Do Canadians want more electronic services from their government?


Do Canadians want more electronic services from their government?


PwC aims to find out with launch of Citizen Compass survey and idea forum

TORONTO, April 19, 2012 /CNW/ - PwC is launching new research to see if Canadians are ready to receive more services and information electronically through their phones, computers and tablet devices. The project, called Citizen Compass, begins April 18, 2012 and invites the public to participate, in either a survey format or an idea forum to make suggestions or discuss issues. The link to the site is http://CitizenCompass.pwc.com.

"We thought the time was right for a new debate on how governments could be increasing their use of e-services to communicate with the public and more effectively provide traditional services, such as issuing car licences and passport renewals," says Michael Jordan,  Public Sector and Government Services Partner for PwC Canada. "New technologies are changing the way Canadians are doing business. At the same time Canadian governments want to do more to efficiently manage costs and keep up with consumer demand for different e-services."

On April 11, 2012, PwC ignited the dialogue— called Choicebook —with 2,000 randomly-selected participants from across the country. They will open the survey to all Canadians starting today, April 18th to May 18ththrough advertisements and social media. Participants can also contribute towards The Idea Forum, which allows citizens to express their opinions in more detail about e-transactions, privacy, and convenience as well as suggesting their own ideas. "We hope to see a broad range of dialogue from across Canada on the issues to better understand the potential and challenges of changing or transforming how government delivers its services," says Jordan. The results from the Idea Forum and Choicebook will be analyzed and shared with government decision-makers in late June 2012.

For further information:

David Rowney, PwC Media Relations, 416 365 8858david.rowney@ca.pwc.com


CanIt 8.1 released

CanIt 8.1 released

New feature adds support for Unicode Bayes tokens

16 APR 2012 - Ottawa, Ontario, Canada - Roaring Penguin Software Inc., the email filtering experts, makers of the acclaimed CanIt-PRO, CanIt-Domain-PRO, CanIt Archiver and Hosted CanIt anti-spam and email archiving solutions, announce the release of CanIt 8.1.

This release allows CanIt's Bayesian analyzer to handle any character set. CanIt now converts all messages to UTF-8 and keep Bayes tokens in UTF-8. CanIt can now filter spam in non-Western European character sets much more effectively, accurately detecting spam in non-ASCII alphabets (Chinese / Japanese / Korean, Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, Cyrillic, accented Latin letters, etc...)

Roaring Penguin Software is looking for partners in Asia and anywhere non-Western character sets are used to take advantage of this breakthrough in technology.

Improvements were also made in CanIt's clustering making it easier to add and remove scanner nodes to and from the cluster "on the fly". This allows larger users to scale across multiple servers to meet the ever growing volume of spam and remove servers from the cluster when they are not needed (for instance to save power during quiet periods).

CanIt 8.1 is available as:

* CanIt-PRO, an anti-spam software solution suitable for small and medium-sized businesses.
* CanIt-Domain-PRO, spam filtering software for MSPs to host anti-spam for their customers.
* Hosted CanIt, a fully outsourced, hosted anti-spam service.
* CanIt Archiver, email archiving software.
* Hosted CanIt Archiver, a fully outsourced, hosted email archiving service.


About Roaring Penguin
Founded in 1999, Roaring Penguin Software Inc.,the email filtering experts focuses on fighting spam at the mail server with the acclaimed CanIt and MIMEDefang product lines. Today, Roaring Penguin develops its anti-spam solutions and email archiving / email continuity software for customers that include enterprises, ISPs, Universities, web hosts, and government offices. For more information, visit roaringpenguin.com.

« View Roaring Penguin Software Profile

HP Enables Telecoms to Deploy and Manage Mobile Applications for Business Customers

HP Enables Telecoms to Deploy and Manage Mobile Applications for Business Customers

Enterprise "app store" is heart of mobility platform

LONDON, April 18, 2012

HP today announced a mobility platform for communications service providers (CSPs) that enables them to help enterprise customers increase productivity by supporting employee use of smartphones and tablets.
                                                        
The HP Enterprise Mobility platform enables enterprises to provide internal mobile applications (apps) to employees so they can access company data quickly, easily and securely on their personal mobile devices.

The core components of the HP Enterprise Mobility platform are:

  • HP Enterprise Mobile App Store enables CSPs to help enterprises create, certify, distribute and manage ”mobilized” versions of company apps for employees. Hosted at the CSP site and managed for the enterprise, the HP Enterprise Mobile App Store provides employees an easy-to-use portal for downloading apps.
    • Multichannel capability supports personalized employee access, regardless of device. Employees can easily browse for apps. Multiple languages are supported to enable regional app stores.
    • Multicatalog management enables enterprises to offer apps to different kinds of users by structuring access based on employee location, job type or other criteria.
    • Application life cycle management enables enterprises to refresh apps for all device types, track usage, and decommission apps at end of life.
    • Integrated mobile device testing ensures that apps perform properly across device types and in varied usage scenarios.

  • HP Enterprise Mobility Gateway enables CSPs to help enterprise employees access the right enterprise data at the right time by connecting mobile applications with an enterprise’s back-end systems. Available on the customer premises and as a service from the CSP, the gateway enables developers to create data-rich apps that run effectively even when bandwidth is limited.
    • High-performance access is enabled with server- and client-side caching, smart browsing, and offline viewing of large data sets.
    • Secure exposure of back-end systems and data to mobile applications is enabled by user authentication and authorization.
    • Lifecycle management of programming interfaces of back-end systems is facilitated with usage and reporting tools.
    • Composite service development enables mobile apps to access and combine data from multiple back-end systems to create aggregated, high-value information for mobile users.

“Service providers are at a point where they need an enterprise service delivery platform, not just a telco service delivery platform,” said Glen Ragoonanan, lead analyst, Infrastructure Solutions and SDP Strategies, Analysys Mason. “It makes sense to work with a partner like HP that has both telco and IT heritage and can bring the two worlds together.”

Based on the widely deployed HP Service Delivery Platform (SDP), the HP Enterprise Mobility platform features a flexible service-oriented architecture. CSPs can adapt the core HP components to suit specific, complex needs, and they can integrate other HP and third-party solutions to further enhance functionality.

“CSPs must invent new business models to win in a 4G world,” said David Sliter, vice president and general manager, Communications, Media and Entertainment, HP Enterprise Services. “HP’s offering enables CSPs to generate new revenue by helping enterprises tap the productivity potential of smartphones and tablets used by employees.”

In addition to offering mobility services to enterprises, CSPs can use the HP platform to manage mobility services for their own employees, including the development and distribution of new apps.

Designed for CSPs to offer to their enterprise clients, the HP Enterprise Mobility platform also will be sold directly to enterprises by HP, as an on-premises solution.

The HP Enterprise Mobility platform complements previously announced offerings in the HP Mobile Application Services portfolio.

More information about the HP Enterprise Mobility platform is available at www.hp.com/go/emp.

About HP
HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. The world’s largest technology company, HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure to solve customer problems. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.

British Columbia Takes Top Spot in eGovernment Study Announced Today by the Stratford Institute



British Columbia Takes Top Spot in eGovernment Study Announced Today by the Stratford Institute


Alberta ranks 2nd, Ontario 3rd in benchmarking study evaluating provincial websites

STRATFORD, ON, April 18, 2012 /CNW/ - British Columbia ranks first overall for its eGovernment initiatives, specifically the provision of online services and information and online engagement of citizens, a Stratford Institute study released today reveals. In this first-ever national evaluation of provincial governments' online presence commissioned by the Stratford Institute and prepared by Brainmaven Research, Alberta takes second place, and Ontario ranks third overall.

B.C. and Alberta's websites receive top marks for citizen-centricity and engagement, while Ontario is recognized for success in organizing succinct online information. The study is being released just prior to the CDMN Canada 3.0 2012 digital media forum taking place in Stratford April 24 and 25, where Open Government will be the focus of a keynote speech by OpenText CEO Mark Barrenechea, as the forum tackles moving Canada to an overall leadership role in digital media.

"We undertook this study to provide a snapshot in time of our provincial governments' adoption rate of digital media to inform and interact with citizens," said Ian Wilson, Executive Director of The Stratford Institute. "While the results demonstrate considerable adoption of best practices, there is still room for improvement in mobile connectivity and social media engagement, given only a handful of provincial governments have fully optimized the technology available."

The objective report will serve as a statistical analysis and discussion catalyst for the provincial and territorial Chief Information Officers (CIOs) who strive to ensure Canadians have access to the best online offerings possible. It will also provide a benchmark, allowing future investigations to track jurisdictional progress, Wilson explained.

B.C.'s overall first place ranking comes as a result of its dedicated customer-centric approach in providing online services, sharing online information, and encouraging online engagement. Of special note is the province's proactive attitude towards Open Government policies. Having launched an Open Data and Open Information site, citizens have the ability to access government data and freedom of information requests. In addition to increasing online accountability, BC has taken steps to facilitate convenient content acquisition through mobile-accessible information.

Alberta excels in social media, receiving top honors in the online engagement category for comprehensive use of the tools unique to Facebook and Twitter to interact and connect with citizens. Through frequent posts with informative links to other government sites and social media channels, Alberta creates an integrated engagement experience for its users.

Demonstrating a high level understanding of the ways in which users consume online data, Ontario ranks first in the online information category for its ability to present and summarize online content. Highlights, quick facts and quotes make data more manageable, allowing citizens to digest online information quickly and easily.

In the online services category, Quebec earns top ranking for its advanced use of personalized online portals providing one-window access to government services for citizens and businesses, but is ranked in fifth position overall for eGovernment.

"The promising results of this eGovernment Study paint a picture of a forward-thinking Canada in which provinces and territories are keen to foster integrated and interactive online services for citizens, as well as explore opportunities that support Open Government," said Wilson. "Rate of adoption is affected by resourcing and willingness of government departments to embrace change."

"Open Government is of interest at CDMN Canada 3.0 2012 as Canada strives to adopt digital media technologies and become a leader in digital media on a global scale," Wilson added.

Kevin Tuer, Managing Director of the Canadian Digital Media Network (CDMN) said, "A study of this scope aids in identifying strengths, rectifying weaknesses, and changing ways of thinking and behaving that ultimately contribute to advancing the Moonshot goal of the upcoming CDMN Canada 3.0 forum, where the goal is for Canadians to be able to anything online by 2017."

The complete study is available at: www.stratfordinstitute.ca

Full information on the CDMN Canada 3.0 forum is available at: www.canada30.ca  and you can follow CDMN Canada 3.0 2012 on Twitter @Can3_0 or join the conversation using #CDA30.

About the Stratford Institute for Digital Media

Established through a partnership of the University of Waterloo, the City of Stratford, Open Text Corporation, and the Canadian Digital Media Network, The Stratford Institute conducts research, encourages debate, organizes consultations, and otherwise encourages initiatives at the local, regional, national, and international levels. It serves as a place of assembly, open discussion, and continuing conversation - digital and otherwise - related to Canada's prospects as a digital nation.

About Brainmaven Research

Brainmaven is revolutionizing how people collaborate to solve problems. Brainmaven helps companies, governments and other organizations engage the creativity of their ecosystems through the use of its Brainmaven Research and Innovation Network.™

About CDMN Canada 3.0 2012

CDMN Canada 3.0 2012 is a forum organized by the Canadian Digital Media Network (CDMN) www.cdmn.ca focused on advancing Canada's strength in digital media. CDMN encourages job creation and increases global competitiveness by linking Canada's leading digital media centres with industry, government and academia.

For further information:

Media Contact

Shelley Grandy, Sr. PR Advisor, CDMN Canada 3.0 2012, shelley@cdmn.ca

SAP Highlights Business Transformation in Launch of New Global Campaign: "Run Like Never Before"

SAP Highlights Business Transformation in Launch of New Global Campaign: "Run Like Never Before"

New Campaign by Ogilvy & Mather Invites Businesses to Harness New Technologies

NEW YORK, April 17, 2012 /CNW/ - Ogilvy & Mather today announced the launch of a new global advertising campaign for SAP AG (NYSE: SAP), the world's leading provider of business software. SAP's "Run Like Never Before" campaign is an invitation to organizations around the world to unleash their imagination and harness new SAP innovations to realize their business vision.

The "Run Like Never Before" campaign coincides with SAP's 40th anniversary. While SAP remains a leader in ERP and core business processes, the advertising campaign reflects the software company's recent advancements in in-memory computing, cloud computing, mobile technology and analytics, and showcases how it is successfully bringing these innovations to its customers to help them run with greater agility, efficiency, and speed.

The new multichannel advertising campaign is aimed at further boosting awareness of SAP and highlighting its broad range of technology solutions that enable customers to take their business to the next level. The campaign also supports the company's goal of reaching 1 billion people using SAP® software by 2015.

The new campaign was shot in China, Hong Kong, India, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, and will be seen in markets worldwide - reflecting SAP's global strength and reach. Unlike traditional business-to-business advertising, the campaign connects on a human-level, and features high-energy music, engaging imagery and film techniques more commonly seen in consumer advertising.

"Companies of all sizes and in all parts of the world are looking at new business models and innovative practices that will allow them to grow in a rapidly changing world," explained Jonathan Becher, chief marketing officer of SAP. "SAP provides its customers with the solutions and services to make their businesses run like never before."

SAP will launch the "Run Like Never Before" campaign with television, print, digital and mobile ads on April 17, 2012 in the U.S., Brazil and Germany. Assets will be translated into 10 languages and shared with a global audience via the Web, social media channels and regional events. In alignment with the new campaign, audiences can learn more about innovation topics from both SAP and external thought leaders via the Business Innovation from SAP content hub.

"'Run Like Never Before' champions the promise of SAP technology to help companies both big and small to not only run better, but fundamentally transform how they do business," said Chris Curry, creative director at Ogilvy & Mather. "With its new capability offerings and category-wide expertise, SAP is teaming with its customers to develop new ways of working and to do things they may have never thought possible."

In tandem with the "Run Like Never Before" campaign, SAP and Ogilvy have developed a global recruitment marketing campaign intended to excite both current SAP employees and new recruits. Following the same creative approach, the marketing campaign invites recruits to imagine a career at SAP where they are empowered to take action and have the chance to make an impact. Campaign materials will be made available for all markets later this month. The campaign will roll out initially in China, followed by other high-growth markets.

About Ogilvy & Mather

Ogilvy & Mather is one of the largest marketing communications companies in the world. Through its specialty units, the company provides a comprehensive range of marketing services including: advertising; public relations and public affairs; branding and identity; shopper and retail marketing; healthcare communications; direct, digital, promotion and relationship marketing. Ogilvy & Mather services Fortune Global 500 companies as well as local businesses through its network of more than 450 offices in 120 countries. It is a WPP company (NASDAQ: WPPGY). For more information, visit www.ogilvy.com.

SAP and all SAP logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.

Media Contacts:

Karin Xie
Ogilvy Public Relations
(212) 880-5294, EDT
karin.xie@ogilvy.com

Scott Behles
SAP
(917) 494-2009, PDT
scott.behles@sap.com

SOURCE Ogilvy & Mather

For further information:

http://www.ogilvy.com

High-profile Funders and Service Providers get On-board for Communitech HYPERDRIVE Tech Startup Incubator


High-profile Funders and Service Providers get On-board for Communitech HYPERDRIVE Tech Startup Incubator


$30 Million HYPERDRIVE Program Announced April 10th to Seed the Best in Tech

WATERLOO REGION, ON, April 17, 2012 /CNW/ - As Communitech launches its HYPERDRIVE program to jump-start commercialization of  high-potential tech startup companies, high-profile funders and service providers are lining up to support the innovative program. Investors Canrock Ventures, Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF), BDC Venture Capital, Research In Motion (RIM), OMERS Ventures, iNovia Capital, and Rho Canada Ventures have confirmed their participation in the HYPERDRIVE program, with the intent of seeding and cultivating the best in tech and ultimately resulting in more successful Canadian-grown tech companies.

"Investors recognize this as a great opportunity to get in at the ground level on innovation in Canada, and we've been delighted that HYPERDRIVE has attracted high-calibre funders to enable the program's kickoff," said Iain Klugman, CEO of Communitech. "This is another proof point of Waterloo Region emerging as a major tech hub in North America - second only to Silicon Valley as the best place to start a tech business."

HYPERDRIVE builds on the best practices of U.S. funding incubators such as YCombinator, TechStars and 500 Startups, but including its three-month sprint component, provides up to 24-months of coaching and lifecycle funding from seed funding to angel investment to full-blown investment house commitment. HYPERDRIVE was announced April 10th at Communitech's annual Tech Leadership event, and builds on Communitech's 15 years of experience in fueling innovation through strategic programs.

"At OMERS Ventures, the goal we share with other investors and entrepreneurs is to build a vibrant and successful knowledge economy in Canada. We're very excited to be part of the HYPERDRIVE program, which we believe will help foster the innovation required to help create the next RIM, Desire2Learn or OpenText right here in Canada," said Sid Paquette, Senior Associate, OMERS Ventures.

"A key part of BDC Venture Capital's strategy is to bring early financing to the most promising Canadian tech enterprises through well-structured accelerator programs like HYPERDRIVE," explains Michael Mahon, Director, VC Strategic Investments and Initiatives at BDC Venture Capital. "Canadian tech entrepreneurs can win big on the world stage, but they need a strong, supportive ecosystem to get the edge. HYPERDRIVE is a great example of an ecosystem coming together to take some of our best and brightest to the next level."

"The advantage of Waterloo Region is that overheads are still low compared to New York or Silicon Valley. Tech companies need access to talent and Waterloo has that, and they need reasonable costs, and Waterloo can offer that," said Jim Estill, Partner, CanRock Ventures. "Communitech and what the organization offers - the network, the setup, the mentors, the volunteers behind them - is really second to none."

Private sector service providers are also lending their weight to the program, including legal firms, accounting firms, insurance providers, software and hardware partners, and banks keen to support critical startup needs with in-kind support valued at more than $100,000 per company.

Klugman said the service provider component is an important aspect of bringing innovative ideas to commercial offering, as startups need sound advice on legal contracts and patent protection, insurance coverage for employees, and establishing suitable financial transaction processes.

"The big differentiator for HYPERDRIVE is that we surround startups with every advantage of the ecosystem from day one," said Klugman. "Communitech provides world-class coaching in cooperation with Waterloo Region programs such as the Accelerator Centre and the University of Waterloo's VelcoCity incubator so that, along with support from strategic partners, the resources are in place to help companies build products and seize their market opportunity."

About Communitech
Communitech is located in Waterloo Region, 110 kilometres (66 miles) west of Toronto, Ontario, Canada in an area that includes the cities of Kitchener and Waterloo. Founded by a group of dedicated entrepreneurs in 1997, Communitech is the regional hub for the commercialization of innovative technologies supporting and building a Southwestern Ontario tech cluster of more than 800 companies that now generates more than $25B in revenue.  A member of the Ontario Network of Excellence, Communitech supports tech companies at all stages of their growth and development - from startup companies, to rapidly growing SMEs, to large global players - to create greater numbers of successful global businesses for Ontario and for Canada.

About HYPERDRIVE
HYPERDRIVE http://www.communitech.ca/hyperdrive/ is a startup incubator that will provide enhanced mentorship and other life cycle services to early stage tech companies. The goal of the program is to maximize the ability of these companies to commercialize innovations and prepare the companies for investment opportunities. The program will also enable 'soft landings' for experience in foreign markets, and higher visibility for investment sources and business connections.

For further information:

Media Contact
Shelley Grandy, Sr. PR Advisor, Communitech, 905-866-2656 or segrandy@communitech.ca


Intel Announces Intel(R) Solid-State Drive (SSD) 330 Series

Intel Announces Intel® Solid-State Drive (SSD) 330 Series

Now Available Through Worldwide Retail and E-Tail Outlets, Intel SSD 330 Series Offers Latest SSD Technology at Affordable Prices

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
  • New Intel SSD 330 Series offers boosted system performance for the budget-conscious PC enthusiast.
  • An ideal PC upgrade, Intel SSD 330 Series is a SATA 6Gb/s-based SSD that blends performance, Intel quality and value.
  • Available in the most popular capacities, 60-, 120- and 180GB, Intel's newest SSD starts at a suggested channel price of $89.

SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 16, 2012 – Intel Corporation announced today the Intel® Solid-State Drive 330 Series (Intel® SSD 330 Series), a SATA 6 gigabit-per-second (Gb/s) solid-state drive (SSD) that gives consumers a more affordable entry into the accelerated storage performance of SSDs.


Ideal for upgrading desktop or notebook PCs, the Intel SSD 330 Series offers the price-conscious PC enthusiast a brand-name SSD that blends performance, Intel quality and value. Offered in the most popular capacity points, 60 gigabytes (GB), 120GB and 180GB, the Intel SSD 330 Series boosts overall system performance and responsiveness for a broad range of applications.

"An SSD is still the single best upgrade you can make to your existing PC, and the Intel SSD 330 Series gives users the latest Intel SSD technology at a price to meet their budget," said James Slattery, product line manager for client SSDs, Intel Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group. "Backed by Intel's rigorous testing process, the Intel SSD 330 Series offers our users the speed they need at a great price, backed by world-class manufacturing, reliability and tech support."

Unlike a traditional hard disk drive (HDD) with spinning disks and moveable parts, SSDs offer a more rugged, low-power storage solution that dramatically improves system performance to keep up with today's I/O-intensive applications. The Intel SSD 330 Series contains Intel 25-nanometer (nm) multi-level cell (MLC) NAND memory. Its SATA 6Gb/s interface doubles the bandwidth of its current SATA 3Gb/s Intel® SSD 320 Series, providing up to 500 megabytes-per-second (MB/s) sequential read speeds and up to 450MB/s sequential write speeds for faster data transfers. Random read performance can go up to 22,500 Input-Output Operations Per Second (IOPS) and 33,000 write IOPS to boost overall application and system responsiveness, significantly outperforming a typical consumer hard disk drive.

Intel offers a broad range of SSD choices within four product families. The Intel SSD 300 Family is aimed at entry-level, mainstream client users. The Intel SSD 500 Family offers more fully featured, higher-performing client SSDs for computer and gaming enthusiasts. The Intel SSD 700 and Intel SSD 900 Families are targeted for data center applications.

The Intel SSD 330 Series comes in a standard 2.5-inch/9.5mm form factor as a replacement to a slower-performing HDD. It can be used in a dual-drive desktop PC configuration to speed up boot times and applications speeds, or as a single-drive notebook upgrade.

Available beginning today at worldwide retailers and online e-tailers, the Intel SSD 330 Series is offered at the suggested channel price of $89 for a 60GB drive, $149 for a 120GB drive and $234 for a 180GB drive. It is also backed by a 3-year limited warranty.

To download the multimedia press kit go to www.intel.com/newsroom/ssd. For more information on Intel SSDs go to www.intel.com/go/ssd or follow Intel SSDs on Twitter (@intelssd), Facebook (www.intel.com/go/ssdfacebook or communities.intel.com).

About Intel
Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) is a world leader in computing innovation. The company designs and builds the essential technologies that serve as the foundation for the world’s computing devices. Additional information about Intel is available at newsroom.intel.com and blogs.intel.com.

Intel is a trademark of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries.

TELUS launches Virtual Private Cloud service for Canadian businesses

TELUS launches Virtual Private Cloud service for Canadian businesses

TELUS AgilIT is a flexible, on-demand, enterprise-class Cloud offering designed specifically for business needs

TORONTO, April 17, 2012 /CNW/ - TELUS today announced the launch of the TELUS AgilIT Virtual Private Cloud, an innovative service that enables businesses to take full control of their cloud environment. The first of TELUS' AgilIT cloud offerings, and unlike other cloud infrastructure services, TELUS' Virtual Private Cloud service provides organizations of all sizes access to computing resources on-demand with a powerful, full-featured portal that enables 24x7 remote access to view and manage their cloud.

"TELUS has taken a quality-based approach to cloud computing by providing customers with secured, guaranteed capacity of computing power while maintaining the flexibility to create, change or suspend their computing jobs as required through a centralized view of their cloud infrastructure," said Tony Krueck, vice-president of Business Products & Services at TELUS. "This allows businesses to respond with greater agility to market demands, develop new applications faster, and contain IT costs by subscribing to computing capacity only as needed."

With TELUS AgilIT Virtual Private Cloud, organizations can migrate to the cloud without worries. The service offers the flexible, scalable, enterprise-class infrastructure businesses of any size need to succeed today and into the future - without the capital and maintenance expenses of building and supporting excessive IT infrastructure in-house. IT managers are in control of the scale and cost of the resources used, yet gain the flexibility to instantly adjust up or down as needed. Since TELUS takes care of managing the infrastructure, internal IT staff is relieved from many of the burdens of day-to-day management, enabling them to focus on more strategic tasks such as business innovation, applications and end-user productivity.

TELUS engineered its cloud service leveraging the next generation of commercial grade hardware and software technologies from leading providers including AMD, NetApp, VMware, and Xsigo. The chosen platforms underwent extensive evaluation and integration efforts to ensure the service delivers the security, performance, scalability and reliability required by businesses and organizations to implement the cloud with confidence while retaining the applications and data within Canada.

Supporting Quotes:

Vladimir Rozanovich, vice-president of North America Commercial Business, AMD
"AMD's Opteron 6100- and newest-generation 6200-series processors are helping TELUS deliver a high-performance and energy-efficient cloud computing solution."

Jeff Goldstein, vice-president and general manager of NetApp Canada
"TELUS is a Platinum level Service Provider in NetApp's expanding partner ecosystem that is capitalizing on new opportunities to grow their business by delivering innovative private cloud services built on NetApp storage. This new TELUS AgilIT service will help our mutual customers accelerate deployment of private clouds and offers greater flexibility in managing their storage needs."

Grant Aitken, Area vice-president, VMware Canada
"The VMware vCloud Powered program was developed to enable our service provider partners to differentiate themselves and help them bring their enterprise-class cloud services to market in this competitive landscape. We look forward to supporting TELUS further as it delivers on the agility and performance customers are looking for in the cloud computing landscape."

Lloyd Carney, CEO of Xsigo
"Xsigo's Data Center Fabric provides TELUS with the performance, networking efficiencies and operational flexibility that a world-class cloud computing environment demands."

TELUS offers computing and mobile communications solutions to more than 250,000 small-and-medium-sized businesses and 1,600 enterprises across Canada. Small, medium and large enterprises doing business with TELUS can count on a large business team dedicated to meeting their organizations' needs 24/7, a state-of-the-art 4G LTE network in major urban centres, Clear and Simple rate plans, and customized solutions which now include Managed Mobility Services that enable them to work anywhere, anytime, on any device.

For more information about TELUS AgilIT, please visit www.telus.com/agilit.

About TELUS
TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is a leading national telecommunications company in Canada, with $10.4 billion of annual revenue and 12.7 million customer connections including 7.3 million wireless subscribers, 3.6 million wireline network access lines and 1.3 million Internet subscribers and more than 500,000 TELUS TV customers. Led since 2000 by President and CEO, Darren Entwistle, TELUS provides a wide range of communications products and services including wireless, data, Internet protocol (IP), voice, television, entertainment and video.

In support of our philosophy to give where we live, TELUS, our team members and retirees have contributed more than $260 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered 4.2 million hours of service to local communities since 2000. Eleven TELUS Community Boards across Canada lead TELUS' local philanthropic initiatives. TELUS was honoured to be named the most outstanding philanthropic corporation globally for 2010 by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, becoming the first Canadian company to receive this prestigious international recognition.

For more information about TELUS, please visit www.telus.com.

For further information:

Elisabeth Napolano
TELUS Media Relations
416-906-9830
Elisabeth.Napolano@telus.com

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Toshiba TEC to Acquire IBM’s Retail Store Point-of-Sale Solutions Business

Toshiba TEC to Acquire IBM’s Retail Store Point-of-Sale Solutions Business; Agreement Allows Both to Tap Growing Smarter Commerce Opportunity

• Creates world's leading retail Point-of-Sale systems and solutions business
• Multi-year Business Partner agreement between IBM and Toshiba TEC would integrate retail store solutions for Smarter Commerce
• Transaction of approximately US$850 million; Deal expected to close late in second quarter or early in third quarter of 2012

ARMONK, NY & TOKYO - 17 Apr 2012: IBM (NYSE: IBM), the leader in Smarter Commerce, and Toshiba TEC Corporation (TSE:6588), Japan’s leading maker of point-of-sale systems and related technology for retailers, today announced a definitive agreement under which Toshiba TEC will acquire IBM's Retail Store Solutions (RSS) business, which offers retail point-of-sale solutions worldwide. Upon completion of the transaction, Toshiba TEC would become the world's foremost retail point- of-sale systems company, offering hardware, software and integrated in-store solutions, and will team with IBM to bring the Smarter Commerce experience to retailers and their customers worldwide.  

The purchase price is approximately US$850M (JPY: 68B). 

As part of the transaction, Toshiba TEC will enter into a multi-year agreement with IBM in which Toshiba TEC will become an IBM Premier Business Partner for Smarter Commerce. This agreement will help ensure that IBM's portfolio of enterprise-level Smarter Commerce solutions and services, which extend from the corporate data center to the local retail store, and Toshiba TEC's customer-facing retail store point-of-sale (POS) solutions are available to customers worldwide to meet the growing demand for multi-channel commerce. 

It is expected that upon completion of the deal, Toshiba TEC, a subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation, will acquire RSS’s overall business operation functions globally, including development, sales and related in-store maintenance. Toshiba TEC's retail store point-of-sale solutions operation will benefit from a worldwide distribution and sales network, enhanced product and solution selection for customers and decades of innovation by both companies.      

The transaction is expected to close late in the second quarter or early in the third quarter of 2012 subject to the satisfaction of regulatory requirements and customary closing conditions. Subsequent closings will occur subject to similar conditions, local agreements and the information and consultation process in applicable countries.  

Retailers, including those with global store operations, will benefit from accelerated development of new products and solutions for regional and geographic needs. Toshiba TEC customers also will benefit from a “one-stop retail store solution” providing comprehensive support --planning, maintenance and services -- to help them accelerate new store deployments worldwide. 

In 2011, IBM announced a major Smarter Commerce initiative that helps businesses automate and infuse intelligence into their procurement, marketing, sales and customer service functions to better serve today's empowered online consumer in the era of mobile and social networks. In a time when brands can be built or broken across the Web within minutes --- and customers expect the same quality experience from all channels --- businesses need to adapt with technology that quickly responds or even anticipates customer needs across any sales channel at any time.  

"Together, IBM and Toshiba TEC represent the broadest multi-channel offerings worldwide," said Craig Hayman, general manager, Industry Solutions, IBM Software Group. "The pace of retail expansion requires a strategy to serve this dynamic marketplace. This acquisition by Toshiba TEC creates not only the world’s leading point-of-sale company, but also a key business partner for IBM in its strategically important Smarter Commerce initiative. Retailers can invest with confidence in the proven abilities of these two leaders to deliver multi-channel commerce to more demanding consumers who want the same experience shopping online, in-store, mobile, social or by any other means."   

“The opportunities in retail store solutions are expected to grow by increasing demand in POS systems. In addition, demand for multi-channel integration and enhancement of store back office management accelerates further expansion of sales,” said Mamoru Suzuki, president and CEO, Toshiba TEC. “Toshiba TEC will become the world’s foremost point-of-sale provider capable of providing products and services at the same level of high quality. It also will allow Toshiba TEC to expand its global point-of-sales business through a combination of the competitive product lineup and worldwide network proven by Toshiba TEC’s and Retail Store Solutions’ history of the business.” 

The acquisition will enable Toshiba TEC to seek expanded opportunities to deliver new value to customers, including mass merchandisers, specialty and convenience stores and fast food restaurants. Toshiba TEC also expects to generate new retail business opportunities based on synergies with its printing solutions business combined with the RSS sales network.    

“Toshiba warmly welcomes this agreement,” said Norio Sasaki, president and CEO, Toshiba. “Toshiba TEC enjoys a strong presence in retail store solutions in Asia-Pacific, including Japan, and we are confident that this acquisition will support expansion in North America, Europe and the emerging economies. I also expect this significant step to support innovation and the creation of new business opportunities for Toshiba Group.” 

While the transaction is being completed, the companies will continue to operate independently. After the transaction closes, IBM will continue to provide maintenance services to RSS clients under a multi-year services agreement. Retail Store Solutions customer service and product availability will continue as usual as the RSS operations are integrated.  

Additional Transaction Details 

A new holding company will be established in Japan. This company will hold the equity of a number of companies organized in countries around the world. Toshiba TEC will acquire an 80.1 percent stake in this holding company and in order to promote a smooth transfer, IBM will hold a 19.9 percent stake in the holding company. Eventually, the holding company will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Toshiba TEC. The new companies, including the holding company, will continue to operate Retail Store Solutions’ business worldwide as Toshiba TEC’s core retail point-of-sale solution affiliates.  

Steven D. Ladwig, currently general manager, IBM Retail Store Solutions, will become the chief executive officer (CEO) of the new US company with headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina. 

A portion of the aggregate purchase price will be paid on the closing date and on the first anniversary of the closing. The remaining portion will be paid on the third anniversary in exchange for IBM’s 19.9 percent equity interest.  

The Retail Store Solutions revenue in 2011 was approximately (US)$1.15 billion with approximately 1,000 employees worldwide plus maintenance specialists. Over time, maintenance specialists are expected to join the new companies subject to local business conditions and completion of local information and consultation processes.  

                                 #                                 #                                 # 

About Toshiba TEC 

More information about Toshiba TEC may be found at http://www.toshibaTEC.co.jp/en/

About IBM 

More information about IBM may be found at: http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/smartercommerce/overview/ 

More information about the transaction may be found at http://www.ibm.com/products/retail/announcement/index.html

Contact(s) information

Steve Eisenstadt
IBM Media Relations
1 (914) 766-8009
saeisens@us.ibm.com

June Namioka
IBM Media Relations
+81-3-3808-5196
june@jp.ibm.com

Joseph Hanley
IBM Media Relations
+44 (0)78 0350 2318
hanleyj@uk.ibm.com

Yukari Takahashi & Keisuke Shimizu
Toshiba TEC Corporation
+81-3-6422-7009
FAX +81-3-6422-7111
koho@toshibatec.co.jp

Waterloo's Descartes Unveils New Release of Cloud-Based Transportation Management Suite

Descartes Unveils New Release of Cloud-Based Transportation Management Suite

Apr 16, 2012 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- Release Integrates Transportation Management, Small Package Shipping, Fleet Routing, Mobile Applications and Telematics

WATERLOO, Ontario, April 16, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Descartes Systems Group DSGX +0.69% CA:DSG +0.23% , the global leader in uniting logistics-intensive businesses in commerce, announced the general availability of a new release of its cloud-based Transportation Management suite. The suite now includes transportation execution capabilities that provide better control across fleet and for hire operations and help with carrier compliance for small package shipments.

"Because of the dynamic nature of the markets we serve, the ability to accurately plan and control the operations of our fleet in real-time is critical to meeting our customer service targets and managing delivery costs," said Maria Ross, Vice President of Transportation at Oldcastle and a member of Descartes' Global User Group Steering Committee. "We have worked closely with Descartes to help create a 'closed-loop' transportation management system that optimizes and executes shipments across purchased transportation and our fleet and tracks deliveries."

As part of Descartes' Logistics Technology Platform, the Transportation Management suite uniquely offers extensive execution and mode-specific functionality in a single solution. Ideal for organizations with private fleets, small package shipments or complex execution challenges, Descartes Transportation Management suite capabilities include:

-- Common carrier or fleet selection made through bi-directional planning with flexibility to allow either the contract carrier planner or private fleet planner to drive the decision making process and manage over-capacity exceptions; -- Fleet plans made using complex and detailed street-level, optimized fleet routing decisions to minimize fleet costs and maximize customer service; -- Route plans executed through integrated fleet dispatching, tracking, mobile and telematics for complete management and tracking of delivery, driver and vehicle performance to measure whether deliveries happened as planned and drivers complied with operational rules; -- Small package carrier selection consolidation decisions made through fully compliant tariffs from over 100 small package and less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers' service guides that help minimize shipping costs; -- Small package shipment manifesting available for those same carriers' unique guidelines; -- Shipment visibility from tender acceptance to in-transit through proof of delivery, including electronic signature, barcode or picture capture; -- Freight bills audited right down to the line and assessorial level, and the costs allocated; and -- Modular solution architecture so customers can get results where they need them the most.

Descartes' Transportation Management suite was designed to accelerate time-to-value for customers. Because it is cloud-based, customers simply connect to the solution via web-browser and internet connection. Through Descartes' Global Logistics Network (GLN), integration to customers' back-end systems and carriers is straightforward and fast, with thousands of carriers already connected to the GLN.

"Descartes' Transportation Management suite combines the functional breadth and depth with a cloud-based platform that accelerates time-to-value," said Ken Wood, Senior Vice President Product Management at Descartes. "Rather than spending a lot of time and resources to cobble together and operate numerous systems to meet comprehensive transportation management requirements, logistic-intensive businesses can choose Descartes' comprehensive transportation management suite."

To learn more about the Transportation Management Suite go to www.descartes.com .

About Descartes

Descartes CA:DSG +0.23% DSGX +0.69% is the global leader in providing on-demand, software-as-a-service solutions focused on improving the productivity, performance and security of logistics-intensive businesses. Descartes' B2B network, the Global Logistics Network, integrates more than 35,000 trading partners to our cloud-based Logistics Technology Platform to unite their businesses in commerce. Customers use our modular, software-as-a-service solutions to route, schedule, track and measure delivery resources; plan, allocate and execute shipments; rate, audit and pay transportation invoices; file customs and security documents for imports and exports; and complete numerous other logistics processes by participating in the world's largest, collaborative multi-modal logistics community. Our headquarters are in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada and we have offices and partners around the world. Learn more at www.descartes.com .

The Descartes Systems Group logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=4065

This release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws ("forward-looking statements") that relate to Descartes' solution offering and potential benefits derived therefrom; and other matters. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, the factors and assumptions discussed in the section entitled, "Certain Factors That May Affect Future Results" in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Ontario Securities Commission and other securities commissions across Canada. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. We do not undertake or accept any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in our expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

This news release was distributed by GlobeNewswire, www.globenewswire.com

SOURCE: Descartes Systems Group