TELUS acquires KinLogix, Quebec's fastest-growing cloud-based Electronic Medical Record provider

TELUS acquires KinLogix, Quebec's fastest-growing cloud-based Electronic Medical Record provider

Acquisition strengthens TELUS' ability to use technology to improve health outcomes

QUEBEC, Oct. 10, 2012 /CNW/ - Reinforcing its commitment to provide the best healthcare information technology solutions in Canada, TELUS announced today the acquisition of privately-held KinLogix, the largest provider of cloud-based Electronic Medical Records (EMR) in Quebec. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

This strategic acquisition strengthens TELUS Health's leadership in the EMR market and furthers its efforts to accelerate the adoption of EMR solutions to continue to improve Canada's health system, and most importantly, deliver better health outcomes for patients. The KinLogix EMR is a cloud-based solution used in medical clinics that captures, organizes, and displays critical patient data in one integrated patient record, while streamlining administrative tasks, improving care delivery and further enriching the patient-physician encounter.

"TELUS Health is committed to bringing best in class technology solutions to healthcare professionals so they can spend more time delivering high quality care to patients. By acquiring KinLogix, TELUS is delivering on its national strategy which will further the adoption of EMRs, an essential building block to an efficient healthcare system in Canada," said Paul Lepage, senior vice-President, TELUS Health. "Combined with TELUS' expertise and technology, the KinLogix EMR has the ability to share information electronically between physicians and patients, ultimately facilitating enhancement of care delivery and improvement of healthcare efficiency, thereby positively affecting the lives of Canadians."

Founded in 2000 by Dr. Michel Hébert, KinLogix is the largest and fastest-growing EMR player in Quebec, representing 36 per cent of the province's electronic medical records market. The solutions are deployed in more than 200 medical clinics and support the work of more than 5,700 healthcare professionals.

TELUS Health selected KinLogix based on its people, expertise, technology and a shared vision trusted by physicians to turn information into better health outcomes. TELUS and KinLogix are already deeply aligned in their commitment to develop and support technology that helps doctors help patients. The KinLogix team will join the TELUS Physician Solutions group and Dr. Michel Hébert will assume the role of Medical Director reporting to Dr. Brendan Byrne, Vice-President, TELUS Physician Solutions.

"We've worked very hard to grow a community of doctors who use EMRs not only to improve efficiencies but also to positively impact patient care," said Dr. Michel Hébert, Medical Director, TELUS Health. "In aligning under TELUS, we'll be able to better answer physicians' needs and continue to develop innovative solutions, allowing for additional collaboration across the continuum of care. TELUS Health is going to help transform Canada's healthcare for the better, and we're proud to be joining their team."
This is the second EMR solution acquisition for TELUS following the February 2012 acquisition of Wolf Medical Systems, Western Canada's leading cloud-based solution provider. These two acquisitions have strengthened TELUS Health's reach to additional physicians and medical clinics, and are facilitating health records integration across Canada.

About TELUS Health
TELUS Health is a leader in telehomecare, electronic medical and health records, consumer health, benefits management and pharmacy management. TELUS Health solutions give health authorities, providers, physicians, patients and consumers the power to turn information into better health outcomes. For more information about TELUS Health, please visit telushealth.com.

About TELUS
TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is a leading national telecommunications company in Canada, with $10.6 billion of annual revenue and 12.8 million customer connections including 7.4 million wireless subscribers, 3.5 million wireline network access lines, 1.3 million Internet subscribers and 595,000 TELUS TV customers. Led since 2000 by President and CEO, Darren Entwistle, TELUS provides a wide range of communications products and services including wireless, data, Internet protocol (IP), voice, television, entertainment and video.

In support of our philosophy to give where we live, TELUS, our team members and retirees have contributed more than $260 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered 4.2 million hours of service to local communities since 2000. Fourteen TELUS Community Boards lead TELUS' local philanthropic initiatives. TELUS was honoured to be named the most outstanding philanthropic corporation globally for 2010 by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, becoming the first Canadian company to receive this prestigious international recognition.

For more information about TELUS, please visit telus.com.

 

SOURCE: TELUS Corporation

For further information:

contact: 
Amélie Cliche
Media relations, TELUS
514-242-8870
amelie.cliche@telus.com








































































































CIRA welcomes world Internet leaders to Toronto

CIRA welcomes world Internet leaders to Toronto

.CA host to high-level global meeting on Internet governance

OTTAWA, Oct. 10, 2012 /CNW/ - The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (www.CIRA.ca), the organization that manages .CA, Canada's Top-level domain, is welcoming key Internet policy decision-makers from around the world to Toronto next week for ICANN 45, a high-level meeting that will help define the future of the Internet and how it will be governed.

"We are proud to have been chosen by ICANN to host this important forum," said Byron Holland, President and CEO of CIRA. "The Internet has become an integral part of the economic, political and social lives of all Canadians and we can't afford to ignore the issues and events that are influencing how it will operate in the decades to come."

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the organization responsible for the global coordination of the Internet's system of unique identifiers, including country code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs) such as .CA, generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) such as .COM and .ORG, and the addresses used in a variety of Internet protocols that help computers communicate over the Internet.

As part of its multi-stakeholder approach to the operation of the Internet, ICANN holds three meetings per year around the globe. The next one, ICANN 45, is taking place at Toronto's Westin Harbour Castle hotel from October 14 to 19.

ICANN 45 will feature meetings and panel sessions related to keeping the Internet open, secure, stable and interoperable, including:

  • Opening keynote on Monday, October 15: Featuring the Honourable Tony Clement, President of the Treasury Board, who will discuss the Government of Canada's efforts to promote digital openness and innovation through its Action Plan on Open Government.
  • High Level Government Meeting on Monday, October 15: Where senior government officials will discuss preserving and improving the Internet's multi-stakeholder governance model, which is led by ICANN.
  • The first public comments at an ICANN event by Fadi Chehadé, who was named ICANN's new President and CEO in June.
  • New developments in the operation, security and infrastructure of the Internet, including internationalized domain names, new generic Top-Level Domains, IPv6, and the deployment of Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC).
  • The ICANN 45 Gala, taking place October 17 at the CN Tower.

Anyone can attend ICANN 45. For more information or to register, please visit www.cira.ca/icann45/index.php.

About CIRA

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority is the Member-driven organization that manages Canada's .CA domain name registry, develops and implements policies that support Canada's Internet community, and represents the .CA registry internationally.

SOURCE: Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA)

For further information:

to attend an ICANN event or session, or to schedule an interview with Byron Holland or Fadi Chehadé, please contact:

Tanya O'Callaghan
Communications Manager, Canadian Internet Registration Authority
(613) 237-5335 ext. 262
tanya.ocallaghan@cira.ca

Leo Valiquette
inmedia Public Relations
(613) 769-9479
lvaliquette@inmedia.ca






































































Gartner Says Worldwide PC Shipments Declined 8 Percent in Third Quarter of 2012 as the Market Prepares for the Launch of Windows 8

Gartner Says Worldwide PC Shipments Declined 8 Percent in Third Quarter of 2012 as the Market Prepares for the Launch of Windows 8

Lenovo Takes Slight Lead Over HP for No. 1 Global Position

STAMFORD, Conn., October 10, 2012—  

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 87.5 million units in the third quarter of 2012, a decline of 8.3 percent compared with the third quarter of 2011, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc.

"A continuing slowdown in consumer PC shipments played a big part in the overall PC market decline," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. "The third quarter was also a transitional quarter before Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system release, so shipments were less vigorous as vendors and their channel partners liquidated inventory.

"Retailers were conservative in placing orders as they responded to weak back-to-school sales. By the end of September, retailers were focused on clearing out inventory in advance of the Windows 8 launch later this month," Ms. Kitagawa said. "On the professional side, there was minimum impact from Windows 8 in the quarter because the professional market will not adopt Windows 8 PCs immediately after the release."

Lenovo took the No. 1 position in worldwide PC shipments for the first time in the company's history, as its share increased to 15.7 percent, while HP's global PC share was at 15.5 percent (see Table 1). In addition to acquiring other vendors, Lenovo has also taken an aggressive position on pricing, especially in the professional market. As a result, Lenovo has achieved significant market share gains over the last two years, exceeding regional average growth rates across all regions.

Table 1
Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 3Q12 (Units)


Company

3Q12 Shipments

3Q12 Market Share (%)

3Q11 Shipments

3Q11 Market Share (%)

3Q12-3Q11 Growth (%)

Lenovo

13,767,976

15.7

12,536,756

13.1

9.8

HP

13,550,761

15.5

16,217,987

17.0

-16.4

Dell

9,216,638

10.5

10,676,513

11.2

-13.7

Acer Group

8,633,267

9.9

9,616,572

10.1

-10.2

ASUS

6,380,690

7.3

5,708,807

6.0

11.8

Others

35,954,748

41.1

40,683,666

42.6

-11.6

Total

87,504,080

100.0

95,440,301

100.0

-8.3

Note: Data includes desk-based PCs and mobile PCs, including mini-notebooks but not media tablets such as the iPad.
Source: Gartner (October 2012)

Although it finished the quarter very close to Lenovo, HP has given up the top PC vendor position for the first time since the third quarter of 2006. HP is currently restructuring its device business, including PCs, tablets and printers. HP's main concern is achieving a good balance between market share gain and margin protection.

Dell was the No. 3 vendor in PC shipments worldwide in the third quarter of 2012. While Dell suffered a steeper shipment decline than the worldwide average, it was less impacted by the upcoming release of Windows 8 because of its strong focus in the professional market. Dell continues to gradually transform itself from a PC/device supplier to a solution provider.

In the U.S., PC shipments totaled 15.3 million units in the third quarter of 2012, a 13.8 percent decline compared with the same period last year.

"The third quarter has historically been driven by back-to-school sales, but U.S. PC shipments did not increase, not even sequentially, from the second quarter of 2012. Channels were conservative in placing orders," Ms. Kitagawa said. "Professional PC shipments in the U.S. began slowing in the second quarter of this year, and they continued the trend in the third quarter. The results indicate that the replacement peak may have passed in the professional sector."

Four of the top 5 vendors in the U.S. market experienced shipment declines. HP maintained the No. 1 position in the U.S. market despite a shipment decline of 19.3 percent (see Table 2). Lenovo was the only vendor among the top 5 to increase shipments. Both Acer and Toshiba shipments declined significantly due to the tough environment in the consumer market. Apple expected to have a PC shipment decline due to softness in the public market, but the company faced a slowdown in the consumer market.

Table 2
Preliminary U.S. PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 3Q12 (Units)


Company

3Q12 Shipments

3Q12 Market Share (%)

3Q11 Shipments

3Q11 Market Share (%)

3Q12-3Q11 Growth (%)

HP

4,141,926

27.0

5,129,338

28.9

-19.3

Dell

3,270,705

21.4

3,886,864

21.9

-15.9

Apple

2,078,900

13.6

2,213,826

12.5

-6.1

Lenovo

1,357,882

8.9

1,279,884

7.2

6.1

Acer Group

989,725

6.5

1,378,768

7.8

-28.2

Toshiba

989,600

6.5

1,486,100

8.4

-33.4

Others

2,488,799

16.2

2,390,157

13.5

4.1

Total

15,317,537

100.0

17,764,937

100.0

-13.8

Note: Data includes desk-based PCs and mobile PCs, including mini-notebooks but not media tablets such as the iPad.
Source: Gartner (October 2012)

From a regional perspective, PC shipments in EMEA totaled 25.8 million units in the third quarter of 2012, a decline of 8.7 percent from the same quarter last year. After two quarters of positive growth in the first half of 2012, the EMEA market experienced its biggest decline in four years. The lack of appeal and innovation in PCs combined with a challenging economic environment diverted user spending elsewhere. Western Europe saw very weak shipments across all countries, as retailers reduced Windows 7 inventory in anticipation of Windows 8 products.

In Asia/Pacific, PC shipments reached 31.3 million units in the third quarter of 2012, a 5.6 percent decline from the third quarter of 2011. Weak demand was brought about as potential buyers chose to reign in or delay their purchases. China's slowing economy was more acutely felt in the region in the third quarter, creating an even more conservative approach to spending. Although there were government PC initiatives in India and China to drive PC sales, they failed to offset the general market weakness.

Preliminary results show PC shipments in Latin America surpassed 9.7 million units in the third quarter of 2012, a 6.2 percent decline from the same period last year. Mobile PC shipments were flat, and desk-based PC shipments declined 14.3 percent. Brazilian businesses and schools may postpone their IT purchasing due to the expected "Brasil Maior" tax incentives that were announced late in the quarter. The tax incentives will begin in 2013, and this is when Gartner expects IT investments to drive PC shipments into the professional segment.

In Japan, PC shipments totaled 3.7 million units in the third quarter, a 5.4 percent decline from the third quarter of 2011. The professional segment grew slightly higher than expected, but the market was impacted by the consumer segment. Most of the major vendors did not introduce new models of mainstream products in September due to the preparation for Windows 8.

These results are preliminary. Final statistics will be available soon to clients of Gartner's PC Quarterly Statistics Worldwide by Region program. This program offers a comprehensive and timely picture of the worldwide PC market, allowing product planning, distribution, marketing and sales organizations to keep abreast of key issues and their future implications around the globe.

Contact:

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


About Gartner:
Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world's leading information technology research and advisory company. Gartner delivers the technology-related insight necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every day. From CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, to technology investors, Gartner is the valuable partner to clients in 12,000 distinct organizations. Through the resources of Gartner Research, Gartner Executive Programs, Gartner Consulting and Gartner Events, Gartner works with every client to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A., and has 5,000 associates, including 1,280 research analysts and consultants, and clients in 85 countries. For more information, www.gartner.com.

Windows Server 2012 Essentials released to manufacturing, available for evaluation today

Windows Server 2012 Essentials released to manufacturing, available for evaluation today!

9 Oct 2012

Windows Server has an awesome dynamic range.  It runs everything from the largest internet sites to the smallest businesses.  With all of the discussion about being a CloudOS, you might wonder whether this represents a change.  The answer is a definitive ‘no’.  We believe that the cloud offers dramatic advantages to everyone.  In today’s post, Sinead O’Donovan announces the RTM of Windows Server 2012 Essentials and discusses some of the many great new features including its ability to bring the advantages of the cloud to small businesses.

--Cheers! Jeffrey

 

Hi, I’m Sinead O'Donovan, Director of Program Management on the Windows Server Essentials team.

Windows Server 2012 Essentials is a significant milestone in our efforts to help cloud-enable small businesses and home offices. It is designed to help you protect business data, to allow highly secure access to the information you need from virtually anywhere by using almost any device, and to offer the flexibility to choose which applications and services you want to run on-premises and in the cloud—we have even made it easier than ever before to run Essentials itself in a hosted environment. Excitement about the release of Windows Server 2012 Essentials has been growing. In 8 weeks of public previews, we’ve had more than 23,000 downloads—far surpassing pre-release downloads of past versions.

Today I am pleased to tell you that Windows Server 2012 Essentials has reached the release to manufacturing (RTM) milestone. We are delivering the product to our hardware and ecosystem partners, and it will be generally available in all channels on November 1, with OEM partners shipping server systems by the end of the year.

I would like to encourage you to try Windows Server 2012 Essentials for yourself by visiting the Evaluation Center today to download a trial copy—and if you’re an MSDN or TechNet subscriber, you can download Essentials from those sites as well.

Let me share some quick product highlights with you:

  • Enable a dynamic, modern work style with access from your devices by using Remote Web Access (RWA), and take advantage of Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 devices for a superior experience with rich modern “My Server” apps.
  • Enjoy peace of mind knowing that your data is well-protected by complementing your on-site backups with Windows Azure Online Backup, as well as utilizing integrated support for the new Windows 8 File History feature.
  • Choose the email and collaboration option that’s right for you, whether that’s in the cloud with Office 365 or a hosted service provider, or running on a local server.
  • Quickly and easily respond to increasing data capacity needs with support for Storage Spaces, which allows you to create elastic, resilient storage for your files and folders.
  • Run the line-of-business applications that you depend on by leveraging our greatly improved application compatibility, now with a single logo certification for all Windows Server 2012 editions.
  • Purchase with confidence knowing that your technology investment can easily grow to Windows Server 2012 Standard if the needs of your business grow.
  • Deploy today with full support for 19 languages, all releasing simultaneously.

We have seen some great initial press reviews of Windows Server 2012 Essentials, too. For example:

The right tool for the job… Server Essentials makes client backups so simple that not doing them borders on criminal. Combined with the Microsoft Online Backup service [Windows Azure Online Backup] (and possibly with replication based on Hyper-V), the backup features make for a much more disaster-resistant small network. And the integration with Office 365 and Exchange (but mostly with Office 365) greatly reduces the complexity of user administration.”
             -Ars Technica, A server for the rest of us: hands-on with Windows Server 2012 Essentials

“…ideal for a small business or a home office.”
             -ZDNet, Windows Server 2012 Essentials: Beta preview

You can find more information on the Windows Server 2012 Essentials product page, and discover deeper technical information on the Windows Server 2012 Essentials TechCenter. If you are a Microsoft Partner, be sure to visit the Microsoft Partner Network and take advantage of the training opportunities we have available, including the upcoming Disti Bootcamps. And, of course, we would like to continue the great dialog we’ve started with you during the previews, so please continue to share your experiences and provide us with your feedback in the Windows Server 2012 Essentials Forum.

Thank you,
Sinead O'Donovan

Gartner Says Google and Facebook May Not Be the Banks of the Future, but They Will Help Shape the Future of the Financial Services Industry

Gartner Says Google and Facebook May Not Be the Banks of the Future, but They Will Help Shape the Future of the Financial Services Industry

Analysts Will Examine Key Technology Issues Affecting the Future of Banking at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, October 10-12, Goa, India

Goa, India, October 9, 2012—

Despite the hype about "digital mega-firms" such as Apple, Facebook and Google wiping out mainstream banks, traditional banks will have the edge over their Internet-oriented rivals, according to Gartner, Inc. However, the new firms will play a considerable role in shaping the banking industry of the future.

Gartner analysts examined the future of banks during Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, taking place here through Friday.

"The evolution of the Internet continues to raise questions about the continued viability of brick and mortar establishments in retailing and financial services," said David Furlonger, vice president and Gartner fellow. "Increasingly, Internet-oriented mega-firms are seen as the commercial enterprises of the future. However, as far as retail banking is concerned, it would be like trying to hammer a square peg into a round hole, this just does not fit."

Mr. Furlonger said that the digital mega-firms have many things in their favor. They are masters of data management and analytics. To all intents and purposes they define agility, both from a technology and a business model point of view. They are extremely adept at extending their value chain analysis beyond the core offering, with an eye to identifying new opportunities for business and highlighting specific customer needs that they might address. They have the ability to define - and then redefine - the business models that they deploy while their focus on what partners can bring to their propositions stands as an equally strong differentiator.

Security remains paramount for all banking applications, and while for many of these new entrants, security and privacy of customer data is important, it’s not at the level of priority that would be needed to support a banking proposition. Performance challenges will also be key - failures of key banking systems can be catastrophic, and availability of all systems must normally exceed 99 percent. This may test the technical and economic models of many of the new entrants. Regulatory compliance will also prove taxing - while legal teams can help with applying the letter of the law, this is more about an entire organization that must increasingly subvert itself to the rule of the regulator.

Mr. Furlonger said digital mega-firms will alter and shape the market by helping it develop, feeding the fires of change by making customers better informed and occasionally making catalytic forays into the market with niche financial services offerings.

"For many existing financial services institutions, mapping out the path to the future is proving extremely difficult and challenging. Traditional models no longer apply to many of their customers or markets. They have a series of questions to address - do they simply copy the new opposition, do they try and exert influence over the broader market, do they look for help and partners, do they need to fundamentally restructure?" said Mr. Furlonger. "When addressing these questions, institutions need to recognize the magnitude of what they are deciding. This is not a simple product or service decision — it requires the full commitment and total understanding of the entire organization. There is everything to play for, and leadership needs to come from the very top."

Gartner analysts are examining the key issues affecting the Indian IT industry at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo.

About Gartner Symposium/ITxpo

Gartner's annual Symposium/ITxpo events are key components of attendees' annual planning efforts. IT executives rely on Gartner Symposium/ITxpo to gain insight into how their organizations can use IT to address business challenges and improve operational efficiency.

Additional information for Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in India, October 10 – 12 , is available at www.gartner.com/in/symposium.

Members of the media can register for the event by contacting Sony Shetty, Gartner PR on +91 9820900036 or sony.shetty@gartner.com.

Additional information from the event will be shared on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Gartner_inc and using #GartnerSym.

Upcoming dates and locations for Gartner Symposium/ITxpo include:

October 21-25, Orlando, Florida: www.gartner.com/us/symposiumn

October 29-31, Sao Paulo, Brazil: www.gartner.com/br/symposium

November 5-8, Barcelona, Spain: www.gartner.com/eu/symposium

November 12-15, Gold Coast, Australia: www.gartner.com/au/symposium

March 5-7, 2013, Dubai, UAE: www.gartner.com/technology/symposium/dubai/

Contact:

Sony Shetty
Gartner
+91 22 67092031
sony.shetty@gartner.com


About Gartner:
Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world's leading information technology research and advisory company. Gartner delivers the technology-related insight necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every day. From CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, to technology investors, Gartner is the valuable partner to clients in 12,000 distinct organizations. Through the resources of Gartner Research, Gartner Executive Programs, Gartner Consulting and Gartner Events, Gartner works with every client to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A., and has 5,000 associates, including 1,280 research analysts and consultants, and clients in 85 countries. For more information, www.gartner.com.

Burlington-based N8 Identity deployment to support more than 135,000 users

N8 Identity deployment to support more than 135,000 users

BURLINGTON, ON, Oct. 9, 2012 /CNW/ - N8 Identity, Canada's leading dedicated identity and access management (IAM) solution provider, announced that it was awarded one of the largest IAM deployments in the world.

The client is a major Canadian food retailer ("Food Retailer") with over 135,000 employees and more than 1,000 corporate and franchised stores across Canada.

The Food Retailer will use the Employee Lifecycle Manager® (ELM™) Utility, N8 Identity's flagship IAM software solution, to create a consistent business process to pre-board, onboard, modify, and offboard all user types across the organization.  In addition to leveraging existing IAM infrastructure for auto-provisioning, the client will also rely on ELM™ for proactive compliance enforcement to ensure that policy violations (i.e. inappropriate access grants) are prevented, rather than simply reported reactively for remediation purposes.

"Our client chose ELM™ because of the depth of its product capabilities and the pre-defined business processes that are built into our implementation model," said Jay O'Donnell, N8 Identity's CEO.  "With more than 135,000 users across the country, it is essential that identities are created at the moment of offer acceptance and that all users have the right access to the right information throughout their lifecycle.  ELM™ will also provide the proactive policy enforcement and analytics required to meet compliance requirements. We are proud to play a part in this exciting identity initiative."

ELM™, N8 Identity's industry-leading software, simplifies IAM by providing proven business processes for the proactive management of identities, access rights, assets, facilities, and analytics - with a consistent user experience - across global organizations. Full product information can be found on the company website: www.n8id.com

N8 Identity Profile

N8 Identity delivers measurable business value through identity and access orchestration.  Based on its industry-leading IAM software solution - ELM™ - N8 Identity delivers proactive identity and access orchestration through the complete lifecycle of a user within an organization: onboarding, change in responsibility, ad-hoc self-service and offboarding.  This proactive process-based solution provides improved identity governance, compliance, security, visibility and decision support to business managers.  Augmenting its clients' existing infrastructure, ELM is ready-to-use and delivered as a managed service, resulting in accelerated implementation and quicker time to value.  N8 Identity is a privately held company headquartered in Burlington, Ontario.  For more information, please visit www.n8id.com

SOURCE: N8 Identity Inc.

Microsoft Helps W3C Create Single Site for Web Standards

Microsoft Helps W3C Create Single Site for Web Standards
Oct. 08, 2012
A new community-driven site provides a comprehensive and authoritative source for Web developer documentation.

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 8, 2012 — Web innovations are emerging at a relentless pace, and Web developers face the daily challenge of finding the accurate information needed to build great websites that work across the gamut of browsers and devices. Too often, their quest can feel like a wild goose chase.

They search numerous online resources, grapple with conflicting information, and cobble together what they hope is all the information they need on the technology or specification. In the worst case, the information they get is incomplete, dated or inaccurate.

When Robby Ingebretsen, creative director at Pixel Lab, built a mouse-over animation, he tested it on a number of browsers to make sure it worked. However, it didn’t work for his client. It turned out that the client was using a different version of the same browser, and this version didn’t support the little-used CSS property that the animation relied on. The browser documentation Ingebretsen checked indicated that the property worked, but it didn’t indicate on which version.

“The result was that we had to create a new effect altogether. I lost several days of work over this,” says Ingebretsen.

Web developers are often unsure of where to find a trustworthy source for information about the real-world status of the Web specifications they rely on to write maintainable code and build sites that showcase their talents.

“I want to know what I can use today, but I also want to get a sense of where things are going and what I’ll be able to do tomorrow,” says Ingebretsen.

Developers will have an easier time optimizing for multiple browsers with Web Platform Docs, a central repository of standards and best practices.
Web Platform Docs
October 08, 2012
Developers will have an easier time optimizing for multiple browsers with Web Platform Docs, a central repository of standards and best practices.
Download: Web

Ensuring cross-browser compatibility is another challenge. Erik Klimczak, creative director at Clarity Consulting, had been using a common trick to make an image uniformly scale, but found out it didn’t work on a particular browser. After hours of searching for a solution and coming up empty-handed, he finally contacted the browser’s engineering team for the answer.

The undocumented solution was an arcane property setting. “The problem was I had no idea that this existed,” says Klimczak. He adds that finding “simplified, reliable shorthand methods” would considerably speed up the writing of code.

Developers are frustrated by the current lack of best practices and documented shorthand ways of satisfying cross-browser compatibility.

Enter Web Platform Docs, a new centralized community resource for Web developers who use HTML5, CSS and other open Web standards to build websites. Web Platform Docs is the culmination of collaboration among the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Microsoft and other technology companies, including browser-makers Mozilla, Google and Opera, as well as Nokia, HP, Adobe and Facebook.

The site serves as a central repository that provides Web developers with accurate and timely information on the technologies and standards that are crucial to their work. Most importantly, the documentation on Web Platform Docs is comprehensive. It includes information about a browser’s implementation of different Web technologies and best practices on a given feature’s interoperability.

Visitors to the site will find published content from the founding organizations, including more than 3,200 topics from the Microsoft Developer Network; a sample library that takes into account real-world scenarios; and tutorials that provide guidance on how to use new and existing technologies.

“With Web Platform Docs, we now have a central place where we can learn what the standard is, when we can use that particular feature, and the right way to use it,” says Rey Bango, Windows technical evangelist at Microsoft. “That’s important to me, and it’s important to Web developers. They want to take advantage of the cool stuff — the toys — and they want to do it responsibly. This site gives them that capability.”

The Web Platform Docs site provides accurate and timely information on the technologies and standards crucial to developers.
Web Platform Docs Logo
October 08, 2012
The Web Platform Docs site provides accurate and timely information on the technologies and standards crucial to developers.
Download: Web

The site also aims to provide up-to-date information on the stability and implementation status of a given feature or technology. This means that if something has yet to be tested for security, developers are made aware of its status. This allows them to make educated decisions on when to embrace specific standards-based features and plan for the future.

“I especially appreciate that the site allows the community to see the status of a specific technology,” says Bango. “Being able to understand when a feature is fully baked and how it is properly implemented is crucial. When Web developers know how to leverage a technology the right way, and when they can do so responsibly, they can really add innovation based on cool new features that are coming out. If new features aren’t ready to go, they can start planning for them. By doing that, they provide a feature set that really makes consumers happy.”

Microsoft’s commitment to interoperability prompted its involvement in this collaborative effort. One goal is to ensure that the Web development community has the best resources needed for working with Internet Explorer, Windows Azure and Windows Phone, among other Microsoft technologies.

The wiki format of Web Platform Docs allows the developer community to maintain and improve the content as the open Web platform evolves, with W3C acting as administrator.

“I know that when I go to this site, some of the best minds in the world are vetting the documentation and providing clarity on how and when to use a feature,” says Bango. “It’s a testament to the reliability of what I’m reading. That gives me a great perspective. I can make a good, educated decision.”

With all the information they need located at a single site, developers can now spend their time doing what they do best and really light up the Web.

Read More: Developers

IBM Expands PureSystems Family to Help Clients Tame Big Data

IBM Expands PureSystems Family to Help Clients Tame Big Data

New System Is Up and Running within Hours, Rapidly Delivers Critical Insights that Improve Business Results

SINGAPORE and ARMONK, N.Y. - 09 Oct 2012: To help global organizations make sense of the massive influx of data being created daily, IBM (NYSE: IBM) today expanded its PureSystems family of expert integrated systems with the introduction of PureData System. Now, clients can more efficiently manage and quickly analyze petabytes of data in minutes and intelligently use those insights to support specific business goals across their organization including marketing, sales and business operations. (#IBMPureSystems)

Organizations across all industries are challenged to find simpler and more cost effective ways to analyze data and better understand consumer purchases, manage customer churn, perform data-intensive marketing campaigns and detect fraud in real time. The PureData System is available in three workload-specific models optimized for transactional, operational and big data analytics to help clients solve these challenges. 

The PureData System is the next step forward in IBM’s overall strategy to deliver a family of systems with built-in expertise that leverages its decades of experience to reduce the cost and complexity associated with information technology. Clients can have the system up and running in 24 hours, not 24 days, run complex analytics in minutes, not hours, and handle more than 100 databases on a single system. 

IBM estimates that 2.5 exabytes of data is created every day — so much that 90 percent of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone. Given this data deluge, clients can use the new PureData System for high performance data services for traditional or cloud environments. The new system builds on the initial PureSystems family of offerings that can deploy Web applications in less than 10 days, a task that once took at least six months. The PureSystems family is the result of $2 billion in R&D and acquisitions over four years.                                                   

“We are on the leading edge of a new era of computing where clients can process vast amounts of information in real time and in ways that can fundamentally transform how business gets done. To accelerate this transformation, we need to simplify and speed the deployment of new capabilities – and greatly reduce the cost of IT operations,” said Arvind Krishna, general manager, IBM Information Management. “Today’s introduction of the PureData System is an important step in our journey as we help clients achieve new levels of speed, simplicity and savings.”   

IBM is unveiling three workload-specific models of the PureData System:  

The Premier healthcare alliance has selected a PureData System to manage and analyze the nation's largest clinical, financial and outcomes database with information on one in every four patient discharges, 2.5 million real-time clinical transactions a day and $43 billion in annual purchasing data.  

“One of our biggest challenges has been the ability to quickly acquire and analyze big data, then place the insights from that data directly into the hands of caregivers,” said Todd Wilkes, vice president of Enterprise Solution Development at Premier, a provider-owned alliance helping 2,700 hospitals and 90,000 other health providers improve their patient care and finances. “With IBM big data analytics, we can now analyze any data with sub-second response times and share insights from it to help our alliance members improve patient care, reduce costs and better understand what’s going on within their hospitals and health systems.” 

IBM Business Partners Help Drive PureSystems Adoption  

As IBM expands its family of expert integrated systems, the IBM Business Partner ecosystem embracing PureSystems also continues to grow. Numerous partners such as DynaFront Systems and PCCW Solutions are installing PureSystems in their own datacenters to deliver value to clients. Additionally, more than 60 Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) have already committed to support PureData System.  

Through technical and validation resources, IBM offers these companies the flexibility to optimize their industry-leading applications to run on PureSystems. Silvermoon Business Systems, a South African ISV focused on the insurance industry, is already seeing performance results by reducing the typical deployment time of their application from two weeks to 18 minutes with PureApplication System. 

This announcement builds on last week's newsto further expand IBM's cloud ecosystem with a set of global initiatives, enabling organizations to develop solutions and services on IBM PureSystems, built on open standards. As more clients embrace cloud computing, they are looking to Managed Service Providers (MSP) to help them quickly develop cloud-based services in a more simplistic, secure and economical way.  

To date, partners have delivered more than 200 solutions and applications that are optimized to run on IBM’s expert integrated systems. Building on these offerings, IBM is also introducing several new patterns designed to radically streamline the set-up and management of hardware and software resources. This includes patterns for social business, asset management and business process management. These patterns and solutions, which span 20 industries, can be accessed through the IBM PureSystems Centre.  

Today’s news expands on the April 2012 introduction of IBM PureSystems, which includes PureApplication and PureFlex Systems. The new systems family offers clients an alternative to current enterprise computing models, where multiple and disparate systems require significant resources to set up and maintain. The PureFlex System enables organizations to more efficiently create and manage an infrastructure, while the PureApplication System helps organizations reduce the cost and complexity of rapidly deploying and managing applications. In addition to the common web application patterns supported by PureApplication System, the combination of both PureData and PureApplication Systems can now be used for end to end transaction workloads. 

Pricing and Availability 

PureData System will start shipping to customers at the end of October. 

Credit-qualified clients that elect financing can see immediate benefits with PureData System by deferring their first payment until January 20131 or obtaining a 0 percent Interest-free loan for 12, 24 or 36 months.2 

For more information about these offerings, visit: http://www.ibmbigdatahub.com/ and http://www.ibm.com/PureSystems/PureData/

To view IBM's online press room, visit: http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/37399.wss. To view IBM YouTube Analytics Channel, visit: http://www.youtube.com/user/ibmbusinessanalytics.  

### 

1. Interest continues to accrue on deferred payments. Offer applies to fair market value (FMV) lease only.

2. Offer applies to purchases of IBM PureApplication or PureData Systems only, and does not include subscription and support or additional add-ons. Offer may vary by country and expires December 15, 2012.  

IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, PureSystems, PureFlex, PureApplication, Smarter Planet and the planet icon are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other companies. For a current list of IBM trademarks, please see www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml

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 clients. Rates and availability are based on a client’s credit rating, financing terms, offering type, equipment and product type and options, and may vary by country. Other restrictions may apply. Rates and offerings are subject to change, extension or withdrawal without notice and may not be available in all countries. 

All other company, product or service names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of others. Statements concerning IBM's future development plans and schedules are made for planning purposes only, and are subject to change or withdrawal without notice. Reseller prices may vary. 

Arrow ECS Expands ‘Empower’ Program to Enable Solution Providers to Jump-Start Data-Center Convergence Selling

Arrow ECS Expands ‘Empower’ Program to Enable Solution Providers to Jump-Start Data-Center Convergence Selling

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 8, 2012-- Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions, a business segment of Arrow Electronics Inc. (NYSE: ARW) is expanding its Empower program, a multivendor enablement program for high-growth areas of the data center. Launched last year, the new offerings are designed to help solution providers in North America accelerate their ability to sell data-center convergence solutions, such as: EMC VSPEX, HP CloudSystem, IBM Pure, NetApp FlexPod, Oracle Database Appliance and Exadata, VCE Vblock Systems and more.

The enhanced Empower program enables solution providers to identify, cultivate and close opportunities leveraging converged data-center solutions in their geographies and vertical markets. The program employs an end-to-end approach with a suite of resources including comprehensive enablement training, solution scoping and architecting, live or virtual proof-of-concepts, configuration and post-sales implementation assistance.

"The data-center convergence space has matured significantly in the last six months, with multiple suppliers bringing their respective offerings to market," said Sean Kerins, president of North America for Arrow ECS. "The enhancements to Arrow's Empower program are aligned with our commitment to enabling partners to capitalize on demand in high-growth markets, such as data-center convergence."

Enhancements to the program include:

  • Enablement courses - Comprehensive training to educate solution providers on converged data-center solutions and the market conditions driving adoption, including a customized blueprint on how solution providers can develop a converged data-center practice.
  • Convergence-readiness assessments - As part of the demand-generation strategy, Arrow ECS provides in-depth assessments to analyze a data-center environment, identify where infrastructure could impact performance and the bottom line, and recommend an alternative leveraging a converged solution.
  • Opportunity scoping and validation - Personalized technical resources to assist solution providers with scoping the proposed converged data-center solution based on the needs and specifications of the customer.

The modular Empower program can be tailored based on each solution provider's skill level. For more information, visit http://storagetechnology.arrow.com/content/dcc_roadshow.

ABOUT ARROW ENTERPRISE COMPUTING SOLUTIONS

Arrow ECS, a business segment of Arrow Electronics Inc. (NYSE: ARW), provides enterprise and midrange computing products, services and solutions to value-added resellers, system integrators, and independent software vendors. Based in Englewood, Colo., and with offices in 29 countries, Arrow ECS connects its customers to the world's foremost technology suppliers. Arrow ECS reported $6.5 billion in global enterprise computing solution sales in 2011. Visit ecs.arrow.com for more information.

Source: Arrow ECS

Arrow Electronics Inc.
Dawn Small, 303-824-4188
Communications Manager
dsmall@arrow.com























































































SAP Joins in Release of “Big Data” Recommendations to U.S. Government Agencies

SAP Joins in Release of “Big Data” Recommendations to U.S. Government Agencies

WASHINGTON — “Big data” has the potential to transform government and society, and the path to harnessing it is relatively straightforward and affordable, according to a new report released today by the TechAmerica Foundation’s Big Data Commission. The commission, co-chaired by SAP and IBM, is providing the U.S. government with a first-of-a-kind, comprehensive road map to using big data to better serve the American people.

Developed with extensive input from industry, government and academic leaders, the report defines key terms, explains the underlying technology and identifies best practices and lessons learned from early efforts. The report also offers a set of policy recommendations and practical steps that agencies can take to get started on big data initiatives. It was released at a briefing for members and staff of the U.S. Congressional High-Tech Caucus at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

“The evidence shows that the U.S. government can extract enormous value from big data, for the benefit of all citizens,” said Commission Co-Chair Steve Lucas, global executive vice president and general manager, Database & Technology, SAP. “Imagine a world where a growing number of elderly and sick people receive better healthcare outcomes at lower costs, where there is reduced congestion on the roads due to real-time insight into traffic patterns and events or greater accuracy in prediction of severe weather events. The challenge lies in capturing, managing and analyzing enormous data streams to measure new signals that lead to transformational insights.”

The good news, the report says, is that pioneers in business and government have already made initial investments in big data pilot projects, have demonstrated success and have identified best practices to help others move forward. While the impact of big data will be transformational, the path to harnessing it does not require a radical overhaul of infrastructure or business processes. Governments can build incrementally on the capabilities they already have in place. The incremental nature of big data upgrades means they can be accomplished more rapidly and affordably than was typical of government IT projects in the past — a crucial consideration at a time of intense pressures on the U.S. federal budget.

Steve Mills, senior vice president and group executive at IBM, is co-chair of the commission with Lucas. The vice chairs are Teresa Carlson, vice president, Global Public Sector at Amazon, and Bill Perlowitz, chief technology officer, Science, Technology and Engineering Group, Wyle. Serving as the academic co-chairs were Dr. Michael Rappa, founding director of the Institute for Advanced Analytics at North Carolina State University and principal architect of its Master of Science in Analytics degree; and Dr. Leo Irakliotis, dean and national director for the College of Information Technology at Western Governors University.

The full report can be found at www.techamericafoundation.org/big-data-commission. For more information, visit the SAP Newsroom. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.

Media Contacts:
Samantha Finnegan, +1 (650) 276-9350, samantha.finnegan@sap.com, PDT
Jeff Neal, +1 (925) 336-6203, jeff.neal@sap.com, PDT