Cisco Transforms Digital Signs Into Highly Interactive Experiences, Creating New Ways to Increase Engagement

Cisco Transforms Digital Signs Into Highly Interactive Experiences, Creating New Ways to Increase Engagement

From Entertainment to Sporting Stadiums, Customers Deploy Cisco Digital Signage to Deliver More Engaging, Interactive User Experiences

SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwire - Mar 6, 2012) - Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) today announced new digital signage innovations that can dramatically enhance how organizations attract, educate and engage customers, employees and citizens, and elevate their brand visibility. These innovations, delivered through the Cisco® Interactive Services solution set, provide enhanced interactive capabilities through video, Web applications and touchscreen digital signs. Cisco is also announcing new customers that showcase the continued expansion of the digital signage market; customers including parx casino® in Pennsylvania are using Cisco Digital Signage Solutions to change how they engage and communicate with their customers and employees.

Cisco's Interactive Services solution set is introducing new web clients and a cloud-based management platform that enable customers to create, centrally manage and rapidly deploy personalized and interactive signage experiences across a network of high-definition and touchscreen digital displays. Through these new offerings, organizations can deliver a variety of customizable content to each endpoint that can be highly targeted for various audiences and can be delivered at the most optimal times of the day for maximum impact. So, for example, from a single display, an end user could conduct digital transactions that are relevant to what's being shown, like ticket purchases, or visit Web pages and applications that could provide additional information. The innovations also provide advertisers with an opportunity to personalize advertising based on the content the user is viewing, their location or a programmed schedule. Through Cisco Interactive Services, viewers are provided with an enhanced user experience with new hands-on features such as a virtual keyboard and intuitive, touch-based scrolling capabilities. These capabilities enable viewers to directly engage with the content on a digital display, and find the relevant information they require.

Cisco and its customers are embracing these innovations at a time when the digital signage market is evolving -- from static content on traditional screens to customized rich media content delivered on a multitude of connected devices. As a market leader in digital signage, Cisco's strategy is to drive this new era of interaction and engagement. With a broad portfolio of media endpoints, video infrastructure and digital signage management software on a network-based platform, Cisco is uniquely positioned to broaden the use of digital signage into a medium for two-way interaction. When deploying these new solutions, Cisco's medianet architecture enables organizations to create a video-optimized network that reliably delivers optimal quality video content, with high security to any network device.

ANNOUNCEMENT HIGHLIGHTS

  • The Cisco Interactive Experience Client (IEC) 4600 Series, including the IEC 4610 and 4632 models, are networked clients that provide enhanced interactive capabilities to high-definition and touchscreen displays. Each IEC hosts a Web browser specially designed for digital displays, to support a variety of content including localized information, existing Web portals and Web applications, RSS feeds, advertising, and live video and collaboration capabilities.
  • All of this content is managed and distributed through a central management platform, the new Cisco Interactive Experience Manager (IEM), part of Cisco's digital media management software suite. The IEM is a centralized Web portal that helps customers easily scale management of Cisco interactive experiences enabled with an IEC. Functions include remote monitoring and trouble-shooting displays, managing and scheduling large amounts of rotating video content, and implementing signage templates.
  • The IEM can be provisioned on an Interactive Experience Platform server at the customer site, and is scheduled to also be available as a cloud-based service. The IEP server is based on a Cisco UCS® C-Series C200M2 server and provides the reliability and scalability benefits of the Cisco Unified Computing System™ with software optimized for performance.
  • In September 2011, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York announced it is using Cisco Interactive Services for its new On the Go! touchscreen travel station pilot program. The On the Go! touchscreen, deployed at select subway and commuter rail stations throughout New York City, provides riders with an interactive way to access information about their trip, including real-time trip planning, service status, local maps and other information.
  • Cisco Interactive Services and the new digital signage products are available now in North America, Europe, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and India, and are scheduled to be available globally by the second half of 2012.

Featured Cisco digital signage and interactive media customers include:

  • parx casino® in Philadelphia, Pa., wanted to create an enjoyable entertainment atmosphere while keeping guests up to date and informed on casino activities. Cisco Digital Signage is enabling the casino to do just that by delivering highly engaging real-time communications and visitor information to their guests.
    • From large 65-foot displays at the entrance to hundreds of single-screen displays throughout the complex, guests can easily find information ranging from upcoming casino promotions, available amenities, transit schedules, and racing and gaming waiting lists.
    • Through Cisco's centrally managed signage platform, parx casino® is able to simultaneously manage multiple channels of video content and quickly deliver information as needed to any display any time. Video content can be scheduled in advance or changed at a moment's notice for events or notifications.
  • Since opening in June of 2011, LIVESTRONG Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan., has been committed to delivering a unique fan experience through high-definition video, digital content and new interactive applications for fans.
    • Utilizing Cisco StadiumVision®, a special set of offerings for sports and entertainment that amplify any event, LIVESTRONG Sporting Park can instantaneously deliver live video to over 300 high-definition digital displays to bring the action on the field closer to each fan in the stadium.
    • In addition, each display can highlight dynamic content like team trivia and game information, weather and traffic updates, merchandise and concession promotions and new team sponsorship opportunities.
    • Since its opening, LIVESTRONG has seen a vast increase in fan engagement and interaction during games and events. Last season saw record attendance, and 2012 will bring seven national televised home games to showcase what has been hailed as one of the most technologically advanced stadiums in North America.

Supporting Quotes
Carrie Nork Minelli, Director of Advertising and Public Relations, parx casino®
"parx casino® has created a unique environment which excites, welcomes and engages our guests. By featuring video, we are able to interact closely with our guests via digital displays throughout our casino buildings. Each display is centrally managed, allowing us to deliver different content and target guests in specific areas for promotional opportunities or inform the entire casino of available events and amenities. Video has become a key tool for us to make our guests feel more engaged and increase their participation throughout the casino."

Asim Pasha, Chief Information Officer and Chief Architect, Sporting Kansas City
"LIVESTRONG Sporting Park in Kansas City is designed to cater to today's evolving needs of a more social, connected fan. Video is a crucial part of enhancing the sports experience at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, from digital displays throughout the stadium to more interactive video within the executive suites. By teaming with Cisco, LSP creates a more immersive and engaging environment for our fans, bringing the game closer to each fan, encouraging fans to engage and interact with the team, other fans and with the action happening on the field. With the right network in place, we are able to innovate more rapidly than ever before and will be able to for years to come."

Guido Jouret, Vice President/General Manager and Chief Technology Officer, Emerging Technologies Group, Cisco
"By its nature, video is a medium of engagement and participation. With today's announcement, digital signage is evolving from a passive experience to an engaging, interactive media experience. Now, any digital sign on the network becomes an opportunity for two-way interaction between a company and its customers, allowing a consumer to engage with the display and receive relevant, customized content in return. By bringing those capabilities into the digital signage industry, Cisco is changing how organizations can advertise, educate and connect to their viewers."

Additional Resources:

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Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.

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Survey Finds Organizations Embracing Mobile Workstyles

 

Survey Finds Organizations Embracing Mobile Workstyles

Ninety three percent of organizations intend to provide flexible work environments by 2013

Santa Clara, Calif. » 3/6/2012 » According to a survey of senior IT decision makers, organizations across the globe are widely embracing mobile workstyles as a way to empower business innovation. The Citrix Global Workshifting Index, released today, indicates that by the end of 2013 ninety three percent of organizations will have implemented workshifting policies, up from 37 percent which currently offer workshifting for part, or all, of their workforce.

Mobile workstyles are enabled when people have access to the technology and policies that allow them to be as productive when they are outside the office – connected wirelessly using public networks and often times personal devices – as they are in the office using a company network and device. Workshifting is a type of mobile workstyle in which work is moved to more optimal times, locations and resources. For people, this means moving work to a place where they find inspiration and can be their most productive.  For organizations, it means reducing business and IT costs while providing flexibility to allow people to work anywhere, anytime and on any device.

Survey respondents confirmed that organizations are recognizing the benefits of mobile workstyles and workshifting including improved business productivity and agility for the organization and greater freedom, mobility and flexibility for users. They are implementing workshifting policies to reduce business and IT costs, provide greater workplace flexibility for people and improve support for an increasingly remote and mobile workforce.

Workshifting Benefits Both the Organization and People
Organizations are recognizing that giving people the ability to work from anywhere can benefit both parties. The business reaps the rewards of a highly mobile and agile business with increased productivity and lower costs while people have the flexibility to choose the ideal time, place and device for their work. According to IT decision makers, the benefits of workshifting include:

  • Giving people the flexibility to choose the ideal time, place and device for their work. Seventy one percent of respondents indicated that they are using workshifting policies to enable people to work from anywhere and 63 percent to enable people to work from home when required.
  • Providing people with uninterrupted access to desktops and apps during business disruptions of any kind. Ninety four percent of senior IT decision makers agreed that the need for comprehensive business continuity is very important with 93 percent of those surveyed agreeing that desktop virtualization was a very effective foundation for business continuity.
  • Reducing real-estate, travel and labor costs through flex-work, telework and alternative workplace strategies. Cost savings are among the main drivers for workshifting with the reduction of HR-related costs at 45 percent, improved ability to recruit workers in lower-cost regions at 39 percent, reduction of real estate costs at 38 percent and contribution to environmental sustainability at 26 percent.
  • Attracting and retaining the best people through flex-work, telework and alternative workplace strategies. Fifty one percent of IT decision makers indicated that have implemented workshifting policies to help attract and retain top talent. Nearly half of respondents also indicated that  workshifting enables organizations to tap into a broader labor pool by facilitating collaboration with and among outsourcing partners, contractors, business partners, temporary workers and consultants.

Desktop Virtualization is Primary Enabling Technology for Workshifting
Desktop virtualization is emerging as a key technology for creating a more flexible workplace with 91 percent of organizations planning to implement desktop virtualization by the end of 2013. Of those implementing desktop virtualization, 57 percent indicated they are implementing or will implement it to enable workshifting. Desktop virtualization enables organizations to access full desktops, applications and data from wherever they are, whenever and from any device a worker chooses. In addition, the security benefits of desktop virtualization ensure that confidential business information is protected from loss and theft in order to meet privacy and compliance standards. According to those surveyed, 92 percent of organizations have adopted or are adopting desktop virtualization to improve information security. People can also take advantage of online meetings and file-sharing services which allow teams to collaborate effectively regardless of the location of every individual.

Quote

Mick Hollison, vice president, Integrated Marketing & Strategy, for Citrix
“Workshifting enables organizations to be more productive and agile, and provides people with added mobility and flexibility to move work to the most convenient and productive times, locations and devices. We’ve long believed that workshifting is a key part of a solid business and IT strategy and these survey findings are an indicator that this trend is going mainstream. Organizations around the globe are moving from traditional work environments and realizing real-estate, travel and labor cost savings by enabling mobile workstyles.”


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Sample size
The research for the Citrix Workshifting Index was conducted independently by Vanson Bourne in October 2011, and is based on 1100 IT professionals across eleven countries. One hundred IT professionals were surveyed in each of eleven countries including: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (USA). Three quarters of respondents were from organizations of 1000 or more employees, one quarter were from organizations of 500-999 employees.

The research is based on the insights and experiences of 1,100 senior IT decision-makers from organizations of over 500 employees, across 11 countries in North America, South America, Europe and Asia.

About Citrix
Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTXS) transforms how businesses and IT work and people collaborate in the cloud era. With market-leading cloud, collaboration, networking and virtualization technologies, Citrix powers mobile workstyles and cloud services, making complex enterprise IT simpler and more accessible for 260,000 organizations. Citrix products touch 75 percent of Internet users each day and it partners with more than 10,000 companies in 100 countries. Annual revenue in 2011 was $2.21 billion. Learn more at www.citrix.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-

Gartner Says Fewer Than 30 Percent of Large Organizations Will Block Social Media by 2014

Gartner Says Fewer Than 30 Percent of Large Organizations Will Block Social Media by 2014

Analysts Explore Changing Attitudes to Social Media at the Gartner Identity & Access Management Summit 2012, March 12-13, London

Egham, UK, March 5, 2012—  

           Fewer than 30 percent of large organizations will block employee access to social media sites by 2014, compared with 50 percent in 2010, according to Gartner, Inc. The number of organizations blocking access to all social media is dropping by around 10 percent a year.

 "Even in those organizations that block all access to social media, blocks tend not to be complete," said Andrew Walls, research vice president at Gartner. "Certain departments and processes, such as marketing, require access to external social media, and employees can circumvent blocks by using personal devices such as smartphones. Organizations need now to turn their attention to the impacts of social media on identity and access management (IAM)."

Gartner said that social media environments include mechanisms to collect, process, share and store a more complete range of identity data than do corporate IAM systems. They enable a more complete view of identity, one that extends beyond the bounds of organizations. For IAM managers, this is both a threat and an opportunity. Identity data and social media platforms can expose organizations and users to a wide variety of security threats, but organizations can also use this identity data to improve support for their own IAM practices and the ambitions of business stakeholders.

Gartner identified three significant impacts of social media on IAM:

Personal trust misaligned with corporate trust: Employees who participate in online social media continually make judgments about the degree of trust they should place in the platforms and in other participants, and they adjust content, structure and vocabulary to match their risk assessments. These assessments and the fundamental inputs to their assessment process may not align with corporate expectations for risk management. As a result, employees may say and do things on social media platforms that violate corporate policy or are otherwise counter to corporate expectations.

Public content supports identity intelligence: The collection of identity data by public social media on a massive scale enables improvements in the production of identity intelligence. This pushes IAM programs to discover the user profiles accessed by staff and to maintain capabilities for accessing external services in order to harvest identity data.

Identity data can be leveraged for IAM: Social media provide a mechanism for verifying the identity of employees, job candidates and customers, and a cloud identity platform for performing IAM for other applications. IAM programs can use social media for identity verification and to extend identity services to internal and external applications via a semi-trusted social platform.

"Organizations should not ignore social media and social identity," said Mr. Walls. "We recommend that organizations ascertain how they currently use internal and external social media in both official and unofficial ways, and look for dissonance between IAM practices and the identity needs, opportunities and risks of social media."

Mr. Walls will speak on the impact of social media on IAM at the Gartner Identity & Access Management Summit 2012. For further information on the Summit, which will take place on March 12-13 in London, please visit www.gartner.com/eu/iam. Additional information from the event will be shared on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Gartner_inc and using #GartnerIAM. Members of the media can register by contacting Laurence Goasduff at laurence.goasduff@gartner.com.

About Gartner Identity & Access Management Summit 2012
The Gartner Identity & Access Management Summit 2012 will explore the future of IAM technologies and the changing market landscape. It will help organisations promote desirable business outcomes, improve identity-relevant service levels, and satisfy growing regulatory and compliance imperatives.

Contacts:

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

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

Brother Canada expands in Montreal Metropolitan Area

Brother Canada expands in Montreal Metropolitan Area

New distribution center to support sales growth and business development

DOLLARD-DES-ORMEAUX (QC) - March 2nd, 2012: Brother International Corporation (Canada) Ltd. is pleased to announce the expansion of its operations in Canada with the purchase of a new distribution center in the West Island of Montreal. The company’s corporate head office, situated in the greater Montreal area of Dollard-des-Ormeaux, will now manage three distribution centers (2 in Montreal and 1 in Vancouver, BC).

The new 35,000 square feet facility, located in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, is intended to support Brother’s steady sales growth and future business development. The expansion is also designed to increase logistics capacity and affirm Brother’s commitment to constantly improving its business processes.

"Despite all the challenges facing the economy and the industry, we have been successful in maintaining growth", states Mr. Featherston, President of Brother Canada. "This new facility will support our rapid growth and ensure product supply on time, all the time. That’s our commitment to our partners and customers."

Brother Canada provides sales, marketing, and distribution services, as well as customer and technical support for all Canadian customers directly from its corporate head office and distribution facilities in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec.

About Brother Canada

Brother Canada celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2010. The company was established in Montreal in 1960 and is part of a worldwide network of companies belonging to Brother Industries Ltd, of which the corporate headquarters is situated in Nagoya, Japan. Active in over 100 countries, Brother markets a wide range of business machines and home appliances known for their reliability, ease of use and versatility at affordable prices. Numerous Brother products have been awarded significant honours. Recent awards for the company include: the PC Mag Reader's Choice Award 2011 for the quality and reliability of Brother monochrome and colour laser printers and all-in-ones, as well as the internationally recognized iF Product Design Award 2011, commending seven Brother products for their innovation and quality of design. Brother Industries Ltd. is a 6 billion-dollar (USD) company employing more than 29,000 people operating in 44 countries and regions around the globe.

For further information please contact:
Kristin Gable
Account Director, Citoyen Optimum (Cossette Communications)
Phone: 514-282-4841 / Email: kristin.gable@citoyenoptimum.com

Barcelona and Cisco Announce Strategic Initiatives to Transform the City into a Global Urban Reference Model

Barcelona and Cisco Announce Strategic Initiatives to Transform the City into a Global Urban Reference Model

Reinforce ongoing collaboration through creation of BIT for the Habitat Foundation; a new "City Protocol"; and development and testing of next-gen city service pilots at new Cisco Innovation Center

BARCELONA (Spain), March 1st, 2012 — The Mayor of Barcelona, Xavier Trias, and the Cisco Chairman and CEO, John Chambers, announced a strategic collaboration agreement today to launch a number of strategic initiatives aimed at advancing the City of Barcelona's objective of being a global reference model for sustainable urban development.

As an extension of the ongoing collaboration announced in February 2011 between Cisco and Barcelona Council to help transform the city into a blueprint for modern urban development through Cisco's Smart+Connected Communities platform, Cisco will support the creation of the Barcelona Institute of Technology for the Habitat (BIT for the Habitat); the definition of a new City Protocol; and the development of new technology solutions for next generation of city services.

Key Highlights:

Barcelona Institute of Technology for the Habitat (BIT for the Habitat). The City Council plans to set up a new foundation that fosters innovation in new urban services through new forms of collaboration with private companies.

  • The foundation's goals include: fostering competitiveness and research into new services for the economic sectors considered to be strategic for Barcelona and its catchment area, specifically those related to Smart Cities,sustainable growth and urban regeneration. It will also focus on attracting public and private partners for the promotion of these projects and activities in the city of Barcelona and abroad, and encouraging research, development, consulting and education on a worldwide basis in areas related to Smart City development.
  • The City Council will also promote association or partnership agreements between the Foundation and other international organizations, such as Metropolis and UN Habitat.
  • Cisco will become a Gold sponsor of BIT for the Habitat and will contribute with knowledge in the form of human resources, thought leadership, case studies, foundation fees and networking infrastructure.
  • Cisco will collaborate withBarcelona City Council and BIT for the Habitat in the definition and development ofa new City Protocol, which aims to become a standard reference model for sustainable urban development.
  • Cisco is already a key technology Partner in the iCity project, a EU-funded initiative, led by Barcelona with the goal of fostering open innovation around the next generation of services of public interest.

City Protocol. Barcelona will work towards the development of a new protocol as a blueprint to define what a smart city should be in terms of key processes and indicators.

  • The City Protocol will be a city certification system which will enable the measurement of city efficiency and quality through indicators that assess structural, functional, sustainability and social criteria, with the aim of defining projects, processes and policies that promote progress in urban habitats in the short, medium and long term. The City Protocol has the potential to be adopted by any city worldwide and is already endorsed by MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
  • Cisco will collaborate with Barcelona City Council, BIT for the Habitat and other key partners to create this model that will serve as a global reference for governments, municipalities, planners and developers who want to convert their cities into "smart cities". The City Protocol will include white papers, standards, service descriptions and other Smart City models.
  • Cisco will focus on developing a technology reference architecture known as the City Cases Methodology that will define the ICT aspects of the Smart City Protocol and will be embedded into the overall City Protocol model.

Next-Generation City Services: Cisco will work with Barcelona City Council and a variety of global and local partners to develop and test new city services through field pilots in Barcelona.

  • The initial focus of City Services will be on developing seven pilots and a City Control Room over a common Service Delivery Platform and network architecture:

o   Pay per light. Apay per use model for city lighting in which the city pays for lumens as opposed to fixed infrastructure.

o   Self-sufficient city blocks for energy. Develop self sufficient energy blocks in cities by determining net consumers and producers and trading energy; develop a holistic map of energy usage in a city.

o   Energy monitoring of public buildings. Develop a real time analysis of energy consumption and monitoring for the 2.000 public buildings in Barcelona

o   Improve rain water use. Maximize the collection and use of phreatic water and rain water in the city.

o   Smart bus network. Develop network model for tracking new bus routes in the city and provide real time bus information to citizens.

o   Smart Parking for the city. Integrated parking solution for the city that incorporates sensors to provide real time visibility into open parking spaces in the city. Create new business models relating to public parking.

o   The Internet of the neighborhood. Promotion of social interaction by managing new relations between citizens, things and spaces, through the use of embedded information systems.

  • Cisco's collaboration on City Services and the BIT for the Habitat Foundation will be coordinated from the new Cisco Innovation Center that will be established in the new Smart City Campus located in the 22@ district of Barcelona in the next few months. The Innovation Center will:
    • Have resources to design, incubate and develop and prove out these pilots in a live implementation in the city.
    • Develop a new Urban Platform Reference Architecture to support new and existing City services, being a City-wide, pervasive, physical network infrastructure the key enabler for this platform.
    • Be supported with state-of-the-art network collaboration tools with the capacity to connect Barcelona with other technological innovation centers in the world.
    • Be staffed by Cisco and partner resources based on the required work.

Supporting Quotes:

  • Mayor of Barcelona, Xavier Trias: "Barcelona has a strong commitment to become a smart city and a show case for the rest of the world in sustainable urban development. Our collaboration with Cisco, its partners and third parties will allow us to enhance citizens' quality of life and reduce the cost of government operations while revitalizing our whole community and creating long-term economic growth through high-tech innovation and entrepreneurship".
  • Cisco Chairman and CEO, John Chambers:"When governments and businesses work together in partnership, there is unique opportunity for innovation and growth.  Through their 2020 Vision, the City of Barcelona is seizing this opportunity to use technology to drive economic and social transformation and become a model for the world.  I commend Barcelona for their initiative and am proud to have Cisco as a key partner in this effort."
  • Deputy Mayor for Urban Habitat Barcelona City Council, Antoni Vives: "Barcelona is becoming the first city to measure the degree of sustainability and capacity to generate a higher-quality of life for its citizens. This recipe for what a smart city should become will be used not only to merge urbanism, ecology and IT to optimize city services, but also generate new revenue streams for service providers and cities around the world".
  • Barcelona Chief Architect, Vicente Guallart: "The city protocol" will promote the new economy of city innovation, by defining clear rules and principles about how to regenerate and create cities. It will be jointly developed by cities, companies, universities and organizations that will work togheter in order to define a new open global standard".
  • Jordi Botifoll, senior vice-president of Cisco for the South of Europe:"Growth, overcrowding, budget constraints and inadequate infrastructures are putting increasing pressure on cities, states, and countries. Transforming the way these spaces are designed, built and renewed is key to ensure economic, social and environmental sustainability. Barcelona and Cisco share a unique and innovative vision and strategy to address this challenge adopting a global model for 21st-Century cities".
  • Anil Menon, president, Globalisation and Smart+Connected Communities for Cisco:"The Smart+Connected Communities initiative brings together a broad portfolio of partnerships, products and solutions using the network as the platform to converge different systems, protocols and services that will create significant opportunities for productivity, growth and innovation".

Additional resources:

  • More information on Cisco's Smart+Connected Communities initiative

http://www.cisco.com/go/smartconnectedcommunities

  • More information on Cisco's Unified Services Delivery Platform (SDP):

http://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontent&articleId=460192

About Cisco

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate.  Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com.  For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.

New IBM Smarter Buildings Analytics to Help CFOs Prepare for Major Accounting Shift

New IBM Smarter Buildings Analytics to Help CFOs Prepare for Major Accounting Shift

ARMONK, N.Y., March 2, 2012 /CNW/ - IBM (NYSE: IBM) today introduced new analytics software to help Chief Financial Officers and real estate executives accelerate preparedness for pending compliance rules for leased assets. More than 92 percent of senior executives surveyed in a new IBM study say they're not yet prepared to address these changes.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO )

Proposed accounting rules from the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), expected to be finalized in 2012, will require a company's leased assets – such as real estate, vehicles and other equipment – to be added to their balance sheet as a capital asset.

This means S&P 500 companies, for example, would have to list the value of their leases on the balance sheet, weighing them down with an estimated average of more than $1 billion in new assets. The pending regulation has the potential to dampen their financial performance as expressed in debt/equity ratios and return on assets. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) estimates the impact of these changes may approach $1.25 trillion dollars for U.S. publicly traded companies.(1)

IBM today is issuing new software to help companies manage this major accounting change. IBM TRIRIGA software has new analytics that delivers visibility into balance sheet and income statement impact; financial assumptions and audit controls for both real estate and equipment leases; and automates management review and approval processes, specifically to help companies navigate the proposed regulation.

The new software also delivers strategic facility scenario modeling to increase return on leased real property assets. With a global view, the software can:

  • Provide operational controls such as critical date alerts, payment processing and financial assumptions for leased real estate and equipment assets in a single technology platform.
  • Provide balance sheet and income statement analysis of complex real estate lease decisions, such as 10 years with two renewal options versus 20 years, for instance.
  • Help predict future demand for space and display gaps between demand and availability of real estate space.

These types of analytics are critical as an IBM study issued today shows 92 percent of those surveyed believe they are not prepared to implement the pending rules. The IBM survey, conducted by CFO Research Services, a research group sponsored by CFO Publishing, polled 179 senior executives from global companies with revenue in excess of US$1 billion.

Survey Highlights Lease Accounting Challenges
The IBM survey indicates the proposed rules will require considerable changes to companies' operating and finance strategies. Seventy-nine percent anticipate moderate or substantial changes to accounting policies, processes and practices, while a majority also expects related operational strategies for real estate (53 percent). Sixty-three percent of companies expect changes in information management systems to comply with the pending rules.

Specifically, the new survey, "Beyond the Balance Sheet: Opening the Book on the New Lease Accounting Standards" also found that:

  • About half exhibit the most concern over worsening in debt/equity ratios and return on assets.
  • Sixty percent say that they will need to make some level of change in planning, budgeting and forecasting systems, while half (49 percent) expect new or upgraded business intelligence systems.
  • Sixty percent anticipate the need for changes or new software to enterprise asset management systems, while 56 percent expect to address real estate and facilities management systems.
  • Seventy-four percent agree that their companies will need to conduct additional training to adapt to the new lease accounting standard.
  • More than half feel they will need significant time to prepare for the proposed standards with 58 percent predicting six months to two years.

"As companies are hit with the new financial regulations, we see that most firms are concerned about their readiness to abide by the lease accounting changes," said George Ahn, vice president of Enterprise Asset Management, IBM. "We predict that the pending IASB/FASB regulations will spark companies to manage their leased buildings, vehicles and equipment as meticulously as they have traditionally managed their overall financial investment portfolio, with an increased focus on asset efficiency. At IBM, we have worked closely with progressive companies to understand the impacts, and are prepared and excited to help companies meet this new need."

Beyond compliance with the proposed regulation, IBM is broadening its reach by making its software available in global languages to increase productivity and ease of use for companies with worldwide operations. This globalization is the next step in accelerating IBM's growth in the smarter buildings market since the company's acquisition of TRIRIGA.

For more information on the lease accounting survey and IBM TRIRIGA software go to:

About the Proposed Lease Accounting Standard
The proposed rules are being released by the International Accounting Standards Board and Financial Accounting Standards Board, who are regulators for the U.S., Europe and many other countries.

Companies realize that compliance will take significant effort as it increases the complexity of lease accounting with new requirements for the management and tracking of financial assumptions of leased assets and real estate.

About IBM Smarter Buildings
Since launching its Smarter Buildings initiative in February 2010, IBM has created a portfolio of smarter buildings solutions that integrate with building automation software from across the industry. IBM's real-time monitoring and analysis, facilities and space management capabilities, and advanced dynamic dashboards helps property owners and managers reduce facilities operations and energy expense, and improve asset management and reliability. Through IBM's acquisition of TRIRIGA, IBM accelerated efforts to bring intelligence in the smarter buildings market. IBM's smarter building solutions help clients listen to data generated by facilities. By collecting, managing, and analyzing data IBM helps clients gain intelligence and insight to energy, space and facilities management. TRIRIGA strengthens IBM's smarter buildings solutions by adding key functions such as real estate, facility and energy management software solutions.

(1) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, "Report and Recommendations Pursuant to Section 401(c) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 On Arrangements with Off-Balance Sheet Implications, Special Purpose Entities, and Transparency of Filings by Issuers", page 64, http://www.sec.gov/news/studies/soxoffbalancerpt.pdf, 2005

Contact information
Kara Yi
IBM Media Relations
415-545-6742
kyi@us.ibm.com

SOURCE IBM

Risky Business: Most Companies Fault Human Error for Data Breaches

Risky Business: Most Companies Fault Human Error for Data Breaches

New Research by Ponemon Institute and Trend Micro

OTTAWA, March 5, 2012 /CNW/ - Employee carelessness or malevolence is often the root cause of many data breaches, according to a new report - "The Human Factor in Data Protection" - from the Ponemon Institute and sponsored by Trend Micro Inc. (TYO: 4704;TSE: 4704), a global cloud security leader. Over 78 percent of respondents blame employee behaviors, both intentional and accidental, for at least one data breach within their organizations over the past two years. Click here for the full report.

The top three root causes of these data breaches are:

  • Loss of a laptop or other mobile data-bearing devices (35 percent),
  • Third party mishaps or flubs1 (32 percent)
  • System glitches (29 percent).

While human error may be viewed as the root cause, nearly 70 percent of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that their organization's current security activities are not enough to stop a targeted attack or hacker, according to the Study authors who recently surveyed 709 experienced IT and IT security practitioners based in the United States.

The Report reveals that even when employees make unintentional mistakes, most of these breaches are only discovered accidentally, according to 56 percent of respondents. Only 19 percent of respondents say that employees self-reported the data breach, making it difficult to promptly resolve the breach. Thirty-seven percent say that an audit or assessment revealed the incident and 36 percent say that data protection technologies revealed the breach.

Employees of small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) reported to be more likely to engage in "risky" behavior:  58 percent of them will or have already opened attachments or web-links in spam, versus 39 percent from enterprises; 77 percent will or have already left their computer unattended, as did 62 percent from their enterprise counterparts. The survey also found that more than half (55 percent) of SMB employees were likely to visit off-limit websites, compared to 43 percent of enterprise employees.

"Our conclusion is that most threats posed by employees and those within companies are becoming more prevalent because of the mobility of the workforce, proliferation of mobile data-bearing devices, consumerization of IT, and the use of social media in the workplace. We saw that most surveyed believe their companies are not doing enough to ensure a more effective security infrastructure against hackers and targeted attacks. Combined with data-centric security technology, education and awareness among employees are essential," said Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of Ponemon Institute.

"We help companies and their employees approach security with a new mindset, putting the focus on "data-centric" security that integrates threat and data protection capabilities.  This approach means that companies know who is accessing what data, when, where and how," says Ian Gordon, Trend Micro Canada's Director of Marketing and Channel.

According to the findings of the study, the following are the top 10 "risky" practices employees routinely engage in:

  1. Connecting computers to the Internet through an unsecured wireless network.
  2. Not deleting information on their computer when no longer necessary.
  3. Sharing passwords with others.
  4. Reusing the same password and username on different websites.
  5. Using generic USB drives not encrypted or safeguarded by other means.
  6. Leaving computers unattended when outside the workplace.
  7. Losing a USB drive and not immediately notifying their IT department
  8. Working on a laptop when traveling and not using a privacy screen.
  9. Carrying unnecessary sensitive information on a laptop when traveling.
  10. Using personally owned mobile devices that connect to their organization's network.
How safe is your business? Trend Micro's Data Risk Calculator allows you to quickly identify the risk level for your data and how your risk compares to other similar organizations. To use the free online data risk calculator, please visit: http://www.trendmicro.com/datariskcalculator

Recommendations for business and their employees to help minimize data risks:

  • Create awareness among employees about the need to spend time and effort on data protection activities.
  • Ensure data protection policies address areas where an organization is most vulnerable to a data breach.
  • Investigate cost effective and efficient governance and technology solutions such as email based data loss prevention, email encryption and secure file sharing.
  • Make sure those who are given privileged user status are knowledgeable about the risks.
  • Require immediate notification if a mobile device containing sensitive and confidential information is lost or stolen.
  • Create responsible policies for the use of social media in the workplace.

Supporting assets:

For the full report:

http://www.trendmicro.com/cloud-content/us/pdfs/security-intelligence/reports/rpt_trend-micro_ponemon-survey-2012.pdf

For the executive summary, please visit:

http://www.trendmicro.com/cloud-content/us/pdfs/security-intelligence/reports/rpt_trend-micro_ponemon-executive-summary.pdf

Methodology

The study surveyed 709 IT and IT security practitioners (hereafter referred to as IT practitioners) based in the United States. On average, respondents have more than 10 years of relevant experience. Only IT practitioners who have some level of responsibility for data protection in the organization participated in this study. Forty-five percent of respondents are at the manager level or higher in the organization. Seventy-eight percent are in organizations with a headcount between 100 and 5,000. Ponemon also examined differences with respect to the human factor risk between organizations that are larger (those with a headcount of more than 100) and smaller organizations (referred to as a small-to-medium sized business or SMB).

About Trend Micro

Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704;TSE: 4704), a global cloud security leader, creates a world safe for exchanging digital information with its Internet content security and threat management solutions for businesses and consumers.

About the Ponemon Institute:

The Ponemon Institute© is dedicated to advancing responsible information and privacy management practices in business and government. To achieve this objective, the Institute conducts independent research, educates leaders from the private and public sectors, and verifies the privacy and data protection practices of organizations in a variety of industries.

________________________

1 Defined by Ponemon as when a third party vendor has another company's data that is stolen or lost by the vendor, not the original entity, and cause of data loss is unknown.

 

For further information:

Media Contact: Claire M. Tallarico 416 616 9940

Gartner Says Hybrid IT is Transforming the Role of IT

Gartner Says Hybrid IT is Transforming the Role of IT

Special Report Shows Hybrid IT Challenges Longstanding Practices of IT Organizations and Business Models of Traditional IT Vendors

STAMFORD, Conn., March 5, 2012—

Hybrid IT is transforming IT architectures and the role of IT itself, according to Gartner, Inc. Hybrid IT is the result of combining internal and external services, usually from a combination of internal and public clouds, in support of a business outcome.

In the Gartner Special Report, "Hybrid IT: How Internal and External Cloud Services are Transforming IT" (http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/technical-professionals/hybrid-cloud.jsp), analysts explained that hybrid IT relies on new technologies to connect clouds, sophisticated approaches to data classification and identity, and service-oriented architecture, and heralds significant change for IT practitioners.

"Many organizations have now passed the definitional stage of cloud computing and are testing cloud architectures inside and outside the enterprise and over time, the cloud will simply become one of the ways that we 'do' computing, and workloads will move around in hybrid internal/external IT environments," said Chris Howard, managing vice president at Gartner. "As a result, the traditional role of the enterprise IT professional is changing and becoming multifaceted. A hybrid IT model requires internal and external IT professionals to support the business capabilities of the enterprise."

Cloud computing's business model — the ability to rapidly provision IT services without large capital expenditures — is appealing to budget-minded executives. CEOs and CIOs are pressuring IT organizations to lower overhead by offloading services to cloud providers. However, when IT organizations investigate potential cloud services, the market's volatility reveals that not all cloud services are created equal.

"IT organizations are taking an 'adopt and go' strategy to satisfy internal customer IT consumerization and democratization requirements," Mr. Howard said. "Many IT organizations are adopting public cloud computing for noncritical IT services such as development and test applications, or for turnkey software as a service (SaaS) applications such as Web analytics and CRM that can holistically replace internal applications and enable access for a mobile workforce."

For critical applications and data, IT organizations have not adopted public cloud computing as quickly. Many IT organizations discover that public cloud service providers (CSPs) cannot meet the security requirements, integrate with enterprise management, or guarantee availability necessary to host critical applications. Therefore, organizations continue to own and operate internal IT services that house critical applications and data.

However, the public cloud has affected internal customers. Because of the pervasive growth of public clouds, many business units and internal customers have used and grown accustomed to IT as a service and have built business processes and budget plans with cloud computing in mind. Now these internal customers are demanding that IT organizations build internal private clouds that not only house critical applications, but also provide a self-service, quickly provisioned, showback-based IT consumption model.

"IT organizations that do not match the request for IT as a service run the risk of internal customers bypassing the IT organization and consuming IT services from the external cloud, thereby placing the company at greater risk," said Mr. Howard. "IT organizations realize that they not only need to compete with the public cloud consumption model, but also must serve as the intermediary between their internal customers and all IT services — whether internal or external."

IT organizations are becoming the broker to a set of IT services that are hosted partially internally and partially externally — hybrid IT architecture. By being the intermediary of IT services, IT organizations can offer internal customers the price, capacity and speed of provisioning of the external cloud while maintaining the security and governance the company requires, and reducing IT service costs.

This model of service delivery challenges both the longstanding practices of IT organizations and the business models of traditional IT vendors. Gartner expects that most organizations will maintain a core set of primary service providers (cloud and noncloud) extended by an ecosystem of edge providers who fulfill specific solution requirements.

"Hybrid IT is the new IT and it is here to stay. While the cloud market matures, IT organizations must adopt a hybrid IT strategy that not only builds internal clouds to house critical IT services and compete with public CSPs, but also utilizes the external cloud to house noncritical IT services and data, augment internal capacity, and increase IT agility," said Mr. Howard. "Hybrid IT creates symmetry between internal and external IT services that will force an IT and business paradigm shift for years to come."

Additional information is available in the Gartner Special Report "Hybrid IT: How Internal and External Cloud Services are Transforming IT" at http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/technical-professionals/hybrid-cloud.jsp. The Special Report includes video commentary of more than a dozen reports examining the various elements of Hybrid IT.

 

Contact:

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.

Microsoft Partner Network Announces Small Business Competency

Microsoft Partner Network Announces Small Business Competency
New competency will increase market opportunities for Microsoft partners and help drive adoption of cloud solutions, fostering growth within the small-business segment.

REDMOND, Wash. — March 1, 2012 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the upcoming launch of the Small Business Competency within the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN). This new Small Business Competency is dedicated to showcasing the expertise of partners that provide the most current Microsoft technology solutions to help small businesses with their unique business needs. With a special emphasis on cloud services, the Small Business Competency builds on the strength of the MPN in helping customers identify the most skilled technology professionals with the demonstrated ability to recommend and deliver high-quality technology solutions.

For Microsoft partners who want to be leaders in the small-business marketplace, earning silver or gold in the Small Business Competency will enable them to expand their customer base and differentiate their expertise to customers regarding Microsoft solutions such as Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Windows Small Business Server 2011 and Microsoft Office 365.

The goal of the new competency, designed and based on partner input and feedback, is to enable partners to seize the huge market opportunity represented by the worldwide addressable software market for small and midsize businesses (SMBs), of which cloud services represents a growing share. Microsoft will launch the competency in June 2012 and expects it to become one of the largest MPN partner-obtained competencies.

“As the cloud opportunity continues to expand and mature in the small-business segment, this new competency will enable each Small Business Competency partner to have a cloud conversation with each of their customers,” said Jon Roskill, corporate vice president, Worldwide Partner Group at Microsoft. “It offers partners world-class value, service and support from Microsoft to help increase their profitability when marketing, selling and servicing key SMB products for customers and furthers our mission of building a high-quality partner ecosystem focused on driving breakthrough growth for end customers.”

For Microsoft partners that are leading the migration to the cloud and want to grow their business, the Small Business Competency also provides a competitive advantage via a wealth of benefits and resources, including Microsoft’s strong brand recognition. The Small Business Competency will enhance the marketing, sales and technical capabilities of partners serving small-business customers who are currently moving, or in the future may move, their IT services to the cloud.

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

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.