Five Ontario early-stage businesses receive support

Five Ontario early-stage businesses receive support

TORONTO, Dec. 12, 2011 /CNW/ - MaRS announces support for five Ontario businesses through the Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF), a program that provides an equity-type investment to businesses that develop and bring to market innovative new technologies or services.

The IAF and its related program, the Investment Accelerator Fund-Life Sciences (IAF-LS), support the launch and development of innovative companies in Ontario's priority sectors: advanced materials and manufacturing, information technology, cleantech and life sciences. The IAF support also helps these businesses to attract additional investment.

The IAF has committed to supporting each of the following businesses:

  • Verold: This software company has developed a content creation platform that significantly reduces the time required to create ready-to-animate 3D content for media consumption (games, web content and AR/VR worlds).
  • FuturestateIT: The company offers a SaaS solution called AppRx that automates the monitoring and testing of applications to ensure they are kept current, compatible and compliant with changes in the IT environment.
  • SurfEasy: SurfEasy has developed a USB key that improves Internet privacy and security through password protection and encryption. The USB key securely stores the user's web history, bookmarks and passwords, ensuring no personal data is left behind on the computer or network.
  • GreenMantra: GreenMantra uses a proprietary catalyst to economically produce commercial quality waxes and fuels by recycling plastics. The company's pilot facility is now consistently producing waxes that have been evaluated by over 20 potential customers.

The IAF-LS fund supports businesses that have the potential to be global leaders in their field, provide sustainable economic benefits to Ontario and create new products and services that meet patient needs and deliver better health care. The fund has committed to providing an equity-type investment in the following business:

  • Interface Biologics: Interface Biologics Inc. (IBI) is a privately held, early-stage company that develops transformative biomedical polymer technology to improve the safety and effectiveness of medical devices. The company focuses on 1) anti-thrombogenic additives that reduce thrombosis without the need for heparin and 2) programmable combination drug delivery devices.

"The IAF is proud to support these early-stage companies. Their innovative technologies, products and services enable their strong management teams to build businesses with sustainable competitive advantages," says Barry Gekiere, IAF Managing Director. "We support our portfolio companies with access to capital and a network of market and sector connections."

"The IAF investment will help us achieve a critical milestone on our path to becoming a major global player in the realm of 3D digital content creation and virtual worlds creation, including games. With this support, we will be able to significantly accelerate our time to market, hopefully moving far ahead of our competitors," said Jad Yaghi, CEO of Verold.

"We are very pleased that the IAF-LS has chosen IBI as one of the limited number of life sciences companies they are funding," said Tom Reeves, President and CEO of Interface Biologics. "This underscores IBI's historical success and future opportunities. In particular, we are excited about investigating the use of our technology platforms in ophthalmology applications - a large and growing market with significant unmet needs."

"The McGuinty government understands that to compete with other jurisdictions around the world, we have to continue to make innovation the driver of the Ontario economy," said Brad Duguid, Minister of Economic Development and Innovation. "The IAF program is helping to build a stronger economy and creating jobs and prosperity for Ontario families. With this support, the companies will be able to attract follow-on investment and have the potential to create more than 70 new, high-value jobs over the next two years."

About the Investment Accelerator Fund
The Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF) (Twitter: @MaRSIAF) invests in qualified emerging companies in Ontario using an equity-type instrument. As a critical component of the Ontario Network of Excellence (ONE), the IAF supports the launch and development of innovative businesses in Ontario's priority sectors of advanced materials and manufacturing, information technology, cleantech and life sciences. The IAF is funded by the Government of Ontario and delivered by MaRS.

About Investment Accelerator Fund-Life Sciences
The Investment Accelerator Fund-Life Sciences (IAF-LS) helps accelerate the growth of life sciences companies in Ontario. Using an equity-type investment, the fund supports businesses that have the potential to be global leaders in their field and provide sustainable economic benefits to Ontario. IAF-LS helps innovative life sciences companies turn their discoveries into new products and services that meet patient needs and deliver better health care.

About MaRS
MaRS Discovery District (www.marsdd.com) (Twitter: @MaRSDD) is a mission-driven innovation centre located in Toronto. MaRS works with partners to catalyze, accelerate and amplify innovation. MaRS supports entrepreneurs building Canada's next generation of growth companies.

For further information:

Chris Stevenson
Director, Communications
(416) 673-8104
cstevenson@marsdd.com

WatchGuard Unveils Top 10 Security Predictions for 2012

WatchGuard Unveils Top 10 Security Predictions for 2012

SEATTLE (December 12, 2011) – WatchGuard Technologies

Highlights / News Facts:
WatchGuard Technologies' security analysts provide their 2012 security predictions:

Keywords:

Network security, APT, cloud security, BYOD, hacktivists, SCADA, geolocation, Facebook, malware, virtualization, web security

Quotes:


About WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.
Since 1996, WatchGuard® Technologies, Inc. has been the advanced technology leader of business security solutions, providing mission-critical protection to hundreds of thousands of businesses worldwide. The WatchGuard family of wired and wireless unified threat management appliances, messaging, content security and SSL VPN remote access solutions provide extensible network, application and data protection, as well as unparalleled network visibility, management and control. WatchGuard products are backed by WatchGuard LiveSecurity® Service, an innovative support, maintenance, and education program. WatchGuard is headquartered in Seattle and has offices serving North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. To learn more, visit www.watchguard.com.

Contacts:
Jimme Peters
24/7 Consulting
503.289.5354

Research Exposes Security Risks of Mismanaged User Access – HP

Research Exposes Security Risks of Mismanaged User Access – HP

Security intelligence solutions critical to reining in policy enforcement lapses

PALO ALTO, Calif., Dec. 12, 2011

HP today unveiled new global research that reports increased threats to sensitive and confidential workplace data are created by a lack of control and oversight of privileged users, including database administrators, network engineers and IT security practitioners.(1)  

Key findings of “The Insecurity of Privileged Users” study, conducted by the Ponemon Institute, revealed that:

  • Fifty-two percent of respondents indicated that they are at least likely to be provided with access to restricted, confidential information beyond the requirements of their position.
  • More than 60 percent reported that privileged users access sensitive or confidential data out of curiosity, not job function.
  • Customer information and general business data are at the highest risk, and the most threatened applications included mobile, social media and business unit specific applications.

Many respondents claimed to have well-defined policies for individuals with privileged access rights to specific IT systems. However, almost 40 percent were unsure about enterprise-wide visibility into specific rights,    or whether those with privileged access rights met compliance policies.

Organizations attempt to maintain control over the issue in different ways. Twenty-seven percent say their organizations use technology-based identity and access controls to detect the sharing of system administration access rights or root-level access rights by privileged users, and 24 percent say they combine technology with process. However, 15 percent admit access is not really controlled and 11 percent say they are unable to detect sharing of access rights.

“This study spotlights risks that organizations don’t view with the same tenacity as critical patches, perimeter defense and other security issues, yet it represents a major access point to sensitive information,” said Tom Reilly, vice president and general manager, Enterprise Security Products, HP. “The results clearly emphasize the need for better access policy management, as well as advanced security intelligence solutions, such as identity and privileged user context, to improve core security monitoring.”

The global survey focused on more than 5,000 IT operations and security managers across the Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom and United States. Other key findings include:

  • Top barriers to enforcing privileged user access rights are the inability to keep pace with change requests, inconsistent approval processes, high costs of monitoring and difficulty in validating access changes.
  • Areas for improvement include monitoring privileged users’ access when entering root-level administrative activity, identifying policy violations and enforcing policies across an entire organization.
  • The potential for privileged access abuse varies from country to country based on responses, with France, Hong Kong and Italy having the greatest potential, and Germany, Japan and Singapore having the least. 
  • Nearly 80 percent of respondents reported that deploying a security information and event management (SIEM) solution was critical to governing, managing and controlling privileged user access rights.

“The intent of the study is to provide a better understanding of the state of access governance in global organizations and the likelihood privileged users will abuse or misuse IT resources,” said Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder, Ponemon Institute. “The findings demonstrate key areas of concern, and clearly identify budget, identity and access management technologies, and network intelligence technologies as the three most critical success factors for governing, managing and controlling privileged user access across the enterprise.”

HP enables comprehensive security intelligence and control over privileged user management through its Security Intelligence Platform, which helps businesses in their pursuit of an Instant-On Enterprise. In a world of continuous connectivity, the Instant-On Enterprise embeds technology in everything it does to serve customers, employees, partners and citizens with their business solutions needs.

HP Security Intelligence Platform is a key component of the HP IT Performance Suite, which enables IT management to improve the performance of operational intelligence. The HP IT Performance Suite delivers a comprehensive view across IT assets, automates IT management and adjusts IT performance to meet specific business enterprise goals.

On Tuesday, Dec. 13, at 10 a.m. PT, HP Enterprise Security will host a webinar highlighting findings from “The Insecurity of Privileged Users” study. Additional details and registration are available here.

About HP

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

Fluke Networks' AirMagnet Spectrum XT Redefines Interference Identification and Classification on a Wireless Network

 

 

Fluke Networks’ AirMagnet Spectrum XT Redefines Interference Identification and Classification on a Wireless Network

 

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario – December 12, 2011Fluke Networks today announced a new version of AirMagnet Spectrum XT that provides breakthrough interference identification and classification capabilities, simplifying wireless LAN (WLAN) engineers’ efforts to track down devices that are blocking enterprise WLANs from operating properly.

 

The new Auto Pattern Detection feature automatically highlights unclassified repeating spectrum patterns from non-WLAN Radio Frequency (RF) interference sources.  Engineers can then easily create custom signatures for future alerts to identify those sources of interference, reducing the time and cost associated with troubleshooting. AirMagnet Spectrum XT is then able to automatically scan, alert and report on those previously identified interference sources.

 

“In a recent customer survey, 82 percent tell us they’re encountering WLAN performance problems caused by non-WLAN sources of interference – and 63 percent are not able to identify the source,” said Chia-Chee Kuan, vice president of the Fluke Networks WLAN business unit. “Spectrum XT analyzer’s ability to automatically detect unknown RF interference patterns and give engineers the tools to create customized signatures for future alerts is directly targeted at resolving this issue and saves IT staff time and money.”

 

These enhanced RF interference troubleshooting capabilities are already paying off for Tim Dennehy, an independent wireless engineer that works with leading universities and organizations. “I consult on a large WLAN campus that is constantly impacted by staff and student devices and technology. Finding sources of interference that impact our WLAN is a constant challenge. The zero-day detection capability in Spectrum XT helps me eliminate the guesswork associated with finding these types of non-WLAN interference and allows me to classify them so I can instantly identify and remediate in the future,” Dennehy said.

 

“With Wi-Fi use growing 35 percent* each year in the U.S. alone, and with the incredible increase in the number of devices that can cause WLAN interference, we couldn’t be more excited about bringing the next generation of Spectrum XT to market for our customers,” Kuan said. “Whether our IT management customers are racing to identify unknown devices, identifying known devices and addressing them, or reporting out overall issues with an easy, integrated reporting function, these upgrades are part of our ongoing commitment to ensure we’re helping them meet the latest challenges head-on.”

 

The new version of Fluke Networks’ AirMagnet Spectrum XT is available now. For customers with valid support agreements, the new version is available as a no-cost upgrade.

 

About Fluke Networks
Fluke Networks is the world-leading provider of network test and monitoring solutions to speed the deployment and improve the performance of networks and applications. Leading enterprises and service providers trust Fluke Networks’ products and expertise to help solve today’s toughest issues and emerging challenges in WLAN security, mobility, unified communications and data centers. Based in Everett, Wash., the company distributes products in more than 50 countries. For more information, visit www.FlukeNetworks.com or call (800) 363-5853.

 

* Canalys Enterprise Networking Analysis Study, September 2011

 

 

 

Protect Your Customers Credit Card Information This Holiday Season with TITUS Aware

 

Protect Your Customers Credit Card Information This Holiday Season with TITUS Aware

Free version helps organizations protect sensitive customer and employee information

 

December 12, 2011 (Ottawa, Ontario)TITUS, a leading provider of security and compliance solutions for email, documents, and SharePoint, today announced the availability of a free limited version of TITUS Aware. This free download allows organizations to prevent the accidental leakage of personally identifiable information, such as credit card and social security numbers. 

 

Integrated into Microsoft Outlook, TITUS Aware, which received a four star review in SC Magazine, complements an organization’s data loss prevention strategy by involving the most important part of security: the user. TITUS Aware prevents email leaks of sensitive information by bringing user driven security to the desktop, where users are given the ability to remediate potential leaks before they happen.

 

The functionality included with this free limited version of TITUS Aware is designed to assist organizations in preventing inadvertent email leaks of personally identifiable information (PII), including credit card numbers, Social Security Numbers (SSN), Employer Identification Numbers (EIN), Medicare Number, Social Insurance Number (SIN), among others.

 

“Businesses know the importance of protecting the personal information of their customers and employees from leaking out, but sometimes are unsure of the right way to go about preventing this information from being inadvertently emailed outside of the organization,” said Charlie Pulfer, Vice President of Product Management with TITUS. “Using this free version of  TITUS Aware, organizations can get a feel for how this software works, how easy it is to get up and running, and how effective it is in protecting sensitive information.”

 

TITUS Aware protects businesses from inadvertent data breaches by validating emails for policy violations – such as including a credit card number or other personal information in an email - before the email leaves the desktop.  By validating the content of the email, TITUS Aware ensures that organizations are sharing the right information with the right people.

 

Key Benefits:

·         Protect the business against accidental data loss, while sharing the right information with the right suppliers, partners, and customers.

·         Provide users with a warning before emails leave the desktop, allowing them to remedy leaks before they happen.

·         Complement the overall DLP strategy of organizations with user driven email security that is transparently integrated into Microsoft Outlook.

·         Keep customer information and PII confidential, allowing businesses to maintain the trust of their customers.

 

Pricing and Availability

This free limited version of TITUS Aware is now available for download at http://www.titus.com/software/aware/pii_scenario.php.

 

 

About TITUS
TITUS is the leading provider of security and compliance software that helps organizations share information securely while meeting policy and compliance requirements. Our solutions enable military, government, and large enterprises to classify information and meet regulatory compliance by visually alerting end users to the sensitivity of information. Products include
TITUS Classification, the leading message, document and file classification and labeling solutions that enhance data loss prevention by involving end users in identifying sensitive information; and the TITUS family of classification and security solutions for Microsoft SharePoint. TITUS solutions are deployed to over 1.5 million users within our over 300 military, government and enterprise customers worldwide, including Dow Corning, United States Air Force, NATO, G4S, Paternoster, Pratt and Whitney, Canadian Department of National Defence, Australian Department of Defence, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. For more information, visit www.titus.com and the TITUS Data Security and Compliance blog.

 

 

-30-

 

Media Contact:

Nicole Baker

PR Manager – TITUS

Phone: 613-820-5111 x155

Mobile: 613-862-4316

nicole.baker@titus.com

Twitter: @titus

 

TITUS named 2011 COOL VENDOR by Gartner

This message has been marked as General Business by Nicole Baker on December-12-11 1:08:29 PM.
The above classification labels were added to the message by TITUS Message Classification.
Visit www.titus.com for more information.

Gartner Says CIOs Must Assess the Impacts of the Euro Crisis on Their Enterprises Now

Gartner Says CIOs Must Assess the Impacts of the Euro Crisis on Their Enterprises Now

Analysts Highlight Four Broad Challenges That the Euro Crisis Raises, and How CIOs Can Address Those Challenges

STAMFORD, Conn., December 12, 2011—  

                    With extreme uncertainty plaguing all enterprises operating in the eurozone, CIOs must act immediately to protect their enterprises, according to Gartner, Inc. CIOs need to safeguard their enterprises from the risks of government/bank default, euro break-up, counterparty bankruptcy and employee/customer distress. 

"Uniquely positioned within their enterprises, CIOs are at the fulcrum of business and technology, and they are the only executives with sufficient visibility and potential capability to address the challenges posed by today's eurozone crisis," said David Furlonger, vice president and Gartner Fellow. "Business leaders are crying out for CIOs to demonstrate more effectively the capability of IT and, specifically, to add value to the business. Therefore, this crisis also presents CIOs with an opportunity to make substantial and bold steps to meet CEO demands, and demonstrate the importance and true value of IT."

"Unlike recent economic difficulties, today's crisis has the potential to totally undermine the eurozone, the whole EU and beyond," said Andrea Di Maio, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. "Spurred on by the pervasiveness of the Internet, the crisis negatively affects every enterprise or individual doing business in or with the region. The CIO's top responsibility is to guarantee business continuity."

Gartner analysts said there are four broad challenges that the euro crisis raises, and they examined how the CIO is best positioned to provide enterprise leadership on addressing those challenges. These challenges include:

Challenge 1: Market Volatility
Most enterprises and their IT departments are burdened with significant numbers of bureaucratic processes and latent decision-making mechanisms. Today's market conditions require business and government executives to radically restructure their business practices.

"Market conditions require CIOs to help develop a working environment that promotes speed, agility and adaptability — without sacrificing accountability," Mr. Di Maio said. "Change management capabilities will be critical. The foundation to achieve effective change management will demand information, analytics, HR flexibility and a more decentralized command-and-control management structure."

Challenge 2: Capital Costs
The costs of and access to capital across Europe will likely continue to worsen until there is a significant redress in structural imbalances between countries and organizations. Unwillingness or inability to write off debt and restructure public- and private-sector balance sheets is a substantial barrier to market efficiency. Lines of credit will likely become uncertain or removed, forcing corporations to reduce inventory.

"In this situation, CIOs will face zero-growth budgeting at best, and substantial reductions in both the investment capital and the operational budget made available to run the business at worst," Mr. Furlonger said. "If a market meltdown occurs, then critical resources and supplies may be at risk. CIOs and other executives must develop contingency plans to ensure multiple backups."

Challenge 3: Human Capital Management
Millions of people are out of work in Europe. Formal government austerity packages and informal corporate restrictions on salaries, benefits and working conditions, combined with high costs of living, are stressing workforces. This situation is compounded by retirement funding shortfalls, extensions in the working age and loss of benefits.

"CIOs and business executives face significant HR issues in terms of rewarding and motivating staff, securing funds to hire appropriate new talent, and dealing with the personnel hardships of individuals entering the work environment, which impair productivity," Mr. Di Maio said. "They must also plan for retention issues of foreign workers moving to better opportunities or the removal of non-EU work permits and visas in response to political backlash from rapidly rising unemployment, resulting in a 'brain drain'."

Challenge 4: Risk Management
The capital markets (and many corporations) believe that the risk of government and counterparty default is substantial. Receivables management is being stressed, and the likelihood of internal and external fraud rises. From an IT standpoint, operational risk is heightened via issues such as changes in contractual obligations and business continuity. Added to this is the continued increase in regulatory compliance initiatives across industries, which exacerbate the pressure on audit and risk management assessments and workflows.

"Prior to the crisis, enterprises were already challenged to identify enterprisewide risks in a holistic fashion to link those risks to the performance of the business and to manage risk in a time-effective manner," Mr. Furlonger said. "Now, the CIO — and corporate treasurer, head trader, CFO and others — need to ask questions such as, 'Can existing risk models accommodate alternatives to the lack of historical data (in many cases, as much as three years of back data is required) necessary for regression testing/yield curve analysis of hedges, and for stressing asset and liability portfolios in the event of a redenomination in all or part of their asset and liability portfolio?"

More information is available in the Gartner report, "CIOs Should Address the Impacts of the Euro Crisis on Their Enterprises Now." The report is on Gartner's website at http://www.gartner.com/resId=1867317.

Mr. Furlonger and Mr. Di Maio will provide additional analysis during the complimentary Gartner webinar, "Euro Crisis: Plan Now to Minimize Impact on IT and Business," on January 19, 2012, at 9 a.m. EST and noon EST. To register for this free webinar, please visit http://my.gartner.com/webinardetail/resId=1870520.

Contacts:

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

Holly Stevens
Gartner
+44 0 1784 267412
holly.stevens@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.

Websense Joins the Global Network Initiative

Websense Joins the Global Network Initiative

Posted: Dec 8, 2011 The Global Network Initiative is pleased to announce that Websense, a global provider of web, data, and email security, will become the fifth company to join GNI. Websense joins four other GNI company members, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, and Evoca.

“By committing to GNI’s principles on freedom of expression and privacy, Websense is demonstrating that there is a responsible way for companies in the business of web filtering to work collectively with civil society organizations, investors, and academics to uphold human rights and fight censorship,” said GNI Executive Director Susan Morgan.

Websense is an enterprise security company that allows customers to protect against security risks, preserve network bandwidth, and maintain regulatory and workplace compliance. The company has roots in web filtering, which enables organizations to maintain compliance and productivity by determining what content their users can access in the workplace. But Websense has a strict policy against selling to governments or Internet service providers (ISPs) that engage in government-mandated censorship, except in the case of prohibiting minors from accessing pornography and prohibiting child pornography. Technology that empowers end users, including individuals and private organizations, to control the content available on private networks is an important means of controlling unwanted content while minimizing restrictions on free expression.
 
"We are gratified to be accepted into GNI, and we are excited that we’ll be able to work together to help the organization achieve its goals,” said Michael Newman, General Counsel and Interim CFO, Websense. “We believe that companies have an obligation to ensure the appropriate use of their technology and we are committed to the principle that broad public access to information and the freedom to create and communicate ideas are critical to the advancement of knowledge, economic opportunity, and human potential.”

"By agreeing to abide by GNI's principles and monitoring, we hope that Websense will set an example for other companies in the ICT filtering and security sector and send the message that human rights, transparency and accountability matter,” said Arvind Ganesan, Director of Business and Human Rights at Human Rights Watch and GNI Board member. “This is a critical moment for the sector as a steady stream of very troubling revelations about the extensive use of such technologies by abusive governments to censor or spy on their citizens has focused attention on it."

Polycom Provides Broadest Range of UC Solutions Interoperable with Microsoft(R) Lync™, including Polycom(R) HD Video and Voice™ Solutions

Polycom Provides Broadest Range of UC Solutions Interoperable with Microsoft® Lync, including Polycom® HD Video and Voice Solutions

From Polycom® CX7000 – the first room video collaboration solution custom-built for full integration with Microsoft Lync – to multi-purpose phones, expanded integration and interoperability with Lync helps create seamless UC experiences for employees, partners, and customers

PLEASANTON, Calif. - Dec 05, 2011 : Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM), the global leader in standards-based unified communications (UC), today announced that it has expanded interoperability with Microsoft® Lync™ to additional Polycom SIP-based wired and wireless voice products. Polycom also announced the availability to order the Polycom® CX7000, the first room video collaboration solution custom-built for full integration with Microsoft® Lync™, the UC platform that unites voice communications, IM, and audio, video, and Web conferencing. The Polycom CX7000 is the first video collaboration solution to be qualified by Microsoft as "optimized for Microsoft® Lync™." In addition, Polycom is testing Polycom® RealPresence™ Immersive room systems for Microsoft® Lync™ interoperability. The announcements made today offer customers a broad set of choices – more than 40 systems – to enhance their Microsoft® Lync™ environments to make collaborating by video, voice, or content-sharing easier, from the board room to the desktop or on-the-go. On Tuesday, December 6, Polycom will co-host a webinar with Microsoft to discuss collaboration trends in the enterprise and show how Sprint has made their business more productive and effective with UC solutions from Polycom and Microsoft working together.

"We are excited to expand our strategic relationship with Microsoft by extending our broad solution portfolio with interoperability for Microsoft® Lync™. Polycom's strategic relationship with Microsoft enables customers across the globe to multiply the return on solution investments they have in place today and will need in the future," said Sue Hayden, executive vice president, Strategic Alliances, Polycom. "By directly interoperating with Microsoft® Lync™ across a comprehensive range of HD video and voice solutions, Polycom delivers a true UC experience that enables users to be much more productive and collaborative."

Connecting Microsoft and Polycom solutions for IM/presence, web conferencing, video, voice, and other UC applications into an interoperable environment enables users to quickly find each other and launch video and voice calls easily and intuitively within Microsoft® Lync™.

"By using Polycom and Microsoft solutions, we were able to leverage our core networking solutions (GMPLS, domestic & international SIP trunking, and wireless integration) to improve interaction with colleagues, customers, and partners while improving annual operating expenses," said Joe Hamblin, manager, Unified Communications/ Collaboration, Sprint.

Polycom CX7000
The Polycom® CX7000 unified group video collaboration system – the latest addition to the company's groundbreaking Polycom CX line – takes the Microsoft® Lync™ experience customers are familiar with on their PCs and recreates it in the conference room to provide a higher level of business collaboration and productivity with enhanced simplicity for end users. The solution offers all of the Microsoft® Lync™ features customers want (presence, IM, online meetings, content collaboration) coupled with Polycom's industry-leading room video collaboration solutions in a single plug-and-play system. With especially tight integration between the Polycom and Microsoft solutions, customers get an intuitive interface, a simplified UC experience, and a seamless HD video experience. Users are able to click on a calendar event to instantaneously join meetings and, with simple conference leader controls, users can easily see presence and drag-and-drop participants into the call for more productive and efficient meetings.

"The Polycom CX7000 delivers a competitive advantage for us, helping to drive company-wide gains in productivity, efficiency, and innovation," said JJ Brantingham, partner and CIO at Sebesta Blomberg & Associates, a national leader in providing full-service consulting and engineering services, and a Polycom CX7000 beta customer. "The Polycom CX7000 solution simplifies the UC experience and offers seamless HD video. The group document collaboration feature allows multiple people on the team to make edits to a single, shared document while on video, regardless of which office they are in, ensuring we are all literally on the same page."

Polycom's extended interoperability with Microsoft® Lync™ spans four key areas1:

  • Standards-based Polycom wireless telephones. Polycom® KIRK® Wireless DECT and Polycom® SpectraLink® Wi-Fi solutions are the first wireless phones to display and share call and directory information via Microsoft® Lync™. Polycom SpectraLink WiFi also features presence and instant message information. Offering the first on-premises wireless solution for Microsoft® Lync™ in healthcare, retail, manufacturing, and hospitality, Polycom wireless phones are mission critical to improve productivity and speed up workflows, from the emergency room to the factory floor.
  • Standards-based Polycom desktop and conference phones. Select Polycom® SoundPoint® IP desktop, Polycom® SoundStation® IP conference, and Polycom® VVX® business media phones can now deliver rich, clear, HD voice and seamless functionality with Microsoft® Lync™, so customers of Polycom voice devices can seamlessly upgrade to get more value out of their existing investment.
  • Polycom RealPresence Immersive. Polycom is currently testing the first immersive video solution for direct connection to a Microsoft® Lync™ server to offer presence-based dialing and HD video in Microsoft® Lync™ calls. With this release, Microsoft® Lync™ users can find Polycom® RealPresence™ Experience (RPX™) and Polycom® Open Telepresence Experience™ (OTX™) immersive systems, check their availability, and then make a direct video call.
  • Enhanced support for video deployments. Polycom is also testing support for the bandwidth management policies of the Microsoft® Lync™ interoperable communications solution across all Polycom video solutions, as well as the Polycom® RealPresence™ Platform, the most comprehensive software infrastructure for universal video collaboration. By supporting Microsoft® Lync™ bandwidth management policies across an entire spectrum of video solutions, Polycom enables network administrators to confidently design and deploy Microsoft® Lync™ video networks and Polycom video solutions knowing that they can be managed under a single policy to avoid oversubscription or call degradation and help ensure critical applications remain unaffected. This means a better overall experience for users and administrators alike, leading to wider adoption of efficient, cost-saving video collaboration to help connect people in additional ways, virtually anytime, anywhere.

"Polycom's innovative solutions – such as the CX7000, custom-built for full integration with Microsoft® Lync™ – are an ideal complement to Microsoft® Lync™ environments and help to deliver on the promise of truly unified communications," said Kirk Gregersen, general manager, Microsoft® Lync™. "Polycom and Microsoft are furthering the adoption of video collaboration and Microsoft® Lync™ by delivering comprehensive UC solutions that help enable a rich video collaboration experience and improved meeting productivity."

Polycom was recently named the recipient of the 2011 Microsoft Unified Communication Innovation Partner of the Year award for the company's leadership in delivering innovations that provide powerful, enterprise-grade UC and visual collaboration solutions for customers.

Pricing and Availability
The Polycom CX7000 system is currently available for ordering starting at US$9,999 through Polycom authorized solution providers, direct market resellers, systems integrators, service providers, and distributors and will be shipping by year end. The Polycom KIRK Wireless DECT solution is currently available starting at US$1,195. For all other Microsoft-optimized solutions, please contact your Polycom sales representative or reseller for pricing and no cost software upgrades for those with existing solutions under a service contract. For more information, visit: www.polycom.com/microsoft or call 1 800 POLYCOM.

About Polycom
Polycom is the global leader in standards-based unified communications (UC) solutions for telepresence, video, and voice powered by the Polycom RealPresence Platform. The RealPresence Platform interoperates with the broadest range of business, mobile, and social applications and devices. More than 400,000 organizations trust Polycom solutions to collaborate and meet face-to-face from any location for more productive and effective engagement with colleagues, partners, customers, and prospects. Polycom, together with its broad partner ecosystem, provides customers with the best TCO, scalability, and security – on-premises, hosted, or cloud delivered. Visit www.polycom.com or connect with Polycom on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

1 Depending on the product line, customers only need to update server or handset software.

NOTE: The product plans, specifications, and descriptions herein are provided for information only and subject to change without notice, and are provided without warranty of any kind, express or implied. Polycom reserves the right to modify future product plans at any time. Products and related specifications referenced herein are not guaranteed and will be delivered on a when and if available basis.

© 2011 Polycom, Inc. All rights reserved. POLYCOM®, the Polycom "Triangles" logo, and the names and marks associated with Polycom's products are trademarks and/or service marks of Polycom, Inc. and are registered and/or common law marks in the United States and various other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Editor's note: Polycom and Microsoft executives will host a webcast featuring a Sprint executive discussing the power of collaboration to transform business on Tuesday, December 6 at 11:00 am ET. To register, please click here.

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SAP to Accelerate Cloud Strategy with Acquisition of SuccessFactors

SAP to Accelerate Cloud Strategy with Acquisition of SuccessFactors

Creates Global Cloud Leader with World-Class Applications, Technology and Expertise; Gains Immediate Scale and Momentum in Fast-Growing Cloud-based Human Capital Management Segment

WALLDORF, Germany and SAN MATEO, California - December 03, 2011 -

SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) and SuccessFactors, Inc. (NYSE: SFSF) today announced that SAP’s subsidiary, SAP America., Inc., has entered into a definitive merger agreement with SuccessFactors, the market-leading provider of cloud-based human capital management (HCM) solutions, pursuant to which a subsidiary of SAP would offer to acquire all outstanding shares of common stock of SuccessFactors for $40.00/per share in cash, representing an enterprise value of approximately $3.4 billion. The acquisition will add SuccessFactors’ widely respected team and technology to SAP’s powerful cloud assets, significantly accelerating SAP’s momentum as a provider of cloud applications, platforms and infrastructure. The combination of SAP and SuccessFactors will establish an advanced end-to-end offering of cloud and on-premise solutions for managing all relevant business processes.

The SuccessFactors board of directors has unanimously approved the transaction. The per share purchase price represents a 52% premium both over the December 2nd closing price and the one month volume weighted average price per share. The transaction will be funded from SAP’s cash on hand and a €1 billion term loan facility.  The closing of the tender offer is conditioned on SuccessFactors stockholders tendering at least a majority of the outstanding shares of SuccessFactors common stock (on a fully diluted basis) and clearances by relevant regulatory authorities. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2012 and be slightly dilutive to SAP’s Non-IFRS earnings per share in 2012 and accretive in subsequent years.

The acquisition marks another stride in SAP’s strategy of delivering solutions on premise, in the cloud and on mobile devices.  It builds on a series of strategic moves in SAP’s targeted growth areas to drive innovation in its core applications and analytics; introduce breakthrough in memory technology; establish leadership in enterprise mobility; and grow its cloud portfolio. SuccessFactors’ solutions are highly complementary to SAP’s core HCM offerings as well as SAP’s strong cloud assets: SAP Business ByDesign for the suite cloud market and SAP’s line of business cloud offerings for large enterprises such as SAP Sales on Demand.

“The cloud is a core of SAP’s future growth, and the combination of SuccessFactors’ leadership team and technology with SAP will create a cloud powerhouse. The acquisition will help us address the top priority for CEOs globally – managing people and talent,” said Bill McDermott, Co-CEO, SAP.  ”Together, SAP and SuccessFactors will create tremendous business value for customers, with potent synergies to accelerate our growth in the cloud.”

“The depth and experience that SAP brings to customers via our cloud and on-premise portfolio fit elegantly with SuccessFactors’ world-class expertise in providing high-performing, low-cost, native cloud applications that customers are passionate about,” said Jim Hagemann Snabe, Co-CEO, SAP.  “Together, we will lead the industry in providing end-to-end solutions consistently to meet any deployment preference, whether on premise, in the cloud or on device.”

“This is a revolutionary combination of proven capabilities that will allow SuccessFactors to accelerate our roadmap by 10 years, and bring the world’s leading application knowledge and intellectual property to our customers through the cloud, and the largest applications customer base instantly,” said Lars Dalgaard, Founder and CEO, SuccessFactors. “Expanding relationships with SAP’s 176,000 customers with our speed to value, friendly user interface, on mobile devices and the web, and seamlessly delivering more SAP solutions in the cloud will be legendary, as organizations adopt the cloud to improve their business. SuccessFactors has proven we have the technology and people to deliver the world’s biggest cloud deployments in terms of users and countries per customer, and also the most applications per customer from the same flexible scalable cloud platform. The business world is ready for enterprise-class cloud applications and together, we can deliver incredible new innovation for global businesses.”

SuccessFactors is believed to operate the largest scale of paying cloud users with 15 million subscription seats. With more than 3,500 customers in 168 countries, SuccessFactors is growing rapidly, recording 77 percent revenue growth year-over-year in the third quarter 2011 and 59 percent revenue growth year-over-year in the first nine months of 2011.   SuccessFactors’ scalable cloud application platform supports organizations of all sizes from dozens to millions of users.  With proven deployments in SAP environments at companies in diverse industries, the combination of SuccessFactors and SAP holds significant growth potential considering the more than 500 million employees of SAP customers and its 15,000 HCM deployments.

With headquarters in San Mateo, California, and more than 1,450 employees, the SuccessFactors team is widely regarded for creating innovative technology, generating more than 80 percent of new sales from applications that did not exist five years ago, and as one of the fastest growing leaders in cloud applications.  Upon completion of the transaction, the CEO of SuccessFactors, Lars Dalgaard, will lead the cloud business of SAP in addition to his responsibility as CEO of SuccessFactors. SuccessFactors will remain independent and be named “SuccessFactors, an SAP company”. The chairman of SAP’s supervisory board, Hasso Plattner, recommended that Lars Dalgaard be appointed to the executive board of SAP AG.

SAP and SuccessFactors Customers to Benefit from Combined Application and Technology Footprint

  • The combination of SuccessFactors and SAP will create a comprehensive HCM solution, marrying strength in enterprise applications with people-focused cloud applications.
  • SuccessFactors’ complementary solutions will be an attractive option for more than 500 million employees of SAP customers. 
  • SuccessFactors’ applications are designed for businesses of all sizes, and offer easily adopted solutions for customers of SAP Business Suite, SAP Business ByDesign, SAP Business All-in-One, and SAP Business One.
  • SuccessFactors’ cloud expertise and know how, rapid cloud innovation and proven success running large scale cloud deployments will help SAP customers more rapidly adopt cloud applications.
  • SuccessFactors’ mobile applications combined with the mobile expertise of SAP and Sybase will offer customers a powerful business-to-employee mobility portfolio.
  • SuccessFactors’ focus on enabling business insight and execution fits well with SAP’s business analytics platform, promising new levels of real time decision making across the enterprise. 

Financial Analyst and Media Conference Call
SAP and SuccessFactors will host two conference calls for financial analysts and media to discuss the transaction:
On Saturday, December 3rd, at 7:00 pm CET / 1:00 pm Eastern (Dial-in numbers: Germany: +49 69 5899 90797, UK: +44 20 7190 1595, US: +1 480 629 9771; Replay numbers: UK +44 207 154 2833, US +1 303 590 3030, Germany +49 69 58 99 90 568, Access Code: 4493863#)
Listen to the Webcast

On Monday, December 5th, at 3:00 pm CET / 9:00 am Eastern (Dial-in numbers: Germany: +49 69 5899 90797, UK: +44 20 7190 1595, US: +1-480 629 9722, Conference ID: 4493869; Replay Numbers: UK +44 207 154 2833, US +1 303 590 3030, Germany +49 69 58 99 90 568, Access Code: 4493869#)
Listen to the Webcast

About SAP
As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 176,000 customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

The Ability to Make Software Changes Key Consideration in Future ERP Selection

The Ability to Make Software Changes Key Consideration in Future ERP Selection

Research highlights desire among business for enterprise software that supports business change more easily, cost effectively and with less disruption

VICTORIA, BC and IRVING, TX, Dec. 8, 2011 /CNW/ - UNIT4 Business Software [http://www.unit4software.com]'s parent company UNIT4 [http://www.unit4.com], the world's leading provider of business software for Businesses Living IN Change (BLINC(TM)), today announced further first findings of a new international research project undertaken by Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC) [http://www.technologyevaluation.com] which surveyed 307 business managers and professionals from a range of industries about their ERP and enterprise applications' ability to support business change.

The level of business change expected by business managers over the next five years is significant. More than one third (35 percent) expect their company to make acquisitions/divestitures, 39 percent expect to change business model, 57 percent expect to expand into new lines of business, 18 percent expect to be involved in a merger, 34 percent anticipate a reorganization/restructuring and 45 percent expect to make other significant changes. When asked how often the financial impact of re-architecting or adjusting the ERP system is considered when the organization is reviewing an important business opportunity, 62 percent of business managers responded always/most of the time. 81 percent cited the ability to make changes more easily, cost effectively and with less disruption as "very important" in their ERP selection criteria.

"Businesses of all sizes are undergoing unprecedented levels of change-they're more aware of the importance of planning for future change than ever before, having learnt from problems encountered previously," said P.J. Jakovljevic, Principal Analyst at TEC. "The ability of ERP systems to handle this level of business change has been raised as one of the most important considerations when selecting systems, and one that vendors cannot ignore."

"Our customers have always demanded the ability to easily make changes in the Agresso Business World ERP system and we designed the system with this in mind," said Ton Dobbe, VP Product Management at UNIT4. "In this survey, half of CXO level respondents felt that the challenge of making changes in SAP, Oracle or Microsoft has prevented cost cutting and/or growth very often or at least half of the time. Agresso's VITA architecture brings a unique value proposition to businesses that is unmatched in the ERP world. It enables executives to become operational faster at lower cost, and without the dependency on external IT consultants to support it. Its design simplicity means users are self-sufficient in its modification, so companies can respond instantaneously to change. Despite their monopoly, today's 'big ERP' systems are not providing businesses with the architectural agility necessary to support businesses adequately in today's environment."

An infographic illustrating these research results is available to download [https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/unit4eu/u4_corp/media/images/unit4-tec-infographic-pt4.jpg] .

About UNIT4

UNIT4 is a global business software and services company aimed at helping dynamic public sector, and commercial services organisations to embrace change simply, quickly and cost effectively in a market sector it calls 'Businesses Living IN Change' (BLINC)(TM). The Group incorporates a number of the world's leading change embracing software brands including Agresso Business World, our flagship ERP suite for mid-sized services intensive organizations and Coda, our best-of-class financial management software.

With operations in 17 European countries, as well as 7 countries across North America, Asia Pacific and Africa and sales activities in several other countries, its revenue was EUR421.7 million in 2010. UNIT4 is headquartered in Sliedrecht, the Netherlands and has over 4,000 employees. It is listed on Euronext Amsterdam and is included in the Amsterdam Midcap Index (AMX).

For further information:

For more information on UNIT4 or any of its operating companies, please visit the website at http://www.unit4.com or follow us on Twitter @UNIT4_Group. Alternatively please contact:

Emma (Hoyle) Keates
Group PR Manager, UNIT4
+44(0)1423-537977
emma.keates@unit4.com
Twitter: @emmajkeates