IBM investing $1B to help small and medium sized businesses

 

IBM Broadens Efforts to Prepare Small and Medium Businesses for Growth

 

Provides $1 Billion In Financing; Launches New Cloud and Business Analytics Offerings

 

TORONTO, ON, Sept. 8, 2011 -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that it will provide $1 billion in financing to help credit-qualified small and medium businesses (SMBs) over the next 18 months  take advantage of a new suite of advanced technologies such as analytics and cloud. This effort is designed to help SMBs spur innovation and drive economic growth by making credit more easily accessible, with approvals often in less than 60 seconds, through IBM Global Financing.

 

Financing is one of the biggest challenges limiting the success of SMBs today.  U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) consistently reports that well over 50 percent of small businesses fail within their first five years due to lack of capital. Since this segment is responsible for nearly 65 percent of global GDP, representing more than 90 percent of all businesses and employing more than 90 percent of the world's workforce, SMBs play a critical role in a global economic recovery.

 

Today's news addresses the urgent need for capital by providing the right foundation and resources to support SMBs in this economy. IBM's commitment of $1 billion in financing for SMBs is designed to eliminate many of the cost barriers they face to grow their business. IBM will offer simple, flexible lease and loan packages, some starting at as low as 0 percent for 12 months with no money down,** allowing them to immediately acquire the IBM technology and services they need to begin to transform their businesses, while managing their cash flow more effectively.

This financing will be made available to SMB clients through IBM Business Partners who can benefit from enhanced online financing tools to generate price proposals and get fast approvals for credit applications for SMB clients, all available by a simple click of the mouse.  

 

As part of today's announcement, IBM is also launching a comprehensive set of solutions, which include workload optimized systems combining hardware and software and services offerings focused on technologies, such as cloud, analytics, collaboration and security, specifically designed to address SMBs key needs.  IBM aims to help this segment by making these advanced technologies, once reserved for larger enterprises with large budgets, available to SMBs through IBM Business Partners at an affordable price. These new offerings also introduce technologies from IBM's recent cloud, analytics and security acquisitions such as Cast Iron, BigFix, SPSS, Netezza and Cognos.

 

Clients can now take advantage of these new technologies with no money down and by simply making monthly or quarterly financing payments. For example, many of the offerings are less than $5 per user per month (over 36 months) for 100 users.   In addition, these technologies can now be up and running in a matter of two to three days, saving SMBs up to 50 percent in cost and time.

 

According to AMI Partners, SMBs in the United States will spend more than $49 billion on cloud services in 2015, nearly double the size of the market today, The new IBM solutions will help SMBs deploy a cloud platform quickly and help SMB clients free their employees from worrying about IT and the significant costs associated with it. In a recent IBM Midmarket survey of 650 CIOs, half are looking to invest in cloud over the next five years, a 50 percent increase in demand for cloud since the last CIO study in 2009.  Cloud solutions can also help SMBs automate their IT infrastructure, allowing their staffs to shift more attention to strategic projects focused on growth.  

 

The new solutions also include analytics for SMBs to tackle "Big Data" challenges to help better extract insight and spot trends to make better business decisions and identify new market opportunities.  These offerings will combine technologies from IBM's recent acquisitions.  In fact, the survey highlighted analytics as the top priority by more than 83 percent of CIOs.

 

SkyMall Reaching New Heights with Analytics

SkyMall is a retailer that reaches more than 650 million air travelers annually through its in-flight catalog.  The publication is found on 88 percent of domestic air flights, and features high-quality, innovative merchandise from top direct marketers and manufacturers. A high percentage of the company's sales come through http://skymall.com/skymall.com making effective online analytics an essential element to continued success.

"Reaching people on the go is core to our business," said SkyMall COO, Jay Scannell. "The opportunity lies behind the ability to tie online buying to offline activity.  This will drive expansion and innovation in the way we conduct commerce and will require the continued investment and advance technologies to keep pace.  As a long-time IBM customer, we have used analytics to make key decisions about our business.  Today's news demonstrates IBM's commitment to support and strengthen SMBs and we are excited to see the advancements this will drive in the retail industry."

 

IBM Cloud Helps Russell's Convenience Identify New Markets

Russell's Convenience, with 24 stores in Colorado, Hawaii and California, understood first hand that it needed to operate as one organization to better respond to changing consumer demands.  Today, the retailer is using IBM's collaboration cloud to enable more transparent communications between stores to conduct day-to-day sales, marketing activities and meetings.  The ability to collaborate both internally and externally in a security-rich environment is helping Russell's Convenience become more of a social business by leveraging the skills and knowledge of its entire employee base.  As more and more SMBs, such as Russell's Convenience, turn to cloud-based services, today's news will help many more jump start their businesses to more effectively identify new customers, resulting in more sales of their products and services.

 

"We are currently at the forefront of an entrepreneurial renaissance that is sweeping the globe," said Mike Grandinetti, managing director at Southboro Capital "Affordable and powerful technology has gone mainstream. It has closed the gap between big corporations and small businesses, enabling entrepreneurs and small to mid-sized businesses to radically change the way that we think about and approach our work. While some may find it surprising that big company like IBM is involved, they have long been  a powerful ally to entrepreneurs around the world, helping small business grow and deliver the next wave of technology innovation." 

 

In addition to software, services and financing, IBM offers a variety of ways for entrepreneurs to grow their businesses with no-charge access to advanced technologies, leading business and technology experts and training. Through its Global Entrepreneur Program and network of 40 global Innovation Centers, IBM helps businesses solve tough challenges, enter new markets and access the training and support needed to get their products to market faster.

 

"SMBs are the engines of new ideas for our economy and for economic growth. Curiosity and new thinking are what sets them apart," said Andy Monshaw, general manager of IBM Midmarket Business. "We're coming out of a recession, and a lot of times, it's the small business entrepreneur who leads the way.  Significant efforts need to be made to provide a strong foundation for SMBs to establish their business for growth.  As information has become the new currency, the ability of SMBs to survive in an increasingly competitive and global environment is largely determined by their use of new technologies such as cloud and analytics to quickly access the right information and use it as a competitive advantage."

***

*36 [FMV] [FPO] month lease from IBM Global Financing, "best credit" business customer, minimum 100 client users.  Prices are current as of 15 June 2011; are subject to change without notice; and based on manufacturer's suggested retail price; dealer prices may vary.

IBM Global Financing offerings are provided through IBM Credit LLC in the United States and other IBM subsidiaries and divisions worldwide to qualified commercial and government customers.  Minimum transaction size $5,000, rates are based on credit worthiness customer's credit rating, financing terms, offering and  type, equipment type and options, and may vary by country. Other restrictions may apply. Rates and offerings are subject to change, extension or withdrawal without notice.

 

To see the complete list of offerings, please visit:  http://www.ibm.com/software/info/costbusters/

 

To find out how IBM and our Business Partners are working with thousands of SMBs around the world, visit:http://www.ibm.com/innovation/us/smarterplanet/midmarket.html

 

For more information on IBM Midmarket Business, please visit: http://www-03.ibm.com/innovation/us/engines/index.html

 

Facebook Page: IBM for Midsized Businesses: http://www.facebook.com/#!/MidmarketIBM

 

Follow us on Twitter at:  #MidmarketIBM.

 

To hear how IBM is working with mid market clients, please go to: http://www.youtube.com/user/MidmarketIBM

 

 

Deborah Boyce

Account Executive


Ketchum Public Relations Canada | 33 Bloor Street East, Suite 1607, Toronto, ON  M4W 3H1
Office 416-355-7425 |
www.ketchum.com/canada

 


(download)

LinkedIn Adds "Volunteer Experience & Causes" Field to Profile

 
LinkedIn Adds “Volunteer Experience & Causes” Field to Profile
 
New research from LinkedIn shows that nearly one out of every four hiring managers in
Canada agree they have hired a candidate because of their volunteer work experience
 
Toronto, ON. September 7, 2011LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD), the world's largest professional network with more than 120 million members worldwide and more than 4 million members in Canada, today announced that members can now add a “Volunteer Experience & Causes” field to their LinkedIn Profile. The company also released data that reinforces volunteer work is a key piece of your professional identity.
 
In the new “Volunteer Experience & Causes” field, LinkedIn members can add volunteer positions, causes they care about, and organizations they support. LinkedIn members can now list Big Brothers Big Sisters, DonorsChoose.org, Habitat for Humanity International, or any other organization they support on their LinkedIn Profile.
 
LinkedIn surveyed over 1,200 professionals in Canada and found that 84 percent of these professionals have personally had experience volunteering, but only 60 percent of professionals include their volunteer experience on their resume.
 
“Including volunteer work and your personal causes on your LinkedIn profile offers future employers a broadened perspective of you as an employee,” said Phyllis Reardon, President and Life Coach at CoachPhyllis.com. “It can expose a whole new area of your skills, knowledge and values, which enhances your opportunities for employment. It creates a more layered view of you as a person – a person with varied skills and interests who is connected to the community.”
 
In fact, 46 percent of the Canadian professionals that LinkedIn surveyed stated that when they are evaluating candidates, they consider volunteer work equally as valuable as paid work experience. Twenty-four percent of the hiring managers surveyed agree they have made a hiring decision based on a candidate’s volunteer work experience.
 
To add the “Volunteer Experience & Causes” field to your LinkedIn Profile:
  • After logging in, click “Profile” at the top of LinkedIn.
  • Click the “Add Sections” hyperlink.
  • Select “Volunteer Experience & Causes.”
  • Click the “Add to Profile” button and then fill out the applicable fields.
 
View a screenshot of the new “Volunteer Experience & Causes” field and get more details on the impact volunteering can have on your career on the LinkedIn Blog: http://lnkd.in/profile-volunteer-field.
 
 

Veeam Wins Best of VMworld Gold for New Technology 2nd Year in a Row

Veeam wins Best New Technology for Second Consecutive Year

Veeam Backup & Replication v6 impresses judges by taking virtual data protection farther

 

COLUMBUS, Ohio, September 7, 2011 – Veeam Software, innovative provider of VMware data protection, disaster recovery and VMware management solutions for virtual data center environments, won the Best of VMworld Gold award for New Technology for the second year in a row. Veeam holds the record for the most Best of VMworld awards at a single event (2010) and the most awards overall, which demonstrates the company’s commitment to keeping its customers at the forefront of what’s possible with virtualization.

Judges said Veeam Backup & Replication™ v6 impressed them because “it takes virtual data protection farther.”

 

“We are honored to receive the Best of VMworld award for New Technology for the second consecutive year,” explained Ratmir Timashev, President and CEO of Veeam. “It validates our commitment to ongoing innovation in virtualization data protection and confirms why Veeam is #1 in VM backup. While we are truly grateful for this award, we are most grateful to our customers. They give us the feedback and support we need to provide products with the capabilities and performance they value.

 

General availability of v6 is expected later this year. With this release, Veeam becomes the first vendor to deliver capabilities for image-based data protection that organizations have come to expect with traditional file-based backups. The new functionality includes:

 

·         Enterprise scalability: New distributed architecture streamlines deployment and maintenance of remote office/branch office (ROBO) and large installations. Also speeds up backup, replication and restore over WANs.

 

·         Advanced replication: Accelerates replication by 10X, streamlines failover and provides real failback with delta sync.

 

·         Multi-hypervisor support: Reduces the cost and complexity of managing multi-hypervisor environments with new support for Windows Server Hyper-V and Microsoft Hyper-V Server within Veeam’s existing data protection infrastructure (one install and one console).

 

·         Numerous enhancements, including 1-Click File Restore: Extends Veeam’s existing Instant File-Level Recovery (IFLR) with delegated, web-based restore directly to the original VM, without requiring a direct network connection or in-guest agent, relieving system administrators of this task while ensuring sensitive files remain secure.

 

With new support for Hyper-V, Veeam Backup & Replication v6 offers the same high-performance, resource-friendly, image-based data protection that more than 25,000 organizations have come to rely on for their virtualized environments, including:

 

·         2-in-1 backup and replication, which provides near-continuous data protection (near-CDP) and enables the best possible recovery time and recovery point objectives (RTOs and RPOs)

 

·         Changed block tracking for frequent and efficient incremental backup and replication of all VMs, including those running on Cluster Shared Volumes (CSVs)

 

·         Built-in deduplication and compression, which minimizes consumption of network bandwidth and backup storage


The Best of VMworld 2011 awards, hosted by TechTarget, Inc., cover eight product categories. TechTarget’s SearchServerVirtualization.com site editors appointed a team of independent industry experts to select winning products from more than 250 entrants. The team named winners based on innovation, value, performance, reliability and ease of use.

 

About Veeam Software
Veeam Software, an Elite VMware Technology Alliance Partner, develops innovative software to manage VMware vSphere®. Veeam Backup & Replication™ with vPower™ provides advanced Virtualization-Powered Data Protection™ and is the #1 VM backup solution. Veeam nworks extends enterprise monitoring to VMware and includes the Veeam nworks Management Pack™ for VMware management in Microsoft System Center and the Veeam nworks Smart Plug-in™ for VMware management in HP Operations Manager. Veeam ONE™ provides a single solution to optimize the performance, configuration and utilization of vSphere environments and includes: Veeam Monitor™ for easy-to-deploy VMware monitoring; Veeam Reporter™ for VMware capacity planning, change tracking and documentation; and Veeam Business View™ for VMware business service management and categorization. Learn more about Veeam Software by visiting www.veeam.com.

 

# # #

 

Social Media Links
Podcast: http://www.veeam.com/podcast

Blog: http://www.veeam.com/blog

Twitter: http://www.veeam.com/twitter

Facebook: http://www.veeam.com/facebook

LinkedIn: http://www.veeam.com/linkedin 

YouTube: http://www.veeam.com/youtube

 

 

New SATA, eSATA and Micro USB Covers

New SATA, eSATA, and Micro USB Covers Protect Sensitive Ports and
Cables

NORTH ANDOVER, MA - September 7, 2011  - L-com, Inc., a global
leader in the manufacture of wired and wireless connectivity
products, has unveiled six new items in its series of protective
covers.  The new products include male and female covers for SATA,
eSATA and USB Micro connectors.

"Connection points between cables and ports are very sensitive
to dust and abrasion," said Steve Smith, product manager.
"Protective covers can prevent wear on expensive connectors,
especially in high particulate environments."

L-com has produced several popular protective covers before.
These new covers are designed to fit more difficult-to-find
connector types.

For more information about this release, please contact:
Dave Fallon, Internet Marketing Strategist
978-682-6936 x1450, newsletters@L-com.com

L-com, a global leader in the manufacture of wired and wireless
connectivity products, offers a wide range of solutions and
unmatched customer service for the electronics and data
communications industries. The company?s product portfolio
includes cable assemblies, connectors, adapters, computer
networking components, and custom products, as well as the
Hyperlink line of wireless products. Trusted for more than
25 years, L-com, Inc. is headquartered in North Andover,
Mass., and is ISO 9001: 2008-certified. For more information,
please visit:
http://p3trc.emv2.com/HS?a=ENX7Cql_IO9W8SA9MKJHkRPnGHxKLC
2S__cStGb5lw8
W0bBhOG5mpqVsje_HhdBcfVLi


----------------------------------------------------------------- How
are we doing? To help us understand if we are meeting your needs,
please take a moment to participate in our quick survey.
http://p3trc.emv2.com/HS?a=ENX7Cql_IO9W8SA9MKJHkRPnGHxKLC
2S_PcStGb5lw8
W0bBhOG5mpqVsje_HhdBcfVLj

-----------------------------------------------------------------

To ensure you continue to receive our newsletter, special
offers and new product announcements, be sure to add
email@e.L-com.com to your contact list or address book.

If you would rather not receive future e-mail advertisements
of this sort from L-com, follow this link,
http://p3trc.emv2.com/HD?a=ENX7Cql_IO9W8SA9MKJHkRPnGHxKL
C2S-fcStGb5lw8
W0bBhOG5mpqVsje_HhdBcfVLc


-----------------------------------------------------------------
Follow L-com:

Twitter:
http://p3trc.emv2.com/HS?a=ENX7Cql_IO9W8SA9MKJHkRPnGHxKLC
2S_fcStGb5lw8
W0bBhOG5mpqVsje_HhdBcfVLg Facebook:
http://p3trc.emv2.com/HS?a=ENX7Cql_IO9W8SA9MKJHkRPnGHxKLC
2S8vcStGb5lw8
W0bBhOG5mpqVsje_HhdBcfVLh Youtube:
http://p3trc.emv2.com/HS?a=ENX7Cql_IO9W8SA9MKJHkRPnGHxKLC
2S8_cStGb5lw8
W0bBhOG5mpqVsje_HhdBcfVLm

-----------------------------------------------------------------

View our privacy policy:
http://p3trc.emv2.com/HS?a=ENX7Cql_IO9W8SA9MKJHkRPnGHxKLC
2S8PcStGb5lw8
W0bBhOG5mpqVsje_HhdBcfVLn

Our mailing address is:
L-com
45 Beechwood Dr., North Andover, MA 01845 USA

(c)L-com, Inc. All Rights Reserved.


------- End of forwarded message -------
Thank you,
Dave



Click here to download:
- (3 KB)

Click here to download:
- (11 KB)

Hitachi Data Systems Announces Acquisition of BlueArc

 

NEWS RELEASE: Hitachi Data Systems Announces Acquisition of BlueArc

 

Powerful Combination Gives Customers Highly Scalable, Reliable and High-Performance Solutions to Store and Manage the Explosive Growth in Unstructured Data

 

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — September 7, 2011 — Hitachi Data Systems Corporation (HDS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT / TSE: 6501), today announced a significant milestone in its strategy to give customers seamless access to all data, content and information with the acquisition of BlueArc Corporation, a leader in scalable, high performance network storage. Building upon a successful 5 year OEM partnership, Hitachi Data Systems and BlueArc will give customers the unmatched combination of Hitachi enterprise-class quality, reliability and support with innovative, highly scalable, high performance BlueArc network attached storage (NAS).

 

Hitachi Data Systems completed the acquisition of all outstanding shares of BlueArc in an all cash transaction. Wells Fargo Securities was the exclusive financial advisor to Hitachi Data Systems. BofA Merrill Lynch acted as financial advisor and Credit Suisse as a co-advisor to BlueArc for this transaction.

 

IDC predicts that by 2014 more than 83 per cent of enterprise storage system capacity will be shipped for file-based data, taking the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for file serving storage capacity to 2.5 times the CAGR for block storage capacity1. With this acquisition, Hitachi Data Systems is making a significant move to address the fastest growing segment of the storage market. BlueArc has been successfully delivering high-performance enterprise NAS solutions to customers in a variety of markets such as health and life sciences, media and entertainment, telecommunications, energy and e-discovery – where digital content and unstructured (file-based) data is growing at exponential rates. These industries are also faced with the challenges of “big data” – data sets so large that they become difficult to store, search, access, share and analyze. Hitachi Data Systems and BlueArc will give customers the unmatched combination of world renowned reliability and quality with the industry leading performance and scalability required to handle the growth in big data and create information centers.

 

Significant Milestone in HDS Strategy to Transform Traditional Data Centers to Information Centers

With this acquisition, HDS is executing on its strategy to transform traditional data centers into information centers – where customers can seamlessly store and access all data, content and information. Information that is available and searchable from anywhere and at any time. Information that is independent of the infrastructure, independent of the application and can be securely and cost-effectively accessed, searched, managed and governed forever.

 

The HDS strategy is comprised of three integrated foundational components: infrastructure cloud, content cloud and information cloud – all of which leverage industry leading virtualization technology from HDS to deliver enhanced efficiencies and cost savings to customers each step of the way. The infrastructure cloud optimizes the underlying infrastructure of servers, storage and networking without impacting application performance. The content cloud leverages data intelligence tools to enable data indexing, search and discovery across platforms. The information cloud will apply information analytics to allow the complete independence of data from applications and usher in new capabilities of data re-use for business purposes. BlueArc is a key link between infrastructure cloud and content cloud with its expertise in file-based virtualization, built-in intelligent tiering, automated data movement capabilities for unstructured data and tight integration with the Hitachi file, content and block portfolio. This enables customers to gain control of their unstructured data with seamless access, search, retention, consolidation and archiving capabilities. HDS and BlueArc have closely collaborated on product definition since the beginning of the companies’ partnership, and today’s acquisition brings opportunities for even tighter product development strategies that will provide greater benefits to customers.

 

“The exponential growth of digital content, particularly unstructured content, has had a dramatic effect on all businesses, including the requirements on IT,” said Jack Domme, CEO, Hitachi Data Systems. “Over the past 5 years, BlueArc has been an integral part of our strategy to help customers store and manage unstructured data of all types, such as video, email, medical imaging, scientific data and more. Bringing BlueArc into the Hitachi family will enable us to better serve customers with more tightly integrated technologies, broader capabilities and deeper expertise globally. Our combined efforts will deliver cost-effective infrastructure cloud and content cloud solutions that customers can take advantage of as they look to further transform their data centers.”

 

“Joining forces with Hitachi Data Systems is a win-win situation for our employees, our partners, our customers and our shareholders,” said Mike Gustafson, CEO, BlueArc. “The strength of the long-standing partnership between the two companies spanning product integration, customer momentum and cross-functional collaboration is the foundation for this union. We are excited to accelerate our vision and innovation and to bring real solutions to customers, partners and the market. We view this as a critical time in information technology, where we will help customers assess and map their business priorities and deliver information services as we work collectively to continue to define next generation information centers amidst the expanding world of file and content.” 

 

BlueArc delivers highly scalable, high performance file storage to customers across a broad range of markets and is tightly focused on solving the challenges faced by unstructured data at scale.

With a more than 10 years of focus on innovating around data intensive, performance-sensitive environments, BlueArc offers best-in-class price/performance ratios and outstanding return on investment. Its products are suited to customers seeking scalable solutions to the rapid growth of unstructured data whether that growth is taking place in their enterprise data center, their high-performance computing environment or any place in between. With almost 1,000 customers worldwide, spanning markets such as media, life sciences, energy, hosted services and a rapidly increasing footprint in the virtualization-over-NFS storage market, BlueArc is one of the top vendors in the Gartner 2011 NAS Magic Quadrant’s “Visionaries” quadrant2. BlueArc has been an OEM partner of Hitachi Data Systems since November 2006, powering the Hitachi NAS Platform family and its tremendous market growth and presence.

 

Hitachi Data Systems offers the industry’s most complete and integrated end-to-end enterprise virtualization capabilities for both file and block storage. Just as HDS has pioneered virtualization in the enterprise space, BlueArc is a leader in file-based virtualization, offering capabilities such as high performance, native intelligent tiering, scale to an 8-node cluster or 16 petabytes and virtualization of 3rd party NAS offerings for investment protection. 

 

Live Webcast Event Today

Hitachi Data Systems plans to host a live webcast event featuring HDS CEO Jack Domme and BlueArc CEO Mike Gustafson to provide further details on the strategy of this acquisition. The webcast is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. PT/5:00 p.m. ET and be viewed online here: http://live-webcast.com/events/hds/2011-all-hands/webcast.htm

 

Web Resources

-       Read recent posts on Techno Musings, Hu’s Blog and Claus’s Blog

-       Follow us on Twitter for updates from today’s events

-       Join today’s #HDSchat on Twitter at 3:05 p.m. PT/6:05 p.m. ET

-       Connect with us on LinkedIn and join the discussion

-       Like us on Facebook and look for updates on today’s events

 

About Hitachi Data Systems

Hitachi Data Systems provides best-in-class information technologies, services and solutions that deliver compelling customer ROI, unmatched return on assets (ROA) and demonstrable business impact. With a vision that IT must be virtualized, automated, cloud-ready and sustainable, Hitachi Data Systems offers solutions that improve IT costs and agility. With more than 4,900 employees worldwide, Hitachi Data Systems does business in more than 100 countries and regions. Hitachi Data Systems products, services and solutions are trusted by the world’s leading enterprises, including more than 70 percent of the Fortune 100 and more than 80 percent of the Fortune Global 100. Hitachi Data Systems believes that data drives our world – and information is the new currency. To learn more, visit: http://www.hds.com.

 

About Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT / TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 360,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2010 (ended March 31, 2011) consolidated revenues totaled 9,315 billion yen ($112.2 billion). Hitachi will focus more than ever on the Social Innovation Business, which includes information and telecommunication systems, power systems, environmental, industrial and transportation systems, and social and urban systems, as well as the sophisticated materials and key devices that support them. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com.

 

###

 

© Hitachi Data Systems Corporation 2011. All Rights Reserved. Hitachi is a registered trademark of Hitachi, Ltd. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries. Hitachi Data Systems is a registered trademark and service mark of Hitachi, Ltd. in the United States and other countries.

 

1”Worldwide File-Based Storage 2010–2014 Forecast: Consolidation, Efficiency, and Objects Shape Market,” IDC #223558, June 2010

 

2”Magic Quadrant for Midrange and High-End NAS Solutions,” Gartner #G00210934, March 24, 2011

 

 

Lizanne McReelis

Echo Communications

O: +1.647.438.5414

C: +1.416.846.5385

E: lizanne@echo-communications.com

W: http://www.echo-communications.com

 

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/lizannemcreelis

Twitter: LizanneMcReelis

 

Supercomputer: Magnetic Fields Keep Milky Way's Central Black Hole Hungry - For Now

 


Supercomputer: Magnetic Fields Keep Milky Way's Central Black Hole Hungry - For Now

Canada's Largest Computer Simulation Peers into Dark Black Hole at Milky Way's Centre

TORONTO, Sept. 8, 2011 /CNW/ - Telescopes can see light from distant galaxies; but it takes a supercomputer to see why the centre of our own is so dark.

The intense gravity near black holes makes for a violent, active region of space. Gas or stars that wander too near are torn apart, their energy released as X-rays. In the centre of the Milky Way, 26,000 light years away, is a black hole over four million times heavier than our Sun, but only modestly brighter.  It's eerily quiet -- too quiet.

This mystery may have been solved by an international team of scientists lead by researchers at the Canadian Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, and the University of Toronto Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, in work published in the current issue of Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The team used supercomputers at SciNet, University of Toronto, to carry out the largest computer simulations ever performed in Canada so they could test out their new theory.

"We've long thought that magnetic fields can choke off the flow of material into the black hole" says Prof. Ue-Li Pen of CITA. "Our earlier work suggested this, but then, it just wasn't possible for a simulation to look at the huge range of lengths - from light years to light minutes - needed to track the hot gas as it falls all the way towards the black hole."

"But our new methods, and SciNet, let us do just that," added Dr. Bijia Pang. "We broke up the region of space near the black hole into 100 billion zones, and spread them over almost 18 thousands processors on SciNet's largest cluster. This finally gave us the resolution we needed to test our model - we could see, with unprecedented accuracy, the fields halting the turbulence and keeping the gas from falling in."

The paper, "Numerical parameter survey of non-radiative black hole accretion: flow structure and variability of the rotation measure", can be found online at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.18748.x/full

About SciNet:

SciNet is Canada's largest supercomputer centre, providing Canadian researchers with computational resources and expertise necessary to perform their research on scales not previously possible in Canada. SciNet powers work from the biomedical sciences and aerospace engineering to astrophysics and climate science. SciNet is part of Compute Canada, a national infrastructure for supercomputing-powered innovation, and is funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, NSERC, the Ontario Government, and the University of Toronto. More information is available at http://www.scinet.utoronto.ca.

For further information:

Media Contact:
Jillian Dempsey
jillian.dempsey@utoronto.ca
SciNet HPC Consortium
416.978.2922

© 2011 CNW Group Ltd, all rights reserved
© 2011 Groupe CNW Ltée, tous droits réservés

Avaya and others partner for interoperability test

 

Alcatel-Lucent, Avaya, Huawei, Solana and Spirent Showcase Shortest Path Bridging Interoperability

 

Industry-First Test Shows SPB Readiness for Large Multi-Vendor Deployments

 

OTTAWA, Ontario (September 7, 2011) – Alcatel-Lucent, Avaya, Huawei, Solana Networks and Spirent Communications today announced that they have completed the industry's first large-scale, multi-vendor interoperability test leveraging IEEE 802.1aq Shortest Path Bridging (SPB) technology.

 

SPB allows customers to greatly simplify how they create and configure networks—across the enterprise and for the cloud— by requiring service provisioning only at the edge of the network. It uses Intermediate System To Intermediate System (IS-IS), a proven carrier-grade link state protocol, to dynamically build the topology between network nodes, saving network administrators time and effort, and virtually eliminating human error.

 

The interoperability test simulated a large network environment of almost 200 nodes and more than 400 links. It demonstrated full control plane interoperability between each vendor's equipment, native network discovery in a multi-vendor network and Layer 2 Virtual Private Network (L2VPN) interoperability. L2VPN connectivity was validated by passing real and simulated traffic between network connected devices and a network emulator. Avaya and Spirent also tested the Ethernet Connectivity Fault Management (IEEE 802.1ag) standard, showing successful Layer 2 operations.

 

This test builds on previous validation efforts that have showcased SPB's capabilities for multi-site data centers and hybrid clouds, including the migration of a virtual machine over a multi-vendor SPB network that seamlessly transferred services between nodes delivered by different vendors.

 

“This was the first multi-vendor commercial test for multi-path Ethernet leveraging Shortest Path Bridging technology,” said Mike Spanbauer, principal analyst, Current Analysis. “Shortest Path Bridging was built on the premise of retaining capital investments customers have today in addition to building on the engineering strength of Ethernet over the last 30 years.”

 

The SPB network consisted of 10 physical switches—including the Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch™ 6900, Avaya Ethernet Routing Switch 8800 and Huawei Quidway S9300—alongside Spirent TestCenter™, a Huawei LINUX/Quagga emulator and SmartHawk, a non-intrusive, real-time network discovery and topology mapping tool from Solana Networks.

 

Additional Resources

·         Product: Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise Data Center Switching Solutions

·         Product: Avaya Virtual Enterprise Network Architecture

·         Wikipedia: Shortest Path Bridging (IEEE 802.1aq)

 

Tags

SPB, Shortest Path Bridging, IEEE, 802.1aq, interoperability, Avaya, Alcatel-Lucent, Spirent, Solana, ERS 8800, Omniswitch 9600, Quidway S9300, TestCenter HyperMetrics, SmartHawk

 

About Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU)

The long-trusted partner of service providers, enterprises, strategic industries and governments around the world, Alcatel-Lucent is a leader in mobile, fixed, IP and Optics technologies, and a pioneer in applications and services. Alcatel-Lucent includes Bell Labs, one of the world's foremost centres of research and innovation in communications technology.

 

With operations in more than 130 countries and one of the most experienced global services organizations in the industry, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with global reach.

 

The Company achieved revenues of Euro 16 billion in 2010 and is incorporated in France and headquartered in Paris.

 

For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com, read the latest posts on the Alcatel-Lucent blog http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/blog and follow the Company on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Alcatel_Lucent.

 

About Huawei

Huawei is a leading telecom solutions provider. With comprehensive strengths in wireline, wireless and IP technologies, Huawei has gained a leading position in the All-IP convergence age. Our products and solutions have been deployed in over 140 countries and have served 45 of the world's top 50 telecom operators, as well as one third of the world's population. For more information visit our web site at www.huawei.com.

 

About Solana Networks

Solana Networks provides industry-leading software products and solutions for IP and switched networks in Canada and internationally. Solana’s offerings are designed to improve the performance of mission-critical networks, reduce network downtime and enable new services. The company offers intelligent network discovery and monitoring solutions, with SmartHawk, Solana’s flagship Route-Analytics product targeted at the largest global enterprise and ISP networks. Solana’s products have unique capabilities for ensuring high network availability through rapid discovery, fault detection and root cause analysis. For more information please visit www.solananetworks.com.

 

About Spirent Communications plc

Spirent Communications plc. (LSE: SPT), a global leader in test and measurement offers an extensive portfolio of solutions to test data centers, cloud computing environments, high speed Ethernet networks and services, 3G/4G wireless networks and devices, network security, and global navigation satellite systems. For more information visit http://www.spirent.com/about-us/News_Room/About_Spirent_Communications_plc.aspx.

 

About Avaya

Avaya is a global provider of business collaboration and communications solutions, providing unified communications, contact centers, data solutions and related services to companies of all sizes around the world. For more information please visit www.avaya.com.

 

Certain statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "might," "plan," "potential," "predict," "should" or "will" or other similar terminology. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. While we believe these expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections are reasonable, such forward looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. These and other important factors may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. For a list and description of such risks and uncertainties, please refer to Avaya's filings with the SEC that are available at www.sec.gov. Avaya disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

 

 

Norton Study Calculates Cost of Global Cybercrime: $114 Billion Annually


Norton Study Calculates Cost of Global Cybercrime: $114 Billion Annually

Cybercrime Cost Canadians $840 million Last Year

 

TORONTO, ON – Sept. 7, 2011 – For the first time a Norton study calculates the cost of global cybercrime: $114 billion annually.[i] Based on the value victims surveyed placed on time lost due to their cybercrime experiences, an additional $274 billion was lost.[ii] In Canada, more than 7.3 million people fell victim to cybercrime last year, suffering CAD$840 million in direct financial losses and an additional CAD$4.7 billion in time spent resolving the crime. With 431 million adult victims globally in the past year and at an annual price of $388 billion globally based on financial losses and time lost, cybercrime costs the world significantly more than the global black market in marijuana, cocaine and heroin combined ($288 billion).[iii]

 

According to the Norton Cybercrime Report 2011 more than two thirds of online adults (69 percent) have been a victim of cybercrime in their lifetime. Every second 14 adults become a victim of cybercrime, resulting in more than one million cybercrime victims every day.[iv] For the first time, the Norton Cybercrime Report reveals that 10 percent of adults online have experienced cybercrime on their mobile phone. In fact, the Symantec Internet Security Threat Report, Volume 16[v] reported there were 42 percent more mobile vulnerabilities in 2010 compared to 2009 – a sign that cybercriminals are starting to focus their efforts on the mobile space.  The number of reported new mobile operating system vulnerabilities increased, from 115 in 2009 to 163 in 2010.   In addition to threats on mobile devices, increased social networking and a lack of protection are likely to be some of the main culprits behind the growing number of cybercrime victims. 

 

Canada not immune to digital dangers

There are close to 20,000 Canadian adults falling victim to cybercrime everyday – that’s about 14 every minute. Most are experiencing computer virus or malware attacks, or responding to online scams. Largely, Canadians are cognizant of online dangers with 77 percent of respondents noting the possibility of cybercrime is something they are always aware of when online. However, some are not taking the necessary precautions with 35 percent of Canadian adults revealing they don’t have up-to-date security software.

 

“Canadians are becoming more aware that cybercrime is real and can affect anyone, but some work needs to be done to further educate them on how to protect themselves,” said Lynn Hargrove, Director of Consumer Solutions, Symantec Canada “This survey is important because it shows the costs of cybercrime and people tend to do something to protect themselves when they see it can have a big impact on their bottom line.”

 

Male, Millennial, Mobile

The study identifies men between 18 and 31 years old who access the Internet from their mobile phone as even more likely victims: in this group four in five (80 percent) have fallen prey to cybercrime in their lifetime. Globally, the most common – and most preventable – type of cybercrime is computer viruses and malware with 54 percent of respondents saying they have experienced it in their lifetime. Viruses are followed by online scams (11 percent) and phishing messages (10 percent). Earlier this year the Symantec Internet Security Threat Report, Volume 16, found more than 286 million unique variations of malicious software (“malware”) compared to the 240 million reported in 2009, representing a 19 percent increase.[vi]

 

“There is a serious disconnect in how people view the threat of cybercrime,” said Adam Palmer, Norton Lead Cybersecurity Advisor. “Cybercrime is much more prevalent than people realize. Over the past 12 months, three times as many adults surveyed have suffered from online crime versus offline crime, yet less than a third of respondents think they are more likely to become a victim of cybercrime than physical world crime in the next year. And while 89 percent of respondents agree that more needs to be done to bring cybercriminals to justice, fighting cybercrime is a shared responsibility. It requires us all to be more alert and to invest in our online smarts and safety.”

 

The disconnect between awareness and action is further illustrated by the fact that while 74 percent of respondents say they are always aware of cybercrime, many are not taking the necessary precautions. Forty-one percent of adults indicated they don’t have an up to date security software suite to protect their personal information online. In addition, less than half review credit card statements regularly for fraud (47 percent), and 61 percent don’t use complex passwords or change them regularly. Among those who access the Internet via their mobile phone, only 16 percent install the most up to date mobile security.

 

For more findings from the Norton Cybercrime Report globally and by country, please visit: http://norton.com/cybercrimereport.

 

About Norton by Symantec

Symantec’s Norton products protect consumers from cybercrime with technologies like antivirus, anti-spyware and phishing protection -- while also being light on system resources.  The company also provides services such as online backup, PC tuneup, and family online safety.  Like Norton on Facebook at www.facebook.com/norton and follow @NortonOnline on Twitter.

 

About Symantec

Symantec’s Canadian operations are headquartered in Toronto with offices in Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary and Vancouver.  For more information on Symantec products or current promotions, access Symantec’s Canadian Web site at www.symantec.ca. Symantec is an active member of the Business Software Alliance (BSA).


Symantec is a global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions to help consumers and organizations secure and manage their information-driven world.  Our software and services protect against more risks at more points, more completely and efficiently, enabling confidence wherever information is used or stored. More information is available at www.symantec.com.

 

Norton Cybercrime Report Methodology

Between February 6, 2011 and March 14, 2011, StrategyOne conducted interviews with 19,636 people and included 12,704 adults, aged 18 and  over 4,553 children aged 8-17 years and 2,379 grade 1-11 teachers from 24 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Hong Kong, Mexico, South Africa, Singapore, Poland, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates). 

 

The margin of error for the total sample of adults (n=12,704) is + 0.87% at the 95% level of confidence. The global data has been weighted to ensure all countries have equal representation: adults to n500.

 

###

 

NOTE TO EDITORS: If you would like additional information on Symantec Corporation and its products, please visit the Symantec News Room at http://www.symantec.com/news. All prices noted are in U.S. dollars and are valid only in the United States.

 

Symantec and the Symantec Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Symantec Corporation or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Forward-looking Statements: Any forward-looking indication of plans for products or programs is preliminary and all future release or delivery dates are tentative and are subject to change. Any future program plans, or release of the product or planned modifications to product capability, functionality, or feature are subject to ongoing evaluation by Symantec, and may or may not be implemented and should not be considered firm commitments by Symantec and should not be relied upon in making program participation or product purchasing decisions.

 

Symantec and the Symantec Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Symantec Corporation or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.









[i] Findings are extrapolations based upon results from a survey conducted in 24 countries among adults 18-64. The financial cost of cybercrime in the last year ($114bn) is calculated as follows: Victims over past 12 months (per country) x average financial cost of cybercrime (per country in US currency).

[ii] The value of time lost due to cybercrime experiences in the last year ($274 billion) is calculated as follows: Victims over past 12 months (per country) x average time cost of cybercrime (per country in US currency). Figure shown in the sum of all countries total cost.

[iii] 431 million victims in 24 countries over past 12 months is calculated as follows: Latest research from NCR shows 69% of adults in 24 countries have been a victim of cybercrime ever and of these 65% have been a victim in the past 12 months. Online population per country (24 country total = 802,872,752 according to CIA World Factbook) x % cybercrime ever per country x % cybercrime past 12 months per country = 431,504,885 (sum of 24 countries)

Total cost of cybercrime is calculated as follows: Total financial cost $114billion plus value attributed to lost time trying to resolve cybercrime $274billion = $388 billion

Total value of the world’s marijuana, cocaine and heroin market ($288 billion) is calculated as follows:

·         Total value of the world’s marijuana market is $141.80 billion according to the 2005 United Nations World Drug Report, http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/WDR-2005.html

·         Total value of the world’s cocaine market is $85 billion according to the 2011 United Nations World Drug Report, http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/WDR-2011.html

·         Total value of the world’s heroin trade is $61 billion according to the 2011 United Nations World Drug Report, http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/WDR-2011.html

[iv] 14 cybercrime victims per second and one million cybercrime victims per day calculated as follows: victims over past 12 months (as above) 431,504,885 / 365 days per year /  24 hours / 60 minutes / 60 seconds

[v] Source: Symantec Internet Security Threat Report published April 2011 https://www4.symantec.com/mktginfo/downloads/21182883_GA_REPORT_ISTR_Main-Report_04-11_HI-RES.pdf

[vi] Source: Symantec Internet Security Threat Report published April 2011 https://www4.symantec.com/mktginfo/downloads/21182883_GA_REPORT_ISTR_Main-Report_04-11_HI-RES.pdf

 

Seagate Hard Drives To Feature SafetyNet Data Recovery Services

Seagate Hard Drives To Feature SafetyNet Data Recovery Services
An Industry First, The New GoFlex® Turbo Performance Drive Includes a Recovery Plan for Your Data

CUPERTINO, Calif. - August 8, 2011 - Seagate (NASDAQ: STX), today unveiled the GoFlex® Turbo performance drive with SafetyNet™ data recovery services (DRS). SafetyNet data recovery is the first recovery service offering by a hard drive manufacturer to be included as part of the purchase price of an external drive. With the latest super speed USB 3.0 interface and RPMs clocked at 7200, the GoFlex Turbo drive is equipped to handle transfer speeds up to 40% faster than that of its USB 2.0, 5400-RPM siblings. This latest addition to the GoFlex family was developed with the understanding that those who place a high value on their data should have the peace of mind that their data is even more secure regardless of what unforeseen incident might occur to the drive. The new GoFlex Turbo performance drive features two-years of SafetyNet data recovery services and is now available from Best Buy for a manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of $119.99 for 500GBs and $139.99 for 750GBs.*

Seagate® GoFlex® Turbo performance drive with SafetyNet™ data recovery services (DRS).

"With this new GoFlex® Turbo performance drive, it is our aim to provide more peace of mind for the people who choose Seagate to back up and store their valued digital assets," said Patrick Connolly, vice president and general manager of Seagate’s retail product group. "When our products are used as a backup to a primary system or even as supplemental storage, people should know that they can get a further layer of assurance that their data will be there when they need it."

"Seagate is now bringing to market a solution that shelters our customers, who purchase the GoFlex® Turbo with SafetyNet™, from the potential thousand-dollar cost of recovering lost files. Seagate is providing a solution that will no longer cost thousands of dollars to recover files. SafetyNet™ DRS provide an extra layer of protection for your content."

SafetyNet™
SafetyNet Data Recovery Services are included with the new GoFlex Turbo performance drive that provides additional protection in the event of data loss. Many things can contribute to data being inaccessible from a drive and Seagate is now providing a safeguard against mishaps such as: physical damage to the drive, human error and software viruses. The GoFlex Turbo performance drive includes two years of SafetyNet Data Recovery Service, a service which separately often comes with a price tag of hundreds to thousands of dollars. The SafetyNet service covers one recovery attempt on your GoFlex Turbo performance drive within a two-year period. Seagate's Data Recovery Specialists will determine whether remote or in-lab service is the best way to recover the data.*

* The SafetyNet program provides one data recovery attempt in the first two years after date of original purchase. Not all data may be recoverable. For more information, see SafetyNet program terms and conditions at seagate.com/safetynet. SafetyNet service currently is available only to legal residents of US.

GoFlex® External Hard Drives
First introduced in May of 2010, the family of Seagate® GoFlex® drives and accessories have introduced a new level of flexibility to external storage which has changed the way people store, access, enjoy and share their digital content. The GoFlex storage family includes easy, plug-and-play portable and desktop drives, with an array of interchangeable cables and desktop adapters that allow each drive to adapt to the interface or device being used. Seagate GoFlex Turbo performance drive and the entire family of GoFlex ultra-portable drives are the first to meet the new Universal Storage Module (USM™) specification¹. GoFlex hard disk drives are also specially designed to provide interoperability between operating systems in order to work with both Microsoft® Windows® and Mac® OS X computers.

About Seagate
Seagate is the worldwide leader in hard disk devices and storage solutions. Learn more at http://www.seagate.com.

© 2011 Seagate Technology LLC. All rights reserved. Seagate, Seagate Technology, the Wave logo, GoFlex Turbo, SafetyNet and GoFlex are trademarks or registered trademarks of Seagate Technology LLC in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. When referring to hard device capacity, one gigabyte, or GB, equals one billion bytes. Your computer’s operating system may use a different standard of measurement and report a lower capacity. In addition, some of the listed capacity is used for formatting and other functions, and thus will not be available for data storage. Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Seagate reserves the right to change, without notice, product offerings or specifications.

¹ The SATA USM specification is a standard specification to accept a complete, powered external storage device into consumer electronic devices. Modules designed according to the SATA USM specification will enable consumers to instantly access their music, movies, photos and other content from a variety of consumer electronics products, and to seamlessly transfer content between devices.

FreeBalance to Share Governance Good Practices at Forum Africa 2011

Sustainable development and private investment in Africa to be central themes of Forum Africa 2011

Ottawa, Canada (6 September 2011) – FreeBalance, a For Profit Social Enterprise (FOPSE) software company that helps governments around the world to leverage robust Government Resource Planning (GRP) technology to accelerate country growth, is pleased to announce attendance at Forum Africa 2011. This event will be held in Montreal, Canada at the Queen Elizabeth hotel, 5 to 8 September 2011. The list of countries that will be represented includes: Benin, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville), Gabon, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa. FreeBalance is a member of the Canadian Council on Africa and supports Public Financial Management (PFM) reforms with GRP implementations in LiberiaUganda, Sierra Leone, Southern Sudan, and with MCA Namibia.

The mission of Forum Africa 2011 is to provide innovative tools and approaches for stimulating private investment in Africa. The international business gathering is expected to bring together over 500 participants, African, international and Canadian business, government, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) and International Financial Institution (IFI) leaders. Seminar topics at Forum Africa 2011 include: Infrastructure Development (Energy, Transportation, Telecommunications and ICT); Financing of International Trade in Africa; Sustainable Development in Africa’s Wood and Forestry Sectors; and Doing Business in Africa.

"We look forward to meeting delegates at Forum Africa 2011 to share experiences of adapting business processes and products to meet needs in Africa," said Manuel Pietra, President & CEO at FreeBalance. "We have seen the positive impact of modern GRP systems in Liberia, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Southern Sudan, and Uganda. FreeBalance helps these governments improve transparency, governance, and accountability, which leads to improved economic activity and an increase in private investor confidence."

The FreeBalance Accountability Suite is a GRP solution that supports transparency and accountability. FreeBalance solutions for governments and external aid projects and funds simplify administration and reduce transaction costs for government or private organizations managing aid projects. The FreeBalance Accountability Suite automates reporting to donors, project finance management, and project performance management. The FreeBalance solution operates in developing nations around the world, including low-capacity countries, and providing effective donor reporting that meets international standards.

FreeBalance customers span the globe and the user community includes public financial management professionals in 19 countries. FreeBalance operates in 15 customer time zones. FreeBalance software manages a global civil service workforce of 1,500,000, and also manages a quarter trillion ($US) annual budgets worldwide. FreeBalance is active in 19 countries, including Antigua & Barbuda, Afghanistan, Canada, Iraq, Kosovo, Kyrgyz Republic, Liberia, Mongolia, Namibia, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Southern Sudan, Timor-Leste, and Uganda among others.

About FreeBalance
FreeBalance helps governments around the world leverage robust Government Resource Planning (GRP) technology to accelerate country growth. FreeBalance software solutions for public financial and human resource management support reform and modernization to improve governance, transparency and accountability. Good governance is required to improve development results. For more information, visit www.freebalance.com.
 

###