Forty-four percent pay for non-text mobile data services, reinforcing current business models for mobile carriers

Adoption of non-text mobile data services has exceeded 40% of the more than 70 million U.S. broadband households with a mobile phone service, according to Parks Associates’ new consumer study Mobile Convergence: Platforms, Applications, and Services.

Over one-fourth of mobile service users have adopted mobile Internet and e-mail services, eclipsing other mobile data ARPU drivers like mobile TV and music, indicating that carriers will have to win subscribers through more “practical” services first. The fast adoption of mobile social networking and navigation services, which have both exceeded 10%, also indicates carriers can be successful in deploying popular Web activities as revenue-generating data services on the mobile platform.

“Non-text mobile data services are central to wireless carriers’ long-term plans for revenue growth,” said Harry Wang, Director of Health and Mobile Product Research, Parks Associates, “The strong growth in usage of mobile Internet, e-mail, social networking, and navigation during the past two years shows consumers are eager for mobile applications that offer convenience and rich features.”

Use of multipurpose devices like smartphones is another driver, Wang said. “Smartphone penetration will exceed 30% of broadband households in 2009. These 20 million households will be a perfect target for carriers to market their mobile data services.”

Mobile Convergence: Platforms, Applications, and Services surveyed U.S. consumers to reveal trends and attitudes regarding mobile devices and services. For more information, visit http://www.parksassociates.com/ or contact 972-490-1113 or sales@parksassociates.com.

Parks Associates is an internationally recognized market research and consulting company specializing in emerging consumer technology products and services. Founded in 1986, Parks Associates creates research capital for companies ranging from Fortune 500 to small start-ups through market reports, primary studies, consumer research, custom research, workshops, executive conferences, and annual service subscriptions.

Wikipedia has disputed claims that it has lost a huge number of editors that help maintain the online encyclopaedia.

On 26 November it was reported that ten times more editors had left Wikipedia in early 2009 than during the same period in 2008. The group overseeing the reference work said the claims on losses were not accurate, blaming a difference in what counts as an “editor”. By contrast, it said, the numbers of people editing Wikipedia were stable.

In a blog post the Wikimedia Foundation responded to the publication of a report by researcher Dr Felipe Ortega which said that 49,000 editors had departed Wikipedia in the first three months of 2009. Dr Ortega’s comparisons suggest that only about 4,900 left the site in the first few months of 2008.

Full story at bbc.co.uk.

ReD also predicts on the November 27, popularly known as Black Friday, the busiest shopping hour of the year will be between 13:00 to 14:00 when $140 million worth of goods will be purchased online. The peak shopping minute will be at 13:16 when between $2.6 million and $3 million of sales are expected.

On November 30, known as Cyber Monday, the online spending spree looks set to continue. ReD forecasts between 11.2 million and 12.8million online transactions will take place, making Cyber Monday the second busiest online trading day of the year.

Yet again, gift cards are topping the shopping charts across the nation, with the Xbox 360, the Nintendo Wii and DVD box sets following closely behind. This year the American people’s top gift choices are closely mirrored by the fraudsters shopping cart, where the top four products are gift cards, the Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and the new Xbox game, “Call of Duty. On average fraudsters attempt to spend $248 per transaction online, a staggering 23% more than the average genuine customer.

ReD’s data also shows there is an uneven rate of recovery across the nation in the wake of the credit crunch. For example, online retail growth has been stronger in California, compared to New York, since the beginning of November. Last year Californians were making 10% more purchases online than New Yorkers, and this has now increased to 26%.

“The 23% rise in online sales since November 1 shows green shoots in the US economy for the first time since the catastrophic spending freeze during the same period last year.” says Carl Clump, ReD’s Chief Executive Officer. “However this season’s optimism will be dampened by fraudsters attempting to exploit retailers whilst they are coping with increased demand. We envisage a 38% rise in online fraud attempts on Black Friday compared to the same period last year.”

What’s Hot Online

1) Virtual gift cards and gift cards
2) DVD box sets
- Star trek XI
- Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
- Night at the Museum
- Angels & Demons
- Terminator
3) Nintendo Wii
4) Xbox 360

What’s Hot with Fraudsters

1) Virtual gift cards and gift cards
2) Xbox 360
3) Nintendo Wii
4) The “Call of Duty” Xbox game

Retail Decisions (ReD) is a payment card issuer and world leader in card fraud prevention and payment processing. A specialist supplier to the payments industry worldwide, ReD has over 20 years experience in the fraud prevention market. Its blue-chip international clients come from the global telecommunications, retail, travel, petroleum, banking and the broader e-commerce sectors. They include Wal-Mart, Macy’s, Bloomingdales, Sears, Texaco, Shell, Boots, John Lewis, China Airlines, The Carphone Warehouse, Comet, Travelocity, T-Mobile and Virgin Mobile.

People have been more than a little miffed that their nice searches on things like Judaism have been spoilt by the appearance of racist and anti-Semitic material in search results.

The latest outcry has been about a picture which depicts US First Lady Michelle Obama as a monkey.

The advert signed by the Google Team warns that sometimes Google search results from the Internet can include disturbing content, even for seemingly innocuous queries.

“We assure you that the views expressed by such sites are not in any way endorsed by Google,” it said.

Meanwhile, the much-talked about offensive picture of Michelle Obama is still on the internet. A quick search located it on several sites, such as yesbuthowever.com.

Full story at theinquirer.net.

Google Analytics is a free software service that allows website editors and publishers to get detailed statistics about the number, whereabouts and search behaviour of their visitors.

However according to Zeit Online German officials claim that Google Analytics breaks German data protection laws.

They are thinking of fining outfits that use the service to gather detailed statistics based on their website visitors’ usage patterns without the explicit consent of those visitors.

The authorities could be onto a money spinner as 13 per cent of German website publishers use Google Analytics, including several websites of leading media organisations, political parties and pharmaceutical companies.

Full story at theinquirer.net.

The potential total contract value is estimated to be up to $2.9 billion assuming the successful negotiation of all anticipated country specific agreements and the provision of the full scope of services in all the planned countries over the initial ten-and-a-half year term. Services are expected to commence under the master service agreement and one or more country specific agreements in the first half of 2010. All of the agreements are subject to regulatory and other approvals and notifications, including consultation of relevant workers councils.

Under the terms of the agreement, depending on the country specific agreements entered into, up to approximately 1,000 Zurich employees will potentially transition to CSC during the first half of 2010.

The relationship between Zurich and CSC began in July 2004 when the companies signed a seven-year, $1.3 billion applications outsourcing contract. In 2008, the scope of work expanded to include desktop services in Europe and North America.

All statements in this press release and in all future press releases that do not directly and exclusively relate to historical facts constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements represent the company’s intentions, plans, expectations and beliefs, and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside the company’s control. These factors could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements. For a written description of these factors, see the section titled “Risk Factors” in CSC’s Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 3, 2009 and any updating information in subsequent SEC filings. The company disclaims any intention or obligation to update these forward-looking statements whether as a result of subsequent event or otherwise, except as required by law.

CSC is a global leader in providing technology-enabled solutions and services through three primary lines of business. These include Business Solutions and Services, the Managed Services Sector and the North American Public Sector. CSC’s advanced capabilities include systems design and integration, information technology and business process outsourcing, applications software development, Web and application hosting, mission support and management consulting. Headquartered in Falls Church, Va., CSC has approximately 92,000 employees and reported revenue of $16.0 billion for the 12 months ended October 2, 2009. For more information, visit the company’s Web site at www.csc.com.

In France, the Tooway service offers a consumer broadband solution at speeds and prices meeting the “Digital France 2012″ Plan. Operating totally independently from terrestrial networks, the service enables users to establish a high-speed Internet connection using a 67cm antenna and a modem that interfaces with a user’s PC.

Designed to serve homes in metropolitan France located in grey areas, SFR’s ‘Satellite Internet Pack’ is available in two packages: either a package with a specified subscription period from 34.90EUR a month including satellite kit, or a package with no commitment to a specific subscription period from 29.90EUR a month (plus 399EUR for the satellite kit).

The service offers download speeds of up to 3.6 Mbps and between 2.4 and 4.7 GB of data downloads per month depending on subscription. An “Endless Night” option also enables users to surf the Internet on an unlimited basis between 11 pm and 7 am with no data exchange deducted from the monthly total volume. Additional services include six mailbox addresses, antivirus software and anti-spam protection. The satellite kit comes with a DVD and installation guide as well as a satellite finder and a set of cables for self-installation. For customers preferring a professional installation SFR also provides a list of approved installers.

Launched in Europe in 2007, Tooway is based on Eutelsat’s satellite coverage, the commercial and infrastructure operating experience of its Skylogic subsidiary and SurfBeam technology developed by ViaSat. This technology used by Tooway comes to Europe after acquiring extensive experience on the North American market, where ViaSat already provides the equipment and network for over 500,000 homes.

Commenting on the signature with SFR, Michel de Rosen, Eutelsat CEO said: “The selection of our new Tooway broadband service by SFR, a hallmark in telecommunications for quality service and reliability, underscores the intrinsic ability of satellite technologies to complement terrestrial networks.

“This major contract also clearly demonstrates the ability of Tooway to deliver a comparable service to terrestrial broadband networks, with ease of use and high levels of scalability that can accompany growth. It consolidates our objective for large-scale development of satellite broadband in the Ka-band using dedicated in-orbit and ground infrastructure offering both compelling prices and speeds to consumers.

“Combined with the advanced performance of the SurfBeam technology developed by ViaSat, the multi-spot KA-SAT satellite that is currently in construction by EADS Astrium will have the capacity to deliver high-speed performance to up to two million subscribers.”

The new supercomputer can perform more than 14 trillion calculations per second — nearly 50 times faster than what had been available at Brown — making it the most powerful computing system in Rhode Island, according to IBM. The system operates at a peak performance speed of more than 14 teraflops, widely considered to meet supercomputer standards.
Examples of the wide areas of research that will take advantage of the increased computing horsepower include advances in genomics that could lead to drugs for treating specific diseases such as cancer; investigation of the mechanics of human and animal movement; exploration of the web of animal life and ocean ecosystems; and studies of the terrain of planetary bodies, such as Mars.
“We live in an era where computer-enabled research cuts across all research and opens entirely new pursuits and innovations. However, this work demands greater computational capacity in terms of speed and the ability to handle large amounts of data,” said Jan Hesthaven, professor of applied mathematics and director of the Center for Computation and Visualization. “We now have a computing system for these times.”
The benefits to faculty and graduate researchers are many. Research projects that involve intricate, voluminous datasets will be executed on campus, rather than having to be done elsewhere. The supercomputer also enhances research that involves multiple departments, capitalizing on Brown’s strength in interdisciplinary research, as well as increasing funding opportunities for major research initiatives.
“This new system will help scientists make our world smarter – through the ability to address problems that are orders of magnitude larger than what they could address just a few short years ago – from mapping the human genome to helping figure out how to cut down on carbon emissions to helping ensure our waters and food are safe and sustainable,” said Nick Bowen, vice president of technology, IBM.
Researchers at the University of Rhode Island and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass., who will be among its first users, collaborated with IBM to make sure the system will meet their requirements.
“This system will transform my ability to analyze the genomes of microbes in the ocean,” said Bethany Jenkins, an assistant professor at the University of Rhode Island’s Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Graduate School of Oceanography. “Having the most advanced computing resources is essential to make sure Rhode Island researchers remain leaders in studying the environment.”
Next year, the supercomputer is expected to be available to other universities in Rhode Island, as well as to hospitals and nonprofit organizations throughout the state. Researchers will be able to access the supercomputer at costs competitive with similar computing systems.
The new supercomputer – with a total of 1,440 microprocessors – is based on three IBM iDataPlex systems, equal to the size of six refrigerators; an IBM Cluster 1350; and multiple IBM storage systems running General Parallel File System, supported by IBM Global Services.
Highlights of the system:
–  Operates at a peak performance speed of more than 14 teraflops, nearly
50 times faster than what had been available at Brown.
–  Has 390 terabytes of storage capacity, an amount of data which if
printed and stacked, would extend from Providence to Hong Kong.
–  Holds 4.5 terabytes of memory, about 70 times more memory than what
had been available at Brown.
–  Allows parallel programs to be run, that, in aggregate, are 20 times
faster than what had been available at Brown. Researchers can now
compute a problem that is 20 times larger in the same time.
–  Combined with the supercomputer, Brown has increased its backbone
network tenfold, to 10 gigabits from one gigabit. The greater
bandwidth means more data can be moved within the system or into
another system.
–  Is six times more energy efficient than what had been available at
Brown.

IBM has long been a collaborative partner of Brown, having supported many research and educational activities across the Brown campus for decades. The supercomputer partnership began to take shape in spring 2008, when Briant introduced Bowen to Rhode Island’s Science and Technology Advisory Council, and the parties explored IBM’s statewide relationship model and the unique challenges and opportunities that Rhode Island brought to a partnership model. Since then, Brown has convened several statewide working groups, comprising elected officials, academic leaders and representatives in health care and information technology. From those talks emerged the partnership and the initiative to use the supercomputer to address major societal issues.
In June 2009, Brown and IBM signed an agreement for the order, delivery, and set up of the computing system at Brown. The new supercomputer was a shared investment by Brown and IBM.
Founded in 1764, Brown University is the nation’s seventh-oldest institution of higher education and a member of the Ivy League. Brown provides close mentoring of students and the vibrant engagement of a research-intensive university. Deeply committed to teaching and research, Brown faculty members view graduate and undergraduate students as vital members of their scholarly teams. In fiscal 2009, sponsored research exceeded $138 million at Brown.
More information about IBM’s Smarter Education and University programs is available at www.ibm.com/press/smartereducation and www.ibm.com/press/university.

During a two-week period in October, Chitika monitored ad clicks of a sample of 86,683,507 anonymous individuals throughout their 60,000+ publisher network to determine what percentage could be classified as “clickers.” During the two weeks focused on for this study, 1,863,710 of the anonymous individuals actually clicked on an ad at least once, for a 2.15% “clicker” rate.

Unique Users   — 86,683,507

Clickers  — 1,863,710

Non-Clickers  — 84,819,797

Chitika has long championed the idea of knowing when not to show ads, claiming that by being able to accurately predict a user’s likelihood to click, the online advertising world can become at once less intrusive and more effective. Replacing old-media theories of advertising to demographics with predictive targeting towards the people most likely to act on an ad appears more and more viable with improving technology, and can go a long way towards helping online advertising dominate its traditional media counterparts.

Chitika, Inc., is a search-based online advertising network, leading the way in intent-based advertising and search engine insights. Chitika provides publishers with an innovative way to monetize search engine traffic, and advertisers a new way of generating leads with clear consumer intent. With over 60,000 sites and 2 billion monthly impressions, the Chitika network is the pulse of the online world. For more information, visit http://chitika.com/

“Industry research firms agree that enterprises will invest more in private cloud services than in external cloud providers through at least 2012,” said Jingwen Wang, Vice President Products, Platform Computing. “As the market takes off, customers are discovering requirements for building private clouds that virtualization of servers simply cannot address. Platform ISF, first launched as a beta product in June, is a technology-agnostic platform that supports any collection of hardware, operating systems and virtual machines, enabling IT to manage workload across both virtual and physical environments and support multiple hypervisors and operating systems from a single interface.”

Data center IT managers are seeking better ways to utilize their infrastructure assets more effectively, while maintaining or improving application service levels. Private clouds are the solution, but they require the combination of workload scheduling and resource management similar to cluster and grid computing environments. Leveraging Platform Computing’s cluster and grid expertise, Platform ISF addresses the private cloud management challenge enabling IT to achieve more effective use of their resources through metered, self-service access across their entire heterogeneous resource infrastructure.

“By turning portions of our clients’ corporate data centers into private clouds, we’re enabling companies to realize the next wave of consolidation with associated capital and operating cost savings,” said Joe Szalkiewicz, Vice President, Pinnacle Business Solutions, a division of The Pinnacle Group. “Platform ISF provides enterprise scalability through an independent management layer for operating systems and virtual machine provisioning tools.”

SAS, the leader in business analytics, has deployed Platform ISF internally to create a self-service portal for developers, allowing them to quickly and reliably provision and deploy compute and application resources. “We wanted our cloud to include both physical and virtual servers, possibilities not supported by our virtual machine management tools alone,” said Cheryl Doninger, R&D director at Cary, NC-based SAS. “It was also important that we have robust application programming and management interfaces to simplify and abstract our heterogeneous environment for our private cloud. Platform ISF provides everything we need to flexibly provision all our resources and move between physical and virtual machines when needed.”

According to Forrester principal analyst James Staten, as printed in The Industry Standard in the June 2009 article titled “Platform Computing tackles tech-agnostic cloud management,” “Platform ISF meets all the requirements needed in a cloud management product: a workload distribution engine; an infrastructure aggregation layer; a self-service portal for IT administrators; metering and monitoring; and robust APIs for integration with third-party tools. We believe [Platform ISF] is perhaps the most complete internal cloud software solution we’ve seen so far.”

Platform ISF is now publicly available for purchase and is also available for free download trials on http://www.platform.com/clouds/platform-isf. Platform ISF pricing is based on a per CPU socket license for each physical host managed as part of the Platform ISF cloud starting at US$795.

Platform Computing is the leader in cluster, grid and cloud management software — serving more than 2,000 of the world’s most demanding organizations. For 17 years, our workload and resource management solutions have delivered IT responsiveness and lower costs for enterprise and HPC applications. Platform has strategic relationships with Cray, Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Red Hat, and SAS. Visit www.platform.com.

“Arkeia Network Backup is a proven network backup solution with broad platform support and a robust enterprise feature-set,” said Steve George, vice president of sales and product management, corporate services at Canonical. “With the Arkeia Network Backup Enterprise Edition for Ubuntu, Arkeia Software makes a significant commitment to the Ubuntu user community and supports Ubuntu’s ongoing growth in the enterprise.”

Arkeia Software was the first professional network backup solution for Linux and has supported the community since 1999. Today, Arkeia continues to provide the deepest and broadest support for Linux and open source with more than 100 platforms supported. With these new offerings Arkeia acknowledges the work of thousands of Linux users who have donated time and expertise toward the goal of making Linux a viable OS alternative. Fully-licensed Arkeia Network Backup, Enterprise Edition for Ubuntu can be downloaded from the Ubuntu 8.04 LTS repository by using the Synaptic Package Manager or with the ‘apt-get’ command.

“Ubuntu has been adopted by millions of users because of its ease-of-use, speed, and affordability,” said Dave Elliott, vice president of marketing at Arkeia Software. “As Canonical and Ubuntu move into larger environments, Arkeia is proud to provide Arkeia Network Backup, which is similarly fast, easy-to-use, and affordable.”

Arkeia Network Backup, Enterprise Edition for Ubuntu is fully-featured and is not time-limited. One free, perpetual license is granted per individual or company and only web registration is required.

The enterprise license includes:
>  one backup server running on Ubuntu
>  up to 250GB capacity for backup to disk
>  support of any single drive, tape or disk
>  2 client agents to backup many types of client machines including
Windows workstations and desktops, and the vast majority of Linux
machines, Mac OS X and BSD computers

Arkeia Network Backup features an easy-to-use web interface so that backup policy setup and management is a breeze. Arkeia’s backup engine leverages parallelism extensively, making Arkeia Network Backup one of the fastest backup and restore solutions in the market. Source-side data deduplication will be available in early 2010, making backups and restores faster and easier than ever. More than 150 different applications and platforms are supported with specific packages.

The Arkeia Network Backup, Enterprise Edition for Ubuntu, package is available now for download from Ubuntu’s repository and can be accessed by using the Synaptic Package Manager or by typing the ‘apt-get install arkeia’ command. More information can be found at http://www.arkeia.com/en/partners/technology-partners/ubuntu.

Arkeia Software delivers fast, easy-to-use and affordable solutions for data backup and disaster recovery. The award-winning Arkeia Network Backup Suite is designed for both mid-sized organizations and multi-site enterprises, and safeguards more than 100,000 networks for 7,000 customers in 70 countries. Arkeia Software products protect data on over 150 platforms, including virtually all Linux and Windows platforms, as well as AIX, BSD, HP-UX, Irix, Macintosh, Netware, and Solaris. Arkeia Backup Servers are deployed in three modes: as software applications, hardware appliances, or virtual appliances. Complementary suite software includes file agents, application agents, database agents, virtual machine agents, disaster recovery agents, backup replication servers, and central management servers. Arkeia shipped the industry’s first network backup solution for Linux in 1999 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

The development center, managed by Infosys’s subsidiary, Infosys Technologies S. De R.L. De CV, provides technology services for clients in all industries including banking, financial services, manufacturing, retail, distribution, insurance, and many others.

“From our first development center opening with a few clients and a dozen employees, we now have some 30 clients and 330 professionals and the future looks muy brillante,” said Ashok Vemuri, Senior Vice President and member of Executive Council, Infosys Technologies. “Our public-private partnership with the city of Monterrey and the government of Nuevo Leon, Mexico demonstrates that such unions create opportunities for the city’s very talented new graduates from local universities. And it clearly creates tremendous value for clients around the world who increasingly look to our centers in Latin America for the solutions they need.”

Both Monterrey facilities provide Infosys with dedicated resources to serve clients primarily in North America, Latin America and Europe with bilingual talent in an agreeable time zone and close proximity. Furthermore, it strengthens the company’s global delivery model capabilities with such other development centers in the Czech Republic, Poland, Thailand, Philippines, China, Australia and India.

After examining several countries in the region, Infosys chose to establish a presence in Mexico due to the broad language skills available in the region, its geographical proximity to Canada, the U.S. and Europe. Latin America is a strong emerging market and one where many of Infosys’ clients have operations already.

Infosys Technologies Limited defines, designs and delivers IT-enabled business solutions that help Global 2000 companies win in a Flat World. These solutions focus on providing strategic differentiation and operational superiority to clients. With Infosys, clients are assured of a transparent business partner, world-class processes, speed of execution and the power to stretch their IT budget by leveraging the Global Delivery Model that Infosys pioneered. Infosys has over 105,000 employees in over 50 offices worldwide. Infosys is part of the NASDAQ-100 Index and The Global Dow. For more information, visit www.infosys.com.

The new Center – a pool of deep subject matter experts who will be deployed globally to support clients anywhere in the world – is expected to have a staff of over 200 consultants with advanced analytics skills. These experts will collaborate with local client teams to craft advanced solutions that apply analytics to a company’s most complex information-based challenges and biggest opportunities. The Center will also feature deep and scalable skills and capabilities for clients in the world’s emerging growth markets.

The demand for deep analytical skills has begun to emerge as a strategic imperative as companies seek a competitive advantage in today’s transformed global economy. In fact, 83 percent of CIOs in the recently released IBM Global CIO Study identified business intelligence and analytics – the ability to see patterns in vast amounts of data and extract actionable insights – as their number-one priority to enhance their organizations’ competitiveness.

IBM’s extensive investment in highly differentiated services capability is manifested in the operating model for the new Business Analytics Center of Competency. The Center will house experts with unique skills and expertise in deploying IBM patented analytics capabilities and assets that address specific, targeted analytical applications. For example, the team features experts in the area of advanced customer analytics and social media analytics. The team is using IBM patented analytics techniques in these two areas to help clients in the telecommunications, retail and financial services industries to improve customer service and retention.

“The new Business Analytics Center of Competency is an important component in our rapidly expanding and unmatched portfolio of business analytics capabilities,” said Fred Balboni, Global Leader, IBM Business Analytics and Optimization. “Through our extensive experience we’ve built the broadest and most sophisticated analytics services and solutions in the industry and are deploying them to address our clients’ most profound business issues.”

The new IBM Business Analytics Center of Competency will focus on a number of core areas vital to successfully applying analytics to industry problems. Some of these areas include: Web 2.0 Analytics, Risk and Fraud Analytics, Financial Analytics, Customer Analytics and Enterprise Business Analytics Strategy. The Center will also have a deep set of analytical skills focused on helping clients gather and manage the right information and insights to improve their performance.

The Business Analytics Center of Competency will also support IBM’s recently announced network of global Business Analytics Solutions Centers. The centers, located in Berlin, Beijing, New York and Tokyo – soon to be joined by Washington, DC and London – are in place to serve clients in those local markets, with specializations in areas like Smarter Cities, Transportation and Federal Government.

In these centers, IBM draws upon its vast information management portfolio, including technologies from IBM Software, Hardware, and IBM Research, along with industry expertise from over 4,000 consultants in the Business Analytics and Optimization Services practice.

In addition to Business Analytics, IBM has created four other Centers of Competency focused on deploying resources and capabilities to high-priority, strategic engagements around the world. This new model – unencumbered by national boundaries – gives clients access to industry-focused, world-class, senior expertise in business transformation, along with assets, best practices and delivery capabilities, garnered from numerous global engagements. The other IBM Centers include skilled experts in the areas of Strategy and Change, Banking/Financial Markets, Telecommunications, and Energy/Utilities.

Plus, we thought we would tell you that we have recently added a new feature to the website – Classifieds. This is a free service, and allows all readers to advertise goods or services. Obviously, spam and other such abuse of the system will be rejected as we will try to make the section a useful area for our readers.

Thanks again.

“This is a major milestone in the expansion of our distribution network for SteelWorks,” said Brian Hajost, SteelCloud President and CEO. “We believe that Ingram Micro has the largest presence in the VAR and reseller community and is a crucial alliance for the broad-based commercial availability of SteelWorks. This new agreement will significantly enhance SteelCloud’s distribution and market presence for SteelWorks. We are delighted to have been able to accomplish this significant expansion in our distribution footprint in such a short period of time.”

In September, the Company began shipments of its new SteelWorks appliances for the BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0, which were manufactured under its OEM agreement with Dell announced earlier this summer.

SteelCloud is a developer and integrator of mobility computing appliance solutions. The Company designs, architects and develops specialized appliance solutions for mobile computing technologies including BlackBerry Enterprise Server. For both commercial and government markets, SteelCloud delivers integrated hardware/software appliance solutions that focus on ease of deployment, policy compliance, and high availability.

Over its 20-year history, SteelCloud has won numerous awards for technical excellence and customer satisfaction. The Company can be reached at (703) 674 5500. Additional information is available at www.steelcloud.com. Email: info@steelcloud.com.

As a vital link in the technology value chain, Ingram Micro creates sales and profitability opportunities for vendors and resellers through unique marketing programs, outsourced logistics services, technical support, financial services, and product aggregation and distribution. The company serves 140 countries and is the only broadline global IT distributor with operations in Asia. Visit www.ingrammicro.com.

Global Marketing Partners is a Channel Solutions Reseller providing customized vendor consolidation and marketing services to North America’s largest national IT distributors and resellers. For more information, please go to www.globalwrx.com.

The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images, and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited.

“Safe Harbor” statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations and assumptions contained in the foregoing are forward looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. It is possible that the assumptions made by management are not necessarily the most likely and may not materialize.

In addition, other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include the following: SteelCloud’s ability to obtain financing in the short term, risks associated with the integration of business following an acquisition, business conditions and the amount of growth in the computer industry and general economy; competitive factors; ability to attract and retain personnel, including key sales and management personnel; the price of SteelCloud’s stock; and the risk factors set forth from time to time in SteelCloud’s SEC reports, including but not limited to its Annual Report on Form 10-K and its Quarterly Reports on Forms 10-Q; and Current Reports on Form 8K. SteelCloud takes no obligation to update or correct forward-looking statements.

For foreign automobile manufacturers, the Chinese market is a piece of cake, but dividing the market share depends entirely on consumers. Catering to consumers’ tastes is the key to capturing the market. Foreign auto manufacturers always keep this in mind, and Mercedes-Benz and Audi are no exceptions. Chinese demand for compact SUVs has increased, and even though these high-end brands are high-priced, they also rate high among consumers.

High-end car buyers primarily decide to purchase based on one main factor — recognition of the aesthetic appearance. From this perspective, the Audi Q5 and Mercedes-Benz GLK represent two completely different design styles.

Audi Q5 body has typical design features, so even without the brand logo, it is clearly Audi. Audi Q5 models, with an overall strong appearance, have the engine hatch cover and the front of the arc-shaped transition, which represent simplicity and perfection.

Opposed to the Q5, the Mercedes-Benz GLK, due to a mixture of C-class and G-class design elements, appears rigid and tough. GLK’s appearance has its own personality.

In short, the Q5 and GLK characteristics take two completely different routes. GLK’s appearance combines toughness and style, and might not fit everyone’s “glamorous” type. When grouped with the city-based SUVs, it is a bit out of tune. GLK from the pedals to the luggage racks has more of a sense of masculinity. The Q5 fits better with city life; it is bigger than other sedans, and compared with off-road vehicles, it is more relaxed and casual. For body size, the two cars have little difference, but the combination of the different design methods makes the visual difference quite clear. The Q5 is wider and flatter with a heavy feeling. While GLK is relatively thin, these two cars’ wheel sizes are 20 inches, and because Q5 is the sports version, the style of wheels is more powerful and sporty. GLK rear wheels are 255mm, which is wider than the front wheels at 235mm (while the Q5 front and rear wheel are 255mm width). For more information about automobiles please refers to http://www.frbiz.com/ .

Himfr.com is a promising e-commerce company and a leading vertical search engine company in China. Himfr.com offers a variety of high quality products such as car alarm systems (http://www.frbiz.com/q-car_alarm_systems/ ), hand vacuum pump (http://www.frbiz.com/q-hand_vacuum_pump/ ), bridal jackets (http://www.frbiz.com/q-bridal_jackets/ ), return air grille (http://www.frbiz.com/q-return_air_grille/ ) and many more.

“People use Google because it helps them find what they are looking for – in short, Google optimizes consumer relevance,” says Ryan. “Yet, despite Google’s virtually unparalleled success, few online advertisers, especially online vehicle advertisers, leverage Google’s powerful, yet simple secret in managing their own internet business. With Consumer Optimization, dealers will be positioned to create a new power shift – the shift away from irrelevance.”

Consumer Optimization techniques focus on the features, qualities and benefits that set one dealer’s vehicles apart from others. Similar to Search Engine Optimization, which optimizes a web page so it ranks higher, Consumer Optimization techniques allow pre-owned automotive dealers to optimize their online vehicle ads to rank higher with consumers and be more likely chosen over their competitors.

In addition to Ryan, senior vice president and general manager for FirstLook’s Elite Operations Division, David Nelson, will present “The New Four Square” during the Digital Dealer Conference. Nelson will discuss the fundamental shift that has taken place in pre-owned vehicle sales – from a confrontational negotiation bases solely on price to a win-win negotiation based on consumer values, or M.A.R.K. factors: Mission, Affordability, Risk and Key Differentiators.

More than 45 exhibitors and 500 attendees are expected for this year’s Digital Dealer Conference to be held November 1 – 3 in Nashville, Tennessee.

FirstLook’s 360 degree Market Navigation Tools allow dealers to tap market data, and execute pre-owned operations best practices. For more information contact FirstLook at 800-730-5665.

Facebook was awarded $711 million in a judgment Thursday against self-described “spam king” Sanford Wallace.

Judge Jeremy Fogel of the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California granted Facebook’s application for a default judgment against Wallace for violating the Can-Spam Act, which bans “false and misleading” marketing e-mails. Fogel also found that Wallace “willfully violated” a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction issued in the case and referred the matter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for prosecution of criminal contempt.

“The record demonstrates that Wallace willfully violated the statutes in question with blatant disregard for the rights of Facebook and the thousands of Facebook users whose accounts were compromised by his conduct,” Fogel wrote in his judgment order, which also permanently prohibits Wallace from accessing the Facebook Web site or creating a Facebook account, among other restrictions.

Facebook said the order should serve as a strong deterrent against spammers.

“While we don’t expect to receive the vast majority of the award, we hope that this will act as a continued deterrent against these criminals,” Sam O’Rourke, Facebook’s lead counsel for litigation and intellectual property, wrote in a Facebook blog post. “This is another important victory in our fight against spam. We will continue to pursue damages against other spammers.”

Click here to read the full story at cnet.com.

As many as one in every 500 web addresses posted on Twitter lead to sites hosting malware, according to researchers at Kaspersky Labs who have deployed a tool that examines URLs circulating in tweets.

The spread of malware is aided by the popular use of shortened URLs on Twitter, which generally hide the real website address from users before they click on a link, preventing them from self-filtering links that appear to be dodgy.

Kaspersky, an anti-virus and computer-security firm based in Moscow, created a tool called Krab Krawler, which extracts URLs from millions of tweets a day. The tools expands shortened URLs to examine words in the web address for those matching known malware sites. For unknown sites, Kaspersky visits the web page to determine if it’s hosting malicious code that could infect visitors.

About 26 percent of Twitter messages contain a URL, according to Costin Raiu, chief security expert at Kaspersky. About half of those appear to be generated by spammers or by people with malicious intent, he said. These URLs get spread quickly in re-tweets.

US firm Garmin fell 18% after details of Google Maps Navigation were revealed. Dutch firm TomTom fell 9.5% when markets closed on Thursday.

The Google application promises free real-time, turn-by-turn directions for people to follow on their phones.

The Motorola Droid will be the first mobile phone equipped with the system.

Google Maps Navigation, revealed on Wednesday, combines services including a search engine to find addresses, Google Street View for photos of locations, and live traffic data.

Other mobile sat-nav applications, such as TomTom’s, can cost up to £60 to add.

TomTom’s share decline wipes out all of its gains since August. Separately the company warned of lower prices in the coming months.

Read more at bbc.co.uk.