MaRS Centre Phase 2 Set for Completion in Fall 2013

MaRS Centre Phase 2 Set for Completion in Fall 2013

Strategic relationship with Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. and support from Ontario Government will create one of the largest urban innovation hubs in the world

TORONTO, July 26, 2011 /CNW/ - MaRS Discovery District announced today that construction of MaRS Centre Phase 2 (www.marsdd.com/phase2) will proceed. This 20-storey state-of-the-art convergence centre, a substantial expansion of the facility, will enable MaRS to accelerate its role as a catalyst of innovation in the launching and growth of new science and technology businesses. To complete the development of MaRS Centre Phase 2, MaRS is partnering with the Province of Ontario and continuing its strategic relationship with Alexandria, the world's leading life science developer and owner.

The current MaRS Centre is at full occupancy, and cannot meet the increasing demand for space from both institutional and business tenants. MaRS Centre Phase 2, directly adjacent to the existing facility, will offer tenants co-located technologically advanced laboratory and office space; award-winning communications and information technology capabilities; access to a large multi-function conference centre; and collaboration opportunities with other MaRS tenants and partners across Canada and around the globe.

"The MaRS Centre has been at capacity since it opened six years ago, when we first started working with entrepreneurs building new growth companies. Today the MaRS community has tremendous momentum, and our facility is bursting at the seams! This expansion of the MaRS platform offers a huge opportunity to accelerate that momentum and further strengthen our innovation economy for future generations."— Ilse Treurnicht, CEO, MaRS Discovery District.

In the heart of downtown Toronto, the MaRS Centre is an architecturally inspiring space that has become the undisputed hub of Toronto's renowned Discovery District. The MaRS Centre is at the heart of a vibrant and creative urban environment known for its highly skilled and diverse talent pool. Among globally recognized universities, academic teaching hospitals and research institutes and in close proximity to Toronto's Financial District, business community, and government offices, its location provides a strong, sustainable innovation pipeline.

"Every day, the innovators and entrepreneurs at MaRS work on ideas that will save lives, invent whole new industries and create jobs we can't even imagine today," said Glen Murray, Minister of Research and Innovation and MPP for Toronto Centre.  "Our government is proud to help meet the demand for state-of-the-art space that will help bring these projects to life."

Founded in 2000 and opened in 2005, the MaRS Centre brings companies of all sizes, researchers and innovators from different disciplines, investors, professional service firms, community organizations, and policymakers together in a thriving urban facility. This collaborative, interdisciplinary and cross-industry approach is the cornerstone of the MaRS model.

Phase 2 of the MaRS Centre will double the size of the facility to over 1.5 million sq. ft., making it one of the largest urban innovation hubs in the world. Today more than 2,300 researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs and professionals representing 80+ tenants come to work at MaRS every day. Every year thousands more come to attend seminars, workshops and conferences.  MaRS Centre Phase 2, by more than doubling this vibrant and creative core, will dramatically enhance the capacity of the MaRS community as an innovation engine, creating the jobs of the future economy.

Two prominent tenants have already committed to leasing space in the new building. The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, with its exceptional translational cancer research and commercialization programs, presently in the south tower, will expand into MaRS Centre Phase 2. Public Health Ontario, a central player in public health research and policy and in infectious diseases management, will anchor its provincial network in MaRS Centre Phase 2.

To finance the project, Infrastructure Ontario is providing a fully repayable loan to MaRS, which, with investments by MaRS and the existing investment of Alexandria, will enable MaRS to complete the project. MaRS Centre Phase 2 will be developed and operated by MaRS and has an anticipated completion date of September 2013.

About MaRS
Toronto's MaRS Discovery District (www.marsdd.com) is a large-scale, mission-driven innovation centre focused on accelerating innovation and building Canada's next generation of high-growth companies. MaRS works closely with entrepreneurs in life sciences and health care, information, communications and entertainment technologies, clean tech, advanced materials and engineering, as well as with innovative social purpose businesses. MaRS provides entrepreneurship education both at the facility and online; advisory services offered by seasoned entrepreneurs, business executives and sector experts (the majority as volunteers); market intelligence; seed capital; as well as access to talent, customer and investor networks. The MaRS Centre connects the science, business and capital communities and anchors a wide network of collaborators.

MaRS is a member of the Ontario Network of Excellence (ONE), and one of fourteen Research and Innovation Centres across Ontario designed to help technology and social entrepreneurs commercialize their innovations.

Media Contact:
Chris Stevenson
Director, Communications
T: 416-673-8104
F: 416-673-8181
E: cstevenson@marsdd.com

Eight Ontario start-ups receive $6 million in funding from the Investment Accelerator Fund

Eight Ontario start-ups receive $6 million in funding from the Investment Accelerator Fund

TORONTO, July 27, 2011 /CNW/ - Eight Ontario companies have received more than $6 million in seed and later stage financing from the Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF), a program that invests in eligible companies as they develop their technologies and bring their products or services to market.

The IAF supports the launch and development of innovative companies in Ontario's priority sectors of advanced materials and manufacturing, information technology, cleantech and life sciences. The IAF is funded by the Government of Ontario and delivered by MaRS.

The IAF is committed to investing $500,000 in each of the following companies:

  • GridCentric: Two groundbreaking technologies: one supports cloud computing, while the other cuts the number of servers needed in client/server IT setups.
  • Karos Health: Creating an exchange network to improve electronic ordering and results distribution of diagnostic imaging tests between client hospitals, imaging centers and radiology reading services.
  • Locationary: Locationary is now commercializing its sophisticated cloud-based, local data management system that helps mobile and web publishers improve quality while reducing the costs and complexity of managing local business places data.
  • Temporal Power: Develops and manufactures electrical energy storage systems that use a breakthrough flywheel technology. The technology is aimed at helping the electrical utility industry modernize the grid, integrate wind and solar power and better utilize water for generating clean power.

The Investment Accelerator Fund-Life Sciences (IAF-LS) helps accelerate the growth of life sciences companies in Ontario. The fund invests up to $1,000,000 in seed and later stage financing in companies that have the potential to be global leaders in their field and provide sustainable economic benefits to Ontario. Funded by the Government of Ontario, the fund helps innovative life sciences companies turn their discoveries into new products and services that meet patient needs.

The IAF-LS is committed to investing up to $1,000,000 in each of the following companies.

  • Cytochroma Inc.: A pharmaceutical company that is developing and commercializing products to treat and prevent vitamin D insufficiency and secondary hyperparathyroidism associated with chronic kidney disease.
  • Profound Medical Inc.: An award-winning medical device company commercializing a device that accurately and precisely treats localized prostate cancer on an out-patient basis.
  • Trillium Therapeutics: Developing a new and innovative treatment for interstitial cystitis, a chronic and debilitating bladder disease that affects millions of women in North America.
  • Xagenic Canada Inc.: Commercializing a low cost, chip-based diagnostic testing system that can detect and identify germs within 30 minutes, right at the point of care (no lab required).

These investments, generally made in the form of a convertible debenture or as an equity investment, will help the companies develop their products or services and attract additional investment. Funding and support from the IAF and IAF-LS will help these innovative companies save lives, protect the environment and introduce new technologies.

"The IAF is proud to support these early-stage companies. Their innovative technologies, products and services mean that the strong management teams are capable of building businesses with sustainable competitive advantages," says Barry Gekiere, IAF Managing Director. "We support our portfolio companies with access to capital and a network of market and sector connections. By partnering with these companies and helping them grow, the IAF is helping to create high-value jobs that contribute to Ontario's innovation agenda."

"We are thrilled to have MaRS and the IAF as investors and appreciate their help and guidance as we commercialize our new data management services", says Grant Ritchie, CEO of Locationary. "The whole team was responsive, professional, and frankly, absolutely incredible through the entire investment process. They are great ambassadors for Ontario and play a major role in supporting the start-up tech community here."

"We are absolutely delighted to have received this investment from IAF. Their team was comprehensive in their diligence, quick in their decision and is already contributing strategically to the direction of the company. We couldn't be happier to have them as investors," says Paul Chipperton, CEO of Profound Medical.

About the Investment Accelerator Fund
The Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF) provides up to $500,000 in seed funding to qualified emerging companies in Ontario. As a critical component of the Ontario Network of Excellence (ONE), the IAF supports the launch and development of innovative companies in Ontario's priority sectors of advanced materials and manufacturing, information technology, cleantech and life sciences. The IAF is funded by the Government of Ontario and delivered by MaRS.

About Investment Accelerator Fund-Life Sciences

The Investment Accelerator Fund-Life Sciences (IAF-LS) helps accelerate the growth of life sciences companies in Ontario. The fund invests up to $1,000,000 in seed and later stage financing in companies that have the potential to be global leaders in their field and provide sustainable economic benefits to Ontario. Funded by the Government of Ontario, the fund is a $7 million program that helps innovative life sciences companies turn their discoveries into new products and services that meet patient needs. The IAF-LS is delivered by MaRS.

About MaRS
MaRS Discovery District (www.marsdd.com) is a large scale, mission driven innovation centre located in Toronto and networked across Ontario, focused on building Canada's next generation of technology companies. MaRS works closely with entrepreneurs to grow and scale their ventures into global market leaders in life sciences and health care, information, communications and entertainment technologies, clean tech, advanced materials and engineering, as well as innovative social purpose businesses.

Rogers Launches Canada's First real-time usage alerts for worry free roaming

Rogers Launches Canada's First real-time usage alerts for worry free roaming

New data roaming passes give Rogers customers' greater choice, more flexibility and cost-savings when they travel

TORONTO, Aug. 3, 2011 /CNW/ - As roughly five million Canadians prepare to travel this August, Rogers Communications announced today the launch of innovative new roaming solutions to help Canadians easily manage their data use while traveling outside of Canada.

Starting immediately, Rogers customers on a Roaming Data Pass will be the first in Canada to benefit from real-time data usage alerts while roaming abroad, giving cost certainty and peace of mind. These new Roaming Data Passes start at $5 per day for both customers and small businesses.

The real-time usage alerts (up-to-date within five minutes) will be sent directly to a customer's mobile device allowing them to monitor and control their data usage. To provide further cost certainty, if a customer exceeds their time or data limit on a pass, they will be notified and then asked to make a choice to either continue at a pay-per-use rate or to purchase another roaming data pass.

"Customers have told us they're concerned about roaming costs because they don't have a true sense of how much data they use when travelling abroad," said Raj Doshi, Vice President of Mobile Product Management, Rogers Communications Inc. "We've worked with wireless carriers around the world to deliver this innovative solution exclusively for our customers. The real-time data usage alerts will take the guess work out of roaming while our new data passes will give customers more choice and ways to save money, creating a worry-free travel experience."

Rogers' customers can choose from a wide selection of new, affordable day and week Roaming Data Passes depending on their usage needs. Passes are available for both U.S. and International destinations. To make it even easier, data passes can either be pre-purchased before leaving Canada or purchased while roaming directly from a customer's mobile device.

Last month, Rogers also introduced new unlimited U.S. roaming text messaging offers. Customers now have the option to purchase an unlimited U.S. roaming text messaging pass for $10 (valid for 48 hours) or an unlimited U.S. roaming text messaging travel pack (valid for one month).

"These new options make roaming even more affordable for Canadians," said Doshi. "We're continually introducing new plans and new solutions to give our customers the freedom to use their mobile devices worry free when they travel."

All roaming offers can be added by texting "Travel" to 7626 or visiting www.rogers.com/m/roam directly on a mobile device.  Also, customers are sent a text message when they first arrive at their travel destination with a link to purchase discounted roaming offers directly from their mobile device.

Please visit www.rogers.com/roaming for more information on roaming and roaming offers.

ServerBeach Brings Customers New Virtual Server Offering

ServerBeach Brings Customers New Virtual Server Offering

Virtualization solution helps SMBs decrease administration costs and increase efficiencies

VANCOUVER, Aug. 2, 2011 /CNW/ - ServerBeach, the leading dedicated hosting provider that prides itself on being built by Geeks for Geeks, today announced the launch of its new Virtual Servers. ServerBeach Virtual Servers allow businesses to lower the burden of server administration, create hosting resources that adapt to their business needs, and reduce hosting costs by consolidating multiple servers into a single machine.

"With everything we do at ServerBeach, we're committed to delivering what our customers need. With ServerBeach Virtual Servers, we're appealing to our hands-on customers and offering them choice," said Dax Moreno, General Manager, ServerBeach. "Our Virtual Servers can run off of Citrix and Microsoft, and will soon include Red Hat and KVM. We're able to offer all of this along with round-the-clock, live customer care."

ServerBeach Virtual Servers are ideal for SMB customers who want to self-manage their virtual environments with a single centralized management console-based control center. Each Virtual Server can be provisioned and running in minutes and has its own infrastructure, operating system, application stack, as well as its own access and authorization rules.

All ServerBeach virtualized, physical dedicated servers are backed by ServerBeach's 24x7x365 Live Customer Care and 100 percent Network Uptime Service Level Agreement, and are available on select ServerBeach 32-bit and 64-bit dedicated servers. Virtual Servers will be available at ServerBeach datacenters in Canada, the U.S. and Europe.

ServerBeach clients have a choice of hypervisors, including:

Citrix XenServer (free edition)

  • XenServer Hypervisor, a robust virtual instance manager
  • Centralized management made possible by XenCenter to provision, administer and manage the network from a single console
  • Live migration with XenMotion, so users can flexibly move a virtual instance across the physical server without disruption

Microsoft Server 2008 R2

  • Live backup support allows users to perform live backup for virtual instances without downtime
  • Add and remove virtual storage without having to shut down a hypervisor or pause its workload
  • Increase failover protection by enabling multiple nodes to simultaneously access a single-shared volume

All ServerBeach virtualized dedicated servers are compatible with modern scripting languages, web servers and databases.

ServerBeach Virtual Servers are available through the ServerBeach website and through its network of resellers. For more information and to purchase ServerBeach Virtual Servers, please visit: http://www.serverbeach.com/virtual-servers

About ServerBeach

ServerBeach, a division of PEER 1 Hosting, offers self-managed dedicated servers built "By Geeks, For Geeks™". Built on solid hardware, server automation tools and the PEER 1 SuperNetwork, ServerBeach provides Linux and Microsoft users with a low-cost dedicated server, complete with a full set of developer's tools. The company specializes in self-managed dedicated servers on Linux and Windows platforms. For more information, please visit www.serverbeach.com.

About PEER 1 Hosting

PEER 1 Hosting is one of the world's leading IT hosting providers. The company is built on two obsessions: Ping & People. Ping, represents its commitment to best-in-breed technology, founded on a high performance 10Gb FastFiber Network™ connected by 17 state-of-the-art datacenters, 21 points-of-presence and 10 colocation facilities throughout North America and Europe. People, represents its commitment to delivering outstanding customer service to its more than 10,000 customers worldwide, backed by a 100 percent uptime guarantee and 24x7x365 FirstCall Support™. PEER 1 Hosting's portfolio includes Managed Hosting, Dedicated Servers under the ServerBeach brand, Colocation and Cloud Services. Founded in 1999, the company is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, with European operations headquartered in Southampton, UK. PEER 1 Hosting shares are traded on the TSX under the symbol PIX. For more information visit: www.peer1.com or www.peer1hosting.co.uk.

Siemens' Biograph mMR now available in Canada

Siemens' Biograph mMR now available in Canada

Innovative imaging system receives Health Canada Medical Device License

MISSISSAUGA, ON, Aug. 3, 2011 /CNW/ - Siemens Canada Healthcare has received a Health Canada Medical Device License for the Biograph mMR. Biograph mMR is the world's only fully integrated whole-body molecular MR with simultaneous magnetic resonance (MR) and positron emission tomography (PET) data acquisition.

Biograph mMR comprises a 3-Tesla magnetic resonance (MR) scanner and an integrated positron emission tomography (PET) detection system with an architecture that performs as one and was designed for uncompromised MR and PET image quality. While MR provides exquisite morphological and functional details in human tissue, PET goes further to investigate at the same time the human body at the level of cellular activity and metabolism. With its simultaneous data acquisition, the innovative system is expected to prove to be particularly valuable in the identification of neurological, oncological and cardiac conditions of disease and in supporting therapy planning. The Biograph mMR also opens new opportunities for research, such as the development of new biomarkers or new therapeutic approaches.

Simultaneous acquisition of PET and MRI data reduces overall procedure time by providing PET/MRI in a single scan, thus eliminating any time required for patient transport. Faster procedure times improve the patient experience and enable faster delivery of images to clinicians for review. The collection of MRI attenuation data during diagnostic scanning also reduces procedure time and improves clinical workflow.

Siemens has already installed a number of Biograph mMR systems at customer sites for clinical research, including university hospital Klinikum rechts der Isar of the Munich Technical University, the university hospital of the Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen in Germany, and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, USA.

Earlier this year, Siemens received the 2011 North American Frost & Sullivan Award for New Product Innovation for the Biograph mMR. Furthermore, Biograph mMR was honoured with the "red dot" for its high design quality in the category "Life Science and Medicine." The red dot award is the world's largest and most famous design competition.

Press pictures and more information can be found under:
http://www.siemens.com/press/healthcare/Biograph-mMR

The here mentioned product is not commercially available in all countries. Due to regulatory reasons its future availability in any country cannot be guaranteed. Please contact your local Siemens organization for further details.

The Siemens Healthcare Sector is one of the world's largest suppliers to the healthcare industry and a trendsetter in medical imaging, laboratory diagnostics, medical information technology and hearing aids. Siemens offers its customers products and solutions for the entire range of patient care from a single source - from prevention and early detection to diagnosis, and on to treatment and aftercare. By optimizing clinical workflows for the most common diseases, Siemens also makes healthcare faster, better and more cost-effective. Siemens Healthcare employs some 48,000 employees worldwide and operates around the world. In fiscal year 2010 (to September 30), the Sector posted revenue of 12.4 billion euros and profit of around 750 million euros. For further information please visit: www.siemens.com/healthcare.

Gartner Says Worldwide Mobile Connections Will Reach 5.6 Billion in 2011 as Mobile Data Services Revenue Totals $314.7 Billion

STAMFORD, Conn., August 4, 2011— 

Worldwide mobile connections will reach 5.6 billion in 2011, up 11 percent from 5 billion connections in 2010, according to Gartner, Inc. Mobile data services revenue will total $314.7 billion in 2011, a 22.5 percent increase from 2010 revenue of $257 billion.

"Mobile data traffic will increase significantly as more people will have access to mobile data networks, there is a migration toward smartphones and an increase in sales of media tablets," said Jessica Ekholm, principal research analyst at Gartner. "Mobile data volumes will continue to grow as mobile data networks become faster and more ubiquitous, while at the same time the number of data users and data usage per user is expected to grow."

"Data revenue will continue to grow but at a much slower rate," Ms. Ekholm said. "This is causing a decoupling between revenue and data traffic, and it is also creating an increase in network costs for carriers as they try to sustain growing data traffic."

Worldwide mobile connections will experience steady growth through 2015 when mobile connections are forecast to reach 7.4 billion, and mobile data revenue will reach $552 billion.

In calculating its forecast, Gartner assumed there are four major mobile data traffic drivers: growth in the number of mobile connections, increasing availability of higher-speed data-centric mobile networks, smartphones, and data-consuming content and applications.

A growing number of mobile connections will lead to higher demands on communication service providers' (CSPs') data networks as more people access the networks to use mobile data and to send text messages. In addition to the total number of connections growing, Gartner also expects that mobile data usage per connection will increase throughout the forecast period and that there will be a shift in mobile users' perception of mobile data around the world, as data plans go from being seen as a luxury, to being considered a nice-to-have service, to finally being perceived as potentially essential.

Gartner expects communications service providers (CSPs) to increasingly start moving toward offering more flexible and more personalized data plans, which should help capture a larger mobile data user base. CSPs have also upgraded their networks by offering faster download and upload speeds to consumers, which have helped improve the general perception of data quality and thus led to increased data uptake.

"What carriers currently need are innovative ways to increase data revenue while finding smart solutions to manage a growing demand in data," said Sylvain Fabre, research director at Gartner. "Ultimately, it will be the consumer who chooses the content he or she wants to use, and carriers need to ensure that the quality of experience is good. A substandard user experience may lead to higher churn."

Gartner analysts said carriers should investigate the pros and the cons of more customized pricing plans, such as tiered pricing, a la carte and usage-based plans, carefully weighing additional costs and future benefits. Additionally, CSPs should look to offer increased flexibility in pricing and introduce add-on pricing models, in which users are able to add data access when they want to. These add-on pricing models could include paying for additional usage and additional speed, and charging a fee for voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) or for gaming.

"Carriers should focus on increasing the level of clarity and the transparency of their mobile data contracts in order to make the majority of customers feel more at ease in using data services. This is particularly important when it comes to data roaming," Ms. Ekholm said. "Offering clients various ways of being able to track and monitor their data usage would help carriers receive a larger amount of revenue from more profitable lower-usage, medium-pay users."

Additional information is available in the Gartner report "Forecast: Mobile Data Traffic and Revenue, Worldwide, 2010-2015" at http://www.gartner.com/resId=1737114.

Symantec Enterprise Vault 10 Reduces the Risks of Using Social Media Tools for Business

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Aug. 1, 2011 – Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today announced the availability of Enterprise Vault 10, the new version of its email and content archiving software that now features Symantec's data loss prevention technology to analyze Microsoft Exchange email content and metadata to help determine the archiving and retention strategy for all messages. Email content and metadata are automatically classified and assigned the appropriate archiving and retention policy, and can even be flagged to be reviewed for compliance reasons. Another new feature of Enterprise Vault 10 is the ability to archive all social media interactions for compliance and eDiscovery purposes.

“Businesses have learned how important it is to protect and preserve email, IM, documents, spreadsheets and other unstructured information, and they're learning that the same is true for social media records,” said Brian Dye, vice president of product management, Symantec. “We’ve increased the scale and performance of Enterprise Vault so our customers can effectively archive and eDiscovery the millions of records employees are creating by email, social media, SharePoint and file systems. Enterprise Vault 10 can significantly reduce risks, especially for organizations in highly litigious or regulated industries, without inhibiting the business and productivity benefits of social media and collaboration tools.”


Data Classification

IT organizations worldwide are mandated by corporate governance, legal and compliance groups to implement organization-wide retention policies on their information assets. The Data Classification Service feature of Enterprise Vault 10 utilizes Symantec's data loss prevention technology to automatically classify the email and assign an appropriate archiving and retention policy. Classifications can also be used as filters to speed up the search and review process for eDiscovery. Additionally, customers who have implemented Symantec Data Loss Prevention can share classification policies to greatly simplify the automated classification of information.


Enterprise Vault also adds new integration with Symantec’s encryption technologies to allow organizations to effectively classify, store, and discover encrypted information.


Social Media Archiving

Posts to an organization's publicly-facing social media outlets including blogs, Facebook pages and Twitter feeds are considered business communications that must be preserved to comply with open records requests, industry regulations such as the supervision requirements under the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) 10-06 amendments, and the eventuality of an eDiscovery request. However, according to Symantec's 2011 Social Media Protection Flash Poll, while 82 percent of enterprises are discussing implementing archiving solutions to collect, preserve and discover sensitive business information transmitted through social media, less than one-fourth have actually done so.


Through Symantec's partnerships with Actiance, CommonDesk, Globanet, Hanzo and Socialware, Enterprise Vault 10 automatically archives social media interactions for compliance, eDiscovery and corporate governance purposes. Organizations can comply with requirements for social media communications without restricting or banning the use of those tools.


Enterprise Vault and Clearwell

Enterprise Vault has long helped customers prepare for the eventuality of an eDiscovery request by capturing information, tagging specific records for future litigation, and enabling the fast and easy search for relevant records. The Clearwell eDiscovery Platform, now part of Symantec, enables customers to process, analyze, and review those records for internal audits, legal eDiscovery and corporate governance purposes. Symantec reduces the costs and risks by providing repeatable and defensible eDiscovery workflows across all legal, regulatory, and investigative matters. Organizations can demonstrate a chain of custody for each document across the entire process, from archiving and preservation through review and production.


Additional Enterprise Vault 10 Features:

  • Enterprise information archive: moves less-frequently accessed information off of expensive primary storage and servers such as Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint, IBM Lotus Domino, file servers and more to lower-tiered storage, on-premise or in the cloud.
  • Global deduplication: efficiently archive information by storing just one copy of a file or message, regardless of the number of times it occurs or where it is stored, significantly lowering the long term total cost of ownership by reducing the archive size.
  • Flexible .PST and .NSF migration: automatically locate and migrate existing .PST and .NSF files into the archive, helping you regain control of the information contained within those files. Centralized control of .PST and .NSF files helps accelerate eDiscovery while reducing storage costs, backup windows and information risk.
  • Seamless end-user experience: Enterprise Vault is designed to be a seamless extension to users’ existing tools (Outlook, Notes, SharePoint, etc.) giving transparent access to archived information anytime, anywhere, including on mobile devices.
  • Intuitive electronic eDiscovery with guided review: provides advanced search, legal hold and analysis including guided review, conversation threading, bulk marking and tagging. Relevant items are easily preserved on legal hold and provided to the requesting party though a flexible and auditable export process to simplify production.

Availability

Symantec Enterprise Vault 10 is available worldwide today.

About Storage from Symantec

Symantec helps organizations secure and manage their information-driven world with storage management, email archiving, backup & recovery solutions.


About Symantec

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.


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.


Oracle Announces Availability of Java SE 7

Oracle Press Release

Oracle Announces Availability of Java SE 7

Redwood Shores, Calif. – July 28, 2011

News Facts

Oracle today announced the availability of Java Platform, Standard Edition 7 (Java SE 7), the first release of the Java platform under Oracle stewardship.
The Java SE 7 release is the result of industry-wide development involving open review, weekly builds and extensive collaboration between Oracle engineers and members of the worldwide Java ecosystem via the OpenJDK Community and the Java Community Process (JCP).
Java SE 7 delivers:
Language changes to help increase developer productivity and simplify common programming tasks by reducing the amount of code needed, clarifying syntax and making code easier to read. (JSR 334: Project Coin)
Improved support for dynamic languages (including: Ruby, Python and JavaScript), resulting in substantial performance increases on the JVM. (JSR 292: InvokeDynamic)
A new multicore-ready API that enables developers to more easily decompose problems into tasks that can then be executed in parallel across arbitrary numbers of processor cores. (JSR 166: Fork/Join Framework)
A comprehensive I/O interface for working with file systems that can access a wider array of file attributes and offer more information when errors occur. (JSR 203: NIO.2)
New networking and security features
Expanded support for internationalization, including Unicode 6.0 support
Updated versions of numerous libraries
Strong backward compatibility of Java SE 7 with previous versions of the platform preserves the skill sets of current Java software developers and protects Java technology investments.
Developers interested in getting started immediately with the Java SE 7 release can leverage the NetBeans Integrated Development Environment (IDE) 7.0, Eclipse Indigo with the additional Java SE 7 plug-in or IntelliJ IDEA 10.5, which support the latest features of the Java SE 7 platform. Oracle JDeveloper support for JDK 7 is intended for a release later this year.

Java Facts and Figures

97% of enterprise desktops run Java
1 billion Java downloads each year
9 million developers worldwide
#1 programming language (TIOBE Programming Community Index)
More than 3 billion devices are powered by Java technology

Supporting Quote

“We’re very excited about Java SE 7; this is a great release with strong technology updates. I'm pleased that the Java community has come together in favor of technical progress and that we have a clear path forward for Java SE 8,” said Hasan Rizvi, senior vice president Oracle Fusion Middleware and Java Products. “Oracle has a strong vested interest in the success of the Java platform and is firmly committed to delivering a consistent, high-performance, high-quality Java SE implementation and will be supporting the Java SE 7 release across the Oracle Fusion Middleware product portfolio.”

Supporting Resources

Planet JDK (JDK developer blogs)
Follow the conversation on Twitter: follow @Java and use #java7

About Oracle

Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) is the world's most complete, open, and integrated business software and hardware systems company. For more information about Oracle, please visit our Web site at http://www.oracle.com.

Trademarks

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

Microsoft Fuels Security Innovation With New Twist on Security Research Rewards

The BlueHat Prize is the first and largest award offered by Microsoft for defensive computer security technology.

LAS VEGAS — Aug. 3, 2011 — Microsoft Corp.’s Trustworthy Computing Group today announced the BlueHat Prize competition to reward security researchers with more than $250,000 in cash and prizes for developing innovative, new computer security protection technology.

“As the risk of criminal attacks on private and government computer systems continues to increase, Microsoft recognizes the need to stimulate research in the area of defensive computer security technology,” said Matt Thomlinson, general manager, Trustworthy Computing Group, Microsoft. “Our interest is to promote a focus on developing innovative solutions rather than discovering individual issues. We believe the BlueHat Prize can catalyze defensive efforts to help mitigate entire classes of attacks.”

The top three winners in the BlueHat Prize competition will earn more than $250,000 in cash and prizes: $200,000 for the grand prize, $50,000 for second place and an MSDN Universal subscription valued at $10,000 for third place. Prizes will be awarded to contestants who design the most effective ways to prevent the use of memory safety vulnerabilities, a key area of focus for Microsoft. Examples of similar technologies include Data Execution Prevention, which helps prevent attacks that attempt to exploit vulnerabilities in software.

“Microsoft wants to encourage more security experts to think about ways to reduce threats to computing devices,” said Katie Moussouris, senior security strategist lead for the Microsoft Security Response Center. “We’re looking to collaborate with others to build solutions to tough industry problems. We believe the BlueHat Prize will encourage the world’s most talented researchers and academics to tackle key security challenges and offer them a chance to impact the world.”

Three years ago, Microsoft took the unconventional approach to security challenges by creating the Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP) to help further protect customers. Through this program, Microsoft shares information with security vendors around the world to release protection technologies to their customers much faster. This helped shift the advantage to security providers by promoting collaboration within the industry, even among competitors. The success of MAPP and its global network of defenders prompted Microsoft to think about how something similar could be done for the security research community. This is part of Microsoft’s commitment to providing a safer computing experience for both current and future generations.

The BlueHat Prize has the potential to provide enhanced security for the Windows operating system, as well as for the applications that run on it, which positively impacts independent software vendors.

“The Microsoft BlueHat Prize announced at Black Hat today is an exciting new initiative and a great example of encouraging community collaboration in the defense against those with malicious intent,” said Brad Arkin, senior director, product security and privacy at Adobe. “This call for entries promises to stimulate research activity within the broader security community on how to mitigate entire classes of attacks rather than thinking about software security as a challenge best addressed one bug at a time. This research has the potential to lower costs for third-party developers and increase the level of security assurance for end users. I am looking forward to seeing what the creativity of the community can deliver.”

Beginning today, the official rules and guidelines for the competition are available at http://www.BlueHatPrize.com, and contest submissions will be accepted from Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2011, until Sunday, April 1, 2012. A panel of Microsoft security engineers will judge submissions based on the following criteria: Practicality and Functionality (30 percent); Robustness — how easy it would be to bypass the proposed solution (30 percent); and Impact (40 percent). The winners will be announced at Black Hat USA 2012.

Dell Leads Shift to “Chiller-Less” Data Centers with Fresh Air Technology

Dell announced today an integrated data center solution that enables customers to confidently operate facilities at higher temperatures and even without chillers. Tested, validated and warranted to operate within the highest current temperature and humidity guidelines issued by ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers), the servers, storage and networking equipment of the Dell Fresh Air cooling solution are capable of short-term, excursion-based operation in temperatures up to 113 F (45 C). This is the highest temperature warrantied in mainstream servers in the industry. By leveraging the thermal and reliability advantages engineered into this portfolio of equipment, customers are able to run data centers even warmer, helping reduce additional maintenance and infrastructure costs, while enabling lower overall energy consumption.

Trends in data center design place an increased emphasis on the efficiency and cost benefits that can be achieved with higher operational temperatures. In addition to ASHRAE’s updated standard, The Institute for Energy, a European guidance body, has issued the “European Union Code of Conduct for Data Centres,” which challenges IT manufacturers to increase their allowable environmental limits and sets a goal of enabling chiller-less facility designs. New data center construction exemplified by companies such as Google, Facebook and Yahoo has demonstrated a shift toward fresh air-cooled data centers that do not rely on chiller technology. However, the standard allowable temperature maximum of 95 F (35 C) for today’s IT equipment limits the locations where they can be used without having to have a backup chiller facility for high temperature excursions.

To meet the needs of a broader range of companies interested in employing more efficient and economical facility designs, Dell has validated a portfolio of servers, storage, networking, and power infrastructure that deliver short-term, excursion-based operation with limited impact on performance across a larger environmental window. In line with the new, more stringent ASHRAE A3 and A4 classifications, Dell systems have been developed for sustained operation at temperature ranges from minus 23 F (5 C) to 113 F (45 C) and allowable humidity from 5 percent to 90 percent. This level of design robustness has been validated by recent tests indicating that the products can tolerate up to 900 hours of 104 F (40 C) operation per year and up to 90 hours at 113 F (45 C)[1].

Deploying Dell servers, storage units or network switches with Fresh Air capability gives customers greater flexibility for the operational temperature in the data center, a best practice that can help increase energy efficiency and decrease operational costs. In some climates, the capital cost to build a chiller plant as part of the data center facility can be eliminated altogether. This can result in more than $100K of operational savings per megawatt (MW) of IT and eliminate capital expenditures of approximately $3M per MW of IT[2]. In addition, IT systems that can tolerate higher temperatures can reduce the risk of IT failures during facility cooling outages1.

Quotes
“Many organizations, particularly those in the cloud services business, are focused on driving much greater efficiencies in their data center operations. Dell data center technologies with Fresh Air capability allow for aggressive improvements in energy consumption and the resulting operational costs, even in data centers that have already been economized with respect to cooling. The total Fresh Air solution, with thermal, reliability, and system engineering fully validated, is based on advanced engineering and design.” – Forrest Norrod, vice president and general manager, server platforms for Dell

“With rising energy costs and global concerns over energy consumption and carbon footprint, data centers worldwide are prioritizing reduction in the cost of infrastructure cooling. Dell’s Fresh Air cooling solution combined with servers using Intel Xeon processors running at higher ambient temperatures will provide a breakthrough in efficiency for data centers.”—Jason Waxman, general manager of High Density Computing at Intel

Additional Information
Dell Data Center Efficiency
Dell Power & Cooling
Dell PowerEdge Servers
Dell EqualLogic Storage
Dell PowerConnect Managed Gigabit Ethernet Switches
Dell Power Distribution Units

About Dell
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services that give them the power to do more. For more information, visit www.dell.com.

[1] “Chiller-less Facilities: They May Be Closer Than You Think,” David Moss, et al., June 2011, http://attachments.wetpaintserv.us/5HcNf7EI-Y_HGVO2PuWj0w411057

[2] Savings assumes $0.07 per KW/hr and/or $.20 per KW/hr CapEx and OpEx savings per megawatt of IT equipment

Dell is a trademark of Dell Inc. Dell disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others.