...Web site delivered 20% faster, within budget and with extra functionality...
   
Thursday 27 March 2008, New Bamboo, the specialist in bespoke software development using Ruby on Rails, has created an online children’s Book Club for Scholastic UK Ltd. The new site will be used alongside the familiar printed club leaflet that the company regularly offers to their young customers. Using Ruby on Rails and Agile processes, the site was developed 20% faster, on-budget and delivered with more functionality than originally scoped. The Scholastic Book Club Online was launched in the UK on 19th February 2008 and has already received 5000 visitors in less than a month.

“In web development, time is always critical, and this is particularly true at Scholastic where deadlines are dictated by publishing schedules,” said Peter Mahnke, Web Project Director, Scholastic UK. “As New Bamboo use the Ruby on Rails web application framework, the Scholastic Book Club Online was developed within time and budget, and without any of the stress normally associated with a rapidly approaching deadline.”

Scholastic UK is part of Scholastic Inc, the largest publisher and distributor of children's books in the world and a leader in educational technology.  It is home to the world’s favourite children’s writers including Philip Pullman, author of the His Dark Materials trilogy. Its Book Club provides children with a colourful environment in which to explore books through a variety of activities including games, quizzes and writing reviews. Children can search for information about books and authors, read extracts, create wish lists and a member’s page, and even receive book recommendations.

New Bamboo recommended that the Scholastic Book Club Online be developed using Agile processes, a dynamic, iterative approach that involved regular meetings with key stakeholders throughout project. “The use of Agile processes gave us two distinct advantages. Firstly, as every interested party was involved in the process from start to finish, we built a site that was exactly what the business wanted. There was no guesswork, and expectations were met,” said Peter Mahnke. “Secondly, we were able to brainstorm ideas for the site along the way; ideas that we would never have come up otherwise but which made the site even better. As a result, we actually built the site with more functionality than was in the original scope.”

Max Williams, Co-Founder of New Bamboo said, “Many forward thinking companies are looking for a simpler, more effective way to develop robust web products. Scholastic has shown what can be achieved by taking a fresh approach – and delivered a project that’s on time, on budget and with extra functionality. New Bamboo is really pleased to have been instrumental in that process.”

Peter Mahnke concluded, “We have a lot to thank New Bamboo for. They taught us all about Agile processes and were completely focussed on our success throughout the project. We felt that we were true partners. The Scholastic Book Club Online is the best web site project that I have ever been involved in, a view that is shared by my team. Ruby on Rails and Agile processes work together really well and we will be using this approach – and New Bamboo – to develop all our web sites in future.”

Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire County Councils share with Fujitsu

Fujitsu Services, one of Europe’s leading IT services companies, today announced a groundbreaking shared services partnership with Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire County Councils. The shared service will be the first Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution in local government shared and common between county councils and will underpin the Councils’ delivery of back office services including HR, finance and procurement. The shared service also supports the Councils’ and Fujitsu’s wider aspirations to share further, delivering scalable capacity for further authorities of all types (counties, unitaries, districts, etc) to join the service in the future.

Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire Councils signed the innovative shared service governance contract in February signalling the official start of the sharing.

Fujitsu has engineered this service by combining it’s own ERP hosting requirements to invest in an infrastructure that provides service to the councils’ on an entirely managed service basis whilst offering savings over the cost of traditional stand-alone ERP solutions. 

Cambridgeshire County Council cabinet member for corporate services, councillor John Reynolds, said: “This new shared service makes good business sense and fits in with the national requirement for the modernisation of local government, to develop ways to improve the performance and further reduce the cost of our back office processes by sharing appropriate services with like minded councils with the support and expertise available from the private sector. The income and savings we ultimately expect to be generated by this shared service solution will be re-invested in front line services such as caring for older people, the disabled and families, or providing improved schools, public transport and community facilities such as libraries.”

Councillor Bill Parker, Northamptonshire County Council cabinet member for finance and business support said: “By working in partnership with Cambridgeshire County Council and together with Fujitsu, we have already begun to take advantage of the opportunities for increased operational efficiencies and cost savings created through a shared service platform. Through this partnership, we will be transforming the way we operate our systems for back office services such as finance, HR, or procurement, offering better value for money and ensuring these support services run as efficiently as possible.  This in turn should enable to us improve the services we offer to local residents, with the aim of passing the savings we will be making directly on to frontline services.”

Geoff Neville, local and regional government director at Fujitsu Services commented: “This new shared service is a major step forward in the local government sector for two county councils to share a common ERP solution. In addition, developing a sharable ERP solution (both application configuration and infrastructure platform) that is scalable for future authorities to join and benefits from best practice business processes has been a major undertaking, demonstrating innovation and requiring new ways of working to facilitate sharing. To see it coming successfully to fruition is a source of much satisfaction for Fujitsu.”

Leading Global Network Exchange Providers Enhance Peering Relationships at Four Day Event.

London Internet Exchange (LINX), one of the world's largest Internet Exchange Points, has announced today that it will be co-hosting the Global Peering Forum 3.0, an event attended by 190 global peering coordinators from around the world. LINX is joined by partners Equinix, Switch and Data, Terremark, AMS-IX and DE-CIX in hosting this forum, designed to forge stronger working relationships between peering coordinators and to educate and inform them on the latest technical developments in the industry.

Launched in 2006, the Global Peering Forum has brought together peering coordinators from North America, Europe, South America, and Asia in a neutral environment to discuss interconnection of their autonomous networks. In addition, participants will hear in-depth presentations from industry experts on peering rollouts, policies, trends and general technical topics of interest to the peering coordinator community.

John Souter, LINX Chief Executive Officer said: “We at LINX have always been committed to the work of the peering community so we are pleased to be supporting the Global Peering Forum. As the impact of the Internet in everyday life increases, it is vital that peering professionals come together to exchange ideas and technical knowledge to meet customer demands and anticipate future trends.” John continued, “We are delighted to be working alongside many of the world's leading Internet Exchanges at this event.”

Peering is defined as a way to exchange data between networks on a settlement free or partial settlement basis. Internet service providers and content delivery service providers transfer data between each other at locations called peering points or Internet Exchanges. At these sites, routers transfer messages between backbones using layer 2 switches or other dynamic interconnection systems. These systems are globally tied together by connecting high-capacity fiber optic lines owned by network service providers.

Attendance at the forum, which will be held from March 31 through April 3, is by invitation only and limited to peering coordinators. Further information can be found at www.peeringforum.com.

Photo studio likens MPLS to the leap from dial-up to broadband

A UK firm specialising in photo shoot experiences has installed an MPLS network to support its four studios and has likened the benefits to the leap from dial-up to broadband connections.

Doubletakestudios, with studios in London’s Pimlico and Farringdon, as well as Manchester and Southampton, has installed a next generation MPLS network from NetworkFlow - a specialist managed services provider of high-bandwidth connectivity solutions.

Established in 1996, Doubletake provides customers with photo shoot experiences which include beauty treatments and makeovers.  Each studio handles from 40 to 80 shoots per day, resulting in over 6,000 pictures which need to be processed and retouched daily.

Managing Director Julian Jenkins explains: “Going back a few years we used to rely on leased lines which took too long to download images between studios overnight; the system would crash and we’d have to send the photos on disks by registered post.  Often they got deleted and corrupted; it was a nightmare and it added a week to the processing time of all orders.”

“With our new MPLS network, we close our studios at 9pm each night and all the images have arrived at head office for processing by the next morning.  This makes us much more efficient, leading to more orders.  All the databases can be linked together in a live environment so we can process clients’ payments straight through the system.  And finally, it enables us to save money on call charges because each of our offices can now dial internally.  I couldn’t be without it now; it’s the equivalent of the leap from dial-up to broadband!”

David Alexander, commercial director of NetworkFlow comments: “Using an MPLS IP Virtual Private Network (IP VPN), a company like Doubletake can reduce its network complexity and costs. Rather than setting up and managing individual points between each office, our customers need to have only one connection from their office router to the service provider edge router. The end result is cost savings, guaranteed quality of service and much greater performance.”

Working together with NetworkFlow, GP Network Solutions provided the IP PBX.  This enables Doubletake to distribute calls through the central IP PBX and out to the sites, enabling effective telesales and improved communications overall.

Simon Daniell, Sales Director, GP Network Solutions comments: “There are very few suppliers able to offer an MPLS network in the UK at present, but there’s real customer demand for it, as Doubletake illustrates.”

“Working together with NetworkFlow, we can offer customers of all sizes a cost-effective and resilient network which meets their business needs.”

Receives Investment from Sequoia Capital, Comcast Interactive Capital, and NCD Investors

Mountain View CA, 26 March 2008: Bubble Motion, the pioneer and global leader of ‘voice SMS’, today announced $14 million in additional funding from existing investors Sequoia Capital US and Sequoia Capital India, as well as new investors Comcast Interactive Capital and NCD Investors.

This additional funding will allow the company to further develop and expand the award-winning BubbleTALK platform, and will enable the company to focus on securing additional operator partnerships around the world.
 
Over 135 million consumers currently use the BubbleTALK service, which provides a ‘click, talk, and send’ short voice messaging service that works on any mobile phone.  Operators have been implementing the BubbleTALK service because it gives them a fun and easy-to-use new service that increases Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) without the need for any additional network infrastructure.

Gaurav Garg, Sequoia Capital US, said “Bubble Motion has continued to impress us with their developments over the past year and a half.  With a solid track record of success, a seasoned and experienced leadership team in place, and some phenomenal usage statistics, it is not surprising that the company received so much interest from the VC community.”

Tom Clayton, CEO of Bubble Motion, commented: “We are thrilled that Comcast Interactive Capital and NCD Investors have joined with Sequoia as new investors.  This new capital will enable us to accelerate even more aggressively on our global expansion goals.  Moreover, Comcast Interactive Capital will add a new perspective and hands-on help to the executive team as we continue our aggressive expansion.  With the upcoming new product releases and phenomenal traffic growth, we look forward to some very exciting times ahead.   I’m very pleased that both our new investors and our existing investors share that vision.”

As part of the financing, Deepak Sindwani, Principal at Comcast Interactive Capital, has joined Bubble Motion’s Board of Directors.  “We are impressed by the viral subscriber and traffic growth of the BubbleTALK service globally and excited by its potential as a new communication and media-oriented service,” said Sindwani. “Comcast has a strong interest in developing leading-edge, multi-platform communications technologies.”

Over the last few years, security threats to companies have grown and altered dramatically and so have the defences. Traditional firewalls, installed over three years ago, are often not best suited for current threats and don’t protect against a number of newer threats.

What firewalls do

A firewall is a system designed to prevent unauthorised access to or from a private computer network. Firewalls are frequently used to prevent unauthorised Internet users from accessing private networks connected to the Internet (often described as intranets). All messages entering or leaving the intranet pass through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the specified security criteria.

You need a firewall to protect your confidential information from those not authorised to access it and to protect against malicious users and accidents that originate outside your network. One of the most important elements of a firewall is its access control features, which distinguish between good and bad traffic.

There are various types of firewall. In ascending order, they are

* Packet layer
This analyses network traffic at the transport protocol layer.

* Circuit level
This validates that packets are either connection or data packets.

* Application layer
This ensures valid data at the application level before connecting.

* Proxy server
This intercepts all messages entering or leaving the network.

In the real world, threats have evolved over the years and firewalls have evolved to deal with them. While it is still possible to buy packet only firewalls, they are not adequate for business use. Protection against combination threats is best provided by firewalls which combine all of the above elements.

Specific functions performed by firewalls include:

* Gateway defence

* Carrying out defined security policies

* Segregating activity between your trusted network, the Internet and your DMZ (a protected zone midway between your network and the Internet, where you would perhaps have your web or email server).

* Hiding and protecting your internal network addresses (NAT)

* Reporting on threats and activity. 

What firewalls don’t do

Even with a firewall, there are still many areas of risk for your network. The most obvious is malware. Malware is a combination of the words ‘malicious’ and ‘software’ and includes viruses, trojan horses, worms, spyware/adware, phishing and pharming. Malware is most commonly acquired through clicking on email attachments and email links. 

Viruses, trojans and worms can cause a range of symptoms from the annoying and/or embarrassing to the much more serious which can affect the functioning of your business. Spyware/adware gathers information about you. It can record keystrokes and, as such, can potentially be very dangerous, revealing everything you do on your computer,

Another well-known threat, not covered by your firewall, is SPAM. Dealing with SPAM can seriously affect your productivity and, as SPAM often contains viruses and phishing emails, it is also a direct security threat.

Phishing is about fake emails trying to extract sensitive information, such as your bank passwords or credit card details and a variation of this is pharming, where the criminal sets up a fake web site which looks like one you normally use, typically a banking site. Once you enter your details, the criminal is able to plunder your account.

Many people are also unaware that you can actually acquire malware by simply browsing web sites. This is a rapidly growing threat and some of the malware is used to create Botnets (see below). Some security applications (e.g. those from Finjan) have a facility which protects you against web sites containing malware, by checking the sites before you click on them.

Another danger to your network is from a DDoS  (distributed denial of service) attack. This is a malicious attempt to prevent an organisation being able to use its Internet based systems by flooding them with emails until the servers are overwhelmed. These attacks are often carried out by BotNet networks of compromised PCs, which are also used in SPAM campaigns. Specific DDoS software can guard against this threat.

Other dangers to your network include unauthorised access, and the way to deal with this is to have proper authentication procedures in place, for both local and remote access. In many cases, passwords are not enough and the use of strong authentication with tokens provides much better security.

Further potential problems are from data theft or leakage, for example when a laptop is stolen. The answer here is to encrypt all sensitive data. Low cost solutions are available from companies such as Utimaco. Finally all wireless use is risky and requires a specific wireless firewall, and wireless VPN for remote access. 

A firewall is no longer enough to protect a company network. Other security solutions to combat the threats outlined above are also necessary, as well as proper staff training.

One of the best ways to protect against the main threats not covered by a firewall is to use a UTM (unified threat management) device. UTM devices are multi-purpose security solutions which have a minimum of a firewall, VPN, anti-virus and intrusion detection/prevention. Some UTMs (sometimes known as super UTMs) also incorporate capabilities such as web filtering (blocking problematic web sites), SPAM blocking and spyware protection.

UTMs are usually lower cost than buying and installing several security components separately. They are also typically greener, as one solution uses much less power than multiple solutions. When buying a UTM or a super UTM, it is important to ensure that your reseller sizes it correctly i.e. ensures that it has the performance capability to deal with current throughput and future business expansion. UTMs are available from IT security companies such as WatchGuard and Check Point.

Sigma Systems named one of Branham’s “Top 25 Canadian Software Companies” for 2008

Toronto, ON – March 26, 2008 – Sigma Systems (www.sigma-systems.com) today announced that it has been named one of Canada’s top 25 software companies by the Branham Group and Backbone magazine as part of the annual “Branham300” roundup of top-performing technology companies.  In addition, Sigma was also named one of Branham300’s highest performing companies. For the past 15 years, the Branham300 has been the gauge by which the success of Canadian technology companies is measured.

“The annual Branham rankings pay tribute to the most significant business achievements in Canada and we are honoured to have been included in this prestigious list,” said Tim Spencer, President and Chief Operating Officer for Sigma Systems.  “Since our inception in 1996, Sigma has grown to become one of the world’s most trusted global suppliers of advanced IP service fulfilment solutions, which enable cable, telco, satellite and mobile communications service providers worldwide to deliver voice, video, data, messaging, content and multimedia services and applications.  Sigma is proud to be addressing service fulfilment for both commercial and residential service offerings with a growing customer list, which includes more than 50 of the world’s largest communications service providers.  To be included in the elite Branham300 rankings is a tremendous achievement as well as a huge vote of confidence in the strength of our software solutions and our business model.”

The Backbone article that highlights the accomplishments of the top-ranked companies recognises Sigma’s impressive growth rate, saying, “Sigma Systems, whose focus is the design, development and deployment of Operations Support Systems (OSS) service management solutions, exhibited the second highest growth at 74.8 per cent.”  It continued, “2007 was a busy year for Sigma Systems, as the firm was awarded new contracts by major players such as TELUS, as well as the availability of Sigma SMP Release 4.0.”

Published annually, the Branham300 highlights Canada’s top information technology (IT) companies.  It is the most comprehensive listing of publicly traded and privately held IT companies in Canada.  The latest edition is available online at www.branham300.com and in the March/April issue of Backbone magazine (www.backbonemag.com).

Unica strengthens and extends capabilities for better cross-channel marketing with latest Affinium release

Enhancements allow marketers to deliver more relevant and timely offers across inbound and outbound channels

London 26 March 2008 – Unica Corporation (Nasdaq: UNCA), a leading global provider of enterprise marketing management (EMM) solutions, today announced enhancements to its Affinium suite that will improve marketers’ abilities to optimise the selection and delivery of the most relevant and profitable marketing messages for each customer—across many channels from potentially billions of possible combinations of offer, channel, and timing.  This latest release also delivers performance enhancements and tighter suite integration for improved productivity, time-to-market, and accuracy. With marketers under mounting pressure to deliver more relevant and frequent inbound and outbound offers, Unica’s automated analytics, integrated suite, and cross-channel capabilities can help streamline the entire marketing process.

As products and services proliferate and customers divide their time across a growing array of channels, marketers are increasingly challenged to identify the combination of offer, channel, and timing that maximises relevance for each individual customer and ROI for the organisation. Marketing optimisation accomplishes this while simultaneously ensuring compliance with customer contact frequency rules, channel capacity limits, budget constraints, and other business rules. 

“Unica's enterprise marketing management solution has positively impacted our marketing efforts in that we have been able to integrate offer optimisation with overall campaign management,” said Nancy O'Keefe, director of Campaign Management, Discover Financial Services. “As we continue to increase the sophistication of our marketing campaigns, we expect the new version of Unica's optimisation module will enable us to efficiently optimise campaigns involving multiple user-defined constraints and analyse how changes to them can positively affect our goals.”

Unica Affinium 7.3 includes improvements to its campaign management, optimisation, modeling and marketing analytics modules. Among the new capabilities introduced are:

•   Patent-pending optimisation software that enables definition of custom capacity rules to implement the most relevant interaction with each customer

•   Improved scenario analysis that allows marketers to test different scenarios to ascertain, for example, the amount of profit incremental marketing investments would deliver

•   Usability and performance enhancements to Unica’s statistical data mining module that offer increased user productivity

•   Smoother integration between modules that makes it easier for marketers to incorporate the insight gained from Affinium’s analytics modules into more targeted and effective campaign strategies, and then to measure their full bottom-line impact across channels

Unica’s optimisation solution is unique among pure marketing automation providers and can be leveraged to solve one of the most pressing problems facing marketers today—maximising returns while minimising costs. Recent independent analyst coverage points to the importance of this technology to marketers. Forrester’s most recent prediction in the January 2008 report, The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Marketing Platforms, Q1 2008, indicates true contact optimisation capabilities are elusive because most vendors are challenged to combine complicated mathematical algorithms with the intuitive scenario planning capabilities that marketers desire.

“At Unica, we have an ongoing commitment to our customers, to ensure their continued success, improve their performance and boost their productivity,” said Yuchun Lee, chief executive officer of Unica Corporation. “Marketers’ jobs are more demanding and complicated than ever before—from engaging empowered consumers to effectively marketing across multiple channels to delivering results. Our newly enhanced solutions and analytical capabilities enable marketers to more effectively identify intelligent opportunities and execute profitable customer interactions across all channels, which will further strengthen their abilities to improve efficiencies and response rates.”

For more information on Unica's offerings, please visit: www.unica.com.   

CO2 emissions reduced by 166,000 tonnes in Western Europe during 2007

Reading, London, 26 March 2008 – Thin clients are helping business in the battle against global warming, IGEL Technology reported today. The choice of thin clients over PCs on the business desktop has reduced CO2 emissions in Western Europe by 166,000 tonnes in 2007 - equivalent to the emissions of more than 540 return flights from London to New York.

The analysis is based on the latest IDC analyst figures and research carried out by the renowned Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, which used IGEL thin clients to investigate the power and CO2 emissions of thin clients against traditional business PCs and discovered significant power, ecological and financial savings.

“Energy consumption when in operation was up to 50 percent lower than for conventional PCs,” concluded Dr Hartmut Pflaum, the Fraunhofer researcher. “While PCs consume about 85 watts on average, thin clients including their server get by with 40 to 50 watts. In view of climate change and the need to reduce CO2 emissions, this is an important factor.”

With IDC figures reporting just over 3.4m thin clients sold in Western Europe since 2004 and an average machine lifecycle of 4 years, thin client-based businesses have reduced CO2 emissions by 166,000 tonne in 2007.

“This analysis proves that businesses are reducing their carbon footprint by simply switching from desktop PCs to thin clients,” said Stephen Yeo, Strategic Director of Worldwide Marketing for IGEL Technology. “However, the potential for savings is even more impressive. Today the thin client industry has just over 10% of the commercial desktops across Western Europe. If that percentage was to rise to 50% it would be a significant move in the battle to beat global warming.”

Stratasys FDM 400mc will strengthen automotive design capabilities

Gordon Murray Design, launched by automotive industry expert Gordon Murray in 2007, has purchased a Stratasys FDM 400mc machine as part of its drive to become the world’s leading automotive design group. The machine will help bring to market the company’s first automotive design project, code-named T25.

The Stratasys FDM 400mc direct digital manufacturing and prototyping system offers enhanced accuracy, repeatability, material properties, speed and flexibility. Innovation in both hardware and software increases precision in the deposition of plastic. The machine will be used in the design firm’s Prototype Workshop to build multiple components for automotive design and tooling, for example interior instrument parts, trim panels and fittings, exterior components, wind tunnel model parts and parts for running test vehicles.

The machine will enable Gordon Murray Design to reduce the costs and lead times associated with the production of prototype parts, enabling projects to be delivered quicker and more effectively. In addition, the Stratasys FDM 400mc uses thermoplastics that have identical properties to the company’s proposed end-use materials for its T25 project.

Gordon Murray Design recently announced the T25, an innovative design for a new personal transport vehicle. Described simply as ‘a new class of vehicle’, the T25 will use innovative architecture and packaging to facilitate low cost manufacturing and to reduce running costs dramatically.

“Prototyping forms a large part of what we do, and we felt that having an in-house rapid prototyping capability was vital from the outset”, says Gordon Murray, CEO of Gordon Murray Design. “Ease of use and installation were key for us in the decision-making process but so was the excellent reputation of Stratasys within the industry. This has been demonstrated in their commitment to forging an ongoing business relationship with us. Although our principle focus is design, development and prototyping, we are also keen to experiment with the machine in the future to explore some of its manufacturing capabilities.”

“Gordon Murray has an outstanding reputation in the automotive industry and we are delighted to be working with him at Gordon Murray Design,” adds Tim Heller, managing director for Stratasys, Europe. “Without the Stratasys FDM 400mc the design team would have been forced to outsource designs for projects such as the T25. With so much of the project under wraps they were not prepared to risk the security of their intellectual property. We look forward to helping the team as they bring this and future ground-breaking designs to life.”

The sale was managed by Stratasys’ UK distributor Laserlines.

Immediacy, part of the Mediasurface group, Europe’s leading content management solution provider, today announced a new business contract for Immediacy WCMs 6.0 with Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, helping them create better transactional websites 

Immediacy, one of the leading UK content management solution providers (part of the Mediasurface group (UK, AIM: MSR) today announced that Tunbridge Wells Borough Council have purchased Immediacy WCMs 6.0 suite for the re-launch of their public facing websites and community micro sites. The project has been driven by the council’s ongoing commitment to deliver a greater transactional functionality on its website and achieve improved accessibility.

With 25,000 unique visitors to www.tunbridgewells.gov.uk monthly, this project will encourage even more citizens to transact online by delivering enriched, accessible content from a more easily managed, compliant platform. In addition to improving information delivery to the public, Tunbridge Wells Borough Council is seeking to raise its accessibility rating and Immediacy WCMs 6.0 will help it to meet its obligations to equality and anti-discrimination laws.

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council selected Immediacy following an extensive evaluation of content management solutions against key criteria including ease of management, the potential for collaborative working with other Kent Local Authorities and the technical agility of the solution for administering their intranet, Councillor extranet and new increased microsites. Immediacy WCMs 6.0 was able to demonstrate specific features suited to council use, such as the built-in Accessibility Checker, taxonomy, and ability to integrate with Microsoft SharePoint.

Andy Cole, Head of Customer Access and Business Transformation explains; ‘We are constantly pushing to deliver greater quality of service from our websites. Around 65% of our citizens have access to broadband in their own homes and more and more of them are choosing the web to access council services.  Immediacy is a powerful solution that will help us achieve greater accuracy of content and give us the technical flexibility to deliver interactive solutions. By delivering greater functionality online we can ensure consistently high quality and accessibility to council services. Immediacy is already used by a number of Local Government customers in Kent.  This will provide opportunities for collaborative working.  The sharing of knowledge, experience and skills will help us to deliver reliable and efficient service delivery. ’

By delivering the functionality to meet these goals, Immediacy will enable the devolution of day to day content maintenance to the fifty plus content authors throughout the council. Built-in workflow, web asset management and versioning tools - which issue automatic content revision alerts - will directly reduce site upkeep costs and at the same time ensure the accuracy and relevance of information served to the public.

Following the launch of the main website, Tunbridge Wells Borough Council will develop its microsites for various community groups. The council also plans to repurpose content to take full advantage of multi channel delivery and publish services to iDTV.

Andy Peart, Chief Marketing Officer at Mediasurface said, ‘We are excited to be working with another Kent Council. Tunbridge Wells Borough Council has some ambitious plans for the website from the introduction of interactive media to the launching of secure councillor extranets. These goals, combined with their drive for better day to day management, means that Tunbridge Wells will fully utilize the functionality of Immediacy to delivery a truly superb quality of service to their citizens.’

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council’s main website www.tunbridgewells.gov.uk will be the first site to re-launch in April 2008

300,000 people will have today off work due to back pain – what about you and your team?

Fellowes, in partnership with BackCare, the charity for healthier backs, has launched Ergonomix, a nationwide month-long campaign that aims to reduce the risk of RSI, back pain and other musculoskeletal disorders by raising awareness of workstation assessments and ergonomics in the workplace.

Not only do musculoskeletal disorders cost businesses £600 million per year and ten million lost work days, but research commissioned by Fellowes, the leading supplier of workspace solutions, shows that 36% of the UK’s office workers have never had a formal workstation assessment, with a further 12% admitting that their last assessment took place so long ago they can no longer remember the advice they were given.  With over 75% of employees claiming that they would consider suing their employer over a workplace injury[1], incorrect posture is no longer an issue that businesses can afford to ignore.

Fellowes and BackCare are leading the fight against workstation illnesses and have set up a dedicated website (www.ergonomix.info) with detailed information on how to protect your workforce – and your bottom line – by conducting regular workstation assessments and providing ergonomic products.   

“Often, a low-cost investment by businesses can help employees avoid potentially costly long-term injuries,” said Dr Dries Hettinga of BackCare.  “The  ROSPA (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) estimates that workstation related illnesses cost UK businesses £1,000 per employee, per annum[2].  Yet simple information and products designed to provide safe, comfortable and productive working – such as wrist rests and back supports – can cost as little as £10 and won't need replacing for at least three years.”

Louise Shipley, Fellowes’ ergonomic expert, agrees:  “With conditions such as thoracic outlet syndrome, carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, tenosynovitis, tennis elbow and trigger finger, amongst others, frequently attributed to poor posture in the workplace, businesses can no longer be complacent.”

“Fellowes has created a dedicated health and safety toolkit, containing detailed information on how to prevent injury, as well as an interactive workstation assessment CD.  This is available free of charge from the website [www.ergonomix.info] now – order yours, assess your business and be sure to stay protected.”

WhiteLabelDating.com been appointed by Dateline, the UK’s most experienced dating service, to create and provide the platform for Dateline.co.uk. 

Designed to rival market leaders DatingDirect and Match.com, the site is being launched to compliment Dateline’s existing specialist service, www.dateline121.com, which provides users with the company’s traditional personal matching service in an online environment. The new site has been designed to enable Dateline to take their online offering to the next level and reach a mass audience.

Dateline.co.uk clients will have access to online dating and social networking services including personal messaging, search functions, diary entries, profiles of the newest members and an auto-match facility.

Edward Ankrett, Chairman & Chief Executive of Dateline, said: “We chose to work with WhiteLabelDating.com because of its experience with major brands and its ability to convert more users into paying members than other available platforms. Additionally, the combination of advanced technology, easy integration and excellent standards of service WhiteLabelDating.com offers stood out from its competition.”

Ankrett continues: “It was also important for us to know that the service we were offering our members was safe. We were impressed to learn about WhiteLabelDating.com’s commitment to safety.  They have invested in technology that identifies and prevents scamming, and reduces the number of victims of online fraud and abusive behaviour. We are therefore secure in the knowledge that our users are protected.”

Ross Williams, Chairman of WhiteLabelDating.com, said: “Dateline has been at the forefront of dating services in the UK for over 40 years and is recognised as a brand that sets the benchmark for this sector.  We are looking forward to a long standing relationship with Dateline as it embraces and builds the power of online dating.”

Product Family includes support for Audio and Video Live Streaming with scalability to large global audiences

Expands Partnerships with Adobe & Microsoft to cover Live Events with Adobe Flash & Microsoft Windows Media

Announces introduction of new revolutionary hybrid-P2P live streaming solution

Cambridge, UK – March 26th 2008. Velocix™ (www.velocix.com), provider of the worlds leading Digital Asset Delivery Network, today announced the addition of a complete family of Live Video Streaming solutions to its current product portfolio. The Velocix Live Streaming product family includes: Velocix Live Video Streaming for Adobe Flash & Microsoft Windows Media, together with Velocix Live Audio Streaming.

Velocix Live Streaming also includes a revolutionary new hybrid-P2P live streaming option, which provides scalability to the largest global audiences for online video and audio events and broadcasts, with compelling delivery costs and economics. With these new services, Velocix further extends its lead in the provision of digital delivery services for large digital assets, such as video, software and games, offering the widest variety of online delivery options available on the market today.

Live events, including news, sports and music concerts, present significant online delivery challenges. Unlike on-demand services for pre-recorded materials where viewing requests are spread over time, live services result in concentrated demand from a potentially huge audience, just for the duration of the event.  As a consequence, event organizers are often forced to compromise quality or limit audience sizes when using conventional live streaming services.

The Velocix Live Streaming includes several delivery options, including hybrid-P2P, which blends delivery of live streams from the Velocix Network caches as well as sharing bandwidth with “peers”. Each participant is not only watching or listening to the live broadcast but is effectively relaying the signal (acting as a “peer”) to the other audience members at the same time.  This community distribution process is managed in real-time by sophisticated control and routing algorithms hosted on the Velocix Network, ensuring required service levels and an uninterrupted experience for the entire audience.

“Based on significant customer demand we have decided to launch a complete new family products for live streaming, that compliment our current delivery services for video streaming and download. We are delighted to be able to offer live streaming with strategic partners such as Adobe and Microsoft, as well as offering our innovative new Hybrid-P2P service that together fundamentally disrupt the performance & economics of live streaming on the internet” said Phill Robinson, CEO, Velocix.

The Velocix Network is designed to enable content owners, studios, and broadcasters to deliver video and other large digital assets, such as software, games and audio over the web, with unprecedented performance, breakthrough economics and an asset delivery lifecycle management system that provides content owners the control, analytics and reporting they need to manage their asset libraries through the digital distribution chain.