WD(R) Completes Acquisition of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies

WD(R) Completes Acquisition of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies
Creates the Industry's Deepest Technology Capability and Broadest Product Portfolio

IRVINE, Calif.

, March 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC) today announced that it has completed its acquisition of Viviti Technologies Ltd. (formerly Hitachi Global Storage Technologies), effective Mar. 8, 2012, for $3.9 billion in cash and 25 million shares of WDC common stock valued at approximately $0.9 billion(1). Hitachi, Ltd. now owns approximately 10 percent of WDC shares outstanding, and it has the right to designate two individuals to the board of directors of WD.

The new WD will operate with WD Technologies (WD) and HGST as wholly owned subsidiaries. Aggregated revenues of the two companies in 2011 were $15 billion. As chief executive officer of WD, John Coyne heads up the new office of the CEO, with Steve Milligan as president, Tim Leyden as chief operating officer and Wolfgang Nickl as chief financial officer.

"The completion of this acquisition is a truly momentous event in the 42-year history of our company," said Coyne. "With ownership of two successful companies and the best talent available in the industry, we expect to accomplish great things as we build the new WD to be the world's leading storage solutions provider with the industry's deepest technology capability, broadest product portfolio and best-in-class execution. Similar to successful multi-brand models in other industries, the two subsidiaries will compete in the marketplace with separate brands and product lines while sharing common values of customer delight, value creation, consistent profitability and growth."

A recently updated HDD forecast by IDC predicts industry revenue growth at a compound annual growth rate of 8.6 percent per year from 2011 to 2016.(2) "The growth in demand for digital storage continues unabated driven by the expansion of digital content in consumer and commercial applications," said John Rydning, research vice president, hard disk drives & semiconductors, IDC. "Mobility, cloud infrastructure, social business, and big data analytics are stimulating demand for digital content in new formats and new market segments, creating the need for an increasingly diverse set of storage products and technology capabilities from storage solutions providers."

"With a significantly broadened customer base and expanded resources, the new WD is in a strong position to seize the growth opportunity in stored digital content," said Coyne. "We have acquired a strong presence in the traditional enterprise market, substantially increased our presence in the industry's fastest-growing segments—cloud and mobility—and improved our capability to address new market initiatives such as enterprise SSD, storage solutions for small business and low-profile HDDs and hybrid drives for Ultrabooks™. As a result, WD is better positioned than ever for success."

The cash portion of the purchase price was financed by a $2.3 billion, five-year term loan, short-term financing under a $500 million revolving credit agreement and existing company cash balances. The company expects the transaction to be immediately accretive to earnings per share on a non-GAAP basis, excluding acquisition-related expenses, restructuring charges and amortization of intangibles. In addition, the company expects to maintain a positive net cash position.

Supplemental information regarding the HGST acquisition can be found on the WD website at http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/company/investor/SupplementalInformation.pdf. For additional information, please visit http://www.wdc.com/en/company/hgst/.

About WD 

WD, a storage industry pioneer and long-time leader, provides products and services for people and organizations that collect, manage and use digital information. The company designs and produces reliable, high-performance hard drives and solid state drives that keep users' data accessible and secure from loss. Its storage technologies serve a wide range of host applications including client and enterprise computing, embedded systems and consumer electronics, as well as its own storage systems. Its home entertainment products enable rich engagement with stored digital content.

WD was founded in 1970. The company's products are marketed to leading OEMs, systems manufacturers, selected resellers and retailers under the Western Digital®, WD® and HGST™ brand names. Visit the Investor section of the company's website (www.westerndigital.com) to access a variety of financial and investor information.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used, the words "anticipates", "believes", "expects", "may", "should" and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements.  These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to the anticipated benefits of the HGST acquisition, the company's expectation that the HGST acquisition will be immediately accretive to earnings on a non-GAAP basis (excluding acquisition-related expenses, restructuring charges and amortization of intangibles), the company's expectation that it will maintain a positive net cash position, statements concerning growth in demand for digital storage and the statement that the company is well positioned for continued success. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the possibility that the expected benefits of the HGST acquisition may not materialize as expected; higher than anticipated recovery costs associated with the 2011 Thailand floods; unfavorable changes in the results of the company's operations which adversely impact its ability to comply with financial covenants in its debt agreement entered into in connection with the acquisition; the commitments made pursuant to the regulatory approvals described below; and other risks and uncertainties listed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), including the company's recent Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on January 27, 2012, to which your attention is directed. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof, and the company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

Regulatory Approvals: In connection with obtaining the regulatory approvals required to complete the acquisition of HGST, WD agreed, (i) subject to review by regulatory agencies in certain jurisdictions, to divest certain assets to Toshiba Corporation that will enable Toshiba to manufacture 3.5-inch hard drives for the desktop and consumer electronics markets and will expand Toshiba's capacity to manufacture and sell 3.5-inch hard drives for near-line (business critical) applications and (ii) to conditions required by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce ("MOFCOM") including adopting measures to keep HGST as an independent competitor until MOFCOM agrees otherwise (the minimum period is two years). Compliance with these undertakings may limit synergies that could otherwise be achieved and involve significant costs or require changes in business practices that result in reduced revenue.

Western Digital, WD and the WD logo are registered trademarks of Western Digital Technologies, Inc. All other trademarks mentioned herein belong to their respective owners.

CANADIAN GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS SELECTS OPROMA’S CLOUD-BASED COLLABORATION TECHNOLOGY

CANADIAN GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS SELECTS OPROMA’S
CLOUD-BASED COLLABORATION TECHNOLOGY

Better management of public infrastructure projects through secure Cloud Computing

Gatineau, QC, March 7, 2012 – Two Government of Canada (GC) departments will use the OPROMA System™ cloud-based collaboration service to centralize the management, control and audit of its public infrastructure projects. Recognized as a solution to support best practices, this web technology will help departments deliver projects on time and on budget both in Canada and abroad. Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT) have recently awarded competitive multi-year contracts to Oproma, a Gatineau-based technology company.

On August 25th, Oproma was awarded a one year with four additional one-year period(s) contract to provide an online solution for the management of real property project information for PWGSC’s Real Property Branch. Valued at C$1 million for the first year, this software-as-a-service will allow the Department to securely exchange property project documents while complying with confidentiality rules and requirements. The OPROMA System™ enables centralized and secure online collaboration of PWGSC staff with external stakeholders.

This January, DFAIT awarded Oproma, also through public tender, with a two year contract with a value up-to C$1.5 million, including three one year extension options. DFAIT’s Project Implementation Services main objective is to facilitate the execution of projects abroad through the use of a secure cloud-based collaboration system available to external contractors and other parties. DFAIT already uses the OPROMA System™ to manage many projects across the world.

“Our team is very proud to help our government become a leader in the adoption of new web technologies for information management” said Marc Pageau, President and CEO of Oproma. He feels the OPROMA SystemTM will help government departments to efficiently meet their objectives while reducing costs.

About Oproma Inc.

Founded in Gatineau at the turn of the millennium, Oproma specializes in the development and delivery of Information Management Services for secure cloud-based collaboration. Its main offering, the OPROMA System™, is actively used for numerous projects in Canada and abroad. Oproma devotes a significant part of its resources to research and development. Innovations and improvements are progressively integrated to the OPROMA System™.

Gartner Says PC Shipments Will Grow 4.4 Percent in 2012

Gartner Says PC Shipments Will Grow 4.4 Percent in 2012

PC Market to Exhibit Higher Growth by End of 2013

STAMFORD, Conn., March 8, 2012—    Worldwide PC shipments are on pace to total 368 million units in 2012, a 4.4 percent increase from 2011, according to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc. PC shipments are forecast to see higher growth by the end of 2013, when shipments are expected to reach more than 400 million units.

“PC shipments will remain weak in 2012, as the PC market plays catch up in  bringing a new level of innovation that consumers want to see in devices they purchase,” said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner. “The real question is whether Windows 8 and ultrabooks will create the compelling offering that gets the earlier adopter of devices excited about PCs again.”

In addition, while the economic environment and supply issues played a key part in the weaker PC market, it was a lesser concern to PC vendors compared to the far greater issue of changing consumer dynamics.

Gartner analysts said that 2011 redefined the landscape of the device market. “The use of applications such as e-mail, social networking and Internet access, that were traditionally the domain of the PC, are now being used across media tablets and smartphones, making these devices in some cases more valued and attractive propositions,” said Mr. Atwal. “Consumers will now look at a task that they have to perform, and they will determine which device will allow them to perform such a task in the most effective, fun and convenient way. The device has to meet the user needs not the other way round.” 

Gartner expects ultrabooks will garner greater attention in the latter half of 2012, as the industry looks for this platform to reinvigorate the mobile PC form factor. “However, PCs will face more  competition as we see new media tablets based on operating systems from Android and Microsoft, as well the new iPad,” Mr. Atwal said.

“Moreover, we expect the shift to the personal cloud will also accelerate as consumers increasingly adopt cloud-based services as part of their digital ecosystem,” Mr. Atwal said. “The evolution of the personal cloud will challenge vendors across all mobile devices markets and add to the hurdles for PC vendors to overcome to revive the PCs and differentiate them from tablets. The creation of content capabilities of PCs may not be enough to counteract the better content consumption capabilities of media tablets.”

Mature PC markets will continue to be replacement market driven and their volumes will be much less than their emerging market counterparts.

“Emerging markets are key to driving worldwide PC growth in both the short and long-term, and our expectation is that 2012 and then 2013 onwards will be supported by growth in emerging markets as their share increases from just over 50 percent in 2011 to nearly 70 percent in 2016,” said Mr. Atwal. “Emerging markets have very low PC penetration and even with the availability of other devices we still expect a steady uptake of PCs.”

Additional analysis is available in the Gartner on Demand webinar "Gartner PC and Media Tablet Forecast Update, 1Q 2012." The webinar is available at http://my.gartner.com/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=202&mode=2&PageID=5553&resId=1921116&ref=Webinar-Calendar.

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.

AMD and Nuvixa Bring New, Immersive Dimension to Telepresence

AMD and Nuvixa Bring New, Immersive Dimension to Telepresence 

AMD has invested in Nuvixa for OpenCL-accelerated, gesture-based business, education, public sector and consumer videoconference applications

SUNNYVALE, Calif. —3/6/2012 

AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced it has invested  in Nuvixa, Inc., a developer of gesture-based video communication and presentation solutions, through AMD Ventures (formerly the AMD Fusion Fund program). Leveraging depth-sensing camera technologies, the Nuvixa StagePresence™ immersive video presentation tool extracts a presenter from virtually any background environment, and embeds their live video persona within any compatible digital desktop or slide content. Image processing enhancements only available via OpenCL™ and AMD accelerated processing units (APUs), create immersive performance and quality improvements that deliver close to double the frame-rate1 and a more immersive experience to online audiences.

 “Nuvixa is on the cutting edge of video processing technology and exemplifies why we created AMD Ventures; to foster an ecosystem that enhances the consumer and commercial computing experience,” said Manju Hegde, corporate vice president, Content, Applications and Solutions at AMD. “The uniquely powerful compute capabilities of AMD APUs coupled with software solutions from companies like Nuvixa are bringing gesture-based computing and immersive video experiences beyond the conference room and into today’s notebook and desktop PCs, tablets and other consumer electronic devices.”

 “Being selected by AMD Ventures provides us with additional financial backing to continue to innovate, and world-class technical support that enables us to fully leverage AMD’s latest APU architecture,” said Sanjay Patel, chief executive officer and co-founder of Nuvixa. “Together we are radically expanding what is possible with video, and offering these advanced capabilities to a vast audience of professionals, consumers and academia producing digital presentations and online video experiences for sales, training, online courses and so much more.”

AMD and Nuvixa are collaborating to optimize StagePresence software on desktop and notebook PCs accelerated by OpenCL™ to efficiently harness the compute power of both the CPU and GPU cores in the AMD APU. With this optimization, Nuvixa StagePresence™ is able to achieve up to 96 percent better performance, resulting in nearly double the frame rate possible with the CPU alone1. Nuvixa StagePresence enables capture of the high-resolution live video of a presenter and overlays it into any presentation or digital desktop in real time, without a green screen or special video editing software using advanced heterogeneous computing algorithms.

AMD’s product strategy synergistically combines both CPU and GPU technology to create APUs that improve user experiences through a vibrant worldwide AMD developer ecosystem. This ecosystem includes new software, hardware, business models, consumer electronic devices, intellectual property, processes, support models, and other new developments. Through AMD Ventures, AMD works with the companies in which it invests to enable differentiated solutions optimized on AMD hardware platforms.

Nuvixa, Inc. is the developer of superior gesture-enhanced video communication and presentation solutions for businesses, professionals and consumers. The company’s mission is to deliver innovation in digital collaboration through merging the ‘human’ element with content – whether it’s through video conferencing, online presentations or user-generated entertainment, for better engagement and retention. Formed in 2009, Nuvixa is a privately-held company.

Resources

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, 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. OpenCL and the OpenCL logo are trademarks of Apple, Inc. used by permission of Khronos.

  1. Tests were conducted at AMD Labs using Nuvixa Stage Presence build 1.1.1 which is a special build with event tracing for testing. The trace was captured and FPS were measured with Parallel Path Analyzer software from MulticoreWare, Inc. AMD Quad Core A8-3510MX demonstrated up to 96% higher FPS when testing with GPU acceleration on versus testing with GPU acceleration off. The test system consisted of a Microsoft Kinect Xbox 360 video camera connected via USB to a notebook with an AMD Quad Core A8-3510MX APU (which includes AMD Radeon™ HD 6620G graphics), AMD A60M chipset, 4GB  1333MHz DDR3 system memory and Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit. See www.vix.tv for minimum system requirements. SBNB-I98.

Accellos to Launch 3PL Suite for Microsoft Dynamics at Convergence 2012


For Immediate Release

Accellos to Launch 3PL Suite for Microsoft Dynamics at Convergence 2012
This year’s Convergence event will take place March 18-21 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, TX. Accellos, a Silver Sponsor of the event, will be demonstrating its latest solutions in booth 904. Accellos’ CTO will hold a Sponsor Speaking Session on March 20 entitled “Driving ROI Through Supply Chain Excellence.”

HOUSTON, Texas – March 8, 2012 – Accellos, Inc., a leading provider of supply chain execution software solutions, is building on its long and successful history of providing advanced solutions for Third Party Logistics Providers (3PL) by unveiling AccellosOne 3PL for Microsoft Dynamics® at Convergence 2012.

AccellosOne 3PL for Microsoft Dynamics complements Microsoft’s historically strong financial capabilities by automating the key functions that drive success for a 3PL:

  • Strong warehouse management
  • Configurable business processes
  • Adaptable activity billing and costing
  • Broad performance management
  • Extensive external visibility of key information

“The 3PL industry had another solid growth year in 2011 as companies across the globe entrusted their logistics operations to 3PLs in record numbers,” said Chad Collins, Accellos Chief Marketing Officer. “Working alongside Microsoft Dynamics and their global partner network, Accellos offers a flexible, cost-effective solution built upon its 20-year history of leadership in the 3PL marketplace.”

Available for review at booth #904, AccellosOne 3PL for Microsoft Dynamics consists of a dozen “apps” including EDI, warehouse management, small parcel shipping, document imaging, configurable handheld designer, appointment scheduling, KPI dashboards and pivots, route and load optimization, labor standards, alerts and events, track and trace, integrated reporting and activity billing.

“We’re excited to launch this new product at Microsoft Dynamics’ premier event, Convergence 2012,” said Mike Cornell, Accellos Chief Executive Officer. “It will arm our existing and future Microsoft partners with tools for success in the growing 3PL marketplace both today and into Microsoft Dynamics’ future in the cloud.”

Accellos' Chief Technology Officer Ross Elliott will be holding a one-hour Sponsor Speaking Session in Room 372 BCEF of the Convention Center on Tuesday, March 20, at 12:30 p.m. The session will explore how companies can extend their customer service, lower their investment and create new return on investment opportunities using innovative extensions to Microsoft Dynamics GP, AX and NAV. Elliott will discuss topics that cover areas such as warehouse management, EDI, transportation management and supply chain intelligence.

This year’s Convergence event will take place March 18-21 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, TX. Accellos, a Silver Sponsor of the event, will be presenting in booth 904.

For more information on Microsoft Dynamics Convergence 2012, visit http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/convergence/houston12/.

For more information on Accellos’ third party logistics software solutions, visit http://www.accellos.com/3pl.

About Accellos
Accellos is a global provider of software solutions specifically designed for the unique needs of logistics service providers and small and midsized businesses (SMB). Over 3,000 companies trust Accellos to be the technology backbone of their global supply chains. Accellos provides solutions for warehouse management systems (WMS), third party logistics (3PL), fleet management, transportation management systems (TMS), trading partner integration (EDI), automated barcode data collection, parcel shipping, transportation optimization and supply chain business intelligence. Accellos solutions are built on the AccellosOne platform, a modern technology platform featuring a user-friendly interface and simplified technical administration. For more information, email info (at) accellos.com or visit www.accellos.com.

All products are either registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective companies in the United States and/or other countries.


CIOs Reveal Second-Quarter Hiring Plans

 

CIOs Reveal Second-Quarter Hiring Plans


Robert Half Technology Survey Finds Increased IT Hiring Projections -------------------------------------------------------------------

TORONTO, March 8 /CNW/ - Technology executives expect continued information technology (IT) hiring in the second quarter of 2012, according to the just-released Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report. In the latest quarterly survey, 18 per cent of chief information officers (CIOs) interviewed said they plan to expand their IT departments, and 3 per cent expect cutbacks, for a net 15 per cent projected increase in hiring activity. This is up seven points from last quarter's projections.

In the same survey, 86 per cent of technology executives are somewhat or very optimistic about their companies' growth prospects in the next three months, and 83 per cent are confident in their firms' second-quarter investment in IT projects.

The IT Hiring Index and Skills Report is based on telephone interviews with more than 270 CIOs from companies across Canada with 100 or more employees. Executives are asked whether their companies plan to increase or decrease the number of full-time IT personnel on their staff during the coming quarter. The survey is conducted by an independent research firm and developed by Robert Half Technology, a leading provider of IT professionals on a project and full-time basis. Robert Half has been tracking IT hiring activity in Canada since 2000.

Key Findings ------------

The net 15 per cent increase in anticipated IT hiring activity is up seven points from a net 8 per cent increase in hiring activity projected last quarter.

Help desk/technical support professionals are in greatest demand, followed closely by networking and applications development professionals, according to survey respondents.

Forty-seven per cent of CIOs said it's challenging to find skilled professionals today.

Eighty-six per cent of CIOs are somewhat or very confident in their companies' growth prospects in the next three months.

Eighty-three per cent of technology executives expressed confidence in their firms' second-quarter investments in IT projects, rating the likelihood that their companies would be investing in IT projects a three or higher on a five-point scale, with five being most confident.

"The employment market for IT professionals is currently active, as many professionals look for new job opportunities," said Lara Dodo, a Canadian regional vice president of Robert Half Technology. "Those in hot specialties, such as help desk/technical support and networking, continue to be highly sought after - as well, mobile media is a significant area of growth that is generating job openings right now."

Confidence in Business Growth and IT Investments ------------------------------------------------

Eighty-six per cent of CIOs reported being somewhat or very confident in their companies' prospects for growth in the second quarter of 2012; 83 per cent of technology executives expressed confidence in their firms' second-quarter investment in IT projects, rating the likelihood that their companies would be investing in IT projects a three or higher on a five-point scale, with five being most confident.

Skills in Demand ----------------

The functional areas in which executives say they are experiencing the greatest challenge in finding skilled IT professionals is help desk/technical support (14 per cent). Networking and applications development followed, each cited by 11 per cent of survey respondents.

Network administration remains the skill set in greatest demand, cited by 67 per cent of CIOs. Windows administration and desktop support were next, with 59 per cent and 52 per cent of the response, respectively.

Industries Hiring -----------------

Executives in the wholesale industry expect the most IT hiring in the second quarter. A net 25 per cent of CIOs in this sector plan to expand their IT departments. This was followed by the finance industry, with a net 19 percent of technology leaders anticipating hiring increases. Professional services came next, with a net 18 per cent of executives in this industry planning to add staff.

About the Survey ----------------

The quarterly IT Hiring Index and Skills Report was developed by Robert Half Technology and conducted by an independent research firm. First published in 1995, the study is based on more than 270 telephone interviews with CIOs from a random sample of Canadian companies with 100 or more employees. In order for the study to be statistically representative and ensure that companies from all segments were represented, the sample was stratified by industry and number of employees. The results were then weighted to reflect the proper number of employees within each industry. The margin of error for this study is +/-5.0 per cent at the 90 per cent level of confidence.

Information from the study is featured in the Robert Half Professional Employment Report, which was launched in 2010 and is the first study of its kind to monitor the hiring environment for professional-level positions exclusively. Based on more than 1,000 telephone interviews with executives throughout Canada, it provides insight on employment trends to help businesses and job seekers prepare for the upcoming quarter. To see how hiring within the technology profession has changed since last quarter and how it compares to other sectors, please visit www.roberthalf.ca/per.

About Robert Half Technology ----------------------------

With more than 100 locations worldwide, Robert Half Technology is a leading provider of technology professionals for initiatives ranging from web development and multiplatform systems integration to network security and technical support. Robert Half Technology offers online job search services at www.rht.com.

For further information: TO SPEAK WITH A LOCAL EXPERT, CONTACT: Robert Half Technology, Contact: Nadia Santoli, (416) 350-2330, nadia.santoli@rhi.com


Oracle Enables “Seven Nines” Availability and Session Integrity for Network Equipment Provider Applications with New Oracle Communications Service Availability Machine

Oracle Enables “Seven Nines” Availability and Session Integrity for Network Equipment Provider Applications with New Oracle Communications Service Availability Machine

Optimized Hardware and Software Platform Helps Ensure an Uninterrupted Customer Experience for IPTV, Policy Control, Charging and Other “Zero Downtime” Applications

Redwood Shores, Calif. – March 6, 2012

News Facts

Oracle today announced the availability of Oracle Communications Service Availability Machine, an optimized hardware and software solution that enables network equipment providers (NEPs) to quickly deliver “zero downtime” applications – such as IPTV, Policy Control, Charging, etc. – to communications service providers (CSPs).
The rapid growth of mobile broadband services, proliferation of smartphones and demand for rich media applications has significantly increased the need for application platforms that can provide unprecedented levels of high availability with session integrity. Until now, NEPs have had to custom build these capabilities into each application, slowing time-to-market and increasing project risk. With Oracle Communications Service Availability Machine, NEPs can now focus their resources on building innovative applications by leveraging Oracle’s productized service availability capabilities.
Network equipment providers can use Oracle Communications Service Availability Machine’s out-of-the-box development environment and standardized hardware and software infrastructure to more efficiently create and deploy innovative, highly-available applications to CSPs, accelerating time-to-revenue while reducing project risk.
Oracle Communications Service Availability Machine enables carrier-grade, “seven nines” (99.99999%) availability, preserving session integrity during many kinds of application and system faults to eliminate service interruptions for customers – helping enhance customer experience and reduce customer churn. The preservation of session integrity for applications under a wide variety of fault conditions distinguishes Oracle’s solution from other alternatives currently available.
The solution leverages Service Availability (SA) Forum standards, providing open application programming interfaces (APIs) that ensure application portability to developers.
Oracle Communications Service Availability Machine includes Oracle Communications Service Availability software – acquired through Oracle’s acquisition of GoAhead Software in September 2011 – with initial availability on Oracle’s Sun Netra 6000 and Oracle Linux. Oracle Communications Service Availability Machine integrates Oracle’s carrier-grade hardware leadership with GoAhead’s proven service availability software and expertise. This new approach helps reduce project risk and ensure predictability when creating next-generation applications and services.

Supporting Quotes

“Today’s communications applications increasingly require the highest possible degree of performance and availability with zero downtime. Oracle Communications Service Availability Machine is squarely focused on this growing market, and the simplicity and performance of this integrated solution is likely to appeal to engineering managers and leaders with projects that require service availability and have urgent time-to-market demands,” said Lee Doyle, group vice president and general manager, network infrastructure and security, IDC.
“With increased adoption of real-time and near-real time applications – especially on smartphones and tablets, service availability is a critical ‘must-have’ requirement and business need in the communications industry. Oracle Communications Service Availability Machine combines Oracle’s hardware and software leadership, and proven service availability software to help NEPs bring service available applications to market quickly, with minimal project risk, while helping ensure zero interruption of the customer experience,” said Nigel Ball, vice president, NEP solutions, Oracle Communications.

Oracle Live Webcast: Tuesday, March 20, 2012 – 09:00 PDT, 16:00 GMT

Rapid Application Development for "Zero Downtime" Telecommunication Applications

Supporting Resources

About Oracle Communications

Only Oracle’s software and systems span the communications industry technology landscape — from carrier-grade servers, storage and IT infrastructure, to mission-critical business and operational support systems and service delivery platforms; from business intelligence applications and retail point-of-sale solutions to the Java platform running on more than three billion mobile and handheld devices.  Oracle helps 100 of the world's top 100 service providers innovate and exploit new business models, build strong, profitable customer relationships, and streamline operations. For more information, visit http://www.oracle.com/us/industries/communications/index.html

About Oracle

Oracle engineers hardware and software to work together in the cloud and in your data center.  For more information about Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL), visit www.oracle.com.

About Oracle in Industries

Oracle industry solutions leverage the company's best-in-class portfolio of products to address complex business processes relevant to the communications industry, helping speed time to market, reduce costs, and gain a competitive edge.

Trademark
Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

# # #

Contacts

Katie Barron

Oracle

+1.202.904.1138

katie.barron@oracle.com

Janice Hazen

O’Keeffe & Company

+1.443.759.8151

jhazen@okco.com

O Canada! DomainPeople Sponsors Contest for .CA Domain Websites

O Canada! DomainPeople Sponsors Contest for .CA Domain Websites

Promotes Benefits of .CA Domain Extension; Deadline March 30, 2012

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 7, 2012 /CNW/ - Domain name registrar DomainPeople today announced a 'Tell us About Your .CA Contest' for websites utilizing the .CA domain extension, in order to drive branding and awareness in the Canadian market. Winners will be selected based on the innovation and creativity of their website goals, and how their .CA domain is helping or will help them achieve those goals. Entries can be submitted at http://www.domainpeople.ca/heycanada.html through March 30, 2012.

One winner will be selected in each of three categories – large sites, small sites and new site proposals – and assigned first, second or third prize at random. First prize is an Apple iPad 2. Second prize is one year of free Cloudhost PowerPack hosting from DomainPeople plus a choice of a free .CA domain for 10 years or .CA renewal for up to 10 years. Third prize is six months of free Cloudhost PowerPack hosting from DomainPeople plus a choice of a free .CA domain for five years or .CA renewal for up to five years.

Entrants must be DomainPeople customers that hold an active .CA domain registered through DomainPeople. During the contest period, DomainPeople is reducing the first-year price for organizations that do not yet have .CA domain extensions from $14.95 to $9.95 to help businesses reap the benefits of .CA identification.

In a recent study conducted by The Strategic Counsel, .CA easily outscored .com as 'Safe' (77% vs. 23%), 'Secure' (75% vs. 25%), and 'Trusted' (78% vs. 22%). Other studies have shown that Canadians prefer .CA over .com by a large majority for online banking (86% vs. 14%), online shopping (85% vs. 15%), and searching for news and current events (85% vs. 15%). In addition, nearly 90% of Canadians see .CA as an important resource for Canadians.

"Having a .CA domain name is like waving the Canadian flag: it clearly states that you, your business or your organization are Canadian, and research has shown that it makes a difference in how your site is perceived," said Chris Kruk, product manager of DomainPeople. "We are running this contest to raise awareness of the value of the .CA extension and to share the successes that people are having in choosing .CA over other options."

According to the Canadian Internet Registration Authority, more than 1.8 million .CA domain names have been registered, and .CA has been one of the fastest-growing country-code domain extensions in the world over the past five years. In Canada, .CA's market share has been steadily rising while the collective registrations of the other domain name extensions have been steadily declining.

About DomainPeople

Established in 1999, DomainPeople is a trusted, premier provider of Domain Solutions for the Internet industry. As the eighth ICANN-accredited domain registrar, DomainPeople has registered over 1,000,000 domains worldwide and has clients and customers in over 130 countries. For more information, visit www.domainpeople.com.

SOURCE DomainPeople

For further information:

http://www.domainpeople.com

McAfee Report Exposes Contradictions in Security Perception vs. Reality

McAfee Report Exposes Contradictions in Security Perception vs.
Reality

`State of Security´ Report Shows Organizations Recognize a
Pervasiveness and Resiliency of Cyber Criminals, Yet 79 Per Cent
Experienced a Significant Incident in Past 12 Months

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - March 6, 2012 - McAfee today announced the State
of Security report, showing how IT decision makers view the challenges
of securing information assets in a highly regulated and increasingly
complex global business environment.  The report also reveals
companies´ IT security priorities around processes, practices and
technology for 2012. As the corporate data environment expands,
effective information security is possible only by creating a
Strategic Security Plan (SSP), which incorporates a comprehensive
threat analysis and an in-depth layered security risk mitigation
approach. The survey also identified some of the key trends facing
today´s enterprises in the development of their SSP´s.

Security Maturity
The survey respondents categorized themselves into various states of
security maturity. These categorizations help to understand the
mindset of the companies as they view enterprise information security.
The terms below are used to describe the level of security maturity of
participating organizations:  Reactive - uses an ad hoc approach to
defining security processes and is event-driven. Nine per cent of the
surveyed companies claim to be at this stage.  Compliant - has some
policies in place, but has no real standardization across security
policies. The organization adheres to some security standards or the
minimum required. Thirty-two per cent of the surveyed companies claim
to be at this stage.  Proactive - follows standardized policies,
has centralized governance, and has a degree of integration across
some security solutions. Forty three per cent of the surveyed
companies claim to be at this stage.  Optimized - follows security
industry best practices and maintains strict adherence to corporate
policy. The organization utilizes automated security solutions that
are highly integrated across the enterprise. Sixteen per cent of the
surveyed companies claim to be at this stage.

"Every organization needs to take a layered approach to security,
utilizing both processes and solutions designed to prevent compromise.
Complicating the challenge of managing risk and securing data is the
fact that `the enterprise´ now extends far beyond office walls and
perimeter firewalls," said Jill Kyte, vice president at McAfee.
"Companies are giving network access to business partners and
contract workers, and in some cases, even to customers. Workers access
the enterprise network remotely using mobile devices, many of which
are personally owned and not controlled by the company whose network
they access. Moreover, data and applications are being moved into
public and hybrid cloud environments, where the data owners have
little direct control over security. All of this requires a business
to have a Stra tegic Security Plan."

The key findings included:
 Organizations are confident about identifying the most critical
threats to their environments and knowing where their critical data
resides. However, most companies are not confident about quantifying
the potential financial impact of a breach, should one occur.
Organizational awareness and protection against information security
risks is very important. However, one-third of the "Optimized"
companies are uncertain about their IT security posture in terms of
awareness and protection. Despite having formal strategic plans, 34
per cent of the companies believe they are not adequately protected
against information security risks that could impact their business.
 A majority of the respondents indicated that as they develop SSPs,
they include consideration of potential threats and the associated
risk to business, and financial analysis.  Yet, four out of five
companies experienced a significant security incident in the past 12
months.  Almost a third of organizations surveyed have either not
purchased or not yet implemented many of the next-generation security
technologies that are designed to address current-day threats.  Yet
more than 80 per cent of the organizations identify malware, spyware
and viruses as major security threats.  Two out of every five
organizations have either an informal or ad hoc plan or no SSP in
place. The size of the organization matters when it comes to having a
formal SSP. Six of every 10 large enterprises have a formal SSP, two
out of every three mid-size enterprises has a formal SSP, while this
ratio dips to only one in two for small enterprises.  Organizations
in North America and Germany are more likely to have a formal SSP than
those organizations in other regions of the world. This may be
attributed to the regulatory environments in those countries.  Top
priorities for 2012 include implementing stronger controls to protect
sensitive data and ensuring business continuity. The lowest priority
is to reduce capital and operating expenditures for security
infrastructure, indicating that organizations are willing to spend on
the right kind of security solutions.

Conclusions
While organizations are working on their SSPs and are doing their best
toward protecting business systems and critical data, there is much
room for improvement.  Step up to a higher security maturity level.
Only 16 per cent of the survey respondents classify their
organizations as being at the "Optimized" level. Worse, however,
is the fact that nine per cent of the organizations are "Reactive"
in their approach to IT security.  Executive involvement is
crucial. While IT and security personnel may take the lead in
developing the plan, it´s important to have insight from those who
best understand the business systems and the data they use. Moreover,
executive involvement is critical to set the tone for the importance
of security throughout the organization.  Test early, test often,
and make adjustments as needed. What good is a plan if it is developed
and put on a shelf, or if it is never tested? Unfortunately we learned
that 29 per cent of "Compliant" companies never test how they
would respond to an incident. What´s more, 79 per cent of the
surveyed companies experienced security incidents in the past year -
indicating there are gaps in the plans that must be addressed.  Use
budget allocations wisely. Though every manager would like to have a
bigger budget to be able to apply more safeguards, the "Optimized"
companies have found ways to reach the highest level of performance
with the same level of funding (percentage-wise) as the companies who
are less prudent with their budgets.  Use the right tools for the
current threats. The survey shows that 45 per cent of the companies
haven´t deployed next-generation firewalls. Mobile security is
another area that should not be ignored, yet 25 per cent of the
organizations have not purchased any tools for this purpose.  Focus
on protecting the lifeblood of the company-the sensitive corporate
data. The top priorities for 2012 include implementing stronger
controls to protect sensitive data and ensuring business continuity.
Additional high priority activities are all meant to improve each
organization´s overall security posture.

About the Survey
The survey was conducted by Evaluserve and included responses from 495
organizations. Countries included in the survey were United States,
Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Brazil, Australia, Singapore,
and New Zealand and range in size from a minimum of 1,000 employees to
more than 50,000 employees. The report is available at:
www.mcafee.com/ssp.

About McAfee
McAfee, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC),
is the world's largest dedicated security technology company. McAfee
delivers proactive and proven solutions and services that help secure
systems, networks, and mobile devices around the world, allowing users
to safely connect to the Internet, browse and shop the Web more
securely. Backed by its unrivaled Global Threat Intelligence, McAfee
creates innovative products that empower home users, businesses, the
public sector and service providers by enabling them to prove
compliance with regulations, protect data, prevent disruptions,
identify vulnerabilities, and continuously monitor and improve their
security. McAfee is relentlessly focused on constantly finding new
ways to keep our customers safe. http://www.mcafee.com.

McAfee Canada is headquartered in Markham, Ontario, with regional
offices across Canada. The company's Consumer Software Research and
Development facility in based in Waterloo, Ontario.

About Evalueserve
Evalueserve is a global specialist in knowledge processes with a team
of more than 2,600 professionals worldwide. As a trusted partner,
Evalueserve analyzes, improves and executes knowledge-intensive
processes and leverages its proprietary technology to increase
efficiency and effectiveness. We have dedicated on-site teams and
scalable global knowledge centers in Chile, China, India and Romania,
which provide multi-time zone and multi-lingual services.

Evalueserve´s knowledge solutions include customized research and
analytics services for leading-edge companies worldwide. By partnering
with us, clients benefit from higher productivity, improved quality,
and freed-up management time. We provide our clients with better
access to knowledge and information across all parts of their
organization, thereby adding to their capabilities.

-30-

Note: McAfee, the McAfee logo are registered trademarks or trademarks
of McAfee, Inc., or its subsidiaries in the United States and other
countries. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of
others. ©2012 McAfee, Inc. All rights reserved.


For more information please contact:
Maxine Cheung/Dianna Lai
StrategicAmpersand Inc. (for McAfee Canada)
Maxine@stratamp.com/Dianna@stratamp.com
McAfeePR@stratamp.com
 (416) 961-5595


Microsoft Releases SQL Server 2012 to Help Customers Manage “Any Data, Any Size, Anywhere”

Microsoft Releases SQL Server 2012 to Help Customers Manage “Any Data, Any Size, Anywhere”
Microsoft’s next-generation data platform releases to manufacturing today.

REDMOND, Wash. — March 6, 2012 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that the latest version of the world’s most widely deployed data platform, Microsoft SQL Server 2012, has released to manufacturing. SQL Server 2012 helps address the challenges of increasing data volumes by rapidly turning data into actionable business insights. Expanding on Microsoft’s commitment to help customers manage any data, regardless of size, both on-premises and in the cloud, the company today also disclosed additional details regarding its plans to release an Apache Hadoop-based service for Windows Azure.

“Data is being generated faster than ever before, and organizations need a way to process and analyze all that data,” said Ted Kummert, corporate vice president at Microsoft. “Whatever the type or size of data, SQL Server 2012 delivers the platform and familiar tools to manage data, generate actionable insights and help drive business impact.”

SQL Server 2012: Proven Capability

SQL Server 2012 has already been deployed for production use by hundreds of global, industry-leading customers, such as Volvo Car Corp., Revlon, the HSN, Sanofi Pasteur, Klout and LG Chemical. Customers choosing SQL Server 2012 enjoy the benefit of a rich hardware and software partner ecosystem that can create solutions for the most unique and demanding data management needs.

“Our business depends on delivering customers fast, detailed insight into hundreds of terabytes of social-network data,” said David Mariani, vice president of Engineering at Klout, a leading provider of influence measurement. “With SQL Server 2012 and integrated business intelligence tools, we’re processing massive volumes of data queries in near-real time. Microsoft’s data platform has continued to advance and help us keep up with the evolving world of data.”

Tackling Big Data

IT research firm Gartner estimates that the volume of global data is growing at a rate of 59 percent per year, with 70 to 85 percent in unstructured form.* Furthering its commitment to connect SQL Server and rich business intelligence tools, such as Microsoft Excel, PowerPivot for Excel 2010 and Power View, with unstructured data, Microsoft announced plans to release an additional limited preview of an Apache Hadoop-based service for Windows Azure in the first half of 2012.

Since the first limited preview released in December, customers such as Webtrends and the University of Dundee are using the Hadoop-based service to glean simple, actionable insights from complex data sets hosted in the cloud. Customers interested in signing up for the latest preview should visit http://www.hadooponazure.com.

Continued Improvements, New Levels of Return on Investment

To help customers more cost-effectively manage their enterprise-scale workloads, Microsoft will release several new data warehousing solutions in conjunction with the general availability of SQL Server 2012, slated to begin April 1. This includes a major software update and new half-rack form factors for Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse appliances, as well as availability of SQL Server Fast Track Data Warehouse reference architectures for SQL Server 2012.

In addition, Microsoft is releasing results from a new Microsoft-commissioned Forrester Consulting Total Economic Impact study on the potential benefits of upgrading to SQL Server 2012. The study reports a potential return on investment of up to 189 percent with a 12-month payback period.

Microsoft and partners also announced today that SQL Server 2012 has demonstrated new record-breaking performance benchmarks through partner- and Microsoft-led testing that underscores SQL Server’s ability to scale across the enterprise.

Those interested can find more information about today’s announcements or download an evaluation copy of SQL Server 2012 at the SQL Server virtual press kit.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

*Gartner Symposium Presentation, Information Management Goes “Extreme”: The Biggest Challenges for 21st-Century CIOs, Mark Beyer, October 2011

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.