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SALT LAKE CITY, April 23 /PRNewswire/ — IKANO Communications Inc., the nation’s leading aggregator of IP services, and DSLExtreme, California’s leading Internet service provider and a division of IKANO, announced today the launch of DNAmail.com. The new service will help small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) and organizations utilize web-based communication and collaboration tools including microsoft Exchange 2007 Email, SharePoint Intranet, and BlackBerry Enterprise Services.
“IKANO is now offering more solutions for businesses as our customers have asked for more,” said George Naspo, CEO of IKANO. “We are dedicated to delivering a variety of solutions that allow mid-sized businesses to utilize the same computing technologies as large enterprises, without the hosting costs. DNAmail is an important launch for IKANO as we embrace ‘cloud computing’ in collaboration with leading technology companies for the benefit of our partners and end users.”
DNAmail provides microsoft Exchange 2007 email technology to enable businesses and organizations a communications platform to enhance collaboration and productivity. Connecting employees to a secure central area for messaging, calendaring, and contacts also enables freedom for multiple office locations, employees and devices. DNAmail is a BlackBerry Alliance Member and a microsoft Certified Partner, with IT professionals that specialize in maintaining guaranteed uptime, spam filtering, and reliability of communication services.
“We are excited about the launch of DNAmail since we realize small businesses have evolved with the use of new technology and are looking for providers to help their email evolve as well,” said George Mitsopoulos, VP of DSLExtreme. “What business owners want is a mail server and communications platform they don’t have to manage or worry about. DNAmail will help businesses reduce technology and support expenses and maintain their existing branding.”
Small businesses can now have the same advantages large organizations do with microsoft Exchange 2007 and BlackBerry messaging support for everyone in the office at a low cost. DNAmail will also provide live and local phone support for employees. Plans start at $9.95 a month, with a 30-day free trial.
DNAmail also announced today a wholesale offering for organizations interested in reselling Exchange, microsoft SharePoint Intranet portals, and customer support services under their own brand. “IKANO has invested serious time and technology to ensure the Exchange Email and BlackBerry services are solid for our customers,” said Bonnie Bird, Director of Sales and Exchange Evangelist at DNAmail. “More and more companies are seeing the benefits of outsourcing their mail to specialists who can guarantee uptime and spam avoidance.”
DNAmail will also be launching additional vendor services this year to assist SMBs with network productivity and maintenance. Visit DNAmail at HostingCon 2008 (Booth #322) on July 28-30 in Chicago. Call Bonnie Bird at 818.435.1107 or visit DNAmail.com to find out how DNAmail can help your business evolve with you.
About IKANO
IKANO, founded in 1999, is a provider of IP solutions including Internet access, billing, customer support, hosting, portal, and email services. IKANO makes it easy for service providers to maintain a unique brand while eliminating the hassle of maintaining network contracts, servers, and call centers. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, the company has offices in Los Angeles, Seattle, and Toronto and offers services in the United States and Canada. IKANO is backed by leading industry investors, including Insight Venture Partners. Companies interested in learning more about IKANO should contact , or call 877.492.0121. For more information, visit
About DSLExtreme
DSLExtreme is the largest private DSL service provider in California. Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Los Angeles, DSLExtreme offers a suite of online products and services for consumer and business customers throughout the United States. Services include broadband Internet access, email, Web hosting and data circuits, with superior quality connectivity and minimal drop-off. The DSLExtreme network serves tens of thousands of clients in over twenty-one major metropolitan areas across the country. For more information, visit .
IKANO Communications Inc.

MINNEAPOLIS, April 22 /PRNewswire/ — VISI, Minnesota’s largest managed hosting and connectivity provider, today announced it has attained Gold Certified Partner status in the microsoft Partner Program with a competency in Advanced Infrastructure Solutions, recognizing VISI’s expertise and impact in the technology marketplace. As a Gold Certified Partner, VISI has demonstrated expertise with microsoft technologies and proven its ability to meet customers’ needs.
“We are extremely pleased to have attained Gold Certified Partner status in the microsoft Partner Program. This is a reflection of the hard work our engineers have put into mastering Exchange, Windows Server and many other microsoft technologies,” said Gary Elfert, Director of Products and Marketing. “The benefits provided through our Gold Certified Partner status will allow us to continue to enhance the offerings we provide our customers.”
“Customers are looking for partner companies that can bridge the gap between their business demands and technology capabilities,” said Allison Watson, Vice President of the Worldwide Partner Sales and Marketing Group at microsoft Corp. “They need to trust in a company that can act as an expert adviser for their long-term strategic technology plans. Today, microsoft recognizes VISI as a new Gold Certified Partner for demonstrating its expertise providing customer satisfaction using microsoft products and technology.”
VISI is the first Minnesota-based managed hosting provider to offer hosted microsoft Exchange 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. These new VISI offerings allow companies to acquire Exchange 2007 and SharePoint without the high costs of an in-house deployment.
About VISI:
Founded in 1994, VISI is Minnesota’s largest locally-owned managed hosting and connectivity provider, offering connectivity, colocation and managed hosting services. VISI serves more than 11,000 business and residential customers throughout Minnesota with products and services including world-class SAS 70 Type II data centers in St. Paul and Minneapolis. The company provides a full range of robust Web and application hosting services, first-rate Internet services and support, and personal, expert advice. To learn more about VISI, call 612-395-9000 or visit .
VISI

LONDON, April 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — microsoft Corp. today released the fourth volume of its microsoft Security Intelligence Report (SIR) at Infosecurity Europe 2008. The report focuses on the second half of 2007 and uses data derived from a range of tools running on approximately 450 million computers worldwide to provide an in-depth, global view of software vulnerabilities, software exploits, malicious software and potentially unwanted software.
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The latest SIR shows the fewest number of security vulnerability disclosures across the software industry since the second half of 2005, along with a rise in malicious and potentially unwanted software, which demonstrates a continued use of malware as a tool for targeting computer users for profit.
More specifically, the second half of 2007 showed a decline in new security vulnerability disclosures by 15 percent and a decrease in total vulnerability disclosures by 5 percent for all of 2007. Vulnerabilities are weaknesses in software that allow an attacker to compromise the integrity, availability or confidentiality of that software. The data also reveals a 300 percent increase in the number of trojan downloaders and droppers — malicious code used to install files on users’ systems — illustrating that the malware category continues to grow in popularity among attackers.
The report also shows a 66.7 percent increase in the number of potentially unwanted software detections — programs that may impact user privacy or security by performing actions the person may not want — between July 1 and Dec. 31, with a total of 129.5 million pieces of potentially unwanted software found on users’ systems.
“The SIR provides us with a chance to share with our customers and industry partners what we’re seeing in the threat landscape so we can all help ensure users are better protected and work toward a more trusted Internet,” said Vinny Gullotto, general manager of the microsoft Malware Protection Center. “This latest volume supports our position that today’s threats continue to be motivated by monetary gain, and it also gives us a solid view of vulnerability and exploit trends.”
The purpose of the SIR is to keep customers informed of the major trends in the threat landscape and provide valuable insights and security guidance designed to help customers make better, more informed decisions with regard to products, technologies and resources. The latest report builds on previously gathered data, but also includes new sections focused on issues of security breach notifications, spam and phishing, Internet safety enforcement, and the storm worm — a highly visible, continually updating and adapting trojan dropper.
Based on these and other key findings from the report, microsoft recommends all interested parties use the data, insights and guidance contained in the report to better assess and improve their own security practices. Active steps microsoft recommends include the following:
— Check for and apply software updates on an ongoing basis, including
updates provided for third-party applications.
— Enable a firewall.
— Install and maintain up-to-date anti-virus and anti-spyware programs
that provide increased protection from malicious and potentially
unwanted software.

A copy of Microsoft’s newest Security Intelligence Report and other related information can be found at .
Founded in 1975, microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Microsoft Corp.

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, April 29 /PRNewswire/ —

- Major players gather to explore Microsoft’s tailored technology
solutions that enable the industry to seize opportunities, improve
predictability and compete under dynamic market conditions.

Today the first microsoft Middle East and Africa Global Energy Forum
brings more than 300 decision-makers from oil and gas companies across the
region to the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi. With a keynote address from
Gerald Doucet, secretary general of the World Energy Council, the Global
Energy Forum explores how microsoft Corp and partners’ technology solutions
can empower the industry as well as address global and regional aspirations.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO )

Hosting the Global Energy Forum in the Middle East and Africa region
derives from Microsoft’s recognition of the region’s continuing importance to
the global reserves and supply. The Global Energy Forum combines the
experience of global and regional partners, including Accenture, Schlumberger
Information Solutions (SIS), The Information Store, OSlsoft, GE Fanuc and
WellPoint Systems Inc, to showcase microsoft technologies that integrate with
partner expertise, encompassing solutions for exploration, logistics,
marketing and more.

“With today’s global reach for energy security, sustainability and
efficiency, IT plays an ever-mounting role in empowering the industry,” said
Omar Saleh, oil and gas sales manager for Middle East and Africa at
Microsoft. “With our partners, through our Peak Performance Initiative,
Microsoft is specifically addressing priorities in the oil and gas industry
– including digital oilfield, integrated supply chain, health and safety
performance, upstream integration, and capital projects intelligence –
delivering solutions that are fully integrated across people, processes and
technology.”
“Microsoft’s proven technologies and Accenture’s expertise deliver
industry-leading information connectivity — the key to maximising output in
today’s tough production environment,” said Alexandre Oliveira, global
upstream lead at Accenture. “Accenture, in using Microsoft’s integrated
software solutions, delivers high-performance asset management programs
focused on managing and optimising the performance of existing reservoirs,
wells and surface facilities.”
microsoft and SIS are collaborating to integrate business and technical
work flows to reduce uncertainty, improve decision-making and accelerate
technology adoption. SIS leverages microsoft technologies to provide an open
innovation framework, allowing oil and gas companies to incorporate
proprietary applications into integrated SIS work flows, providing
customisation for competitive advantage in complex reservoirs.

“Meeting the challenges of global energy supply and demand depends on
integrated business processes, breakthrough innovations and rock-solid
business relationships,” said Ali Faramawy, vice president, Microsoft
International. “Oil and gas companies succeed when individuals and teams make
better decisions faster, accelerating time to insight. The microsoft Global
Energy Forum is an important vehicle for oil and gas companies to explore the
optimal solutions open to them, and look at what is in the innovation
pipeline to stay ahead.”
“Microsoft has a dedicated work force committed to working with partners
to deliver impactful solutions to decision-makers in the oil and gas
industry,” said Manal Ezzat, regional marketing manager for Middle East and
Africa at Microsoft. “We aim to nurture existing relationships and develop
new ones through a series of ongoing business initiatives and recurring
engagements to showcase our latest innovations and cutting-edge
technologies.”
About microsoft in Oil and Gas

Meeting the challenges of global energy supply and demand depends on
integrated business processes, breakthrough innovations and solid business
relationships. Together with its partners, microsoft delivers technology
solutions that help people in the oil and gas industry make better decisions
faster. More information about microsoft in the oil and gas industry can be
found at http://www.microsoft.com/oilandgas.

About the Middle and Africa Global Energy Forum
http://microsoft.crgevents.com/GEFMEA2008/microsoft_gef

About Microsoft

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

About microsoft EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa)

microsoft has operated in EMEA since 1982. In the region Microsoft
employs more than 16,000 people in over 64 subsidiaries, delivering products
and services in more than 139 countries and territories.

This material is for informational purposes only. microsoft Corp
disclaims all warranties and conditions with regard to use of the material
for other purposes. microsoft Corp shall not, at any time, be liable for any
special, direct, indirect or consequential damages, whether in an action of
contract, negligence or other action arising out of or in connection with the
use or performance of the material. Nothing herein should be construed as
constituting any kind of warranty.

Web site: http://www.microsoft.com

Microsoft

HERZLIYA, Israel, April 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — BluePhoenix Solutions , the leader in value driven legacy modernization, today announced that it has significantly expanded its collaboration with microsoft on legacy modernization projects.
The collaboration provides customers moving their applications or databases to .NET-based environments the very best in both modernization services and technical support. BluePhoenix enables organizations to modernize their legacy data stores such as ADABAS, IDMS, IMS and VSAM to SQL Server, and from application languages such as COBOL, Natural, RPG and PowerBuilder to .NET.
“BluePhoenix brings to the table its market leading automated migration tools and services and microsoft provides deep technical support to enable organizations to benefit from modernizing to the .NET platform,” said David Leichner, CMO of BluePhoenix Solutions. “By collaborating with microsoft we are able to bring even more resources and skills to every customer.”
“More and more companies are recognizing the value of modernizing and expanding systems to the .NET Framework,” said Brian Goldfarb, group product manager, Developer Division microsoft Corp. “We are excited to expand our relationship with BluePhoenix. BluePhoenix brings a wealth of technology, experience and success in modernizing legacy applications onto .NET. Working together brings tremendous value to our customers.”
About BluePhoenix Solutions
BluePhoenix Solutions is a leading provider of value-driven modernization solutions for legacy information systems. BluePhoenix offerings include a comprehensive suite of tools and services from global IT asset assessment and impact analysis to automated database and application migration, re-hosting, and renewal. Leveraging over 20 years of best-practice domain expertise, BluePhoenix works closely with its customers to ascertain which assets should be migrated, redeveloped, or wrapped for reuse as services or business processes, to protect and increase the value of their business applications and legacy systems with minimized risk and downtime.
BluePhoenix provides modernization solutions to companies from diverse industries and vertical markets such as automotive, banking and financial services, insurance, manufacturing, and retail. Among its prestigious customers are: Aflac, CareFirst, Citigroup, Danish Commerce and Companies Agency, Desjardins, Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association, Merrill Lynch, Rabobank, Rural Servicios Informaticos, SDC Udvikling, TEMENOS, Toyota and Volvofinans. BluePhoenix has 15 offices in the USA, UK, Denmark, Germany, Italy, France, The Netherlands, Romania, Russia, Cyprus, South Korea, Australia, and Israel.
SAFE HARBOR: Certain statements contained in this release may be deemed forward-looking statements, with respect to plans, projections, or future performance of the Company, the occurrence of which involves certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual plans to differ materially from these statements. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to: market demand for the Company’s tools, successful implementation of the Company’s tools, competitive factors, the ability to manage the Company’s growth, the ability to recruit and retrain additional software personnel, and the ability to develop new business lines. This press release is also available at . All names and trademarks are their owners’ property.
Company Contact
Colleen Pence
BluePhoenix Solutions
1-210-408-0212, ext. 600

Investor Contact
Peter Seltzberg
Hayden Communications
1-646-415-8972

Financial Media Contact
Jeffrey Stanlis
Hayden Communications
1-602-476-1821

BluePhoenix Solutions Ltd.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., April 28 /PRNewswire/ — Teneros today announced that DLR Group has selected the Teneros Application Continuity Appliance(TM) for high-availability of Microsoft(R) Exchange to support the architectural design firm’s 700 busy email users.
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Headquartered in Omaha, Neb., DLR Group specializes in architecture, engineering, planning and interiors projects. The company uses microsoft Exchange server for its email communications, and 40 percent of its 700 mailboxes are regularly accessed via mobile devices in addition to the desktop.
Before purchasing the Teneros appliance at the end of 2007, DLR group had a monthly average of 30 to 60 minutes scheduled email downtime for maintenance, and it also experienced occasional unplanned email outages. Since installing Teneros, the company has had one hundred percent continuous email availability for its employees.
“I just love the Teneros appliance,” said Gin McMillan, DLR Group IT director. “It was very easy and straightforward to install, and it works great, which means that’s one less thing my team has to worry about. We recently had an incident where we experienced an unplanned Exchange outage that lasted a couple of days, but our email stayed up the entire time because it was running on the Teneros appliance. So the Teneros appliance has already paid for itself.”
“DLR Group is known for its leadership in sustainable design, so we are honored to add such a progressive company to our client list,” said Steve Lewis, Teneros founder and CEO. “This firm is another great example of how the need for 24X7 email availability is essential to businesses of all sizes across diverse industries.”
All Teneros Application Continuity Appliances for high availability and disaster recovery of microsoft Exchange offer 99.999% uptime utilizing the company’s Instant-On(TM) failover technology. Teneros appliances require no configuration of, modification to, or additional software on the Exchange server or network infrastructure and the appliances can be installed in minutes. The appliances are remotely monitored, maintained, and updated from Teneros Network Operations Center so no additional management or maintenance burden is imposed on the busy in-house IT team. The appliances use transactional integrity validation(TM) — Teneros’ proprietary, real-time data protection and corruption prevention technology — to prevent replication of corrupt Exchange data to Teneros appliances. The cost of the appliances is comparable to that of a provisioned Exchange server.
DLR Group is an active member of the U.S. Green Building Council. It implements basic sustainable strategies and works through the LEED certification process.
About DLR Group
DLR Group is a nationally recognized, full-service design firm with 15 offices nationwide. Design is the driving force behind the company’s architecture, engineering, planning and interiors practice. DLR Group’s philosophy is to listen to clients, create exciting design that fulfills client goals, and deliver on the promise of quality, integrity and sustainability. More information is available at 1-866-DLR-8600 or .
About Teneros
Founded in 2003, Teneros has pioneered a new product category that assures continuity of operations for the mission-critical microsoft applications fueling corporations worldwide — the Teneros Application Continuity Appliance(TM). Funded by Goldman Sachs, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Sevin Rosen Funds, STAR Ventures and Advanced Equities Financial Corp., the company produces plug-&-go(TM) business continuity appliances that assure 99.99%-99.999% uptime of microsoft infrastructure applications.
Teneros is an Advanced Infrastructure Solutions microsoft Gold Partner and is the recipient of the 2007 microsoft Partner of the Year Award, OEM Hardware Solutions, Device Manufacturing. Teneros was selected as CRN’s 2007 Emerging Tech Dynamo and was honored by AlwaysOn as an AO 100 Private Company Award winner in 2006 and 2007. The company is headquartered at 321 East Evelyn Ave in Mountain View, Calif., 94041. More information is available at .
(C) Teneros, Inc. 2008
All trademarks are the property of their respective owners

Teneros

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 26 /PRNewswire/ — Today, five leading information technology (IT) vendors announced the creation of the Industry Consortium for Advancement of Security on the Internet (ICASI), a nonprofit organization that will enhance global IT security by proactively driving excellence and innovation in security response. Founded by Cisco, International Business Machines, Intel Corporation, Juniper Networks, and Microsoft Corp., ICASI provides a unique forum for global companies committed to proactively addressing complex, multi-product security threats and to better protecting enterprises, governments and citizens, as well as the critical IT infrastructures that support them.
During the last few years, common Internet security threats have evolved from wide-reaching worms and viruses to more sophisticated, stealth attacks that may begin to simultaneously target multiple products or shared protocols in multiple products. ICASI will allow IT vendors to work together to address multi-vendor security threats. The consortium will provide a mechanism for international vendor and customer involvement, and allow for a government-neutral way of resolving significant global, multi-product security incidents.
The increasing sophistication of attacks and the integration of applications, now common in IT environments, pose real challenges for IT vendors. Online attacks occur more frequently and in more rapid succession, while often spanning international boundaries. To date there has not been a trusted vendor environment that allows companies to identify, assess, and mitigate multi-product, global security challenges together on the customers’ behalf. ICASI aims to fill this void.
ICASI does not seek to respond to every product security issue that emerges, but rather the consortium is designed to respond to and ideally reduce the potential customer impact of global, multi-vendor cyber threats. The organization is organized around four guiding principles.
– Customer security - Through ICASI’s collaboration and leadership, IT vendors will be better able to identify and resolve multi-vendor security threats quickly, thereby helping to reduce the security threat impact and improve customer security.
– Agility and effectiveness - ICASI is committed to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of multi-vendor threat resolution and security response practices.
– Collaboration and trust - ICASI creates a unique environment where information, necessary to quickly solve security-related threats, can be shared, as appropriate.
– Leadership and innovation - ICASI includes leading IT companies from around the world and leverages their expertise to innovate security response excellence, which it shares with the industry.
ICASI’s commitment to advance Internet security includes changing how vendors work together on multi-product security fixes. Developing and sharing innovations for preventing and mitigating security challenges is also a core focus for ICASI members.
As cyber security challenges change, ICASI members seek to work with other leading firms that have a sustained commitment to advancing security response and engineering excellence to mitigate multi-product, international security incidents.
ICASI Member Quotes:
Cisco

“At Cisco we are always looking for new ways to enhance how we help our customers protect their organizations. By working with this large ecosystem of security companies, we are confident that ICASI will promulgate more responsive and comprehensive processes and best practices that enhance the global security landscape and ultimately will better protect how our customers live, work and play.”
- David Goddard, Vice President for Security Assurance, Cisco

International Business Machines

“It is important for ibm to collaborate with some of the top technology companies to try to increase the security protections for both IBM’s clients and ourselves internally. This is why ibm supports ICASI with 100 percent enthusiasm. We’re passionate about providing sustainable businesses for our clients and we recognize the need to collaborate with the world’s security leaders to do that successfully. During the last few years, common Internet security threats have evolved from wide-reaching worms and viruses to more targeted, stealth attacks specifically for theft of work and personal data. By supporting ICASI, ibm provides not only an aggressive, proactive and preventative approach to security, but we also have a defined defensive strategy in place in the event of the most unthinkable security breaches.”
- Linda Betz, Director, IT Policy and Information Security, International Business Machines
Intel Corporation
“It is critical that the technology industry strengthen its ability to combat the ever-changing nature of the global cyber threat landscape. ICASI is an ideal opportunity for a trusted dialogue within the vendor community to affect a positive change in cyber security and response. Intel’s involvement in ICASI reinforces our commitment to ensuring the security of computing environments and rapid response to security events globally.”
- Malcolm Harkins, General Manager, Information Risk and Security, Intel

Juniper Networks

“Juniper has long recognized the need for a trust-based collaborative means within which we could operate in the event of multi-vendor network security vulnerabilities. As the security threat landscape continues to evolve rapidly and becomes increasingly sophisticated, our customers rely on us to create a responsive and trusted environment that detects and mitigates threats. Embarking on ICASI is another step in our commitment to deliver high-performance networking and world-class security for our customers.”
- Michael Frendo, Senior Vice President, High-End Security Systems, Juniper Networks
Microsoft Corp.
“The Internet has transformed the way many of us live. Social networking represents the new town square; blogging has turned citizens into journalists; and e-commerce sites have spurred global competition in the marketplace. But as the Internet has become more integral to our daily lives, many people believe that issues associated with online security and privacy are at unacceptable levels. To truly improve online security and privacy, the industry must come together through dialogue, collaboration and consensus, and we believe ICASI represents a crucial step in that direction.”
- George Stathakopoulos, General Manager, Product Security, Microsoft Corp.
ICASI

REDMOND, Wash., April 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Close to three-quarters (71 percent) of U.S. retailers are turning to a broad set of virtualization solutions as a means to save costs, maximize space and generally gain better control of their IT infrastructures, reports a new survey released today by microsoft Corp.
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Microsoft’s “Virtualization in Retail Survey 2008,” conducted by independent Washington, D.C.-based research firm KRC Research, found that nearly half of the participating retailers (49 percent) are employing one form of virtualization within their store locations based on cost savings, while 46 percent are seeking to better respond to issues and failures of applications and systems, and 43 percent chose virtualization solutions to help them save space.
A form of technology around since the 1960s, virtualization is the act of isolating or unbinding one computing resource from another. Although virtualization is commonly thought of as occurring within datacenters and servers, virtualization technologies are being applied across multiple aspects of a retail company’s IT infrastructure, including presentation, application, operating system, storage and network.
“Decades of installing servers, operating systems, applications, middleware and databases have taken their toll, as retailers are nearing their limits for physical space, power usage and cooling,” said Geoff Thomas, general manager of Microsoft’s U.S. Retail and Hospitality Group. “For a chain with 1,000 stores or more, adding just one more server or application per store is a significant investment. That is why virtualization is an attractive alternative, as more than 50 percent of retailers surveyed had between three and 10 servers in each of their stores already.”
Microsoft’s “Virtualization in Retail Survey 2008″ was conducted in February and March 2008 and includes responses from 205 technology decision-makers at U.S. retail companies with annual revenues of $250 million or more who have IT management responsibilities for store locations or regional or national headquarters. Key findings included the following:
* Seventy-one percent of the retail companies surveyed are using
virtualization technologies to isolate applications, data, operating
system instances or transaction services in their stores or
headquarters.
* Thirty-five percent of survey respondents cited using virtualization
technology to make it easier to centralize deployment and ongoing
management of applications. This ease of deployment is critical in
today’s complex and competitive environments as retailers are
striving to quickly use real-time information in such emerging store

technologies as kiosks, self-service checkouts, mobile handheld
devices, electronic signage and even computerized shopping carts.
* Thirty-one percent pointed to energy savings as driving their
purchase of virtualization technology. The rising awareness of
“green” energy initiatives, as well as the increasing power required
to run and cool data centers, likely factored into this response.
* Thirty-eight percent of survey respondents cited the need to provide
centralized security as a driver toward implementing virtualization
within its stores or remote locations.
* Among the 29 percent of retail respondents who are not using
virtualization to isolate operating system instances, applications,
data or transaction services, one-quarter (25 percent) say their
company is considering it. Among those not considering implementing
virtualization technologies, more than half say the main reason is
cost (51 percent).

“Retailers are interested in new store technologies that support a differentiated customer experience to drive sales and competitive advantage,” Thomas said. “This is ultimately driven by better integration and optimization of their back-office infrastructures. This survey shows that the same drive retailers have for maximizing every square foot of store selling space is carrying over into their IT centers as they increasingly look to virtualization to gain greater economic and infrastructure advantages.”
About Microsoft’s Virtualization in Retail Survey 2008
Microsoft’s “Virtualization in Retail Survey 2008″ was conducted via telephone by Washington, D.C.-based KRC Research from Feb. 21 to March 10, 2008, and included responses from 205 interviews in the United States with technology decision-makers who have IT management responsibilities for store locations or regional or national headquarters for retail companies with annual revenues of $250 million or more. Full survey results are available at .
About microsoft Virtualization Solutions
Microsoft provides a broad set of virtualization solutions for small, midmarket and large customers to virtualize desktops, consolidate servers in the datacenter and establish more cost-effective business continuity plans via virtualization. Customers can optimize their desktop infrastructure with microsoft software, allowing them to unbind different computing resources, virtualize desktops or applications, streamline deployments, centralize management, and ease application compatibility issues. microsoft offers infrastructure virtualization software as part of the Windows platform, such as microsoft Hyper-V and Terminal Services available within Windows Server 2008, along with a comprehensive management platform, microsoft System Center, to manage both virtual and physical infrastructure and applications. More information is available at .
About microsoft in Retail
Microsoft’s U.S. Retail Industry Group provides software that helps empower retail’s biggest assets — its people — to make better decisions at every stage of the value chain. microsoft software helps enable retail employees to strengthen customer relationships, build high-value business connections and improve operations by addressing key areas such as store systems, real-time analytics and supply chain management. Through a combination of Microsoft- and partner-provided solutions, retail customers enable their employees to deliver an outstanding customer experience across various channels by turning data into insight, transforming ideas into action and turning change into opportunity. More information about Microsoft’s work in the Retail industry can be found at .
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Microsoft Corp.

PHOENIX, June 25 /PRNewswire/ — Lightstone Solutions, LLC announced today the promotion of Jefford L. Englander to Vice President, computer Forensics. Mr. Englander is a computer forensics and electronic discovery expert.
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Mr. Englander’s numerous professional accomplishments include his recent computer forensics expert testimony in Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. v. Mesa Air Group, Inc., in which his testimony regarding spoliation of computer evidence helped secure Hawaiian Airlines a $50 million judgment. Mr. Englander was also recognized by Federal Bureau of Investigations Director Robert Mueller, III for his investigation involving the recovery from Mexico of a minor female abducted by an adult male in Florida.
“Mr. Englander has been integral to the growth of Lightstone Solutions into Arizona’s leading computer forensics practice,” said Bill Papazian, President and CEO of the company. “We are pleased to recognize Mr. Englander’s numerous achievements through this promotion.”
Prior to joining Lightstone Solutions in 2005, Mr. Englander was a Senior Detective in the Crimes Against Children division of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department where he spent nine years conducting high technology crimes investigations, including undercover activity, evidence gathering, forensic data recovery, electronic crime scene management and preparation for prosecution. He is a founding member of the Phoenix, AZ branch of the FBI Innocent Images On-Line Child Exploitation Task Force, and developed protocols and procedures for a startup computer crimes unit of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.
Mr. Englander holds the International Association of computer Investigative Specialists (IACIS), Certified Forensic computer Examiner (CFCE) and EnCase(R) Certified Examiner (EnCE) certifications and has extensive training in high technology and computer crimes from organizations including the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) and Guidance Software, IACIS, and the National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics (SEARCH).
For additional information please contact William S. Papazian, President and CEO, or visit the company’s website .
ABOUT LIGHTSTONE SOLUTIONS, LLC.
Lightstone Solutions, LLC is a premier investigative, regulatory consulting and computer forensics firm serving law firms, FORTUNE 500 companies, middle-market companies, and Federal, State, Tribal and local government agencies.

Lightstone Solutions, LLC

ST. LOUIS, June 24 /PRNewswire/ — Studio Network Solutions (SNS), a premier provider of post-production SAN systems for the Media and Entertainment storage market, today announced that its Ellipse Enterprise Fibre Channel HBA for Mac OS X has successfully completed interoperability testing with ibm System Storage DS4000. The Ellipse Enterprise HBA is now confirmed as ibm System Storage Proven under Mac OS X.
The Ellipse Enterprise Fibre Channel HBA (Host Bus Adapter) delivers an industry breakthrough: the ability for Macintosh servers and workstations to take full advantage of RDAC — the fault tolerant, multi-pathing I/O and failover/failback features found in enterprise-class storage systems from IBM.
“In many ways, the Macintosh platform has the leading role in the overall production process for media and entertainment businesses. Many of those companies, especially the largest, consider the accessibility of their creative assets to be just as mission-critical as everything else in the data center,” said Gary Holladay, President of Studio Network Solutions. “There’s no longer a need for compromise. Our mutual SNS/IBM customers will now have the advantage of integrating their Macintosh systems into the SAN and knowing their Macs will have equivalent storage fault tolerance as their Linux and Windows servers.”
The ibm System Storage Proven program builds on IBM’s already extensive interoperability efforts to develop and deliver products and solutions that work together with third party products. The ibm System Storage Proven program supports the ability of independent hardware and software vendors to build high-quality solutions with the latest technology on leading storage platforms as well as reduce solution design time when multiple, tested building blocks have already been pre-tested.
The Ellipse Enterprise HBA is compatible with Mac OS X Leopard and Tiger. It is now available worldwide and can be ordered in single-, dual-, and quad-port configurations of PCIe or PCI-X. It is compatible with Intel- and PowerPC-based Mac servers and workstations. For more information, visit
For more information on SNS, please contact: Amy Di Giulio, Studio Network Solutions, T: 1 877.537.2094 x.216, E:
About Studio Network Solutions
Studio Network Solutions (SNS) is a leading developer and provider of technologies for production storage, networking and workflow efficiency for the media and entertainment industries. The company offers proven software and hardware solutions for digital artists working in production companies, studios, and corporate media production. Products include Evo, Ellipse, Ellipse Enterprise, globalSAN, A/V SAN PRO, SANmp, and The Postmap Operating Environment. For more information please visit the company’s website at http://www.studionetworksolutions.com.
(C)2007 Studio Network Solutions LLC. All rights reserved. Studio Network Solutions, Ellipse, Ellipse Enterprise, Evo, globalSAN, A/V SAN PRO, SANmp, and Postmap are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Studio Network Solutions, LLC. Other names of companies and/or products mentioned are trademarks of their respective owners.
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