SAP Opens New Mobility Design Center to Conceptualize, Design and Rapidly Build Mobile Solutions With Customers

SAP Opens New Mobility Design Center to Conceptualize, Design and Rapidly Build Mobile Solutions With Customers

SAP Applies User-Centric Design Approach to Create Intuitive, Easy-to-Use Mobile Solutions

PALO ALTO, Calif. - September 19, 2012 - SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced the opening of the new SAP Mobility Design Center to help customers meet the growing need for individualized mobile solutions. Headquartered on the company’s campus in Palo Alto, Calif., the center is focused on enabling companies to keep up with the consumerization of IT trend by conceptualizing, designing and building mobile solutions to better connect with employees and consumers.

To achieve consumer-grade experiences, customers collaborate with a team of user experience (UX) designers, architects and developers. The team employs design thinking principles and validates mobile solutions with end users continually throughout the build process. The SAP Mobility Design Center is a one-stop shop for designing, developing and validating customer-specific mobile enterprise solutions that are intuitive for users and leverage features such as touch, camera, GPS and other device functionality across a variety of device platforms.

Saving Time, Increasing Customer Satisfaction
Sysco Corporation is the global leader in selling, marketing and distributing food products to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, lodging establishments and other customers who prepare meals away from home. Its family of products also includes equipment and supplies for the foodservice and hospitality industries. The SAP Mobility Design Center designed and built an application for Sysco using the SAP mobile platform. The app enables customers to manage inventory from Sysco and place orders, either manually or by setting replenishment metrics to re-order automatically. The app also allows a Sysco customer to track its own inventory not purchased from Sysco. This is both an added service for the customer and gives Sysco an expanded view into the items its customers need, and thus items it may want to offer in the future.

“As we are looking to grow our business, we are strongly focused on saving our customers time and making the business relationship as easy and collaborative as possible,” said Twila Day, chief information officer, Sysco. “Experts from the SAP Mobility Design Center supported us in designing, building and testing the mobile app, fulfilling our special requirements of having it run in unwired locations. This helps us in strengthening our customers’ satisfaction and loyalty, and makes it easier for our customers to engage and work with us.”

Mobile Solutions a Top Priority for Businesses
Mobile application development has become a top concern for enterprises and their CIOs. According to the 2012 Gartner CIO Survey, 61 percent of respondents plan to enhance their mobile capability during the next three years, with 48 percent believing they will become leaders by fully adopting innovative mobile solutions.1

“Mobile apps have become a priority for businesses today. Yet many companies struggle to build solutions fast enough and cannot find the right kind of talent,” said Sanjay Poonen, president, Mobile Division, SAP. “One of the sweet spots of the new SAP Mobility Design Center is developing beautiful mission-critical mobile solutions that can transform how companies do business. The center offers customers an innovative and collaborative alternative to rapidly mobilize their business with design thinking resulting in delightful consumer-like solutions, which is what users expect.”

“We see the SAP Mobility Design Center as a key driver of SAP’s mobile business,” said Elizabeth Hedstrom Henlin, enterprise software analyst, Technology Business Research.” TBR maintains that usability is more important than ever, and the ability for an app to connect seamlessly to the backend and function flawlessly over time is a business imperative.”

Agile Development, Collaborative Approach
At the SAP Mobility Design Center, the focus is on the end-user during the development process. Starting with the user experience, user input is quickly translated into first mock-ups of the envisioned solution, which are used for end-user validation. Based on feedback collected from the end users, the mobile solution is built with a connection to the back-end application and deployed into the target landscape for productive use. The highly iterative and collaborative process helps make certain that end users adopt and enjoy the experience of working with the solution.

The SAP Mobility Design Center is dedicated to ensuring the same level of quality, scalability and security that companies expect of all SAP solutions. The mobile solutions developed by the center often cover customers’ mission-critical business processes. To help ensure safe deployment, these solutions are built according to development guidelines based on the SAP mobile platform. The center takes care that solutions work reliably in productive environments and also offers maintenance services to customers.

The SAP mobile platform provides the foundation for business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-employee (B2E) mobile app development, mobile device management and mobile security management. SAP and its partners are delivering an expanding number of mobile apps and will continue to innovate in this important area of growth.

The SAP Mobility Design Center is the latest workspace development in a multi-year campus transformation initiative underway at SAP in Palo Alto. SAP has undertaken a significant investment in the Palo Alto campus and other locations worldwide to foster innovation and create an environment focused on delivering customer-centric solutions. Other recent transformations on the Palo Alto campus include a new cloud computing development center and the “AppHaus,” where teams focus on building new applications on top of the SAP HANA® platform. SAP aims to provide a next-generation work environment that inspires creativity, fosters innovation and accelerates the pace of innovation for its customers.

To learn more, visit the SAP Mobility Design Center page on sap.com. For more information, visit the SAP Newsroom.

1Gartner, “Magic Quadrant for Mobile Application Development Platforms,” William Clark, Ian Finley, Song Chuang, April 26, 2012

About SAP
As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 195,000 customers (includes customers from the acquisition of SuccessFactors) to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

# # #

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “predict,” “should” and “will” and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.

© 2012 by SAP AG. All rights reserved.
SAP and the SAP logo are registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and other countries. Business Objects and the Business Objects logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Business Objects Software Ltd. Business Objects is an SAP company. Sybase and the Sybase logo are registered trademarks of Sybase Inc. Sybase is an SAP company. Crossgate is a registered trademark of Crossgate AG in Germany and other countries. Crossgate is an SAP company.

Note to editors:
To preview and download broadcast-standard stock footage and press photos digitally, please visit www.sap.com/photos. On this platform, you can find high resolution material for your media channels. To view video stories on diverse topics, visit www.sap-tv.com. From this site, you can embed videos into your own Web pages, share video via email links, and subscribe to RSS feeds from SAP TV.

Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.

For customers interested in learning more about SAP products:
Global Customer Center: +49 180 534-34-24
United States Only: 1 (800) 872-1SAP (1-800-872-1727)

For more information, press only:
Martin Gwisdalla, +49 (6227) 7-67275, martin.gwisdalla@sap.com, CET
Amisha Gandhi, +1 (415) 341-7101, amisha.gandhi@sap.com, PDT
SAP Press Office, +49 (6227) 7-46315, CET; +1 (610) 661-3200, EDT; press@sap.com

Sun Life Financial and TELUS Launch Nationwide eClaims Solution for Extended Healthcare Providers Across Canada

Sun Life Financial and TELUS Launch Nationwide eClaims Solution for Extended Healthcare Providers Across Canada

TELUS' web-based eClaims service enables physiotherapists, chiropractors, optometrists and opticians to electronically submit claims directly to Sun Life on behalf of patients.

TORONTO, Sept. 20, 2012 /CNW/ - Extended healthcare providers across Canada registered with the TELUS Health eClaims web portal service can now submit claims electronically on behalf of their patients who are plan members with Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada. TELUS' eClaims portal is specifically designed to accelerate and simplify claim processing. It enables extended healthcare providers the ability to process patients' claims at their point-of-sale, giving providers more time to deliver the best possible patient care.

This electronic process allows physiotherapists, chiropractors and visioncare providers to submit claims on behalf of patients who are Sun Life plan members, accelerating payment and reducing time spent processing insurance paperwork. Plan members are protected by Sun Life's anti-fraud technology on e-claims which provides advanced monitoring to detect unusual claims patterns to decrease the risk of loss from fraud.

"The initial launch in the Atlantic provinces of the eClaims service in July was well received by plan members and sponsors," said Stuart Monteith, Senior Vice-President, Group Benefits, Sun Life Financial Canada. "We are excited to offer this service nationwide and are confident healthcare providers will recognize the benefits of electronic claims submission and will actively use and promote it to their patients. Our plan members benefit from the service as it minimizes out-of-pocket expenses as they pay only the balance not covered under their benefits plan - and there are no paper claim forms to fill out and submit."

Healthcare providers already registered with TELUS eClaims are eligible to submit claims directly to Sun Life. Supporting Sun Life's paperless initiatives to reduce waste and provide quicker service, payments to providers will be made via electronic funds transfer. To receive payment electronically from Sun Life, providers simply submit their banking information to TELUS by completing a form found on the TELUS eClaims portal.

"We are excited to continue our partnership with Sun Life and extend the eClaims service to its members across Canada," said Luc Vilandre, Vice-President, Health Benefits Management, TELUS Health Solutions. "TELUS Health Solutions continues to deliver targeted solutions that simplify the eClaims submission process so healthcare providers can spend more time taking care of their patients. Our strong relationships with insurance customers and allied healthcare providers across Canada enhance the patient experience and help to achieve better health outcomes for all Canadians."

TELUS is a leader in Canada's claims and benefits management sector, providing drug claims processing for over 10 million Canadians. TELUS Health eClaims web portal service, launched in 2010, and has since experienced rapid adoption by the extended healthcare community with close to 12,000 providers now on board.

About Sun Life Financial
Sun Life Financial is a leading international financial services organization providing a diverse range of protection and wealth accumulation products and services to individuals and corporate customers. Chartered in 1865, Sun Life Financial and its partners today have operations in key markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China and Bermuda. As of June 30, 2012, the Sun Life Financial group of companies had total assets under management of $496 billion. For more information please visit www.sunlife.com.

Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the ticker symbol SLF.

About TELUS Health Solutions
TELUS Health Solutions, represents a unique set of technology, expertise and resources to help transform how information is used in the healthcare industry. TELUS Health Solutions has years of expertise in successfully implementing healthcare applications and information communication technology processes through industry leading solutions and consulting services to customers in Canada and around the world. It is backed by more than 1,500 TELUS Health Solutions team members including healthcare professionals. For more information, 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.

Note to Editors: All figures in Canadian dollars.

SOURCE: Sun Life Financial Inc.

Commissioner Cavoukian urges public institutions to join global Open Data movement

Open Data, Big Data, Yes … Personal Data, No!

Commissioner Cavoukian urges public institutions to join global Open Data movement

TORONTO, September 20, 2012 – Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, Dr. Ann Cavoukian, is calling on public institutions to take advantage of emerging technologies to make data available to the public, academics, researchers, and industry, for use in new and unanticipated ways. As long as personally identifiable information is protected from such disclosure, the open data movement bodes very well for introducing greater transparency to government institutions.

The global movement towards Open Data makes vast amounts of machine-readable data freely available by way of portals, metadata, and search tools. It is one of the truest embodiments of Commissioner Cavoukian’s concept of Access by Design, by which public institutions proactively release information as part of an automatic process, fostering more transparency and accountability in government.

The Commissioner is hosting an information session on Open Data today with the Toronto Board of Trade to mark Right to Know Week 2012, celebrated by freedom of information organizations in over 40 nations worldwide.

"Unless there is sufficient reason to the contrary, government-held data (not personally identifiable) should be free and easily accessible – by default," said Commissioner Cavoukian. “Without access to information held by government institutions, citizens cannot participate meaningfully in the democratic process and hold politicians and bureaucrats accountable to the people they serve.”

Advances in IT have driven an explosive growth in the number of databases holding massive amounts of information. But all that is needed is a clear demarcation of personally identifiable records from general records containing no personal information.

“The goals of openness and privacy may both be achieved. Open Data is already being used effectively by municipalities in Ontario to improve service delivery, increase transparency, and raise levels of accountability and citizen trust in government, while strongly protecting privacy. The City of Toronto portal is an excellent example,” added the Commissioner.

In her annual report, Commissioner Cavoukian noted that Ontario still lacks a centralized data portal, and she called on the province to establish its own Open Data portal to “continue to demonstrate that we are a world leader in access to information.”

Event Details:
Date & Time: Thursday, September 20, 2012, 9:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Location: One King Street West Hotel
Grand Banking Hall
1 King Street West
Toronto, Ontario
Please note the event is not being held at the Toronto Board of Trade Ballroom.

Presenters include:

Dr. Ann Cavoukian, Information and Privacy Commissioner, Ontario, Canada

Brian Beamish, Assistant Commissioner, Access

Dave Wallace, Chief Information Officer, University of Waterloo

Jury Konga, Principal, eGovFutures Group

Daphne Gaby Donaldson, Executive Director, Corporate Information Management Services,
City of Toronto

Samantha Liscio, Corporate Chief Strategist, Ontario Public Service

Members of the public wishing to attend can register at www.bot.com/events.
Media planning to attend, please register with the contact below.

About the IPC
The Information and Privacy Commissioner is appointed by, and reports to, the Ontario Legislative Assembly, and is independent of the government of the day. The Commissioner's mandate includes overseeing the access and privacy provisions of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, as well as the Personal Health Information Protection Act, which applies to both public and private sector health information custodians. The Commissioner's mandate also includes helping to educate the public about access and privacy issues.

Media contact:
Anne-Marie Tobin
Media Relations Specialist
Direct Line: 416-326-3939
Cell: 416-873-9746
Toll-free: 800-387-0073
media@ipc.on.ca

Microsoft Mobilizes to Create Opportunities for 300 Million Youth Around the World

Microsoft Mobilizes to Create Opportunities for 300 Million Youth Around the World
Sept. 20, 2012
Microsoft YouthSpark is a new companywide initiative to create opportunities for 300 million youth through a range of global programs, delivered in partnership with governments, nonprofits and other businesses.

REDMOND, Wash. — Sept. 20, 2012 — Microsoft Corp. today announced a new global initiative, Microsoft YouthSpark, that aims to create opportunities for 300 million youth in more than 100 countries during the next three years. This companywide initiative includes citizenship and other company programs — both new and enhanced — that empower youth to imagine and realize their full potential by connecting them with greater opportunities for education, employment and entrepreneurship.


Through Microsoft YouthSpark, the company will dedicate the majority of its cash contributions to nonprofits that serve the youth population around the world. In addition, Microsoft YouthSpark will include Office 365 for education, free technology tools for all teachers and students to power learning and collaboration, and Skype in the classroom, a free global community for teachers to connect their students with others around the world.

As part of the initiative, Microsoft is also launching a range of new citizenship programs:

Give for Youth, a global microgiving marketplace focused on raising funds for nonprofits that support youth causes around the world.

Microsoft YouthSpark Hub, an online space where people can explore and access all the youth services, programs and resources provided by Microsoft and its nonprofit partners.

Microsoft Innovate for Good, a global online community enabling youth to collaborate, inspire and support one another while using technology to make a difference in their communities.

Launching the new initiative, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said, “Through Microsoft YouthSpark we are making a commitment to help 300 million young people around the world achieve their dreams by focusing our citizenship efforts and other company resources on connecting young people with opportunities for education, employment and entrepreneurship. We believe that working with our partners we can help empower young people to change their world, and we are committed to using our technology, talent, time and resources to do that.”

The company’s youth-focused philanthropy will be conducted in close collaboration with nonprofits around the world. These include worldwide organizations such as GlobalGiving Foundation, TakingITGlobal, Telecentre.org Foundation and the International Youth Foundation, as well as regional nonprofits such as Silatech in the Middle East, The Trust for Americas in Latin America, AIESEC International in Europe, and the ASEAN Foundation in Asia. In the United States, Microsoft is announcing its support of five national nonprofits: Boys & Girls Clubs of America, City Year, Junior Achievement USA, Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship and Year Up Inc.

“Our next generation of citizenship will focus on the next generation of people,” said Brad Smith, executive vice president, Microsoft. “The global unemployment rate for workers younger than 25 is 12.7 percent, which is double the rate for the world as a whole. This is indicative of a growing opportunity divide between young people who have the access, skills and opportunities to be successful and those who do not. We must work together to close the opportunity divide for youth and help secure the future of this generation and the future of our global economy.”

The International Youth Foundation Opportunity for Action report, published in March 2012, showed that nearly 75 million young people worldwide were unemployed in 2011. As the global youth population continues to grow — there are more than 2.2 billion people between the ages of 6 and 24 today — the opportunity divide is widening.

Microsoft YouthSpark goes beyond philanthropy and brings together a range of global programs that empower young people with access to technology and a better education and inspire young people to imagine the opportunities they have to realize their potential, including previously mentioned Office 365 for education and Skype in the classroom, as well as the following:

Partners in Learning. A professional development program for government officials, school leaders and educators to help them with new approaches to teaching and learning, using technology to help students develop 21st century skills.

Microsoft IT Academy. A career-ready education program available to all accredited academic institutions, providing students with 21st century technology.

DreamSpark. Free access to Microsoft designer and developer tools for students and educators, helping advance key technical skills during the high school and college years, a critical time in a student’s development.

Imagine Cup. The world’s premier youth technology competition, which challenges students to apply their knowledge and passion to develop technical solutions for social impact, to develop engaging games, and to demonstrate innovation that can benefit others, local communities and the world.

Students to Business. A program that matches university students with jobs or internships in the technology industry.

BizSpark. A software startup program, providing young entrepreneurs with access to Microsoft software development tools and connections with key industry players, including investors, to help them start a new business.

A full list of Microsoft YouthSpark programs can be found at the YouthSpark Hub.

The YouthSpark feature story provides more information on how U.S. nonprofit organizations are using the new Microsoft funding and a picture slide show of youth stories.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

Official Opening of Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre at the University of Waterloo Sept. 21 - Stephen Hawking Planning to Attend

 

Media Advisory: Official Opening of Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre at the University of Waterloo Sept. 21 - Stephen Hawking Planning to Attend


WATERLOO, ON, Sept. 19, 2012 /CNW/ - Media are invited to attend the official opening of the Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre at the University of Waterloo this Friday, September 21.  We are pleased to advise that Prof. Stephen Hawking plans to attend the opening. Media will be welcomed onsite starting at 8:30 a.m., with the official opening beginning at 10 a.m. Details follow and if you have any questions, please contact Shelley Grandy, Sr. PR Advisor, University of Waterloo - sgrandy@uwaterloo.ca or 905-866-2656.

Date:   Friday, September 21st - official opening at 10 a.m.
  
Location: Mike & Ophelia Quantum-Nano Centre marked as QNC on the university map
found here: https://uwaterloo.ca/map/
  
Media Opportunities and Timing:
8:30 a.m. -   Journalists wishing to participate in a tour of the building should arrive at the
QNC at 8:30 a.m.
8:45 a.m. -   Start of media tour of building led by the executive directors of the Institute for
Quantum Computing and the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology
9:15 a.m. -  Brief welcome to media in the Media Room #1201 -- University of Waterloo
President Feridun Hamdullahpur
9:20 a.m. -  Opportunity for interviews with key participants from 9:20 a.m. until 9:45 a.m.
10 a.m.   -  Start of official program including ribbon-cutting
  

Information for Broadcast Media:
The presentation area in the atrium of the QNC building is equipped with audio drops and a riser platform for staging equipment.

Parking information for Print/on-line Media:
There is reserved parking for media in Lot M, a parking area at the north end of campus near Columbia off Ring Road. Lot M is marked on the campus map: https://uwaterloo.ca/map/

Parking information for Broadcast Media:
There is limited parking immediately in front of the building for equipment trucks. There will also be space on Ring Road in front of the QNC building.

SOURCE: University of Waterloo

Facebook(R) Organ Donation Tool Available in Canada

Facebook® Organ Donation Tool Available in Canada

OTTAWA, Sept. 18, 2012 /CNW/ - Jordan Banks, Managing Director of Facebook® Canada was joined by the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Canada's Minister of Health and Hélène Campbell, double-lung transplant recipient to launch the availability of Facebook's organ donation tool in Canada. 

Millions of people around the globe are waiting for a heart, kidney, liver or lung transplant that could potentially save their lives. Many people waiting never receive a transplant, because there simply are not enough organ donors to meet the need. Broader awareness about organ donation could go a long way and could potentially save lives.

Facebook believes that by simply telling people that you're an organ donor, the power of sharing and connection can play an important role in raising awareness of organ donation and encouraging others to become registered organ donors.

"I have come to see that through social media the generosity of the human spirit shines through. 'Sharing Your Organ Donor Status' through Facebook will grow awareness in Canada, giving hope to those waiting on a life-saving transplant. Today, that light shines brighter," said Hélène Campbell, double-lung transplant recipient.

Facebook first launched this tool in the US and UK in May, and have since launched to 12 more countries. Since the feature's launch in May, there have been more than 275,000 registrations in total.

"Today's launch will make it easier for Canadians to learn more and talk about organ donation," said the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Canada's Minister of Health.  "Thanks to wonderful people like Hélène Campbell, more Canadians are starting to realize the human face of organ donation."

Starting today, people in Canada can state their intent to become an organ donor on their Facebook timeline, and share their story about when, where or why they decided to become a donor. If people are not already registered with their provincial donor registry, they can find a link to the official donor registry on their timeline as well.

"Facebook is about connecting and sharing. We believe that by simply telling people that you're an organ donor, the power of sharing and connection can play an important role in solving the organ crisis in Canada," said Jordan Banks, Managing Director, Facebook Canada.

Facebook's mission is simple: to make the world more open and connected. One individual can have an outsized impact on the challenges facing another, and on the world.

To learn more about how the organ donation tool works, please take a look at this video: https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=338196302902319#How-do-I-share-that-I%E2%80%99m-an-organ-donor-on-Facebook.

Founded in 2004, Facebook's mission is to make the world more open and connected. People use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what's going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them.

SOURCE: Facebook® Canada

For further information:

Claire LaRocca
High Road Communications (on behalf of Facebook)
(416) 368-8348 ext. 207
Claire.LaRocca@highroad.com


























































































Avaya Drives Real-time Collaboration for Crisis Management with Integrated Notification and Conferencing Solutions

Avaya Drives Real-time Collaboration for Crisis Management with Integrated Notification and Conferencing Solutions

For Immediate Release:18 Sep 2012

  • Avaya Notification Solution (ANS) 2.0 provides fast, multi-channel notification to any endpoint -- office, BYOD, home, signage, broadcast, web or social media
  • Messages can be simultaneously sent via SMS, email, IM and audio formats
  • Integration with Avaya Aura® Conferencing 7.0,  Radvision Scopia for video and open Web Services APIs enables instant crisis management communications and collaboration
Basking Ridge, N.J. – Avaya today announced a new real-time collaboration solution for crisis management that helps organizations and businesses reduce negative impacts from unplanned events by enabling fast, coordinated communication and collaboration across any endpoint. Avaya’s crisis management solution is ideal for BYOD environments, mobile and remote teams inside and outside of an organization, broadly dispersed geographies or isolated units within a single location.
 
At the heart of the solution is the latest version of the Avaya Notification Solution (ANS), which provides integrated, automated real-time notification, response and collaboration to transmit critical information and instructions in multiple formats. By combining ANS with Avaya’s conferencing solutions -- Avaya Aura Conferencing 7.0, Radvision Scopia videoconferencing or Avaya Meeting Exchange -- organizations and businesses can quickly bring widely dispersed teams together to preserve business continuity, security and public safety.
 
Highly scalable and flexible, Avaya Notification Solution supports small, targeted teams or massive groups, and can meet the requirements of nearly any size business or communications environment. Using ANS, organizations can:
  • Prepare for multiple scenarios in advance, including appropriate messages, lists, instructions and chain of escalations
  • Send messages to virtually any endpoint, anywhere:  Alerts can be audio to any phone or integrated broadcast system; or text through SMS, email, instant messaging or digital signage
  • Trigger automated messages through a web portal, phone call or email, or third party system
  • Update social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, Internet and intranet web sites
  • Commandeer Avaya IP Phones to behave as broadcast speakers and configure messages to “barge in” to active conversations if necessary
  • Poll or prompt recipients for response, such as condition or availability
  • Target special messages to sub-segments of larger groups and enable instant collaboration capabilities
Instant collaboration can be facilitated through the “on board,” integrated Meet-me conferencing and collaboration capabilities, or by integrating with Avaya Aura Conferencing 7.0, Avaya Meeting Exchange and/or Radvision Scopia. Avaya Aura Conferencing 7.0 enables secure, session-based unified audio and web collaboration using desktop Macs or PCs, tablets and smartphones. Avaya Meeting Exchange bridges legacy to SIP communications environments for audio and web collaboration for mid-to-large enterprises and Service Providers.  Radvision Scopia provides standards-based video conferencing and desktop sharing from participants using a broad range of video-enabled devices, including mobile, tablets, PCs/MACs, dedicated and telepresence systems.
 
Open web services APIs enable easy integration with third party applications that can trigger notifications and to provide more information within the notification. For example, GeoComm, an Avaya DevConnect member, provides geographic information that can be built into ANS notifications to targeted groups or to alert one or more end users when a geographically sensitive boundary has been traversed. Enterprises can integrate ANS with supply-chain management, inventory control or security systems to help mitigate risk from business-impacting events.
 
Quotes
“As a world-wide relief organization, we need to minister to those who have been affected, as well as ensure the safety or our staff and keep them available to respond.  Weather-related emergencies could require coordination and mobilization of disaster response teams into a wide geographic area some distance away.  The Avaya Notification Solution is a great tool for efficient crisis management communications and collaboration that we can use to reach and notify several hundred staff and volunteers as well as a handful of key personnel.” 
Jeff Chandler, senior telephony manager, Samaritan’s Purse
 
“During the Colorado wildfires earlier this year, we were very concerned about how our area employees were personally being affected and also needed to keep them informed about access to our local facilities. We used Avaya Notification Solution to reach more than 1200 employees, poll them to see if they needed aid and assistance, and provide them with information and instructions. This entire process took about 90 minutes – a significant reduction in time from just a year earlier when a similar event took nearly three days.”
Bill Parkin, director, Security and Business Continuity, Avaya
 
Additional Resources
Avaya Notification Solution 2.0
Avaya Notification Solution Fact Sheet
Avaya Aura Conferencing 7.0 Fact Sheet
 
TAGS: Avaya, crisis management, disaster preparedness, business continuity, notification, conferencing, collaboration, emergency alert, emergency communications
 
About Avaya
Avaya is a global provider of business collaboration and communications solutions, providing unified communications, contact centers, networking and related services to companies of all sizes around the world. For more information please visit www.avaya.com.

Oracle Introduces Mobile Point-of-Service for Retailers

Oracle Introduces Mobile Point-of-Service for Retailers

Oracle Retail Mobile POS Enables Retailers to Improve Customer Experience, Increase Efficiency, and Enhance Service

Redwood Shores, Calif. – Sept. 18, 2012

News Facts

To help retailers improve customer service and increase efficiency, Oracle today introduced Oracle Retail Mobile Point-of-Service, a mobile extension to Oracle Retail Point-of-Service (POS) that enables store associates to assist customers and securely complete transactions from anywhere in the store using mobile devices.
Mobile POS is becoming increasingly more popular among both consumers and retailers as it speeds and simplifies checkout, eliminates lines, reduces costs associated with adding cash registers and helps keep personnel out in the store, talking with customers rather than standing behind a checkout counter.
For retailers already using Oracle Retail Stores Solutions, Oracle Retail Mobile POS leverages these applications to enable store personnel to check in-store inventory, look up product information, activate gift cards, print or email receipts and suspend transactions for completion at the register.
Because Oracle Retail Mobile POS is integrated with Oracle Retail Stores Solutions it helps ensure streamlined upgrades and consistent business logic and transaction processes across the entire suite.
Oracle Retail Mobile POS has a scalable and flexible architecture that allows any combination of fixed and mobile checkout points and supports multiple mobile operating systems and devices, such as Apple ipod Touch and VeriFone PAYware Mobile Enterprise, so retailers are not locked in to specific vendors.
VeriFone is a Gold level member in Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN).

Supporting Quotes

“Gartner research shows that retailers are extremely interested in mobile POS as a way to transform the check-out experience,” said Jeff Roster, Research Vice President, Gartner. “As one of the four transformational forces that Gartner has defined as part of its Nexus of Forces research, mobility, including mobile POS, will be a key area for experimentation and investment for retailers going forward.”
“Oracle Retail Mobile POS provides the flexibility to serve customers on their terms.  By providing store associates with a consistent transaction interface and delivering actionable insights at any point of service, we help retailers level the playing field between store associates and digitally enabled customers,” said Mike Webster, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Oracle Retail. “Oracle Retail Mobile POS provides an integrated and scalable architecture for retailers to create differentiated customer interactions.”

Supporting Resources

About Oracle Retail

Oracle provides retailers with a complete, open and integrated suite of business applications, server and storage solutions that are engineered to work together to optimize every aspect of their business. 20 of the top 20 retailers worldwide - including fashion, hardlines, grocery and specialty retailers - use Oracle solutions to drive performance, deliver critical insights and fuel growth across traditional, mobile and commerce channels. For more information, visit our Web site at http://www.oracle.com/goto/retail

About Oracle

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

 

About Oracle in Industries

Oracle industry solutions leverage the company's best-in-class portfolio of products to address complex business processes relevant to retail, helping speed time to market, reduce costs, and gain a competitive edge.

Trademark

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

Salesforce.com Introduces Salesforce Chatterbox – “The Dropbox for the Enterprise”

Salesforce.com Introduces Salesforce Chatterbox – “The Dropbox for the Enterprise”

Salesforce Chatterbox will deliver simple and secure file sharing across devices with the proven trust of Salesforce

With Salesforce Chatterbox, people will be able to manage and share files in the business apps they already use

Now with more than 170,000 active networks at companies like Dell, Kelly Services and Virgin America, Salesforce Chatter is the #1 enterprise social network and the standard for how businesses collaborate

SAN FRANCISCO – DREAMFORCE 2012 – Sept. 19, 2012 – Salesforce.com [NYSE: CRM], the enterprise cloud computing company, today introduced Salesforce Chatterbox, which will deliver simple and secure file sharing across devices in the enterprise. With Salesforce Chatterbox, users will be able to manage and share files in the context of business – all with the trust customers expect from Salesforce. For the first time ever, companies will be able to transform how they collaborate and connect with their customers, partners and employees around files directly in Salesforce Chatter, the #1 enterprise social network.

Comments on the News
• “Our customers have been asking us to create a file sharing service like Dropbox for the enterprise,” said Nasi Jazayeri, EVP and GM of Salesforce Chatter, salesforce.com. “Now with Salesforce Chatterbox, employees will be able to securely access and share their files with the trust of Salesforce.”
• “As a leading provider of staffing services for businesses around the world, it is imperative that each of our employees can access the latest information regardless of their location,” said Joe Drouin, SVP and CIO, Kelly Services. “With Salesforce Chatterbox, Salesforce Chatter will set the standard for how we collaborate and enable our employees to do their work from any device and at the speed of social.”
• “Sharing files has always been a key pillar of enterprise collaboration, but traditional internal systems are difficult to access and navigate, and most cloud options today provide a virtual folder and little else. Salesforce Chatterbox will provide an integrated way for employees to share and access files from anywhere, and be notified of file changes or additions within their Chatter feed,” said Rebecca Wettemann, vice president of research, Nucleus Research. “Salesforce Chatterbox will completely eliminate the need for Dropbox in the enterprise and will help facilitate secure sharing of documents and files - a corporate necessity today.”

Salesforce Chatterbox – Simple and Secure File Sharing Across Devices
The unprecedented growth of social and mobile technologies has changed the way people connect and communicate. As companies look to thrive in this new world, many are looking for the same benefits and user experiences of popular consumer apps, such as Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter, in the enterprise.

With Salesforce Chatterbox, Chatter will set the standard in social file sharing in the enterprise, allowing users to:
• Easily share and manage files: Salesforce Chatterbox is the first file sharing solution designed for the enterprise that will allow users to easily share, collaborate on and manage files with anyone in their company. Employees will be able to share and manage their files in Chatter as easily as they share photos with their friends and family on Facebook.

• Access files from mobile devices: Salesforce Chatterbox will provide users with real-time sync across devices – from desktops to smart phones to tablets – giving a seamless end-to-end experience for users to access, collaborate on and share files. Employees will be able to securely and easily access files while on the road, in customer offices or from wherever they need to connect.

• Collaborate in context of business: For the first time, enterprises will be able to empower employees to share their files within the context of business in real-time and right in the place they work. And by collaborating on files in their Chatter feed, employees will have the right information right at their fingertips when they need it.

• Leverage the trust of Salesforce: Built on the proven Salesforce Platform, Salesforce Chatterbox will give enterprises the trust they have come to expect from Salesforce. Companies will be able to share and collaborate on confidential files such as contracts, financial reports or product roadmaps with the trust of Salesforce.

• Harness the power of Chatter: Files will become immediately social through the power of Chatter. Files will be posted to the Chatter feed as soon as they are saved and shared via Salesforce Chatterbox.

More Innovations in Salesforce Chatter
Chatter combines social networking features such as profiles, real-time feeds, trending topics, recommendations and influence measurement, with the business information and processes in Salesforce. Chatter is integrated across all of the Salesforce apps and is extended through custom and partner apps built on the Salesforce Platform, enabling employees to be more productive in their everyday work.

Chatter is delivering continuous innovations including:
• Chatter Communities: Companies will be able to create private social communities to connect with customers and partners in entirely new ways with Salesforce Chatter Communities. It is the only community platform that will combine the power of social networking with business processes for breakthrough collaboration and productivity.

• Chatter Messenger: Chatter Messenger extends the benefits of employee social networks to secure, real-time, in-context communication. Employees can instantly connect and collaborate with colleagues by leveraging instant messaging, group chat, presence and chat roster.

• Chatter Screensharing: Chatter Screensharing will extend real-time communications by enabling employees to share anything on their screens instantly with their colleagues directly from a chat session. With Chatter Screensharing, every conversation and meeting will take place in Chatter, all in the context of business.

• Chatter Influence: Enterprises can quickly see who is driving collaboration within Chatter by looking at how many posts and comments someone has made and how many comments or likes they have received with Chatter Influence.

Customer Success with Service Cloud, the #1 Enterprise Social Network
With more than 170,000 active networks, Chatter is the #1 enterprise social network and the standard for how businesses collaborate. Now more than 50 percent of the Fortune 500 leverage Chatter to connect with their customers, partners and employees in entirely new ways. In fact, companies have reduced meetings by an average of 25 percent, reduced email by an average of 26 percent and generated an average of 29 percent more ideas through collaboration. In addition, they have increased employee connections by an average of 31 percent and seen an average of 34 percent increase in employee engagement, according to a recent salesforce.com-sponsored survey of 5,500 Chatter customers.

Pricing and Availability
• Salesforce Chatterbox is currently scheduled to be available in pilot the first half of 2013.
• Pricing of Salesforce Chatterbox will be announced at the time of general availability.

Additional Resources
• Watch Dreamforce 2012 live on Salesforce Live at http://facebook.com/dreamforce
• Read more details on the news at blogs.salesforce.com
• Like salesforce.com on Facebook: http://facebook.com/salesforce
• Like Chatter on Facebook: http://facebook.com/chatter
• Follow @Salesforce on Twitter

About Dreamforce
Dreamforce 2012 is the world’s largest vendor technology conference, welcoming more than 90,000 registered attendees to experience the power of the social revolution. With more than 750 sessions and 350 cloud companies in the expo, attendees can participate in interactive sessions, hands-on training with cutting-edge technology, thousands of live demos and unparalleled networking. In addition, Dreamforce welcomes special guests Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric, Gen. Colin Powell, U.S.A.—ret., Tony Robbins, entrepreneur, author and peak performance strategist and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Dreamforce 2012 offers attendees everything they need to connect with customers, partners and employees in entirely new ways.

About Salesforce.com

Founded in 1999, salesforce.com is the enterprise cloud computing leader. Using salesforce.com’s social and mobile cloud technologies, companies can connect with customers, partners and employees in entirely new ways. Based on salesforce.com's real-time, multitenant architecture, the company's platform and apps give customers the tools to create a social front office and revolutionize the way they sell, service, market, collaborate, work, and innovate.

 

Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public statements are not currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase salesforce.com applications should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available. Salesforce.com has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “CRM.” For more information please visit http://salesforce.com, or call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.

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©2012 salesforce.com, inc. All rights reserved. Salesforce, Chatter, Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Rypple, AppExchange, Salesforce Platform, and others are trademarks of salesforce.com, inc. Other names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.





























































































WIND Mobile Surpasses 500,000 Canadian Subscribers

WIND Mobile Surpasses 500,000 Canadian Subscribers

TORONTO, Sept. 18, 2012 /CNW/ - Today WIND Mobile announced that it now provides voice, text and data services to more than 500,000 subscribers across Canada, an important milestone celebrated by employees at a private party held last night at Toronto's Steam Whistle Brewing.

"We've worked hard to get to where we are today and I'm so proud of our team and everything we've been able to accomplish together," said Anthony Lacavera, Chairman and CEO of WIND Mobile. "The road wasn't always easy but we are well on our way of achieving our goal of becoming Canada's fourth national carrier."

WIND Mobile started in 2008 by asking Canadians what they wanted to see in a wireless service. Today, WIND Mobile is a leader and change agent in the Canadian wireless industry - showing Canadians that simplicity and value can exist together in a wireless plan.

"I want to thank Canadians for helping us reach this impressive milestone," said Lacavera. "WIND Mobile is a brand that has always valued the input of Canadians and I think we've done a tremendous job creating a service that offers subscribers exactly what they asked for - simple, fair and easy-to-understand plans at an affordable rate."

WIND Mobile is a part of VIMPELCOM Ltd., a global company of over 200 million customers in 18 countries worldwide. In Canada, WIND Mobile coverage extends to over 13.5 million people and will continue to expand as new markets are launched in the months ahead. WIND Mobile currently has over 1,225 active network sites, 225 branded store locations, more than 400 points of distribution within Canada and over 200 roaming agreements overseas.

Canadians are encouraged to compare their current plans to WIND Mobile's by using the Value Calculator and to pre-register to stay current about upcoming area and network expansions at http://www.windmobile.ca/en/Pages/pre-registration.aspx.

About WIND Mobile
WIND Mobile provides voice, text and data services to Canadians on a next-generation wireless network and is committed to offering a level of wireless service presently not available in Canada. WIND is built on actual conversations that are happening with Canadians who are passionate about wireless and creating a better mobile offering nationally. For more information about WIND Mobile, please visit http://www.WINDMobile.ca.

SOURCE: WIND Mobile

For further information:

Alexandra Maxwell
Public Relations & Social Media Specialist
416-557-5709
AMaxwell@WINDMobile.ca