News

AT&T Helps Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital Improve Workflow With AeroScout Asset Tracking and Temperature Monitoring Solutions

Community Hospital Uses Wi-Fi RFID Solutions to Reduce Costs, Facilitate Compliance and Improve Patient Care

VALENCIA, Calif., March 1 -- Today, AT&T* and AeroScout, announced that Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital contracted with AT&T for the deployment of AeroScout's Wi-Fi RFID Asset Tracking and Temperature Monitoring solutions. These solutions facilitate Henry Mayo's ongoing improvement of daily workflow, staff satisfaction and operational efficiency as well as reducing rental equipment costs and enhancing patient care and safety.

Henry Mayo is a 221-bed, not-for-profit community hospital and trauma center located in the heart of Santa Clarita Valley. Recently named a disaster resource center for Los Angeles County, Henry Mayo is responsible for providing medical equipment, medication and care to the entire community in the event of an emergency or natural disaster. To quickly locate and manage assets during an emergency and in day-to-day operations, the hospital's management team - representing biomedical engineering, facilities, central supply, transportation, security, IT and disaster planning resources - sought a Real Time Location System (RTLS).

After evaluating solutions from four vendors, Henry Mayo selected AT&T along with AeroScout to assist Henry Mayo in improving efficiencies and reducing costs. AT&T, Henry Mayo's primary telecommunications provider, recommended an asset tracking and management solution from AeroScout, a leading provider of unified asset visibility for the healthcare industry. The solution is designed to help the hospital track the use of key assets such as beds, wheelchairs, gurneys, patient-controlled analgesia pumps and infusion pumps. The hospital now has the ability to optimize asset management and equipment utilization levels throughout all departments. Additionally, AeroScout's Temperature Monitoring solution is used to facilitate compliance with The Joint Commission regulations by ensuring refrigerator temperatures remain within the specified range for pharmaceuticals, tissue samples and other temperature-sensitive material.

"We chose to work with AT&T because of its ability to deliver solutions for all our telecommunications needs," said Cindy Peterson, Chief Information Officer at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital. "In addition, AeroScout's robust set of solutions not only met our defined needs, but also supported many more potential uses. Another important factor was that AeroScout was able to leverage and complement our Cisco Unified Wireless Network, as this is the Wi-Fi network that we've made our standard."

Henry Mayo has already begun to realize hard cost savings from its Wi-Fi RFID deployment. For example, the hospital has reduced its rental equipment expenses. In one instance, the hospital's central supply department received a request to rent 10 infusion pumps. By checking in AeroScout's MobileView software and locating unused equipment in the hospital's ICU, no additional pumps were found to be necessary and the hospital saved on its rental costs.

AT&T and AeroScout will be showcasing all of their healthcare solutions in booths #6209 and #8055, respectively, at the HIMSS 2010 conference held in Atlanta, Georgia on March 1 - 3, 2010.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

About AeroScout

AeroScout is the market leader in Unified Asset Visibility solutions. Customers improve operational efficiency using AeroScout products that leverage standard Wi-Fi networks to track and manage the location, condition and status of mobile assets and people. AeroScout's global customer base consists of leading hospital, manufacturing and logistics organizations, including many of the Fortune 500. The company invented the first Wi-Fi-based Active RFID tag, and today is widely recognized as leading the market in number of deployments and tags shipped. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, AeroScout has offices in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and Latin America. For more information, please visit http://www.aeroscout.com.

AeroScout is a registered trademark of AeroScout, Inc. Wi-Fi is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Information is subject to change without notice.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates - AT&T operating companies - are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation's fastest 3G network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet and voice services. AT&T offers the best wireless coverage worldwide, offering the most wireless phones that work in the most countries.  It also offers advanced TV services under the AT&T U-verse(SM) and AT&T | DIRECTV(SM) brands. The company's suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world. In domestic markets, AT&T's Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations are known for their leadership in directory publishing and advertising sales. In 2009, AT&T again ranked No. 1 in the telecommunications industry on FORTUNE® magazine's list of the World's Most Admired Companies.

Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com/.  This AT&T news release and other announcements are available at http://www.att.com/newsroom and as part of an RSS feed at http://www.att.com/rss. Or follow our news on Twitter at @ATTNews. Find us on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/ATT to discover more about our consumer and wireless services or at http://www.facebook.com/ATTSmallBiz to discover more about our small business services.

© 2010 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. 3G service not available in all areas. AT&T, the AT&T logo and all other marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies.

Source: AT&T Inc.
   

CONTACT:  Gina Pernetti of AT&T Corporate Communications,
+1-916-847-8542, [email protected]; or Collin Moore of LEWIS PR, +1-415-992-4400,
[email protected], for AeroScout

Web Site:  http://www.att.com/

InsightSoftware.com Offers Free Web-Based Oracle FSG Integrity Checker

E-Business Suite users take advantage of online service to identify financial reporting integrity issues

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo., March 1 -- After the initial pilot launch, InsightSoftware.com has officially debuted its Financial Statement Generator (FSG) Integrity Checker.  The free Web-based tool helps Oracle E-Business Suite users identify possible inaccuracies or redundancies with their FSG reports and determine the overall "health" of their report definitions.

"Quite simply, the FSG Integrity Checker exists to help all E-Business Suite users with their Oracle FSG reports," said Paul Yarwood, U.S. operations general manager for InsightSoftware.com.  "Our Integrity Checker highlights possible problems that might impact the validity of FSG report definitions.

"Because we allow the Integrity Checker to be used often, Oracle customers can use it repeatedly," Yarwood continued.  "InsightSoftware.com's FSG Integrity Checker is a quick-and-easy way to highlight reporting problems before they impact business."

Beyond the FSG Integrity Checker, InsightSoftware.com offers a total FSG replacement tool. The software solution can import existing FSG row set structures and easily replicate column and content set structures through user-controlled filters.  And, it doesn't require additional IT infrastructure.

In addition, Insight can import existing FSG row sets and hierarchies; edit reports by simple mouse-controlled "drag and drops;" build new row sets in minutes; view an entire row set definition as a visual tree; apply high-quality formatting; drill-down to general ledger and sub- ledgers at any level; and "one-click" publishing.

For more information about InsightSoftware.com's Oracle FSG Integrity Checker, visit http://www.insightsoftware.com/fsgchecker.

About InsightSoftware.com

InsightSoftware.com optimizes business processes for Oracle E-Business Suite and JD Edwards, empowering end users with access to live information.  The InsightSoftware.com software solution improves productivity for ad hoc requests, reporting, analysis, audit and reconciliation needs.

InsightSoftware.com is a global software provider and has customers throughout North America, Europe and Australia.  For further information, please call: USA: 1-888-467-1448, UK: +44 (0)845-467-4448, AUS: +61 (0) 2-8216-0810, or visit http://www.InsightSoftware.com .

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

  CONTACT:
  Lynda Huebsch
  Product Marketing Director
  InsightSoftware.com
  [email protected]
  ---------------------------------

Source: InsightSoftware.com
   

CONTACT:  Lynda Huebsch, Product Marketing Director of
InsightSoftware.com, +1-303-847-0653, [email protected]

Web Site:  http://www.insightsoftware.com/

Light Reading's SPIT Week Begins

Light Reading's week-long coverage effort on Service Provider IT (SPIT) kicks off with a focus on Telecom Service Brokers

NEW YORK, March 1 -- UBM TechWeb's Light Reading (http://www.lightreading.com), the largest research-led media company serving the global communications marketplace, is celebrating Service Provider Information Technology (SPIT) Week, five days of focused content that covers many of topics and technologies identified in Light Reading's SPIT Manifesto published in February (http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=187395&).

SPIT, or Service Provider Information Technology, is Light Reading's new term describing the evolving set of non-traditional telecom (and data networking) technologies that allow for a greater degree of flexibility in the creation, management, delivery, and monetization of new-generation communications services. Beginning today, Light Reading is showcasing some special coverage devoted to the topic during a special week of coverage that has been generously sponsored by Nokia Siemens Networks.

We're kicking off SPIT Week with a Special Feature, "Who Makes What: Telecom Service Brokers," which covers an emerging category of devices and techniques service providers are using to deal with third-party applications stores and online service development and creation environments (http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=186314&).

Also today, Light Reading TV (LRTV) publishes an interview with Ravinder Jain, the CIO of Aircel Ltd., India's fifth-largest mobile operator. Jain talks about the growing importance of the CIO in modern service providers, and how the CIO's team is no longer confined to the back office, but is increasingly involved in front-line business transformation processes (http://www.lightreading.com/video.asp?doc_id=188481&).

"The ongoing developments in the service provider IT sector, whether in new-generation OSS, convergent billing, service delivery platforms, or policy control, are vital to the strategies of today's communications service providers, and need to be identified and understood," says Ray Le Maistre, Light Reading's International Managing Editor. "We hope our coverage will go some way toward highlighting the key SPIT issues impacting service providers and will identify some of new technology developments underway at many of the industry's major players and innovative specialists."

SPIT Week will be accompanied by a series of SPIT-related Webinars and a SPIT-related virtual event, Three OSS Imperatives: Customer, Cost & Cloud, scheduled for April 20. The first Webinar, titled "Generating New Revenue Streams While Improving Differentiation & Efficiency," will take place on Thursday, March 4 and is sponsored by Nokia Siemens Networks. You can register for the Webinar here: http://www.lightreading.com/webinar.asp?webinar_id=29374. The Webinar is free to attend. For information on SPIT-related sponsorship and speaking opportunities contact [email protected].

  Contact:
  Amy Averbook
  Light Reading
  212 600-3373
  [email protected]

  About Light Reading

Founded in 2000, Light Reading (http://www.lightreading.com) is the leading online media, research, and focused event company serving the $3 trillion worldwide communications market. Lightreading.com is the ultimate source for technological and financial analysis of the communications industry, leading the media sector in terms of traffic, content, and reputation. Light Reading's research arms, Heavy Reading and Pyramid Research, provide the most comprehensive communications research, market data, and technology analysis in close to 100 markets around the world. Light Reading produces nearly 20 targeted communications events including TelcoTV, and TelcoTV Asia, Ethernet Expo New York and Ethernet Europe, and The Tower Summit @ CTIA, as well as focused one-day events tailored for cable, mobile, and wireline executives in the US, Europe, India, and China. Light Reading was acquired by United Business Media in August 2005 and operates as a unit of TechWeb.

About UBM TechWeb

UBM TechWeb, the global leader in technology media and professional information, enables people and organizations to harness the transformative power of technology.  Through its core businesses - media solutions, marketing services, and professional information - UBM TechWeb produces the most respected and consumed brands, applications, and services in the technology market. More than 14.5 million business and technology professionals (CIOs, IT and IT support managers, Web and digital professionals, software and game developers, government decision makers, and telecom providers) actively participate in UBM TechWeb's communities. UBM TechWeb brands includes: global face-to-face events such as Interop, Game Developers Conference (GDC), Web 2.0, Black Hat, and VoiceCon; large-scale online networks such as InformationWeek, Light Reading, and Gamasutra; research, training, and certification services, including HDI, Pyramid Research, and InformationWeek Analytics; and market-leading magazines such as InformationWeek and Wall Street & Technology.  UBM TechWeb is part of UBM, a global provider of media and information services for professional B2B communities and markets.

About United Business Media Limited

UBM (UBM.L) focuses on two principal activities: worldwide information distribution, targeting and monitoring; and, the development and monetization of B2B communities and markets. UBM's businesses inform markets and serve professional commercial communities - from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewelry traders, from farmers to pharmacists - with integrated events, online, print, and business information products. Our 6,500 staff in more than 30 countries are organized into specialist teams that serve these communities, bringing buyers and sellers together, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently. For more information, go to http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com/.

Source: Light Reading
   

CONTACT:  Amy Averbook, Light Reading, +1-212 600-3373,
[email protected]

Web Site:  http://www.lightreading.com/

Surgical Information Systems Introduces Powerful Anesthesia Business Intelligence Tool

ATLANTA, March 1 -- Surgical Information Systems (SIS) today introduced a new Anesthesia View as part of its robust business intelligence tool, SIS Analytics.  This powerful solution gives anesthesia care givers the ability to identify clinical and operational issues, drill-down to determine root causes, compare actual to benchmarked performance, and customize the dashboards as needed to complete analysis and make actionable decisions.

(Logo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080722/SISLOGO )

As the only perioperative business intelligence tool endorsed by the American Hospital Association (AHA), SIS Analytics allows for quick and insightful analysis of perioperative-specific information such as OR utilization, case costs, supply costs, compliance with SCIP, and more. Through easy-to-understand tables and graphical displays, SIS Analytics conveys detailed information in an intuitive manner. It also enables users to drill down into the information to easily figure out root causes and to quickly check assumptions and answer additional questions as they come to mind.  The solution provides benefits for not only the hospital, but the anesthesiologist as well - benefits including improved billing, compliance with pay-for-performance initiatives, and schedule management.

"SIS Analytics is a robust business intelligence solution already used by many SIS clients to drive improved profitability, operational efficiency, patient safety and quality of care," said SIS CEO Ed Daihl.  "As part of SIS' single database solution, the Anesthesia View incorporates data collected as an automatic by-product of the care process during every perioperative phase.  This makes it easy for anesthesia staff to relate anesthesia-specific data to the bigger picture, in order to make informed decisions."

  Utilizing the SIS Analytics Anesthesia View, anesthesia staff can:

  --  Access staffing patterns
  --  Trend acuity and demographics
  --  Quickly determine anesthesia times, surgical times, and outcomes by
      caregiver
  --  Monitor delivery of care & anesthesia-related outcomes
  --  Analyze anesthetic selection related to throughput
  --  Ensure concurrency rules and regulatory compliance
  --  Perform benchmarking and ad hoc clinical research
  --  Identify correlations with physiologic data and outcomes
  --  Track the number and type of cases completed
  --  Make informed projections and decisions

As a key part of the company's mobility initiative, SIS Analytics is easy-to-use and accessible via iPhones, giving users mobile access to up-to-date information for decision-making.  Easy access to actionable intelligence regarding the entire perioperative process with custom views such as the Anesthesia View leads to improved processes and improved patient safety.

About SIS

SIS provides software solutions that are uniquely designed to add value at every point of the perioperative process. Developed specifically for the complex surgical environment, all SIS solutions - including anesthesia - are architected on a single database and integrate easily with other hospital systems. SIS offers the only surgical scheduling system endorsed by the American Hospital Association (AHA), and a rules-based charging system that has been granted Peer Reviewed status by the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA).

For more information visit our website, http://www.SISFirst.com.

Photo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080722/SISLOGO
Source: Surgical Information Systems
   

CONTACT:  Brent Harrison, +1-800-866-0656, [email protected]

Web Site:  http://www.sisfirst.com/

AT&T Names Sonia Perez President of AT&T Louisiana

NEW ORLEANS, March 1 -- AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) today announced that Sonia Perez has been named president of AT&T Louisiana. Perez most recently served as Vice President for AT&T Texas.

"We know that Sonia will do a great job in Louisiana," said David Condit, AT&T president of state legislative and regulatory affairs. "Her community involvement as well as her role in bringing innovative new technology to our customers will be an asset as we move ahead in Louisiana."

As president of AT&T Louisiana, Perez will work closely with community leaders, elected officials, stakeholders and others at AT&T to bring the best technology-including AT&T U-verse video service-to consumers. "U-verse has been very well received where I now serve in Southeast Texas," said Perez. "I am excited to help bring the benefits of video competition to more of our customers in Louisiana, where we are really just getting started launching this exciting new product."

Her work in Texas was praised by those with whom she has worked. "Sonia Perez has been a good partner with the union here," said Claude Cummings, President, Communications Workers of America Local 6222, Houston, TX. "Our community has been enhanced by her leadership. She gets things done."

"Her leadership in working with the legislature helped win passage of landmark legislation that gave consumers more choice and competition in their video services," added Chairman Sylvester Turner of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus. He continued: "Her capable leadership provided a human face for AT&T that served the communities well."

In addition to her responsibilities in the company, Perez has also been very involved in community and charitable activities. Her community board involvement includes serving on the executive committees of the Greater Houston Partnership and the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. She also serves on the boards of the Texas Senate Hispanic Research Council and the Memorial Hermann Hospital System. Ms. Perez has held various leadership positions including serving as President of the Board of the Texas Exes, the alumni association of The University of Texas at Austin; and as a member of the Executive Committee of The University's Commission of 125. She currently serves on the advisory board of the Center for Politics and Governance at the LBJ School of Public Affairs.

Ms. Perez graduated with Honors from The University of Texas at Austin. She and her husband, Javier, have three children.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates, AT&T operating companies, are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. Among their offerings are the world's most advanced IP-based business communications services, the nation's fastest 3G network and the best wireless coverage worldwide, and the nation's leading high speed Internet access and voice services. In domestic markets, AT&T is known for the directory publishing and advertising sales leadership of its Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations, and the AT&T brand is licensed to innovators in such fields as communications equipment. As part of their three-screen integration strategy, AT&T operating companies are expanding their TV entertainment offerings. In 2009, AT&T again ranked No. 1 in the telecommunications industry on FORTUNE® magazine's list of the World's Most Admired Companies. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com/.

© 2010 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the AT&T logo and all other marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies.

Cautionary Language Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

Information set forth in this press release contains financial estimates and other forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results might differ materially. A discussion of factors that may affect future results is contained in AT&T's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AT&T disclaims any obligation to update and revise statements contained in this news release based on new information or otherwise.

Source: AT&T Inc.
   

CONTACT:  Hood Harris of AT&T Public Affairs, Cell, +1-205-382-5853,
[email protected]

Web Site:  http://www.att.com/

Media Advisory: Systematic, High Frequency Financial Trading and the Data Quandary

Webinar to feature prominent Industry Analyst Larry Tabb and Vertica customer BlueCrest Capital Management

BILLERICA, Mass., March 1 --   WHO:
  --  Larry Tabb, Founder and CEO, TABB Group
  --  Mark Holt, Head of Systematic Implementation, BlueCrest Capital
      Management
  --  David Menninger, VP of Product Management and Marketing, Vertica

  WHAT:

While the systematic trading of financial products strategies started in the U.S. equity market, it has spread to U.S. futures and options, foreign exchanges, overseas markets and now threatens to become the primary method for trading virtually all products. While all of these products and markets are unique, they all require the ingestion, analysis and processing of massive quantities of real-time data. The amount of data that needs to be analyzed is incomprehensible. On an average day the peak amount of U.S. market information for exchange-traded products that needs to be analyzed exceeds 1.5 million messages per second up from a peak of less than five thousand messages a second only a decade ago.

  DETAILS:
  --  Larry Tabb, Founder and CEO of TABB Group will discuss the
      opportunities and challenges of aggregating, analyzing and trading off
      of an increasingly gargantuan amount of data that needs to be analyzed
      by the microsecond.
  --  Mark Holt, Head of Systematic Implementation at BlueCrest Capital
      Management will describe some of BlueCrest's systematic trading
      applications and how BlueCrest approaches the challenges associated
      with the volume and frequency of data involved.

  WHEN:  Tuesday, March 2, 2010 from 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. ET

WHERE:  To sign up, please visit: http://vertica.webex.com/vertica/onstage/g.php?t=a&dU5024971.

About Vertica

Vertica Systems offers a true columnar analytic database management system that combines columnar storage with execution running on industry-standard hardware. Co-founded by database pioneer Dr. Michael Stonebraker, Vertica has developed column-oriented analytic database technology with an MPP architecture that lets companies of any size store and query very large databases orders of magnitude faster and more affordably than other solutions. The Vertica Analytic Database is available as software only, as a hardware-based appliance, as a virtual appliance on VMware or online as a cloud computing solution. The technology's unmatched speed, scalability, flexibility and ease of use helps Vertica's 120+ customers including JP Morgan Chase, Verizon, Mozilla, Comcast, Level(3) Communications and Vonage capitalize on business opportunities in real time. Vertica is headquartered in Billerica, Mass. For more information, visit the company's Web site at http://www.vertica.com/.

Source: Vertica Systems
   

CONTACT:  Ed Marshall of Beaupre & Co. Public Relations, +1-603-559-5816,
[email protected], for Vertica Systems

Web Site:  http://www.vertica.com/

2010 NCAA(R) March Madness(R) on Demand Announces Video Player Upgrades

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., March 1 -- CBSSports.com, in partnership with CBS Sports and the NCAA, today announced several upgrades to the NCAA March Madness on Demand (http://mmod.ncaa.com/) video player that will be available for users when first round action from the 2010 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship begins on Thursday, March 18. NCAA March Madness on Demand ("MMOD") is the only major sports event that is broadcast live and in its entirety for free on the Internet and has become one of the largest annual events on the web.

As was the case in 2009, CBSSports.com will again provide a standard video player in addition to offering viewers the ability to upgrade to a high-quality video player delivering an enhanced video stream. In 2010, NCAA March Madness on Demand will feature several upgrades to the viewing experience including the ability for viewers of the high-quality player to watch picture-in-picture highlights of ongoing action inside of a live video stream from the 2010 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship.

Additionally, both the standard and high-quality 2010 NCAA March Madness on Demand video player will provide viewers the ability to show statistical overlays on top of live video action, displaying tournament and game leaders in categories such as points, assists, rebounds, and 3-pointers.

The NCAA March Madness on Demand "Boss Button" has been redesigned for 2010 as well. The "Boss Button", which was clicked over 2.77 million times during the 2009 tournament, hides the live video action on the screen and silences the audio, replacing it with a "business-like" image. The new 2010 "Boss Button" image will be unveiled on March 14 prior to the NCAA Basketball Championship Selection Show which will be broadcast on CBS Sports and streamed live on NCAA March Madness on Demand.

NCAA March Madness on Demand's standard video player will launch on March 10 with historical highlights from past NCAA tournaments and be available at NCAA.com (http://mmod.ncaa.com/) as well as via MMOD links on CBSSports.com.

In 2009, the CBSSports.com production of NCAA March Madness on Demand recorded 7.52 million unique visitors in 2009, a 58% increase over 2008 figures. Additionally, there were 8.6 million total hours of video and audio consumed, a 75% increase over 2008 figures.

"It's been amazing to watch the growth of NCAA March Madness on Demand since we first offered the product in 2003," said Sean McManus, President, CBS Sports and CBS News. "Quite simply, it's become the annual event for sports fans on the Internet and a perfect complement to the CBS Sports broadcast of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship."

"March Madness on Demand has consistently been one of the most successful online sports applications in the world when you consider the quality of the product, the upgrades to the program from year-to-year and the increased viewership each season," said Greg Shaheen, NCAA senior vice president for basketball and business strategies.  "We work with CBSSports.com and CBS Sports to deliver the highest standard video stream for our NCAA basketball fan base.  If our audiences are unable to attend the tournament in person, March Madness on Demand offers them an attractive, easily accessible alternative for watching the games in the highest quality we've ever delivered online."

"The upgrades and improvements CBSSports.com has made to NCAA Madness on Demand in 2010 will provide for an incredible online viewing experience," said Jason Kint, Senior Vice President and General Manager, CBSSports.com. "Our goal has always been to give NCAA basketball fans access to all the games on all platforms - TV, online, and mobile, and through that process, we've built one of the largest streaming events in the world."

In 2010, CBSSports.com will once again distribute NCAA March Madness on Demand across the Internet with its Developer Platform, allowing sites to link directly into the MMOD video player. The network of sites participating in the NCAA March Madness on Demand Developer Platform in 2010 will include popular news, entertainment, sports and social media sites such as CNN.com, ESPN.com and Facebook; CBS Interactive properties including TV.com, CBS.com, CNET.com and GameSpot.com; as well as other partners across the CBS Audience Network and sites for CBS television and radio stations and affiliates.

The 2010 NCAA March Madness on Demand standard video player will utilize Adobe Flash technology, while the high-quality player will again use Microsoft Silverlight to deliver the enhanced video stream. In 2009, NCAA March Madness on Demand teamed up with Microsoft Corp. to deliver the first-ever live and on-demand, high-quality video stream of a major sports event on the Internet.

By downloading the Silverlight high-quality player, users can upgrade their NCAA March Madness on Demand experience from the standard player (approx. 550 kb/s) to one delivering up to 1.8 mb/s of enhanced video action from the 2010 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship. In 2010, the Silverlight high-quality player for NCAA March Madness on Demand will use IIS Smooth Streaming, a technology that automatically adjusts the video stream to the optimal bitrate based on system/computer/connection, allowing users the best possible viewing experience.

Both the standard video player and the high-quality option will be offered free of charge. For more information on 2010 NCAA March Madness on Demand and to download the Silverlight player for high-quality video, users can visit: http://mmod.ncaa.com/.

NCAA March Madness on Demand is the Emmy award-winning video player that provides live streaming video and audio of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship. Since its inception in 2003, MMOD traditionally provided live video of the first 56 games, starting with the first round, of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship as they were broadcast by CBS Sports, with local broadcasts being subject to blackouts.

Beginning in 2008, MMOD began showing all 63 games, from the first round of the tournament through the semifinal and final games of the Men's Final Four® making it the only major sporting event that is broadcast live and in its entirety for free on the Internet. In addition to live video, NCAA March Madness on Demand also provides live audio from the Westwood One radio broadcasts of the entire NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship, including the opening round game*.

*NCAA March Madness on Demand will not show video of the Opening Round Game on March 16.

  Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.

  About CBS Interactive

CBS Interactive, a division of CBS Corporation, is the best online content network for information and entertainment.  With 200 million people visiting its properties each month, it is a top 10 Web property globally and a top 5 Web property in the U.S. in terms of unique video viewers.  Its portfolio of leading brands, which include CNET, CBS.com, CBSSports.com, GameSpot, TV.com, BNET, CBS RADIO, and Last.fm, span popular categories such as technology, entertainment, sports, news and business.

Follow CBS Interactive on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/cbsitweets.

More information about CBS and its businesses is available at http://www.cbscorporation.com.

About the NCAA

The NCAA is a membership-led nonprofit association of colleges and universities committed to supporting academic and athletic opportunities for more than 400,000 student-athletes at more than 1,000 member colleges and universities. Each year, more than 54,000 student-athletes compete in NCAA championships in Divisions I, II and III sports. Visit http://www.NCAA.org and http://www.NCAA.com for more details about the Association, its goals and members and corporate partnerships that help support programs for student-athletes.  The NCAA is proud to have the following elite companies as official Corporate Champions-AT&T and Coca-Cola-and the following elite companies as official Corporate Partners-Enterprise, The Hartford, Hershey's, LG, Lowe's and State Farm.

NCAA, Final Four, and March Madness are trademarks owned or licensed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

Source: CBSSports.com
   

CONTACT:  Alex Riethmiller - CBSSports.com, +1-954-689-3334,
[email protected]; or LeslieAnne Wade - CBS Sports, +1-212-975-5171,
[email protected]; or Gail Dent - NCAA, +1-317-917-6117, [email protected]

Web Site:  http://mmod.ncaa.com/

Cogent Communications CEO to Present at Two Upcoming Conferences

WASHINGTON, March 1 -- Cogent Communications Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI), one of the largest Internet service providers in the world, today announced that Dave Schaeffer, Cogent's chief executive officer, will present at the following conferences:

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020204/DCM032LOGO )

The Raymond James 31st Annual Institutional Investors Conference is being held at the JW Marriott Grande Lakes in Orlando, Florida.  Dave Schaeffer will be presenting on Monday, March 8th at 3:25 PM ET.

The Credit Suisse Global Media and Communications Convergence Conference is being held at the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, FL.  Dave Schaeffer will participate in panels at 10:30 AM and 3:45 PM ET on Tuesday, March 9th. The 10:45 AM panel is titled "Making Money on Wireless Growth" and the 3:45 PM panel is titled "The State of the SME Market."

Investors and other interested parties may access a live audio webcast of the Raymond James presentation by going to the Investor Relations section of Cogent's website (http://www.cogentco.com/us/ir_events.php) to access the link to the live audio webcasts.  A replay of the webcast will be available on Cogent's IR website for 7 days following the presentations. The Credit Suisse panels will not be webcast.

About Cogent Communications

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) is a multinational, Tier 1 facilities-based ISP, consistently ranked as one of the top five networks in the world.  Cogent specializes in providing businesses with high speed Internet access and point-to-point transport services.  Cogent's facilities-based, all-optical IP network backbone provides IP services in over 140 markets located in North America and Europe.

Since its inception, Cogent has unleashed the benefits of IP technology, building one of the largest and highest capacity IP networks in existence.  This network enables Cogent to offer large bandwidth connections at highly competitive prices.  Cogent also offers superior customer support by virtue of its end-to-end control of service delivery and network monitoring.

Cogent Communications is headquartered at 1015 31st Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20007. For more information, visit http://www.cogentco.com . Cogent Communications can be reached in the United States at (202) 295-4200 or via email at [email protected].

Information in this release may involve expectations, beliefs, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future.  These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties.  All forward-looking statements included in this release are based upon information available to Cogent Communications Group, Inc. as of the date of the release, and we assume no obligation to update any such forward-looking statement.  The statements in this release are not guarantees of future performance and actual results could differ materially from our current expectations.  Numerous factors could cause or contribute to such differences.  Some of the factors and risks associated with our business are discussed in Cogent's registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in its other reports filed from time to time with the SEC.

Photo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020204/DCM032LOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk [email protected]
Source: Cogent Communications Group, Inc.
   

CONTACT:  Public Relations, Travis Wachter, +1-202-295-4217,
[email protected], or Investor Relations, +1-202-295-4212,
[email protected]

Web Site:  http://www.cogentco.com/

According to RILA Survey: Protecting Customer Data is a Top Priority for Retailers

ARLINGTON, Va., March 1 -- According to a report released today by the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) in partnership with Retail Systems Research (RSR), more than ever before retailers are viewing the issues of privacy and security as strategic imperatives within their organizations. Privacy not only fulfills brand-promise but also allows retailers to successfully move forward with cross-channel retailing.

The report, entitled Building Trust and Growing the Brand: The Role of Privacy and Security in Retail 2010, contains analysis of the business drivers, opportunities, and Information Technology enablers surrounding security and privacy initiatives, as well as recommendations for creating successful internal and customer-facing policies.

"For 47% of overall respondents, proactively addressing privacy and security issues enables them to move forward with an aggressive cross-channel agenda," said Steve Rowen, co-author of the report. "Customers are researching, shopping, and returning any way they please, in any channel, in any combination of channels - in ways that were not predicted even a few short years ago. Retailers know this, and for nearly half of them, there is a strong recognition that privacy and security are a prerequisite to keeping a competitive position in the game."

"Retailers place the highest value on their customer relationships and are committed to safeguarding the personally identifiable information of shoppers," said Casey Chroust, executive vice president for retail operations. "Retailers have gone to great lengths to incorporate privacy as a strategic component of their daily operations and remain vigilant in protecting customer data while providing the value customers want. When utilized properly, customer-specific data can be used to enhance the shopping experience for consumers."

When it comes to the attitudes toward customer concerns, 87% of winning retailers believe that recent publicized breaches have raised consumer awareness about payment data. Seventy-two percent (72%) of winning retailers shared that privacy is a concern for their customers and retail products and services require the protection of sensitive information.

According to the report:

"Retail Winners have, by their behavior, created a roadmap for others to follow: elevate the challenges to the policy level, define business-level accountability, define and communicate the company's commitment, develop repeatable "best practice-based" processes, and implement them."

The report concludes that there is no strategic advantage to addressing the data security and privacy imperative, there is only strategic disadvantage if these challenges are not addressed. Customer data has strategic importance to the company's ability to execute on its brand promise, and systems that create, retrieve, update, and delete that data must comply with corporate policies regarding privacy and data security. Retailers acknowledge that the ability to ensure consumer privacy and data security is vital to the brand promise and the inability to do so would impede successful execution of a cross-channel strategy.

RSR and the RILA conducted this survey from December 2009 - February 2010 and surveyed retail senior business management executives, vice presidents, directors/managers, staff and internal consultants. This survey was sponsored by Intel and Sterling Commerce.

Retail Systems Research ("RSR") is the only research company run by retailers for the retail industry. RSR provides insight into business and technology challenges facing the retail industry ecosystem, and thought leadership and advice on navigating these challenges for specific companies and the industry at large.

Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) is the trade association of the world's largest and most innovative retail companies. RILA members include more than 200 retailers, product manufacturers, and service suppliers, which together account for more than $1.5 trillion in annual sales, millions of American jobs and more than 100,000 stores, manufacturing facilities and distribution centers domestically and abroad.

Source: Retail Industry Leaders Association
   

CONTACT:  Liz Jennings of the Retail Industry Leaders Association,
+1-703-600-2063, [email protected]

Web Site:  http://www.retail-leaders.org/

CallFire Releases Hosted IVR

CallFire, a provider of hosted cloud telephony technology, has launched its Hosted Interactive Voice Response (IVR) product.

LOS ANGELES, March 1 -- CallFire, a provider of hosted cloud telephony technology, has launched its Hosted Interactive Voice Response (IVR) product.  This product fills an important gap in the telephony space allowing for rich customer interactions without live call center representatives.  IVRs are widely used for large enterprises, but with this release, CallFire is democratizing the technology for smaller to mid-size businesses. Hosted IVR's robust capabilities offer a comprehensive solution for a large variety of telecom needs.

  CallFire's Hosted IVR Features include:
  --  Human-like text-to-speech
  --  Scale from 1 to 1000s of calls
  --  APIs for developer integration
  --  Real-time phone number provisioning
  --  Simple pricing starting at 5 cents per minute

Core to CallFire's Hosted IVR product is the user-friendly IVR designer, which offers drag and drop functionality for non-technical users empowering them to create complex surveys, and meeting reminders via an intuitive, engaging user interface.  This capability widens the range of users who can individually build their own IVRs, something that historically could only be done by a developer.  The ease of use, however, does not decrease the feature set.  Features that include reading text from a specific excel column using text to speech, complex dial plans, recording of responses, and even Google analytics integration. "The product is so easy to use, we think it will revolutionize the way small businesses use telephones to save time, collect data & become more productive," said Dinesh Ravishankar, CEO of CallFire.  He continues, "Real time reporting and enterprise scalability allow larger businesses to leverage the same features at a fraction of what they used to pay."

To try an IVR demonstration, please call 877-494-7175.

Hosted IVR's feature set supports a wide range of customer uses creating a high degree of personalization in the conversation.  For example, the IVR can be used for a virtual receptionist that will route phone calls, Comprehensive phone surveys that will compile results, or Customized appointment reminders.  The IVR can either be sent out to a list of phone numbers or assigned to a specific phone number that can receive incoming calls.

  Contact:
  Becky Siegel
  Marketing Coordinator
  [email protected]
  Sales: 877.897.FIRE

  About CallFire:

CallFire is an industry leader in cloud telephony services that makes using VoIP simple. CallFire specializes in providing high-availability systems, beautiful user interfaces, furious developer support, and unparalleled customer care. Our products include hosted power dialing for agents, voice broadcast, toll free numbers, call tracking analytics and voice APIs. Our tools help developers, carriers & publishers build useful telephony applications. CallFire is located in Downtown Los Angeles and is comprised of a friendly group of intellectuals with aspirations to revolutionize how companies do business.

Source: CallFire
   

CONTACT:  Becky Siegel, Marketing Coordinator, CallFire, Sales:
877.897.FIRE, [email protected]

Surgical Information Systems Introduces 'SIS OR View' to Maximize Communication and Improve Patient Safety in the Operating Room

ATLANTA, March 1 -- From the HIMSS Conference in Atlanta, Ga. today Surgical Information Systems (SIS) introduced SIS OR View as the first fully integrated in-room perioperative dashboard.  The solution's real-time display completely evolves the way perioperative teams work together by providing visual communication of pertinent case information for the entire OR care team.  A dynamic, customizable display increases patient safety by keeping clinicians, surgeons and anesthesiologists better informed with vital patient and procedure information.

(Logo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080722/SISLOGO )

The configurable wide screen display provides visual information on case details, medical and surgical history, procedures, observations, staff in-room, lab and test results, milestones, checklists, time-out forms and patient allergies.  These critical data points, along with alerts and checklists that facilitate quality processes, are visually accessible to all members of the perioperative team - in the operating room, during the surgical procedure.  This ensures that the right people are working from the right information at the right time.

"As the perioperative specialist, SIS' singular focus has always been simplifying the surgical care process while providing clear, accurate documentation as an automatic by-product of clinical workflow," said SIS CEO Ed Daihl.  "With SIS OR View, we have taken that specialized focus to the next level by building on our single database architecture that is unique and unmatched in the industry.  The SIS solution helps streamline every phase of perioperative workflow and provides customized views by caregiver such as surgeon, OR nurse and anesthesiologist.  SIS OR View consolidates perioperative information without the need for additional interfaces or integrations to build or maintain, providing a real-time display of information to the entire team precisely when it is needed.  This reduces surgical complications while simultaneously streamlining workflow."

Many of the safety issues originating in the OR are founded in communication problems - something that SIS OR View is designed to eliminate.  The highly visual wide screen display is easily viewed by the entire perioperative team and makes it easy to fully comply with patient safety and pay-for-performance policies including those from: Joint Commission Universal Protocol, Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs), Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and World Health Organization (WHO).

SIS OR View promotes the highest level of patient safety by enabling good teamwork and a high level of procedural awareness, and by mapping workflow to quality hospital processes.  Improved communication and the availability of information to the entire team facilitates quality processes with features like checklists that are designed to eliminate serious errors such as wrong-site, wrong procedure and wrong person surgery.  Other benefits include:

  --  Avoidance of allergic or adverse reaction
  --  Verification that milestones are documented in the correct order
  --  Increased awareness by all OR team members
  --  Facilitation of safe hand-offs
  --  Effective exchange of critical patient information
  --  Reduction of verbal miscommunication
  --  Visual indicator comparing scheduled case time to actual time elapsed

As the first solution of its kind to be fully integrated with a complete perioperative solution, SIS OR View is available as part of the SIS suite of industry-leading products including the AHA-endorsed SIS Scheduling, SIS Analytics and SIS Com, in addition to the HFMA Peer Reviewed SIS Rules-Based Charging.  SIS Solutions enable healthcare organizations to drive improved profitability, operational efficiency, patient safety and quality of care.

About SIS

SIS provides software solutions that are uniquely designed to add value at every point of the perioperative process. Developed specifically for the complex surgical environment, all SIS solutions - including anesthesia - are architected on a single database and integrate easily with other hospital systems. SIS offers the only surgical scheduling system endorsed by the American Hospital Association (AHA), and a rules-based charging system that has been granted Peer Reviewed status by the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA).

For more information visit our website, http://www.SISFirst.com.

Photo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080722/SISLOGO
Source: Surgical Information Systems
   

CONTACT:  Brent Harrison, +1-800-866-0656, [email protected]

Web Site:  http://www.sisfirst.com/

Torchmark Corporation Elects New Director

MCKINNEY, Texas, March 1 -- Torchmark Corporation (NYSE:TMK) announced that Darren M. Rebelez, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of 7-Eleven, Inc., was elected to its Board of Directors on February 25, 2010.  A California native and Texas resident, Mr. Rebelez holds a B.S. degree in General Engineering from the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY and a M.B.A. from the University of Houston.  At 7-Eleven, he is responsible for eight regional operating divisions and over 6,000 convenience stores in North America.  He previously held executive positions at ExxonMobil Corporation and Thornton Oil Corporation, working with franchising and their convenience store chains.

Torchmark Corporation is a holding company specializing in life and supplemental health insurance for "middle income" Americans marketed through multiple distribution channels including direct response, and exclusive and independent agencies.  Torchmark has several nationally recognized insurance subsidiaries.  Globe Life And Accident is a direct-response provider of life insurance known for its administrative efficiencies.  American Income Life provides individual life insurance to labor union members.  Liberty National Life is one of the oldest traditional life insurers in the Southeast.  United American is a consumer-oriented provider of supplemental life and health insurance.

Website:  http://www.torchmarkcorp.com

Source: Torchmark Corporation
   

CONTACT:  Mike Majors, Vice President, Investor Relations of Torchmark
Corporation, +1-972-569-3627, Fax, +1-972-569-3282,  [email protected]

Web Site:  http://www.torchmarkcorp.com/

Company News On-Call:  http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/885425.html

IBM Fosters Creation of Health Information Exchanges

New Service Connects Healthcare Providers to Make Information Sharing Easier, Highlights Work with CareSpark

ATLANTA, March 1 -- At the HIMSS10 Conference at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia, IBM (NYSE:IBM) introduced Initiate Exchange, a new service that enables health systems to exchange patient data with physicians.  The company also announced that Initiate client CareSpark, has been awarded a Social Security Administration contract through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

(Logo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO )

Today's news comes on the day that IBM completed its acquisition of Initiate Systems.  The acquisition was driven by IBM's desire to enhance its ability to help healthcare clients draw on data from hospitals, doctors' offices and payers to create a single, trusted shareable view of millions individual patient records.

Connecting Healthcare Providers for Intelligent Information Sharing

Widespread adoption of electronic medical records (EMRs) is anticipated with the availability of stimulus funds set aside through the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act), part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).  According to the legislation, healthcare providers seeking funds must be "meaningfully using health information technology, such as through the reporting of quality measures."

While EMRs are essential to improving care and reducing costs, EMRs alone will not meet the requirements of meaningful use and more specifically, will not improve the quality of care and reduce costs.  A gap remains in the ability to connect healthcare participants for effective sharing of health information.

Initiate Exchange helps bridge this gap by enabling health systems to rapidly connect participants for community wide information sharing. Using Initiate's software as a service delivery model, physicians can quickly achieve their information sharing objectives without the cost and time associated with internal development or additional computing infrastructure. The offering gives health systems the flexibility to say "yes" to community physicians seeking to work more closely with the health system.

By offering services that enable physicians to issue orders, access test results and share registration information right from their EMR or practice management system, Initiate Exchange gives health systems a competitive advantage and helps physicians meet meaningful use requirements.

At the core of Initiate Exchange is Initiate's industry leading patient and provider matching logic which makes the solution unique from competitive offerings by helping to ensure the right information is associated with the right patient at the point of care regardless of location.

"This SaaS model from Initiate allows us to support our mission of improving the health of our communities by being able to quickly connect our physician community while giving us the flexibility to expand the scope at our own pace," said Jeff Allport, vice president, IT Solutions Delivery, St. Joseph Health System.

Initiate Client CareSpark Wins ARRA Funding

CareSpark, the regional health information organization serving east Tennessee and southwest Virginia, is one of 15 organizations to receive Social Security Administration contracts recently through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Initiate Customers Douglas County Individual Practice Association and the Lovelace Clinic Foundation also received contracts.

CareSpark's ability to request and retrieve specific records for a patient applying for disability benefits depends strongly on the ability of the Initiate software to accurately identify the patient, determine the location of the records and to do so in compliance with standards and requirements set by the Social Security Administration.

According to Liesa Jenkins, executive director of CareSpark, Initiate software is an integral technology used in CareSpark's network for the sharing of medical information, which has been cited as a national model for improving health outcomes in rural communities and across state lines. CareSpark relies on Initiate technology to accurately identify patient records.

"We use Initiate's EMPI and document registry to meet specific requirements such as those established by the Social Security Administration," said Jenkins. "Initiate technology integrates with other components of our health information exchange and is easy to configure and administer.

"As we extend our capabilities to serve an increased base of patients and providers and to offer additional functionality for users such as the Social Security Administration," added Jenkins. "We are glad to have solid support from Initiate as a strong collaborative partner."

"The commitment and success that CareSpark has demonstrated exemplify how health information sharing improves efficiencies and supports the HITECH Act objectives for meaningful use," said Lorraine Fernandes, vice president and healthcare industry ambassador for Initiate. "The Initiate team has worked closely with CareSpark for several years supporting accuracy of patient records and interoperability that meet the highest standards and requirements for sending information across the NHIN Connect gateway used by the Social Security Administration."

About Initiate Systems

Initiate Systems, an IBM Company, enables organizations to confidently share critical data assets. Multinational corporations, healthcare organizations and government agencies rely on Initiate® software and services to deliver complete, accurate and real-time views of data spread across multiple systems, domains or databases. Initiate's multi-domain master data management (MDM) solutions facilitate interoperability, information sharing, entity resolution and data quality to increase revenues, reduce costs and mitigate risks. Initiate operates globally through its subsidiaries, with corporate headquarters in Chicago and offices across the U.S., and in Toronto, London and Sydney. For more information, visit http://www.Initiate.com or follow the company at http://twitter.com/Initiate.

Initiate Systems at HIMMS10

Initiate is participating in the HIMSS10 Annual Conference and Exhibition, March 1-4, 2010, at the Georgia World Conference Center, Atlanta, GA. To learn more about Initiate Exchange, CareSpark, or other healthcare organizations Initiate supports, visit Initiate at booth #7033.

  Media Contact:
  Maria Diecidue
  Initiate Systems, Inc.
  312-395-1345
  [email protected]
  ----------------------

Photo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, [email protected]
Source: IBM
   

CONTACT:  Maria Diecidue of Initiate Systems, Inc., +1-312-395-1345,
[email protected]

Web Site:  http://www.ibm.com/

New 10G DURAstream(TM) Bypass Switch Ensures 10G Network Operation During Malfunctions and Upgrades

Latest Addition to Datacom Systems' DURAstream(TM) Line Prevents Network Outages And Maintains Data Rates When Monitoring Devices Fail or Software Upgrades Cause Interruptions

EAST SYRACUSE, N.Y., March 1 -- Datacom Systems, Inc., a leading manufacturer of data capture infrastructure, today announced a new edition to its DURAstream(TM) product line.  Joining the company's 1G solution is a 10G DURAstream(TM) bypass switch, providing superior protection for 10G network links as well as the advanced 10G monitoring devices deployed on them. As with its 1G DURAstream(TM) solutions, Datacom Systems' 10G DURAstream(TM) bypass switch prevents network outages when an in-line device malfunctions.  In addition, the 10G DURAstream(TM) is the key to executing graceful upgrades on an in-line device.

The 10G DURAstream(TM) bypass switch is used with in-line monitoring tools such as Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS), Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) devices, VPN gateways, and/or firewalls. Easy to install and simple to configure, the 10G DURAstream(TM) removes the possibility of a self-inflicted network outage caused by a faulty in-line device or an in-line device undergoing a software upgrade.

"As network links and in-line tools scale to 10G, networking professionals face a dilemma," said Chris Koeneman, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Datacom Systems. "An IPS device provides the vigilance an enterprise needs, but this vigilance carries a risk.  The very device designed to protect the network can create an outage.  This can take place during normal operation but can also take place during a software upgrade.   DURAstream(TM) eliminates this risk."

DURAstream(TM) uses real-time data forwarding hardware to ensure line-rate throughput of critical voice and data flows. Its design not only protects against failures caused by device malfunction, but also enables graceful software upgrades of in-line devices.  Should a power loss to the DURAstream(TM) switch occur, it automatically closes the connection to the switch to create a physical connection on the main link until power is resumed.

Heartbeat Mode

Adding value to the DURAstream(TM) bypass switch is its innovative heartbeat feature, which monitors the continual health of in-line appliances by sending and receiving a heartbeat packet into the appropriate monitoring port link. The configurable packet, when received and analyzed, reports the overall availability and performance of the device.

Advanced Management, Security and Logging Features

Datacom Systems' DURAstream(TM) modular bypass switch can be managed locally or remotely through CLI or GUI with web-based HTTPS for convenient configuration and management. The switch includes important security, management, and logging features such as secure shell (SSH), SNMP traps, e-mail notifications, syslog, and interfacing with authentication servers such as TACACS+. Dual redundant power supplies are included for increased monitoring uptime.

Datacom Systems DURAstream(TM) 10G Modular Bypass Switch is available directly from the company, as well as through a network of value added resellers. To learn more, visit the company web site or call (315) 463-1585.

About Datacom Systems:

Datacom Systems is a leading manufacturer of Test Access Points (TAPs), Data Aggregation Tools and other network access devices.  Since the company's founding in 1992, Datacom Systems has built a reputation for quality engineering and unmatched customer service.  Datacom Systems is credited with inventing physical layer matrix switching technology and is considered the expert in network access solutions. Datacom Systems equipment covers millions of network segments worldwide, with over 70% of Fortune 500 companies relying on Datacom equipment to gain visibility into their networks - and to save millions of dollars in IT expenses each year.  The privately-held company is headquartered in East Syracuse, New York.  Visit http://www.datacomsystems.com.

Source: Datacom Systems, Inc.
   

CONTACT:  Lisa Kornblatt of SS|PR, +1-847-415-9330, [email protected],
for Datacom Systems, Inc.

Web Site:  http://www.datacomsystems.com/

Agile Alliance Announces Mike Cohn and Dave Thomas as Keynote Speakers for Agile 2010 Conference

Cohn and Thomas to share insights on the state of Agile software development

PORTLAND, Ore., March 1 -- The Agile Alliance, (http://www.agilealliance.org) a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the advancement of Agile software development principles and practices, today announced Mike Cohn and Dave Thomas as keynote speakers for the Agile 2010 Conference, set for Aug. 9 - 13 in Nashville, (http://agile2010.agilealliance.org/). Agile 2010 is the leading international conference on Agile methods in software development, bringing together many disciplines in the fields of information systems and software development to foster the exchange of fresh ideas and best practices.

"Agile 2010 will provide attendees with unprecedented access to the foremost thought leaders and industry luminaries," said Jim Newkirk, Agile 2010 conference chair.  "Our intent is to provide attendees with the knowledge and resources they need to implement and scale Agile within their organizations. This year's keynote speakers will offer attendees practical advice on how to succeed with Agile."

Dave Thomas

He has a wide spectrum of technical and business experience and is a thought leader in the software industry. He is the Founder and Chairman of Bedarra Research Labs  and a Managing Director for Object Mentor.  Dave founded OTI, who developed IBM Smalltalk, Java VMs and the VisualAge and Eclipse IDEs.  In the 80s he developed one of the first lean software processes called Just In Time Software used at OTI/IBM. Thomas is a practice leader in Lean and Agile working with large companies to streamline software product development. He was a founding director of the Agile Alliance and instrumental in establishing the Agile Conference.

Mike Cohn

Having run his first Scrum project in 1995, Mountain Goat Software founder Mike Cohn has more than a dozen years of experience with Scrum and Agile methodologies. Cohn is also a prolific author and writer. He was also a founding member of both the Agile and Scrum Alliance.

Research submissions will be accepted until March 12. For more information please visit: http://agile2010.agilealliance.org/speaker.html

About the Agile Alliance

The Agile Alliance is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the concepts of Agile software development, as outlined in the manifesto (http://www.agilemanifesto.org/). With nearly 6,000 members located around the globe, the Agile Alliance is driven by the principles of Agile methodologies and the value delivered to developers, organizations and end users. The Agile Alliance organizes the annual Agile Conference, the industry's leading event that attracts practitioners, academia, business and vendor-partner community members from around the globe. The Agile 2010 Conference (http://agile2010.agilealliance.org/) is set for August 9-13 in Nashville. For more information about the organization, visit http://www.agilealliance.org/.

  Media contact:
  Christie Denniston
  Catapult PR-IR
  Phone: 303-581-7760
  Cell: 303-827-5164
  [email protected]

Source: Agile Alliance
   

CONTACT:  Christie Denniston of Catapult PR-IR, +1-303-581-7760, cell,
+1-303-827-5164, [email protected], for Agile Alliance

Web Site:  http://www.agilealliance.org/

Long Island Forum for Technology and Department of Homeland Security Initiative Gets New Space on Lunar Site

Dedication ceremony with public luminaries FDNY Commissioner Salvatore Cassano, Senator Dean Skelos and Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano honor the spirit of New York innovation

BETHPAGE, N.Y., March 1 -- The Long Island Forum for Technology (LIFT), a non-profit economic development organization for technology-driven growth, today announced the unveiling of The Morrelly Homeland Security Center, a first of its kind public-private partnership project that will provide local government and first responders with a state-of-the-art facility to accelerate local innovation and act as a control center in the event of a regional crisis. Research partners in the center will fulfill the need for complex information sharing, standards and processes across the local government agencies that will be in residence. A formal dedication ceremony, with a keynote from esteemed New York City Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano and public luminaries such as Senator Dean Skelos, will take place on-site, Friday, March 5, in Bethpage, N.Y.

  (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100301/NY62455 )

  Who: Commissioner Cassano, Senator Skelos, Congressman Israel, County
   Executive Mangano

  What: Dedication Ceremony for The Morrelly Homeland Security Center
   Building

  Where: Bethpage, N.Y.

  When: March 5 at 10:00 a.m. EST

  Why: To showcase New York's new state-of-the-art applied science and
   homeland security center that will ensure readiness in the event of
   any natural or man-made crisis, and to recognize the spirit of
   innovation that made The Morrelly Homeland Security Center possible.

The 90,000 square foot Command, Control, Communications, Computer and Intelligence (C4I) systems structure has its own history of innovation having been the former Grumman Plant 5 and situated in the historic Lunar Module Campus. The Morrelly Homeland Security Center is the first of its kind with a public-private partnership that will work collaboratively to develop innovative and integrated homeland security and defense technological solutions with some of the top names in the industry as residents: Northrop Grumman, Siemens Enterprise Communications, Globecomm Systems, AFCO Systems, Applied Visions, Retlif Testing Laboratories, Balfour Technologies, Power Management Concepts, Strategic Planning Partners, LLC and with the Polytechnic Institute of New York University playing a key role as the leading academic partner. The center boasts state-of-the-art technology, including data, unified communications and infrastructure solutions from Siemens Enterprise Communications that allow the center to double as a "command and control" hub with a common operating picture for the state of New York and East Coast region.

In addition, The Morrelly Homeland Security Center has broadband satellite connections to the continental United States, a simulation lab and a digital theater with ultra high-tech, flexible touch tables for an agile command center. It also includes an auditorium with broadband video capabilities for virtual centers, visualization labs for cyber security concepts, as well as product testing and evaluation facilities for new system engineering and certification programs.

"This center is the culmination of Phil Teel, former Long Island head of Northrop Grumman and the late Ken Morrelly's vision who  both knew New York could assemble its best and brightest to act as a beacon of emergency management and homeland security technological innovation," said Ray Donnelly, director of LIFT. "Our resident research partners are working together to establish best practices and develop technologies that will support our public servants and key private sector segments and ensure that they have the most innovative tools to quickly adapt to and effectively manage any situation that may come our way."

About LIFT

LIFT is a non-for-profit economic development organization working with the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). LIFT serves as NYSTAR®'s designated Regional Technology Development Center for Long Island and one of nearly 350 MEP locations across the country.

LIFT has an industry-driven initiative structure, providing Long Island businesses with networking opportunities, access to enabling technologies, hands-on assistance and a wide range of programs directed at creating an environment for innovation, lowering the cost of operations and increasing growth, focused on creating Long Island's future.

LIFT supports the defense and aerospace, medical device and healthcare, homeland security, energy, information technology and manufacturing clusters of the Long Island economy. We partner with local companies, organizations, Universities and the National Laboratory Systems.

Photo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100301/NY62455
PRN Photo Desk, [email protected]
Source: The Long Island Forum for Technology (LIFT)
   

CONTACT:  Media Relations, Lacey Manning, Connect Public Relations for
LIFT, +1-801-373-7888, [email protected]

Web Site:  http://www.lift.org/

MOVIECLIPS.com Goes Global, Opens API

MOVIECLIPS.com delivers more than 12,000 Hollywood movie clips to a global audience

SANTA MONICA, Calif., March 1 -- MOVIECLIPS.com, host of the largest collection of officially-licensed, high quality movie scenes on the web, today opened up its service to users worldwide. MOVIECLIPS.com also released an API, opening up access for approved developers to thousands of clips with rich metadata that includes full-dialogue search, actor details, movie trivia and more.

"Movie clips are a part of our social currency," says Zach James, MOVIECLIPS.com co-founder. "We reference our favorite scenes all the time - they're a part of our DNA. But so far, the web's been entirely without a free, licensed place to go to find clips like the 'I drink your milkshake' scene from There Will Be Blood, or the 'plastics' scene from The Graduate. That blows. So we changed it."

MOVIECLIPS.com is the richest, most robust library of movie clips on the web, featuring more than 12,000 clips from 6 Hollywood studios. The company also developed proprietary technology that assigns up to 1,000 points of data to every scene, making it super easy to find scenes by actor, film title, dialogue snippet, director, genre, etc.

"We were inspired to open the API after our team created a custom plug-in for bloggers using the WordPress platform," says co-founder Richard Raddon, former director of the Los Angeles Film Festival. "The response from our blogger friends was so overwhelmingly positive that opening up the API more broadly seemed a natural direction. It gives our developer community the chance to build some killer tools to further enhance the user experience and bring these clips to life online."

"Movie clips should be available to everyone, everywhere," says James. "It was our dream to open this content up to viewers worldwide. Browsing through thousands of scenes is a great way to rediscover classic Hollywood moments. It reminds us about films we may have forgotten were so funny, or so good. It's easy to get lost in the site, and it's hard not to share."

For details about becoming an approved developer using the MOVIECLIPS.com API, please visit http://movieclips.com/developers.

Since launching MOVIECLIPS.com in December 2009, the site had nearly a half million unique visitors in its first month. Popular clips include scenes from The Godfather, Napoleon Dynamite, Christmas Vacation, Elf, The Big Lebowski, Casablanca, and There Will Be Blood.

About MOVIECLIPS.com

Launched in December 2009, MOVIECLIPS.com is a premium online video destination offering audiences the largest and most diverse collection of movie scenes. MOVIECLIPS.com allows fans to find, watch and share more than 12,000 movie clips from the libraries of major Hollywood studios. Visit http://www.movieclips.com for more information.

http://movieclips.com/

http://blog.movieclips.com/

Source: MOVIECLIPS.com
   

CONTACT:  Scott Sutherland, +1-415-848-7160, [email protected],
for MOVIECLIPS.com

Web Site:  http://movieclips.com/

Acuo Technologies Announces Enhanced Offerings That Facilitate Management of Non-DICOM Objects

BLOOMINGTON, Minn., March 1 -- Acuo Technologies, developers of high-performance medical image management software, data migration tools and services, today announced enhanced product offerings that facilitate management of non-DICOM objects.

Acuo's DICOM Services Grid(TM), the industry leading Vendor/PACS Neutral Archive provider, is an enterprise-wide collaborative asset management solution.  The DICOM Services Grid solution is built upon a distributed asset management foundation - AcuoStore®.  The AcuoStore Digital Asset Manager is a robust digital asset management service that lets applications store, track, and retrieve virtually any type of digital asset managed by an AcuoStore archive.  Functioning like a digital vault for the client application, AcuoStore checks digital assets into and out of storage archives that have been configured to store digital assets. AcuoStore itself features a set of interfaces, including web services, that allow an administrator to set up applications to manage, secure, and easily expand storage archives on virtually any storage device, including next generation devices such as CAS and object based storage solutions.

Acuo is pleased to announce continued innovation of the DICOM Services Grid solution through enhancements to AcuoStore facilitating the integration of all other associated Non-DICOM Clinical Content.  The DICOM Services Grid now offers the industry's most comprehensive mechanisms for management of Non-DICOM objects including DICOM encapsulation, XDS Repository Support, and additional Web Services for native bulk asset management or content that is integrated to the DICOM information model.

"Acuo is pleased to offer our customers continued innovation of the DICOM Services Grid enabling a single point of access for storing and management of all clinical content.  Our solutions are designed to provide our customers with a mechanism to consolidate DICOM and non-DICOM objects into a collaborative and extensible enterprise asset management architecture," said Shannon Werb, COO and CTO of Acuo Technologies.

About Acuo Technologies

Acuo Technologies, with headquarters in Bloomington, MN, was founded in 2000, and is a market leader in the development of high-performance software for intelligent medical image management, data migration tools and services. The Company's DICOM Services Grid(TM) is an enabling open systems software solution to house digital medical imaging content for any healthcare enterprise. Over 475 system implementations around the world have deployed AcuoMed® and AcuoStore® software solutions. For more information, visit http://www.acuotech.com.

DICOM is the registered trademark of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association for its

standards publications relating to digital communications of medical information.

Source: Acuo Technologies
   

CONTACT:  Mike Dolan, VP, Sales and Marketing of Acuo Technologies,
+1-952-905-3440, [email protected]

Web Site:  http://www.acuotech.com/

HIMSS Interoperability Showcase to Feature Hospira MedNet(TM), Demonstrating Interoperability as Key to Advancing Healthcare

-- Advanced Hospira MedNet medication management safety software helps reduce medication errors and improve patient care --

ATLANTA, March 1 -- Hospira, Inc. (NYSE:HSP), a leading provider of clinical information and medication delivery technologies, announced today that the Hospira MedNet(TM) safety software is currently being featured in the Interoperability Showcase at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Annual Conference and Exhibition (HIMSS10) in Atlanta through March 4. Hospira's successful testing of Hospira MedNet for multiple integration profiles, including implementations of medication administration and alarm communications at the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) 2010 North American Connectathon, drove its inclusion in the Showcase, which will demonstrate real-world examples of today's complex healthcare environments and the advanced technologies that support them.

During the IHE Connectathon, Hospira MedNet was validated specifically for use with Hospira's Plum A+(TM) and Symbiq(TM) infusion pumps. The IHE Connectathon is the healthcare information technology industry's premier large-scale interoperability testing event, where leaders of industry gather to verify connectivity of clinical technologies and promote interoperability, or connectivity, between systems as a catalyst for improving the quality, safety and efficiency of patient care.

"Hospira focuses on ensuring compatibility between and integration of important hospital technologies to help enhance clinical outcomes, caregiver productivity and patient safety," said Symeria Hudson, vice president, Medication Management Systems, U.S., Hospira. "Seamlessly integrating technology across the hospital's IT network and across multiple vendor platforms provides clinicians with more flexibility and increased safety."

In addition to driving interoperability between its own medication management systems and clinical information technology solutions such as VeriScan(TM) Rx  medication administration barcode point-of-care system, Hospira also develops products that communicate seamlessly with multiple hospital technology systems. Through its Hospira MedNet safety software platform, Hospira facilitates cross-vendor interoperability by successfully partnering with other technology providers.

Hospira is one of the few vendors to provide open platform technology, enabling Hospira MedNet software to be used bi-directionally to connect multiple hospital systems. To date, Hospira has partnered with several technology companies, including AeroScout, Cerner, InnerWireless and Orion Health, to ensure successful implementations of interoperable technology.

In support of Hospira's ongoing commitment to interoperability and medication safety, the company will also offer hospitals a chance to win a complementary clinical support analysis during HIMSS by visiting Hospira booth numbers 4621 and 6249. The randomly selected organization will receive an opportunity to have its current medication management technology, infection control program or intravenous insulin delivery practices evaluated, including recommended actions for achieving the institution's desired technological and clinical state.

About Hospira

Hospira, Inc. is a global specialty pharmaceutical and medication delivery company dedicated to Advancing Wellness(TM). As the world leader in specialty generic injectable pharmaceuticals, Hospira offers one of the broadest portfolios of generic acute-care and oncology injectables, as well as integrated infusion therapy and medication management solutions. Through its products, Hospira helps improve the safety, cost and productivity of patient care. The company is headquartered in Lake Forest, Ill., and has approximately 13,500 employees. Learn more at http://www.hospira.com.

Photo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040503/HSPLOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, [email protected]
Source: Hospira, Inc.
   

CONTACT:  Media, Lauren Denz, +1-224-212-2656, Financial Community, Karen
King, +1-224-212-2711, or Ruth Venning, +1-224-212-2774, all for Hospira,
Inc.

Web Site:  http://www.hospira.com/

IBM Completes Acquisition of Initiate Systems

ARMONK, N.Y., March 1 -- IBM (NYSE:IBM) today announced the closing of its acquisition of Initiate Systems, a privately held software company with a focus on data integrity and master data management technologies.   Initiate's software helps clients in many industries -- particularly in healthcare and government -- share information across multiple systems to improve the services they provide to patients, citizens and customers.

(Logo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO )

The closing comes less than a month after IBM's announcement on February 3 that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Initiate.

Organizations in both healthcare and government have invested heavily in enterprise software applications as they seek greater operational efficiency and productivity. The proliferation of these applications has yielded huge volumes of information about people, places and things.  This information is fragmented across operating environments and often represented inconsistently. Initiate's technology helps gather this data no matter where it resides to establish a single a single, multi-purpose view of critical business information, which is also known as master data.

Initiate's software helps healthcare clients work more intelligently and efficiently with timely access to patient and clinical data.  By adding Initiate's software to its software portfolio, IBM will be better equipped to help clients draw on data from hospitals, doctors' offices and payers to create a single, trusted shareable view of millions individual patient records.  The acquisition will also enhance IBM's ability to enable governments to access information from multiple systems and agencies to provide better services to citizens.

"IBM's acquisition of Initiate underscores our commitment to using advanced technology to help solve problems faced by both healthcare agencies and governments around the world," said Arvind Krishna, general manager, Information Management, IBM.  "Through better access to trusted information, these clients can serve people better and more efficiently."

Initiate's healthcare clients include payers and providers as well as retailers selling prescription drugs. Among these clients are Alberta Ministry of Health and Wellness, BMI Healthcare (UK), Calgary Health Region, CVS/Caremark, Humana, Ochsner Health System, the State of North Dakota's Department of Health and Human Services and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

In keeping with the company's software strategy, Initiate's technologies and operations will be integrated into IBM's Information Management business, expanding its capabilities for establishing, delivering and analyzing trusted information for clients across all industries and geographic regions.  Initiate employees will join IBM.

Through its acquisition of Initiate IBM is also extending its capabilities in business analytics -- one of its primary investment areas -- by enhancing its ability to deliver a foundation of trusted information.  In addition to Initiate, IBM has invested $10 billion in 14 strategic acquisitions to build its business analytics portfolio since 2005. These acquisitions delivered strong results in 2009, generating 9 percent revenue growth at constant currency. Among the company's offerings in this area is a new Business Analytics and Optimization Consulting organization which is supported by team of 4,000 consultants and a network of analytics solution centers.

  For more information, visit IBM Business Analytics and Optimization.

  Contact:
  Nancy Kaplan
  914-766-1849
  [email protected]

Photo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, [email protected]
Source: IBM
   

CONTACT:  Nancy Kaplan, +1-914-766-1849, [email protected]

Web Site:  http://www.ibm.com/

Flightwise PlaneXML Flight Tracking API Now Available

PlaneXML application programming interface provides simple, cost-effective access to near real-time flight tracking data for flights in US, Canada and UK airspace.

ORLANDO, Fla., March 1 -- Flightwise, the world's longest-running, web-based flight tracking service is now offering cost-effective, direct access to its aircraft positional data via the PlaneXML Flight Tracking API.  The API is a standards-based, XML/SOAP web service, making it easy to integrate with existing application development platforms.

"We've spent the last decade building the reliable and sturdy infrastructure used in support of the Flightwise website," says Andy Green, CEO of the company.  "We've decided to open up that infrastructure to developers at a considerable cost-savings over other flight tracking APIs in order to bring down the barriers to access of the data, and help developers create."

One of the first users of the PlaneXML API was MyFBO.com, a provider of aviation management systems for both flight and ground operators.  MyFBO integrates data from PlaneXML with data from its subscribers' databases, providing enhanced inbound flight alerts for its ground service providers, and extended IFR flight tracking to its fleet operators.

"In addition to ease-of-use and reliability, the PlaneXML API was the most cost-effective, by far, for our needs," says Jason Smithwick of MyFBO's technical staff.  "Our 'mash-up' of proprietary data, PlaneXML, and cartography provides immediately usable information to our subscribers, rather than just 'data.'"

Developers can sign up online and gain immediate access to the API by visiting the PlaneXML Flight Tracking API website at http://flightwise.com/api, which provides pricing information, reference documentation, and code samples.

ABOUT FLIGHTWISE

Formerly known as "fboweb.com", Flightwise was started in 2000 with the intention of bringing easily accessible flight tracking services to the Internet community.  Over the years, Flightwise has become the leading source for aircraft tracking around the world, and our data has appeared on most major television news networks, including CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, and NBC, as well as traditional news media, including the New York Times, the Financial Times of London, and the Washington Post.  For further information, contact [email protected].  Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/flightwise.

Source: Flightwise
   

CONTACT:  MyFBO.com: Jason Smithwick, +1-434-793-6800,
[email protected]

Web Site:  http://flightwise.com/

PR Newswire Waives Distribution Fees for Chile Earthquake Related News Releases

Organizations offering aid to the victims of the Chile earthquake can distribute their messages through PR Newswire in the U.S. and Latin America at no charge; all releases will also be distributed through PR Newswire's partner CSRwire

NEW YORK, March 1 -- PR Newswire has waived fees for all news releases relating to aid in rescue and recovery efforts for the Chile earthquake crisis.

(Logo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000306/PRNLOGO )

PR Newswire will waive fees through midnight on Sunday, March 7 for U.S. and Latin American organizations that wish to communicate their efforts of assistance to media and public audiences in the United States and Latin America, while also helping these organizations connect with the many academics, activists, CSR investment houses, NGOs, educational institutions and government bodies served by PR Newswire's corporate social responsibility partner, CSRwire.

"PR Newswire is in a unique position to assist organizations in their efforts to aid in the recovery and relief for victims of large scale disasters," said Scott Mozarsky, executive vice president, Commercial Operations, PR Newswire. "By opening the wire, we're assisting these organizations in reaching their broadest, most relevant audiences so they can do their jobs more efficiently and effectively."

To view news releases issued by PR Newswire members offering aid, please visit the section entitled Earthquake in Chile on http://www.prnewswire.com/ (http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/earthquake-in-chile-latest-news-85729 607.html).

About PR Newswire

PR Newswire is the global leader in innovative communications and marketing services, enabling organizations to connect and engage with their target audiences worldwide.

Through its multi-channel distribution network, multimedia, audience intelligence, targeting, measurement and compliance services, PR Newswire helps corporations and organizations conduct rich, timely and dynamic dialogues with the media, consumers, policymakers, investors and the general public, in support of building brands, generating awareness, impacting public policy, driving sales, and raising capital.

Pioneering the commercial news distribution industry 55 years ago, PR Newswire connects customers with audiences in more than 170 countries and in over 40 languages through an unparalleled network of offices in 16 countries across North and South America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and via unique affiliations with the leading news agencies across the globe.  PR Newswire is a subsidiary of United Business Media Limited (UBM.L), a leading global business media company that serves professional commercial communities around the world. For more information, go to http://www.UBM.com.

Contact: Rachel Meranus at +1.201.360.6776 or 646.295.5401 or [email protected].

Photo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000306/PRNLOGO
PRN Photo Desk, [email protected]
Source: PR Newswire Association LLC
   

CONTACT:  Rachel Meranus, +1-201-360-6776, or +1-646-295-5401, or
[email protected]

Web Site:  http://www.prnewswire.com/

Company News On-Call:  http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/146750.html

A New Way to Give: Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware Nonprofits Can Benefit from the Popularity of Verizon's Products

Verizon Will Make Donations to Nonprofits When Their Members Order Verizon Products Under Company's Velocity Program; Double Incentives are Available From Now Until May 31

PHILADELPHIA, March 1 -- Local parent-teacher associations, chambers of commerce, athletic boosters, libraries and other nonprofit organizations in three Mid-Atlantic states now have an easy way to earn money for their organizations.  Verizon's Velocity Program offers nonprofits in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware the ability to earn donations when their members or supporters purchase certain Verizon products: FiOS TV, FiOS Internet, High Speed Internet, Freedom Calling, Long Distance, and DIRECTV (through Verizon's marketing relationship with the satellite-TV provider.)

For instance, organizations can earn up to $65 for a member's single order of a FiOS Triple Play bundle that includes long-distance.  As an added incentive, Verizon will double its donation, to as much as $130, for nonprofits whose members sign up before May 31.*

To qualify, orders must consist of new sales that remain in the billing system at least 30 days from the date of purchase.  Changes or upgrades within product categories do not constitute a new sale.

"Verizon Velocity is creating a network of giving," said Mary Yarbrough, vice president of marketing and sales for Verizon's Mid-Atlantic region.  "Velocity is a win-win.  Nonprofits get direct financial support, and their members or supporters get the best communications, broadband and entertainment experience."

Verizon recently established a quick and easy online enrollment process for organizations.  Once verified as a valid nonprofit, the organization will receive an electronic marketing flyer that includes the group's fund-raising mission, a special Verizon Velocity Program toll-free number and a unique tracking code. All the organization needs to do is e-mail the flyer or tell its members about the program.  The more an organization promotes its mission through Velocity, the more donations the organization can potentially earn.

Interested nonprofits can enroll in, or get more information about, Verizon's Velocity fundraising program at http://www.verizon.com/velocity.

* Verizon Velocity terms and conditions are available at http://www.verizon.com/velocity.  Double donations will be made for qualifying orders submitted between March 1, 2010, and May 31, 2010, and will be made in accordance with applicable terms and conditions.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers.  Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, serving more than 91 million customers nationwide.  Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers innovative, seamless business solutions to customers around the world.  A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of approximately 222,900 and last year generated consolidated revenues of more than $107 billion.  For more information, visit http://www.verizon.com.

VERIZON'S ONLINE NEWS CENTER: Verizon news releases, executive speeches and biographies, media contacts, high-quality video and images, and other information are available at Verizon's News Center on the World Wide Web at http://www.verizon.com/news.  To receive news releases by e-mail, visit the News Center and register for customized automatic delivery of Verizon news releases.

Source: Verizon
   

CONTACT:  Rich Young, +1-973-649-2279, [email protected], or
Lee Gierczynski, +1-412-633-5574, [email protected]

Web Site:  http://www.verizon.com/

Company News On-Call:  http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/094251.html

Buddy Media Accelerates Business as 2010 Turns Into the Year Social Gets Serious

Leading social marketing platform company expects 300% annual revenue growth as social media exits the experimental stage and goes mainstream

NEW YORK, March 1 -- Buddy Media, the leading social marketing company for the world's largest brands and agencies, expects to post a 300 percent revenue increase as 2010 shapes up to be the year that social marketing gets serious for major marketers.

This announcement comes on the heels of several timely market indicators: a major beverage company, PepsiCo, abandons the holy grail of advertising for community building; expert trend spotters predict that a whopping 70 percent of brands will increase their investment in social tools; and, a first of its kind research study is released, proving that Facebook fan pages are an effective marketing tool(1).

"Social marketing has proved it can effectively link brand awareness, brand loyalty and brand growth," said Jay Cunningham from Anheuser-Busch, a Buddy Media customer, a brand that has built a following of 650,000 fans across more than 15 campaigns.  "The Buddy Media Platform has been a key element to our social strategy allowing us to efficiently and powerfully market in the social space."

The Buddy Media Platform has evolved experimental social marketing programs into substantial and influential modern marketing campaigns, successfully building fan followings and brand champions for customers like fashion icon Diane Von Furstenberg, the world's largest cruise operator Carnival Cruise Lines, and beverage giant Anheuser Busch.

Mike Lazerow, CEO of Buddy Media said: "Social marketing isn't defined by one industry sector alone.  Companies of all sizes, offering a wide array of products and services, are productively and profitably connecting with their customers within new social channels. Moreover, that channel is built upon a scalable platform that will deliver an increasingly unified brand experience to anyone, anywhere.  Social marketing can benefit every brand."

To celebrate the company's growth and the arrival of social media as a serious marketing medium, Buddy Media is hosting a special event on March 2 at the Hiro Ballroom entitled Social Marketing is No Laughing Matter, with a special performance by Seth Meyers, the head writer for Saturday Night Live and anchor of its weekly news sketch Weekend Update.  Attendees will range from brand marketers to advertisers to digital media specialists, but will all represent one unified interest.

"Carnival was among the first cruise lines to embrace social networking and our enhanced Facebook campaigns that Buddy Media powers have brought even more 'Fun Ship' enthusiasts together to share their feedback, stay informed and locate others with common interests," said Stephanie Leavitt, Manager, Online Publishing, Carnival Cruise Lines.  "Through social marketing, we are building a dynamic and valuable community for the Carnival brand."

Buddy Media, which does not publicly release financial results and projections, currently has 45 employees and is cash flow positive as it enters its next phase of growth.  In just two years, Buddy Media has emerged as one of the most innovative, well-managed and enviable technology companies in the social media space.  In the ever-changing arena of social media, Buddy Media is distancing itself from the competition, evidenced by the signing of 150 brands and agencies as customers in 2009, and an additional 40 new customers since the start of 2010.

The Buddy Media Platform provides advertising, branding, marketing and PR agencies with the ability to access and use the platform on behalf of their clients.  This has introduced a new level of empowerment for those responsible for efficiently and effectively creating, managing and tracking social campaigns and has established Buddy Media's credibility in being named a preferred Facebook developer.

  For more information, please visit http://www.facebook.com/buddymedia.

  About Buddy Media

In today's social media world, every brand needs a Buddy. The Buddy Media Platform gives brands and agencies total control over their social marketing campaigns, allowing them to launch, maintain and measure their brands' efforts.  Some of the world's largest brands, including Anheuser Busch, Southwest Airlines and the NHL, work with Buddy Media to create, manage and track their social media profiles and campaigns.  Based in New York, Buddy Media is a privately held company backed by Softbank Capital, European Founders Fund, GreyCroft Partners, Peter Thiel, Mark Pincus, Roger Ehrenberg, Howard Lindzon and additional investors. For more information, visit http://www.buddymedia.com

(1) How Effective is Facebook Marketing?", was conducted by Utpal Dholakia, associate professor of management at Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Business, and Emily Durham, a Jones School alumna and founder of Restaurant Connections, a Houston-based restaurant consultancy.

  PR Contact:
  Patrick Burek
  Ruder Finn for Buddy Media
  212 715 1542
  [email protected]

Source: Buddy Media
   

CONTACT:  Patrick Burek, Ruder Finn for Buddy Media, +1-212-715-1542,
[email protected]

Web Site:  http://www.buddymedia.com/

Turkcell's 'Snowdrops' Project Receives United Nations Recognition

ISTANBUL, March 1, 2010--     Turkcell (NYSE: TKC, ISE: TCELL), the leading communications and
technology company in Turkey, announces that 'Snowdrops', its education
project for Turkish girls, is to feature prominently at the United Nations
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action sessions which are taking place
in New York on 1 March 2010.

    'Snowdrops' ('Kardelenler' in Turkish) is the girls' education project
set up 10 years ago by Turkcell and is being recognised as part of the United
Nations Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action program which runs from 1
-12 March 2010 in New York.

    Snowdrops is a social responsibility project that has provided
scholarships for about 20,000 female students in Turkey. Some 8,666 students
have graduated from high school due to Snowdrops and of those 2,707 students
have entered universities, producing 755 graduates to date.

    During the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women session, a
special panel will discuss "Snowdrops: Turkey's Success Story." The panel
includes the UN Assistant Secretary-General, Rachel N. Mayanja, Turkey's
Minister of State Responsible for Women and Families, Selma Aliye Kavaf,
Turkey's United Nations Permanent Representative, Ambassador Ertugrul
Apakan, Turkcell Deputy CEO, Koray Ozturkler, and a 'Kardelen' who is
currently studying at one of the leading universities in Turkey.

    Commenting, Turkcell's Deputy CEO, Koray Ozturkler, said: "Being featured
at the UN is a great honor for Turkcell. For the past 10 years our Snowdrops
project has been driven by our desire to create equal opportunities in
education for girls in Turkey. Under the umbrella of the UN, we hope that
Snowdrops will inspire the world. Our wish is that Snowdrops will be the
start of many more successful, similar programs in Turkey and all over the
world."

    Since 2000, Snowdrops has won 4 international awards and 12 local awards
and has become one of Turkey's most high profile social projects. The
National Geographic Channel photographer, Tino Soriano, has showcased
Snowdrops at the publication's photo exhibitions in New York and Turkey. This
work was also featured as a documentary on the National Geographic television
channel.

    The United Nations Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was
created 15 years ago at the Fourth World Conference on Women (held in Beijing
in September 1995). Its objective is to foster gender equality and it has
already made considerable progress throughout the world in increasing the
role of women economically, socially, culturally and politically.

    ABOUT TURKCELL

    Turkcell is the leading communications and technology company
in Turkey with 36.0 million postpaid and prepaid customers as of September
30, 2009 operating in a three player market with a market share of
approximately 56% as of September 30, 2009 (Source: operators'
announcements). Turkcell is the technology leader in this market, providing
EDGE technology across the country. Turkcell also provides high quality data
and voice services to 72% of the population (as at 2009 year end) through the
implementation of its 3G technology. Turkcell provides roaming with 628
operators in 206 countries (as of September 18, 2009). Serving a large
subscriber base in Turkey with its high-quality wireless telephone network,
Turkcell reported $1.6 billion net revenue for the quarter ended September
30, 2009 as per its IFRS financial statements. Turkcell has interests in
international mobile operations in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan,
Moldova, Northern Cyprus and Ukraine which, together with its Turkish
operations, had approximately 61.9 million subscribers as of September 30,
2009. Turkcell has been listed on the NYSE and the ISE since July 2000 and is
the only NYSE-listed company in Turkey. 51.00% of Turkcell's share capital is
held by Turkcell Holding, 0.05% by Cukurova Group, 13.07% by Sonera Holding,
2.32% by M.V. Group and 0.08% by others while the remaining 33.48% is free
float.

   
    For further information please contact Turkcell

    Nihat Narin, Investor and International Media Relations
    Tel: +90-212-313-1244
    Email: [email protected]

    Sahver Binici, Investor and International Media Relations
    Tel: +90-212-313-2239
    Email: [email protected]
    [email protected]

    http://www.turkcell.com.tr

Source: Turkcell

For further information please contact Turkcell: Nihat Narin, Investor and International Media Relations, Tel: +90-212-313-1244, Email: [email protected]; Sahver Binici, Investor and International Media Relations, Tel: +90-212-313-2239, Email: [email protected], [email protected]

NetProspex and Rapleaf Partner to Add Social Layer to Business Contacts

Fast-growing sales and marketing database joins forces with social data provider to bring social media components to directory of 9 million-plus verified business contacts

WALTHAM, Mass., March 1 -- NetProspex Inc., the world's most accurate and fastest-growing sales and marketing contact database, today announced a premiere partnership deal with Rapleaf.

NetProspex and Rapleaf have joined forces to add a social layer of data to NetProspex's crowd-sourced business contact directory, which allows B2B marketers to successfully decipher the social demographics of business prospects and customers for the first time.

Leveraging Rapleaf's capabilities as the largest provider of online social data, NetProspex now makes it possible for B2B marketers to pinpoint the most socially-connected business decision-makers on the internet.

"The addition of social data to NetProspex' business contact directory is the Rosetta Stone between business people and their social presence," said Gary Halliwell, CEO of NetProspex. "To be able to determine who are the most influential decision makers allows B2B marketers to more efficiently segment markets and determine the marketing mix for each segment. We are facilitating the conversation through social media channels, allowing B2B marketers to engage prospects, customers, and partners with a new level of insight and intelligence."

  NetProspex customers will be able to:

  --  Easily link to a business prospect's social media persona
  --  Let sales and marketing executives find and follow buyer conversations
  --  Identify social influencers within customer and prospect groups

"Combining NetProspex' focus on providing a crowd-sourced directory of accurate, verified business contacts with social media information provides the key to unlocking the potential of social media for business to business communication," adds Rapleaf CEO Auren Hoffman.

About NetProspex

NetProspex is the world's most accurate and fastest-growing sales and marketing database, helping BtoB decision makers find, reach, and connect with nearly 10 million sales prospects in a uniquely direct and measurable way.

Founded in 2006 by online publishing and marketing industry veterans Gary Halliwell and Jeff Clewley, NetProspex understands that effective sales and marketing efforts require the most in-depth and accurate prospect data. The core product line overlays crowd-sourced, user-contributed contact information with proprietary verification technology to produce an entirely unique and highly effective sales and marketing contact database. With a 100% replacement guarantee and continual data scrubbing, NetProspex is the leading source of accurate, crowd-sourced business intelligence.

About Rapleaf

Rapleaf provides social data about a company's customers to help businesses gain audience insight, boost user engagement, and acquire more customers.

In particular, Rapleaf offers insight into customer influence and sociability, social network use, demographics, lifestyles and interests, purchase behavior, brand affinities, and more. This data helps businesses improve their customer experience through the ability to better segment customers, identify influencers, socialize CRM, and to buy targeted display ads.

Today, Rapleaf has fresh data on over 350 million people worldwide and helps leading businesses from all industries drive conversions and optimize both online and offline marketing efforts. For more information, please visit http://www.rapleaf.com.

  Media Contact:
  Matt Rizzetta
  North 6th Agency
  718-744-7138
  [email protected]

Source: NetProspex Inc.
   

CONTACT:  Matt Rizzetta, North 6th Agency, +1-718-744-7138,
[email protected]

Web Site:  http://www.netprospex.com/

Cloud Security Alliance and Novell Deliver First Vendor-Neutral Trusted Security Certification Program to Spur Mainstream Cloud Adoption

Industry Experts launch Trusted Cloud Initiative to Develop Identity Management Reference Model, Education and Certification Criteria for Cloud Providers

SAN FRANCISCO, March 1 -- Novell and the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), today announced a vendor-neutral initiative to deliver the industry's first cloud security certification, education and outreach program for cloud providers. Known as the "Trusted Cloud Initiative," it will help cloud providers develop industry-recommended, secure and interoperable identity, access and compliance management configurations and practices. Now, organizations considering adopting cloud-based computing will have a trusted standard to alleviate concerns about security, governance and control of their data and IT assets.

"How identities are managed either in the cloud, or federated with the cloud, create significant barriers for enterprise adoption of cloud services," said Alan Boehme, SVP IT Strategy and Enterprise Architecture, ING Americas, and current CSA board member. "By building a consensus security reference guide and certification roadmap, we are creating common ground for both enterprises and cloud providers, and expect to accelerate cloud adoption."

"In traditional IT environments, the organization controls its applications, servers, and storage infrastructure. However, the control architecture changes profoundly for public cloud offerings," said Jim Reavis, executive director of CSA. "When an organization moves IT resources and sensitive data such as personal names, addresses, and phone numbers into the cloud, control and trust issues must be addressed through a trusted third-party certification program. When Novell proposed the initiative, we immediately embraced the idea."

"Our customers need a visible seal of trust. We strongly believe education, clarity and industry-approved security guidelines will propel the adoption of cloud computing by eliminating the security concerns inhibiting many organizations," said Dipto Chakravarty, CSA member, and vice president of engineering, Identity and Security, Novell. "Our company's experience and leadership in cloud security and identity management demonstrates Novell is firmly committed to contributing to the Trusted Cloud Initiative."

The certification criteria, seal and roadmap will be defined by members of the Cloud Security Alliance, a non-profit organization formed to promote the use of best practices for providing security assurance within Cloud Computing environments. Members of CSA represent a cross section of industry stakeholders, end-user organizations, cloud service, SaaS and technology providers.  These include Novell, Microsoft, Dell, Rackspace, Qualys, HP, Intel, Cisco, McAfee, ISACA, DMTF and Symantec, as well as individual representatives from Global 2000 organizations and the world's governments.  Nick Nikols, vice president of product management for Novell Identity and Security, will serve as a co-chair for the initiative.  Liam Lynch, chief security strategist for eBay, will also serve as a co-chair. Both Nikols and Lynch will provide an introduction to the Trusted Cloud Initiative at 9:45am today at the Cloud Security Alliance Summit, Green Room 131 at the Moscone Center.

According to Zynga CSO and CSA board member Nils Puhlmann, this initiative is well-timed. "We recognize there are several standards efforts underway related to cloud computing, and the CSA is participating in virtually all of them.  We are committed to aligning the Trusted Cloud Initiative with other standards efforts and being a responsible industry partner," says Puhlmann. "However, what makes this project so timely is that we can assemble the reference model and certification criteria from existing standards, and we will complete it in 2010. I would like to thank Novell for helping kick-start this important program."

The educational outreach components of the program will be geared toward helping information security, IT audit and software development professionals within enterprises and cloud providers better understand the security, identity and access, compliance, data governance, portability and interoperability requirements organizations must maintain to demonstrate compliance and mitigate risk in the cloud.  More information about the Cloud Security Alliance Trusted Cloud Initiative can be found at http://www.trusted-cloud.com/.  For more information on Novell and its efforts in Cloud security see http://www.novell.com/cloud-security.

About Cloud Security Alliance

The Cloud Security Alliance http://www.cloudsecurityalliance.com is a non-profit organization formed to promote the use of best practices for providing security assurance within Cloud Computing, and provide education on the uses of Cloud Computing to help secure all other forms of computing.

The Cloud Security Alliance is comprised of many subject matter experts from a wide variety disciplines, united in our objectives:

  --  Promote a common level of understanding between the consumers and
      providers of cloud computing regarding the necessary security
      requirements and attestation of assurance.
  --  Promote independent research into best practices for cloud computing
      security.
  --  Launch awareness campaigns and educational programs on the appropriate
      uses of cloud computing and cloud security solutions.
  --  Create consensus lists of issues and guidance for cloud security
      assurance.

  About Novell

Novell, Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVL) delivers the best engineered, most interoperable Linux* platform and a portfolio of integrated IT management software that helps customers around the world reduce cost, complexity and risk. With our infrastructure software and ecosystem of partnerships, Novell harmoniously integrates mixed IT environments, allowing people and technology to work as one. For more information, visit http://www.novell.com.

Novell is a registered trademark of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries.  *All third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Source: Novell, Inc.
   

CONTACT:  Amie Johnson of Novell, +1-801-861-2893, [email protected]; or
Becki Parkhurst of PAN Communications, +1-978-474-1900,
[email protected], for Novell; or Robert Nachbar of ZAG Communications,
+1-206-427-0389, [email protected], for the Cloud Security
Alliance

Web Site:  http://www.novell.com/
http://www.cloudsecurityalliance.com/

Technomedia Solutions Vision for Massive Interactive 'Rockwall' for Hard Rock International a Reality

A/V Integration and Design Visionaries Continue Tradition of Creative Excellence

ORLANDO, Fla. March 1 -- Building on its internationally renowned reputation for cutting edge media technology innovation, Technomedia Solutions was awarded the contract to create and deliver for Hard Rock Café a seventy-two square foot interactive high resolution touch-wall that can accommodate up to six users at a time.  The 18 foot x 4 foot "RockWall" allows visitors to browse and visually manipulate larger-than-life sized representations of Hard Rock memorabilia and video from its 157 locations at the speed of light.  It is the crown jewel of a series of new memorabilia concepts designed by Technomedia to launch a new era of enhanced experiences for customers in Hard Rock cafes, hotels and casinos.  The first installation of the interactive multi-play technology can be found at the new Las Vegas Cafe on the Strip.

The RockWall hosts over one thousand memorabilia images averaging eight mega pixels in size as well as a vast library of video files, all of which presented a challenge to its developers due to the great deal of data that it is constantly required to process.  "During our initial presentations, Hard Rock loved our video on glass, dual layer memo cases and wall ideas so we assembled our team to develop the concept into a reality," stated John Miceli, President of Technomedia.  He added, "The wall team had to ensure that the display was highly interactive, fluid and flawless, with absolutely no stutters.  We used some clever engineering to combine powerful processing systems that allowed our team to cache massive amounts of data, enabling the video wall to be totally interactive.  No other product on the market today could have driven this wall."

The RockWall was originally conceived of by Technomedia/Convergence, led for Hard Rock by Miceli who established a reputation early in his career as the visionary co-founder of the world famous Soundelux Showorks which proudly holds many innovative credits for media and technology design developments along with the joy of sharing the honor of an Oscar awarded to Roundelay Partners for Braveheart.  Technomedia has been developing similar screens and offshoot technologies for museums, education, entertainment and corporate clients eagerly seeking these types of innovative offerings and looks forward to expanding its operation in NYC in 2010, focusing on highly interactive experiences for a new generation of clients.  Technomedia Solutions is committed to delivering world-class experiences to our clients and their patrons through the creative design and integration of technology and media, faithfully executing projects on time and on budget anywhere in the world.

For more information, please visit http://www.gotechnomedia.com .

Source: Technomedia Solutions
   

CONTACT:  Morgan Scopetto, Technomedia Solutions, +1-407-908-2882

Web Site:  http://www.gotechnomedia.com/

Affinion Security Center Annual Survey Finds That Consumers Are More Worried About Tax and Employment Identity Theft

Tax or Wage Related Fraud Increased in 2009 for seventh year in a row: FTC

NORWALK, Conn., March 1 -- Affinion Security Center, a leading provider of identity theft protection, detection and resolution services, announced today the results of its annual tax and employment identity theft survey. The survey of 1,000 adults revealed that while consumer concern of tax and employment related identity theft is growing, an overall lack of education and awareness leaves a large percentage of the population at a risk for these growing trends in identity theft.

Taxpayers Remain Vulnerable to Phishing and Vishing Tax Scams and Unscrupulous Tax Preparers

Notwithstanding numerous news reports and widespread public outreach efforts by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to educate the general public on their consumer communication tactics, the majority of taxpayers remain unaware of the methods through which the IRS will contact them regarding their tax filings. When asked, 19 percent of respondents admitted they did not know the ways the IRS contacts taxpayers, while an additional 33 percent responded incorrectly, stating they expected to be contacted by email, phone or mail. Only 48 percent of respondents knew that the primary way the IRS contacts consumers about a tax filing is through the mail, an increase of only 1 percent from last year's survey.

Consumers' lack of awareness of IRS communication practices leaves them vulnerable to phishing or vishing (voice phishing using the telephone) scams where thieves pose as IRS agents to gain personal information such as social security or bank account numbers. The IRS has developed a campaign to help consumers identify and report these threats. In the annual Fraud and Identity Theft Complaint report the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported that tax or wage related complaints increased to 12.7 percent of all complaints in 2009, the seventh year in a row that this type of fraud has increased.

Affinion's survey also shows that a growing number of respondents who rely on the services of a tax preparer were concerned about the possibility of becoming victims of identity theft when choosing their preparer. Half of the respondents in 2010 stated that they were somewhat or very concerned, compared to 41 percent in 2009.

"This data confirms that the public awareness of the threat to valuable personal information is growing, however we also have to recognize and address the fact that consumers are slow to the next step - properly educating themselves and taking precautions to avoid becoming a victim," said Tom Rusin, president of Affinion Security Center. "Our goal in reporting the results of the survey is to help consumers get a full view of the issue, realize that there is more they should do, and help them address that with tips and services that help safeguard and monitor their personal information."

Employment-Related Identity Theft

Though a separate threat from tax identity theft, it is often around tax filing season when employment-related identity theft is discovered. This crime most often occurs when someone is fraudulently working under another's social security number to obtain employment and/or to evade taxation.  The Affinion Security Center survey found that a growing number of respondents, 69 percent versus 62 percent in the 2009 survey, were at least somewhat concerned that they could become victims of employment-related identity theft.

Affinion Security Center would like to help educate consumers with the following tips on how to prevent identity theft during tax season:

  When Preparing Your Return
  1. Be Aware of Suspicious Emails and Phone Calls Regarding Your Tax
     Refund, Tax Filing or Any Stimulus Checks - Check the IRS website for
     tips on how to spot scammers and thieves posing as the IRS and a list
     of known phishes.
  2. Be Diligent When Choosing Your Tax Preparers - Ensure that you are
     working with a credible firm and be extra cautious about new or
     seasonal offices. Check the IRS website for more tips on how to choose
     a tax preparer.
  3. Secure your computer - Many people file taxes electronically. If you
     are one of those, be sure to install updated firewalls and anti-spyware
     protection to help keep your personal data out of the hands of thieves.

  During and After Filing
  1. Mail securely - If you file via mail, be sure to mail your return
     directly from the post office - do not leave your tax return in your
     unlocked mailbox or at the curb for pickup by your local mail carrier.
     Your personal information will be vulnerable until it is retrieved by
     the postal carrier.  It is wise to send tax information by first class
     mail with a tracking number.
  2. Safeguard Sensitive Information in Home and Outside - Frequently the
     greatest threat to personal information comes from service providers or
     in-home workers or acquaintances.  Keep paperwork in a safe location.
     When carrying this information out of the house, be sure to keep it on
     you or make sure if you leave it in the car, it is not visible.
  3. Micro-Shred Your Documents - Cross-cut shredders just don't "cut" it
     these days. Use a micro-cut shredder for maximum security. The shred
     size on micro-cut machines is much smaller - documents are literally
     turned into dust, offering the highest level of security. And since
     even a seven year- old receipt can be used by a thief, shredding is
     still one of the simplest ways to prevent identity theft.

  Consider Identity Theft Protection Services

For extra identity protection, taxpayers should consider enrolling in an identity theft protection program such as IdentitySecure.

The survey of 1,048 adults was conducted on behalf of Affinion Security Center by Greenfield Online, Inc. in January 2010.

For more information about Affinion Security Center solutions, please visit http://www.affinionsecuritycenter.com/

To follow Affinion Security Center on Twitter, please visit: http://www.twitter.com/ASC_info

About Affinion Security Center

Affinion Security Center, a division of Norwalk, Connecticut-based Affinion Group, is a global leader in providing identity protection and data security solutions to corporations and individuals. For over 35 years Affinion Security Center has been powering many of the world's leading personal data protection and breach resolution solutions offered by local, national and multi-national enterprises in the financial, retail and travel industries. The company currently protects over 10 million subscribers with services including IdentitySecure, PrivacyGuard, PC SafetyPlus and Hotline, and serves enterprise and government agencies with the data breach preparation and response tool, BreachShield. Affinion Security Center is part of the steering committee of the Identity Theft Prevention and Identity Management Standards Panel (IDSP) and is a member of the Staples Security Council. For more information please visit http://www.affinionsecuritycenter.com.

Source: Affinion Group
   

CONTACT:  Mike Bush of Affinion Group, +1-203-956-8038,
[email protected]

Web Site:  http://www.affinionsecuritycenter.com/

Charter Provides Free Speed Increases For High-Speed Internet Customers

High-Speed Internet Campaign Uses Commercials Created 100% Online

ST. LOUIS, March 1 -- Charter Communications continues to make fast even faster - for free. Charter today announced that it has increased its Internet download speeds on the Charter Internet Express and Charter Internet Plus tiers and is also increasing both the upload and download speeds on the Charter Internet Max tier, at no additional cost to customers. Plus, Charter showed its creative side in the development of its "Fast Free" commercials, airing this month.

Rather than beat the drums about uploads and downloads and what the "upgrade" means for the company, Charter chose to let consumers show what it means to them. In an industry first and example of what is possible to achieve with their service, Charter used its own Internet technology to cast, create and direct three commercials. Utilizing web cams, the director filmed customers in the comfort of their own homes, sharing how they feel about their faster Internet speeds. "We believe we provided a personal punctuation on what faster Internet means to  our customers," said Judy Wu, Senior Director of Customer Marketing for Charter.

"Having a chance to participate in the Charter commercial was a terrific experience," said Debra Leigh Robitaille, a Charter customer who appeared in one of the commercials. Our family members live all over the country and travel a lot. Now, no matter where in the world they are, if they have Internet access we can have a real-time video chat, just like they're here in the room with us."

Jenny Rich, another Charter customer, said, "I had a blast shooting the commercial. As for my Charter Internet, it's fast, reliable and makes things like downloading, chatting, streaming radio and watching videos all easy. Instead of waiting for things to download, I can get to the fun stuff faster."

"For Internet users, it's far more than a service," said Rich DiGeronimo, Vice President of Product Management for Charter. "Fast Internet access with no waiting is an integral part of their lives, giving them an instant connection to the world."

Charter Internet customers have experienced continuous improvements with increasing upload speeds and the recent addition of PowerBoost® (1), a temporary extra burst of speed during downloads, when network capacity is available.

  The upgrades to Charter Internet speeds referenced earlier are as follows:

  --  Charter Internet(TM) Express now has download speeds up to 8 Mbps
      (previously up to 5 Mbps) and upload speeds up to 1 Mbps.
  --  Charter Internet(TM) Plus offers download speeds up to 16 Mbps
      (previously up to 10 Mbps) and upload speeds up to 2 Mbps.
  --  Charter Internet(TM) Max provides downloads up to 25 Mbps (previously
      up to 20 Mbps) and upload speeds up to 3 Mbps (previously up to 2
      Mbps).

"It's important to a consumer who can't always pay more to get more, and Charter understands that," added Mr. DiGeronimo. "Charter Internet is faster, it brings our customers great value and it doesn't cost them more. Charter provides the fastest most reliable Internet speeds available(2), and increasing these speeds is no-cost bonus. It's another way we can demonstrate our commitment to our customers and to continually enhancing our products and services."

Charter Internet Ultra60 service is also available in many of Charter's markets, with download speeds up to 60 Mbps.

For more information, on Charter's television, Internet, and phone services, visit charter.com. The new Fast Free commercials can be viewed at charter.com/freefast

(1) POWERBOOST is a registered trademark of Comcast Corporation.

(2) comScore, Inc., Throughput Report, Q1-09. Faster claim based on a comparison to Internet download speeds averaged across all of AT&T/BellSouth, Qwest and Verizon's broadband Internet offerings (including both DSL and FiOS) by these providers in areas serviced by Charter. Reliable speed claim based on comparison of the difference between average observed broadband download speed versus AT&T/BellSouth, Qwest and Verizon's advertised broadband download speed weighted across all of a provider's broadband Internet offerings in areas serviced by Charter.

About Charter

Charter Communications, Inc.  (BULLETIN BOARD: CCMM)  is a leading broadband communications company and the fourth-largest cable operator in the United States. Charter provides a full range of advanced broadband services, including advanced Charter Cable(TM) video entertainment programming, Charter Internet(TM) access, and Charter Phone(TM). Charter Business® similarly provides scalable, tailored, and cost-effective broadband communications solutions to business organizations, such as business-to-business Internet access, data networking, video and music entertainment services, and business telephone. Charter's advertising sales and production services are sold under the Charter Media® brand. More information about Charter can be found at http://www.charter.com.

Source: Charter Communications, Inc.
   

CONTACT:  Anita Lamont of Charter Communications, Inc., +1-314-543-2215

Web Site:  http://www.charter.com/