ET Group and Mayhew Partner to Drive Greater Efficiencies and Enhance Workspace Strategy for Corporate Clients

ET Group and Mayhew Partner to Drive Greater Efficiencies and Enhance Workspace Strategy for Corporate Clients

By Jim Gragtmans - March 22, 2012 - Published under: News

March 22, 2012 (Toronto, Canada) – ET Group, pioneers in sound and vision communication and experts in collaboration technologies, and Mayhew, a premium interior design and workspace solutions provider, announce their strategic alliance in providing end-to-end solutions for their clients.

Mayhew has been supporting clients with cutting-edge workspace solutions for three decades. Their mission is to boost productivity, facilitate collaboration, enhance work/life balance and ultimately contribute to bottom line growth. ET Group provides innovative audiovisual and workspace solutions for companies seeking to build collaborative ecosystems.  The partnership between the two companies will integrate best practices and expertise to deliver high-quality and holistic solutions to clients.

“The collaboration between ET Group and Mayhew provides a solution designed to meet the needs of companies who want to improve collaborative efficiencies and opportunities while dealing with ever changing business conditions,” said Jim Gragtmans, Principal, ET Group. “An effective collaborative ecosystem can increase revenue, reduce costs and enhance productivity. We are excited to partner with Mayhew as our clients often seek interior design and workspace products expertise to support the audiovisual supports we provide. We are looking forward to utilizing their expertise as a compliment to our solutions.”

Today’s ever-changing workplace dynamic demands that companies implement Collaboration Ecosystems to enable their staff to work effectively and efficiently, not only within their company, but also as seamlessly with their suppliers and customers. Mayhew and ET Group integrate the design consulting and implementation resources to make this happen.

“Bringing all of the pieces together, I feel very confident that our partnership will assist clients in establishing their vision for new collaborative workspaces,” said Maurice Benatar, Vice President, Marketing and Business Development, Mayhew. “Furthermore, together, we will be able to offer a more seamless and integrated implementation of that vision.”

For more information about ET Group’s solutions, contact Jim Gragtmans

About ET GROUP
A collaborative ecosystem designed by ET Group allows organizations to connect and innovate using emerging collaborative technology in audio visual communication including ground-breaking smart board technology. The outcome for company collaboration, locally or globally, is improved competitiveness and business results. ET Group consults on the integrated collaboration technology roadmap, assembles the collaboration and innovation strategy and implements conference room design including room set up, support and equipment purchases to ensure you meet your business goals.

About Mayhew
Mayhew has 150 employees and is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario with offices in Kitchener, Windsor and Stoney Creek. Synonymous with space and interior design ingenuity, Mayhew has designed award winning spaces for Business News Network and the CTV Olympic Digital Lounge among others. With a mission to create and maintain workplaces that work, Mayhew has designed over 22 million square feet of space, successfully moved 300,000 people, and supplied and installed over 100,000 workstations. For more information or detailed case studies visit www.mayhew.ca.

Barrie, Ontario to Save Millions with Investment in Sensus Smart Grid for Water Technology

Barrie, Ontario to Save Millions with Investment in Sensus Smart Grid for Water Technology

Projected windfall of $20 million over 20 years through wireless communications

RALEIGH, N.C., Mar 22, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The City of Barrie, Ontario is saving $600,000 to $1 million annually since launching its smart grid for water project which involved installing the Sensus FlexNet™ fixed-base wireless communications system and equipping all of its 42,000 residential water meters and 2,500 commercial and industrial water meters with radio transmitters.

“Since the Ontario government mandated electric utilities to adopt smart meters, ideas about better approaches to water metering were also circulating,” said John Thompson, P.Eng., Director of Environmental Services for the City of Barrie. “An intensive effort by the City of Barrie concluded that the best solution to help the City reduce costs and improve the accuracy of billing for water/wastewater services was a fixed-base wireless meter reading system communicating through a dedicated radio frequency.”

Barrie built a business case anticipating a full return on investment in the Sensus FlexNet system of two to three years based solely on the benefits of reducing third-party meter reading costs compared to the projected costs of assigning city staff to manage walk-by/drive-by systems. The City anticipates a projected savings of approximately $20 million in 20 years.

“Sensus is a strong partner for Barrie, not only because of our proven success with hundreds of smart grid deployments across the electric, gas and water industries, but because our communications technology provides a guaranteed, clear-channel frequency,” said Doug McCall, Director of Marketing for Sensus. “This dedicated frequency was important to the City as it gave the utility greater control and security of the network and enabled them to ensure continuity of communications without interference.”

The utility is passing on the benefits of increased intelligence to its conservation-minded customers. A recent utility study found that Barrie citizens use about 75 percent of average daily water usage of the average Canadian. The City created an online portal where citizens can access their own usage data. That portal was accessed by more than half of all Barrie’s citizens within its first six weeks, and calls to the customer service center regarding billing questions are decreasing as a result of shared information and speedy leak detection capabilities.

“This program is about working smarter to conserve water, operate efficiently, and empower our customers to be accountable for their own water usage,” said Thompson.

Barrie has been recognized on a global scale for their smart grid for water project, as they were recently awarded the Metering International Excellence award for the Smart Utility of the Year. Barrie's Environmental Services Department, Water Operation's Branch (WOB) also recently won first place in the inaugural Canadian Water Works Association Utility Excellence Awards in the category of "Risk Taking - Implementation of Innovative Technologies,” in the medium utilities category. In the future, Barrie plans to extend the project through pilot programs that use the system for alerts regarding backflow events.

About Sensus

Sensus is a leading utility infrastructure company offering smart meters, communication systems, software and services for the electric, gas, and water industries. Sensus technology helps utilities drive operational efficiency and customer engagement with applications that include advanced meter reading, data acquisition, demand response, distribution automation, home area networking and outdoor lighting control. Customers worldwide trust the innovation, quality and reliability of Sensus solutions for the intelligent use and conservation of energy and water. Learn more at www.sensus.com .

To follow Twitter updates from Sensus, please visit http://twitter.com/sensussmartgrid .

SOURCE: Sensus

Sensus Linda Palmer, 919-845-4021 Manager, Corporate Communications Mobile: 919-259-5778 linda.palmer@sensus.com or Largemouth Communications Brandon Bryce, 919-459-6451 brandon@largemouthpr.com

Harper Government Encouraging Businesses, Researchers to Become Global Innovation Leaders

Harper Government Encouraging Businesses, Researchers to Become Global Innovation Leaders

    

TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 03/22/12 -- The Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for Science and Technology and for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, today delivered a speech at an Ontario Society of Professional Engineers event explaining how the Government of Canada is ensuring that the next generation of innovative businesses is created in Canada.

"Our long-term economic competitiveness depends on supporting businesses that innovate and create jobs," said Minister of State Goodyear. "The Government of Canada is focused on ensuring that the next game-changing innovation takes root here in Canada."

The event, entitled Seizing Innovation Opportunities in Ontario, was part of the Society's policy series, which is exploring ways that engineers can contribute to making Canada a global innovation leader.

Minister of State Goodyear outlined the Government of Canada's achievements in delivering the science and technology (S&T) strategy, which is aimed at attracting and retaining the world's brightest researchers, increasing investment in research and development (R&D), and commercializing promising research.

Support for S&T has been a government priority since 2006, as exemplified by the introduction of the S&T strategy in 2007. Federal S&T expenditures reached nearly $11.9 billion in 2010-11.

Minister of State Goodyear also noted that the government would take action shortly on the recommendations of the independent expert panel that it mandated to review federal support for business R&D.

"We will act soon because we are committed to taking innovative ideas into the marketplace where they can generate jobs, growth and prosperity," said Minister of State Goodyear. "We agree with the general direction of the changes that need to be made to address Canada's business R&D challenges."

The government is assessing the panel's recommendations within the broader context of its economic agenda and other priorities and is preparing to act on certain elements of the panel's advice.

To learn more about the Government of Canada's science and technology initiatives, visit the Science and Technology for Canadians website (www.science.gc.ca).

Contacts:
Stephanie Thomas
Press Secretary
Office of the Honourable Gary Goodyear
Minister of State (Science and Technology)
(Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario)
613-960-7728

Media Relations
Industry Canada
613-943-2502

MSPA Endorses N-able, Launches New Series of Educational Seminars

 

 

 

MSPAlliance® and N-able Technologies® Team to Offer Competitive IT Services Edge to MSPs Worldwide

Leading Managed Services Association Endorses N-able’s IT Automation Platform and Technician Runbook; Launches Series of Joint Seminars to Help Partners Build Highly Successful, Scalable and Standards-based IT Services Businesses

OTTAWA, Canada, March 22, 2012 N-able Technologies® and MSPAlliance (MSPA) today announced an expanded relationship that includes a new series of joint webinars, seminars and enablement resources focused on empowering managed service providers (MSPs) to evolve their network operations and managed IT services best practices.

 

Starting in April and offered free of charge, this new international series of partner-led enablement seminars and trainings will focus on the technical and business aspects of managed IT services. The first joint webinar will take place on April 11 and feature N-able MSP Elite Partner and MSPA member Rob Norman, CEO of Vnetrix. More information on upcoming events including registration and dates can be found at www.n-able.com/company/events/.

 

Additionally, as part of the expanded alliance, MSPA has endorsed N-able’s IT automation platform and complementary MSP Technician Runbook as the IT industry’s only standards-based managed services solution. For more than a decade, the MSPA has served as the world’s largest professional association and accrediting body for the managed services industry.

 

“N-able Technologies stands alone as the only IT automation platform for MSPs that offers channel partners a standards-based managed services solution that truly delivers the technology,  the processes and IT automation MSPs need to provide consistent and scalable IT services to a wide variety of small and mid-size businesses,” says Charles Weaver, president and CEO, MSPA.

 

“The automation within N-able’s N-central technology and volume of tribal knowledge captured within its new MSP Technician Runbook is astounding and aligns with the criteria outlined in MSPA’s Unified Certification Standard (UCS),” says Weaver. “We are pleased to strengthen our alliance with N-able in 2012, and see great synergy and shared partner value in our business certification and N-able’s new MSP Technician Runbook.” 

 

Announced in December 2011, N-able’s MSP Technician Runbook provides MSPs with a blueprint for building a strong foundation of repeatable, scalable IT processes that will directly lead to greater productivity, utilization and profits. To date, hundreds of N-able partners are using the Runbook to build greater technical efficiency within their organizations.

 

The MSPAlliance UCS™ for Cloud and Managed Service Providers is a business certification and audit for the cloud computing and managed services industry. Developed by MSPs for MSPs, this certification and audit is one of a kind and is the longest-standing managed services and cloud computing certification in existence.

 

“N-able has always led the market in partner enablement and business support,” says Gavin Garbutt, CEO, N-able Technologies. “With the introduction of N-central 8, automation manager and our new Runbooks, we’ve pushed innovation to new heights and delivered the next generation of managed IT services software and business enablement tools.”

 

“N-able’s Technician Runbook is exactly what we needed to take our business to the next level and really scale our network operations center and IT service offering,” says Norman. “It’s definitely game-changing technology that will have a lasting impact on our business as we grow our service offerings and bring on more customers.”

 

“The MSPAlliance is a powerful force within the MSP channel, offering the highest and most comprehensive levels of certification in the industry,” concludes Garbutt.  “We’re thrilled to share our vision of partner enablement and success with Charles and his organization, and look forward to driving greater adoption of standards-based managed IT services and certification throughout the global reseller and MSP partner community.”  

 

For more information about N-able Technologies, visit www.n-able.com. For more insight on MSPAlliance, visit www.mspalliance.com.

 

Follow N-able on Twitter and Facebook at www.twitter.com/NableMSP and http://www.facebook.com/NableTechnologies

 

Marie Rourke

WhiteFox Marketing

marie@whitefoxpr.com

714.869.3689 (office) 

714-292-2199 (cell)

 

 

 

 

Gartner Says Worldwide Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment Spending to Decline 11.6 Percent in 2012

Gartner Says Worldwide Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment Spending to Decline 11.6 Percent in 2012

STAMFORD, Conn., March 21, 2012—   Worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment spending is projected to total $38.9 billion in 2012, an 11.6 percent decline from 2011 spending of $44 billion, according to Gartner, Inc.

“Weak market conditions in the second half of 2011 caused pullbacks in expansion plans throughout the semiconductor manufacturing industry,” said Klaus Rinnen, managing vice president at Gartner. “This investment weakness will continue through the first half of 2012 and will surge in the second half of the year. We’re basing these assumptions on the aggressive spending plans announced by the major semiconductor manufacturers. There is a risk that some capacity expansion plans will slip from the second half of 2012 into 2013.” 

“Downward pressure on utilization rates is easing, with the result that utilizations will begin to climb upwards again in the second quarter of 2012,” Mr. Rinnen said. “Once the supply is balanced, DRAM and foundry manufacturers will need to begin to increase spending to meet an increase in demand, as the PC market rebounds and consumers begin spending as the economy stabilizes.”

Gartner analysts said worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment spending will return to double-digit growth in 2013 when spending is projected to total $43 billion, a 10.5 percent increase from 2012 (see Table 1). Worldwide semiconductor capital spending is forecast to total $60.9 billion in 2012, down 7.3 percent from 2011 spending of $65.8 billion in 2011. Capital spending is expected to grow 3.5 percent in 2013.

Table 1

Worldwide Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment Spending Forecast, 2011-2016 (Millions of Dollars)

 

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Semiconductor Capital Spending ($M)

65,754.4

60,937.4

63,042.4

66,863.6

62,540.2

67,894.4

Growth

16.3%

-7.3%

3.5%

6.1%

-6.5%

8.6%

Capital Equipment ($M)

44,041.6

38,926.6

43,030.4

46,293.1

42,862.6

46,474.4

Growth

8.4%

-11.6%

10.5%

7.6%

-7.4%

8.4%

Wafer Fab Equipment ($M)

35,822.4

31,289.5

33,487.0

37,100.0

34,090.8

36,542.5

Growth

13.3%

-12.7%

7.0%

10.8%

-8.1%

7.2%

Wafer-Level Packaging and Assembly Equipment ($M)

1,472.7

1,404.9

1,893.7

2,034.1

2,214.0

2,646.9

Growth

17.2%

-4.6%

34.8%

7.4%

8.8%

19.6%

Die-Level Packaging and Assembly Equipment ($M)

4,311.9

3,997.3

4,766.1

4,305.4

3,859.5

4,004.4

Growth

-12.0%

-7.3%

19.2%

-9.7%

-10.4%

3.8%

Automated Test Equipment ($M)

2,434.5

2,234.8

2,883.6

2,853.6

2,698.3

3,280.6

Growth

-14.9%

-8.2%

29.0%

-1.0%

-5.4%

21.6%

Other Spending ($M)

21,712.8

22,010.8

20,012.0

20,570.5

19,677.6

21,420.0

Growth

36.7%

1.4%

-9.1%

2.8%

-4.3%

8.9%

Source: Gartner (March 2012)

The wafer fab equipment (WFE) market closed out 2011 with spending up 13.3 percent, based on strong momentum in the first half, however, WFE spending is forecast to decrease 12.7 percent. WFE spending in 2012 will primarily be on leading-edge technology, as the 20mm and 28/32 nm ramp up.

Gartner analysts said wafer fab manufacturing capacity utilization will decline into the low 80 percent range by the middle of 2012, before slowly increasing to about 90 percent by the end of 2012. Leading-edge utilization will return to the low 90 percent range by the second half of 2012, providing for a positive capital investment environment.

Back-end equipment markets (which include wafer-level packaging and assembly equipment, die-level packaging and assembly equipment, and automated test equipment (ATE)) will see a modest decline in 2012, but it will be followed by growth and sales of more than $9.5 billion in 2013.

“Above market action in advanced packaging will not be sufficient for a positive growth rate this year, but it will be the driver for growth in 2013,” Mr. Rinnen said.

The capital spending forecast estimates total capital spending from all forms of semiconductor manufacturers, including foundries, and back-end assembly and test service companies. This is based on the industry's requirements for new and upgraded facilities to meet the forecast demand for semiconductor production. Capital spending represents the total amount spent by the industry for equipment and new facilities, as well as the outlay for land, buildings, furnishings, etc... Capital equipment spending includes all equipment needed to process, inspect, and test and package the chip.

This research is produced by Gartner's Semiconductor Manufacturing program. This research program, which is part of the overall semiconductor research group, provides a comprehensive view of the entire semiconductor industry, from manufacturing to device and application market trends. More information on Gartner's semiconductor research can be found in the Gartner Semiconductor Manufacturing Focus Area at http://www.gartner.com/technology/core/products/research/markets/semiconductorManufacturing.jsp.

Contacts:

Christy Pettey
Gartner
+1 408 468 8312
christy.pettey@gartner.com

Rob van der Meulen
Gartner
+44 0 1784 267892
rob.vandermeulen@gartner.com


About Gartner:
Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world's leading information technology research and advisory company. Gartner delivers the technology-related insight necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every day. From CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, to technology investors, Gartner is a valuable partner to 60,000 clients in 11,500 distinct organizations. Through the resources of Gartner Research, Gartner Executive Programs, Gartner Consulting and Gartner Events, Gartner works with every client to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A., and has 4,500 associates, including 1,250 research analysts and consultants, and clients in 85 countries. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.

VoiceTrust and Canadian research institute CRIM announce strategic agreement

VoiceTrust and Canadian research institute CRIM announce strategic agreement

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, March 19, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - VoiceTrust, a global leader and provider of digital payments and voice biometric solutions today announced further commitment to innovation with a strategic research agreement with CRIM (Computer Research Institute of Montreal).

CRIM is an IT applied research centre dedicated to the development and transfer of cutting-edge technology and know-how to leading businesses and organizations, increasing their productivity and competitiveness, both locally and globally.

"At VoiceTrust, we are committed to innovation and developing leading technology in the ever evolving space of voice biometrics and the CRIM research agreement shall provide us with a world class applied research platform. Application of voice biometrics in commercial, large scale applications certainly requires such capability," says Tariq Habib. "CRIM is recognised as a world class leader in voice authentication research and technology and we will be working very closely together to bring this to forefront of the industry."

"We have been developing this technology in Quebec since 2002 and it is now one of the best in its class worldwide and working with VoiceTrust to support this voice biometrics platform even further was one of the key elements that sealed the alliance." Says Daniel Blanche, CRIM's CEO.

VoiceTrust also demonstrates its commitment and expansion in the North American markets by its recent acquisition of Perceive Solutions Inc, a Montreal based voice technology firm that exploits CRIM's voice biometrics technology to identify and authenticate speakers in any language and with free form speech.

VoiceTrust is majority owned by Ramphastos Investments, the investment vehicle of Dutch investor Marcel Boekhoorn.

Corné Melissen, VoiceTrust´s interim CFO and spokesman for Ramphastos emphasises the investor´s commitment to the growth of VoiceTrust, both organically and by means of acquisitions and alliances to support future technologies. 

About VoiceTrust:

VoiceTrust is a global provider of digital payment and voice biometric solutions. VoiceTrust is dedicated to continuous innovation and development of patented technologies. VoiceTrust leverages its domain expertise and intellectual property in digital payment transaction processing and voice biometrics to deliver highly differentiated real-life solutions. VoiceTrust is backed by a successful Dutch private equity firm and operates globally with footprints in the Americas, Europe and South Asia, Middle East & Africa. 

About CRIM:

CRIM is an IT applied research centre dedicated to the development and transfer of cutting-edge technology and know-how to Quebec's leading businesses and organizations, increasing their productivity and competitiveness, both locally and globally. CRIM possess four world class R&D teams: Distributed Systems Analysis, Development and Internet Technologies, Speech Recognition and Vision and Imaging.

For further information:

Media Contacts:

Karen Hargreaves        
karen@voicetrust.com       
Tel - +971 4 4458238
www.voicetrust.com 

Maxime-R. Clerk
maxime.clerk@crim.ca
Tel - 514-840-1296
www.crim.ca

Dell Launches ITNinja to Provide Best Online Community Experience for IT Administrators

Dell Launches ITNinja to Provide Best Online Community Experience for IT Administrators


  • As part of Dell’s new Software Group, ITNinja will serve as a product-agnostic go-to resource for front line IT administrators with over 200,000 software application topics
  • ITNinja will build on the success of AppDeploy, the leading community for application and OS deployment
Tweet This Join the conversation.

Dell Software Group in conjunction with Dell KACE announced today that it will upgrade and expand its popular online IT community site, AppDeploy.com, under the name, ITNinja. The new community reaffirms Dell’s commitment to providing forums for the community to engage and share ideas; and validates the results of a new Dell KACE sponsored Dimensional Research survey, “The Value of IT Communities,” which revealed a vast majority of IT professionals are turning to online communities to help do their jobs more efficiently.

The announcement marks a significant milestone for the Dell KACE AppDeploy.com community, one of the leading IT community resources for software deployment best practices, with more than 450,000 monthly visitors, and a community knowledge base that is continually updated by IT professionals. The community will continue to be one of the only product-agnostic communities where anyone can join and share information and answers to the thousands of common problems that make critical IT decisions and support tough.

ITNinja is a deep, content rich community with a strong focus on software topics such as application deployment techniques, configuration settings, and management solutions. Users will be able to leverage the community to find answers and best practices on a range of complex issues.

“ITNinja builds on Dell’s established social media success to deliver a valuable community hub in which IT professionals can not only share tips and information but also form new connections with their industry colleagues,” said John Swainson, president, Software Group at Dell. “With one of the largest knowledgebases of software application topics on the Web, ITNinja will help the IT community find the answers to their software questions quickly so they can focus on innovation and do more.”

The launch of ITNinja comes at a time when online communities, particularly within IT enterprise, have never been stronger. An online survey of IT professionals sponsored by Dell KACE in February 2012 revealed 80 percent of IT professionals engage in online communities with 70 percent of them visiting several times a week.[1] And 95 percent of front-line professionals say they save time and do their job more efficiently by using these same online IT communities.[2] As online IT communities have extended their connections through social media networks, they have become an easy, cost-effective way for IT professionals to engage with companies, access support and knowledge and participate in relevant discussions with peers.

Content from ITNinja can also be leveraged by Dell KACE customers directly through the Dell KACE Appliance Management Console, providing expertise contextually saving IT teams time on common computer administration tasks.

"ITNinja is like having a subject matter expert available 24/7. I use it every day to figure out how to solve common systems management challenges and get even more value out of our Dell KACE Appliance,” said Matt May, service desk analyst with Black Diamond Equipment. “It’s extremely rewarding to be part of such a passionate community exchanging ideas, tips and information to help us all do our jobs better, it’s truly a value add to being a Dell KACE customer.”

The new ITNinja upgrade will expand the features and scope of the original AppDeploy community making it easier for users to share and find information, including:

  • An ever-growing database of hundreds of thousands of software applications serving as topics of discussion for users wanting to contribute questions, deployment tips, shared links and blog posts.
  • A new activity feed highlighting users’ contributions and providing a customized view of all software, topics, contributors and blogs that they follow to keep them up-to-date on the content they care about most.
  • An engaging user reputation management system with gamification elements that reward users with points and prizes for their contributions (past and present). Points determine one’s “belt” level which is attached to their identity on the site.
  • A new Q&A system that includes rich features for crowdsourcing solutions to technical issues faced by IT professionals.
  • Integration with Dell KACE Appliances - Any systems administrator, regardless of what tool they may use, can access this information through ITNinja.com, but KACE customers can access the same information directly through the interface of their KACE Systems Management Appliance Console offering users a quick reference for common system administration tasks.

To learn more about ITNinja and the impact of online IT communities, join ITNinja’s founder Bob Kelly for a free, introductory webinar, “Introducing ITNinja.com: Community-Enabled Solutions for IT Pros” scheduled for March 22 at 10 a.m. PDT/1 p.m. EDT. Register here.

Survey Methodology
Between Feb. 7 and Feb. 14, 2012, Dell KACE invited several hundred IT professionals to participate in an email survey by Dimensional Research on the topic of IT Communities. A total of 674 IT respondents completed the survey. Participants included front-line IT professionals, IT managers, IT executives and others. Participants represented a wide range of company sizes and industry verticals. Respondents were not compensated for participating in this survey except to be offered a copy of the final report.

Media Contact
Melissa Liton | Dell KACE | +1 650.316.1238 | melissa_liton@dell.com

About Dell
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services that give them the power to do more. Dell provides system-management solutions for customers of all sizes and system complexity. The award-winning Dell KACE family of appliances delivers easy-to-use, comprehensive, and affordable systems management capabilities. For more information, visit http://www.dell.com/KACE or follow the conversation at http://twitter.com/DellKACE.

[1] “The Value of IT Communities: A Survey of IT Professionals,” Dimensional Research, February 2012
[2] “The Value of IT Communities: A Survey of IT Professionals,” Dimensional Research, February 2012

AMD Launches New Platform for Dedicated Web Hosting Providers

AMD Launches New Platform for Dedicated Web Hosting Providers 

New AMD Opteron™ 3200 Series Processor Family Changes Industry Economics for Single-Socket, Dedicated Hosting and Cloud customers

SUNNYVALE, Calif. —3/20/2012 

AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the latest solution as part of its ongoing Web/Cloud initiative with the launch of the new AMD Opteron™ 3200 Series processor. Dedicated Web hosting customers seeking enterprise-class reliability have a new choice that delivers:

  • Great value with up to 38% better price performance1 and up to 19% less power per core2  than the competition;
  • ECC memory and server reliability features at a low price-point;
  • Fast hardware payback - In as few as 7 months hosting fees can cover hardware costs - up to 14% quicker than with the competition3;
  • Efficient economics for the Cloud with twice the core density per rack4.

“In today’s economic environment, dedicated hosting providers need their data centers to become profit centers faster than ever,” said Patrick Patla, corporate vice president and general manager, Commercial Business, AMD.  “With the new AMD Opteron™ 3000 Series platform, Web and Cloud customers no longer have to compromise with desktop-class platforms in order to hit certain price points. Now they have all the benefits of a true server-class product at desktop-class price points. This helps rapidly-growing hosting customers achieve fast payback in their incredibly dense, power-efficient environments.”

Since the launch of its new core server architecture, and AMD Opteron 4200 and 6200 Series processors last November, AMD unveiled a disruptive server strategy and intentions to leverage its leading graphics IP while driving down the power in future SoC offerings. As part of accelerating this, AMD recently announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Cloud pioneer SeaMicro.

Today AMD has delivered on its promise of a low-power, single-socket solution that brings server functionality with desktop economics. The AMD Opteron 3000 Series platform is targeted to the dense, power efficient 1P Web hosting/Web server market. Available in either 4- or 8-core CPUs, the AMD Opteron 3200 Series processor is shipping today in platforms from MSI, Tyan, Fujitsu and Dell. Based on the “Bulldozer” core, the AMD Opteron 3000 Series platform leverages Socket AM3+ and provides customers with the cost savings associated with a “desktop-like” infrastructure, yet still offers server-class reliability, enterprise-class silicon validation/testing, security features and server OS certification.

“AMD is a great partner, and we’re excited about the new AMD Opteron 3200 Series CPU.  It allows us to create a custom design for our DCS customers, and deliver a compelling combination of performance and energy efficiency, “ says Dell Data Center Solutions’ Steve Cumings. “As the leader in the Density-Optimized market segment, we require focused partner technology within industry standards – and this is a good fit for our customers.”

Key Facts, Performance and Technical Detail

  • 45W to 65W TDP
  • 2.7 GHz base frequency, up to 3.7 GHz frequency using AMD Turbo CORE technology5 
  • 4- and 8-core options
  • 2 DDR3 memory channels supporting ECC UDIMM
  • 1333, 1600, 1866 MHz memory speed6  
  • Supports 1.5V, 2Rank
  • Up to 32GB memory capacity
  • Supports up to 2 DIMMs per memory channel
  • Total Cache: 16MB for 8-core, 8MB for 4-core
  • L2 Cache: up to 8MB total
  • L3 Cache: up to 8MB total

About AMD

AMD (NYSE: AMD) is a semiconductor design innovator leading the next era of vivid digital experiences with its groundbreaking AMD Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) that power a wide range of computing devices. AMD’s server computing products are focused on driving industry-leading cloud computing and virtualization environments. AMD’s superior graphics technologies are found in a variety of solutions ranging from game consoles, PCs to supercomputers. For more information, visit http://www.amd.com.

AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, AMD Opteron and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Other names are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners. 

Cautionary Statement

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT This release contains forward‐looking statements, concerning among other things, AMD's  growth opportunities; the anticipated benefits from AMD’s acquisition of SeaMicro and AMD’s server strategy; the benefits of our new products ; the features and functionality of these products; and new industry trends;  which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Forward‐looking statements are commonly identified by words such as "would," "may," "expects," "believes," "plans," "intends," "projects," and other terms with similar meaning. Investors are cautioned that the forward‐looking statements in this release are based on current beliefs, assumptions and expectations, speak only as of the date of this release and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations. Material factors and assumptions that were applied in making these forward looking statements include, without limitation, AMD’s current expectations regarding GLOBALFOUNDRIES manufacturing yields and wafer volumes and demand for its products. Risks include the possibility that Intel Corporation's pricing, marketing and rebating programs, product bundling, standard setting, new product introductions or other activities targeting the company's business may negatively impact the company's plans; the company will be unable to develop, launch and ramp new products and technologies in the volumes required by the market and at mature yields on a timely basis; that the company’s third party wafer foundry suppliers will be unable to transition the company’s products to advanced manufacturing process technologies in a timely and effective way or to manufacture the company’s products on a timely basis in sufficient quantities and using competitive technologies; the company will be unable to obtain sufficient manufacturing capacity or components to meet demand for its products or will not fully utilize the company’s projected manufacturing capacity needs at GLOBALFOUNDRIES' microprocessor manufacturing facilities in 2012 and beyond; that customers stop buying the company’s products or materially reduce their operations or demand for the company’s products; that the company may be unable to maintain the level of investment in research and development that is required to remain competitive; that there may be unexpected variations in market growth and demand for the company’s products and technologies in light of the
product mix that it may have available at any particular time or a decline in demand; that the company will require additional funding and may be unable to raise sufficient capital on favorable terms, or at all; that global business and economic conditions will not improve or will worsen; demand for computers will be lower than currently expected; and the effect of political or economic instability, domestically or internationally, on the company’s sales or supply chain. Investors are urged to review in detail the risks and uncertainties in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to the Annual Report on Form 10‐K for the year ended December 31, 2011.

  1. Comparison drawn between the Intel Xeon E3-12xxL and AMD Opteron 3200 Series processors with the lowest price to SPECint_rate2006 score ratio.  The estimated SPECint®_rate2006 scores for the AMD Opteron 3200 Series processors reflect current expectations based on the performance of AMD Opteron 4200 Series processors and are subject to change.  The results for the Intel Xeon processors reflect the highest 1P results published on http://www.spec.org/cpu2006/results as of Jan 9, 2012 with each processor operating at its default frequency.  70.3, 1 x Intel Xeon processor Model E3-1220L in IBM System x3250 M4 (Intel Xeon E3-1220L), 16 GB (2 x 8 GB 2Rx8 PC3-10600E-9, ECC), Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Release 6.1, Kernel 2.6.32-131.0.15.el6.x86_64, C/C++: Version 12.1.0.225 of Intel Compiler XE Build 20110803, http://www.spec.org/cpu2006/results/res2011q4/cpu2006-20111121-18865.html.  139, 1 x Intel Xeon processor Model E3-1260L in IBM System x3250 M4 (Intel Xeon E3-1260L), 16 GB (2 x 8 GB 2Rx8 PC3-10600E-9, ECC), Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Release 6.1, Kernel 2.6.32-131.0.15.el6.x86_64, C/C++: Version 12.1.0.225 of Intel Compiler XE Build 20110803, http://www.spec.org/cpu2006/results/res2011q4/cpu2006-20111121-18877.html. SPECint®_rate score= 75 (est.), 1 x AMD Opteron™ processors Model 3250. SPECint®_rate score= 80 (est.), 1 x AMD Opteron™ processors Model 3260. SPECint®_rate score= 117 (est.), 1 x AMD Opteron™ processors Model 3280. Intel Xeon processor Model E3-1220L is $189 as of 1/9/12 at www.intc.com/pricelist.cfm. Intel Xeon processor Model E3-1260L is $294 as of 1/9/12 at www.intc.com/pricelist.cfm. AMD Opteron™ processor Model 3250 has a preliminary price of $99 as of 1/9/12. AMD Opteron™ processor Model 3260 has a preliminary price of $125 as of 1/9/12. AMD Opteron™ processor Model 3280 has a preliminary price of $229 as of 1/9/12. SPEC and SPECint are registered trademarks of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation.  For the latest SPECint_rate2006 results, visit http://www.spec.org/cpu2006/results.  SVR-114
  2. Intel Xeon processor Model E3-1220L has 2 cores and 20W TDP, which equals 10 watts/core.  Intel Xeon processor Model E3-1260L has 4 cores and 45W TDP, which equals 11.25 watts/core.  Pricing and TDP values as of 1/9/12 at www.intc.com/pricelist.cfm.  Both the AMD Opteron™ processor Models 3250 and 3260 have 4 cores and 45W TDP, which equals 11.25 watts/core.  AMD Opteron™ processor Model 3280 has 8 cores and 65W TDP, which equals 8.1 watts/core. SVR-112
  3. In as few as 7 months - up 14% quicker than with the competition - hosting fees can cover your server hardware costs. Calculation based on the time it takes for monthly hosting fees of $89.99 to sum up to the cost of an AMD Opteron™ 3200 Series processor-based server (est. $573) vs. an Intel Xeon E3-12xxL processor-based server (est. $643).  It does account for software, deployment, management, and power costs. Not accounting for licensing, deployment, management, or power costs, it takes seven months of hosting revenue to pay back the cost of an AMD Opteron™ processor Model 3250-based server and eight months of hosting revenue to pay back the cost of an Intel Xeon processor Model E3-1250L-based server. This assumes receiving $89.99 dedicated hosting monthly fee, which is in between the pricing for the Server 4 and Server 4i Standard Application L packages as of 1/9/12 at www.1and1.com. AMD Opteron 3250 based server costs $573 (est.) and an Intel Xeon E3-1220L based server costs $643 (est.). The processor and motherboard make up the cost differences between an AMD Opteron 3200 Series based server and an Intel Xeon E3-120xL Series based server.  The costs for chassis, drive, and memory are expected to be the same in a like-for-like configuration. Low-end processor costs: AMD Opteron™ 3250 1kU preliminary price is $99 and Intel Xeon E3-1220L is $189 as of 1/9/12 at www.intc.com/pricelist.cfm. MSI motherboard for Intel (MS-S012): approximately $170 as of 12/20/11. MSI motherboard for AMD (MS-S023): approximately $190 as of 12/20/11. Chassis: Antec Sonata Proto No Power Supply ATX Mid Tower Case (Black) - SONATA PROTO BLACK $63.99 as of 12/22/11 at http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?p=CA-SONATAT&c=pw&hash=5efdcBmU0Y8T1mgEYZeWu3W7ae1goOVs6iHd1Zx3H40dumgkEYh%2BuMKcEZZ8JVMKn4%2BmtpaTc5koTCFpcooi3vj5GJGvI61%2FdXuNXKJqZ%2FNfES0xTXNJs8R9%2Fw. Hard drive: 1TB SATA2 7200rpm 64MB Enterprise Hard Drive $124.32 pricing as of 12/16/11 at http://www.eworldsale.com/western-digital-re4-wd1003fbyx-1tb-sata2-7200rpm-64mb-enterprise-hard-drive35_8733_64564.html. Memory: 4GB x 2 Unbuffered, 1.5V 2 Rank $95.99 pricing as of 12/16/11 at http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=CT2KIT51272BA1339. SVR-116
  4. Intel Xeon processor Model E3-1220L has 2 cores and E3-1260L has 4 cores as of 1/9/12 at www.intc.com/pricelist.cfm.  AMD Opteron™ processor Models 3250, 3260, and 3280 have 4, 4, and 8 cores respectively. SVR-110
  5. Based on AMD Opteron 3200 Series processors with up to 300 MHz in P1 boost state and up to 1 GHz+ in P0 boost state over base P2 clock frequency
  6. 1866 MHz supported only with a single physical DIMM per memory channel. SVR-117

HP Announces Organizational Realignment

HP Announces Organizational Realignment

PALO ALTO, Calif., March 21, 2012

HP today announced an organizational realignment to improve performance and drive profitable growth across the entire HP portfolio.

As part of this realignment, HP’s Imaging and Printing Group (IPG) and its Personal Systems Group (PSG) are joining forces to create the Printing and Personal Systems Group. The combined entity will be led by Todd Bradley, who has served as the executive vice president of PSG since 2005.

Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president of IPG, is retiring after a highly accomplished 31-year career at HP. Under Joshi’s leadership, IPG has grown revenue from $19 billion to $26 billion, and doubled its operating profit to approximately $4 billion.

“VJ embodies the spirit of HP and his impact on the company has been tremendous,” said Meg Whitman, president and chief executive officer, HP. “Under his leadership, IPG accelerated innovation and pioneered solutions that transformed the printing market. We wish him the very best as he embarks on a new chapter in his life.”

Combining these two entities will rationalize HP’s go-to-market strategy, branding, supply chain and customer support worldwide. This will lead to a better customer experience and drive innovation across personal computing and printing. This realignment is expected to provide opportunities for cost savings and accelerate HP’s ability to pursue profitable growth and reinvest in the business.

“This combination will bring together two businesses where HP has established global leadership,” said Whitman. “By providing the best in customer-focused innovation and operational efficiency, we believe we will create a winning scenario for customers, partners and shareholders.”

In addition to combining PSG and IPG, HP also is taking steps to unify and streamline certain key business functions. 

The Global Accounts Sales organization will join the newly named HP Enterprise Group. This group will be led by David Donatelli and includes Enterprise Servers, Storage, Networking and Technology Services.

The new structure is expected to speed decision making, increase productivity and improve efficiency, while providing a simplified customer experience. A new role for Jan Zadak, executive vice president for Global Sales, will be announced at a later date. Zadak will work with Donatelli to ensure an orderly transition.

HP also announced that it will unify its Marketing functions across business units under Marty Homlish, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, HP. This will allow for even more effective brand-building and marketing activities, and will create efficiencies across the business units.

HP’s Communications employees worldwide also will be similarly unified under Henry Gomez, executive vice president and chief communications officer, HP. Together these two moves will create a more powerful voice to demonstrate the power of “One HP.”

Finally, HP is moving the Global Real Estate function from Finance into Global Technology and Business Processes to address real estate consolidation and improve the workplace experience for HP employees.

“Ensuring we have the right organizational structure in place is a critical first step in driving improved execution, and increasing effectiveness and efficiency,” added Whitman. “The result will be a faster, more streamlined, performance-driven HP that is customer focused and poised to capitalize on rapidly shifting industry trends.”

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.

EMC Goes Social, Open and Agile With Big Data


EMC Goes Social, Open and Agile With Big Data

Greenplum Chorus Social Tools Now Available Featuring 3rd Party
Applications;
New OpenChorus Initiative Releases Greenplum Chorus to Open Source
Community;
Pivotal Labs Acquisition Accelerates Development of Big Data
Applications in the Enterprise

News Summary:

EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) today announced:

* Availability of Greenplum Chorus
(http://www.greenplum.com/products/chorus), the industry’s first
social toolset for Big Data, enabling Data Science teams to collaborate
on datasets in a Facebook-like way.
* The new OpenChorus (openchorus.org) initiative, including release of
the Greenplum Chorus source code under an open source license in the
second half of 2012. The goal of OpenChorus is to accelerate innovation
and adoption of collaborative and social data applications running on
top of the Greenplum Chorus platform.
* Examples of Chorus extensibility from the Greenplum partner
ecosystem, including Greenplum partners Alpine Data Labs
(http://www.alpinedatalabs.com/) and Squid Solutions
(http://www.squidsolutions.com/), for the rapid development and
integration of new Chorus-enhanced Big Data applications.
* The acquisition of San Francisco-based Pivotal Labs
(http://www.emc.com/about/news/press/2012/20120320-02.htm), a
privately-held provider of agile software development services and
tools, to accelerate the development of Big Data applications in the
enterprise.
* An online event titled “Social Meets Big Data: Live Webcast
(http://bit.ly/xN7mzV)” with executives from EMC and Pivotal Labs
broadcasted today, Tuesday, March 20 - 9:45 A.M. Pacific, 12:45 P.M.
Eastern and 5:45 P.M GMT. Event details can be found at
http://bit.ly/qduwsor at EMC.com.

Full Story:

HOPKINTON, Mass. – March 20, 2012 – EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC)
today announced a new wave of products and services all with a singular
goal – to enable organizations to derive greater insight and economic
value from Big Data – datasets so large they break traditional IT
infrastructures. Instrumental to customers achieving this goal is the
enablement and empowerment of the Data Science team – Greenplum Chorus
is the industry’s first social and collaborative toolset designed
explicitly for the Data Science team.

Today EMC announced the availability of Greenplum Chorus, delivering a
Facebook-like social collaboration tool for Data Science teams to
iterate on the development of datasets and ensure that useful insights
are delivered to the business quickly. In addition to being social,
Greenplum Chorus is now also open. Today EMC announced the OpenChorus
Initiative (openchorus.org), with a mission to accelerate innovation and
adoption of collaborative and social data applications running on top of
the Greenplum Chorus platform. The Greenplum Chorus source code will be
released under an open source license in the second half of 2012.
Project updates will be available at openchorus.org.

The Greenplum partner ecosystem serves as a critical means through
which customers receive the solutions they require to connect Greenplum
analytic tools with their existing data sources. Greenplum partner
ecosystem can deliver even more value – solutions integrated with the
Chorus platform through its rich APIs (like solutions from early access
partners Alpine Data Labs (http://www.alpinedatalabs.com/resources/) and
Squid Solutions
(http://www.squidsolutions.com/blog/squid-integrates-with-greenplum-chorus))
directly impact the productivity and effectiveness of the Data Science
team.

With Greenplum Chorus, Big Data is becoming more social and more open.
With the announcement of EMC’s acquisition of Pivotal Labs
(http://www.emc.com/about/news/press/2012/20120
320-02.htm) today it
now promises to become more agile. Pivotal Labs represents the
gold-standard in agile software development. Through modern agile
development methodologies and modern programming frameworks (such as
Ruby on Rails) Pivotal will accelerate the development and adoption of
Big Data applications in the enterprise.

Industry Quotes

Joi Ito, Director, MIT Media Lab

“I believe EMC has seized a great opportunity to move way beyond the
current industry focus and noise around analytics to what is a much
bigger story. Specifically, I see the company leveraging unstoppable
movements such as social networking, open-source software, and agile
development for next-generation applications.”

Customer and Partner Quotes

Katrin Ribant, EVP, Data Platforms, Havas Digital Global

“Through the use of Chorus, groups of data scientists in multiple
countries are able to come together on the development of Artemis, Havas
Digital's proprietary analytics platform. This enables faster
provisioning of sand boxes and better collaboration around testing and
refinement of analysis and new analytics.”

Eva Ho, Vice President of Marketing & Operations, Factual

“We are delighted to be a partner of EMC Greenplum. The Greenplum
Unified Analytics Platform and Chorus will be an essential data
engineering platform for data scientists in all types of enterprises,
giving them unparalleled access to new tools and resources to answer
critical business questions using Big Data. By embedding high quality
third-party datasets, like the ones from Factual, into the solution, it
will make it even easier for data scientists to jumpstart projects, and
hopefully derive actionable insights and results from data analysis even
faster.”

EMC Quotes

Scott McNealy, Executive Advisor, Greenplum, a division of EMC

“Data science gets its juice from the tools data scientists rely upon
to work their magic. History, take Java for example, has proven that the
open source model routinely delivers better tools, drawing the best
contributions from users, quick-turn release cycles and more. Open
source Chorus can deliver the widespread adoption and collaboration Big
Data is begging for. A strictly proprietary model can't keep up and EMC
is doing what leaders do – lead.”

Scott Yara, Senior Vice President of Products, Greenplum, a division of
EMC

“Chorus stands at the intersection of social and Big Data. The
pairing of social and collaboration helps groups collaborate and
actually get valuable insights from their data. That is a very social
and collaborative process. It touches a lot of people inside an
organization. While most of the industry is focused on loading speeds,
processing times and so on, EMC is taking the lead on ‘socializing’
Big Data analytics.”

Additional Resources

* Press release: EMC Acquires Pivotal Labs
(http://www.emc.com/about/news/press/2012/20120320-02.htm)
* Press Release: New Web-Based Alpine Illuminator Integrates With EMC
Greenplum Chorus, The Social Data Science Platform
(http://www.alpinedatalabs.com/resources/)
* Press Release: Squid Solutions Integrates With EMC Greenplum Chorus,
The Social Data Science Platform
(http://www.squidsolutions.com/blog/squid-integrates-with-greenplum-chorus)
* Greenplum Chorus (http://www.greenplum.com/social-meets-big-data)
* Tweet: Social Meets Big Data http://bit.ly/xN7mzV
* EMC Delivers Industry’s First Unified Big Data Analytics Appliance
(http://www.greenplum.com/news/press-releases/EMC-delivers-industrys-first-unified-big-data-analytics-appliance)
* For the latest industry news, research, webcasts and use cases
covering big data, analytics, and the data scientist community visit the
Greenplum Media Center (http://www.greenplum.com/media-center)
* Connect with EMC via Twitter (http://emc.im/pv0ODN), Facebook
(http://emc.im/oV8wDa), YouTube (http://emc.im/njvQnq), LinkedIn
(http://emc.im/p7PAo4) and Greenplum (http://www.twitter.com/greenplum)

About Greenplum

Greenplum
, a division of EMC, is driving the future of Big Data
analytics with breakthrough products including Greenplum Data Computing
Appliance, Greenplum Database, Greenplum Community Edition, Greenplum
HD, and Greenplum Chorus – the industry's first Enterprise Data Cloud
platform. The division's products embody the power of open systems,
cloud computing, virtualization and social collaboration – enabling
global organizations to gain greater insight and value from their data
than ever before possible.

About EMC

EMC Corporation is a global leader in enabling businesses and service
providers to transform their operations and deliver IT as a service.
Fundamental to this transformation is cloud computing. Through
innovative products and services, EMC accelerates the journey to cloud
computing, helping IT departments to store, manage, protect and analyze
their most valuable asset – information – in a more agile, trusted
and cost-efficient way. Additional information about EMC can be found at
www.EMC.com.

EMC Canada (www.EMC2.ca), headquartered in Toronto with nine offices
from coast to coast, is a wholly owned subsidiary of EMC Corporation.

- 30 -

For more information contact:
Mike Martin/Michelle Chang
StrategicAmpersand
416-961-5595
mike@stratamp.com
michelle@stratamp.com


EMC, Enterprise Data Cloud, Greenplum, Greenplum Chorus, Greenplum
Database and Pivotal Labs are either registered trademarks or trademarks
of EMC Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other
trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.