1178146800Content Wireadminaccelerate,analytics,bodies,Business,business content,business solutions,Clarabridge,Clearforest,content acquisition,content analysis,content integration,content management,Content Management,content management platform,content management solutions,content migration,critical business,financial management,Google,integration platform,Israel,management market,management platform,management solutions,migration,outstanding shares,priority,text search,WorldText Analytics Firm Rides The Acquisition WaveReuters has entered into an agreement to acquire all of the outstanding shares of ClearForest, provider of Text Analytics solutions, the transaction, is expected to close in approximately 30 days, financial terms were not disclosed. Reuters says that it plans to retain and continue to work with the existing management team and staff in Us and Israel and plans to continue to support existing products and customers. Former head of search for AOL, Gerry Campbell, has been appointed to oversee the integration of ClearForest and drive this business. However, Clarabridge, competitor in the text analysis space, announced in a not so subtle move a migration program aimed at existing ClearForest, customers potentially impacted by the uncertainties generated from the acquisition of ClearForest by Reuters. Clarabridge says it will offer customers a dollar for dollar credit for any previously purchased ClearForest licenses. This credit can be used for upgrading from any version of ClearForest’s products to Clarabridge’s Content Mining platform. “This type of disruption can have a profound impact on critical, ongoing projects. Our first priority is to communicate to customers affected that they have an alternative,” said Sid Banerjee, CEO of Clarabridge, which recently announced the release of CMP 2.2, Tough world, isn't it? GIVE ME A HIT <script type="text/javascript">google_ad_client = "pub-7258139694566163";google_ad_width = 300;google_ad_height = 250;google_ad_format = "300x250_as";google_ad_type = "text_image";google_ad_channel ="";google_color_border = "CC99CC";google_color_bg = "E7C6E8";google_color_link = "000000";google_color_url = "00008B";google_color_text = "663366";</script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script>http://www.content-wire.com/text-analytics-firm-rides-acquisition-wave1174176000Content Wireadminaccelerate,business users,content offerings,current content,presence,protocols,submission,web content,web pagesDisproportionate Time on Basic Web Content NeedsA survey conducted by RedDot shows that the demands of managing Web sites is overloading university IT departments. The survey of IT professionals in colleges and universities across the U.S. found that the demands on IT departments have risen fast because IT staffers must spend a disproportionate amount of time managing Web content, rather than pressing IT projects. In the survey, 91 percent of respondents said demands on their school’s IT departments have risen, most of which involve requests by faculty/staff to take care of basic Web needs. The majority of these requests involve IT departments making content updates to various pages of the campus Web site, something that can be easily achieved by faculty/staff.The survey also found that 64 percent of respondents said the number of tasks students and staff c an accomplish on their own campus Web sites has increased in just the past year. These tasks include registering for classes, dropping/adding classes, class roster functions and other campus activities that in the past required in-person meetings or traditional paper-based systems. The survey also found that 70 percent of respondents expect increases in online admission submissions in 2007. Other findings include:A majority of respondents (53 percent) said an up-to date and easily navigated Web site is very important to their institutions 43 percent felt that their institutions have been successful with current online offerings, while 26 percent said the offerings have been only somewhat successful – which may be why 80 percent of respondents say their institutions are planning some type of changes to their online resources in the next year www.reddot.comhttp://www.content-wire.com/disproportionate-time-basic-web-content-needs1160521200Content Wireadminaccelerate,content creation,content delivery,Content Technologies,delivery platform,delivery solution,Development,dynamic content,Google,initiative,interactive intelligent content,Internet,internet,java,mobile content,mobile devices,mobile services,models,new generation,new release,novel,researcher,rich applications,significantly,software applications,software developers,software platform,stock,users experience,w3c,web applications,web based,web content,web users,XMLAjax Widgets for Mobile Content Delivery PlatformVolantis, supplier of Intelligent Content Adaptation solutions launched its Mobile Content Framework 4.0. The new release aims to significantly improve mobile Internet browsing through dynamic web applications, providing a rich browsing experience, and represents the Company's most recent initiative to achieving its vision of Web technologies as a ubiquitous platform supporting advanced applications for both fixed and mobile devices. The framework introduces support for AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) enabled browsers, enabling the creation of highly efficient, interactive Web applications. The integrated offering supports the ability to deliver content to devices with basic browsers and those with support for AJAX. The introduction of the device independent library of AJAX based widgets will allow the construction of high capability mobile client applications similar in profile to the emerging generation of richly featured web clients such as Google Maps, GMail or Flickr. Combining these pre-built libraries with device-independent mark-up also reduces the software development effort, enabling lightweight programming models. "The Web has become the fastest growing platform for applications," said Dave Raggett, Principal Researcher at Volantis and W3C Fellow. "The solution is attractive for developers wishing to ride the wave of rich web applications for mobile users, and can dramatically reduce costs compared with using J2ME, BREW, Symbian or MS Mobile." This release adds further value to existing XDIME applications and offers new opportunities for developers to provide device independent applications using the Volantis Framework and technologies such as Ruby on Rails, SOAP, Web Services, Java and PHP. The resulting novel browser-based applications can be delivered on-demand to the mobile device rather than having to be pre-installed. The new widget library includes support for various dynamic visual effects as well as a number of dynamic screen items such as marquees, carousels, folding menu items and pop-ups. www.volantis.comhttp://www.content-wire.com/ajax-widgets-mobile-content-delivery-platform-01147820400Content Wireadminaccelerate,browser,content management,Content Management,content management system,document management,enterprise content,enterprise content management,Enterprise Web,intuitive interface,intuitive user,Magnolia,open source,science,user interface,web content,web content management,web content management system,workflowOpen Source AJAX-Powered Content Management SystemMagnolia 3.0 is a commercial open-source Enterprise Content Management System that seamlessly integrates web content management and document management through one intuitive, web-based, AJAX-powered user interface. Main new features include workflow, versioning, JSR-168 support, single-sign-on, scheduling (time-based content publishing), a new meta-template (simply create your custom layout directly in the browser) and a new, improved user interface. Magnolia makes Enterprise Content Management simple by being user-friendly, battle-tested, enterprise-ready and open-source. Magnolia is available in more than 15 languages including Russian, Chinese, English, French, German and Spanish. It comes in 3 different editions www.magnolia.infohttp://www.content-wire.com/open-source-ajax-powered-content-management-system-01137715200Content Wireadminaccelerate,content management,Content Management,content management application,content management services,content management solution,content repository,database management,desktops,Documentum (EMC),enterprise content,enterprise content management,enterprise search,Enterprise Web,Google,Information Management,management application,repository,single point,single solution,user experience,users experience,web content,web content management,web usersDesktop Search for Federated Content ManagementThis announcement marks a strategy between EMC and Google to give joint customers greater access to enterprise content. Documentum ECI Services is a federated enterprise search solution that integrates content within and outside the enterprise. By combining Documentum ECI Services with Google Desktop for Enterprise, users have a single point of access and an integrated user experience to search their local desktops in addition to a variety of internal and external information sources, regardless of whether the information resides in an application, database, Web site, or content management repository. Documentum ECI Services for Google Desktop for Enterprise will be available later this quarter. www.emc.comhttp://www.content-wire.com/desktop-search-federated-content-management-01105228800Content Wireadminaccelerate,Business,business content,business information,business need,business process,business processes,buzz,content technology,Democracy,Easy Publisher,EVER,game,headlines,human rights,Human Rights,information technology,Iraq,Media,money,money to be made,next wave,one of the few,organised,People,real time,search technology,share information,tags,Technology,technology deal,Thailand,time and money,time spent,War,weapons,WorldThe Tsunami, online content, the mafia, and bombing Iraq<a href="http://www.roadhogs.net/laflamme/mp3/white_bird.mp3">SOUND FILE</a> Phuket, Thailand - Two weeks after the Tsunami hit my neighborhood, I am just coming back to my senses. First, the scare: "Tsunami, Tsunami" I ll never forget the face of Pranom when she knocked at my door that morning. The second next thing, the lack of information. I had felt the earthquake earlier but wasn't quite sure what happened where and what consequences. The first headlines re. earthquake started coming through about an hour later or so, that I remember. Search engines updated to the last minute are my only link to the real time world when I am remote. When I heard the wave had hit, I kind of linked the earthquake to it. And thought, how come there is a huge earthquake and nobody makes a phone call to the nearest coastlines to alert of a possible ripple? Honest, I would have just picked up the phone and done it myself, had I had the number at hand. SYNCHRONISATION Communication technology is in place, but it is not used to convey information. at least, not the right information at the right time Instead, some fax was sent and lost, thank you very much So who is in charge of real time information around this planet? Tok Tok, anyone there? Some lethargy is to be expected by humans - okay it was Sunday morning - but 'systems' have been around for years. They work real neat once they are properly set up. Repeat: once they are properly set up. It took more than one hour for the wave to hit the coasts, that would have been enough time to evacuate most popular centers: make a phone call, and send the security forces to move people from the beaches. Technically, that could be done real smooth. The problem is not lack of technology, but lack of humans who understand technology. I bet they are going to waste millions trying to build a tsunami alert, well, let me tell you, that money can be spent better elsewhere, because that system would not cost much to build. Everything is already in place, it just needs some processes developed to be linked up INFORMATION NOT COMING THROUGH Nobody knew much, so for two, three hours, the feeling was helplessness. What happened, how, how many? Nobody was in a position to estimate the loss. Nine have died, reported someone to me later that day, on our beach alone, but 81 were wounded and not sure how many missing. But from there it was an easy computational exercise My first take was that thousands of dead worldwide, and millions affected. Of course that might have seemed a bit of an overstatement at first. Then there were the attempts to minimise the issue. How many? very generic estimates, vague looks, 9 in Patong. The someone said 20, then 31. Death is bad for business. But the more people looked around, the more people they found. There is no way they could have hidden all those bodies from the public eye It took days and days for to discover more and more bodies, hotels, supermarkets, where people were buried. Spent the following days in disbelief watching the death toll rise by the hour. Now, today, two weeks on, they are still piling high, and disposing of them is indeed no diplomatic task. BUZZ, MEDIA AND HELPLESSNESS The media started drumming up stories of despair and compassion, encouraging people to donate, donate, donate. Ting, ting, ting. Til the sound of the coffers covered the cries. "The media know how to run a circus better than anyone" <a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/Iraq-morgan060503.htm">said publisher McArthur </a> who understands the game, on another occasion. His stuff is online and it looks they have a nice multifacet classification system on Harpers.org. btw. Two weeks on, despite the superhuman effort from all sides, the feeling is still one of helplessness. Money is still pouring in, bodies are still being retrieved and stacked in bags with tags - And the inadequacy of the information systems showing. But that is just bad planning, it happens all the time. IT GETS WORSE Inefficiency, is bad. To fear that individuals and organizations may profit <a href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=4&u=/ap/20050109/ap_on_re_mi_ea/oil_for_food_investigation">from death and relief </a> efforts is very bad, But the worst thing that is happening now is that organised crime is jumping onto the bandwagon. The mob is coming into the affected areas claiming their share of the act. Which means: people who are now literally on their knees, they have lost their homes and businesses, will be given a friendly hand, but then they'll be bound for the rest of their business lives to ongoing dealings with the rackets. The racket can be like a dodgy bank, that binds people who have no other choice than go to them, to their system of money laundering that fuels sexual exploitation and drug abuse, that finances weapons for fundamentalists and walks all over the human rights of men, women and children all around the world ECONOMIC SUPPORT FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE TSUNAMI The racket helps people out first, then uses them to its purpose. If I were like my local travel agent, Mario, and others like him, who had a shack on the beach from which he organised tours around the area and always gave me a very good deal, now I would have lost everything, I would need a good loan to get back on my feet fast. If I didn't get a good loan, I would have to take whatever money was offered, no matter how dirty Small businesses affected by the Tsunami now need clean money (if there is any such thing, I dunno) made available to them at very favorable terms. Sure we should be able to do that? RELIEF MONEY COULD END UP IN THE WRONG HANDS To see the relief money being spent to sponsor illegal traffics, arms and drugs dealings, the sex industry, would be the worst of shame for humanity Yet, I can see mobs on my horizon, creeping from all sides One of the five members of the Italian <a href="http://it.news.yahoo.com/050105/58/32eii.html">team</a> to supervise the tsunami relief funds is a former <a href="http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20041215-091209-6747r.htm"> prime minister</a>, who was just got acquitted of one sentence after 12 years of trial, and got away with the other sentence due to prescription of terms (it took too long to process the trial). His cabinet has been sentenced for links to the mafia one of the closest, best documented links to the racket in history of our democracy. Only a system that lets individuals affected by the tsunami interact directly with individuals, or reputable organizations, under clear and transparent terms, can bypass the network of corruption. THE EARTHQUAKE AND THE BIG BOMB I am not quite finished yet. The <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/NOD305A.html">bombing of Iraq</a> during the past few years, may have been amaong the fiercest bomb attacks to planet earth in history Bomb, after bomb, after bomb, after bomb. If I remember correctly, the largest non nuke bomb ever dropped on earth was also thrown in, with little publicity If I remember correctly, it triggered a series of shakes along a fault in the crust of the earth, of which long term consequences were not nown at the time Please check the seismographers and compare with war bulletins, then you tell me. I think we know nohttp://www.content-wire.com/tsunami-online-content-mafia-and-bombing-iraq1103155200Content Wireadminaccelerate,application developers,application development,benefit,Business,business applications,business benefit,business benefits,business content,business development,business functions,business information,business processes,complexity,content analysis,content integration,content management,Content Management,content management application,content management applications,content management capabilities,content management software,corporate data,corporations,critical business,data management,Data Management,databases,Development,dynamic content,dynamic content management,enterprise applications,enterprise content,enterprise content management,Enterprise Web,extensible,improvements,Information Management,integration software,key business,management application,management applications,management capabilities,management consulting,management product,manipulation,new business,new data,new product,product integration,productivity,proprietary,relationship,relationship management,single source,software applications,software developers,software platform,source code,source of information,streamline,transformation,versatility,w3c,Web 2.0,web applications,web content,web content management,World,XML,XML content managementArticulating the Business Benefits of XSLT 2.0According to a new analysis report from InfoTrends/CAP Ventures, the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C's) XSLT 2.0 (Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations) specification demonstrates the tangible benefits of a corporate and IT investment in XML (Extensible Markup Language). Titled "A Focus on XSLT 2.0: Understanding the Development and Business Benefits," the report discusses XSLT 2.0's ability to substantially reduce code complexity and streamline development while simultaneously allowing developers to increase the capabilities of XML transformations. "XML usage is widespread throughout a myriad of data and document-driven business processes, and information transformation is a critical component for its success," said Mike Maziarka, Director of InfoTrends/CAP Ventures' Dynamic Content Software Strategies Consulting Service. "With the significant improvements made by the W3C to the XSLT 2.0 specification, we expect it to play an even larger role in applications focused on enterprise application integration, single source publishing, and content management." The report also discusses the relationship of XSLT 2.0 with its sublanguage, XPath 2.0, and how these interdependent transformation and navigation languages form the key components of functional programming for XML content. These specifications provide several important benefits for developers and corporations, including enhanced developer productivity, data reusability and interoperability, and application versatility. XSLT 2.0's productivity and development quality benefits highlighted in the report include the reduction of complex and proprietary coding through the use of higher order functions and support for strong data typing. Notable data reusability benefits include support for user-defined functions, multiple output processing from a single XSLT transformation, and data grouping and aggregation. Notable areas of data interoperability include support for multiple input processing as well as string sorting and comparison. In addition, the specification's versatility is indicated by the introduction of temporary trees, independent processing capabilities, and support for complex text and data manipulation. www.capv.com/home/Downloads/10.22.04.pdf.http://www.content-wire.com/articulating-business-benefits-xslt-2-01100044800Content Wireadminaccelerate,categorize,CMS,contextual,intelligence,manipulation,open source,Open TextOpen Source CMS maintenance releaseThis maintenance release addresses quite a large number of issues in Bricolage 1.8.2. The most important changes were to enhance Unicode support in Bricolage. Bricolage now internally handles all text content as UTF-8 strings, thus enabling templates to better control the manipulation of multibyte characters. Other changes include better performance for searches using the ANY() operators and more intelligent transaction handling for distribution jobs. www.bricolage.cchttp://www.content-wire.com/open-source-cms-maintenance-release1095980400Content Wireadminaccelerate,addressed,adoption,Australia,broadband,Business,business applications,business development,business functions,business intelligence,business need,business professionals,business solutions,Companies,corporate data,critical business,data services,decision support,Development,development time,email,enterprise applications,financial services,flexibility,functionality,global network,global technology,help companies,intelligence,Internet,internet,investments,line of business,market research,market research firm,migration,mobile data,mobile phone,mobile services,mobile workers,networking,new business,new data,new research,new technology,pilot,pollution,reliability,research and development,research firm,sectors,senior research,senior technology,senior vice president,service revenue,Singapore,software applications,stable,Standards,Technology,technology allows,technology companies,technology research,technology solutions,time to market,traffic,United Kingdom,vice president,video services,voice services,worldwide marketVoice over internet protocol soarA majority of corporate executives now predict that they will implement voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), according to a new survey and report on networking and business strategy from AT&T in co-operation with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). VoIP, the ability to transmit voice calls over the Internet and IP-based data networks, means companies can carry calls within their own enterprise on their own networks, bypassing traditional telecom providers and avoiding toll charges. The additional promise of greater functionality and flexibility than conventional fixed lines finally positions VoIP as a true rival to the dominance of todayâ€™s fixed line telephony. The question is no longer if but when VoIP will become the new standard for voice traffic, says Cathy Martine, AT&T's senior vice president of Internet telephony. Survey The EIU survey of 254 senior executives worldwide on the future of corporate networking reveals that 43 percent of respondents report that they are currently using, testing or planning to implement VoIP within the next two years, and another 18 percent believe they will implement it in the long term. Market forecasts reflect the same bullishness. Research firm Gartner Dataquest predicts that retail voice revenue from todayâ€™s public switched telephone network (PSTN) will drop slightly through 2008 while retail VoIP revenue soars by 38.6 percent over the same period. Thus, after ten years in development, VoIP has grown up. The major barrier to adoption had been hurdles in VoIPâ€™s performance, reliability and security. Another hurdle was the difficulty encountered by managers in performing return-on-investment (ROI) analysis on a relatively young technology. Cost studies are now easier to perform, savings are more predictable and the questions of quality and reliability have now largely been addressed thanks to the development of international standards and stable software and hardware solutions, says Ms Martine. Specific savings realised through VoIP can be significant and varied. Moving voice to IP allows companies to merge two disparate existing networksâ€”one for fax and phone, the other for data and multimedia ”that they currently have to maintain separately at considerable expense. Running them together allows not only for reduced capital expenditure but also of operating expenditure through the consolidation of maintenance, administrative and support functions. The use of VoIP also slashes usage-based telephone bills. Calls within a VoIP network bypass local telephone companies and are routed at low or no cost over a companyâ€™s data network, just like e-mail. Calls made from a VoIP line to a telephone on the conventional switched network are also far cheaper, since they can be carried within data networks practically all the way to the called party, thus eliminating expensive long-distance toll charges. Eighty seven percent of our respondents identified the reduction of telephone charges as critical or important in their decision to use or plan to implement VoIP. But VoIP investments ultimately should not be judged on cost savings alone: Bringing voice and video applications together onto a PC desktop unleashes an array of new capabilities that can radically improve communication amongst employees. Seventy one percent of the survey respondents cited VoIP features such as unified messaging and follow-me as critical or important in their decision to use or plan to implement VoIP. Companies adopting VoIP are doing so in an evolutionary way. Organisations tend to trial the technology first and move it across the organisation over time. Hosted and managed services are also emerging as turnkey solutions for companies that want experts to help design and implement their migration and manage the ongoing network. Roadmap A typical roadmap for VoIP implementation covers mainly three stages. First, a company has to enable the underlying data network to ensure voice security and high quality. Second, it has to plan for the interoperability of equipment during a migration toward VoIP. The third area is the Holy Grail, where companies begin to drive the adoption of new applications made possible by IP-enabled telephony. You can flip a switch overnight and introduce VoIP across an enterprise, says Ms. Martine. The migration to VoIP is evolutionary. Companies first want to get to know the technology, ensure its reliability and quality, and better understand their employees acceptance of it. In a separate announcement today AT&T announced it has signed 23 multi-national companies to participate in its Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Global Remote Worker pilot for a solution targeted for general availability in the first quarter of 2005. Some of the firms participating in the four-country trial include Air Products, BASF Australia LTD, Bausch and Lomb, Global eXchange Service and VTech. The trial, announced in June, is hosting participants located in Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and the United Kingdom. This represents one of the most comprehensive initiatives leveraging the capabilities of VoIP for the global remote workers of top multi-nationals. The company also is focused on delivering new business voice applications and services like IP-Centrex, call centre applications and Telework solutions. These are especially critical for the rapidly growing international teleworking community. The service provides portability of features and significant cost savings compared to making calls from hotels or using mobile roaming service for travelling professionals, affinities and communities that have need to communicate frequently. As part of the research for the paper, the Economist Intelligence Unit conducted an online worldwide survey of 254 executives. The majority of respondents came from Europe (40percent), North America (27percent) and Asia-Pacific (21percent). Other respondents came from Latin America the Middle East and Africa. The top five industry sectors represented by the survey respondents were financial services, professional services, manufacturing, transportation and energy. In addition to the survey research, the EIU conducted a series of one-to-one in-depth interviews with senior executives and analysts. The survey was run in March and April 2004, while the interviews and other research was conducted August and September 2004.http://www.content-wire.com/voice-over-internet-protocol-soar1095980400Content Wireadminaccelerate,architecture,Business,business content,business model,business opportunities,catalogues,collaboration,content management,Content Management,content management system,core business,data management,Data Management,database management,deployments,document management,Documentum (EMC),enterprise content,enterprise content management,FileNet (IBM),IBM,management market,management product,management vendors,market opportunity,Microsoft,next wave,niche,Open Text,Oracle,partnerships,project management,scalableContent Management, The Unstructured WaveOracle has been closely watching the CM evolution happen Over the past few years, <a href="http://www.content-wire.com/FreshPicks/Index.cfm?ccs=86&cs=895"> partnerships and alliances </a> have kept the dbase giant in the <a href="http://www.content-wire.com/FreshPicks/Index.cfm?ccs=86&cs=513">loop</a> Oracle is planning to shift some its offering towards the enterprise content management (ECM) space, with a product code-named Tsunami. Alan Pelz Sharpe, analyst with Ovum says "Oracle's entry into this market will have major repercussions for both existing ECM niche vendors such as FileNet, Open Text and EMC/Documentum, and also for structured data vendors such as IBM, Microsoft and Sybase". Tsunami is expected to deliver a major upgrade to Oracle's existing Collaboration Suite, according to the analyst, and it will provide a highly scalable ECM system, with the ability to scale up to tens and potentially hundreds of thousands of seats with ease. "This will impact Oracle's business in two important ways: firstly it will give an instant boost to Collaboration Suite, delivering some solid up-sell opportunities over the first year of release. Secondly (and more importantly in the long run), it will ensure that Oracle remains competitive with Microsoft in its core data management business. UDM will become a focal point for these vendors over the next few years, and Oracle needs to remain abreast of developments. Tsunami appears to be a strong play, and if the focus and momentum behind the project continues, Oracle at least has the potential to take a leadership position." According to Sharpe, Oracle has taken the SharePoint model rather than attempt to emulate IBM's document management heritage, because Oracle is fundamentally a database company and believes that all data should be stored in the database. "The market opportunity for Oracle is large. In less than two years Microsoft has come to dominate the low and mid market for UDM with the release of SharePoint, with cumulatively more seats deployed globally than all the other ECM vendors combined. Oracle hopes to emulate this success in larger enterprise deployments" he says. www.ovum.comhttp://www.content-wire.com/content-management-unstructured-wave1085094000Content Wireadminaccelerate,application developers,application development,architecture,Companies,consumers,deploy,Development,development environment,development time,environments,functionality,integration platform,intelligence,Microsoft,new generation,new technology,next generation,open architecture,open standards,Standards,Technology,technology companies,technology integration,technology platform,unprecedented,web applications,web usersLocation Intelligence .NET PlatformMapInfo Corporation introduced MapXtremeR 2004, the next generation of its location-based technology platform. Built on MicrosoftR .NET, MapXtreme 2004 enables users to develop custom mapping applications that can be deployed both on the desktop and the Web using the same core engine. MapXtreme 2004 provides an unprecedented level of new functionality, including an open architecture that supports IT and industry standards, the ability to develop and deploy more robust applications, and complete integration with the .NET development environment. Previously, if a company wanted to move an application from the desktop to the Web, its IT group would either have to have the in-house expertise or need to learn new programming languages as well as a new development environment. Since MapXtreme 2004 leverages Microsoft Visual Studio .NET, which consolidates Web and desktop development, developers can now create mapping applications for both the Web and desktop environments using the same skill set. As a result, companies should be able to more efficiently leverage existing resources, resulting in reduced development time and cost savings. www.mapinfo.comhttp://www.content-wire.com/location-intelligence-net-platform1054162800Content Wireadminaccelerate,accuracy,adoption,Development,infrastructure,initially,management requirements,management solutions,management vendors,network operators,project management,relationships,risk management,significantly,software developersBasel 2 Will Boost banking IT SpendingIT spending on solutions that enable banks'capital adequacy - driven by new Basel 2 regulations - is expected to absorb about 9% of Western Europe's total banking IT spending in 2006. This will significantly contribute to the overall growth of IT spending in the banking sector over the following years, according to IDC. Starting from 2004, banks are expected to dedicate a larger part of their IT budgets to the adaptation of their IT systems to the new Basel 2 requirements and, in particular, to the development of risk management solutions. In order to ensure the correct identification and risk measurement, European banks must ensure that risk management becomes a more structured process. In particular, banks will initially focus on credit risk management, which is perceived as key in the short term, while operational risk management represents a major challenge in the longer term. "Basel 2 is expected to strongly impact future banking strategies and IT will play a central role in supporting banks in complying with the new regulatory requirements. In Europe, the effects of the new regulations will be especially extensive due to the European Commission's plan to extend the new capital requirements to all European banks with a new directive called CAD 3,"say analysts. "This impact will not diminish when Basel 2's adoption becomes compulsory in 2007. This is a large scale project and IT vendors need to build long-term relationships with banks to better exploit this opportunity."http://www.content-wire.com/basel-2-will-boost-banking-it-spending1045008000Content Wireadminaccelerate,Companies,current market,economy,Economy,investors,Israel,platforms,profiles,time to market,venture capital,War,WorldVenture Capital investment when peace is under threatAccording a recent survey of US leading venture capital investors and emerging companies, the threat of war will not have a long-term effect on the venture market. A study by Fundingpost profiles responses from top VC firms, and from CEOs of emerging companies approaching the venture market. "VCs and entrepreneurs are looking for answers about how the threat of war is affecting the venture market" says Joe Rubin, director, Fundingpost. How is the threat of war affecting deal-flow and investment? VC considerations: - Wars have typically impacted the short-term u.s. economy and not the long-term economy. (Except that if humanity is in for ''''self destruction'''' there may not be a long term whatsoever) - Venture investors are investing for the long term and do not change their long-term strategies based on current events. - Venture investors are opportunistic and look towards current events, such as the threat of war, to seek deal-flow in industries that will attract additional spending such as security. Entrepreneurs considerations: - Entrepreneurs are still actively starting companies, even in the difficult market experienced over the past two years. - Emerging companies today are more realistic in their expectations and understand that with consumer confidence and corporate spending down, they need to adjust their projections and outlook. - Many of the entrepreneurs interviewed believe that historically, the strongest companies are built in difficult market conditions. What the study may not consider, is that the consequences of an irrational war against an Islamic country, could extend the never ending spiral of destruction and hatred that plagues Palestine and Israel to the rest of the world. War now, could be the beginning of the end of the human race on the planet. It''''s good to be able to convert threats into opportunities, but investment should be moderated by a ''''moral edge'''' and the pricelessness of human cost. Profiteering from death is immoral. Time for VCs to change their ways. <a href ="http://www.fundingpost.com/report/index.asp?refer=vcw-pr1"> download the free report</a>http://www.content-wire.com/venture-capital-investment-when-peace-under-threat1043712000Content Wireadminaccelerate,Business,business users,Companies,Internet,internet,mainstream,Microsoft,new business,new technology,project management,senior technology,Technology,technology companies,web managers,web usersSystem Administrators Blame Each Other For Spread Of Slammer Internet WormThe Slammer worm slowed down large sections of the internet at the weekend, reportedly causing ATM machines in America to stop working and knocking large sections of the South Korean population off the web. A web poll of more than 200 business PC users has revealed that most blame their fellow system administrators for the spread of the SQL Slammer internet worm in the last few days, according to Sophos security analysts 64 per cent of poll participants felt that system administrators who failed to keep their systems updated with the latest security patches had been most at fault for allowing the Slammer worm to spread. 24 per cent blamed Microsoft for shipping buggy software, even though Microsoft warned system administrators of the security hole back in July 2002. The poll also revealed that many system administrators have not put in place a formal way of dealing with new security vulnerabilities as they are discovered, with 12 per cent relying on mainstream news reports to tell them about potential problems. Only 43 per cent of respondents said they had signed up for Microsoft's security vulnerability mailing list - the method Sophos recommends to companies who wish to keep informed of new vulnerabilities as soon as they are discovered. "The Slammer worm slowed parts of the internet to tortoise pace this weekend," says Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant, Sophos Anti-Virus. "However, it was 100 per cent preventable. If network managers had put the patch from Microsoft in place when it was first announced last year, the worm would have had no air to breathe. Companies should put formal systems in place now to patch against future vulnerabilities or they could find themselves in a sticky mess." Interestingly, over 50% of those surveyed indicated that they noticed an internet slow down when Slammer was at its height at the weekend. www.sophos.comhttp://www.content-wire.com/system-administrators-blame-each-other-spread-slammer-internet-worm1034204400Content Wireadminaccelerate,architecture,data management,Data Management,data sources,database management,implementation issues,Information Management,information technology,Internet,internet,java,lifecycle,management product,management technology,models,new data,new product,new research,new technology,relational database,semantic,Technology,technology research,vertical markets,WorldDifferent approach to structured data handlingCombining data from multiple sources, managing data over time, and support the semantic rules governing the data throughout lifecycle changes – including definitional characteristics modifications, may require more modern and flexible data structures than previously known. Analysts at IDC say 'relational database management systems are inherently limited in their ability to provide such support.' It was this realisation that prompted Simon Williams to found Lazy Software,the most exciting British technology company of 2001 and developer of Sentences, a highly innovative database management system written in Java and based on the Associative Model of Data. According to IDC, 'Sentences appears to offer clear and compelling benefits in a number of key areas of data management that are not especially well served by relational or object-relational DBMS technology.' They concludes, 'Sentences represents the rebirth of an old idea; that databases are about more than just storing and retrieving structured data, but are about maintaining repositories of useful information and recombining it in different ways to make it even more useful. Relational DBMSs are not set up to handle such a task.' ”IDC has very quickly understood the differences and relative values of the associative and relational models” says Williams “It is heartening to see a research group grasp the issues so completely and understand the implications. As we evangelise the associative model to a world well versed in the relational model over a long period, we look to attract such comments and converts along the way." The associative model of data (AMD)is the first new database architecture since the advent of the Internet, and the only model to take account of its unique needs, and Sentences the first product implementation of the modelhttp://www.content-wire.com/different-approach-structured-data-handling