Keene Electronics and Canada's Touchsquid Technology Announce Strategic Alliance

Keene Electronics and Touchsquid Technology Announce Strategic Alliance (25/5/2012)

"We are excited about our alliance with Touchsquid Technology as their products and our hardware works perfectly together to provide a complete Home Cinema control solution". Alan Quinby, Director of Keene Electronics also notes that the Touchsquid Android software provides a great alternative to the more common iPad options.

TouchSquid Technology, a Canadian developer of hardware and software solutions for AV Home Cinema control, and Keene Electronics, a UK leading provider of connectivity products, announced today they have entered into a technical partnership. The agreement provides a platform for co-marketing and product compatibility. Using a combination of TouchSquid’s remote control app and a Keene KIRA infrared device, Android smartphones and tablets can be turned into powerful infrared remotes. KIRA stands for (Keene IR Anywhere) system enables IR commands to be sent via local network or internet!

 

Based in Derbyshire, UK, Keene Electronics have been selling AV accessories since 1988. Specializing in video, audio, home cinema and home automation applications, Keene Electronics not only design and manufacture their own products, they also resell related AV products and provide technical support and installation services.

Keene's KIRA products connect almost any electrical device throughout a home and business to a WiFi and/or IP network so it can be controlled, automated, and maintained by network-based software. Keene Electronics offers other connectivity products and capabilities, including IR learning, IR receivers, and sensors, that can be connected to a network.

TouchSquid Technology is an emerging solution developer in the AV remote control industry. Their flagship product is an all-in-one remote control/tablet computer, but the generic TouchSquid App can turn virtually any Android tablet with a KIRA product from Keene Electronics into a fully featured, high end home AV remote control with large, easy to read virtual buttons, intuitive user interface, and customizable screens.

TouchSquid Universal TV Remote Control has an extensive library of over 200,000 supported devices (growing all the time), and an internet connected tablet can be used to browse TV listings and reviews.

By having the ability to store multiple profiles, using activity based button layouts with automatic input switching, and providing a quick, easy way to get back on track when devices are out of sync (in the form of the Squid help button), the TouchSquid App eliminates a number of common “remote control headaches” and enhances a viewer’s home cinema experience.

Beyond simply adding remote control functionality to Android devices (tablets and full screen smart phones), a KIRA device from Keene Electronics can eliminate the need for line of sight visibility of devices being controlled by TouchSquid’s all-in-one device, allowing devices to be hidden in a cabinet or a separate room.

www.keene.co.uk
www.touchsquid.org

Dell Completes Acquisition of Cloud Client Computing Leader Wyse Technology

Dell Completes Acquisition of Cloud Client Computing Leader Wyse Technology

Date : 25/05/2012
Round Rock, Texas










  • With Wyse, Dell assumes a leadership position in Thin Clients[1]
  • Dell’s new Desktop Virtualization capabilities combined by Dell’s leadership position in Server, Storage and Networking solutions successfully positions the company as true end-to-end IT vendor

Dell today announced it has completed its acquisition of Wyse Technology, the global leader in cloud client computing. The combination of Wyse’s capabilities with Dell’s existing desktop virtualization offerings position the company as the leader in the desktop virtualization, enabling it to offer true end-to-end IT solutions for customers and partners.

Dell has made significant strategic investments over the past three years to expand its enterprise technology and services capabilities. The Dell Wyse portfolio with current Dell desktop virtualization offerings, leading data center products such as servers and storage, and Dell’s services division, provides customers and partners with a single vendor that can match the full range of their cloud computing and desktop virtualization needs.

The Dell Wyse solution portfolio includes industry-leading thin, zero and cloud client computing solutions with advanced management, desktop virtualization and cloud software supporting desktops, laptops and next generation mobile devices. Dell Wyse has more than 180 patents, both issued and pending, covering its solutions, software and differentiated intellectual property. Dell’s existing offerings include Desktop Virtualization Solution Simplified and Desktop Virtualization Solution Enterprise.

Dell recognizes it’s critical for the desktop virtualization solutions strategy to embrace simple device management, enhance security, scale, and boost user productivity, while providing the flexibility to support anytime, anywhere access on any device.

Dell plans to preserve Wyse’s channel offerings and all existing Wyse channel partners will be eligible for our PartnerDirect Program. Dell will combine the best of both companies’ channel deal registration programs, extend this new deal registration program to all partners, and introduce a program in which partners can grow and nurture a customer relationship.

Quotes
“We’re excited to officially welcome Wyse to Dell and help extend its industry-leading efforts to a broader range of customers and partners,” said Jeff Clarke, Dell vice chairman and president, Global Operations and End User Computing Solutions. “We believe the Dell Wyse capabilities, combined with our previous desktop virtualization offerings and the strength of the Dell enterprise portfolio, provides the most comprehensive and competitive DVS solution available today.”

“Wyse and Dell share the vision and passion in helping our customers and partners create a frictionless user experience via the cloud,” said Tarkan Maner, Vice President and General Manager Dell Wyse, Cloud Client Computing. “Combining our relentless IP innovation and tight operational skills, and most importantly our laser focus on customer and partner advocacy, Dell cloud client computing will develop and deliver the most advanced solutions globally, from the data center to the end user. We are and will be completely focused on the best user experience for any user, for any content, using any app, on any device, anytime, anywhere; without any conflict, compromise and constraint.”

“As a current customer who has deployed Wyse cloud client computing solutions with Dell PowerEdge servers and Dell EqualLogic storage, Western Wayne School District is excited about the combination of Dell and Wyse,” said Brian Seaman, Network Administrator at Western Wayne School District in Pennsylvania. “Like most school districts, Western Wayne operates in a budget constrained environment and our move to desktop virtualization technologies supported with strong enterprise infrastructure has enabled us to do more with less in service of our students and community. In working with Dell and Wyse to scope and deploy our computing environment, Western Wayne now has the right technology to help us achieve our vision of educating our students of today to become the productive citizens of tomorrow.”


About Dell
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) listens to customers and delivers worldwide innovative technology, business solutions and services they trust and value. For more information, visit www.dell.com.

More than 4.5 million Catholic School Students to Receive Microsoft Office 365 for Education

More than 4.5 million Catholic School Students to Receive Microsoft Office 365 for Education

Today, the Catholic International Education Office (OIEC) took an exciting step toward delivering a brighter future for Catholic students around the world, demonstrating there is no greater resource to invest in than that of youth. Recognizing changes were needed to provide their students with the 21st century skills they’ll need in their future careers, OIEC is partnering with Microsoft to bring Office 365 and other resources to more than 200,000 Catholic schools all over the world with the potential to reach 43 million students.

The partnership between OIEC and Microsoft deploys some of the newest technologies, including more than 4.5 million subscriptions to Office 365 for education – a free tool for educators and students worldwide, which will be made available this summer during the first wave of deployment. The agreement empowers educators and students to do a number of things, including working together on class projects and documents simultaneously, collaborating in real time with virtual meetings, and participating in instant messaging and video conferencing across the globe. They’ll also be able to create and maintain compelling websites and edit them as easily as they would a Word document, and access a new “Social Network of Catholic Education,” designed by Microsoft and based on Windows Azure, as a private element of the Partners in Learning Network.

As someone who spent 20 years in the Catholic education system, I know the importance of a great Catholic education, and have experienced firsthand the exemplary efforts of the leaders to prepare their students for the challenges and opportunities of the future. It comes as no surprise to me that OIEC is pioneering this significant change to the education of their students – they have recognized the value of integrating technology into the classroom as a way to teach 21st century skills.

With this announcement, we see the shifting dynamics of the modern Catholic classroom ushering in an exciting era for the worldwide Catholic community, and, hopefully, serving as a harbinger for traditional classroom changes around the world. Research from IDC states that in the next decade, 77 percent of all jobs will require technical skills of some sort, and when institutions like OIEC make announcements akin to the one they made today at the Vatican, I feel a boost of confidence that our students will be prepared.

We need to continue to get creative about the ways technology can make a real impact in the lives of students and prepare them for the jobs of the future. Through this partnership, we will do just that. I am proud the leadership of the Catholic International Education Office has chosen to partner with Microsoft to deliver on their commitment to educators and students to modernize its schools and further its mission to promote education for all. Together, we can make a real impact in the classroom for both students and educators, and look forward to taking this journey with the Catholic community around the world.

Posted by Anthony Salcito
Vice President, Worldwide Education, Microsoft

oIBM CEO Study: Command & Cntrol Meets Collaboration

oIBM CEO Study: Command & Cntrol Meets Collaboration

CEOs embark on a new era of leadership as they embrace a more connected culture

ARMONK, NEW YORK, May 22, 2012 – A new IBM (NYSE: IBM) study of more than 1,700 Chief Executive Officers from 64 countries and 18 industries worldwide reveals that CEOs are changing the nature of work by adding a powerful dose of openness, transparency and employee empowerment to the command-and-control ethos that has characterized the modern corporation for more than a century.

The advantages of the fast-moving trend are clear. According to the IBM CEO study, companies that outperform their peers are 30 per cent more likely to identify openness – often characterized by a greater use of social media as a key enabler of collaboration and innovation – as a key influence on their organization. Outperformers are embracing new models of working that tap into the collective intelligence of an organization and its networks to devise new ideas and solutions for increased profitability and growth.

To forge closer connections with customers, partners and a new generation of employees in the future, CEOs will shift their focus from using e-mail and the phone as primary communication vehicles to using social networks as a new path for direct engagement. Today, only 16 per cent of CEOs are using social business platforms to connect with customers, but that number is poised to spike to 57 per cent within the next three to five years. While social media is the least utilized of all customer interaction methods today, it stands to become the number two organizational engagement method within the next five years, a close second to face-to-face interactions.

Coming after decades of top-down control, the shift has substantial ramifications – not just for the CEOs themselves – but for their organizations, managers, and employees, as well as for universities and business schools, and information technology suppliers. IBM’s research finds that technology is viewed as a powerful tool to recast organizational structures. More than half of CEOs (53 per cent) are planning to use technology to facilitate greater partnering and collaboration with outside organizations, while 52 per cent are shifting their attention to promoting great internal collaboration.

“One of the most compelling findings is how in tune CEOs are about the implications and impact of social media,” said Bridget van Kralingen, senior vice president, IBM Global Business Services. “Rather than repeating the familiar lament about de-personalizing human relationships, this view leans heavily in favour of deepening them, and using dynamic social networks to harness collective intelligence to unlock new models of collaboration.”

Greater openness is not without risks. Openness increases vulnerability. The Internet – especially through social networks – can provide a worldwide stage to any employee interaction, positive or negative. For organizations to operate effectively in this environment, employees must internalize and embody the organizations values and mission. Thus, organizations must equip employees with a set of guiding principles that they can use to empower everyday decision making. Championing collaborative innovation is not something CEOs are delegating to their HR leaders. According to the study findings, the business executives are interested in leading by example.

By the numbers

CEOs regard interpersonal skills of collaboration (75 per cent), communication (67 per cent), creativity (61 per cent) and flexibility (61 per cent) as key drivers of employee success to operate in a more complex, interconnected environment.
To build its next-generation workforce, organizations have to actively recruit and hire employees who excel at working in open, team-based environments. At the same time, leaders must build and support practices to help employees thrive, such as encouraging the development of unconventional teams, promoting experiential learning techniques and empowering the use of high-value employee networks.

The trend toward greater collaboration extends beyond the corporation to external partnering relationships. Partnering is now at an all-time high. In 2008, slightly more than half of the CEOs IBM interviewed planned to partner extensively. Now, more than two-thirds intend to do so.

“Innovating together with your partners is a win-win for both,” Peter Voser, Chief Executive Officer, Royal Dutch Shell plc says. “At Shell, we not only deal with energy, we also need to focus on challenges such as water and food as they’re all interlinked. That’s why driving innovation together, also across industries, is extremely important.”

Other findings

The IBM study found that a majority (71 per cent) of global CEOs regard technology as the number one factor to impact an organization’s future over the next three years – considered to be a bigger change agent than shifting economic and market conditions.

Across all aspects of their organization – from financials to competitors to operations – CEOs are most focused on gaining deeper insights about their customers. Seven out of every ten CEOs are making significant investments in their organizations’ ability to draw meaningful customer insights from available data.

Given the data explosion most organizations are facing, CEOs recognize the need for more sophisticated business analytics to mine the data being tracked online, on mobile phones and social media sites. The traditional approach to understanding customers better has been to consolidate and analyze transactions and activities from across the entire organization. However, to remain relevant, CEOs must piece together a more holistic view of the customer based on how he or she engages the rest of the world, not just their organization. The ability to drive value from data is strongly correlated with performance. Outperforming organizations are twice as good as underperformers at accessing and drawing insights from data. Outperformers are also 84 per cent better at translating those insights into real action.

About the IBM 2012 Global CEO Study 

This study is the fifth edition of IBM’s biennial Global CEO Study series. To better understand the challenges and goals of today’s CEOs, IBM consultants met face-to-face with the largest-known sample of these executives. Between September 2011 and January 2012, 1,709 CEOs, general managers and senior public sector leaders were interviewed worldwide to better understand their future plans and challenges in an increasingly connected economy.
For access to the full study findings and case studies, please visit:
www.ibm.com/ceostudy

To hear what Shell CEO Peter Voser has to say about partnering to drive innovation, please visit: http://bit.ly/ShellCEO (00:03:14)

To join a live series of video panel discussions about topics from the study, please visit: www.livestream.com/newintelligence

For access to the full study findings and a digital library of IBM thought leadership, please download the IBM IBV app on your Apple (Link resides outside of ibm.com) tablet or Droid (Link resides outside of ibm.com) smart phone.

Contact information :

Joanne Fortin
IBM Canada Media Relations
(514) 964-8558
fortin@ca.ibm.com

Cisco Informs of Weak Economic Growth Worldwide, Special Report by Profit Confidential

Cisco Informs of Weak Economic Growth Worldwide, Special Report by Profit Confidential

05-24-2012
(openPR) - According to Michael Lombardi, lead contributor to Profit Confidential, Cisco System reported earnings that were fine, but its earnings outlook for 2012 painted the picture of a very nervous business sector unwilling to spend on Internet gear and a weaker global economic environment. In the recent Profit Confidential article, Cisco Sounds the Alarm Bell, Lombardi points out that, despite the cash large corporations have on their balance sheets, they are not spending.

“Cisco noted that the European debt crisis not only meant weaker consumer and business spending in Europe, but it is also preventing large corporations from spending here in the U.S. and in Asia because of the perception of a coming global economic slowdown,” suggest Lombardi.


Lombardi believes this economic weakness might last for some time, as Cisco reported that it was uncertain about its earnings outlook in Asia going forward. “Cisco is considered a leader in the technology space and its earnings outlook is a barometer of how the economy is doing,” suggest Lombardi.

“Cisco also noted that weak government spending in the U.S. and in Europe was also an issue that was going to persist in 2012,” suggest Lombardi.

Due to Cisco and other technology firms’ weak earnings outlook, the expectations for Internet technology spending growth worldwide has been slashed by Lombardi and many forecasters and analysts for the remainder of 2012.

Profit Confidential, which has been published for over a decade now, has been widely recognized as predicting five major economic events over the past 10 years. In 2002, Profit Confidential started advising its readers to buy gold-related investments when gold traded under $300 an ounce. In 2006, it “begged” its readers to get out of the housing market...before it plunged.

Profit Confidential was among the first (back in late 2006) to predict that the U.S. economy would be in a recession by late 2007. The daily e-letter correctly predicted the crash in the stock market of 2008 and early 2009. And Profit Confidential turned bullish on stocks in March of 2009 and rode the bear market rally from a Dow Jones Industrial Average of 6,440 on March 9, 2009, to 12,876 on May 2, 2011, a gain of 99%.

To see the full article and to learn more about Profit Confidential, visit www.profitconfidential.com.

Profit Confidential is Lombardi Publishing Corporation’s free daily investment e-letter. Written by financial gurus with over 100 years of combined investing experience, Profit Confidential analyzes and comments on the actions of the stock market, precious metals, interest rates, real estate, and the economy. Lombardi Publishing Corporation, founded in 1986, now with over one million customers in 141 countries, is one of the largest consumer information publishers in the world. For more on Lombardi, and to get the popular Profit Confidential e-letter sent to you daily, visit www.profitconfidential.com.

Michael Lombardi, MBA, the lead Profit Confidential editorial contributor, has just released his most recent update of Critical Warning Number Six, a breakthrough video with Lombardi’s current predictions for the U.S. economy, stock market, U.S. dollar, euro, interest rates and inflation. To see the video, visit www.profitconfidential.com/critical-warning-number-six

Profit Confidential is Lombardi Publishing Corporation’s free daily investment e-letter

Profit Confidential
350 5th Avenue, 59th Floor New York, NY 10118

HP Launches Multi-year Restructuring to Fuel Innovation and Enable Investment

HP Launches Multi-year Restructuring to Fuel Innovation and Enable Investment

PALO ALTO, Calif., May 23, 2012

HP today outlined plans for a multi-year productivity initiative designed to simplify business processes, advance innovation and deliver better results for customers, employees and shareholders.

The restructuring is expected to generate annualized savings in the range of $3.0 to $3.5 billion exiting fiscal year 2014, of which the majority will be reinvested back into the company. Enabling investments in people, processes and technology will allow HP to accomplish the restructuring effort and to generate the savings. These moves are expected to yield significant improvements in efficiency and customer service during the next several years. HP expects to use the savings to boost investment in innovation around its three areas of strategic focus: cloud, big data and security, as well as in other segments that offer attractive growth potential.

As part of the restructuring, HP expects approximately 27,000 employees to exit the company, or 8.0% of its workforce as of Oct. 31, 2011, by the end of fiscal year 2014. The company is offering an early retirement program, so the total number of employees affected will be impacted by the number of employees that participate in the early retirement plan. Workforce reduction plans will vary by country, based on local legal requirements and consultation with works councils and employee representatives, as appropriate.

In addition to these restructuring actions, HP expects to achieve additional savings from non-headcount cost reductions, including supply chain optimization, SKU and platform rationalization, go-to-market strategy simplification and business process improvement.

“These initiatives build upon our recent organizational realignment, and will further streamline our operations, improve our processes, and remove complexity from our business,” said Meg Whitman, HP president and chief executive officer. “While some of these actions are difficult because they involve the loss of jobs, they are necessary to improve execution and to fund the long term health of the company. We are setting HP on a path to extend our global leadership and deliver the greatest value to customers and shareholders.”

HP expects to reinvest savings in each of its business segments to strengthen their ability to stay ahead of customer expectations and capitalize on growing market trends.

  • HP will invest in research and development to drive innovation and differentiation across its core printing and personal systems businesses, as well as emerging areas. It will also invest in marketing, sales productivity and tools that simplify the customer experience and make it easier to do business with HP.
  • Services will invest in accelerating service capabilities in the high client value areas of cloud, security and information analytics by enhancing HP intellectual property. Services will also strengthen its industry orientation and continue to differentiate its service offerings through quality and innovation delivered to clients. Combined, these activities are expected to shift the portfolio to a more profitable mix of higher-growth services. Additional work in lean process methodologies is expected to better serve clients and increase overall efficiencies.
  • Software will invest to speed development in the areas of security, big data and the management of application lifecycle and infrastructure solutions, both on premise and in the cloud. It will also further leverage the capabilities of Autonomy and Vertica across the entire HP portfolio.
  • Enterprise Servers, Storage and Networking will invest to accelerate its research and development activities to extend its leading portfolio of servers, storage and networking. Together these assets create a Converged Infrastructure which is the foundation for top client initiatives such as cloud, virtualization, big data analytics, legacy modernization and social media.

As a result of this restructuring, HP expects to record a pre-tax charge of approximately $1.7 billion in fiscal 2012 that will be included in its GAAP financial results for that period. Through fiscal 2014, HP expects to record additional pre-tax charges approximating $1.8 billion that will be included in its GAAP financial results for the appropriate periods.

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.

Pro-Privacy Canadians Launch Viral Video To Say They Don't Want To Pay For Online Spying Bill

Pro-Privacy Canadians Launch Viral Video To Say They Don't Want To Pay For Online Spying Bill

Citizen-Made Video Launches After Millions Are Set Aside For Bill C-30

VANCOUVER, May 24, 2012 /CNW/ - OpenMedia.ca has launched a citizen-made online video educating Canadians about the true cost of the government's online spying legislation C-30 and the threat it poses to personal privacy.

If passed, Bill C-30 will force Canadians to pay for a range of authorities to invasively access their private data, at any time, without a warrant.

Read more: http://openmedia.ca/news/pro-privacy-canadians-launch-viral-video-say-they-don%E2%80%99t-want-pay-online-spying-bill

For further information:

Lindsey Pinto
Communications Manager, OpenMedia.ca
778-238-7710
lindsey@openmedia.ca

IBM Completes Acquisition of Varicent Software

IBM Completes Acquisition of Varicent Software

ARMONK, N.Y. - 23 May 2012: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it has completed the acquisition of Varicent Software Incorporated, a leading provider of analytics software for compensation and sales performance management.  Financial terms will not be disclosed.

Varicent's software automates and analyzes data across sales, finance, human resources and IT departments to uncover trends and improve sales performance and operations. The acquisition enhances IBM's Smarter Analytics capabilities across line of business operations in all industries.

"Varicent advances IBM’s efforts to deliver analytics directly into the hands of front line employees, helping them uncover new ways to remain competitive and stay ahead of increasing demand,” said Les Rechan, IBM General Manager, Business Analytics. "The combination of Varicent’s software and IBM's deep analytics expertise delivers a comprehensive approach to managing sales performance, allowing clients to make more informed decisions faster."

Varicent software allows companies across a variety of industries including banking, telecommunications, insurance and retail to facilitate and streamline quota planning, compensation, sales assignments and managing quotas and insights into sales activities.  The software is unique, taking what is traditionally a very labor intensive process, and automates and integrates all aspects of sales, client and financial performance management across the enterprise.

Varicent software, combined with IBM's prior acquisitions in business analytics including Algorithmics, Clarity Systems, OpenPages and Cognos, and recent investments in predictive analytics such as SPSS, will provide clients with a broad range of business analytics solutions. These acquisitions are part of IBM's larger focus on analytics, which spans hardware, software, services and research.

The news supports IBM's long-term growth strategy to expand the company’s business analytics and optimization software and services capabilities, an area of IBM's business that is expected to reach $16 billion in revenue by 2015.

Varicent is headquartered in Toronto, Canada with additional operations in North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific. Varicent has more than 180 customers using its software, including Starwood Hotels, Covidien, Dex One, Manpower, Hertz, Office Depot and Farmers. Consistent with its acquisition strategy, IBM will continue to support Varicent clients while allowing them to take advantage of the broader IBM portfolio.

With the closing of this acquisition, approximately 200 Varicent employees will join IBM's Software Group.

###

For additional information, please visit: http://www-01.ibm.com/software/analytics/announce/varicent/

Contact(s) information

Kristine A. Nalbone
IBM Media Relations
1-917-472-3656
knalbon@us.ibm.com

Lia P. Davis
IBM Media Relations
1- 202-285-5333
lia.p.davis@us.ibm.com

CIRA announces 2012 .CA Impact Award winners at mesh conference

CIRA announces 2012 .CA Impact Award winners at mesh conference

TORONTO, May 22, 2012 /CNW/ - The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) announced the winners of the second annual .CA Impact Awards at the mesh conference in Toronto today. The .CA Impact Awards celebrate the people and organizations in four categories that use their .CA website to make a difference.

"I was very impressed with the calibre of entries we received for the Impact Awards," says Byron Holland, President and CEO of CIRA. "The four .CA Impact Awards winners are truly inspirational - they represent the very pinnacle of Canadian ingenuity and creativity with using .CA and the Internet to achieve their goals."

This year, the winners include an initiative whose goal is to help Canadians experience the joys of eating together, an animation school, an innovative furniture seller that incorporate a charity into their daily work, and the developers of a mobile application that helps visually impaired people navigate their city.  The winners of the 2012 .CA Impact Awards are:

Each winner will receive $5,000 as well as national recognition. A panel of judges reviewed more than 800 submissions from across Canada. Judges included:

  • Iris Almeida-Côté, INNOVA CONNECT.
  • David Popovich, SMART Technologies.
  • Peter Evans, Riverdale Partners.
  • Valerie Fox , the Digital Media Zone at Ryerson.

Additionally, one of the winners will be selected by the attendees at the mesh conference as the 'mesh Peoples' Choice' winner.

The .CA Impact Awards are part of CIRA's ongoing commitment to invest in Canada's Internet community and are designed to recognize youth, educators, not-for-profit organizations, small businesses, technology developers and web designers.

About CIRA

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

For further information:


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

Canadian Publication Addresses Corporate Privacy and Security Challenges, Spells Out Solutions

Canadian Publication Addresses Corporate Privacy and Security Challenges, Spells Out Solutions

Claudiu Popa, Author (CNW Group/Informatica Corporation - Information Security/Risk Management)

Managing Personal Information: Insights on Corporate Risk and Opportunity for Privacy-Savvy Leaders breaks new ground with exclusive content created by Canada's top data protection experts

TORONTO, May 23, 2012 /CNW/ - The landscape of information risk in Canada is congruent with the risk governance posture across North America. With a per-record data breach cost of $204 and billions of records compromised over the past 8 years, organizations are at last focusing their efforts on preventative measures and tighter adherence to compliance standards."Managing Personal Information" addresses the prime concerns of executives that value the protection of privacy and seek to derive a calculable return on investment from risk-based initiatives. The book's official site is located at www.PrivacyExperts.ca and includes quotes from the authors, a select group of the industry's foremost professionals and trusted advisors.

To date, 40% of IT & compliance professionals are reportedly pessimistic about the future and a whopping 70% of managers do not report top risk exposures to the board of directors. "Managing Personal Information" was created to educate managers, executives and their advisors about ways to handle everything from data protection to quantified risk exposure.

Primary author and security expert Claudiu Popa says "according to a recent Ponemon study, the average business disruption as a result of non-compliance is $3.3 million. That's a cost of remediation almost 3 times higher than standard compliance figures and represents an average of $222/employee, an amount that could be spent on any other number of things."

"By and large, the consensus over the last few years has been, at least according to 68% of enterprises, that organizations are storing too much personally identifiable information to protect adequately, but the cost of non-compliance seems to suggest otherwise. " According to recent Verizon and PRC data, CEOs see compliance and risk costs as the #1 factor influencing profitability.

With 1/3 of organizations falling out of compliance with PCI-DSS and 77% failing to identify a chief risk officer or equivalent, the need for a calculable return on investment from risk-based initiatives is paramount. "Managing Personal Information" includes readily applicable guidance on changing 'the tone at the top' and seeing privacy and security risk as an investment in the organization's most important asset: information.

With 66% of boards and executives not having adequate visibility into information risk, this book seeks to empower managers and directors to understand the exposures, quantify the impact and initiate privacy and security activities that implement effective, mature controls that deliver in the near term as well as the long.

The publication was designed to boost data risk governance maturity in Canada and provides exclusive new content along with a foreword by the Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner, Ann Cavoukian: included are operational risk and data protection concepts ranging from vendor management, identity theft and incident management to a new enterprise risk assessment primer, methods of re-engineering privacy into organizations and templated resources for quick reference.

Image with caption: "Claudiu Popa, Author (CNW Group/Informatica Corporation - Information Security/Risk Management)". Image available at:

Media_httpphotosnewsw_qedfy

Image with caption: "Managing Personal Information Website (CNW Group/Informatica Corporation - Information Security/Risk Management)". Image available at:

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PDF available at: http://stream1.newswire.ca/media/2012/05/23/20120523_C9886_DOC_EN_14069.pdf


For further information:

For Interviews or further comment visit www.ManagedSecurity.ca or contact Carswell, a Thomson Reuters business for product inquiries at (416) 609-3800 (Toronto & Int'l) / 1-800-387-5164 (Toll Free Canada & US). The publication's official launch will take place on the evening of May 31st in Toronto. Media attendance is by invitation only - register at rsvp@privacyrisk.ca.