IBM Forges New Routes to Market with Power and Storage Systems Tuned for Big Data and Cloud Computing

IBM Forges New Routes to Market with Power and Storage Systems Tuned for Big Data and Cloud Computing


Johannesburg, South Africa - 05 Feb 2013: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today accelerated its strategy to make big data and cloud computing a reality for businesses of all sizes with new Power Systems and Storage Systems that provide deep insights into big data, simplify data storage in the cloud, and can reduce costs through consolidation.

The announcement was made today in Johannesburg, South Africa, where IBM convened over 100 CEOs, CIOs, government officials, and academics at a leadership forum to chart a course for future business opportunities across the continent.  

Starting at $5,947 (USD), IBM has created an affordable family of entry level and midrange Power Systems based on new POWER7+ processors. The new systems are optimized for IBM’s industry-leading analytics software, and use underlying technologies from the groundbreakingWatson system including POWER processors and big data analytics. 

In addition to IBM’s longstanding relationship with Avnet and Arrow, today’s news comes on the heels of IBM’s recent agreement with Ingram Micro and TechData to resell IBM’s entire portfolio of Power Systems, PureSystems, and Storage Systems, radically changing the market of IBM’s POWER7+ technology by offering it to small and midsized businesses (SMB) and large enterprises. 

Many SMBs have struggled to adopt big data and private cloud solutions due to lack of in-house skills and expertise to design and maintain commodity hardware-based systems. IBM is addressing these issues with new Power Systems that don’t require specialized skills and offer the latest advances in virtualization and automation to speed private and hybrid cloud creation. 

“Big data and cloud systems that were once only affordable to large enterprises are now available to the masses,” said Rod Adkins, Senior Vice President, IBM Systems & Technology Group. “With these new systems, IBM is forging an aggressive expansion of its Power and Storage Systems business into SMB and growth markets.”  

Firebaugh, California-based Westside Produce, a 700 person company, contracts with melon growers to harvest, market, and ship fresh melons throughout North America. The company turned to IBM’s Power System to make it easier to forecast how many boxes of melons will come from multiple fields, sorted by size, variety and grade. “Perishability of produce is a key challenge in our industry, and having the right technology in place to deliver fresh produce on time is critical for the success of our growers and our company,” said Justin Porter, Director of Technology, Westside Produce. “All of our mission critical systems run on IBM Power with little to no intervention required. I do spend an inordinate amount of time dealing with issues on less mission critical x86 problems.” 

New Power Systems Tuned for Big Data and Cloud

Previously available only on select enterprise IBM Power Systems, IBM is extending its POWER7+ technology to entry level and midrange systems to help clients quickly build and deploy infrastructure for private and hybrid clouds.  

POWER processors can be a better platform for big data and cloud than commodity x86 hardware because embedded memory and virtualization - key ingredients for analytics and cloud workloads – are built into the processor. These systems come optimized for IBM’s industry-leading analytics software including Cognos and SPSS for business and predictive analytics.  

IBM is rolling out eight new Power Systems for SMBs and growth market companies. New entry level systems include the Power Express 710, 720, 730 and 740 family of products. Starting at $5,947 (USD), the 710 is competitively priced compared to commodity hardware from Oracle and HP.  

IBM also introduced two new PowerLinux Systems - the 7R1 and 7R2 – now optimized for IBM InfoSphere BigInsights and InfoSphere Streams big data analytics software. Clients can take advantage of an optional IBM Solution for WebSphere Mobile and Web Applications on PowerLinux to speed up application development for the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry. 

Two new Power Systems for midsized and large enterprises, the 750 and 760, are ideal consolidation platforms that centralize big data analytics and cloud workloads. 

Cloud Storage Made Easy

As big data continues to grow, more organizations are turning to cloud and virtualization technologies to improve efficiencies, lower costs, and gain faster access to much-needed storage capacity. IBM is introducing new Storage Systems and SmartCloud storage solutions to meet these needs: 

  • IBM SmartCloud Storage Access: Today, IBM is introducing new software that lets organizations set up private “self-service” storage clouds – a first of a kind – through which users can store information over the internet quickly and easily, and administrators can automate and monitor usage. The new software features a self-service portal that lets any user create an account, set up the amount of storage they need, and then start uploading files via the cloud – all with just a few clicks and without the assistance of an IT administrator.
  • The IBM XIV Storage System has been updated with a new model that offers 10Gb Ethernet host adapters for up to five times faster throughput in IP SAN clouds. On the software side, enhancements to XIV’s unique solid state caching boost the performance of database-like workloads by up to 4.5 five times over previous models. In addition, the inclusion of advanced power supply units can lower power consumption on a fully-loaded XIV system by as much as 16 percent over previous models, helping customers save on energy and cooling costs. With these improvements, IBM XIV further helps enterprise customers unleash the power of cloud computing – efficiently, cost-effectively, and reliably.
  • The new Real-Time Compression Appliance™ Model STN7800, v4.1 supports large complex environments with reduced infrastructure costs. The appliance is based on System x server technology and offers 5x compression in real-time, unlimited per appliance software licensing (over 50TBs), and supports 10GbE optical, 1GbE copper, or mixed 10GbE and 1GbE connectivity options. 

IBM Global Financing

While technology options for businesses are growing rapidly, companies are searching for strategic solutions to help them shift spending away from maintaining infrastructure to investing for growth. IBM Global Financing can help credit-qualified clients acquire IBM Power Systems and Storage Systems with affordable payment programs that allow clients to keep their cash while accelerating return on investment and lowering total cost of ownership. Financing plans include: 0%, 12-month financing on Power and Storage Systems.  

For more information on IBM Global Financing, please visit www.ibm.com/financing/.

For more information on IBM’s Smarter Computing initiative, visit: www.ibm.com/smarter-computing.

For a complete press kit on IBM Power Systems, visit http://bit.ly/powerpresskit.


























































































New Salary Centre helps Canadians navigate today's IT industry

Click here to download:
image001.emz (3 KB)

New Salary Centre helps Canadians navigate today’s IT industry

Hays Canada lets job seekers and professionals discover average salary and benefits

Toronto, ON - February 5, 2012 – Nearly one third of Canadian IT firms (36 per cent) plan to increase their staff levels in the next year, according to a survey conducted by Hays Canada which polled over 3,500 respondents from 20 industries.

To help Canadians search for answers about employment opportunities, Hays Canada launched the Hays Canada Salary Centre (www.hays.ca/salaryguide), designed to help educate both employers and potential employees alike.

The Hays Salary Centre is a starting point for Canadians looking for current information about the IT industry and how their employment expectations measure up against real industry standards.  Job seekers and professionals can search within nine industry sectors: Leadership, Architects, Development, Projects + Change, Database, Delivery, Systems Administration, Networks, and ERP.

By entering in a few details, such as employment area, experience and geographic location individuals can discover their expected salary, job description, benefits, and the requirements necessary to fulfill that role based on today’s market.

The Salary Centre utilizes data from Hays Canada’s 2013 Compensation, Benefits, Recruitment and Retention Guide. This survey is the only one of its kind in Canada and the most extensive study available, making the Salary Centre a unique tool o those Canadians looking to shift industries, move to a new location or just entering the workforce.

 

About Hays Canada:

Hays Specialist Recruitment Canada is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hays plc, which has been at the forefront of the global recruitment industry for over thirty-five years. With annual revenues of over £2.1 billion, Hays Specialist Recruitment is the largest specialist recruitment consultancy in the world.

 

For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact:

Jennifer Kaiser

Media Profile

Direct: 416-342-1817

Cell: 647-992-6014

jennifer.kaiser@mediaprofile.com

EMC Transforms Velocity Channel Partner Program

EMC Transforms Velocity Channel Partner Program
 

New Enhancements to Drive Growth and Provide Greater Choice and Differentiation for Partners
 

HOPKINTON, MA
– February 5, 2013

 

News Summary:

 

-EMC Corporation today announced significant enhancements to the EMC Velocity™ Solution Provider program that will create a simpler, more predictable, and more profitable experience for EMC channel partners globally.

 

-Enhancements include: a new Target Products rebate; refinements to the Velocity Specialties requirements and benefits; the integration of the EMC Isilon partner program; increased demand generation opportunities, and expanded services offerings, tools and resources.

 

      Full Story:

 

EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) today announced significant enhancements to the EMC® Velocity Solution Provider partner program that will make EMC’s industry-leading cloud computing and Big Data technologies and solutions available to more customers – particularly in the rapidly growing mid-market segment. With a continued emphasis on ensuring that Velocity Partners are exceptionally well prepared to sell and/or service EMC products and solutions, customers can be confident they are working with the industry’s most competent solution providers to support their business requirements.

 

The following program changes are effective immediately:

 

-New Target Products Rebate for Premier and Signature Partners – Provides top Velocity partners¹ with a predictable income stream via rebates paid on sales of targeted EMC technologies that align to the company’s key mid-market initiatives. Eligible products include EMC VNX® and VNXe® unified storage, EMC Avamar® and EMC Data Domain® backup and recovery solutions, and server Flash caching solution EMC VFCache.  This rebate is paid from the first sale and is in addition to – and can be combined with – EMC’s existing performance-based Specialty2 rebate.

 

-Changes to Velocity Specialty Requirements Focus on Fortifying Selling Capabilities

 

-The program no longer requires partners to earn an implementation certification to achieve a Specialty2. While EMC encourages partners to become services-enabled, removing this requirement from the reseller program now allows pure-play resellers a more direct path to achieving Velocity Specialties, where benefit opportunities accelerate. For partners who include services in their business model, EMC has strengthened its Velocity Services offerings (details below).

 

-There is no longer a revenue requirement for partners to achieve a Specialty.

 

-Three Specialties are now required for Signature (top tier) partners worldwide, reflecting the most advanced level of competency required of the top tier partners in positioning and selling a broad range of EMC’s technologies.

 

-EMC Isilon Partner Program Integrated into Velocity Program – Former Isilon partners can now become eligible for Velocity benefits on other EMC products, and existing EMC resellers can become eligible to earn benefits from selling Isilon – all within the integrated Velocity program.

 

-More Products Eligible for Financial Benefits in Velocity SpecialtiesTo help partners align their portfolio with the growing demand for cloud and Big Data solutions, the following products are now eligible for financial benefits within the Backup and Recovery Specialty:  EMC Mozy® cloud backup, EMC Atmos® object-based cloud storage platform, and EMC Centera® content addressable storage. EMC Isilon® scale-out network attached storage platform is also now eligible for benefits within the Consolidate Specialty.

 

-Amplified Demand Generation: More Market Development Funds (MDF)3, More Qualified Leads – EMC is doubling its investment in demand generation funds, programs, and resources to develop highly qualified opportunities for partners and accelerate revenue growth.

 

-Velocity Services Invests in Enhanced Tools, Offerings, and Resources to Accelerate Services Enablement with Partners:

 

-Expanded library of online and video-instructor-led services training provides a more convenient and efficient way for partners to access EMC’s industry-recognized EMC Proven Professional technical training.

 

-New online labs allow partners to more efficiently and effectively hone practical implementation skills on EMC technology in a proctored virtual environment.

 

-New offering in the EMC Cooperative Services portfolio provides partners EMC guidance on their solution design, as well as post-implementation review. As with all EMC Cooperative Service offerings, the partner maintains full control of the customer relationship, and has the depth of EMC expertise in the background to ensure quality implementations.

 

Partner Quotes:

 

Gregg Pruett, Senior Vice President, CompuNet, Inc.

 

“With the high level of flexibility and range of options EMC is providing us through the new Velocity Program, our customers will have even more access to EMC’s broad portfolio of innovative products and services. There’s a massive market opportunity and the enhancements EMC announced today provide us with more choices to resell and deliver services – enabling us to better focus on the growing demand for services as the market expands for cloud, Big Data, and Trusted IT environments.”

 

Gary Alexander, CEO, AOS (Alexander Open Systems)

 

“Organizations’ data continues to grow and they need help managing it – which is where AOS can show our value. Whether it’s through product implementation or support or services, the EMC Velocity Partner Program provides tools and resources to ensure we are well equipped to be our customer’s trusted advisor. Also, we’re pleased with EMC’s movement to place more focus on their partners and by having its direct sales force work through the partners and not around them. Furthermore, AOS supports EMC's commitment to the SMB market as this is a core focus for us.”

 

EMC Executive Quote:

 

Fred Kohout, Vice President, Global Channel Marketing, EMC Corporation

 

“EMC’s continued objective is to accelerate the customer journey to cloud computing, grapple with Big Data, and help IT departments store, manage, protect, and analyze their most valuable asset – information. The changes we’ve made to the Velocity Solution Provider program are focused on helping partners optimize their offerings in these key areas so they can best support customer requirements. We want our partners to have a simple, predictable, and profitable experience with EMC. Over half our storage revenue goes through our channel partners, and our focus is on making these partners more productive. This is proof that organizations are increasingly relying on EMC Velocity Partners to help them transform their business and increase their competitive advantage in their respective markets.”

 

Additional Resources

 

-Learn more about partnering with EMC

-Follow @EMCChannel and join the #EMC conversation on Twitter

-Connect with EMC via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and ECN

 

About EMC

 

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

 

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

 

-30-

 

For more information contact:

Mike Martin /Stephanie Williams

StrategicAmpersand Inc.

416-961-5595

mike@stratamp.com

stephanie@stratamp.com

 

¹The EMC Velocity Solution Provider Program features four tiers (Affiliate, Affiliate Elite, Premier, and Signature) that offer increasing financial benefits and rewards as Partners complete specific training and other requirements, and move up through the tiers. 

 

2Velocity Specialty designations recognize partners who achieve superior competencies to architect and sell complete end-to-end solutions through EMC’s advanced sales and technical training and certifications. Each Specialty is focused on a product category: Backup & Recovery Specialty (Information Protection), Consolidate Specialty (Unified Storage), and Advanced Consolidate Specialty (Enterprise Storage).

 

3EMC’s MDF Program is designed to accelerate the development of leads for EMC Velocity Partners through the submission of MDF proposals focused on demand generation. MDF funds are awarded based on the execution of a marketing plan agreed to between the Partner and EMC. 

 

EMC, Velocity, VNX, VNXe, Atmos, Avamar, Data Domain, VFCache, Mozy, Centera, and Isilon are either registered trademarks or trademarks of EMC Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.

 

This release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined under the Federal Securities Laws. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of certain risk factors, including but not limited to: (i) adverse changes in general economic or market conditions; (ii) delays or reductions in information technology spending; (iii) the relative and varying rates of product price and component cost declines and the volume and mixture of product and services revenues; (iv) competitive factors, including but not limited to pricing pressures and new product introductions; (v) component and product quality and availability; (vi) fluctuations in VMware, Inc.'s operating results and risks associated with trading of VMware stock; (vii) the transition to new products, the uncertainty of customer acceptance of new product offerings and rapid technological and market change; (viii) risks associated with managing the growth of our business, including risks associated with acquisitions and investments and the challenges and costs of integration, restructuring and achieving anticipated synergies; (ix) the ability to attract and retain highly qualified employees; (x) insufficient, excess or obsolete inventory; (xi) fluctuating currency exchange rates; (xii) threats and other disruptions to our secure data centres or networks; (xiii) our ability to protect our proprietary technology; (xiv) war or acts of terrorism; and (xv) other one-time events and other important factors disclosed previously and from time to time in EMC's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. EMC disclaims any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements after the date of this release.

 














































































































                      

Mobile Video Calling Users to Exceed 160 Million by 2017 Finds New Juniper Research Report

Mobile Video Calling Users to Exceed 160 Million by 2017 Finds New Juniper Research Report

Emerging Monetisation Models still face Considerable Challenges

Hampshire, UK – 5th February 2013: The number of users of mobile video calling services is forecast to increase four-fold to almost 160 million by 2017, driven by improvements in both the user-interface and the underlying technology, finds a recently released study by Juniper Research.

The Revenue Generation Challenge

Advertising and freemium models are beginning to emerge in the mobile video calling market but revenue generation remains the key challenge for mobile video calling players. 

Freemium models are being explored, but are behind other areas of the broader mobile market, while mobile advertisers have yet to explore the potential of mobile video calling in earnest, states the report.

“Mobile advertising per se is becoming main-stream but the model still needs to be adapted for mobile video calling for meaningful revenues to become available to service providers,” says the report’s author, Anthony Cox. 

Despite this, key players in the mobile video calling market have recently received additional funding from their backers, representing an implicit blessing of their business strategies.

Key Findings

Further findings from the Report, Mobile & Tablet Voice & Video Calling – Strategic Opportunities & Business Models 2012-2017, include:

  • Specialist mobile VoIP companies are opening their Application Programming Interfaces to third parties, including MNOs, to gain revenues.
  • The arrival of 4G will give further impetus to mobile VoIP take-up but potentially accelerate the decline in overall voice revenues for MNOs.
  • Advanced IP-based services will develop faster in developed markets due to the direct correlation between 3G and 4G roll-outs and the take-up of mobile VoIP and mobile video calling.
  • Revenues from the circuit switched voice market will continue to fall over the next five years but will not accelerate.

The report includes a comprehensive analysis of the current situation in the mVoIP and mobile video calling markets and contains five year forecasts for mVoIP and mobile video calling user numbers and revenues. It also contains mVoIP tablets forecasts as well as RCS and Circuit-Switched Forecasts.

The mVoIP Whitepaper: “mVoices of Reason”  and further details of the study ‘Mobile & Tablet Voice & Video Calling – Strategic Opportunities & Business Models 2012-2017’ can be downloaded from www.juniperresearch.com

Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.

For further details please contact Rebecca Holman, Press Relations

T: +44(0)1256 830001
E: rebecca.holman@juniperresearch.com 



























































































Canadian Digital Media Network Soft-Landing Program Expands Opportunities for Companies to Launch Outside Home Market

Canadian Digital Media Network Soft-Landing Program Expands Opportunities for Companies to Launch Outside Home Market


WATERLOO REGION, ON, Feb. 5, 2013 /CNW/ - Companies from across Canada are establishing themselves in other markets thanks to the Soft-Landing Program supported by the Canadian Digital Media Network (CDMN) in partnership with its nodes across Canada. The CDMN announced today that 14 companies are participating in the most recent round of the Outbound  Soft-Landing program under way now, following a successful pilot program in 2012.

"Our Soft-Landing Program formula is working, enabling companies to hit the ground running in other geographies to increase their business opportunities," said Kevin Tuer, CDMN Managing Director. "The pilot program realized an estimated $20 million in new opportunities and sales for participating companies, so we're excited to see what 2013 brings for the companies announced today."

Applications opened October 15, 2012 for companies from across Canada looking to participate in soft-landings outside the country between January 2 and May 31, 2013. Companies applied through the 21 CDMN 'nodes' which then assisted in facilitating the application and mentorship of the enterprises. From the many applications received, the CDMN chose the select group of 14 companies.

Ideal candidates to participate in the Outbound Soft-Landing Program are mature Canadian startups and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that are generating revenue already and have goals of growing their customer base, opening a satellite office, or developing distribution channels or secure partnerships. Through this type of landing, Canadian companies looking to expand in foreign markets anywhere in the world can qualify for up to three months of residency in partner facilities equipped to support their growth, plus up to $4,000 for transportation and hotel costs.

Here is the list of startups, the nodes they are working with, and where they will be 'landing' as part of the Outbound Soft-Landing Program:

Startup Node Destination
Authintic Analytics
Technologies
www.authintic.com
Digital Media Zone (DMZ)
Toronto
New York City
Ayogo Health Inc.
www.ayogo.com
Wavefront
Vancouver
London and Birmingham U.K.
Blacksquare Inc.
www.blacksquare.ca
www.blackboxx.biz
TR Tech
Calgary
Germany
DLI.tools
www.dlitools.com
Communitech
Waterloo
Melbourne, Australia
Green Owl Mobile
www.greenowlmobile.com
Communitech
Waterloo
New York City
Insightworks Learning and Development
www.insightworks.ca
Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre
Sault Ste. Marie
Bay Area, California
Javelin Reality
www.javelinreality.com
NGen
Hamilton
Venice Beach, California
Media Merchants
www.themediamerchants.ca
Wavefront
Vancouver
Brazil and Singapore
Picatic
www.picatic.com
MaRS
Toronto
New York City
Voices.com
www.voices.com
Communitech
Waterloo
San Francisco, California
Viafoura
www.viafoura.com
Digital Media Zone (DMZ)
Toronto
Venice Beach, California
Weblishpal
www.weblishpal.com
MaRS
Toronto
Singapore
Wedding Republic
www.weddingrepublic.com
Ottawa New York City
Zighra
www.zighra.com
Ottawa Dubai and Jordan, UAE

Companies that have previously 'landed' outside Canada as part of the CDMN Soft-Landing Program include: Awesense www.awesense.com; CPS Parking CPS Parking; Cyborg Trading www.cyborgtrading.com; MAGNET www.magnetforensics.com; Mantry www.mantry.com; Tabillo www.tabillo.com; and Weever Apps www.weeverapps.com.

CDMN also supports an Inbound Soft-Landing program for promising international companies looking to establish their businesses in Canada, and companies that have participated include Fluorologic www.fluorologic.com; and Koning www.koningcorporation.com. There is also a Domestic Soft-Landing program that assists Canadian companies in furthering their growth across the country.

For more information on the CDMN Soft-Landing Program, visit http://softlanding.cdmn.ca.

About The Canadian Digital Media Network
The Canadian Digital Media Network (CDMN), a federal Centre of Excellence in Commercialization and Research (CECR), is dedicated to establishing Canada as a world leader in digital media (ICT + mobile) by creating and enabling connections and collaboration between entrepreneurs, companies, research institutes, government and intermediary organizations across the country.  CDMN helps bring more digital media solutions to market to create more companies, jobs and wealth in Canada.

Learn more at http://www.cdmn.ca/soft-landing-program or follow @CDMN on Twitter, join the Canadian Digital Media Network Group on LinkedIn, and like the Canadian Digital Media Network Page on Facebook.

SOURCE: The Canadian Digital Media Network

For further information:

Shelley Grandy, Sr. PR Advisor CDMN, 905-866-2656 or sgrandy@cdmn.ca




































































































Oracle Buys Eloqua

Oracle Buys Eloqua

Adds Leading Modern Marketing Platform to the Oracle Cloud to Help Companies Deliver Exceptional Customer Experiences

Redwood Shores, Calif. – December 20, 2012

Oracle today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Eloqua, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELOQ), a leading provider of cloud-based marketing automation and revenue performance management software for $23.50 per share or approximately $871 million, net of Eloqua’s cash. Eloqua’s modern marketing cloud delivers best-in-class capabilities to ensure every component of marketing works harder and more efficiently to drive revenue.

The combination of Oracle and Eloqua is expected to create a comprehensive Customer Experience Cloud offering to help companies transform the way they market, sell, support and serve their customers. The combined offering is expected to enable organizations to provide a highly personalized and unified experience across channels, create brand loyalty through social and online interactions, grow revenue by driving more qualified leads to sales teams, and provide superior service at every touchpoint.

The Board of Directors of Eloqua has unanimously approved the transaction. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2013, subject to Eloqua stockholder approval, certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

“Modern marketing practices are driving revenue growth and is a critical area of investment for companies today,” said Thomas Kurian, Executive Vice President, Oracle Development. “Eloqua’s leading marketing automation cloud will become the centerpiece of the Oracle Marketing Cloud and is an important addition to the Oracle Customer Experience offering, which includes the Oracle Sales Cloud, Oracle Commerce Cloud, Oracle Service Cloud, Oracle Content Cloud and Oracle Social Cloud.”

“Exceptional customer experience starts with knowing your customer’s preferences and delivering a highly personalized buying experience,” said Joe Payne, Chairman and CEO, Eloqua. “Together with Oracle, we expect to accelerate the pace of the modern marketing revolution and help our customers transform the way they market, sell, support and serve their customers.”

More information on this announcement can be found at http://www.oracle.com/eloqua.

About Oracle

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

Trademarks

Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This document contains certain forward-looking statements about Oracle and Eloqua, including statements that involve risks and uncertainties concerning Oracle's proposed acquisition of Eloqua, anticipated customer benefits and general business outlook. When used in this document, the words "anticipates", “can", “will”, "look forward to", "expected" and similar expressions and any other statements that are not historical facts are intended to identify those assertions as forward-looking statements. Any such statement may be influenced by a variety of factors, many of which are beyond the control of Oracle or Eloqua, that could cause actual outcomes and results to be materially different from those projected, described, expressed or implied in this document due to a number of risks and uncertainties. Potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the possibility that the transaction will not close or that the closing may be delayed, the anticipated synergies of the combined companies may not be achieved after closing, the combined operations may not be successfully integrated in a timely manner, if at all, general economic conditions in regions in which either company does business, and the possibility that Oracle or Eloqua may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors. Accordingly, no assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what impact they will have on the results of operations or financial condition of Oracle or Eloqua.
In addition, please refer to the documents that Oracle and Eloqua, respectively, file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K. These filings identify and address other important factors that could cause Oracle's and Eloqua's respective operational and other results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements set forth in this document. You are cautioned to not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this document. Neither Oracle nor Eloqua is under any duty to update any of the information in this document.

Additional Information about the Merger and Where to Find It

In connection with the proposed merger, Eloqua will file a proxy statement with the SEC. Additionally, Eloqua and Oracle will file other relevant materials in connection with the proposed acquisition of Eloqua by Oracle pursuant to the terms of an Agreement and Plan of Merger by and among, Oracle, OC Acquisition LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Oracle, Esperanza Acquisition Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of OC Acquisition LLC, and Eloqua. The materials to be filed by Eloqua with the SEC may be obtained free of charge at the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov. Investors and security holders of Eloqua are urged to read the proxy statement and the other relevant materials when they become available before making any voting or investment decision with respect to the proposed merger because they will contain important information about the merger and the parties to the merger. Oracle, Eloqua and their respective directors, executive officers and other members of its management and employees, under SEC rules, may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies of Eloqua stockholders in connection with the proposed merger. Investors and security holders may obtain more detailed information regarding the names, affiliations and interests of certain of Oracle's executive officers and directors in the solicitation by reading the proxy statement and other relevant materials filed with the SEC when they become available. Information concerning the interests of Eloqua's participants in the solicitation, which may, in some cases, be different than those of Eloqua's stockholders generally, is set forth in the materials filed by Eloqua with the SEC, including in Eloqua’s Registration Statement on Form S-1, and will be set forth in the proxy statement relating to the merger when it becomes available.

Contact Info

Carol Sato
Oracle Corporate Communications
+1.650.633.5551
carol.sato@oracle.com

Ken Bond
Oracle Investor Relations
+1.650.607.0349
ken.bond@oracle.com


















































































The 451 Group Announces the Acquisition of Tech:Touchstone

The 451 Group Announces the Acquisition of Tech:Touchstone

Acquisition of International Events Company Tech:Touchstone, Now Part of The 451 Group Events, Strengthens The 451 Group's Ability To Offer Events on a Global Basis

NEW YORK, Feb. 4, 2013 /CNW/ - The 451 Group, the corporate parent of 451 ResearchUptime Institute andYankee Group, today announced the acquisition of Tech:Touchstone, a UK-based events company cofounded in 2007 by ex-Gartner executive Simeon Turner. Tech:Touchstone events facilitate in-person sharing of insight between senior IT executives and create an environment where they have an opportunity to learn directly from their most trusted sources of information – peers and industry analysts. Event themes include critical IT topics such as virtualization, cloud computing and information security and emerging issues such as big data and the mobile enterprise. Post-acquisition, Tech:Touchstone will become part of The 451 Group Events division, and Mr. Turner will become Managing Director, 451 Group Events, reporting to The 451 Group's Chief Marketing Officer, Christopher M. Hill. The 451 Group Events is charged with producing all of the firm's events, including Uptime Institute Symposium, now in its eighth year, and the 451 Research Hosting & Cloud Transformation Summit in Europe and North America, now in its ninth year - as well as current Tech:Touchstone events and new events developed for the company globally. Moving forward, The 451 Group will expand the locations of its events throughout Asia Pacific, Latin America, Europe and in other geographical areas, reflecting the global nature of the firm's business and clientele.

Commenting on the acquisition, The 451 Group's Chairman and CEO, Martin V. McCarthy, said:

"We are delighted to welcome the Tech:Touchstone team to join me and the 225+ current professionals here at The 451 Group. Events are an extremely important part of our thought leadership communication efforts and represent the most powerful opportunity for our professionals from 451 Research, Uptime Institute and Yankee Group to interact with clients and industry leaders on a one-to-one basis. With Simeon Turner and his Tech:Touchstone team, we see an exciting opportunity to significantly extend The 451 Group's events focus as we provide leadership in the evolution of the Digital Infrastructure industry. Tech:Touchstone supports our operating philosophy of long-term, sustainable, profitable, global growth."

Commenting on the acquisition, Tech:Touchstone CEO Simeon Turner said:

"Joining a dynamic and rapidly growing firm like The 451 Group is an exciting opportunity for me and the Tech:Touchstone team, and significantly enhances the value we can bring to our clients. 451 Research, Uptime Institute and The 451 Group's recent addition, Yankee Group, provide the rich source of thought leadership and global presence necessary for a thriving events portfolio that delivers highly valuable, actionable insight and facilitates quality networking for all of our clients. We look forward to ensuring that The 451 Group Events will be the preeminent producer of IT events within the industry."

About The 451 Group

Headquartered in New York, with offices in key locations – including BostonSan FranciscoWashington DC,LondonSeattleDenverSao Paulo, Dubai, Singapore and Moscow – The 451 Group owns and operates 451 Research, a leading technology-industry syndicated research and data firm focused on the business of enterprise IT innovation. The 451 Group also owns and operates Uptime Institute, an independent provider of thought leadership, certification, education and professional services for the global datacenter and emerging Digital Infrastructure industry, and Yankee Group, the preeminent research and advisory firm equipping companies to profit in a mobile world.

About 451 Research

451 Research, a division of The 451 Group, provides syndicated research, data and advisory services focused on the business of enterprise IT innovation. Over 60 publishing 451 Research analysts provide critical and timely insight into the competitive dynamics of innovation in emerging technology segments such as cloud computing, datacenter technologies and Internet infrastructure services. Business value is delivered via daily concise and insightful published research, periodic deeper-dive reports, data tools, market-sizing/share research, analyst advisory, and conferences and events. Clients of the company – at vendor, investor, service-provider and end-user organizations – rely on 451 Research's insight to support both strategic and tactical decision-making.

About Uptime Institute

Uptime Institute, a division of The 451 Group, provides independent thought leadership, certification, education and professional services for the global datacenter and emerging Digital Infrastructure industry. Uptime Institute is best known for its creation and global administration of the Tier Standard for Data Center Design, Construction and Operational Sustainability. It serves all industry stakeholders, but concentrates on enterprise and third-party datacenter owners and operators. IT and facilities equipment manufacturers, service providers, design engineers and construction firms are also served. Through Uptime Institute Professional Services, Uptime Institute delivers the due diligence assessments and certifications of site infrastructure and site management in accordance with Uptime Institute's industry Tier and Operational Sustainability Standards.

About Yankee Group

Yankee Group, a division of The 451 Group, is the preeminent research and advisory firm equipping companies to profit in a mobile world. The core of its content is proprietary research and analytics on the attitudes, behaviors, and usage patterns of mobile users. Based on this research, Yankee provides a range of actionable data, insights and advice to marketing, strategy and product executives driving the mobility revolution at leading companies worldwide.

About Tech:Touchstone

Tech:Touchstone creates business-to-business events for the IT sector where in-person communication is paramount to fully understand complex issues, solutions and value propositions. The company's portfolio of events is focused on areas of strategic industry debate and growth market sectors, with the aim of creating a collaborative learning environment for time-strapped IT executives and to facilitate high-value, quality interaction between all participants.

SOURCE: The 451 Group

For further information:

Christopher M. Hill, Chief Marketing Officer, Chris.Hill@The451Group, +1-617-261-0691
























































































SAS Visual Analytics now available to help mid-sized businesses to overcome data deluge

 SAS® Visual Analytics now supports work groups, midsize businesses, large enterprises for data visualization

Software buyers now have free access to online software trial for analytics, reporting and visualization

 

CARY, NC (Feb. 04, 2013) – The power of SAS® Visual Analytics is now available for work groups and midsize businesses. The new version of SAS’ visual data exploration software, combining business intelligence with the world’s leading analytics, includes added graphical display options and analytical capabilities.

 

Designed for data of all sizes, SAS' in-memory solution for exploring data very quickly allows users to examine all data, execute analytic calculations on billions of rows of data in just minutes or seconds, and present results visually. With self-service SAS Visual Analytics, executives have instant access – via PCs or tablets – to reports or mobile dashboards that are based on the latest data, allowing them to make quicker, better decisions.

 

The best way for businesses to understand the value of SAS Visual Analytics is to experience it firsthand. SAS created an online environment for customers to try the software. Live today, the demos allow users to interact with SAS Visual Analytics on their own. Please visit the new interactive SAS Visual Analytics Demo (www.sas.com/software/visual-analytics/demos/all-demos.html)

 

SAS originally introduced SAS Visual Analytics in March 2012, specifically designed to address big data challenges and leverage the scalability of industry-standard blade computing systems as well as database appliances from EMC Greenplum and Teradata. The new version, now available on hardware platforms typically used as departmental-size servers, brings the power of SAS’ big data solution to departments and work groups regardless of data size.

 

"With powerful data exploration and display abilities, SAS Visual Analytics is more than just a simple business intelligence product. Merging BI and analytics in one fast, easy-to-use package, SAS sits at the crossroads of several technologies that customers are anxious to see converge," said Jim Davis, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, SAS. "SAS Visual Analytics is highly scalable, ranging from scenarios with a handful of users to a corporate wide, global deployment."

 

The new scalability makes SAS Visual Analytics an excellent starting point for organizations seeking data visualization or wanting to add analytics for fact-based decisions. Its self-service option for business users to explore data frees IT departments from the constant barrage of information requests.

 

In addition to support for departmental hardware platforms, SAS Visual Analytics now offers new graphical and analytics features, including forecasting, multiple-regress model options, interaction between multiple visuals, dynamic filtering, new visualizations and more.

 

Credit visualization

"SAS Visual Analytics is a fast and easy-to-use solution for our analysts to detect correlations in our business data," said Bernd Bütow, Managing Director at Creditreform. "The result is improved quality and accuracy in forecasting. SAS Visual Analytics is so easy to use that we don't need additional training."

Creditreform makes more than 24 million credit reports from 26 countries in Europe plus China available around the clock. SAS Visual Analytics helps Creditreform quickly detect relationships within high data volumes and present results in easy-to-read graphics.

 

High-performance analytics

SAS High-Performance Analytics Server, another SAS in-memory solution, is also offering new deployment options. Customers who previously required a dedicated blade server rack or a database appliance from Teradata or EMC Greenplum can now run the modeling software on hardware platforms used for other applications.

"Customers unable to justify a dedicated system for SAS High-Performance Analytics Server can now reap its benefits on in-place hardware," said Davis. "With no additional hardware costs, they can run models that once took days or hours in minutes or seconds, and produce business insight on demand on any size data."

Among dozens of customers worldwide now uncovering business insight with high-performance SAS Visual Analytics are XL Group, SM Marketing Convergence Inc., the Internal Revenue Service, Hong Kong Efficiency Unit and Cosmos Bank.

 

About SAS

SAS is the leader in business analytics software and services, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market. Through innovative solutions, SAS helps customers at more than 60,000 sites improve performance and deliver value by making better decisions faster. Since 1976 SAS has been giving customers around the worldThe Power to Know®.

The Canadian subsidiary of SAS has been in operation since 1988. Headquartered in Toronto, SAS employs more than 300 people across the country at its Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec City and Montréal offices. www.sas.com/canada

 

SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. ® indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies.  Copyright © 2013 SAS Institute Inc. All rights reserved.

 

 

Editorial Contact:

Julie Smithers

Julie.smithers@sas.com

(647) 260-2683

Visit the SAS Press Center
www.sas.com/presscenter   

 

 









































































































 

Wavefront Partners With Hewlett-Packard to Offer Enhanced Mobile Testing and Monitoring Services

Wavefront Partners With Hewlett-Packard to Offer Enhanced Mobile Testing and Monitoring Services

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Feb. 4, 2013) - Wavefront is pleased to announce it has been selected by Hewlett-Packard (HP) to act as a premier reseller of HP's Unified Functional Testing (UFT) and Quick Test Professional (QTP) software. As Canada's Centre of Excellence for Wireless Commercialization and Research, this new partnership will enable Wavefront to connect large enterprise companies with best-in-class HP software for accelerated mobile application testing, automation and monitoring.

According to James Maynard, President and CEO, Wavefront, "By tightly linking HP's UFT and QTP software with our Perfecto Mobile cloud-based mobile testing and monitoring services, Wavefront facilitates an end-to-end solution that improves efficiency and quality assurance for enterprise-grade mobile application testing, while accelerating time to market."

Wavefront's cloud-based testing and monitoring service, integrated with HP's UFT and QTP software and Perfecto Mobile's best in class mobile application testing solutions, can be accessed either remotely or on-site, with a direct connection to one of the country's most comprehensive mobile device libraries. With more than 1,000 handsets, smartphones and tablets available to test on live global networks, businesses can identify exactly how their applications will perform on actual mobile browsers, networks and devices.

"HP Canada is extremely happy and excited to announce our strategic partnership with Canada's Centre of Excellence for Wireless Commercialization and Research - Wavefront. Wavefront's thought leadership position around wireless communication in conjunction with HP's recent partnership with Perfecto Mobile position HP uniquely in the Mobile app delivery space. The strategic partnership with both Wavefront and Perfecto are what will launch HP's enterprise class testing, monitoring and security portfolio into unparalleled dominance of the mobile application delivery market," said Frances Newbigin, Vice President and General Manager - HP Enterprise Software and Solutions at Hewlett-Packard Canada.

As a part of the Wavefront Wireless Summits in Vancouver on February 4, 5 and 6, 2013, HP will take part as a sponsor, keynote speaker, and connection for networking and business development. HP will also be on-site offering product demonstrations addressing application lifecycle and mobile testing through UFT and QTP software.

For more information about Wavefront's mobile testing and monitoring services, contact Anthony Thomas, Business Development Manager, atanthony.thomas@wavefrontac.com.

For more information about the Wavefront Wireless Summits, visit wavefrontsummits.com.

About Wavefront

Wavefront is Canada's Centre of Excellence for Wireless Commercialization and Research, accelerating the growth and success of wireless companies by connecting them with critical resources, partners and opportunities, to drive economic and social benefits for Canada. Wavefront products and services are available to wireless and non-wireless companies looking to leverage mobile technology. They include a comprehensive suite of accelerated commercialization and mentorship programs, international market linkages, state of the art wireless product development and testing infrastructure, and wireless training programs and events. For more information and to join the Wavefront Community visit wavefrontac.com.

About Hewlett-Packard

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 printingpersonal computingsoftwareservices and IT infrastructure to solve customer problems. More information about HP (NYSE:HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.

Contact Information

EMC Isilon Further Extends the Benefits of Scale-out NAS Solutions for Large, Rapidly Growing Data Archives


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
EMC Isilon Further Extends the Benefits of Scale-out NAS Solutions for Large, Rapidly Growing Data Archives
 
Now Scales Up to 20 Petabytes in a Single Storage Volume with Support for 4 Terabyte Drives
 

HOPKINTON, MA
— January 31, 2013

 

News Summary:

 

-EMC Isilon further extends the benefits of its scale-out NAS solutions in archival storage with new support for 4 terabyte drive technology available immediately worldwide.

 

-

New support enables a single EMC Isilon volume to scale up to 20 petabytes, delivering 33% more capacity per rack,
as well as an efficiency increase of 30% less power per rack.

 

-Support for 4 terabyte drives also enables EMC Isilon to increase resilience at scale with faster rebuild times for failed drives and superior data protection, further simplifying management of archive data.

 

Full Story:

 

EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC) today announced support for 4 terabyte drives for EMC® Isilon’s industry-leading scale-out NAS solutions. With this enhancement to its X-Series and NL-Series products, EMC Isilon® further extends the inherent benefits of its scale-out NAS archiving solutions — ease-of-use, highly scalable capacity and performance, auto-management and self-healing — by delivering capacity of up to 20 petabytes in a single volume, providing 33% more capacity and utilizing 30% less power per rack.

 

Enterprises across a wide spectrum of vertical markets are seeking more efficient and cost-effective ways of building and managing large, rapidly-growing information repositories. Rapid growth of file-based data has increased the need for highly-scalable and efficient archive storage solutions that meet business, legal and regulatory compliance requirements in markets such as government, healthcare and media & entertainment. With these drivers top of mind across industries, the need for efficient and cost-effective disc-based archive solutions has never been more important.

 

With EMC Isilon, archival information benefits from the robustness of the OneFS operating environment’s proven capabilities for protecting and optimizing the flow of information within an organization. Enterprises capture these benefits without sacrificing application performance or the specialized data protection required for long-term archive data retention via archive applications from EMC or other vendors.

 

EMC Isilon also offers increased resilience at scale with faster drive rebuild times, superior data protection and industry-leading efficiency. The power of the Isilon scale-out cluster rebuilds active and archive data in case of a drive failure much faster than traditional systems — less than one day, compared to multiple days or even weeks with most traditional systems. Isilon’s N+4 data protection through FlexProtect file striping helps customers reduce the risk of data loss and improve overall availability even as the cluster grows. As data archives get larger, the significance of these factors increases proportionally while EMC Isilon effortlessly scales from terabytes to petabytes.

 

New support for 4 terabyte drives enables more capacity in the same footprint while providing the standard Isilon utilization rates of more than 80%. For example, per rack capacity is now 1440TB with NL400 nodes, a 360TB increase in the same footprint.  With 4 terabyte configurations, customers need fewer nodes to meet the same total capacity goals. Now, only seven NL400 nodes with 4 terabyte drives are needed as opposed to ten NL400 nodes with 3 terabyte drives to achieve the same raw one petabyte of capacity.

EMC Isilon X Series and NL Series products with 4 terabyte drives are currently available worldwide.

 

Customer Quote:

 

R. Todd Thomas, Chief Information Officer, Austin Radiological Association

 

“At ARA, we’ve relied on Isilon as the repository for our digital mammography program for many years. So when the time came to choose a product to serve as an archive for all of our related medical and other imagery, the choice was easy.  EMC Isilon’s incredible ease-of-use and massive scalability even more impressive now with the addition of 4 terabyte drives has proven to be the ideal solution for our most pressing file-based storage challenges.”

 

Technology Partner Quotes:

 

Trevor Daughney, Director, Product Marketing, Symantec Corporation

 

“Our customers who use EMC Isilon scale-out NAS storage with Symantec Enterprise Vault software experience an advanced level of scalability, reliability, availability, and automation in storing archival data. Additionally, our joint customers lower their costs by moving data to the more economical archive storage layer, freeing up space for immediate critical access to data within their primary storage. The Symantec-EMC Isilon integration maximizes the value of our customers’ strategic data assets and propels business forward.”

 

Dirk De keersmaecker, Product Manager PACS Infrastructure, McKesson Enterprise Medical Imaging

 

“Isilon provides our customers the scalable capacity that allows us to manage their short-term and long-term archive data with ease. EMC Isilon’s architecture is well suited to support the McKesson Horizon Medical Imaging and Enterprise Image Repository applications, providing high data availability and system reliability associated with the Isilon FlexProtect data protection scheme. The scalability, availability, performance and reliability inherent in the EMC Isilon storage platform are key components in McKesson’s ability to provide a complete PACS solution to satisfy the stringent requirements of any healthcare delivery team.”

 

Rudi Ernst, CEO & CTO, PIXIA

 

“With a focus on high-performance scalable data access solutions for Defense and Military branches around the world, PIXIA helps customers realize the full potential of accessing massive archives of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) datasets on EMC Isilon’s scale- out storage.  EMC Isilon’s ease of use and scalable capacity up to 20PB of content in a single volume allows PIXIA to meet the demands of the rapid data growth our customers are seeing. By combining PIXIA’s HiPER STARE® and HiPER WATCH® products with EMC Isilon we are able to provide our customers proven, end-to-end solutions ideally suited to meeting the challenges of securely storing, analyzing, and managing massive amounts of imagery and video data.”

 

Pieter Hornix, CTO, FilmPartners

 

“As a leader in collaborative video editing solutions, MXFserver from FilmPartners relies on the scalable capacity that Isilon provides with up to 20 PB of content in a single volume. The MXFserver integration with Isilon provides a highly responsive environment that scales to meet the most demanding post-production workflows with minimal administration and zero down-time.  With Isilon’s built-in auto-tiering, we can offer our customers a flexible, responsive, and scalable tiered storage environment that enables the next-gen workflows so important to modern broadcast facilities.”

 

Channel Reseller Quote:

 

Juan Guevara, Storage Practice Director, Trace3

 

“EMC Isilon scalable performance and capacity allows Trace3 customers to manage both their active and archive data in a single volume with ease, all the way up to 20 petabytes. The core benefits of the Isilon architecture simplicity, scalability, efficiency, performance and resiliency  and the fact that it’s tailored to large-scale data mean that we can offer our customers the type of availability and system reliability needed to manage the fast-growing, unstructured data that powers enterprises today.”

 

EMC Executive Quotes:

 

Sam Grocott, Vice President of Marketing and Product Management, EMC Isilon

 

“The value of Scale-Out NAS is growing increasingly higher as large-scale data is rapidly created presenting a business opportunity and an archiving headache for today’s enterprises. As data grows at an unprecedented rate, the ability to archive an organization’s most important data is incredibly important. While archives used to be static and slow-growing, today they must be dynamic and quick to scale, making the benefits of scale-out storage even more pronounced. Supporting 4 terabyte drives in EMC Isilon systems enables enterprises to archive quickly and easily while still achieving much-needed data resiliency and efficiency.”

 

Shane Jackson, Vice President of Marketing, EMC Backup Recovery Systems Division

 

“Isilon scale-out NAS storage is an ideal complement to the EMC SouceOne archiving solution.  The breadth of applications and workloads supported by SourceOne requires flexibility in archive storage options and EMC Isilon delivers the performance, reliability, and scalability for customers looking to use scale-out NAS for their archive storage.  In addition, the power and simplicity of an end-to-end EMC archiving solution delivers rapid time-to-value and an unbeatable ROI for our joint customers.”

 

About EMC

 

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

 

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

 

   -30-