Hemel Hempstead, 25th March 2008 - Telephonetics VIP, the UK based speech automation and recognition specialist, has released a whitepaper discussing the opportunity to use automated appointment and event reminders.

Non-attendance of appointments or events is not only very inconvenient for the service provider but can also be very costly. For example, research has shown the average cost of a missed appointment for the NHS is £130. Multiply that by thousands or even millions of missed appointments and the extent of the problem is readily apparent. Finding a successful method of combating this issue increasingly proves a challenge.

The whitepaper explores the factors leading to increased attendance rates and examines how automation can facilitate this process, including the benefits offered compared to manual reminders. In the context of this discussion, the whitepaper introduces a new product called Remind+.

Remind+ from Telephonetics VIP, is a messaging solution that enables organisations to automatically call patients or customers to jog their memory about appointments or events. It can then ask the person to respond to a question to confirm whether they will attend or not, and log their response. The customer is reminded about their appointment so they are more likely to attend, and importantly this enables organisations to rebook appointment slots that would not otherwise be used.

To receive a copy of the automated appointment whitepaper please email [email protected].

ClusterSeven ADM Software Improves Monitoring of Activities within Microsoft Office Access

European Credit Management Implements ClusterSeven ADM to Improve Oversight and Comply with FSA Rules

New York, London – March 25, 2008 - ClusterSeven today announced the availability of its ClusterSeven ADM software product, designed to help organizations reduce operational risk by closely monitoring the activity and changes to data in their Microsoft® Office Access databases. Laws and regulatory bodies such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) in the United States and the Financial Services Authority in the U.K. require organizations to demonstrate oversight on business records and communications. ClusterSeven ADM enables ClusterSeven customers such as European Credit Management to comply with the most stringent interpretations of these requirements and with their own internal governance, risk and regulatory compliance (GRC) policies.

Microsoft Office Access, formerly Microsoft Access, is a relational database management system and part of the 2007 Microsoft Office system. ClusterSeven ADM provides an organization with detailed oversight of records created and managed in Access, and monitors these activities with no impact to the end user. ClusterSeven ADM saves time by removing many manual checks, creates a centralized and auditable history and clearly separates the roles of the business users and operational risk managers, all key requirements of most compliance legislation including those established by SOX and the FSA. ClusterSeven ADM draws on the proven architecture of ClusterSeven's Enterprise Spreadsheet Manager Software product, which provides the same oversight capabilities over an organization's spreadsheets created using popular programs such as Excel and Google Docs.

"Use of Microsoft Office Access is typically not as widespread throughout an organization as spreadsheets, but that does not reduce the operational risk to the entire organization," said Steve Semenzato, founder and CEO, ClusterSeven. "Just one instance of poor oversight can trigger an investigation. Auditors and regulators require a precise understanding of who touched what information, when and why. ClusterSeven's technologies monitor these activities and alerts appropriate personnel of anything suspicious, without disrupting daily business operations."

Establishing Good Corporate Governance

London-based investment management firm European Credit Management (ECM) has built a global operation specializing in European fixed income.  Founded in 1999, ECM implemented the ClusterSeven Enterprise Spreadsheet Manager Software product in 2004, to comply with the FSA's corporate governance requirements.  In 2007, Evergreen Investments, the asset management division of Wachovia Corp. (NYSE: WB) acquired a majority interest in ECM.

"We were an early adopter of ClusterSeven's spreadsheet management product, so we naturally turned to ClusterSeven again in order to address our requirements for improving our control of other user-developed applications," said Michael Cunningham, Head of Technology, European Credit Management.  "We worked together to define the requirements and ClusterSeven has delivered exactly what we needed."

"The very flexibility that makes end user solutions such as Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and Microsoft Office Access such valuable business tools can also pose risk," said Kathleen Wilhide, Research Director for Governance, Risk & Compliance at IDC. "End users are comfortable building sophisticated applications with these tools at the desktop, but the complexity can result in errors or inconsistent updates that impact the integrity of information, putting companies at risk of heavy fines and potential damage to its reputation. An ever increasing regulatory environment requires companies to take notice of such activities and the operational risks they present."

Availability

ClusterSeven ADM and ClusterSeven Enterprise Spreadsheet Manager are available now and can be purchased directly or through ClusterSeven's network of value-added resellers, distributors and system integrators.  For more information, visit www.clusterseven.com

Stockholm, March 25, 2008 – Red Herring has announced that Momail is a finalist of the Red Herring 100 Europe, an award given to the top 100 private technology companies based in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region each year.

“This year’s impressive list of submissions from companies demonstrates Europe’s growing role as a major center of innovation in the global technology sector,” said Red Herring Editor-in-Chief Joel Dreyfuss. “The exceptional accomplishments of European technology startups and entrepreneurs are a testament to the rapid advancements being made in building the European innovation ecosystem.”

Red Herring’s lists of top private companies are an important part of the publication’s tradition of identifying new and innovative technology companies and entrepreneurs. Companies like Google, eBay, and Skype were spotted in their early days by Red Herring editors, and touted as leaders that would change the way we live and work.
 
Red Herring’s editorial staff rigorously evaluated several hundred private companies through a careful analysis of financial data and subjective criteria, including quality of management, execution of strategy, and dedication to research and development. 

“Our focus on innovation, mobile email and mobile content distribution, using our patented MMOPE technology (Mobile Message Optimization & Protection Engine), attracts both end users and partners in the market. We are excited at being selected for this renowned award,” says Roger Grönberg, CEO of Momail.

Red Herring will honor the Red Herring 100 Europe Finalist companies at its Red Herring Europe 2008 event. Scheduled for April 14-16, at the Westin Dragonara Resort, this intimate, three-day event is themed “The Pursuit of Disruption” and will explore how European firms are leading the charge in many technology sectors, gaining the competitive advantage, and driving entrepreneurial success in ways that create business opportunities for challengers and incumbents alike.

…ILX wins contract to standardise & up skill all ICT staff to ITIL® V3...

Tuesday 25th March 2008, ILX Group plc (ILX), the training services company that provides flexible training services through traditional classroom, workshops, multi-media training and e-Learning is assisting Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council to even out the different skill levels across its Information Communications Technology (ICT) staff. The contract, implemented in January 2008, involves putting its ICT staff through ITIL® Version 3 foundation training. The training programme encompasses all members of ICT including Service Desk, Application Developers and Project Managers training.

Andrew Kirk is the ICT Quality Manager for Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, describes the situation before the ITIL® implementation, “There were scatterings of knowledge of ITIL®. Some people had done ITIL® Foundation years ago; some knew a bit, others to whom it was an acronym. We put it out to tender and various companies came back with tutor based training, but we decided to go with ILX because of its e-Learning option.  Putting our people through classroom training would have been impossible.  People didn’t have to book on the course and then disappear out of the office for three days. They could train at their own speed.  ILX Group offered us the best value and flexible approach – and in fact saved around 60% compared to tutor lead provisions.”   

The timing of the implementation was fortuitous as the Council was in the process of rolling out their Oracle learning management (OLM) system.  ILX’s ITIL® solution integrated excellently with the Oracle system which held all employee training records.  “The ILX system had to be compliant with the Oracle product as once it is installed the Oracle system takes over the management of the training product,” explains Andrew Kirk. 

It was the blended learning aspect that attracted Solihull Council to the ILX Group.  “We knew we were going to be using the classroom training for some areas. ILX gave us the blend that we required. Some of our people are doing it at home, we’ve put some PCs in a quiet area so people can go and use it.  It’s as flexible as we can make it,” says Andrew Kirk.   

The contract does not include examination costs, but as Andrew Kirk says, “ILX gave us a very economical way of getting people through the training as everyone is doing it at their own pace. We’ve been able to prioritise groups that need the knowledge first, so for example the service desk needs to have the knowledge as quickly as possible so they are beginning it first. By the end of the year I expect everyone to have completed the training.”

Seven out of ten IT managers say they are not equipped to change over to ITIL® Version 3, according to research from ILX Group plc. This is despite the fact that the same number of IT managers (61 per cent), believe that having IT staff qualified in ITIL® gives businesses a competitive edge. 

Eddie Kilkelly, Operations Director for ILX Group plc concludes, “It is encouraging to see that companies such as Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council  are providing their staff with the support to make the transition over to ITIL® Version 3 as smooth as possible. The fact that the organisation was trialing the Oracle system and our product could be integrated so successfully was extremely positive and made the implementation very satisfying for both parties.”

Quadriga Consulting and Blauw Research Partner to Target IT and Telecoms Opportunity

Partnership offers strong sector focused project management and access to international fieldwork resources

London March 25, 2008 – Quadriga Consulting Ltd and Blauw Research today announced a partnership that will allow IT and Telecoms firms a unique international project management resource for global research assignments. 

Quadriga Consulting Ltd is well known as a tech-focused research-enabled consultancy practice.  The company focuses on the IT and Telecoms sector with a range of clients from early stage, venture funded companies to international hardware and software firms.  Quadriga has particular expertise in complex international qualitative and quantitative assignments focusing on enterprise software, telecommunications products/software, computer hardware and digital content segments. 

Blauw Research has 15 years experience in the ICT sector offerring a wide range of clients full service market research solutions.  The company offers European qualitative research as well as worldwide quantitative research from a single location through online, CATI or mixed mode data collection, at high speed. The use of a centralized technology platform allows for strict monitoring of progress and quality of fieldwork. More and more multinational companies take advantage of this approach and work with Blauw on international projects.

QuadrigaBlauw will operate out of Blauw’s London office based on The Strand.
According to Jeffrey Peel , MD of Quadriga Consulting, “this represents a major step forward for ICT players that need both specialist sector expertise and international data collection resources across multiple markets.  Many so-called international agencies try to offer turnkey international research capability but typically that means farming data collection out to local agencies that have no overt sector understanding.  What we offer is end-to-end management of the process, while never losing sight of the business and research objectives.”

Jonathan Wheeler, MD of Blauw UK, agrees, “the ICT sector is very demanding in terms of international capability.  Many MR and marketing managers in tech firms get very frustrated that they can’t find agencies that can offer a full understanding of their product management challenges at the same time as offering an international data collection ability.  We can offer both.  The result is easier, more responsive project management and a focus on the findings rather than the process.”

Companies Partner to Deliver Enterprise-Class Open Source Solution for Content Management

Slough, UK — 25th March 2008 — Ingres Corporation, a leading provider of open source database management software, today announced that its products have been certified by Alfresco, the leading open source alternative for enterprise content management. As part of their comprehensive reseller agreement, Ingres will leverage the Alfresco product line to deliver complete content management solutions to enterprise customers with all of the cost and flexibility benefits that an open source solution provides. In addition to the certification and reseller agreement, an integrated community bundle from Ingres and Alfresco will enable community developers to leverage a truly enterprise open source content management solution that is reliable, robust, secure, and can scale from the developer’s desktop to the enterprise data centre.

“Customers need rapid, cost effective solutions to manage growing quantities of unstructured data,” said Roger Burkhardt, president and CEO of Ingres. “Business and regulatory needs mandate secure and reliable solutions that scale rapidly and are inexpensive to deploy. This is why we have chosen to partner with Alfresco to provide an open source content management solution with enterprise-class capability from top to bottom.”

“We are pleased to join forces with Ingres as a database technology partner,” said John Powell, president and CEO of Alfresco.  “With the rapid adoption of open source software in the enterprise, more customers are looking for ways to easily deploy and buy support for best-of-breed applications such as Ingres and Alfresco. Ingres has a mature product, that is proven in thousands of mission critical installations.  The combination of Ingres and Alfresco means that customers can deploy an enterprise scale content management solution at an open source price point.”

“With Alfresco running on Ingres, customers that require a reliable, scalable, and secure document or enterprise content management solution on open source technologies, now have an option,” said Andres Wendt, CEO at uknow, a provider and integrator of web-based information management solutions. “We have tested the bundle thoroughly and have been very pleased with the results. We will benefit, as will many customers of Ingres and Alfresco, who require mission critical software solutions packaged in a cost effective, open source manner.”

“As a gold partner of Alfresco Software, we have been creating solutions with the Alfresco platform from its inception and have been involved in performance and scalability testing,” said Alex Lee, CEO of Lateral Minds, an enterprise content management specialist. “Customers, whether in the public sector, financial services, or healthcare industry, are now able to utilise open source technology for their mission critical enterprise-wide content management requirements – with a favourable TCO outcome. We encourage anyone looking to improve the value of their content management to evaluate Alfresco enterprise content management running on Ingres as a viable solution that is both reliable and secure.”

Content management systems for the enterprise demand rigorous capabilities, especially for the management of structured and unstructured data.  One of the biggest issues for enterprise customers worldwide is the need for reliability.  Ingres delivers solid performance along with enterprise features including online backup and online table reorganisation, native connection pooling support, robust and fast query optimisation, and 24/7 global support.

To learn more about the new community bundle please visit community.ingres.com or go to www.ingres.com/alfresco/.

Combined software unit’s inaugural conference, to be opened by Mike Hickey, President

Windsor, 25 March 2008 – Pitney Bowes MapInfo and Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software, the leading providers of location intelligence and Customer Communication Management solutions, today announce the details of Interact 08, the first-ever definitive event for its user community, taking place on 29-30 April 2008 at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole.

The two-day event will bring together Pitney Bowes MapInfo and Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software users for the first time to hear from President Mike Hickey on the exciting and pivotal developments of the newly integrated organisation.

With over 30 ‘opt in’ sessions, the conference has been designed to maximise the time and interests of public and private sector delegates across industry sectors from retail and finance to local government and utilities.  Each session has been carefully planned featuring selected key customer speakers, important technical updates and a raft of showcases.  Product updates will include the unveiling of a new e-messaging service and the latest interactive document application, among others.

“Interact 08 is a truly compelling proposition for users from all sides of the organisation,” said John O’Hara, Executive VP, International, Pitney Bowes MapInfo.
“Location intelligence is coming of age, and this is the platform from which we will all be inspired to see previously untapped opportunities for customer and location technology integration.”

Customer insight will be given from a wide range of user organisations including Liverpool City Council, Coventry City Council, Slovak Telecom and West Midland Police, as well as industry experts like Steer Davies Gleave and WRC.  A well considered agenda of technical workshops will provide valuable understanding of developments and integration opportunities across all flagship data, software and services, including Group 1 Software customer management tools (CCM and CDQ), GeoPlatform, Confirm and MapInfo Pro.

For more information, and to register, visit: www.interact08.co.uk

ChangingWorlds to Showcase Personalization of Mobile Advertising & Mobile Internet at CTIA 2008

Dublin, Ireland, March 24th 2008 - ChangingWorlds, the global expert in Personalization and Content Discovery techniques for mobile data, today announced that it will demonstrate the benefits of its advanced personalization technology at CTIA Las Vegas.  ChangingWorlds will also introduce its unique personalization solution for Mobile Advertising – ClixSmart AdPersonalizer - to US carriers during CTIA. 

At the ChangingWorlds exhibition booth, the company will demonstrate how ClixSmart AdPersonalizer intelligently delivers personalized, advertisements to users in a relevant, targeted, contextual and timely manner.  ChangingWorlds will also be showcasing the benefits of Personalized Content Recommendations, Personalized Content Discovery and the Personalization of Off Deck Content on the latest ClixSmart Mobile Data Personalization Demo.

Based on advanced Artificial Intelligence technology, the ChangingWorlds' ClixSmart™ suite of Personalization Solutions is proven to enhance mobile content relevance and optimize the user experience of the Mobile Internet, resulting in greater ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) for the mobile operator.

ChangingWorlds’ relevance and personalization engine is capable of capturing unrivalled subscriber intelligence by automatically monitoring the implicit behavior of users online in order to learn rich content preference information and by combining this subscriber intelligence with external sources of complementary data, from demographic profiles to billing data.

Over 50 mobile operators worldwide have used this rich repository of subscriber intelligence, in combination with the ClixSmart personalization engine, to deliver highly targeted promotions in a range of different mobile internet scenarios including:

 Adapting the navigation structure of a mobile portal to suit the preferences of individual subscribers
 Promoting premium content and services
 Recommending relevant mobile data services.

ChangingWorlds was the first company to bring personalization technology to the mobile market back in 1999. The unique ClixSmart personalization has been in research & development for over 12 years and in commercial deployment with mobile operators since 2000 – over 7 years ago.

http://www.changingworlds.com/

Text messaging for the Hard of Hearing is used in Northumbria
 
Mobile solutions specialist Dialogue Communications has provided a unique messaging service for Northumbria Police, to allow local deaf, hearing impaired and speech impaired residents to contact the police via text messaging. In the UK alone, there are almost 9 million deaf people and Northumbria Police is amongst the first to adopt this service.   
 
Using Dialogue’s web-based portal, Northumbria Police has set up this mobile facility, which will allow the hard of hearing to contact the police easily. Deaf people will no longer have to rely on someone else to report non-emergencies for them and can now text a predefined mobile number 0778 6200 815, which will be directly sent to the police control room and regularly checked.   
 
Superintendent Derek Scott, of Northumbria Police explains: “We hope the service will prove to be an effective means of reporting non-emergency incidents in our local area.  The mobile technology which is available to emergency services these days is rapidly expanding and we wanted to make the most of this. This demonstrates our commitment to providing the best service possible to all sections of the community.
 
”However, we would want to remind users that in an emergency situation they need to be able to contact the police via 999 if an immediate response is required."
 
The two-way SMS is a simple to use service whereby a text message is sent, it is then converted into an email and delivered to the police communications centre.  The caller then receives a return SMS within seconds to say their text has been passed to the police, who will reply to this enquiry within 24 hours, with a reminder if this is an emergency you must dial 999. Any further communication can be made via email, which is automatically converted to a text message and sent to the caller.
 
This latest service is yet another way of utilising Dialogue’s community text offering.  Guillaume Peersman, managing director of Dialogue UK said: “It is services like two-way messaging which can really prove beneficial to local communities.  Our mobile applications offer local services a new dimension, which perhaps they hadn’t considered, and because of the constantly increasing number of mobile users, it only makes sense to utilise the available technology in a positive way.”
 
With offices in London and Sheffield, Dialogue Communications is one of the UK’s fastest growing mobile service providers for interactive mobile solutions and SMS aggregation.   

Architecture and power consumption innovations driving down costs and complexity of 802.11n deployments, validated by the Farpoint Group, and Wi-Fi Alliance certified

The new HiPath® Wireless 802.11n solution from Siemens Enterprise Communications is the first solution of its kind to offer innovative architecture and power consumption capabilities to make the migration to fully functional, faster, more reliable 802.11n networks easier and more cost-effective. This secure wireless solution is a key part of Siemens’ open communications portfolio. And now, test results by Craig Mathias of Farpoint Group verify that the HiPath Wireless Access Points (APs), are the first ever to deliver dual-radio, 3x3 MIMO 802.11n functionality while remaining compliant with the wattage limitations of industry-standard 802.3af Power-over-Ethernet (PoE). 

Further to this, Siemens has also announced that its new 802.11n HiPath Wireless AP has received the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED® seal of approval for 802.11n draft 2.0 from the Wi-Fi Alliance®.  The HiPath Wireless AP3620 was awarded the certification after successfully passing a rigorous sequence of qualification testing, which ensures the compatibility of WLAN products based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ (IEEE) 802.11n WLAN specifications. The HiPath Wireless AP is certified for adhering to industry standard tests for interoperability, the latest in security protection, and backward compatibility with previous generations of Wi-Fi equipment.

802.11n offers substantial benefits over previous wireless standards, with speeds up to five times faster than traditional WLANs, greater range and improved reliability to support high-performance mobile applications, such as HD video, high-resolution imaging and voice over WLAN (VoWLAN). However, with these benefits has come the considerable challenge of integrating the access points into an existing network, since additional power is required for dual-band 3x3 radios (those functioning in both the 2.4 and 5GHz bands) to work at optimum performance levels.

Farpoint Group, a leading independent analyst firm of mobile technologies based in Massachusetts, performed its own tests aimed at verifying whether or not Siemens had met the difficult challenge of addressing both the physical power delivery constraints of the IEEE 802.3af PoE and the needs of power-hungry, dual-radio 802.11n APs. The 3x3 MIMO technology at the heart of 802.11n relies on the use of six transmitter/receivers (three for each radio) – compared with just two for 802.11a/b/g APs. Depending on the implementation, this additional hardware could consume significantly more power than the 12.95 Watts that 802.3af PoE is designed to deliver across a 100-meter Ethernet cable. Many other WLAN vendors have introduced 802.11n solutions with workarounds to address this problem, which underscores the significance of Siemens’ achievement.

Siemens 802.11n solution enables enterprises to realise the full benefits of 802.11n, without costly upgrades to the backbone network and wireless controller infrastructure, thanks to its unique VNS (Virtual Network Services) architecture. The VNS architecture provides performance optimisation for high-bandwidth applications by intelligently routing network traffic between the edge of the network and the core, depending on the application and available network capacities, to maximise the bandwidth that can be achieved on the network. This architecture was designed to achieve optimal high-bandwidth performance without requiring upgrades to the existing wired network controllers, making it easier and more cost-effective to deploy and integrate the solution across the enterprise.  Competitive solutions that require all traffic to be forwarded to the central WLAN controller lead to the potential for significant bottlenecks due to the substantially higher bandwidth of 802.11n. Many vendors require costly upgrades to the wired backbone and new wireless controllers to fully implement 802.11n.

“We were sceptical of Siemens’ claim that .3af power would be sufficient for dual-radio, 3x3 MIMO operation,” said Craig Mathias, a Principal with Farpoint Group and author of its published Technical Note. “It’s ferociously difficult from an engineering standpoint, so we jumped at the chance to verify Siemens’ claims. Mathias tested the HiPath Wireless 802.11n solution within a test network environment that consisted of both integral and add-on .11n clients, PoE switching infrastructure, and benchmarking software. “We saw outstanding performance with both radios running simultaneously at expected 3x3 MIMO throughput levels,” Mathias said.

Tested throughputs ran as high as 143 Mbps – far faster than the typical 25 Mbps maximums of 802.11a/b/g wireless standards. This all took place while the AP drew power across 100m Ethernet cables connected to 802.3af PoE switch ports or .3af-compliant power injectors. ”The test results prove that Siemens has clearly achieved the feat of providing full dual-radio 3x3 MIMO 802.11n while being powered by 802.3af PoE,” Mathias said. “This accomplishment is clearly very difficult, and we expect Siemens to gain some real market advantage from this for some time.”

The Siemens HiPath Wireless APs’ compliance with the PoE 802.3af standard makes installation of 802.11n AP deployments much simpler and much more economical than competing approaches. HiPath Wireless APs only need to be plugged in to existing PoE-enabled Ethernet ports, while other 802.11n solutions could require pulling AC power, additional Ethernet cables, or adding completely new PoE infrastructure like switches or port injectors – all of which are costly and time-consuming.

“We chose Siemens’ HiPath Wireless 802.11n solution because it is ready to deploy now, offers great advantages in how it deals with the PoE issue, and is easy to install,” said Sam Brown, Director of IT Services for the Georgia World Congress Center, a 3.9 million square foot conference, entertainment, and sports venue. “After upgrading the software on our HiPath Controller and doing a few quick configuration changes, all we had to do was unplug our old HiPath Wireless Access Points and plug in the new ones. We were even able to use the same mounting bracket. In all, it took us less than 30 minutes to light up our trial area with 802.11n.  Continuing to be a leader in technology in the convention industry is important to us. Now we’ve increase speed, range and reliability of our wireless system, we know it’ll be great for our customers.”   

“While 802.11n delivers the higher speed and improved range customers want, the cost and complexity of enabling an existing network to handle 802.11n has held many enterprises back,” said Gavin McCarthy, Business Development Manager for Siemens, Ireland. “A recent IDC report[1] has seen an increasing demand for flexibility and mobility in the work place, and with the Wi-Fi Alliance certification, users can be assured of Siemens’ further commitment to providing best-of-breed solutions that add true value to the enterprise.”

Siemens’ 802.11n solution includes two new 802.11n HiPath Wireless Access Points, AP3610 (internal antenna) and AP3620 (external antenna), a new version of HiPath Wireless Convergence Software (V5 R1) that enables controllers to recognise and manage 802.11n access points, and a new version of HiPath Wireless Manager HiGuard that delivers advanced management and WIPS security for 802.11n-enabled networks, another key advancement from Siemens.

Details of Farpoint Group’s lab tests are available in its published Technical Note (Document FPG 2008-61.1, February 2008), entitled 802.11n Access Points and Power over Ethernet: Key Considerations.
www.siemens.com/us/open/802.11n/report

Pricing and Availability
Siemens’ HiPath Wireless solution will begin shipping in March 2008. The new HiPath Wireless Access Points will sell for €960 ($1,300). Upgrades to the HiPath Wireless Convergence Software will start at €280 ($349) and HiPath Wireless Manager HiGuard upgrades are available free of charge.

- Outsourcing removed with access and control for multiple users - Leeds Metropolitan University has turned to RedDot, Open Text’s web solutions group, to roll out its Content Management System (CMS) for new partners, Leeds Carnegie rugby club.

Using RedDot’s CMS, the Leeds Carnegie’s editorial team will now be able to control and manage content on their website, eliminating the need to outsource its website management to third parties, cutting costs and reducing delays with content publishing.

The extension of RedDot’s CMS will also allow the Leeds Carnegie website to use the software’s import manager functionality to automate the publishing of scores, fixture lists, tables and RSS news feeds. This will not only transform the website but will also improve the efficiency and speed with which content is published online.

RedDot’s CMS empowers staff from both technical and non-technical backgrounds to supply and manipulate web content in a user-friendly and flexible way. A wide range of editors across a company can affect the look, feel and corporate identity of a website by accessing, providing and editing its content.

Andy Bellinger, country manager for RedDot in the UK, commented: “When you have multiple editors across different sites or faculties who may not be particularly tech savvy but who want to publish stories on the website, RedDot’s CMS is ideal. Its ease of use is something that immediately appeals. We look forward to helping Leeds Carnegie deliver a highly dynamic and flexible website.”

Red Dot Homepage - http://www.reddot.co.uk/

Strategic IT planning software reveals thousands of new ways for IT to economise

Troux Technologies today announced the release of Troux 7.1, the latest version of its breakthrough software products and platform that accelerate the pace of business and IT transformations through improved strategic IT planning. 

The release of Troux 7 in the autumn of 2007 ushered in a period of rapid adoption by some of the most recognised brands in the international business community. Troux worked closely with these companies to identify the most useful and innovative business and IT transformations including: Application Consolidation; Application Reduction; SOA Investment Planning; IT Simplification; IT Standards Management; Outsourcing; and Infrastructure Consolidation.

Register for Webinars on these transformation best practices at http://www.troux.com/company/events/

Troux 7.1 now provides new out-of-the box support to accelerate these use cases and continues to arm organisations with immediate access to reliable intelligence, improved organisational insight, as well as the ability to conduct impact analysis through risk-free scenario planning.

Find out more about Troux 7.1 at http://www.troux.com/products/

“As the business environment gets tougher, there is a greater need for strategic IT planning, so IT departments are able to enable change instead of just reacting to it,” said Bola Rotibi, principal analyst at Ovum.  “CIOs need the ability to make decisions that factor in the whole IT environment, and will be best served by tools and services that have built-in responses to real life scenarios and requirements gained from collaboration with a strong portfolio of end-user organisations" said Rotibi.

“We knew that Troux 7.0 was a groundbreaking product. We realised that if we could add new capabilities quickly it would help companies remain competitive given the current economic climate,” said Matt Price, vice president of worldwide marketing for Troux.  “The speed of this release was made possible by the flexibility of the Troux product architecture and the innovative agile development methods employed by the Troux research and development team. With Troux 7, the goal was to educate business on the value of transformative intelligence. With 7.1 we are helping them realise that value fast,” Price said.

Troux 7.1 has been enhanced with a host of new capabilities, from new decision-support functionality to collaborative tools, integrations and an array of new reports.

New Product Enhancements:

Decision Support: Among the compelling additions to Troux 7.1 are Flash-based visualisations (heat maps, base maps, and cluster maps) that spur operational insight and provide decision makers with tools to increase the agility of strategic IT planning.
 
Web-based Collaboration for IT Planners: Troux 7.1 provides a rich collaborative work environment that allows users to create discussion threads and relate them to objects within the data repository.  Known as Troux Collaboration, this “journaling” functionality increases productivity for teams working together by providing a continuous record of changes and decisions.   
 
Out-of-the-box insight and impact analysis reports: Troux Applications adds new reports to support the roles of executive management and portfolio planners.  These reports empower decision makers with valuable intelligence they need to execute transformations. Additionally, Troux 7.1 has a new “opportunity finder” that enables planners to look deeply into the organisation to uncover opportunities for optimisation.

Enterprise Fit: Troux 7.1 easily integrates into existing IT ecosystems. For example, it now supports integration with BPA tools such as Visual Paradigm, enabling customers to bring their business architecture into Troux using Business Process Management standards. Also, Troux Intelligence -- Troux’s business intelligence engine for IT -- now integrates directly with SAP’s Business Objects and IBM’s Cognos business intelligence software.

Data Quality and Productivity: Troux Integrity allows notifications to users and reminds them of obligations to refresh data for which they’re responsible.  This new functionality ensures the high data quality necessary to support strategic IT decision making with confidence in the accuracy and freshness of the information.

Integration: Troux Applications integrates seamlessly with Troux Standards allowing customers to identify infrastructure-related portfolio risk. 

Telephonetics VIP launch specialist speech self service solutions for Local Government authorities

Telephonetics VIP, a prominent UK speech recognition company, has launched a range of speech self service solutions specifically for the Local Government sector. The solutions enable citizens to access information, provide feedback on services and make payments.

Designed to improve access to services the speech self service options enable citizens to access Local Government services 24 hours a day. As routine calls are serviced politely and consistently while freeing staff to handle complex calls, citizens gain speedier access to services.

Telephonetics VIP, recently cited by Global Industry Analysts as a leading player in the speech technology market, were careful to incorporate a number of key elements to ensure the speech self service solutions meet the specific needs of Local Government. The speech self service ‘Automation Agents’ can use different skills – Information, Payments and Reporting – providing flexible capacity to deal with different call types.

One of the NI14 National Indicators for Local Authorities focuses on reducing ‘Avoidable Contact’ with citizens and business - the proportion of contact within key service areas that are a poor use of officer and customer time. The use of automated call handling negates the need for human involvement and ensures that callers experience the utmost privacy.

Using automation extends the e-Government programmes, in place at many local authorities, by offering services already available on the web via the phone. This can help with achieving a number of targets including the recommendation from Sir David Varney for services to be made available 24 x 7 x 365, with first call resolution of 80%, all whilst reducing contact centre costs by 25% by year end.

Mike Matthews, Head of Product Management, Telephonetics VIP comments “The use of speech technology is forecast to grow 36% per annum.* This is in part due to the proven effectiveness of speech self service as a method of improving services without increasing costs, which is of particular importance in the public sector.”

New Forest District Council is one of several councils already successfully using the new speech self service facilities from Telephonetics VIP. Their citizens are able to call in, check their balance and pay their council tax bill at a time convenient to them, 24 hours a day.

CommunicAsia And BroadcastAsia Return To Showcase World Leading Digital Convergence Experience

European attendance set to be highest ever in 2008

London, 18 March 2008 – CommunicAsia and BroadcastAsia - The most established and relevant trade event for the global infocomm and media industries - will once again be held in Singapore from 17 – 20 June 2008.

Reflecting the synergistic trend in the infocomm and digital media industries, CommunicAsia2008 and BroadcastAsia2008 is set to embrace the convergence of digital multimedia technology and the entertainment value chain as never before. Consequently more companies are now making the trip to Singapore from European bases – for example the German pavilion is set to hold a record number of companies and there are also strong attendance numbers already confirmed from Scandinavian nations.

Visitors to CommunicAsia will not only get to see leading-edge enabling technologies and business solutions designed to enhance enterprises’ mobility and users’ lifestyle, but they will also get to meet with representatives from telcos and mobile operators, ISPs, enterprises, system integrators, broadcasters, post/production studios, animation houses, computer graphics producers, as well as content owners and developers.

“We are very excited to be able to bring CommunicAsia and BroadcastAsia to the industry once again,” said Rupert Owen, UK Based Director at Overseas Exhibition Services (OES).   “It is very heartening to know that exhibitors, visitors and delegates alike find the shows relevant and are able to gain valuable in-roads to multiple markets. Participants have also given us feedback that the event is an ideal launch pad for introducing products and solutions to the regional media.”

A truly international event, CommunicAsia and BroadcastAsia attracted a total of more than 68,000 attendees last year, 50% of whom were from overseas.  The visitors were treated to a wide spectrum of ICT and media innovations, put on display by over 2,400 exhibiting companies from 65 countries.

Already, more than 80% of the exhibition space has been snapped up this year.  More leading companies showcasing technologies ranging from 3G, LTE, WiMAX, Broadband, FMC, FTTH, NGN, IP Technology, IPTV, Mobile Entertainment, Satellite and Security are expected to register for CommunicAsia2008 as June draws closer.

Several high profile industry thought leaders and business luminaries are also set to be announced over the coming months, who will be involved in discussions on ‘hot’ topics and issues. They are expected to once again serve as vibrant platforms where sellers and buyers congregate, network, and exchange industry best practices.
 
BroadcastAsia2008 will feature some of the hottest technologies in the market, including Broadcasting-to-Handheld, Digital Media Asset Management, Immersive Tech, HD Technology, IPTV, Mobile Entertainment and Professional Audio Technology.

CommunicAsia, BroadcastAsia, InteractiveDME, EnterpriseIT, CG Overdrive, as well as various inter-government meetings, are part of the Infocomm Media Business Exchange (imbX). imbX is Asia’s largest infocomm and media event that fortifies Singapore’s position as a leading infocomm and media hub. It brings together business leaders, companies and industry professionals to showcase their latest innovations, network, exchange ideas and tap new markets.

CommunicAsia - http://www.communicasia.com