Dell and Echo360 Simplify Access to Turnkey Blended Learning Platform for Higher Education Institutions

Dell and Echo360 Simplify Access to Turnkey Blended Learning Platform for Higher Education Institutions

 

  • Dell Serves as End-to-End Provider for Industry-Leading Education Solution

Dell and Echo360 today announced that Dell is now reselling the Echo360 blended learning and lecture capture solution to higher education institutions in the United States and Canada. The partnership gives institutions access to the complete suite of Echo360 hardware and software, with the Dell server, storage and networking infrastructure and services, to simplify the rollout of a blended learning solution across a university. Effective immediately, institutions can efficiently purchase, install and receive support for the Echo360 platform through Dell.

“Echo360 has helped hundreds of universities innovate the teaching and learning environment for better interaction and student access—using technology to reach more students more conveniently; extending the interaction between students and professors before, during and after a lecture and providing a platform for immediate feedback on lessons that need further explanation,” said John Mullen, vice president and general manager, Dell Education, State and Local Government. “Dell is excited to help more universities, professors and students realize the benefits of innovative new teaching and learning models with a simple, end-to-end solution to improve academic outcomes and student teaching in a cost-effective manner.”

Recent studies from the University of Texas-Austin and the University of Sussex found that students experience improvements to their grades when they have access to Echo360 technology. Echo360 helps students improve learning outcomes by mixing the best of face-to-face teaching with technology to deliver a blended online and offline education experience. The solution records classroom instruction allowing students to view it live or on demand as well as collaborate with their peers. Instructors use activity heat maps to understand viewing habits and gauge trouble spots in student comprehension.

Lecture capture requires scalable compute, network and storage capacity for the optimal user experience and to archive lectures for future usage. Dell’s leadership in datacenter solutions and enterprise computing and existing relationships with thousands of higher education institutions and status as a preferred vendor will slash the time it takes to procure and deploy Echo360 products.

“The majority of the technology investment in educational institutions is focused outside of the teaching and learning moment. Today instructors are forced to adapt their teaching to the new technology-centric world armed with little more than chalk and blackboard. It is time to give them the tools they really need,” said Echo360 CEO Fred Singer. “We are pleased to partner with Dell to provide institutions with clear solutions for recruitment, retention, distance learning and flipped classroom so they are able to reach more students without added costs.”

Vince Kellen, CIO of the University of Kentucky and 2012 Dell Transformational CIO, purchased Echo360 for a campus-wide installation through Dell. Kellen commented, “Higher education needs leading-edge solutions, especially when it comes to the classroom. The partnership between Dell and Echo360 simplifies the purchasing process and makes it much easier to significantly expand blended learning technology solutions."

Echo360 is available now to all Dell U.S. and Canadian higher education customers as ‘Dell Lecture Capture.’ Purchasing information is available on both the Dell and Echo360 websites.

Echo360
More than one million students in 6,000 classrooms at 500 institutions across 30 countries rely on Echo360 technology to enhance their educational experience. Echo360 digitally records and shares instructional content live and on demand, allowing institutions to reach more students while lowering costs. Through Echo360, students engage with their peers through collaborative tools and review information from instructors online, at their convenience and across various devices. The company has been recognized with a Product Line Strategy of the Year Award from Frost & Sullivan, is CSIA-certified for outstanding customer service, and was named a Visionary Vendor in Educational Technology by IT research firm Basex. Echo360 is backed by Revolution Growth led by Steve Case, Ted Leonsis and Donn Davis.

About Dell
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is committed to helping students develop the knowledge and skills they need to learn and succeed in an increasingly digital world and a globally competitive workforce. As a top provider of technology and services to schools, Dell listens to and works with students, educators, administrators, parents and community members around the world to deliver innovative technology and services that give them the power to do more in and out of the classroom. Learn more about Dell in Education at www.dell.com.
























































Cardinal Health Canada Commits to Transaction Accuracy and Efficiency by Sharing Catalogue Data with Customers through GHX

Cardinal Health Canada Commits to Transaction Accuracy and Efficiency by Sharing Catalogue Data with Customers through GHX

TORONTO, July 10, 2012 /CNW/ - To help achieve more accurate and efficient e-Commerce transactions among its Canadian customer base, Cardinal Health Canada will share its catalogue data with healthcare providers through GHX. With access to data on more than 130,000 items, Cardinal Health Canada's customers can help ensure they are purchasing the right products at the right prices from a multitude of healthcare manufacturers through the Cardinal Health distribution network.

"Sharing catalogue data with Canadian healthcare providers through GHX supports our mission to help customers control costs and increase effectiveness," said Don Cere, vice president, National Marketing and Business Development, Cardinal Health Canada. "With access to timely and accurate product and price data, customers can send cleaner transactions. This will assist operational performance on both sides of the supply chain by reducing manual rework, increasing process efficiencies and improving invoice match rates."

Cardinal Health Canada's customers, integrated with the GHX electronic trading exchange, will now be able to leverage GHX to more accurately align the contract and item file data in their internal systems with the data in Cardinal's product catalogue. With increased access to Cardinal Health Canada's internal data, healthcare providers can help ensure they are using the correct product codes when ordering items from Cardinal and they are purchasing at the most recently negotiated prices.

"There is a growing recognition in the healthcare industry that all members of the supply chain must come together and collaborate in order to drive down costs," said Nils Clausen, general manager, GHX Canada. "We applaud Cardinal Health Canada's move to share its catalogue data with customers through the GHX Exchange and believe that this level of data sharing will contribute to meaningful and sustainable supply chain transformation."

About GHX
Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC (GHX), a healthcare technology and services company, helps reduce the cost of doing business in healthcare by enabling better supply chain management. GHX makes it easier for hospitals, other healthcare providers and the suppliers that do business with them to drive cost and inefficiency out of their processes. Working with GHX, the healthcare organizations that make up the GHX Global Network are on track to save $5 billion by 2014—savings that can be invested in such things as hiring more nurses, providing care to uninsured children or developing new medical products. GHX is owned by organizations on both the buy and sell side of the healthcare supply chain, including some of the largest companies in the world. Find GHX on the Web, on Twitter @GHX_LLC and on Facebook @GHX.

About Cardinal Health Canada
Headquartered in Vaughan, Ontario, Cardinal Health Canada is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH), a $103 billion health care services company that improves the cost-effectiveness of health care around the globe. As the leading solution provider for Canadian healthcare, we focus on patient care while enhancing efficiency and improving the quality of healthcare for Canadians. Cardinal Health Canada, with over 700 employees nationwide, is the vital link in the Canadian healthcare supply chain, providing over 70,000 products from over 400 suppliers to medical professionals and healthcare facilities across the nation. More information can be found at http://www.cardinalhealth.ca.

SOURCE GHX

Websense Delivers 10 New Advanced Malware and Data Theft Defenses with Threat Dashboard, Forensics and Sandboxing

Websense Delivers 10 New Advanced Malware and Data Theft Defenses with Threat Dashboard, Forensics and Sandboxing

Websense TRITON solution first to provide the data-aware defenses necessary to prevent today's advanced attacks that lead to data theft

SAN DIEGO, July 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Websense, Inc. (NASDAQ: WBSN), a global leader in unified web security, email security, mobile security and data loss prevention (DLP), today announced 10 new advanced malware and data theft defenses, spear phishing protection with cloud sandboxing, and a forensic reporting dashboard with in-depth security intelligence.

"We tested the Websense® TRITON™ solution security advancements and were very impressed by the results," said Jan Erik Sorensen, senior IT security consultant of anti-malware operations for EVRY ASA, a Websense TRITON solution customer. "Our investment in Websense TRITON technology is one of the best security buying decisions we have made. Websense is constantly proving its effectiveness against the toughest online attacks. It protects our customers and us from the latest advanced threats and prevents data theft and loss."

With this release, the Websense TRITON solution redefines the security gateway. It provides enterprises with the deep protection, forensics and visibility necessary to understand: which individuals are subject to attacks; cybercrime tactics and methods; attack communications and destinations; and what data is being targeted. Below are the latest Websense security breakthroughs:

  • 10 advanced threat and data theft defenses — The real-time, inline Websense ACE (Advanced Classification Engine) security engine has 10 new defenses that stop data theft and loss. Many of which are industry firsts such as detecting criminal encrypted uploads; advanced malware payloads and command-and-control recognition; optical character recognition (OCR) of text within images for data-in-motion; drip (stateful) DLP detection; password file theft detection; and geolocation awareness.

Several of these defenses are powered by the award-winning, embedded enterprise DLP engine, which is unique to the Websense TRITON architecture.

  • Spear phishing protection with cloud sandboxing — Cybercriminals frequently target specific users with spear phishing email attacks. Many of these attacks load malware and threats onto websites after initial email gateway security inspection. Websense's unique cloud sandboxing capability identifies suspicious links in emails for real time analysis. Once email recipients click on an embedded URL, Websense analyzes the website content and browser code in real time, in a cloud environment, to ensure safety in any location at any time.
  • Websense TRITON Advanced Malware Threat dashboard — This dashboard profiles security incidents, provides in-depth forensics, and data theft capture. With severity levels and the ability to export incidents to SIEM solutions, Websense users know who was attacked, how the attacks function, where those communications were being sent and most importantly, what data was targeted.

"No matter what you are running — anti-virus, URL filtering, next generation firewalls — cybercriminals may find a way in and will establish command and control communication to steal your data," said John McCormack, president, Websense. "Our advanced malware and data theft protection measures set a heightened standard for security and forensic reporting. Our technology is designed to retain and contain your most sensitive data, while providing you with the visibility necessary to understand how significant the threat to your organization truly is and what cybercriminals are targeting."

The Websense TRITON solution unifies all the key components of threat defense and data theft prevention into a cohesive content security system. It brings together web security, email security, mobile security, and DLP defenses with unified security intelligence and a unified management console. TRITON solutions can be deployed on enterprise-grade appliances, as cloud-based services, and as powerful and efficient hybrids of on-premise and cloud elements working together.

"With the enhancements, Websense TRITON raises the bar for security defenses," said Christian Christiansen, program vice president for industry analyst firm IDC's Security Products and Services. "The new Websense advanced malware and data theft innovations address evolving threats from external and internal sources. Especially notable is the comprehensive approach that includes data loss prevention coupled to web-based malware mitigation and managed from a consolidated dashboard."

For more information about the Websense TRITON solution, please visit www.websense.com/TRITONseven7.

About Websense, Inc.

Websense, Inc. (NASDAQ: WBSN), a global leader in unified web security, email security, mobile security, and data loss prevention (DLP), delivers the best content security for modern threats at the lowest total cost of ownership to tens of thousands of enterprise, mid-market and small organizations around the world. Distributed through a global network of channel partners and delivered as appliance-based software or SaaS-based cloud services, Websense content security solutions help organizations leverage social media and cloud-based communication, while protecting from advanced persistent threats and modern malware, preventing the loss of confidential information, and enforcing internet use and security policies. Websense is headquartered in San Diego, California with offices around the world. For more information, visit www.websense.com.

Follow Websense on Twitter: www.twitter.com/websense
Join the discussion on Facebook: www.facebook.com/websense

Websense Media Contact:
Patricia Hogan
Websense, Inc.
(858) 320-9393
phogan@websense.com

SOURCE Websense, Inc.

Oracle’s “Big Data, Bigger Opportunities” Report

Oracle’s “Big Data, Bigger Opportunities” Report: Smart Grids Increase Utilities’ Data Collection 180x

Utilities See Opportunities to Leverage Big Data to Improve Business Operations

Redwood Shores, California – July 10, 2012

News Facts

Today Oracle announced the results of the “Big Data, Bigger Opportunities: Plans and Preparedness for the Data Deluge” research report, which surveyed 151 North American senior-level executives at utilities with smart meter programs in place to gauge:
Perceptions on the business impact of “big data”
Preparedness to handle data growth
Plans to extract optimal business value from this data to better target, engage with and serve customers.
Smart grid deployments are creating exponentially more data; the utilities surveyed for this study have increased their meter data collection frequency by an average of 180x* and have access to new types of information.
The “Big Data, Bigger Opportunities” report is the first in Oracle’s “Utility Transformations” series, which will examine how utilities use information generated from smart grid deployments to drive greater organizational efficiency, more reliable service and stronger customer relationships.

Key Survey Findings

Utilities with smart meter programs in place say they are somewhat prepared to manage the data deluge, rating themselves a 6.7 on a scale of 1 to 10.
However, 45 percent of responding utilities still struggle to report information to business managers as fast as they need it, and 50 percent report that they miss opportunities to deliver useful information to customers.
Smart meters deliver an unprecedented stream of critical business information, such as outage (78 percent), voltage (73 percent), tampering (63 percent) and diagnostic (56 percent) data, which can help improve operations and customer satisfaction.
Utilities see a need to improve their ability to translate information into actionable intelligence and leverage data for strategic decision-making. Sixty-four percent say it is one of their top three priorities.
Meter Data Management (MDM) systems may provide help with 70 percent of those utilities with an MDM system in place saying they are prepared to successfully manage the data influx versus just 51percent of those without.
In the next five years, utilities plan to leverage smart grid data to improve customer service through efforts such as delivering demand response programs, forecasting demands, complying with regulatory requirements and minimizing outages.

Supporting Quote

“Smart grid deployments are creating exponentially more data for utilities and giving them access to information they have never had before. Oracle’s ‘Big Data, Bigger Opportunities’ report indicates that a vast majority of utility executives are working to enhance their ability to glean real intelligence from smart grid data – to ultimately create new opportunities to improve service reliability and deliver useful information to customers. Utilities can benefit from establishing enterprise information strategies, and investing in the systems and people needed to make better business decisions,” said Rodger Smith, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Utilities.

Supporting Resources

 

About Oracle Utilities

Oracle Utilities delivers proven software applications that help utilities of all types and sizes achieve competitive advantage, business performance excellence and a lower total cost of technology ownership. Oracle Utilities integrates industry-specific customer care and billing, network management, work and asset management, mobile workforce management and meter data management applications with the capabilities of Oracle's industry-leading enterprise applications, business intelligence tools, middleware, database technologies, as well as servers and storage. The software enables customers to adapt more nimbly to market deregulation, meet ever-evolving customer demands and deliver on environmental conservation commitments. Additionally, Oracle Utilities helps utilities prepare for smart metering and smart grid initiatives that enhance efficiency and provide critical intelligence metrics that can help drive more-informed energy and water usage decisions for consumers and businesses. For more information, visit www.oracle.com/goto/utilities.

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 utilities, helping speed time to market, reduce costs, and gain a competitive edge.

Trademarks

Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
-
*“Big Data, Bigger Opportunities: Plans and Preparedness for the Data Deluge” research report (p.6) - http://www.oracle.com/webapps/dialogue/ns/dlgwelcome.jsp?p_ext=Y&p_dlg_id=12135162&src=7604534&Act=23

Contact Info

Candice van der Laan
Oracle
+1.650.506.0814
candice.van.der.laan@oracle.com

Janice Hazen
O’Keeffe & Company
+1.443.759.8151
jhazen@okco.com

HP Powers PULSE to Expand Transaction Processing Capacity

HP Powers PULSE to Expand Transaction Processing Capacity

Leading debit network chooses HP Converged Infrastructure to enhance business agility

PALO ALTO, Calif., July 10, 2012

HP today announced that PULSE, a Discover Financial Services company, has selected an HP Converged Infrastructure to meet growing consumer debit card use while delivering efficient transaction processing services to clients.

As one of the fastest-growing debit/ATM networks in the United States, PULSE processes millions of transactions daily for thousands of financial institutions across the country.

PULSE worked with HP Technology Services to evaluate its business needs and develop a technology strategy that delivered a scalable infrastructure capable of supporting nearly five times more transaction processing than its previous platform.(1) In addition to maintaining the highest levels of performance, the company leveraged HP NonStop technology to eliminate unplanned downtime, enhancing client satisfaction, while reducing processing costs.

After a thorough review of available solutions, PULSE selected an HP Converged Infrastructure consisting of three mission-critical HP Integrity NonStop NB50000c BladeSystem infrastructure platforms. The solution offers a combination of servers, networking and storage that easily scales and eliminates unplanned downtime. Each PULSE data center location includes dedicated systems for production transaction processing, certification, and development and benchmarking.

The HP NB50000c BladeSystem ensures continuous availability while using only half the footprint of PULSE’s previous platform. HP’s multicore processing capabilities provide increased flexibility at 25 percent of the previous processing cost. Additionally, the average transaction processing time was reduced by 75 percent, and the total cost of ownership was lowered by approximately one-third.(1)

“For PULSE to leverage new opportunities and meet changing industry demands, we needed to scale out our transaction processing platform while maintaining high availability and performance,” said Tony Zeis, senior vice president, Technology, PULSE. “As an HP client for more than 17 years, we knew that the HP Converged Infrastructure would fit our needs perfectly, while reducing our transaction processing time and costs.”

“Financial institutions, like ours, depend on their networks to deliver uninterrupted 24/7 service,” said Nick Anderson, senior vice president, Trustmark Bank, a participating PULSE issuer in Jackson, Miss. “PULSE’s migration to the new HP NonStop architecture strengthens their ability to provide reliable services and 100 percent uptime—this helps us sleep better at night.”

PULSE relies on ongoing support from the HP Technology Services Consulting group, HP Account Support Management (ASM) and HP Mission Critical Services to maintain peak infrastructure performance. Since the migration, services from HP have enabled PULSE to maintain 100 percent availability with ongoing system support from dedicated account representatives, leveraging a customized services plan that evolves as needed.

PULSE expands plans for mission-critical HP Converged Infrastructure

PULSE selected the mission-critical HP Converged Infrastructure, including HP NonStop systems to support its DebitProtect® fraud detection system.

PULSE is deploying ReD’s real-time transaction monitoring and risk management software solution, ReD PRISM®, implemented on HP Integrity NonStop BladeSystem NB54000c and HP Integrity NonStop NS2200 servers for the DebitProtect application. The combined solution will deliver the scalability and performance necessary to protect financial institutions’ cardholder transactions at the ATM and point of sale from the threat of fraud.

HP’s premier Europe, Middle East and Africa client event, HP Discover, takes place Dec. 4-6 in Frankfurt, Germany.

About HP

HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. The world’s largest technology company, HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure to solve customer problems. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.

Top Canadian University Uses MadCap Flare to Teach Online Documentation Best Practices

Top Canadian University Uses MadCap Flare to Teach Online Documentation Best Practices

New case study from MadCap Software examines how Simon Fraser University students are using Flare's single-source publishing and topic-based authoring to put concepts into practice

 
LA JOLLA, CA, July 09, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- MadCap Software, Inc., the leader in multi-channel content authoring and a showcase company for Microsoft Visual Studio and Microsoft XPS, today announced that it has published a new case study on Simon Fraser University (SFU). By taking advantage of single-sourcing in MadCap Flare, students are able to take the technical communications best practices they have learned in the university's online Certificate in Technical Communication and put them into practice.

Recognized as one of Canada's top three comprehensive universities for more than 20 years, SFU is committed to offering courses that combine robust academics with real-world best practices that students will require in their professional careers. In a course called Fundamentals of Creating Online Documents, which is part of the online Certificate in Technical Communication, this commitment means using MadCap Flare to give students hands-on experience in applying the latest online documentation best practices.

- Single-sourcing enables SFU students to take the same content and deliver it to the desktop, on the Web, or as mobile Help, supporting businesses' requirements for multi-channel publishing.

- A patented navigation bar on the side of the built-in WYSIWYG editor demonstrates the underlying code, making it easier for students to learn concepts, such as cascading style sheets and XHTML.

- Topic-based publishing in Flare helped students to gain insights and understanding into this modern approach to content authoring.

- Easy-to-use interface allowed students to get started immediately, create projects within one week, and then build on the project incrementally as they added new skills.

The full Simon Fraser University case study is available at: www.madcapsoftware.com/casestudy/simonfraser.aspx.

"Flare's single-sourcing to multiple outputs, including mobile, has given our students first-hand experience in publishing to the different online formats that companies require," said Sue Andrews, an instructor in SFU's Writing and Communications Program, which offers the Certificate in Technical Communication. "Flare has really delivered on our expectations and opened new opportunities for our students. In fact, one student went on to buy a copy of Flare for her company."

"As one of Canada's premier educational institutions, Simon Fraser University has a world-class technical communication program that is empowering students with the latest techniques and technologies for delivering online content," said Anthony Olivier, MadCap founder and CEO. "We are excited by SFU's initial success in teaching students how to use our state-of-the-art MadCap Flare so they can get hands-on experience in publishing to multiple devices and channels--all from a single product."

About Simon Fraser University

Simon Fraser University has been ranked by respected national surveys as one of Canada's top three comprehensive universities for almost 20 years. The Certificate in Technical Communication, which is available entirely online and has benefitted students from around the world, is available through SFU's Writing and Communications program. SFU has three campuses in British Columbia, Canada: Burnaby, Surrey, and Vancouver. For more information about the online Certificate in Technical Communication, visit http://www.sfu.ca/techcomm.

About MadCap Software

MadCap Software, Inc. is a leading technical communication software firm specializing in integrated applications for end-to-end content development, delivery and management. MadCap's software products provide state-of-the-art content workflow solutions for multi-channel publishing, including the Web, print, desktop and mobile. Through its strategic partner Microsoft Corp., MadCap delivers solutions optimized for Microsoft Windows, Visual Studio, and the .NET environment. Headquartered in La Jolla, CA, MadCap is home to some of the most experienced software architects and product experts in the documentation industry. Learn more about MadCap Software at www.madcapsoftware.com.

MadCap Software, the MadCap Software logo, and MadCap Flare are trademarks or registered trademarks of MadCap Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries.

Trend Micro Provides an integrated Secure Hosted Solution for Small Businesses Using Windows Server 2012 Essentials

Trend Micro Provides an integrated Secure Hosted Solution for Small Businesses Using Windows Server 2012 Essentials

CUPERTINO, Calif., July 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704;TSE: 4704), a global cloud security leader, today announced the integration of Trend Micro™ Worry-Free™ Business Security Services into the Windows Server 2012 Essentials console to give solution providers and small businesses an integrated solution to protect users from a variety of cybercrime threats.  

Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security Services and Windows Server 2012 Essentials, whether cloud hosted or on-premise, are purposely built with today's small businesses in mind.  Together, they provide managed service providers (MSPs) and channel partners with the right infrastructure, security that fits, and world class support for their customers' businesses in the emerging cloud era.

"Trend Micro and Microsoft are both committed to the growing cloud-era MSP channel community, and our products serve this market," said Partha Panda, VP Global Alliances and Business Development at Trend Micro. "Both companies are leaders in this space, and we continue to be leaders by working together and delivering hosted and hybrid solutions that are easy to use and manage, and include trusted security at a lower total cost."

Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security Services protects data and safeguards PCs, laptops, servers, and other Windows-based devices from viruses, spyware, spam, and other web threats.  The solution is designed for small and medium-sized businesses with limited IT resources, and it delivers around-the-clock updates from the Trend Micro™ Smart Protection Network™ infrastructure to identify and block new and emerging threats in the cloud before they can affect the organization.

Ideal as the first server for small businesses, Windows Server 2012 Essentials provides an easy-to use-solution to help protect data with its advanced, automated backup features. It also helps businesses organize and access information from virtually anywhere, supports the applications needed to run the business, and can help organizations quickly connect to online services that they acquire separately.

Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security Services is powered by the Trend Micro Smart Protection Network, the security infrastructure that stops threats in cyberspace or "in the cloud" and monitors the Internet 24/7, worldwide. The Smart Protection Network gathers and analyzes threat data, viruses, and other malware before they can reach your computers. Because processing is done off your system and in the cloud, Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security Services minimizes slow-downs by using less memory and disk space.

About Trend Micro Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704;TSE: 4704), a global cloud security leader, creates a world safe for exchanging digital information with its Internet content security and threat management solutions for businesses and consumers.  A pioneer in server security with over 20 years' experience, we deliver top-ranked client, server and cloud-based security that fits our customers' and partners' needs, stops new threats faster, and protects data in physical, virtualized and cloud environments. Powered by the industry-leading Trend Micro Smart Protection Network cloud computing security infrastructure, our products and services stop threats where they emerge – from the Internet. They are supported by 1,000+ threat intelligence experts around the globe. 

Additional information about Trend Micro Incorporated and the products and services are available at Trend Micro.com. This Trend Micro news release and other announcements are available at http://newsroom.trendmicro.com/  and as part of an RSS feed at www.trendmicro.com/rss.   Or follow our news on Twitter at @TrendMicro.

Andrea Mueller Trend Micro Public Relations andrea_mueller@trendmicro.com

SOURCE Trend Micro Incorporated

Microsoft Sees Big Opportunities for Partners With Upcoming Wave of New Products and Services

Microsoft Sees Big Opportunities for Partners With Upcoming Wave of New Products and Services

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer kicks off Worldwide Partner Conference; Microsoft Office Division announces 1 billion Office users and new investments in Office 365 partners.

TORONTO, July 9, 2012 /CNW/ - Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer opened Microsoft Corp.'s annual Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) by highlighting key product milestones and opportunities for partners contributing to the beginning of a new era for the company. The four-day event celebrates the accomplishments of the company's more than 640,000 global partners and gives a preview of what will be the most exciting product releases for Microsoft in the coming year.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO)

"This will be the biggest product and services launch year in our company's history, creating massive opportunities for our partners to grow their businesses," Ballmer said. "With Windows — Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, Windows Server 2012 and Windows Azure — and Office 365, there's never been a better time to be a Microsoft partner. The opportunities for us to do amazing things for our joint customers have never been greater."

Speaking before nearly 16,000 attendees from around the globe, Kurt DelBene, president of the Microsoft Office Division, announced that 1 billion people worldwide now use Microsoft Office. Fueling that growth has been Office 2010, the most popular version of Office ever. Worldwide, someone buys a copy of Office 2010 every second.

DelBene also announced two new investments in Office 365 partners:

  • Office 365 Open is a new way for partners to sell Office 365. It establishes a traditional reseller model, enabling partners to realize more revenue, deliver packaged services with a single invoice, and own the customer relationship.
  • Office 365 Advisors Program updates let the most active partners earn more up front with Office 365. Starting today, partners who sell more than 150 seats are eligible to earn more revenue.

"The Office Division has never been stronger, and our amazing partners are critical to this success. Office is now used by more than a billion people, and Office 365 is on track to be one of the fastest-growing offers in our history," DelBene said. "The investments announced today will fuel even more robust growth ahead."

Other news from today's keynote speeches included the following:

  • In a wide-ranging Q&A that highlighted major moments from the past year and looked ahead to what's next, Ballmer focused on business performance driven in large part by Microsoft partners. He specifically highlighted successes from partners working with Windows 7, Office, Windows Server, Windows Azure and Microsoft Dynamics. Ballmer also stated that, beyond any one product, the big trends the company is focused on include machine learning, form factors and UI, cloud, core platform, and new scenarios — communications, productivity and entertainment.
  • Tami Reller, corporate vice president and CFO, Windows and Windows Live Division, described the wave of ecosystem innovation coming with Windows 8 and demonstrated how Windows 8 is enterprise ready by design.

Partners to Hear From Other Executives

Throughout the week, senior executives will offer an inside look at the road ahead for Microsoft and its partners:

  • Tomorrow, Satya Nadella, president of the Server and Tools Business; Kirill Tatarinov, president of Microsoft Business Solutions Division; and Thom Gruhler, corporate vice president of Windows Phone Marketing, will highlight new product opportunities for Microsoft partners and customers.
  • Jon Roskill, corporate vice president, Worldwide Partner Group, will give a keynote speech on Wednesday about finding the balance between the right products, the right local team alignment and the right partner growth opportunity.
  • Kevin Turner, chief operating officer, will speak on Wednesday, addressing the competitive advantages to partnering with Microsoft and the partner opportunity in emerging markets.
  • Deepak Chopra, MD, FACP, the renowned physician, author and thought leader of the mind-body-spirit movement, will conclude the conference on Wednesday as the guest headliner.

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

SOURCE Microsoft

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.

For further information:

Katie James, Weber Shandwick Worldwide, +1-206-708-5299, kjames2@webershandwick.com, or Weber Shandwick Worldwide, smsp@webershandwick.com

http://www.microsoft.com

Oberthur Technologies to Open Service Center in Canada for Growing EMV, NFC and ID Markets

Oberthur Technologies to Open Service Center in Canada for Growing EMV, NFC and ID Markets

BusinessWire · Jul. 9, 2012

Oberthur Technologies, one of the world’s largest providers of security and identification solutions and services based on smart card technologies, today announced that it has finalized plans to open a secure service center in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The 1,400 m² facility will enable the personalization of secure devices and documents (including magnetic stripe and EMV cards as well as SIM cards and identification credentials) for customers throughout Canada.

“Oberthur Technologies’ proven global ability to meet customer needs in the payment, telecom and ID markets coupled with the booming Canadian demand in these key segments are at the center of our decision to open a facility in Canada,” said Martin Ferenczi, Managing Director of the Americas Region at Oberthur Technologies, “Oberthur Technologies is confident that the Canadian market will respond positively to our expertise in providing a broad array of solutions for complete card personalization.”

Oberthur Technologies is currently supplying contactless cards to Montreal’s transit system and SIM cards to major Canadian telecom operators. The new facility will be fully operational with payment association certifications in Q4 of this year and ready to produce VISA, MasterCard and Interac cards. Oberthur Technologies is therefore expanding further its presence in North American with services centers located in Los Angeles, CA and Chantilly, VA as well as its state-of-the-art EMV capable manufacturing site in Exton (PA).”

Ranking as a trusted supplier to more than 5,000 banks, mobile operators and transport authorities, benefiting from 10 years of experience in remote administration platforms and a leader in secured personalization, Oberthur Technologies has a true expertise to answer the needs of the NFC ecosystem.

About Oberthur Technologies

Oberthur Technologies is a world leader in the field of secure technologies: systems development, solutions and services for smart cards (payment cards, SIM cards, access cards, NFC…) and for secure identity documents, traditional and electronic (identity card, passport, health care card). Created in 1984, Oberthur Technologies employs 5,700 employees. With 50 sales offices across 5 continents, Oberthur Technologies’ international network serves clients in 140 countries.

For more information: www.oberthur.com

Contacts

Contacts Oberthur Technologies
Oberthur Technologies
Stéphanie Cau, Communication Director
Tel. : +33 1 47 85 58 06
s.cau@oberthur.com
ou
Oberthur Technologies- Americas Region
Leana Benson Hersch, Manager, Marketing Communications
Tel. : +1 310 868 1318
l.hersch@oberthur.com
ou
Yannick Duvergé
Tel. : +33 1 47 03 68 65 / +33 6 74 91 48 05
yannick.duverge@fticonsulting.com
ou
Guillaume Granier
Tel. : + 33 1 47 03 68 61 / + 33 6 32 65 79 28
guillaume.granier@fticonsulting.com

Gartner Says Worldwide IT Spending On Pace to Surpass $3.6 Trillion in 2012

Gartner Says Worldwide IT Spending On Pace to Surpass $3.6 Trillion in 2012

Analysts to Discuss Latest IT Spending Outlook During Complimentary Gartner Webinar on July 10

STAMFORD, Conn., July 9, 2012—               Worldwide IT spending is on pace to reach $3.6 trillion in 2012, a 3 percent increase from 2011 spending of $3.5 trillion, according to the latest outlook by Gartner, Inc. Gartner's 2012 IT spending outlook has been revised up slightly from the 2.5 percent projection last quarter.

Gartner's global IT spending forecast is relied upon by more than 75 percent of the Global 500 companies in their key technology decisions. The market segments are analyzed by more than 200 Gartner business and technology analysts who are located in all regions of the world.

"While the challenges facing global economic growth persist — the eurozone crisis, weaker U.S. recovery, a slowdown in China — the outlook has at least stabilized," said Richard Gordon, research vice president at Gartner. "There has been little change in either business confidence or consumer sentiment in the past quarter, so the short-term outlook is for continued caution in IT spending."

However, there are some bright spots for IT providers. In contrast to the rather lackluster growth outlook for overall IT spending, Gartner expects enterprise spending on public cloud services to grow from $91 billion worldwide in 2011 to $109 billion in 2012. By 2016, enterprise public cloud services spending will reach $207 billion.

"Business process as a service (BPaaS) still accounts for the vast majority of cloud spending by enterprises, but other areas such as platform as a service (PaaS), software as a service (SaaS) and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) are growing faster," Mr. Gordon said.

Worldwide IT services spending is forecast to reach $864 billion in 2012, a 2.3 percent increase from 2011 (see Table 1). Demand for consulting services is expected to remain high due to the complexity of environments for global business and technology leaders. Gartner analysts said consulting itself is becoming increasingly technology-based with the rise of analytics and big data, having deep implications on the future of consulting services.

 Table 1. Worldwide IT Spending Forecast (Billions of U.S. Dollars)

 

2011

Spending

2011

Growth (%)

2012

Spending

2012

Growth (%)

2013

Spending

2013

Growth (%)

Computing Hardware

404

7.4

420

3.4

448

6.6

Enterprise Software

269

9.8

281

4.3

301

6.9

IT Services

845

7.7

864

2.3

905

4.8

Telecom Equipment

340

17.5

377

10.8

408

8.3

Telecom Services

1,663

6.0

1,686

1.4

1,725

2.3

All IT

3,523

7.9

3,628

3.0

3,786

4.4

Source: Gartner (July 2012)

The global telecom services market continues to be the largest IT spending market. Telecom services growth is expected to come not only from net connections, especially in emerging markets, but also in mature markets from the uptake of multiple connected devices, such as media tablets, gaming and other consumer electronics devices.

More-detailed analysis on the outlook for the IT industry will be presented in the webinar "Gartner Worldwide IT Spending Forecast, 2Q12 Update." The complimentary webinar will be hosted by Gartner on July 10 at 11 a.m. EDT. Mr. Gordon will assess the prospects for growth in IT spending not only in the short term but also through 2016. To register for the webinar, please visit http://my.gartner.com/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=202&mode=2&PageID=5553&resId=1898715&ref=Webinar-Calendar.

Gartner's IT spending forecast methodology relies heavily on rigorous analysis of the sales by thousands of vendors across the entire range of IT product and services. Gartner uses primary research techniques, complemented by secondary research sources, to build a comprehensive database of market size data upon which to base its forecast. The Gartner quarterly IT spending forecast delivers a unique perspective on IT spending across hardware, software, IT services and telecommunications segments. These reports help Gartner clients understand market opportunities and challenges. The most recent IT spending forecast research is available at www.gartner.com/quarterly-it-forecast. This Quarterly IT Spending Forecast section includes links to the latest IT spending reports, webinars, blog posts and press releases.

Contacts:

Rob van der Meulen
Gartner
+44 0 1784 267892
rob.vandermeulen@gartner.com

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.