mobility portfolio, while still leaving much room for third-party developers to fill in the rest.

These are welcome announcements, but will they be enough? I don't think so. These announcements give the developers new tools, but they don't address the problem of getting access to an SAP development system for testing. Some of my associates, such as Vijay Vijayasankar and Dennis Howlett, echo this concern:

Dennis writes,

Needless to say there is a major hitch: developers who want to build apps with SAP data need access to a NetWeaver instance to test and model. Customers would have that, but small developer shops without an SAP license would not have that access without pricey, hair-pulling hurdles, which Sikka acknowledged during the press conference was a “19th century” approach. When pressed on this issue, SAP’s Fawad Zakariya, VP of Mobility and a key player in mobility ecosystem development reporting directly to Poonen, asserted that good news on this front was coming.

In a similar vein, Vijay writes,

I cannot stress enough on the licensing and monetization model to be figured out upfront – without that, access to software is practically meaningless. Developers have a lot of choice today, including many OSS choices. SAP needs a compelling story for them to use SAP technology….

… we are not sure how SAP handles the licensing/pricing in this scenario . And without that clarity coming real quick – I doubt if scores of developers will jump in and start developing cool apps. Sanjay Poonen responded on twitter few days ago than SAP will get it right quickly, and I totally trust him to do so – hopefully by SAPPHIRE in Orlando.

So here we have it. SAP is making significant progress to curry favor with small developers, but it still doesn't have a total solution to enable them with access to test versions or sandbox instances of SAP back-end systems.

Listen to the Developers

Some of my associates are still concerned that SAP has not found the right “pricing model” for mobility apps, but I think that is last year’s debate. Although not part of the formal announcements last week, it appears SAP is working on a pricing scheme that differentiates between major functional mobility apps, casual apps, and even “free” apps. Add in occasional one-off “enterprise pricing” for very large corporate deals, and I don’t think pricing needs to be an obstacle. Everyone can make money and customers can pay appropriately.

But the licensing problems are more systemic within SAP and most likely face legal or organizational resistance based on “how we’ve always done business.”

I am not a mobile apps developer. Therefore, I have no experience on which to judge when SAP will have all the pieces in place to encourage, in the words of SAP, one million developers to bloom. I can only look to those small developers already within SAP’s ecosystem for their reaction—when they are happy, then I’ll know SAP is on the right path. And what I’m hearing from them so far is that they’re still concerned about the licensing issues.

With SAP as the largest enterprise application company in the world, the mobility announcements are welcome news, but we still don’t have a total solution to enable thousands, let alone, millions of developers. I look forward to hearing about progress reported out of the SAPPHIRE conference in a few weeks.

You can watch a video of the entire press conference.

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Posted on 17 April 2012 | 7:02 am

SAP’s Database Strategy Faces an Uphill Battle

Last week I attended a half day SAP press conference in San Francisco, on the subject of SAP’s strategy for database technology and mobility. Both are hot topics in enterprise software, and there were plenty of announcements. In fact, it’s quite easy to get lost in the weeds. So, in this first of two posts, I’ll try to summarize what I see as the big picture for SAP’s database strategy.

SAP Positioning Itself as a Database Company

When SAP acquired Sybase in 2010, it said it was doing the deal primarily Sybases's mobility platform. But Sybase also has its traditional relational database products, leading with its Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) database. At the same time, SAP itself has been rolling out its HANA in-memory database (IMDB) technology. Until now, these two database products were managed separated, but no longer. SAP is consolidating all its database offerings—HANA and Sybase’s—along with middleware and tools, under one management unit.

There were many tactical announcements. SAP announced general availability of its BW business intelligence product on HANA, and its plan to make HANA available later this year as the database of choice for its small business customers of its Business One ERP product. In addition, customers later this month will have the flagship Sybase ASE database available as a deployment option for SAP’s Business Suite and All-in-One products.

SAP rolled out all of these announcements under the banner of its plan to become known as a database company.

Database Migrations Difficult to Justify

After the press conference, one SAP executive sensed my ambivalence about this plan. With Oracle taking an ever-increasing adversarial position toward SAP, I can understand SAP’s discomfort with having a large percentage of its best customers running on Oracle’s database. At the same time, the other two major providers of relational databases (IBM and Microsoft) are SAP-friendly. IBM is SAP’s largest system integration partner, while SAP and Microsoft often find their technology interests aligned. So, how do you threaten Oracle while not also threatening IBM and Microsoft?

Furthermore, does SAP honestly believe that existing SAP customers are going to migrate in droves from Oracle, IBM’s DB2, or Microsoft SQL Server to HANA or ASE? In the case of business analytics, there may be some movement toward HANA, yes, as the value of in-memory performance for analytic applications is somewhat easy to envision. But what about SAP’s business applications, such as Business One, All-in-One, and the Business Suite? With all the challenges and demands placed on CIOs these days, it’s difficult to imagine an installed SAP customer undergoing a database migration, simply to eliminate some Oracle, or DB2, or Microsoft SQL Server licenses. SAP insists there is business value for HANA in some transaction processing—and I can see that, say, in supply chain management. But is that enough to justify a database migration? Even less so, why would a customer swap out Oracle, DB2, or Microsoft for ASE, which is essentially a like-for-like product? I just don’t see it.

In side-bar discussions, SAP executives basically agree. Alright then, so the target is net-new application customers? But here the challenge is essentially the same. In most cases, business apps prospects already have skills and experience with Oracle, DB2, or MS SQL Server. Are they really going to want to invest in learning Sybase ASE, or HANA? Unless they can completely eliminate those other database platforms from their environments, going with Sybase or HANA is adding to their complexity, not simplifying things.

I think that selling databases is going to be harder row to hoe than SAP is making it out to be.

Subsidizing HANA May Meet Complications

Perhaps recognizing the challenge, SAP realizes it is going to have to sweeten the pot, especially for HANA. So, at the press conference, SAP announced that it is putting up some serious money, through two funds:

• For new and existing customers: a $337 million fund to subsidize services for SAP customers to convert to HANA. I assume the initial target for these funds will be in migrating business analytics customers to HANA.
  
  
• For technology start-ups: a $155 million venture capital fund through SAP Ventures for start-ups to build new apps on HANA.

It’s encouraging that SAP is putting its money where its mouth is. For customers, making a database change may not be cost-justified without some help from SAP. Moreover, tech start-ups may need some financial encouragement to build new products on HANA.

However, I see complications with each of these funding efforts.

• With the customer fund, there may be issues with SAP’s partners. By funding SAP’s own services to assist with HANA, SAP is taking work away from partners, who typically play a key role in SAP implementations and migrations. In response to my question on this, SAP executives said that it will bring partners into this work at some point in the future.
  
  Nevertheless, I have to believe that, at first, partners will view SAP as increasing its share of services at the partners’ expense. This is especially true under current economic conditions where customers can only absorb a certain amount of change at once. Moreover, by delivering HANA services directly, SAP delays giving partners the HANA experience they will need for the future. SAP can solve this problem, of course, by ponying up the money but letting customers choose whether to use SAP’s professional services group or partners to deliver the services, or by co-delivering services with partners.
  
  
• For start-ups, HANA may not be as attractive as SAP thinks. Looking back at SaaS and other tech start-ups over the past decade, most of them chose to build on open-source database technologies, such as MySQL or PostgreSQL. The reason, of course, is that open-source infrastructure minimizes their own costs as they grow. It also leaves more customer budget available to invest in the application, instead of the required infrastructure.
  
  I once asked a start-up executive why his firm was building on MySQL instead of Oracle. He replied, “Oracle scales technically, but it doesn’t scale economically.” I have to wonder if HANA will face the same resistance, even with funding from SAP Ventures. A quick check with associates indicated that there are already open-source in-memory databases (IMDBs), including CSQL and VoltDB. I have no knowledge of the capabilities of these products or how they compare with HANA. It is likely that HANA is head and shoulders above open source alternatives. But Oracle’s flagship database was and still is head and shoulders above open source capabilities, and that didn’t stop cloud start-ups from using MySQL and PostgreSQL.

Ultimately, very few organizations want to buy databases—or middleware. They want business applications, and those apps require databases and middleware as part of the technology stack. So, when SAP talks about becoming a database company, it’s hard for me to become excited.

Perhaps SAP already knows that it's going to be difficult. Earlier this year, it began floating the idea of making its goal, "to become the No. 2 database provider by the year 2015." But by the time of the press conference, the goal had been watered down to “becoming the fastest growing database provider.”

When you are starting from such a small market share, becoming the “fastest-growing” is not a very high bar.

Update, Apr. 16: Some deeper questions on Oracle's database strategy from Jonathan Wilson. And, a good post from Vitaliy Rudnytskiy, pointing out that HANA is more than an "in-memory database."

Related posts

SAP in Transition on Mobile, Cloud, and In-memory Computing
SAP Innovating with Cloud, Mobile and In-memory Computing

Posted on 14 April 2012 | 11:00 pm

Microsoft Dynamics ERP on Azure: What Are the Benefits?

Last week I attended Microsoft’s annual Convergence conference, for users and partners of its Dynamics line of enterprise applications. The back-to-back briefings were a great opportunity to get an update on where Microsoft is going with enterprise applications.

But the big news from my perspective is that by the end of 2012, two of Microsoft's ERP products, GP and NAV, will be available on Microsoft's Azure cloud.

Click on the video interview at the right for my initial thoughts, which I am expanding upon in this post.

Azure Complements Existing Hosted Offerings

Microsoft customers have always been able to deploy NAV (formerly, Navision) and GP (formerly, Great Plains) on-premises. In addition, some customers have chosen in the past to have Microsoft partners host their systems in partner data centers. MyGPCloud is one of the largest such partners, hosting GP for thousands of small business customers. Likewise, Tribridge offers similar hosting services for all Dynamics ERP products.

Now, Microsoft is offering customers the option to deploy their GP or NAV systems on Microsoft's Azure cloud, which runs in Microsoft data centers. This offering will not replace partner hosting but simply will be another deployment option for customers.

Through back channels, I've heard some partners express uncertainty about this new development. Is Microsoft attempting to go direct with customers? How will the partners make money? During the session, Microsoft executives made clear that, under Azure deployment, partners will still maintain the customer relationship and deliver the services for implementation and ongoing support. The only difference is that with the Azure deployment option partners will be relieved from the need to maintain data center infrastructure.

What Are the Benefits?

Over the past two years, I've been one of those encouraging the Dynamics team to go faster in moving to Azure, as cloud ERP is already available from competitors. But now that Microsoft is on the verge of actually doing it, I wanted to know, what are the benefits? Specifically, if customers can already have these systems hosted by a Microsoft partner--and if Microsoft will still work through partners in selling and supporting systems deployed on Azure--what are the added benefits of Azure?

I asked this question a year ago at Convergence and, frankly, the answers were not that clear. After asking this same question in several briefings this year, and adding my own analysis, I think the benefits picture is now emerging.

• Azure deployment is cheaper than hosting. Azure is a true elastic cloud platform, with data center economies of scale that traditional hosting cannot come close to matching. This should allow Microsoft to price these services at a lower cost than what partners can offer.
  
• Azure deployment scales beyond partner hosting. As a true cloud platform, Azure deployments can scale instantly beyond what partner hosting can offer. Hosted ERP relies upon dedicated resources, which must be planned and expanded manually to meet changing customer requirements. With Azure, customers will never exhaust the resources available.
  
• Azure supports worldwide deployments better than partner hosting does. Microsoft runs Azure data centers worldwide and can move customer systems and data between them as needed. Hosting partners do not have this capability, unless they are utilizing a true cloud IaaS, such as Amazon's EC2. The move to Azure is therefore a better choice for organizations that are running separate instances in different parts of the world.
  
• Azure deployment provides easier version upgrades. With partner hosting, upgrades and maintenance are handled more or less as they are with on-premises software: each customer is treated separately (though I suspect some partners are more organized about this than others). With Azure deployment, Microsoft will have a more disciplined approach to application management: rolling out new versions, upgrades, and patches to its customers, similar to what it does today with Microsoft CRM (even though, as I point out in the interview, CRM is not yet an Azure service).
  
• Azure deployment is provided directly by Microsoft. Most new prospects will have a higher level of comfort with cloud services provided directly by Microsoft and backed by the Microsoft brand and service level guarantees. Hosting is often delivered by service providers who are relatively unknown. The direct Microsoft relationship is also simpler and easier to explain. The software comes from Microsoft and the cloud services are delivered directly by Microsoft.

It is also important to point out at least one advantage of Azure deployment over partner hosting that Microsoft is not claiming--that is, that Azure deployment provides the ability to inter-operate with other Azure services, such as Office 365 or other future Azure data services (some of which I was briefed on). Microsoft has made a big deal about its vision of the so-called "hybrid cloud," meaning that customers will be able to move selected "workloads" to Azure while keeping other workloads on-premises or in partner-hosted data centers. Therefore, if I want to inter-operate Microsoft's Office 365 with my NAV system, it should not make any difference if my NAV instance is on-premises, in a partner data center, or on the Azure cloud.

Optimizing Azure as a Cloud Platform

I am struck by the fact that I've had to piece together this value proposition for Azure ERP myself, lobbing softball questions to Microsoft executives, parsing their answers, and adding my own analysis. If Microsoft itself is not prepared to articulate the value proposition of Azure ERP, how can it expect that its customers or its partners will perceive it?

Therefore, I do not envision customers and prospects staging a mad rush to Azure. As I said in the interview linked above, what if Dynamics throws an party and no one shows up?

Nevertheless, from a strategic perspective, I do believe that moving to Azure is the right thing for Dynamics. Mike Ehrenberg, one of only a handful of Microsoft Technical Fellows, told us an interesting story. He said that when they first spoke with CEO Steve Ballmer about moving Dynamics ERP to the cloud they told him that they could do it in one of two ways:

1. The quick way: hosting it in Microsoft data centers in a highly virtualized environment, as they had done with Microsoft CRM, or
   
2. The strategic way: working with the Azure team to optimize the Azure capabilities needed to support true scalable enterprise business applications, such as SQL Azure, until it could support Dynamics ERP.

Mike reported that Ballmer thought for about two seconds before choosing the second option. He likened it to Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office, years ago. It took the requirements of Office as a set of user applications to make Windows "become better" as a PC platform. Likewise, it would take Dynamics as a set of enterprise applications to make Azure become better as a cloud platform.
The problem, of course, is that it's taking much longer to develop Azure as a enterprise-class platform. In the meantime, competitors such as NetSuite, Workday, SAP, Plex, and others have already become established as cloud ERP providers and have gained market share in this emerging market. Nevertheless, Microsoft entering this market later this year is a welcome development that will mean an increasing number of choices for buyers.
Postscript: watch for Part 1 of my market overview of cloud ERP over the next few weeks.

Posted on 27 March 2012 | 8:52 am

Tech Vendors: Not All Bad, Not All Good

There’s something I’ve noticed over the years that bothers me. That is, the tendency for industry observers to take unqualified positions for or against certain technology vendors. My feeling about this runs deep, so, hopefully, this post will help others understand why I sometimes react the way I do in my comments on public forums such as Twitter and blog comments.

No technology vendor is 100% “good”—there is always at least something that is not so good. Likewise, no vendor is 100% “bad”—there are always positive attributes. But with some commentators, certain vendors can do no wrong and other vendors can’t do anything right.

If you are someone who always rises up to defend certain vendors, it makes me question your objectivity. This is especially true if you have some sort of commercial relationship with that vendor, whether it is advisory work you have done for them in the past, former employment, or some other connection. But in other cases, even without any commercial relationship, it appears some simply have favorites.

Likewise, if when you hear a positive report about a vendor, you cannot help but criticize, I also question your objectivity. I’ve said in the past, if you can’t say something bad about a vendor, don’t say anything at all.

Now let’s get specific and look at some examples of what I mean.

Apple

Apple is at the top of its game these days, and nowhere is there more unabashed enthusiasm. By market capitalization, Apple is now not only the largest technology vendor: it is now the largest company in the world. Over the past several years, Apple has disrupted entire markets (e.g. music and smartphones) and it has created entirely new ones (e.g. tablet computers). It popularized the concept of an “App Store,” which now everyone is imitating.

It wasn’t always like this. Many of Apple’s most devoted fans are too young to remember a time when Apple nearly failed. It fired Steve Jobs and many were calling for Apple to license its Macintosh operating system to other computer makers—in other words, to imitate Microsoft. Thankfully, Jobs came back, and Jobs had his own ideas. Today, 16 years later, Apple is going from strength to strength. I admire Apple.

So, can Apple do no wrong? Just consider Apple’s business practices that at least border on, if not cross over into, unfair competition. For example:

• Apple’s iBooks Author EULA, which appears to restrict paid distribution of "works" created with the software to Apple’s iBookstore only
  
• Apple’s proclivity to block apps that compete with Apple’s own products or services
  
• Apple’s refusal to approve an e-book for sale in its iBookstore because it had “too many links” to Amazon, a competitor
  
• The US Department of Justice’s plan to sue Apple (and others) for price-fixing on e-books
  

Just substitute the name Microsoft for Apple in the above bullets and imagine the media reaction. But because Apple is “cool,” Apple gets a pass.

Microsoft

Microsoft is the technology firm that many observers still love to hate. Years ago, with a near-monopoly in desktop operating systems, Microsoft faced relentless attacks from media, governments, and competitors. Apple’s desktop market share remained tiny, except in a few markets, such as education and graphic arts. Linux showed promise, but never gained traction as a desktop OS.

Microsoft still has a dominant (though less so) position in desktop PCs. Its developer tools are widely adopted, and its position in the data center continues to grow. It’s also had success with its game platform. But in the biggest growth markets—mobile and cloud applications—Microsoft lags industry leaders, such as Apple and Google. In other words, Microsoft continues to hold a dominant position in slow growth markets. The Microsoft haters see it as justice served.

I am neither a Microsoft lover nor a Microsoft hater. In my view, Microsoft Windows and Office are bloated and difficult to use (one close family member still doesn’t understand the right mouse button). Windows 8 doesn’t look to be an improvement either.

On the other hand, I feel some of the criticism that Microsoft receives today is undeserved. Merely mentioning Microsoft to some analysts provokes a visceral response, almost revulsion. Yet, in some respects, Microsoft is starting to become the “good guy.” In terms of privacy, I am much more comfortable using Microsoft’s Bing search engine than I am in using Google, who I fear is building a personal dossier on me. Microsoft’s Dynamics line of enterprise systems have good functionality and user adoption.

So, with Microsoft, I see some “bad,” but I also see some “good.”

SAP

SAP is a vendor that many in the enterprise software market love to hate, and I stand as second-to-none in terms of my criticism of SAP. Go to my blog, The Enterprise System Spectator, and do a search in the right hand column on SAP. To save you some time, here are some examples: my mocking of SAP for whining about price cuts; my post after post after post criticizing SAP's maintenance fees; and my hammering of SAP for fighting third-party maintenance at the same time it was offering 3PM to Oracle customers.

So, is SAP all “bad?” Certainly not. I have interviewed SAP top executives, its CEOs, and some of its board members. I can say, without a doubt, that SAP’s leaders care about its customers and that they struggle to find new and better ways to improve business value. They recognize that the TCO of their Business Suite is too high. They know that cloud providers such as Workday and Salesforce.com are eating their lunch. They also recognize that mobility apps are essential and are trying to turn the ship to provide better support for small developers. Finally, they used a skunk-works approach to develop an in-memory computing technology (HANA) that could potentially disrupt the relational database market and transform many business applications.

Will SAP be successful on any of these initiatives? Who knows? But with the largest installed base of any enterprise system provider, I hope for the best—not for the sake of SAP or its shareholders—but for the sake of SAP’s customers.

Oracle

Here’s a vendor that is hard to love but deserves respect. Once again, I stand second-to-none in my criticism of Oracle. Over the years, I’ve written about Oracle's excessive margins on software maintenance; the unhappiness of its installed base; its penchant for creating fear, uncertainty, and doubt; its mockery of its competitors; and its lack of openness.

On the other hand, Larry Ellison is a visionary. He had the foresight to be a large early investor in Salesforce.com and NetSuite long before cloud computing was fashionable. Apparently he knew he was better off making those investments in start-ups rather than trying to develop cloud applications within Oracle, where they would likely lack focus.

Furthermore, around the turn of the century Ellison saw that the enterprise software marketplace was fragmented and overdue for consolidation. Then, he acted on that insight and took advantage of it. I predicted that Oracle’s bid for PeopleSoft would fail, but I was wrong.

In terms of execution, Oracle is nearly flawless. I might mock co-CEO Safra Katz's comments on conference calls, but I have heard Oracle employees praise her ability to get things done.

Finally, on the technology front, I personally know individuals working in Oracle product management. They are some of the smartest people I know, and they are going deep into certain industry sectors. Oracle’s latest product, Fusion, might just be the last great new on-premise enterprise system ever to be developed. From the little bit I’ve seen of it, the user interface is outstanding and the embedded collaboration and business intelligence capabilities are noteworthy. I also like what I hear about Oracle’s public cloud initiative, although I’m waiting to see how it plays out in terms of pricing, terms, and conditions.

Cloud Vendors

Now we come, not to one vendor, but to a whole category: cloud providers. I am a huge proponent of cloud computing. In 2006, I wrote a report for Computer Economics on the business case for software as a service, and in 2009 I wrote of the inexorable dominance of cloud computing.

But as I’ve said in the past, “You don’t get a pass, just because you’re SaaS.” The technology is one thing, but the vendor’s behavior is another. Yet, some industry analysts cannot seem to bring themselves to criticize certain cloud vendors. Why not? When vendors misbehave, do they not deserve to be called out, or is cloud a get-out-of-jail-free card? Many of the executive leaders at NetSuite and Salesforce.com came out of Oracle. Do you think that background and experience have any influence on how they do business in their current positions? If you can criticize Larry Ellison for unfairly bashing the competition but you can’t criticize Marc Benioff for doing the same thing, then I have to question your objectivity.

This is by no means a complete list. I could go on with IBM, HP, Amazon, Infor, and many others. None are all good, and none are all bad.

Let's Be Fair

In some ways, the situation is like our political scene. Over the years, political discourse in the US and in other parts of the world has gotten more and more polarized. A political leader from “our side” must be defended from all attacks. Likewise, a public official from the other side of the aisle can never do anything right. What matters is not what is said, but who said it. This is wrong. It shouldn’t be this way in political discourse, and it shouldn’t be this way among industry observers.

Now, I accept that a vendor’s own employees and business partners may take strong unqualified positions, especially those in a sales, marketing, or top management role. But I don’t think it’s appropriate for those of us that advise technology buyers to be uncritical fans or relentless critics.

This doesn’t mean that when it comes to specific situations we shouldn’t take a position. Buyers do need us to say, “For this particular need, this vendor is good and that vendor is not good.” We have to make the tough calls. There have even been times where, because of problems with certain vendors, that I have refused to consider them in any new deals. But I try not to become hardened in my viewpoint. I try to always hope for improvement.

We all have our biases, including me. But can we all make an effort to recognize them and try to be fair?

Posted on 24 March 2012 | 8:28 am

Infor and Salesforce.com: More Than a Barney Relationship

Last year, Infor's CEO Charles Phillips took the stage with Salesforce.com's Marc Benioff to announce a partnership between their two companies. Coming in the midst of all the other announcements during Dreamforce, it would be easy to miss the significance of this one.

Now, with another announcement today, there is another step forward, which should be seen in light of the mutual commitments that Infor and Salesforce are making to each other:

• Out-of-the-box integration. Today's announcement is for a new software product, Inforce Everywhere. This is a native Force.com application that will make back office data from Infor's various ERP systems available to users within Salesforce.com's CRM applications. It also makes key Salesforce.com entities available within Infor ERP, as shown in the graphic nearby. See today's press release for more details. Additional products in the Inforce series are due out over the next 18 months.
  
• Reseller relationship. As announced at Dreamforce, Infor is now a reseller of Salesforce.com's Sales Cloud and Service Cloud, one of only three third-parties to attain this status. (The other two are Intuit and Dell.) This means that Infor can now sell SFDC and deliver first-level support to Infor's own customers.
  
• Financial commitment. Also, as announced at Dreamforce, Salesforce.com has become a financial investor in Infor. Salesforce has skin in the game.

Taken together, these three commitments mean that the partnership between Infor and Salesforce.com is much more than the typical tech industry "Barney Partnerships" (I love you, you love me) that never go much beyond the press release and perhaps a few joint deals.

On the surface, the two may appear to be strange bedfellows: Infor, commonly seen as a roll-up older enterprise software companies, and Salesforce--the hot young leader of a new breed of cloud apps providers. But dig a little deeper and you can see how this relationship--which has real and substantial commitments--makes a lot of sense for both parties and for their joint customers.

What's in It for Infor?

By teaming with Salesforce, Infor gets immediate credibility in cloud computing. Rather than build its own true cloud-based sales or customer service functionality, Infor joins forces with the leader in this market space.

There's not much product overlap. Interestingly, although Infor has dozens of products in its portfolio, it does not have a best-of-breed CRM offering. Several of its ERP offerings, such as LN and Syteline, have their own SFA offerings, but those are limited to customers of those ERP systems. Its one standalone CRM product, Epiphany, is more of a marketing automation solution (and, in fact, will be the focus of a future product in the Inforce series).

Finally, Infor now becomes an option for Salesforce.com's many CRM customers who are looking for ERP solutions. Because Salesforce does not offer a complete business suite, cross-referrals from Salesforce can be an attractive sales channel.

What's in It for Salesforce?

Though not immediately apparent, the benefits to Salesforce.com may be even greater. For further growth, Salesforce needs new channels. Moreover, with over 70,000 customers, Infor's installed base is a large market. In terms of ERP revenue, the No. 1 player (SAP) and No. 2 (Oracle) are both fierce competitors to Salesforce, leaving Infor (No. 3) as the largest available option. (Microsoft, also with a large ERP installed base, is likewise a head-to-head competitor with Salesforce.com). The more I think about the larger market dynamics, the more Infor appears to be a great choice for Salesforce. The fact that Salesforce is putting its money where its mouth is (i.e. becoming an Infor investor) is further evidence that Marc Benioff views this relationship as strategic. On a side note, Benioff will be speaking at the Infor's annual user conference in Denver this year, in April.

What's in It for Infor Customers

Of course, Infor customers and prospects now will have an option to go with the market leading solution for cloud CRM. Furthermore, today's announcement of out-of-the-box integration will make the decision easier. Many ERP users choose Salesforce.com today, but I have seen first-hand that integration concerns do produce friction in the sales process. Salesforce and its implementation partners have some good answers for how they will handle integration, but generally each deal is a custom integration, raising uncertainty about the effort and cost.

What Inforce Everywhere does, in my mind, is to make ERP the system of record for Salesforce.com entities that should be managed in ERP: customers, contacts, quotes, orders, shipments, invoices, payments, and returns. Most problems with ERP/CRM integration involve duplicate and redundant data. If Inforce Everywhere works as advertised, it takes away buyer concern about integration and offers a 360 degree view of the customer to users of both CRM and ERP.

What Could Go Wrong?

Although overall I'm positive about the Infor-Salesforce partnership, it's important to take a balanced view. So what are the potential pitfalls? I can think of several.

• Will Infor's direct sales and partner channel be eager to resell Salesforce.com? Selling traditional software licenses carries large up-front commissions and recurring maintenance revenue. Other traditional vendors have had a hard time making the transition to selling subscriptions. It's easier if there is a completely separate sales channel for cloud, but I haven't heard that Infor is planning that. If so, how will Infor overcome the inherent disincentives to selling Salesforce?
  
• Will Infor's customers really be a large market for Salesforce? The 70,000 customer number may be a bit misleading, as a significant percentage of those customers are on older versions of Infor products that will not be able to take advantage of Inforce Everywhere (which uses Infor's new lightweight ION middleware for integration.) Furthermore, Inforce Everywhere today is only available for Infor's LN (formerly Baan) and its distribution systems (A+ and SX.e). Infor's XA (formerly MAPICS), Syteline, and Visual are scheduled for Q2 this year, followed by S21, Sun Systems, LX, M3 (formerly Intentia), and Adage integrations later this year and next year. (Interestingly, I do not see Lawson's S3 on the roadmap that Infor shared with me last week.) When taken together, this means that the addressable market for Inforce Everywhere is less than meets the eye, at least for today.
  
• Will Salesforce.com customers choose Infor over other options? Infor is not the only ERP choice for Salesforce customers, and Salesforce's relationship with Infor is not exclusive for ERP. In fact, there are other ERP providers--notably Rootstock and Kenandy--that are built purely on Force.com. If one counts more narrow providers, such as FinancialForce and Glovia, the options multiply. With the exception of Infor's Syteline as a cloud-based offering, all of Infor's ERP solutions are traditional on-premise or, at best, hosted offerings. How attractive will these be to Salesforce.com customers that have made a commitment to cloud computing?

Although there are several obstacles to success, I see great value in this partnership. Infor's customers now have an interesting and compelling way forward for CRM and for cloud computing generally, while Salesforce.com has a great opportunity to do an end-run around SAP and Oracle to gain mind-share with a large body of installed ERP customers.

I look forward to hearing the experience of some early adopters of Inforce Everywhere at the Inforum conference in April.

Related Posts

How to Become a Chief Innovation Officer (Re: Infor's Integration Strategy)
New details on Infor's Lawson acquisition

Posted on 12 March 2012 | 12:41 pm

The New Technology Elite: A Book and Author Review

My friend and associate Vinnie Mirchandani has written his second book, The New Technology Elite: How Great Companies Optimize Both Technology Consumption and Production. I asked Vinnie if I could write a review, and he provided a pre-release copy of his book.

I’d gotten bits and pieces of the book from Vinnie’s blog posts and excerpts he released on LinkedIn. But getting a look at the entire book is a whole other experience.

In this post, I'd like not only to review the book--I'd like to also review the author.

A Curious Mind

For regular readers of the Spectator, Vinnie needs no introduction. I’ve been quoting and linking to him for years, even before I met him in person, around 2007. Since then, we’ve become friends. Among industry analysts, Vinnie is someone I consider like-minded.

At the same time, though, Vinnie is something of a strange cat. As a former Gartner analyst and PwC sourcing executive, his background is in enterprise software and vendor management (his blog title, Deal Architect, gives that away).

But over the past several years his focus has shifted to technology innovation more generally. Ever restless, he launched a second blog, New Florence, New Renaissance, I suspect, to help him on his flights of fancy outside the walls of enterprise IT. This has taken him far afield into areas such as nanotechnology, healthcare IT, sustainability, consumer electronics, mobility, and dozens of other corners of technology innovation. From time to time I try to scoop him, by sending him a link to some cool new application of technology, when I spot it. But generally, he’s not only spotted it himself: he’s also written about it. I still try, though.

Vinnie’s interests led to his 2010 book, The New Polymaths: Profiles in Compound-Technology Innovations. There he chronicled dozens of case-studies of organizations that are leveraging a wide range of technologies to solve the world’s grand challenges and improve our lives. Now in his second book, The New Technology Elite: How Great Companies Optimize Both Technology Consumption and Production, he weaves more case-studies into a larger story.

In Vinnie's view, some organizations that are, historically, buyers of information technology, are now turning into technology providers—as they embed new technology into their products and services. Virgin America, 3M, GE, and UPS are examples. At the same time, leading technology providers, such as Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook are becoming examples of best business practices, such as in their data center operations, retailing units, and supply chains. He then presents a framework for understanding what these organizations have in common: their 12 key attributes.

He concludes by examining the outside influences affecting these organizations, including the regulatory environment, their impact on society at large, and the ability (or lack thereof) of sell-side financial analysts to understand it all. Lest one think Vinnie is an unabashed technology enthusiast, these last three chapters strike a counterbalance—it’s not all positive.

A Disorienting Experience

Reading the book leads to one overriding impression: the pace of technology change is unprecedented. Sure, we all know this, generally. But, most of us really don’t.

The danger for anyone in a business leadership position today is to not recognize new entrants arising from outside traditional markets. At the same time, it’s no longer enough to look at best business practices within one’s own industry. Often, it’s players in other markets that are setting the bar higher. This is a problem for today’s market leaders, their customers and suppliers, and the analysts that cover them.

Vinnie’s fast-paced writing style matches his subject matter. Just one example: in Chapter 15, Vinnie discusses how quickly GPS technology evolved from in-auto dashboard systems, to standalone GPS devices, to smartphone apps—in less than a decade. He then launches into a discussion about technologies that are being embedded in home appliances, enabling them to connect to smartphones, tablets, and other devices and how this is leading to Samsung—a consumer electronics company—to take market share away from appliance market leaders, such as Whirlpool and Kenmore. He then jumps to an analysis of how difficult it is to forecast demand for new products such as Amazon’s Kindle, or Nintendo’s Wii.

If you have attention-deficit disorder, Vinnie’s book is for you. He piles on examples one after another, barely giving time to take a breath. For the rest of us, it is disorienting. But it serves a purpose: to give the reader overwhelming evidence of the magnitude and pace of the changes taking place in all industries.

A Positive Example

Although his book is on new technologies, Vinnie’s research style is definitely old school. Today too many so-called industry analysts take the lazy way, getting nearly all of their information from vendor briefings and press releases, writing analysis that regurgitates vendor PR talking points, and rarely speaking directly to customers. As a result, they have no original insight.

Vinnie’s way requires more work, but it’s more rewarding: Do your homework, pick up the phone, talk to those at the center of the action, and learn something new.

Then, take a position. Those who engage with Vinnie on Twitter or in blog comments know that Vinnie doesn’t hedge his views. From time to time, I get into debates with him. Although sometimes I don’t agree with him, I respect that he doesn't arrive at a position lightly, and that his opinions are research-based. He doesn’t shoot from the hip. (At the same time, though, I do see an evolution of his thinking in the final version of the book, as compared to some of his earlier blog posts on the same subjects.)

So, there’s much to learn from The New Technology Elite. Moreover, there’s a lot to learn in imitating the author’s example.

The New Technology Elite can be pre-ordered from Amazon. My copy is already on order. It is now scheduled to ship in March, 2012.

Posted on 27 February 2012 | 3:28 pm

Mischaracterization of Multitenancy in an SAP-sponsored Blog Post

In an SAP-sponsored post on ZDnet, SAP employee Eric Lai attempts to identify "four big problems" with multitenancy in cloud applications. As I am writing a soon-to-be published research report on cloud ERP, I was interested to hear Eric's take on the subject.

By way of definition, in a software-as-a-service application, the term multitenancy refers to an application architecture where a single instance of the system's application code and database serves multiple customers.

Please read Lai's entire post, as, in the interest of space, I will not quote from it extensively.

Lai gets off to a good start:

Anyone can see how much more efficient [multitenancy] is versus the old server hosting model, where the ratio of server:customer is 1:1. Even using today’s Red Hat-type virtualization, each server can cram fewer users/customers onto itself than a true multitenant service.

Besides their efficiency, multitenant services can scale easily. Both of these mean lower costs for the hosters/software vendors, and, potentially, lower prices for customers.

No argument there. But then he quickly goes downhill. He first draws a distinction between consumers and enterprise customers, which have "much more rigorous requirements." He then presents his four objections to multitenancy.

1. "It's Inflexible."

Here, Lai doesn't really make a flexibility argument as much as a security and privacy argument. He points to privacy laws in some European regions that require data in some circumstances to be stored locally. But this is not an argument against multitenancy--it's an argument in favor of local data centers. A single-tenant system provider will need to build local data centers in the regions it serves, just as a multitenant provider will need to do so.

He then argues that multitenant systems might allow competitors on the same system to see each other's confidential information. I agree that IP theft is an increasing problem, especially with organized gangs of cyber-criminals in Eastern Europe and Asia, who in some cases may have the endorsement of their governments. (See, for example, this report.) But I do not know of a single cases where one tenant on a multitenant system was able to access the data of another customer on the same system. Tellingly, Lai provides not a single reference of such a confidentiality breach.

2. "It's Less Secure."

He now makes the security argument again, from a different angle. Here he argues that a multitenant database gives a careless database administrator, or a malicious hacker, the opportunity to compromise, with one breach, the data of multiple customers rather than just a single customer. He overlooks the fact that if a DBA is careless with one database, he or she would probably be careless with multiple databases. Likewise, if a criminal is able to gain access to a single customer's database in a secured data center, he or she will probably be able to gain access to many or all of the customer databases in the same data center.

3. "It's Less Powerful."

Here the argument is that the capabilities of the platform-as-a-service providers do not match the capabilities of traditional database tools. He points to Salesforce.com's database.com, Google App Engine, and Windows Azure as examples. Here, I find Lai's argument similar to that of Larry Ellison, head of SAP's arch-rival, Oracle.

In response I would point to the testimony of the head of development of one new enterprise SaaS provider. This individual came from a traditional enterprise software development and has now built sophisticated enterprise applications on both NetSuite's platform and on Force.com. He told me recently, "Frank, you wouldn't believe how easy it is to develop on these platforms. Things that used to take us months [at vendor X], we can now do in weeks or days."

Although I am no longer into software development, I am willing to stipulate that the newer cloud platform-as-a-service (PaaS) environments do not have all of the features and functions of traditional on-premise application development environments. (So also, in the old days we couldn't do as much with third-generation procedural languages, such as COBOL, as we could in assembler language. And, we couldn't do as much in 4GLs as we could in third generation.) But a PaaS removes an enormous amount of development work, by abstracting database, middleware, and user-interface functions, allowing the developer to focus on business logic. Furthermore, if (as I believe) PaaS is a disruptive technology, we should expect its capabilities to improve over time, and increasingly able to take on jobs that formerly could only be done by traditional tools.

4. "It May Be More Costly."

Here he doesn't mean the cost to the customer, but the cost to the ISV who wants to move from a traditional on-premises software product to a cloud offering. He is arguing, in essence, that it is cheaper for the vendor to simply host his traditional product as a single-tenant offering (i.e. changing nothing) than to rewrite it as a true multi-tenant SaaS offering.

As an advocate for enterprise IT buyers, I have to ask, will that hosted offering will be less costly for customers? Lai doesn't say. But in his introductory paragraphs (quoted earlier), he indicates that multitenancy offers "lower costs for the hosters/software vendors, and, potentially, lower prices for customers." So he has contradicted himself in his own post.

A Puzzling Position

Finally, what I find strange about this SAP-sponsored blog post is that it seems to contradict SAP's own position relative to Business ByDesign (ByD).

ByD is a full multi-tenant ERP offering for SMBs. It is a well-known fact that SAP's first attempt at ByD employed a single-tenant architecture, similar to that proposed by Lai in his blog post. That iteration was not successful in that, according to SAP spokespeople, they could not get that approach to scale cost-effectively. So, SAP took an extra two years or so and rewrote ByD as a completely multi-tenant application. The system is rolling out in multiple geographies worldwide, in local data centers where required, presumably with security and privacy measures commensurate with SAP's high standards for customers. The system is cost-competitive with other SaaS ERP offerings and has grown quickly to over 1,000 customers at the end of 2011.

SAP now has such confidence in its ByD platform that it has made it the platform for developing its line-of-business applications, such as Sales OnDemand and Travel OnDemand, for its large enterprise customers--presumably the ones with the most demanding security and privacy requirements.

Now, at the top of the post, ZDnet does make the disclaimer, "Eric's views are his alone and do not necessarily represent those of SAP." Still, as I mentioned, I find it puzzling that Lai's views appear to be closer to Larry Ellison's than those of his employer.

I am waiting for SAP's rebuttal to its own sponsored post.

Update: Eric Lai responds in the comments below.
Update, Feb.23: Please read the more detailed response on SDN by Sybase's Eric Farrar.

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Posted on 20 February 2012 | 9:43 am

Glovia Returns to the ERP Market

An ERP sales professional, whom I've know for many years, recently called to let me know he'd taken a new job with Glovia International. I indicated that I hadn't heard anything about Glovia recently. Maybe now I could get an update.

So he arranged a briefing with James Gorham, who heads up Glovia's North American business, for me and two of my senior associates at Strativa, Bob Gilson and Nick Hann.

A Long History

Glovia's roots go back to the 1970s, when Xerox Computer Services launched a time-sharing application for manufacturing companies. The product went through several iterations and was eventually relaunched in client-server form in 1990 as Xerox Chess. The company was acquired in 2000 by Fujitsu, who renamed it Glovia.

For many years, Glovia has been a well-respected mid-market ERP solution for automotive manufacturers, aerospace and defense contractors, capital equipment makers, and other industries. In the past, when I was looking for solid functionality for project-based manufacturers, Glovia would be one of the first to come to mind.

But, as just mentioned, that changed about two or three years ago, when Glovia suddenly fell off my radar. I knew they were still in business--I just never saw them in deals or even in press releases. They wouldn't even respond to my inquiries.

In our briefing with Gorham, we soon found out why. Glovia had undertaken a deliberate strategy three years ago to pull back, abandon all new sales efforts, and invest in rewriting the entire product.

Retrenchment Strategy

Glovia system had been developed in McDonnell Douglas's PROIV 4GL language, which though a good language, was not a platform with a wide developer base. They spent two years to rewrite the product with a service-oriented architecture, migrating the business logic to .NET, developing a new user-interface in Microsoft Silverlight, and providing a full deployment of web services with over 140 integration points. The latest version of Glovia runs on Oracle's database and is being released for Microsoft SQL as well.

Now here's the interesting part: during this retrenchment period, Glovia was profitable and actually grew, through organic growth of its existing customers adding new plants, new acquisitions, and new users. So, retrenchment turned out to be a good strategy during recessionary times: kill off marketing and net-new sales, redouble your service and support for your installed base, and invest in rewriting the product for a relaunch.

This retrenchment strategy (my term) could only work because Glovia had an enviable position as the incumbent for some very large and loyal customers, beginning with its corporate parent, Fujitsu, which deploys Glovia in 43 factories. Fujitsu had the resources to support any fall-off in Glovia's business, but as it turned out, Fujitsu's deep pockets weren't needed. Xerox (Glovia's former parent) is still a customer, as are several other large and well-known global brands, such as Panasonic, Dell, Carrier, Bridgestone, Avery Dennison, Honda, Honeywell, Phillips, and General Electric.

So, now the rewrite is complete. The functionality offered by Glovia for its target manufacturing industries--which was already well established--has grown even more impressive.

• It offers heavy visualization, with real-time graphical information flow.
  
• There is support for assemble-to-order and engineer-to-order, with "available to X" planning calculations, such as available-to-order, to-make, to-buy, and to-service.
  
• Production scheduling and optimization is granular down to the minute.
  
• There is load-balancing at all levels of production: the plant, cell, machine, skill, and person.
  
• The supply chain planning capabilities allow synchronization of supply to demand or demand to supply.
  
• Lean thinking permeates the execution functions, with the Toyota Production System natively embedded in the product.
• For defense contractors, there is the necessary "borrow-and-payback" functionality as well as pegging to contract.
  

The rewrite also gave Glovia the opportunity to build mobility apps, which appear much further developed than many larger and better known competitors. Apps include work orders, financial apps such as expense reporting, purchase requisition approvals, and executive dashboards. Glovia even provides device management capabilities. Apple's iPhone and iPad are supported, as well as Android devices, Blackberry, and Windows Phone. Everything is developed in HTML5 and available through the appropriate apps store (e.g. iStore).

There are even some nods to social business: Glovia gives engineers at different links in the supply chain the ability to collaborate. Planners also have visibility into customer and supplier engineering changes and inventory positions. Integration with Microsoft's Sharepoint is also provided.

What about the Cloud?

These days, no briefing is complete without asking about cloud options. Glovia offers an on-premise deployment (of course) as well as an on-demand option. Although the on-demand version is currently a simple hosting arrangement, when Microsoft Azure is ready for enterprise applications, Glovia will be able to host its system on Microsoft's cloud, assuming customers demand it.

Separately, Glovia has built a set of manufacturing modules on Force.com to inter-operate with Salesforce.com's CRM system. These are full multi-tenant SaaS applications that provide functionality for product configuration, order management, inventory, manufacturing, invoicing, purchasing, and returns. These are separate and independent from Glovia's flagship G2 system.

My own view is that Glovia's current support and stated direction for cloud computing is probably sufficient for now in light of the industries and size of organizations that it targets.

Where is Glovia Headed?

Behind us in Glovia's conference room was the obligatory "customer wall," with logos of Glovia's largest and most well-recognized customer names. My associate Nick Hann asked, "Three years from now, what will that wall look like?"

This led to an interesting discussion. Customer attrition during the retrenchment period was surprisingly low: a loss of any of these large customers would have been huge, and in fact none were lost. The sales team is now expanding to focus on new deals in addition to incremental sales into the installed base. There are also some resellers being added strategically for certain vertical industries.

Will Glovia be successful as it transitions from retrenchment to new sales? So far, some signs are promising. There are some big names in the sales funnel, including one Fortune 100 company. Interestingly, many of these new sales opportunities have come out of introductions by existing customers.

But will that be enough? The market is crowded, as Gorham noted, with SAP and Oracle gunning for the top tier of customers and Infor, Epicor, and IFS hungry for the mid-market and individual facilities of large multi-nationals. Syspro, Consona, and QAD also play in some markets and industries.

The markets that Glovia competes in are not under-served. In addition to the traditional players that Gorham identified, I would be concerned about newer cloud ERP providers: specifically Plex, which has a big bulls-eye on the automotive sector, NetSuite, and SAP's Business ByDesign.

Nevertheless, circling back to the retrenchment strategy: I like Glovia's story. How to leverage a recession to retrench and recover. In warfare, retreat is sometimes a good strategy, and in Glovia's case, the retrenchment appears to have paid off.

I hope Glovia's success continues, because buyers can only benefit by having a greater number of well-qualified choices.

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Posted on 13 February 2012 | 4:37 pm

Geography More Important than Industry in IT Salaries

Over at Computer Economics, we've just published our 2012 IT Salary Report, as we've been doing for over 20 years.

The headline this year is that IT workers in the U.S. will only receive a 2.8% pay increase, at the median, as shown in the Figure nearby. Even organizations at the 75th percentile are budgeting for only a 3.0% wage increase for IT professionals. That lags well behind the 3.4% rise in the Consumer Price Index for the 12-month period through November 2011.

A short summary of these top line trends can be found a post on the Computer Economics website.

Influence of Industry Sector on IT Pay Scales

Although the general trend for U.S. IT salaries is interesting, what I find more interesting is an analysis of factors that affect IT salaries. After we published this report this morning, we received a media inquiry from a reporter covering healthcare IT. She wanted to know, did we have any data on IT salaries specific to the healthcare industry?

Fortunately, this year for the first time, we provided an analysis of IT salaries by industry sector, based on data we acquired from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. These "pay relatives" by industry sector complement those that we also provide for over 400 metropolitan areas.

So, to answer her question directly: according to the industry sector data, IT compensation in the healthcare sector is about 82% of the national median. For example, if you are a desktop support technician in the healthcare industry, you can expect to make only 82 cents on the dollar, compared to desktop support personnel nationwide.

A Misleading Statistic

These "pay relatives" by industry sector can be misleading, however. In this example, healthcare organizations tend to be located in all metropolitan areas, both urban and rural, that vary widely in their cost of living. Other industries--financial services firms for example--tend to be concentrated in large metropolitan areas, like New York, Boston, and San Francisco, which have higher cost of living indexes. Low and behold, when we look at the pay relative for the finance and insurance sector, we see that it is 104% of the national median.

So, in our opinion, IT workers in financial services firms on average across the U.S. are paid more than their counterparts in healthcare organizations, not because financial services firms pay more, but because they tend to be located in metropolitan areas with higher costs of living.

Implications for IT Managers

Therefore, if you are using the Computer Economics salary tables to evaluate pay scales in your organization, you are better off to put most of your emphasis on the geographic cut of the data than the industry sector cut.

There are exceptions to this rule, of course. For example, business analysts or applications developers with experience implementing electronic medical records are in high demand right now. Healthcare organizations will likely need to pay a premium to recruit and retain IT professionals with this experience. Likewise, financial institutions are likely to be at the top of the pay scale for IT security professionals with experience in financial transaction processing environments. In the applications area, IT management, business analysis, and other business-oriented positions, industry-specific experience almost always commands top dollar.

But for most other IT positions, such as data center operations, system administration, help desk, desktop support, and other jobs that are not highly industry-specific, consider the geographic dimension as the most important in benchmarking IT pay scales. Essentially, if the person holding the job can move from one industry to another, with little or no retraining, the pay scale for that job is highly dependent on the geography, not the industry.

A full description of the Computer Economics 2012 IT Salary Report, with free sample pages is available.

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Posted on 17 January 2012 | 3:32 pm

Enterprise IT Buyers: Don’t Listen to Financial Analysts

When it comes to enterprise IT decisions, I have come to the conclusion that buyers shouldn’t read the financial press. There are industry analysts and there are financial analysts, and they address two distinct audiences.

Exhibit A is this Business Insider post, entitled, The Awful Economy Is Really Going To Hurt SAP. Here’s the post’s lede:

SAP's hot new software, HANA, has been a relative flop, said BofA Analyst Chandra Sriraman this morning.

HANA was hailed as groundbreaking when it was introduced about a year ago. It sits in a computer's memory so it literally runs while the computer processes transactions.

There's just one problem: No one is buying it.

The post goes on to quote Sriramen concerning why he feels that SAP “will be hurt by slower demand from its key manufacturing customers, depressed business confidence and the financial mess in Europe.”

Now, what are prospective buyer of SAP’s software supposed to make of this commentary? That the prospect should not move forward? If I am an SAP customer, should I be concerned?

The answer, of course, is no--because financial analysts, like this one, do not have SAP customers or prospects as their audience.

Two Stakeholder Groups

Putting aside the cute part about "HANA…literally [running] while the computer processes transactions" and Sriramen’s conclusion that SAP faces an "awful" 2012 (I happen to think he is wrong), let's understand the difference between a financial analyst and an industry analyst.

Every publicly-held enterprise IT vendor (or any publicly held company) has many stakeholders: shareholders (investors), customers, employees, business partners, suppliers, and the community at large. But for purposes of this discussion, let’s focus on the two primary groups of stakeholders: customers and investors. What are the objectives of these two groups?

• Customers are interested in the value of the vendor's product (its benefits and costs), the quality of the vendor's service, the vendor’s ability to innovate, and the long-term viability of the vendor itself.
• Investors, of course, are also interested in these things. But--and this is the key point--investors are not interested in these things directly. They are interested in these things in terms of what they mean for the stock price, short-term and long-term.

Investors want to see that the product has value, because companies that offer such products tend to have growing stock prices. They want to see excellent customer service, because it contributes to customer retention, which has a positive effect on the stock price. They want to see that the vendor is innovative, because innovation drives growth and growing companies command a higher price-earnings ratio. Moreover, they want to see a long-term sustainable business, because this protects the stock price.

But there are also some things that investors are interested in that customers should not at all be concerned about.

• Intrinsic value of the shares. Investors spend a lot of time comparing the intrinsic value of the vendor’s shares (what they should be worth based on fundamentals) versus the current stock price. Stocks that are undervalued by the market tend to rise over the long term.
• Market expectations. Investors—especially short-term investors—spend a lot of time trying to forecast prospective company financial performance for the next reporting period versus management guidance and market expectations. Companies that outperform market expectations will usually see a jump in their stock price.
• Economic outlook. Investors also spend a lot of time refining their outlook for the economy in general or for the industry sector and geographies that the vendor serves, because the vendor’s stock price tends to rise and fall according to these economic outlooks.

It’s easy to see, then, why customers should not be concerned about these things. Consider, for example, a prospect that is considering SAP’s HANA. If HANA is a good choice for that prospect, it makes no difference how HANA affects SAP’s share price. The market may be underestimating or overestimating HANA’s contribution to SAP’s financial performance. But either way, that has nothing to do with whether HANA is a good choice for that prospect.

Generally, financial analysts do not have the depth of understanding that good industry analysts do, concerning a vendor’s products or customer experiences. They may do reference checks, as best they can, but because they do not deal with customers of the vendor on a day-to-day basis, they lack the direct experience in seeing how the vendor actually performs in the field.

For example, last week, my associate at Constellation Research Alan Lepofsky and I provided a short briefing call for a financial analyst from a well-known Wall Street investment firm on the subject of CRM vendors. At the end of the call, the financial analyst remarked that what he liked about our call was our ability to refer to specific examples with specific customers. This is why financial analysts ask for briefings from industry analysts, but seldom do you see the reverse.

Another example: my associate Ray Wang recently gave a short on-camera interview with CNBC on the news that SAP had made a bid for SuccessFactors, an HRM cloud computing provider. Ray deals with enterprise IT sellers and buyers every day. But the questions from the CNBC hosts had nothing to do with whether either SAP or SuccessFactors were good choices for enterprise IT buyers. Rather, their only concern was what SAP’s bid for SuccessFactors meant for investors. Here are some examples of the questions they asked Ray:

“What are the big names that pop to your mind here that could be the next ones to [be acquired] in the cloud space?”

“What about the pioneer in the SaaS market, valued at $17 billion, Salesforce.com [being acquired]?”

“So, Ray, NetSuite is up nearly 10% today, which is I think an all-time high. Would you rush into this stock right now or is it too much, too fast?”

“Hey Ray, how does this make you feel about SAP here? SAP is a company that for the most part trailed Oracle, it stayed out of the M&A game, it seems very hungry to do deals here—that’s great, it worked for Oracle…but are they getting out of their core competency, are they spending more [for SuccessFactors] than they should here?”

Now, if I were an enterprise IT buyer and I got 10 minutes on the phone with Ray, are these the questions I would ask him? I think not.

The Right Advisor for the Right Audience

Lest anyone think I am railing against investors--I am not. As a free-market capitalist, I believe that private investment is the best way to pick winners and losers in the marketplace. I trust individuals and organizations putting their own capital at risk more than I trust some government bureaucrat deciding which organization or industry to favor.

Furthermore, the best financial analysts often have interesting insights. I do read them from time to time, because they see things from a different perspective (the investor’s perspective). As my late business partner used to say, financial analysts are using “a different algebra.” Seeing things from the investor perspective can help me, as an industry analyst, understand why a vendor may be behaving in a certain way. For example, why a vendor is targeting a certain market segment or de-emphasizing a certain line of business.

But I do believe it is important for enterprise IT buyers to understand that their objectives and success are not always aligned with the immediate interests of investors, and they shouldn't pay too much attention to the short-term stock market performance of an enterprise IT provider.

So, just as shareholders shouldn’t ask me for investment advice, enterprise IT buyers shouldn't read financial analysts for advice on technology decisions.

Update: my friend Jon Appleby has a great post, critiquing the same financial analysis post I referenced here. My friend Vijay Vijayasankar also has a good post on the Bank of America analysis, and has added a comment to my post here.

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Posted on 18 December 2011 | 8:24 am