Ottawa's Pythian Expands New York Presence...

Pythian Expands New York Presence to Meet Growing Demand for Top-Tier Database Expertise

Leading global provider of data infrastructure services deepens capacity to serve clients whose businesses depend on data

OTTAWA, CANADA, May 30, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Pythian announced today the opening of a new office and expansion of its sales force in New York City to meet the escalating demand among data-driven companies for expert, responsive database administration (DBA) support.

The explosion of 'big data'-information sets unmanageable with conventional solutions-coupled with an intensifying focus on cloud, NoSQL and other platforms is making DBA expertise essential for organizations across a wide range of verticals, from financial services and healthcare to online media and entertainment.

A Platinum-level member of the Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN), Pythian has the knowledge base and skills companies are seeking, while its unique, cost-effective utility billing model has strong bottom-line appeal.

Expanding its New York presence will increase Pythian's capacity to meet the needs of existing clients such as FreshDirect, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, LinkShare Corporation and CrowdTwist, a TechStars portfolio company-and to extend its services to others.

"New York represents well over 30 percent of our revenue and has the largest concentration of clients and industry contacts," said Paul Vallee, Founder and Executive Chairman. "It makes good strategic sense for us to grow our base here."

As part of its expansion, Pythian has announced the appointment of Gregg Kitaeff, former Vice President of Sales at LogicWorks to the position of Managing Director of U.S. Sales, and the addition of Ben Friedman as Director of U.S. Sales.

"With this team, we'll be able to expand our reach and better serve our U.S. customers who have data at the core of their businesses," said Mr. Vallee.

Pythian's workforce has grown by 100 percent since 2010 in response to rising demand for database and systems administration expertise. Today the company supports more than 175 clients worldwide from offices throughout North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

A migration project for LinkShare garnered Pythian an Oracle North America Titan Award in 2011 for Oracle Exadata. An Oracle partner since 1999, Pythian provides services across the entire Oracle technology stack. It is proficient in Oracle E-Business Suite, holds seven specializations within the OPN Specialized program including Oracle Exadata, and employs seven Oracle ACEs/ACE Directors.

Pythian's technology focus also includes MySQL and the company has a strategic partner relationship with Microsoft for its expertise with Microsoft SQL Server.

Pythian's New York City office is located on the 11th floor of 1115 Broadway and can be reached directly at +1 212 796 4944 ext. 284.

About Pythian

With headquarters in Ottawa and offices around the world, Pythian is a global database and application infrastructure services company for Oracle, MySQL and SQL Server. A Platinum-level member of the Oracle PartnerNetwork, companies have entrusted Pythian since 1997 to keep their database infrastructures running efficiently and to help them strategically align their IT and business goals. Learn more about Pythian at www.pythian.com . Follow us on Twitter at http://bit.ly/pythiantwitter or LinkedIn at http://linkd.in/pythian

About Oracle PartnerNetwork Specialized

The Oracle PartnerNetwork Specialized program provides partners with the tools needed to better develop, sell and implement Oracle products and solutions. By offering resources to train and support specialized knowledge across Oracle's growing portfolio, the program allows partners to differentiate through specializations, which are achieved through competency development, business results, expertise and proven success. Learn more at www.oracle.com/partners .

Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

Contacts: Vanessa Simmons Director of Marketing Pythian 613-897-9444 simmons@pythian.com

SOURCE: The Pythian Group

SAMSUNG And Google Introduce The Second-Generation Chromebook and The World's First Chromebox

SAMSUNG And Google Introduce The Second-Generation Chromebook and The World's First Chromebox

New Products Boot in Seconds with Samsung’s Advanced Engineering and Google Chrome Operating System

RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J., MAY 29, 2012 – Samsung Electronics America, Inc., a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, today announced two new products featuring the Google Chrome OS™ operating system: the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook laptop and the desktop.

“The new Samsung Series 5 Chromebook and Series 3 Chromebox provide the rapid, convenient and ever-improving computing experience that was so well-received in our first Chromebook,” said Todd Bouman, vice president of marketing at Samsung Enterprise Business Division. “As the world’s first Chromebox, the Series 3 provides users with the Chromebook’s ease-of-use in a compact desktop product, which easily integrates with their existing accessories. The second generation Chromebook features powerful components housed in a slim, lightweight body, thanks to Samsung’s advanced hardware engineering.”

“This is the next step in our journey toward an always-new computing experience focused on speed, simplicity and security,” said Caesar Sengupta, Director of Product Management at Google. “This next-generation hardware from Samsung based on Intel processors and hardware-accelerated software delivers nearly three times the performance of the first-generation Chromebooks. With a new, app-centric user interface rolling out today and thousands of available web apps, we couldn’t be more excited about this evolution.”

Elegant, Thoughtful Design
Both the Series 5 Chromebook and Series 3 Chromebox feature Samsung’s renowned, sleek design identity. Weighing just over three pounds and measuring less than an inch thick, the Series 5 Chromebook can easily be carried everywhere. The full-sized keyboard results in maximum convenience and productivity, and the 12.1-inch, SuperBright LCD screen is ideal for all needs, from viewing photos and work documents to chatting face-to-face using the built-in webcam.

The Samsung Series 3 Chromebox is a compact yet highly powerful home or office computer, offering the Chrome operating system in a desktop form factor. At 7.6 x 7.6 x 1.3-inches, this computer is small enough to put on a desk, in a bookshelf or next to the couch – and is also easy to transport between the home and office if needed. Its sleek matte black finish and silver accents are sure to add style to any home or office environment.

Powerful Performance
The Samsung Series 5 Chromebook boots up in as little as just seven seconds, enabling users to jump into work or play nearly instantly and, unlike traditional computers, doesn’t slow down over time. An Intel Celeron 867 Dual Core (1.3 GHz) processor sporting a 16GB SSD and 4GB of RAM give you all the computing power you need for an optimal experience and an optional built-in 3G wireless feature from Verizon Wireless allows connectivity to just about anywhere. With the 3G option, Verizon will provide up to 100MBs per month of Mobile Broadband service included with the device for two years.****

Like the Chromebook, the Samsung Series 3 Chromebox also features a 16GB SSD and 4GB of RAM, as well as an Intel Celeron B840 Dual Core (1.9 GHz) processor. Built-in 2x2 WLAN Wi-Fi enables users to set up the Chromebox in the furthest corners of their home or office and still experience full connectivity without worrying about extra cables. Users can connect their Series 3 Chromebox to monitors up to 30-inches in size, a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, or even an HDTV using the Display Port output. Users can also effortlessly connect up to six USB devices to upload photos or save files.

Simple, Secure and Ever-Improving User Experience
Google developed the Chrome OS operating system with three key factors in mind: speed, simplicity and security, and has improved on these factors since the launch of the first Chromebook in 2011. Both the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook and Series 3 Chromebox offer a rapid experience. With the Chrome operating system, you can get online in seconds, load web pages with incredible speed and access all of your favorite apps in one click through the app launcher.

Automatic updates mean that Chromebook and Chromebox users always receive the latest functionality, without any hassle. Security features are also built-in and updated to defend against the ongoing threat of malware and viruses, reducing the need for users to install anti-virus software.

Built-in cloud storage enables both Chromebook and Chromebox users to access their files securely from anywhere, and sync technology backs up all of your preferences, bookmarks and apps, so you can easily access them from a Chrome browser on another device.

Both new Samsung products also come equipped for Google Cloud Print for easy web printing to any Samsung Google Cloud Print ready laser printer.

The Samsung Series 5 Chromebook and the Samsung Series 3 Chromebox will be available beginning May 30th. The Series 5 Chromebook Wi-Fi model will retail at $449.99 while the 3G model will retail at $549.99. The Series 3 Chromebox Wi-Fi model will retail at $329.99. The Chromebook and Chromebox are only available at Amazon.com, Tiger.com, NewEgg.com, BestBuy.com and BHPhoto.com.

Key Specs:
* All functionality, features, specifications and other product information provided in this document including, but not limited to, to benefits, design, components, performance, availability and capability of the product are subject to change without notice or obligation.


** Battery life will vary depending on the product model, configuration, power management settings, applications used, and wireless settings. The maximum capacity of the battery will decrease with time and use. Test results based on independent third party Battery Mark tests. Total amount of available memory may be less based on configuration.

***Accessible capacity varies; MB = 1 million bytes, GB = 1 billion bytes, TB = 1 trillion bytes. Please note that a portion of the hard drive is reserved for system recovery, operationg system and preloaded content software

****With the 3G option, Verizon will provide up to 100MBs per month of Mobile Broadband service included with the device for two years.

About Samsung Electronics America Enterprise Business Division
As a global leader in Information Technology, Samsung's Enterprise Business Division (EBD) is committed to bringing meaningful innovation to businesses of all types from small/medium businesses to the Fortune 500 elite and public agencies alike. Samsung offers a complete portfolio of solutions including virtualization, printing, displays, notebook and tablet PCs and digital signage; all designed to move businesses forward while helping to reduce operating cost and the environmental footprint. Samsung EBD is a division of Samsung Electronics America (SEA), Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Company, Ltd. (SEC) and is among the world's largest technology companies. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com/business or call 1-866-SAM-4BIZ.

About Samsung Electronics America, Inc.
Samsung Electronics America, Inc. (SEA), based in Ridgefield Park, NJ, is a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. The company markets a broad range of award-winning consumer electronics, information systems, and home appliance products, as well as oversees all of Samsung’s North American operations including Samsung Telecommunications America, LLC, Samsung Semiconductor Inc., Samsung Electronics Canada, Inc. and Samsung Electronics Mexico, Inc. As a result of its commitment to innovation and unique design, the Samsung organization is one of the most decorated brands in the electronics industry. The company was ranked #19 in BusinessWeek/Interbrand “100 Best Global Brands,” and named as one of Fast Company’s “50 Most Innovative Companies of 2010.” For more information, please visit www.samsung.com. You can also Fan Samsung on www.Facebook.com/SamsungUSA or follow Samsung via Twitter @SamsungTweets.

About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2011 consolidated sales of US$143.1 billion. Employing approximately 206,000 people in 197 offices across 72 countries, the company operates two separate organizations to coordinate its nine independent business units: Digital Media & Communications, comprising Visual Display, Mobile Communications, Telecommunication Systems, Digital Appliances, IT Solutions, and Digital Imaging; and Device Solutions, consisting of Memory, System LSI and LED. Recognized for its industry-leading performance across a range of economic, environmental and social criteria, Samsung Electronics was named the world’s most sustainable technology company in the 2011 Dow Jones Sustainability Index. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.

MIT’s ‘Big Data’ Proposal Wins National Competition to Be Newest Intel Science and Technology Center

MIT’s ‘Big Data’ Proposal Wins National Competition to Be Newest Intel Science and Technology Center

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

  • The Intel Science and Technology Center (ISTC) for Big Data will be located at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and five additional collaborating universities.
  • Research at the ISTC will focus on ways to analyze big datasets to develop solutions for such diverse fields as government, financial services, healthcare and life sciences, manufacturing and retail.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Intel Corporation announced today that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has won a national search to become the newest Intel Science and Technology Center (ISTC) for Big Data and will be hosted by MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL).

“For this massive amount of what is called ‘Big Data’ to be useful, it has to be analyzed to be made understandable. Our goal is to innovate and guide this work across multiple fields, from medical to media, to extract meaning from large amounts of data.”

The new research center will seek to accelerate the pace of scientific and medical discoveries, enterprise and industrial computing and encourage innovation in the design of new data-intensive end-user experiences.

By creating and funding an ecosystem of leading researchers in the field and providing a collaborative center such as the ISTC for Big Data, Intel and its partners' goal is to explore new computational solutions for how people share, store and manipulate large amounts of data. This will enable the extraction of the right information to gain new additional insights.

“We are witnessing unprecedented growth in unstructured digital data and this will only accelerate further through the rapid increase of mobile Internet devices such as phones, cars and signs, and the projected development of the ‘Internet of Things,’ which will be constantly sensing the world around us,” said Justin Rattner, Intel’s chief technology officer. “For this massive amount of what is called ‘Big Data’ to be useful, it has to be analyzed to be made understandable. Our goal is to innovate and guide this work across multiple fields, from medical to media, to extract meaning from large amounts of data.”

“At MIT, we are honored that Intel chose CSAIL as the hub of its Intel Science and Technology Center for Big Data; the selection represents a vote of confidence in our ability to work together to accelerate breakthrough research,” said Susan Hockfield, MIT president. “One of MIT's defining strengths is our commitment to working with industry allies like Intel.”

The new ISTC for Big Data is Intel’s sixth research center to open since January 2011. Intel is operating five other U.S.-based ISTCs in the fields of visual computing, secure computing, cloud computing, embedded computing and pervasive computing.

Big Data Research

Research at the new ISTC for Big Data will center on exploring the challenges and opportunities associated with the massive, unstructured and dynamic nature of Big Data. These Big Data attributes are often a poor fit for relational models of conventional database systems and end-user needs for complex, real-time decision-making stay unmet.

Specific research will examine designing and prototyping hardware and software for storing, managing, processing, understanding and visualizing data; discovering novel algorithms and scalable, co-designed architectural alternatives; and innovative ways of optimizing modern processor technology trends such as multicore, manycore and emerging non-volatile memory technologies. The research could impact several areas:

  • Economic analysis: Research at the center will make it possible to visualize and better understand factors driving the global economy. It will become possible for individuals, traders, corporate strategists and government policymakers to combine and analyze streams of real-time data representing financial transactions, social network effects, climate and political developments for faster and better decisions.
  • Healthcare and Life Sciences: Huge amounts of data need to be processed across the medical community. For example, in the complex area of genetics and gene expression, Big Data analytics could bring the hope of creating more customized treatments for people by making sense of the petabytes of information.
  • Retail: Today’s retail business is a real-time information-driven enterprise. Every customer interaction and movement of a product through a distribution network is measured and used to refine pricing strategies, update inventory decisions and tailor customer incentives. The center’s research will focus on how it can help retailers access information that didn’t exist before or were too costly or complex, so they are able to delight customers with outstanding selection, service and intelligent personalized offers.
  • Government: Safety and security professionals need actionable intelligence that can help predict scenarios that can be utilized in the fields of disaster preparedness, intelligence gathering and even crowd management. The ISTC for Big Data will explore solutions that can help turn their gold mine of data into high-quality information that can increase efficiencies and inform decisions.

With MIT as its hub school, the ISTC for Big Data will include faculty research collaborators from six U.S. universities, the others being the University of California at Santa Barbara, Portland State University, Brown University, University of Washington and Stanford University. The ISTC for Big Data is expected to complement and benefit from the synergistic research in related fields of cloud and visual computing at the other ISTCs. The ISTC for Big Data is co-led by MIT professors Michael Stonebreaker and Sam Madden as the university principal investigators, and Intel Fellow Pradeep Dubey as the industry principal investigator. Intel’s Jeff Parkhurst will serve as the center’s program director.

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) is a world leader in computing innovation. The company designs and builds the essential technologies that serve as the foundation for the world’s computing devices. Additional information about Intel is available at newsroom.intel.com and blogs.intel.com.

Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries.

Contacts

Intel Corporation
Connie Brown, 503-791-2367
connie.m.brown@intel.com

Microsoft Outlines Revenue Recognition for the Windows Upgrade Offer

Microsoft Outlines Revenue Recognition for the Windows Upgrade Offer

Company will defer a portion of revenue from sales of Windows 7 to OEMs.

REDMOND, Wash. June 1, 2012 Microsoft Corp. today announced the availability of the Windows Upgrade Offer providing consumers who buy qualifying Windows 7 PCs the option to purchase a downloadable upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for an estimated retail price of $14.99 (U.S.) during the time of the promotion.

Beginning June 2, 2012, consumers who purchase up to five new Windows 7 PCs preinstalled with Windows 7 Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate will be eligible to purchase an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro upon general availability of Windows 8. Qualifying purchases must be made before January 31, 2013, and offers must be redeemed by February 28, 2013.

For additional details on the Windows Upgrade Offer, please see the company’s announcement at http://www.windowsupgradeoffer.com.

Unlike previous upgrade programs, Microsoft will manage the redemption process, including eligibility verification, payment, software delivery, and support. Delivery of Windows 8 Pro will occur via electronic software distribution.

In association with the Windows Upgrade Offer, Microsoft will defer revenue from eligible sales under the program to the earlier of the fulfillment date or the program’s expiration date. For the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2012, Microsoft will defer an estimated $450 million to $550 million of revenue. The deferral only impacts the timing of revenue recognition and will not impact cash flows from operations.

Microsoft Investor Relations will host a conference call and webcast at 9:00 a.m. PDT today to discuss details of the accounting treatment for the program. The conference call will be hosted by Frank Brod, chief accounting officer, and Bill Koefoed, general manager of Investor Relations, and will be made available on the Microsoft Investor Relations website.

About Microsoft

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

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this release that are “forward-looking statements” are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors such as:

  • execution and competitive risks in transitioning to cloud-based computing;

  • challenges to Microsoft’s business model;

  • intense competition in all of Microsoft’s markets;

  • Microsoft’s continued ability to protect its intellectual property rights;

  • claims that Microsoft has infringed the intellectual property rights of others;

  • the possibility of unauthorized disclosure of significant portions of Microsoft’s source code;

  • actual or perceived security vulnerabilities in Microsoft products that could reduce revenue or lead to liability;

  • improper disclosure of personal data that could result in liability and harm to Microsoft’s reputation;

  • outages and disruptions of services provided to customers directly or through third parties if Microsoft fails to maintain an adequate operations infrastructure;

  • government litigation and regulation affecting how Microsoft designs and markets its products;

  • Microsoft’s ability to attract and retain talented employees;

  • delays in product development and related product release schedules;

  • significant business investments that may not gain customer acceptance and produce offsetting increases in revenue;

  • unfavorable changes in general economic conditions, disruption of our partner networks or sales channels, or the availability of credit that affect demand for Microsoft’s products and services or the value of our investment portfolio;

  • adverse results in legal disputes;

  • unanticipated tax liabilities;

  • quality or supply problems in Microsoft’s consumer hardware or other vertically integrated hardware and software products;

  • impairment of goodwill or amortizable intangible assets causing a charge to earnings;

  • exposure to increased economic and regulatory uncertainties from operating a global business;

  • geopolitical conditions, natural disaster, cyberattack or other catastrophic events disrupting Microsoft’s business; and

  • acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic alliances that adversely affect the business.

For further information regarding risks and uncertainties associated with Microsoft’s business, please refer to the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Risk Factors” sections of Microsoft’s SEC filings, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, copies of which may be obtained by contacting Microsoft’s Investor Relations department at (800) 285-7772 or at Microsoft’s Investor Relations website at http://www.microsoft.com/investor/.

All information in this release is as of June 1, 2012. The company undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in the company’s expectations.

For more information, press only:

Rapid Response Team, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, (503) 443-7070, rrt@waggeneredstrom.com

For more information, financial analysts and investors only:

Bill Koefoed, general manager, Investor Relations, (425) 706-4400

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 since have changed. Shareholder and financial information, as well as today’s 9:00 a.m. PDT conference call with investors and analysts, is available at http://www.microsoft.com/investor/.

Read More: Windows 8

Research from Oracle and Accenture Finds Inefficient Financial Reporting Leads to Loss of Confidence ...

Research from Oracle and Accenture Finds Inefficient Financial Reporting Leads to Loss of Confidence, High Costs and Hinders Decision Making

Businesses responding with increased investment in reporting systems; Need guidance on how to drive value from their investments and achieve reporting objectives

Redwood Shores, Calif. and Reading, UK – May 30, 2012

News Facts

Research released today from Oracle and Accenture reveals that the majority of companies worldwide have made substantial investments in financial reporting systems intended to improve their close, reporting and filing processes. However, the investments have been made ad hoc, leaving businesses with ineffective solutions and a lack of visibility, quality and confidence in their financial data.
The research report, “Challenges of Corporate Financial Reporting,” highlights that businesses are unable to fully understand the cost of their financial reporting, with 60% of finance professionals unable to identify the total cost.
The report suggests that businesses need to change their investment strategies in order to avoid the increased costs, ineffective financial reporting and missed key internal and external deadlines.
Conducted by Dynamic Markets, the report surveyed 1,123 finance professionals in midsize and large organizations in 12 countries, including the UK, USA, France, Germany, Russia and Spain.
For full findings and research data, please go to http://bit.ly/KacUof

Research Highlights

Seeking change: Businesses have recognized the need to invest in new financial reporting systems to address efficiency challenges. 82% of surveyed companies have made changes over the last three years to their close, filing and reporting processes. Meanwhile, 47% have invested substantially in at least one of these three areas over the past 12 months.
Ineffective investments: 12% of businesses in the survey have invested in just one of the three financial reporting phases (close, reporting and filings); 10% have invested in two of them; 25% have invested in all three. Despite these investments, spreadsheets (72%) and emails (68%) are still being used to track and manage reporting on a daily basis, suggesting that new investments are falling short of expectations.
Increased costs and uncertainty: 21% of finance teams have seen their costs rise across the financial close, reporting and filing processes. Importantly, the situation is so opaque that managers across the finance function are unable to fully understand the financial impact/cost implications of managing and publicizing their company’s financial results, with 60% of respondents admitting they did not know the total cost of managing and publicizing financial results.
Persistent challenges: Due to inadequate reporting systems, the majority of businesses reported that they still face significant problems with financial reporting. 68% of respondents admitted that they have inadequate visibility of reporting processes, while 84% of finance managers reported that they find it difficult to control the quality of financial data across the course of their reporting, highlighting that additional attention should be paid to performance management.
Decreased effectiveness: Unreliable and opaque data is presenting finance teams with significant challenges, not least of which is around how effectively finance professionals can do their jobs. 71% of finance managers feel their effectiveness is limited in some way by data analysis-related issues.
Missed deadlines: The inability to effectively gather and analyze data is also having an impact on the wider business. Due to late changes to the chart of accounts, 15% of global businesses have missed statutory filings, putting their companies at risk of financial penalties and potentially impacting share value.
Addressing the challenge: Businesses are continuing to take steps to improve financial reporting methods, with 86% of companies likely to make a significant investment over the next five years. 46% of businesses are due to overhaul all three phases of reporting, an approach which may address many of the challenges they currently face, and bring their reporting processes into line with their performance expectations.

Supporting Quotes

John O’Rourke, Vice President EPM Product Marketing at Oracle, said: “It is clear from the report that businesses are well aware that financial reporting needs to change. The good news is that many are doing something positive about this by investing in new reporting systems. It seems however, that these investments are currently too piecemeal and sporadic to have had the desired effect. With businesses still looking to invest, our advice is clear: Take the time to find a truly effective solution that can address data integrity issues and optimize processes. By doing so, finance organizations can be more efficient, while accuracy can improve and reports are more likely to be completed on time.”
Scott Brennan, Executive Director, Accenture Finance & Enterprise Performance Consulting Group said: “These results mirror what we see and experience, and they’re illustrative of why companies increasingly find it necessary in today’s age of volatility to invest in their performance management. Those that tend to be happiest with the results of their enterprise performance management are those that have a vision – they understand their company’s strategy; they have a clear view of the metrics they need to monitor and they know the importance of integrating an enterprise-wide EPM solution.”
Professor Andy Neely, Director at the Cambridge Service Alliance, commented: “Modern business success is founded on good quality data and the ability to analyse it in a meaningful way. Without these two factors, it is very difficult to formulate the right insight to help your company grow. The research shows that finance departments in many organisations are currently falling short of both these fundamentals and need to look now at how they can improve the way they collect, sort and interrogate financial data if they are to overcome the challenges they are currently facing.”

Supporting Resources

Connect with the Oracle Enterprise Performance Management community on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter

About Oracle PartnerNetwork

Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) Specialized is the latest version of Oracle's partner program that provides partners with tools to better develop, sell and implement Oracle solutions. OPN Specialized offers resources to train and support specialized knowledge of Oracle’s products and solutions and has evolved to recognize Oracle’s growing product portfolio, partner base and business opportunity. Key to the latest enhancements to OPN is the ability for partners to differentiate through Specializations. Specializations are achieved through competency development, business results, expertise and proven success. To find out more visit: http://www.oracle.com/partners.

Notes to Editors

All interviews were conducted between 10th February and 15th March 2012. Dynamic Markets interviewed 1,123 finance professionals in large organizations (250+ employees) in 12 countries around the world.

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 Accenture


Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 246,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries.  Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments.  The company generated net revenues of US$25.5 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2011.  Its home page is www.accenture.com.

Accenture is a Diamond level partner in Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN).

Trademarks

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

Contact Info

Samuel Hall
Oracle
+44 1189 246332
samuel.hall@oracle.com

Barbara Lyon
Accenture
+1 (703) 947-1838
barbara.d.lyon@accenture.com

Dell Signs Agreement with Ontario Education Collaborative Marketplace (OECM)

Dell Signs Agreement with Ontario Education Collaborative Marketplace (OECM) to Supply Personal Computing Technology Products and Services to Ontario’s Education Sector

Canadian Mobile Start-Up Fongo Inc. Eliminates Need for Voice Plans

Canadian Mobile Start-Up Fongo Inc. Eliminates Need for Voice Plans

- Fastest growing mobile company in Canada by subscriber -

- Tracking to 1.0 million customers and over $100 million in savings -

- Turning iPads, iPods and smartphones into free mobile calling platforms -

CAMBRIDGE, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - May 31, 2012) -

Editors Note: There is a photo associated with this press release.

Ontario based start-up Fongo Inc., whose backers include VC firm Tech Capital Partners, and a handful of storied Canadian investors, have become Canada's fastest growing mobile telecommunication company.

Fongo has successfully installed its free calling applications on hundreds of thousands of smart phones and devices and foresees over one million Canadian subscribers to their products by the end of 2012. Fongo's popular free calling mobile phone app - Dell Voice became the #1 social networking app in the Apple App Store, shortly after launching in February. By the end of 2012, approximately one in seven smartphones in Canada will be using Fongo as a voice and messaging platform.

Fongo's suite of free calling platforms are on track to save Canadians over $100 million by offering free calling and free premium services like voicemail and call display. Fongo works by routing calls over the user's Wi-Fi or 3G data connection, eliminating the need for expensive voice minutes. Fongo users have reported saving between $10 to $80 a month on their mobile bills by eliminating the costs for domestic, long distance, local airtime minutes, and voice mail fees.

Fongo's mobile apps feature a free Canadian phone number, free local and long distance calling, free voice mail, free call display and are available in all Canadian provinces and on Apple iPhones, Android smartphones and iPod/iPad devices. Fongo's support for BlackBerry smartphones will be released end of June 2012.

Fongo is closely affiliated with Fibernetics, a VoIP based CLEC (Competitive Local Exchange Carrier), which chose to spin out Fongo after discovering the demand for its free calling app through a regional beta test.

Dave Bullock, President of Fongo said, "Fongo is the first company to solve the puzzle of how to offer free calling, and how to do it profitably. The response from Canadians has been overwhelming and highlights the huge appetite for reducing or eliminating mobile phone bills in this country. Our latest iPhone free calling app was installed on nearly four per cent of all iPhones in Canada, after only 90 days, and we've only scratched the surface of what Fongo will be releasing in coming months."

Harvey Carroll, president of Grip Limited and a Fongo Advisory Board Member said, "Fongo has created a customer adoption platform that is catching the attention of some of the most coveted brands in North America. With Fongo, a new and highly intuitive media was born out of perhaps one of the oldest, not to mention most expensive utilities out there - the phone. Fongo is providing consumers with exceptional value and a great experience. With the incredible number of users switching to their various apps, they are undoubtedly disrupting the marketplace."

John Stix, Chief Marketing Officer of Fongo stated, "We are well on our way to hitting north of a billion mobile page views based on our rate of customer adoption and are preparing to launch new products and platform enhancements. Giving our partners the ability to connect with our customer base increases the user experience, and continues to drive the cost of communications to zero. We are already saving our customers hundreds of dollars a year, which translates into an intense amount of loyalty." Stix added, "Our partners are chosen based on what the average Canadian consumes each and every day - technology, a vacation, groceries and so on and by providing savings, goodwill gets put back into the brand responsible for delivering it."

About Fongo Inc.

Fongo Inc. is a next generation digital communication platform that delivers the end of voice costs for smartphones in Canada. Fongo's application works on any iPhone, Android based phone and soon, BlackBerry. Users receive a new Canadian telephone number, free long distance calling to most Canadian cities, unlimited airtime, voice mail, caller ID and many more free features. The Fongo voice platform is supported with a sophisticated ad media delivery platform and in-house intellectual property that ensures a content rich user experience while potentially saving the user hundreds of dollars per year on voice costs. Fongo enjoys privileged access to Fibernetics, a Canadian CLEC that owns and operates its own coast-to-coast network in Canada. For more information visit:

www.fongo.com

www.fibernetics.ca

Angoss Software and Lexalytics Form Partnership

Angoss Software and Lexalytics Form Partnership

Supports big data and predictive modeling insights

TORONTO, May 31, 2012 /CNW/ - Angoss Software Corporation (Angoss) (TSX-V: ANC) and Lexalytics, Inc. are pleased to announce a partnership that advances Angoss' big data analytics capabilities and improves the accuracy of predictive analytics modeling by increasing the types and volume of data that can be analyzed to include unstructured, text-based data. These new capabilities are now available in Angoss' Text Analytics for KnowledgeSTUDIO®—powered by Salience, Lexalytics' text and sentiment analysis engine.

"Companies realize that the majority of their growing data assets are unstructured, and they want to analyze this text-based data along with their proprietary, structured data for competitive advantage," remarked Martin Galligan, President and CEO of Angoss. "The opportunity to partner with Lexalytics, the market leader in text and sentiment analysis, enhances our customer's predictive powers. KnowledgeSTUDIO customers as well as companies looking to compete with analytics, now have a complete solution to merge the output of text analysis with data mining and predictive analytics to address their top of mind challenges—to improve customer experience and reduce churn."

Text analytics integration with KnowledgeSTUDIO can mine and analyze unstructured data such as social media (blogs, tweets, forum posts and newsfeeds), call center logs, emails and other forms of text-based communications. Text Analytics for KnowledgeSTUDIO allows you to perform text mining to extract themes and entities, and perform sentiment analysis. Moreover, you can merge this output of text analysis with your structured, proprietary data and perform data mining and predictive analytics with additional types and volumes of data for big data analytics. With more predictive variables and volumes of data, predictive models are made more accurate—improving your predictive and exploratory power for faster, better decision making.

This same powerful combination is available with KnowledgeCLOUD™, predictive analytics in the Cloud hosted solutions, for companies looking to experience rapid time to value and reduced IT investment—without the need for highly specialized data scientists and technology. Some companies who recognize the importance of being able to compete with analytics may not have the subject matter expertise or resources to do it themselves. Angoss' deep analytics and domain expertise can help these companies take advantage of big data analytics for both structured and unstructured data analysis and predictive modeling.

"Social media analysis and Voice of the Customer (VOC) systems continue to drive the need for text analytics," said Jeff Catlin, CEO of Lexalytics, Inc. "Angoss seamlessly integrates text analytics with their proven data mining and predictive analytics capabilities for structured data. The Lexalytics engine provides entity extraction, theme discovery and sentiment analysis at the entity-level. This combined offering is made simple with menu-driven shortcuts, and its potential uses are compelling."

Angoss will demonstrate the predictive analytics solution merging text and sentiment analysis at the Lexalytics Users Group in Boston on June 3 to 5, 2012.

About Angoss Software Corporation
Angoss is a global leader in delivering predictive analytics to businesses looking to improve performance across sales, marketing and risk. With a suite of desktop, client-server and in-database software products and Cloud solutions, Angoss delivers powerful approaches to turn information into actionable business decisions and competitive advantage. Angoss software products and Cloud solutions are user-friendly and agile, making predictive analytics accessible and easy to use. Many of the world's leading financial services, insurance, retail, health care and information communication and technology organizations use Angoss predictive analytics software products and solutions to grow revenue, increase sales productivity and improve marketing effectiveness while reducing risk and cost. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Angoss has offices in the United States and United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.angoss.com.

About Lexalytics, Inc.
Founded in 2002, Lexalytics was first to market with a sentiment analysis engine. Its text analytics software, Salience, is engineered for easy integration into third-party applications, and is a critical component in many high-volume content processing services for industries such as social media monitoring, survey analysis, reputation management, online media and more. For more information, visit www.lexalytics.com.

Canadian Innovation Award Winners Recognized at 27th Annual CATAAlliance Innovation Awards Gala

Canadian Innovation Award Winners Recognized at 27th Annual CATAAlliance Innovation Awards Gala: celebrating excellence in Canada’s technology sector

Ottawa, May 31, 2012 - The winners of the CATAAlliance 27th Annual Innovation Awards were announced Wednesday night at a sold-out Gala Dinner featuring Vivek Kundra, a global thought leader and the architect of the Obama Administration's Cloud First policy. The inspiring keynote address calling for cloud technology efficiency and innovation in Canada complemented the evening’s lively panel discussion and a line-up of worthy award recipients. The Awards Gala demonstrated the strength of Canada’s growing technology sector and its place in the global market.

CATA Innovation Awards 2012
Photo credit: Kate Voltan and Ruth Steinberg, (www.expressionsphotography.com)

Front row (l-r): Mark Lambert, Accenture (on behalf of Kim Anderson); Christian Couturier, Government of New Brunswick; Heidi Hauver, Pythian; Krystal Souza, Cogent Industrial Technologies Ltd.; Jean-François Codère, Les Affaires, Valerie Fox, Ryerson Digital Media Zone.

Back row (l-r): Harpreet Dhillon, City of Calgary; Ken Harbottle, Forming Technologies Inc.; Dan Leibu, Kobo, Inc.; Mike Morrow, EmerGeo; Vito Pilieci, The Ottawa Citizen; Kurtis McBride, Miovision Technologies; Jean-Michel Arès, BMO Financial Group; Jennifer Camelon, QNX Software Systems (on behalf of Sebastien Marineau-Mes).

"As the voice of Canada’s advanced technology sector, CATA is honoured to share the success stories of our 2012 award winners and finalists. They have each shown that they are world-class innovators and industry leaders,” says John Reid. “Their success as commercially viable enterprises illustrates the importance that Canada must place on commercialization to ensure the growth of Canadian start-ups."

Awards winners were presented with awards in the following areas:

  • Telfer School of Management Award for Private Sector Leadership in Advanced Technology:
    Sebastien Marineau-Mes, Senior Vice President of Engineering, QNX Software Systems
  • CATAAlliance Award for Public Sector Leadership in Advanced Technology:
    Christian Couturier, CIO, Government of New Brunswick
  • Ernst and Young CIO Leadership Award:
    Jean-Michel Arès, Group Head, Technology and Operations, BMO Financial Group
  • Canadian Women in Technology Sara Kirke Award for Entrepreneurship and Innovation:
    Valerie Fox, Executive Director, Ryerson Digital Media Zone
  • Intel SME Innovation Award:
    Forming Technologies Inc.
  • Peter Brojde Award for Canada's Next Generation Executive Leadership:
    Kurtis McBride, CEO and Co-founder, Miovision Technologies
  • ICTC Information Technology HR Strategic Leadership Award:
    Pythian
  • CATAAlliance Award for Outstanding Product Achievement (ICT, Health, Clean Tech):
    Diversinet
  • Celestica Award for Technology Commercialization:
    Kobo, Inc.
  • Alcatel-Lucent Emerging Technology Award:
    Cogent Industrial Technologies Ltd.
  • CAMSC Innovation through Diversity Award:
    Kim Anderson, North America Procurement Lead, Accenture
  • Motorola Award for Public Safety Technology:
    EmerGeo
  • Ericsson Award for Outstanding Product Achievement (Content and Application Mobility Industry):
    Polar Mobile
  • High Road Communications' Prix de l'innovation pour l'Excellence dans le journalisme scientifique et technique medias du Quebec :
    Jean-François Codère, Les Affaires
  • High Road Communications' Excellence in Science and Technology Reporting Award:
    Vito Pilieci, The Ottawa Citizen
  • CATAAlliance Cloud Computing Innovation Award:
    City of Calgary

This year's Gala theme focused on "Building an Intelligent Nation: i-CANADA." Bill Hutchison, CATA Director & Chair of i-CANADA, and Rob White, Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions, IBM joined Mr. Kundra for a keynote panel discussion where they provided additional insight into the importance of accelerating social enterprise, and creating intelligent communities where jobs grow, the environment is sustainable, and life is stimulated by the arts, media and a vibrant society. For over two decades, the CATAAlliance Innovation Awards Gala has been celebrating the best in Canadian advanced technology from coast to coast.

Calgary's PASSPORTAL Integrates Microsoft Active Directory to Improve Password Management

Calgary's PASSPORTAL Integrates Microsoft Active Directory to Improve Password Management

Keeping track of passwords can challenge even the most organized MSP. And ensuring the security of each client's list of passwords is a must for any MSP that wants to keep existing clients and attract new ones.  

Calgary, AB May 30, 2012 - One of the more demanding aspects of an MSP's job is

 earning the trust of clients and prospects.  Each MSP owner must ensure not only their ability to protect each client's network from external threats like hackers, but also from internal threats like human error and unscrupulousness.  By integrating Microsoft's Active Directory into its current product offering, PASSPORTAL has managed to up the ante on password safety and security for its MSP clients.  

  

PASSPORTAL software allows MSPs to manage clients' passwords and audit which MSP techs have accessed each client's passwords.  With this Active Directory integration MSPs can save themselves time while minimizing risk and client impact.   

  

With PASSPORTAL, MSPs can ensure the accuracy of their clients' passwords by comparing the passwords listed in PASSPORTAL with those in Active Directory. Clients are notified whenever passwords or usernames don't match and in the event of communication errors.  Password changes made in PASSPORTAL can automatically be updated in Active Directory, so there's no need to for technicians to enter it twice.  

  

As for security, MSPs can limit what each technician has access to. And if a technician should quit or get fired, the MSP can have PASSPORTAL automatically reset the Active Directory passwords which the technician had seen and then notify the relevant parties of the change. This extra level of security lets clients and prospects know that their MSPs are serious about protecting clients from all possible threats.  

  

"The integration of PASSPORTAL with Active Directory will really make life easier for MSPs and their clients," said PASSPORTAL CEO Colin Knox. "We are very excited to be able to offer this new feature." 

  

The newly integrated PASSPORTAL/Active Directory will launch on Jun. 4, 2012.  

  

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About PASSPORTAL:  PASSPORTAL is a secure online password management system made by an MSP for MSP's.  Read more about PASSPORTAL at http://www.passportal.it or call 1-888-870-7840 ext. 1