Oxford, England, April 8, 2014 – iPass Inc. (NASDAQ: IPAS), providing cost-effective Wi-Fi access around the world for enterprises and telecom service providers, and the Skoll Foundation, the world’s leading social entrepreneurship and social innovation organization, today announced they have joined forces to provide mobile connectivity solutions to help Skoll Social Entrepreneurs tackle some of the world’s most pressing problems.

The iPass-Skoll Foundation initiative is being introduced at the annual Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, which runs from April 9 through April 11 in Oxford, England. The Forum brings together nearly 1,000 distinguished leaders from the business, government, and civil society sectors for three days and nights of debates, discussions, and work sessions designed to promote innovative solutions to global challenges. High-profile speakers include Malala Yousafzai, the renowned human rights activist who was shot by the Taliban at age 15 and later established The Malala Fund, dedicated to promoting education for girls around the world.

At the Forum, iPass will provide more than 100 Skoll Foundation Social Entrepreneurs with iPass Wi-Fi service free of charge for one year. With the iPass service, entrepreneurs will be able to stay connected wherever their work may take them as they tackle critical social issues and visit beneficiaries and stakeholders. During the coming year, several Social Entrepreneurs will share their stories through blogs detailing how iPass Wi-Fi and other technologies are helping them stay connected while they travel.

Skoll Social Entrepreneurs who will be blogging about their respective organizations and use of technology during the year include:

Bart Weejens, Corporate Affairs of APOPO—APOPO is a social enterprise that breeds and trains Mine Detection Rats (MDRs) to provide a cheap, efficient, and effective solution to the global landmine problem. APOPO also trains rats to swiftly and efficiently evaluate sputum samples for tuberculosis. A trained rat can evaluate a lab technician’s daily output in 10 minutes. APOPO is a Belgian NGO, with headquarters in Tanzania and operations in Mozambique, Thailand, Angola and Cambodia.
http://www.skollfoundation.org/entrepreneur/bart-weetjens/

Jim Fruchterman, President, CEO & Chairman of the Board of Benetech—Benetech is a different kind of tech company—a non-profit—with a pure focus on developing technology for social good. Benetech leads multiple program areas and initiatives to advance technology solutions that work and have the potential to become financially self-sustaining.
http://www.skollfoundation.org/entrepreneur/jim-fruchterman/

Andrea Coleman, Co-Founder and CEO of Riders for Health—Riders for Health is an international non-profit organization that provides health care to rural African villages using motorcycles and motorcycle ambulances. The project has resulted in reducing disease and illnesses by getting patients much-needed medicine in a reliable and cost-effective way. http://www.skollfoundation.org/entrepreneur/andrea-and-barry-coleman/

Willy Foote, Founder and CEO of Root Capital—Root Capital is a nonprofit social investment fund that grows rural prosperity in poor, environmentally vulnerable places in Africa and Latin America by lending capital, delivering financial training, and strengthening market connections for small and growing agricultural businesses.  http://www.skollfoundation.org/entrepreneur/william-foote/

Ned Breslin, CEO of Water for People—Water for People is an international non-profit organization dedicated to providing access to improved water and sanitation systems and services in developing countries. Water for People brings together local entrepreneurs, civil society, governments and communities to establish creative, collaborative solutions that allow people to build and maintain their own reliable safe water systems. http://www.skollfoundation.org/entrepreneur/ned-breslin/

“Mobile connectivity is critical to our social entrepreneurs’ work around the world, in some of the most remote places on earth. Yet global access to mobile connectivity is still not as affordable as people might think,” said Sally Osberg, President and CEO of the Skoll Foundation. “These entrepreneurs need to be connected with team members and partners, and communicate, share information, and make decisions in real-time. iPass will be an invaluable tool to keep them connected to what matters most. ”

“iPass strongly supports the mission of the Skoll Foundation to drive large-scale change by investing in, connecting, and celebrating social entrepreneurs,” said June Bower, CMO of iPass. “The Skoll Foundation is at the forefront of innovation, and iPass is honored to play a role in assisting the Skoll Social Entrepreneurs in their efforts to accelerate and scale impact. Mobile connectivity can play a key role by allowing these leaders to work and stay connected as they travel across the globe.”

About the Skoll World Forum
The Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship is the premier, international platform for accelerating entrepreneurial approaches and innovative solutions for the world’s most pressing social issues. The Forum comprises an annual event that convenes nearly 1,000 distinguished delegates from the social, finance, private, and public sectors in Oxford, England, and the Skoll World Forum Online, a year-round global communications platform that provides aggregated news, perspectives, and stories on social entrepreneurship and a spectrum of issues. Strategic partnerships with leading media institutions and other organizations—including Forbes, CNN, and Reuters—expand the reach of Skoll World Forum Online content to a broad and influential audience.

About the Skoll Foundation
Jeff Skoll established the Skoll Foundation in 1999 to drive large-scale change by connecting, celebrating and investing in social entrepreneurs and the innovators who help them solve the world’s most pressing problems. Social entrepreneurs are society’s change agents—creators of innovations that disrupt the status quo and transform our world for the better. By identifying the people and programs already enacting positive change throughout the world, the Foundation empowers them to extend their reach, deepen their impact, and drive toward a sustainable world of peace and prosperity.

About iPass Inc.:
iPass helps enterprises and telecom service providers ensure their employees and subscribers stay well connected. Founded in 1996, iPass (NASDAQ: IPAS) is the world's largest commercial Wi-Fi network and trusted connectivity platform, with 2.2 million hotspots across 130 countries and territories. iPass also delivers access to millions of community hotspots around the globe. iPass gives its customers easy connectivity for smartphones, tablets and laptops around the world—simply, securely and cost effectively. For more information, please visit: www.ipass.com and the iPass blog, Smarter Connections.

NOTE: iPass® is a registered trademark of iPass Inc. Open Mobile, OME, Open Mobile Express, Open Mobile Exchange and OMX are trademarks of iPass Inc. Wi-Fi® is a registered trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance. Other company names, logos and product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks owned by their respective owners.

Find iPass on:
Twitter: @iPass: twitter.com/ipass
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ipass

Media Contact:

U.S.
Heather Peterson, Plat4orm PR for iPass
Tel: +1 925 788 9039
Email: heather@plat4orm.com

Europe
Leila Hajaj, Spark Communications
Tel: +44 (0) 207 436 0420
Email: leila@sparkcomms.co.uk

Further Information

PR Consultant
Tel: 0207 1630420
Email: kerry@sparkcomms.co.uk

Chessington, Surrey, 8 April 2014.  Sunrise Software will be demonstrating the latest version of its Service Desk software on stand 200 at the Service Desk & IT Support Show (SITS) on 29th – 30th April 2014, at Earl’s Court in London. This year Sunrise marks its 20th anniversary by showcasing the product innovation that it has become renowned for, with extended functionality and reporting capabilities, as well as a brand new HR Case Management solution. Sunrise has consistently delivered creative solutions to meet its clients business requirements, for example, becoming one of the first vendors globally to introduce a truly browser based Service Desk platform as long as 10 years ago.

Sunrise Software will be showcasing a completely new HR Case Management solution that extends the proven processes currently enjoyed by hundreds of IT Service Desks and applies them to enabling the management of requests, queries and policies for HR. Launching in April, Sunrise Software HR Case Management will enable HR departments to manage contacts (both for staff and applicants), third party contracts, service level agreements and a knowledge-base efficiently, saving time that can be released back to the business for more strategic work. 

Visitors to SITS 2014 can also expect to see Sunrise showcase a raft of other exciting capabilities:

• A visually compelling browser based User Interface (UI) that is based on leading edge HTML5 and CSS3 components.
• Genuine cross platform mobile access to the UI from laptops/desktops, tablets and smartphones enabling staff to work from any location.
• Industry leading reporting and wallboard capabilities, both in real time and historical, including support for the Service Desk Institute Performance Management reporting suite – one of only 3 vendors to offer this.
• ‘Gamification’ features to introduce Reward, Recognition, and Teambuilding into the Support and Customer Service environment – also included in HR Case Management.
• The ‘Platform’ approach to enable Service and Request Management processes, not only within IT but right across the organisation.

Geoff Rees, Sales Director at Sunrise Software said; “The annual SITS show remains the industry landmark event and after 20 years shows no sign of relinquishing its prominence. For Sunrise, this special year represents an opportunity to demonstrate our continued commitment to the sector and to prove that a proud UK based SME software developer can deliver leading edge software which benefits both large and small organisations alike - as represented by our diverse client base. We look forward to welcoming all visitors to our stand over the 2 days.”

Notes to Editors

About Sunrise Software
Sunrise Software has 20 years’ experience implementing service management software that enables organisations to support both internal and external customers. The software is designed to meet industry best practice and is easily configurable to meet individual organisations’ specific needs.

The software is browser based, making it easy and intuitive to use. It comes in several versions suitable for Customer Service departments that are speaking to external customers, IT departments providing technical and support services to the business, and other departments such as Facilities management and HR/Payroll that are providing services to staff and managing third party suppliers.

The software is available on-premise or as a Software as a Service/ Cloud solution and is used by numerous high profile organisations including Anglian Water, the NHS,  University of Greenwich, Muller Dairy and many more. 

For more information please visit: www.sunrisesoftware.com

Editors Contacts
Carly Nessmann
Marketing Manager
020 8391 9000
cnessmann@sunrisesoftware.com

Andreina West
PR Artistry
01491 639500
Andreina@pra-ltd.co.uk

Egham, 8th April 2014 – OKI Europe Ltd has enhanced the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) functionality across its range of multifunction printers with Recognition Server from leading document capture company ABBYY available as a low cost add-on.

OCR is powerful functionality that enables SMBs and workgroups to streamline their end-to-end document workflows and drive operational cost efficiencies through the conversion of paper documents or document images that organisations deal with on a daily basis.

Recognition Server from ABBYY offers enterprise-scale OCR and document conversion providing highly accurate conversion of images into MS Office formats (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) or searchable PDF and PDF/A for the purpose of structuring, searching and archiving. It enables automated, unattended document processing that can be managed and accessed from within an organisation as well as remotely with recognition of up to 190 languages.

OKI Europe’s multifunction printers are designed to offer high quality printing and tailored document management solutions specifically for small to medium sized businesses. These robust devices are based on OKI’s heritage of LED technology and provide cost efficient print, copy, scan and fax* functionality, now with the added benefit of server-based OCR capability, to further streamline document workflows and deliver cost efficiencies.

“Managing document workflows effectively is no longer just an issue for large enterprise companies, but a concern for businesses of any size,” says Javier Lopez, senior manager, managed print services, OKI Europe. “OKI’s Smart Document Managed Solutions strategy recognises the key role that printing plays in improving operational efficiencies and, as part of this, the enhanced OCR and document conversion capability within our MFPs will enable smaller businesses to significantly manage their workflows better.”

OCR and document conversion is ideally-designed for businesses processing large volumes of documents, including the digitisation of existing paper-based archives. SMBs can also convert documents from a range of sources, including MFPs and network or desktop scanners and create digital, indexed documents for their document management and workflow systems.

“Paper is still an important source of information for many business processes and customers have identified cost savings of up to 30% as a result of smarter document management,” says Lopez. “The addition of ABBYY’s Recognition Server provides a simple yet powerful document capture system that enables firms to convert paper to searchable and re-usable electronic documents. This takes our MFPs to a new level of performance, providing customers with greater efficiency and productivity as they look to improve their competitiveness.”

*Fax is available on selected MFP models only

New features include a multilingual user interface, a fully programmable autoscaling feature, and the ability to set different user levels for security purposes as well as additional automated management features.

“User-friendliness is our aim. Providing ECmanaged in French, Spanish and other languages is a logical step that will provide ECmanaged a competitive advantage compared to unilingual American solutions” says Juan Carlos Moreno, CTO of ECmanaged. “In addition we have rolled out some key Cloud management features that distinguish us even more from our competitors.”

ECmanaged users will be able to schedule an autoscaling of their platforms at a predefined time or even recurrently. The command to scale up and down can be programmed whenever a usage increase is predicted (for example for the duration of a promotional campaign). Many e-shops will benefit from this accurate scaling process as it provides both robustness and cost-effectiveness.

The management agent now also supports Linux for Amazon and user profiles with different security levels can be set up. In addition, the company has streamlined the management of both physical as Cloud servers taking away the last barrier for companies to migrate to Cloud.

For more information: Joeri Hamvas, Communications Manager, +34 695 961 562

About ECmanaged:
Founded in 2012, ECmanaged is a pioneering multi-Cloud and IT management tool enabling users to take full control of their Cloud platforms and physical servers. Its intuitive design and interface allow users to develop Cloud platforms avoiding provider imposed restrictions. ECmanaged enables users to be in control of all their platforms and applications both at the implementation phase and afterwards. www.ecmanaged.com

The Cloud is unquestionably the future for energy and commodities trade and risk management (E/CTRM) solutions. The pace with which it is getting there is accelerating. And even very large trading firms are now embracing the Cloud as earlier concerns over security are allayed. These are the headline findings from a new industry round table conducted by analyst and research firm Commodity Technology Advisory (ComTech) and revealed today by vendor Aspect Enterprise Solutions.

The round table results reinforce those of a major research project and report by ComTech which concluded that the Cloud was increasingly replacing the on-premises software model once preferred by trading companies. The change is being driven by a sluggish global economy that favors lower cost, Cloud-based alternatives.

Among vendors’ representatives taking part in the ComTech round table, Aspect’s vice president of EMEA sales Yags Savania told the group that Cloud technology’s much faster return on investment would be the catalyst for widespread adoption: “Over time return on investment is realized far quicker in cloud models and I believe this will ultimately push the market to [the] Cloud.”
 
He also cited Cloud solutions’ speed of implementation, ease of integration, centralized vendor support and inherent any-device mobility as important factors in their increasing acceptance. But during the debate it was the issue of security that came up the most together with concerns from some users that data was at risk or that trades could be open to unwarranted scrutiny.

“The perception was that the cloud is insecure. [But] it has been shown that the cloud can be just as private and secure as the traditional model,” said Savania, adding that service level agreements offered an ideal way to guarantee security. “The customer should really think about their preferred vendor’s security procedures, ownership of data [and] access security. These elements should be clearly defined in the SLA.”

A full account of the round table is available http://www.aspectenterprise.com/pdf/comtech-roundtable-cloud_ctrm.pdf.

Codebits, in Lisbon from 10 to 12 April, promises the elite of the tech world three non-stop days of technical talks, workshops and competitions. Now in its seventh edition, Codebits, organised by global leader in converged telecoms and technology Portugal Telecom, brings 900 geeks together for three days of talks, workshops, programming, hardware building, and demonstrations and much more besides.

Sometimes described as a three-day ‘hackathon’, Codebits is a melting pot of tech-related activity covering hardware demos, 3D printing, arduinos, robots, technology, creativity, innovation, teamwork, knowledge sharing, networking and a host of other geeky fun.

For this edition were selected 900 participants from a total of 1,200 subscriptions. Of several hundred proposals for lectures and workshops submitted to the organization of SAPO Codebits will be a total of 51 lectures and 25 workshops, conducted by distinct and reputable personalities from different countries.

The event takes place inside the 3,000m2 Tejo Room at the Meo Arena in Lisbon Portugal. A full conference programme will cover a wide ranging group of technical and business-related subjects as well as some more exotic territory, from Pedro Gustavo Torres on Pair Programming and Tiago Henriques on Secure Coding, Gamification and Automation For the Win, to An anarchist's guide to software development, by João Neves and Letting Go, or why you should meditate daily, by Miguel Ping. Enough mind-blowing, cutting edge practical and informative input to keep the developer community engaged for another 12 months.

SAPO Codebits has a strong connection with the academy and scientific communities through SAPO Labs. SAPO Labs is a creative environment where university and industry join forces to create new technologies, services, products and trends in an experimental context. With formal relationships with several research institutes, Portuguese and international universities, the SAPO Labs has encouraged several initiatives in recent years.

Portugal Telecom has transformed its business model through investment in technology and innovation, thus increasing the relevance of the services it offers as well as the predictability of the business. The company is a major player in data centre and cloud services in Portugal, Europe and the wider world seeking to transform Portugal into a major hub for exporting data storage capacity for companies and technology services worldwide.

Notes for editors:

• Codebits information and registration details are available at; https://codebits.eu
• SAPO Labs: http://labs.sapo.pt
• Codebits VI Opening: http://videos.sapo.pt/JzphPgqplakj7U2v16Bb
• Codebits VI Report: http://videos.sapo.pt/hyp4tZGhnE87gvBFYnNw/

Carbon Law Partners has today (Tuesday 8 April) announced its launch following the signing of a three year strategic partnership with LexisNexis®, a leading global provider of content and technology solutions; and the only Microsoft Dynamics® AX global independent software vendor (ISV) partner in the legal sector.                                             

The progressive law firm will deploy LexisOne™ - an enterprise-grade business management solution, powered by Microsoft Dynamics® AX – to underpin its support offering for corporate and commercial lawyers. Lexis®Library and Lexis®PSL will provide lawyers access to authoritative content including up-to-date guidance, legislation, cases, precedent and commentary.

Established by city lawyer Michael Burne and banking director Owain Saunders-Jones, Carbon Law Partners follows in the foot-steps of Keystone Law, Temple Bright and Setfords, but with the aim of attracting Partners and Associates from the top 100 law firms with the offer of no restrictive covenants and greater earning potential.

Chief Executive, Michael Burne explains: “Carbon is for ambitious, client-focused lawyers who want choice, control and freedom. It is for those who want the flexibility of running their own firm, but with the back-up and support of systems used by a top 50 firm wherever they are based.”

“Carbon is the product of extensive research and development during 2013.  It is the outcome from listening to what lawyers and clients are saying about what they want from a top commercial practice.”

“Our aim is to attract 50 lawyers over the next five year period generating total billing in the region of £15 million pa. We are rethinking law and the strategic partnership with LexisNexis is a reflection of our commitment to delivering sustainable growth and opportunity for high achieving lawyers. Think of us as the St. James’s Place for commercial and corporate lawyers.”

Operations Director, Owain Saunders-Jones, adds: “Lawyers will have access to top-class practice management software; a library; precedent and research services; a range of concierge services; and a network of like-minded UK leading corporate and commercial lawyers; allowing them to be streamlined and lean if required, but to build big and varied teams on demand. It’s more efficient and more effective.”

“Our partners will be able to do the type of work that they want, with the clients they want, when they want. They will get a fair share of the fees that they bill. When they retire or move on they can sell on the equity in the client relationships that they have built up. We will also recognise performance and the commitment to business quality through the ‘Carbon Bond’, an innovative profit sharing plan to further incentivise exceptional performance from our staff and lawyers alike. This is a unique proposition in a rapidly changing market place that we believe will prove compelling for corporate and commercial lawyers with more than five years PQE. In fact, we are so confident that life with Carbon will be as rewarding as we say; we do not have any restrictive covenants.”

Andy Sparkes, General Manager, LexisNexis Enterprise Solutions, says: “LexisOne provides a modern platform for business operation to the law firm of today and those of the future. LexisOne goes beyond traditional practice management software, providing the enterprise resource planning-style capabilities that Carbon Law Partners will need to succeed in their new business environment. Built on a solid foundation of readily available Microsoft® technologies, it has the flexibility to evolve and scale as the business grows and more partners join. We are delighted to be working with Michael, Owain and their team at Carbon.”

Having studied at Chester College of Law and Leicester University, Michael Burne began his career in law with Denton Hall in 1993 before moving to Allen & Overy. He became Head of the Marketing Division, having been Head of Legal, for St. James’s Place Capital plc in December 2000. More recently he was Governance Director with Openwork, the UK’s second largest financial advisory distribution business, and Managing Director of Paritas, a commercial and corporate law firm based in Cardiff.

Owain Saunders-Jones has over 15 years of experience in the banking sector having spent some ten years with Barclays before joining the UK’s largest retail bank, Lloyds in April 2011 as an Area Director. During his time with Lloyds he was responsible for some 35 branches and 300,000 customers, achieving national recognition for colleague engagement, customer service and business performance.

London, 8 April 2014 – PageOne Communications, a leading provider of critical messaging solutions to the public and private sectors, today announced that Dorset Fire and Rescue Service (DFRS) has selected its Trio lone worker device to help ensure the safety and security of their field-based staff. Implementing the Trio device is helping DFRS protect staff working alone who may potentially be at risk, whilst also adhering to vital health and safety requirements.

“We have approximately 14,500 fire hydrants spread throughout the county and it is the responsibility of our lone worker Fire Hydrant Technicians to carry out inspections, test and repair defective hydrants which can often be positioned in remote or hazardous locations,” says Ian Crabb, Water & Foam Officer at DFRS. “With tilt and motion sensors to detect a potential man-down scenario, as well as a periodic welfare check-in feature and SOS alarm; the Trio device provides us with a sophisticated solution to address health and safety concerns and provide peace of mind to our staff. The Trio also operates as a two-way pager so can be used for our normal messaging and alerting,” adds Ian.

Fully integrated with Connect, PageOne’s cloud-based messaging service, it means DFRS can manage and monitor lone workers from a secure web-dashboard. “SOS alerts are auto-forwarded to a pre-defined list of contacts through Connect, so the right people are notified and kept in the loop,” says Ian. “When an alert message is received, there is a link to Google Maps which shows the last known location, along with a date and time stamp meaning we can quickly and easily find and assist staff in distress,” concludes Ian.

DFRS have really seen the benefits of PageOne’s dedicated lone worker device, so much so that its use has recently been extended to the Community Safety Team. Future plans include extending the use of PageOne’s lone worker solutions across other business units, including the Commercial Safety Team.

“We understand employers have a duty of care to safeguard vulnerable staff, and in doing so are delighted that Dorset Fire and Rescue Service have selected PageOne’s Trio lone worker device to help ensure the safety and security of their field-based technicians, and Community Safety Team. That the Trio also operates as a two-way pager means lone worker protection can be combined with operational messaging within a single robust device.” says Nigel Gray, Director at PageOne.

For further information about PageOne’s Trio Lone Worker Device, please visit http://www.pageone.co.uk/services/connect/trio-lone-worker-device

Luxembourg, 8th April 2014 – SES Broadband Services today announced it has signed an agreement with German Internet Service Provider ORBITCOM to market its Astra Connect service.

Provided via Ka-band capacity on the recently launched SES’s satellite ASTRA 2E, Astra Connect delivers high-speed broadband across Europe. ORBITCOM will provide the service to households in under-served areas in Germany where current broadband speeds are 2Mbit/s or less.

Six different options of Astra Connect service packages will be available to ORBITCOM customers, with prices depending on data volume. The additional night option allows browsing without limit and without volume billing and is an integral part of any tariff. All packages have download speeds of up to 20Mbit/s and upload speeds of up to 2Mbit/s.

“The Internet has become an indispensable part of our lives and yet high-speed broadband Internet access is still not the norm,” said Andreas Schmidt, CEO, ORBITCOM GmbH. “With the Astra Connect tariffs we can provide both casual surfers and usage-heavy home office operators Internet access that is directly tuned to their needs and usage patterns. For everyone, everywhere, this is crucial.”

ORBITCOM’s management team brings 25 years of experience in the retail, e-commerce and telecommunications markets, including launching emerging technologies. The company will bring this experience to the new partnership with SES Broadband Services.

“We are looking forward to working with ORBITCOM in Germany, a very important market for us. With the launch of ASTRA 2E we have expanded capacity and coverage for this market, allowing for further growth and connectivity for everyone, regardless of their location,” said Patrick Biewer, Managing Director of SES Broadband Services.

Symetri is delighted to announce that on 2 April 2014, Cad-Q of Sweden, part of the Addnode Group of companies, signed an agreement to acquire Symetri from Airbus Defense and Space. The sale will create a new centre of mechanical CAD excellence in the UK and the combined company will become Autodesk’s largest solutions partner in Northern Europe. 

Addnode Group acquires, builds and manages companies that deliver mission-critical IT solutions for the specific needs of its clients.  Cad-Q, which is 100% owned by Addnode Group, is Scandinavia and Finland’s leading provider of IT solutions supporting processes related to design, engineering, production and the management of advanced construction. 

The integration of Symetri into Addnode Group’s international organisation provides enhanced opportunities for customers and the business itself. Existing Symetri customers will benefit from a broader knowledge of manufacturing CAD, plus expertise in related areas such as data management, simulation, PLM and complementary proprietary software applications. The acquisition will also provide continuity for customers, with existing account managers remaining in place. Indeed, looking forward the emphasis will be on ‘business as usual’.

As 3D CAD matures, resellers need a wider range of skills and areas of specialised knowledge to meet the business requirements of today’s discerning clients.  Cad-Q has the background in data management, software development, PLM and systems integration necessary to help ensure continued success for both Symetri and its customers. In return, Symetri represents Cad-Q’s first investment outside Scandinavia and offers Cad-Q access, for its own range of products and services, to a large base of Autodesk manufacturing customers in the UK.

Symetri look forward to a successful future in which all customers can share. If you would like to discuss further how the new company will provide you with greater flexibility and an enhanced service offering, please do not hesitate to contact us.

London, UK — April 8, 2014 — Ixia (Nasdaq: XXIA) announced that it has been selected by Microsoft as the official provider to qualify mobile devices for use with Microsoft’s Lync application. The expanding use of mission-critical applications encompassing voice, video and messaging is placing increased strain on mobile devices, while at the same time, customer expectations for quality are rising. Ixia’s Wi-Fi device qualification includes rigorous testing in real-world scenarios to ensure that smartphones, tablets and laptops perform as expected when running Microsoft Lync.  

News highlights
As a unified communications (UC) platform that provides a single client experience for instant messaging, voice and video chat, Microsoft Lync helps foster collaboration across global enterprise workforces. However, with the explosion of the “bring your own device” (BYOD) trend, applications such as Lync are increasingly being used on mobile devices instead of on desktops. This, coupled with high quality expectations from enterprise users, means manufacturers must be sure that new mobile devices perform as needed. 

Microsoft and Ixia are collaborating to test and qualify mobile devices for Microsoft Lync applications using the Ixia  Wi-Fi mobile device test solution. As the official testing house for the complete Microsoft Lync Wi-Fi ecosystem, Ixia works directly with Microsoft partners to test and qualify technology used with the UC system following a proven process:

• Over a one-week timeframe, Ixia uses its VeriWave solution to create real-world conditions by emulating a full range of scalable, media-rich application traffic and measuring performance, roaming capabilities, interoperability, and more.
• Once testing is complete, Ixia delivers a qualification report to Microsoft and the technology partner with performance, security and reliability findings. Based on this report, Microsoft determines whether the technology is qualified for use with the Lync platform.
• As a result, Microsoft now has confidence that Lync users will receive high-quality UC services, which equates to an increase in adoption of the powerful and essential collaboration tool.

During the past year, Ixia has worked as the official test house to qualify Microsoft’s Lync application against Wi-Fi networking devices, such as Wi-Fi access points, and has worked directly with Microsoft partners to test and qualify the technology used with the system.

Industry commentary
“Enterprise collaboration tools have become a critical part of today’s working culture, and with the rise of BYOD, a good experience on mobile devices is essential,” said Todd Haugen, Group Manager of Skype Wi-Fi at Microsoft. “Microsoft is driven to ensure our customers have the quality Lync experience they expect, and working with Ixia to qualify the Lync ecosystem – starting with Wi-Fi network devices and now with the associated mobile devices - accomplishes this goal.”

“Mobile usage is growing exponentially with more and more users depending on mobile devices to connect to and use mission-critical tools such as Microsoft’s Lync collaboration suite,” said Joseph Zeto, Director of Product Marketing for Ixia. “Quality of Experience is no longer a ‘nice to have,’ as enterprises and individual users rely on mobile devices to work anywhere and anytime. Working with Microsoft and mobile device manufacturers, Ixia is helping to prepare today’s devices for tomorrow’s applications.”

About Ixia
Ixia develops amazing products so its customers can connect the world. Ixia helps its customers provide an always-on user experience through fast, secure delivery of dynamic, connected technologies and services. Through actionable insights that accelerate and secure application and service delivery, Ixia's customers benefit from faster time to market, optimised application performance and higher-quality deployments. Learn more at http://www.ixiacom.com.

London, UK – 8th April 2014 – Masergy Communications Inc., a global leader in managed networking and cloud services, today announced the company has acquired Global DataGuard, Inc. The acquisition enhances Masergy’s existing portfolio of managed services with patented technology that leverages machine learning and expert human intelligence.

“In today's rapidly evolving threat landscape, discrete signature or rule-based security solutions alone are not adequate from a risk management perspective. And as seen in recent news, even when businesses invest in advanced security solutions, the lack of systematic sharing and correlation of subsystem data and vigilant 24/7 monitoring leaves them exposed to advanced threats,” said Masergy’s CEO Chris MacFarland.

“Cyber attacks are only going to become more intense and sophisticated – it’s a new battlefield. The acquisition of Global DataGuard uniquely positions Masergy to deliver solutions engineered to address these advanced persistent threats.”

Masergy’s Security as a Service suite now includes comprehensive enterprise security solutions with Unified Enterprise SecurityTM and Professional Services.

Unified Enterprise SecurityTM leverages a fully-integrated system architecture designed to support cloud, premise and hybrid IT environments. The 100% passive modular solution overlays, complements and unifies a business’s existing security investment with:

• 24/7 Security Control Center monitoring and reporting by certified security analysts
• Patented adaptive, predictive network behavioural analysis
• Advanced persistent threat management
• Vulnerability management
• Security Threat Intelligence Dashboard
• Security Information and Event Management
• Intrusion Detection/Prevention
• Managed Firewall and Intelligent Internet Management

Masergy’s suite of Professional Services includes comprehensive security audits, forensic audits, compliance testing, penetration testing, vulnerability assessments and risk management. 
“This transaction is a win for both our customers and our employees. Masergy’s focus on ongoing innovation and its commitment to delivering a superior client experience is completely consistent with our core operating tenants,” said Global DataGuard’s CEO, Scott Paly. “Together, we will accelerate our rate of innovation and service leadership in cyber security.”

For more information please visit www.masergy.com/solutions/security.

About Masergy
Masergy owns and operates the largest independent global cloud networking platform for enterprises. Its managed solutions with fully integrated real-time analytics, global unified communications as a service (UCaaS), security as a service and software defined network control help businesses compete in the global marketplace.

Masergy's patented technology, customisable solutions and unmatched customer experience are why a growing number of global enterprises rely on Masergy to deliver performance beyond expectations. For more information about Masergy visit www.masergy.com or follow it on Twitter @Masergy, Blog, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Kenshoo (www.Kenshoo.com), the global leader in predictive media optimisation technology, today announced the general availability of Kenshoo Halogen, the world’s most accurate predictive modeling engine for digital marketers, which powers various components of the Kenshoo platform. During beta testing with 90+ marketing plans, Kenshoo Halogen increased client sales revenue by 53% while increasing digital marketing investments by 36%. Marketers also cited an extraordinary reduction of man-hours spent on budget analysis and pacing, in some cases as much as 20%. 

Kenshoo Halogen illuminates the future potential of digital marketing campaigns to meet specific goals and objectives. Designed to work with Kenshoo’s advanced targeting and bidding algorithms, Kenshoo Halogen uses past performance of campaigns and a wide variety of market data to provide forecasts and scenario plans that can be automatically applied to in-market campaigns. Through an intuitive interface, marketers can determine how much more return can be produced with extra budget, how much revenue can be generated at different levels of spend, and how much potential a portfolio or single campaign has. 

"Kenshoo Halogen has not only helped us to more accurately forecast budgets, the technology gives us the ability to plan for different scenarios and set expectations on future performance," said Paul Kasamias, Search Director, U.K. at Starcom MediaVest Group. "As a result, we've been able to make quick, informed decisions and increase the return on investment for our clients." 

“The combination of SMG and Kenshoo Halogen gives us more precision and visibility than ever. We're trying to find the most efficient way to drive new business and paid search is an important channel to make that connection," said Michelle Cranston, Assistant Digital Marketing Manager at Travelodge. "With the ability to set a clear forecast and automatically optimise to our goals, we saw a 36% lift in ROI." 

Now available to all Kenshoo clients, Kenshoo Halogen includes a growing set of tools for digital marketing budget forecasting and scenario planning that complement Kenshoo Portfolio Optimizer, Kenshoo's proprietary solution for portfolio bid optimisation. 

“Kenshoo Halogen has made a significant impact for us in our daily budget management with significant time-savings and ensuring we stay within our increasingly small margin for error,” said Stephanie Lee, Search and Display Manager at Restaurant.com. “We’ve reduced our daily pacing checks 5-10 hours per week and applied those hours to other critical functions of our campaigns. Kenshoo Halogen has provided benefits across the board.”

“At Kenshoo, innovation is at the core of everything we do and we’re diligent in our pursuit to provide marketers with the industry-leading technologies they need to optimise campaigns based on unique goals and objectives,” said Will Martin-Gill, SVP, Product for Kenshoo. “Kenshoo Halogen continues the trend of disruptive digital solutions from Kenshoo and we’re proud to equip our clients with this advanced technology.” 

Visit Kenshoo.com/Halogen for more information on Halogen.

About Kenshoo
Kenshoo is a global software company that engineers cloud-based digital marketing solutions and predictive media optimisation technology. Brands, agencies and developers use Kenshoo Search, Kenshoo Social, Kenshoo Local and Kenshoo SmartPath to direct more than £120 billion in annualised online client sales revenue through the platform. Kenshoo is the only Facebook strategic Preferred Marketing Developer with native API solutions for ads across Facebook, FBX, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Yahoo Japan, Bing, Baidu and CityGrid. Kenshoo powers campaigns in more than 190 countries for nearly half of the Fortune 50 and all 10 top global ad agency networks. Kenshoo clients include Accor, Burberry, GroupM, Havas Media, John Lewis, and Tesco. Kenshoo has 22 international locations and is backed by Sequoia Capital, Arts Alliance, and Tenaya Capital. Please visit www.Kenshoo.com for more information.

Kenshoo brand and product names are trademarks of Kenshoo Ltd. Other company and brand names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

In a world first, BT IT Systems is future-proofing its data centre assets with the industry's first upgradeable PDU, the Enlogic EnPowered PDU. Recognising the current market split between the need for either intelligent or basic PDUs, alongside the barriers to technology procurement, Enlogic has developed and delivered the EnPowered PDU to give customers the best of both worlds - a highly engineered basic PDU with multiple benefits, which also allows customers to purchase a network management card (NMC) at a later date, to upgrade the PDU's intelligence level.

This means that when a customer like BT IT Systems chooses to upgrade from basic, the initial purchase doesn't become a ‘sunk cost' for the business as Enlogic can simply install the ‘brain' of the PDU - the NMC - in a couple of simple clicks, avoiding downtime and any lengthy change management or procurement processes.  As no other direct competitors provide this ‘EnPowered' ability on the market, this is a valuable asset for all businesses.

Customers using any PDU from Enlogic's intelligent range will benefit from its hot swappable network management module, designed using distributed intelligence architecture, which allows for easy field replacement while the device remains powered and IT equipment keeps running.  This is achieved by storing the PDU's basic configurations on the chassis' motherboard with only limited intelligence in the component.  Hot swap could save up to 80 hours of change management ticketing when component delivery and installation are taken into account.

Steve Smith, regional data centre manager at BT IT Systems comments: "Enlogic's fresh approach to the role the PDU can play has allowed me to improve efficiencies in my data centre whilst reducing cost.  The flexibility surrounding the outlet types allows my business to drive my data centre and not the other way around.

"What's more, by understanding the change management process applied to businesses of our size, Enlogic's innovative hot swappable Network Management Card (NMC) not only reduces cost but also vast amounts of time in such a critical environment, as well as offering an upgrade path from the basic to full monitoring without any downtime," Smith concludes.

Eddie Desouza, Global Communications and Marketing Director, comments: "Every aspect of Enlogic's EnPowered PDUs have been designed to deliver to multiple stakeholders. Customers are consistently feeding back that while they made the decision to buy based on different USPs, the overall efficiency, design and operational benefits of the Enlogic PDU outstrip anything they've seen before.

"Data centre managers can use the Enlogic ‘EnPowered' PDU as a stepping stone to create a highly intelligent monitoring environment when the business requires and can afford to make this change," Desouza concludes.

Upgrading from an EnPowered to an intelligent PDU and using it together with a network management card (NMC) enables users to remotely access PDU information through an IP address. A single IP address can be used when daisy chaining up to four PDUs for manageability.  The software allows data centre managers to be granular with the detail they obtain about their PDUs and data centre environment, offering precise updates on capacity, air flow and cooling.

The Enlogic ‘Enpowered' PDU delivers the industry's slimmest premium hydraulic magnetic circuit breakers which are unaffected by heat and allow equipment to run up to the highest temperatures without tripping. Data centre managers can set parameters on the PDU to alert them when it reaches a certain threshold unlike rival breakers which will trip without warning.  

With space in the data centre at a premium, Enlogic's entire range of PDUs (including the EnPowered PDU) are the slimmest in the world - up to 42mm slimmer than its closest competitor - at just 50mm. This means that installers can fit it into the rack with ease in comparison to larger alternatives. The slimmer size also negates the need to power down the PDU to provide maintenance on other servers, as it doesn't obstruct any of the other components in the rack. 

Further Information

Service Delivery Executive
Tel: +44 (0)1522 883640
Email: enquires@realwire.com

Kaspersky Lab has obtained a patent for a method of detecting malware that has been masked by rootkits – special programs capable of altering the outcomes of system functions. Patent no. 8677492, issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office, describes the operation of a security solution with a special module that duplicates some functions of the operating system’s kernel, so the security solution has reliable information even if the OS is infected with a rootkit.

Cybercriminals use rootkits to prevent security solutions detecting malicious programs such as Trojans. To do this, a rootkit masquerades as a legal driver, integrates with the OS kernel, intercepts system function calls from applications and modifies the results of their operation, deleting any references to files and processes related to the Trojan. This means the presence of malicious code can be masked and the dangerous program becomes invisible to the user and to other applications.

The patent obtained by Kaspersky Lab describes an auxiliary module that duplicates the critical functions of the OS kernel, such as handling files, process control, reading registry records etc.

The main application of the module is to detect objects masked by a rootkit. The security solution does so by requesting a list of files or running processes through the main kernel, and simultaneously sends an identical request through the auxiliary module. A comparison of the returned data helps identify objects that are absent from the list returned by the OS kernel.

If the two lists are not identical, this indicates that a rootkit is active in the system, and the security solution can perform actions to neutralise suspicious objects.

The algorithm for using the auxiliary kernel can be configured as required. For example, on a home computer a scan can be launched when other security subsystems flag an object’s suspicious behaviour – this will save resources. In a corporate environment requiring a higher level of security, the control can be used on a continuous basis.

“Masking malware programs with the help of rootkits makes it much more difficult for anti-malware solutions to detect threats. This newly patented technology provides a reliable method to identify objects that are disguised in the system, helping counteract the most dangerous attacks,” commented Vyacheslav Rusakov, Malware Expert at Kaspersky Lab and author of the patent.

This method of detecting malicious code that conceals its presence in the system has been implemented in Kaspersky Lab’s home and corporate products, including Kaspersky Internet Security, Kaspersky PURE and Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business.

Kaspersky Lab holds an extensive patent portfolio. As of mid-March 2014, Kaspersky Lab holds 197 patents issued in the USA, Russia, the European Union and China. A further 248 patent applications are being reviewed by the appropriate authorities.

About Kaspersky Lab
Kaspersky Lab is the world’s largest privately held vendor of endpoint protection solutions. The company is ranked among the world’s top four vendors of security solutions for endpoint users*. Throughout its more than 16-year history Kaspersky Lab has remained an innovator in IT security and provides effective digital security solutions for large enterprises, SMBs and consumers. Kaspersky Lab, with its holding company registered in the United Kingdom, currently operates in almost 200 countries and territories across the globe, providing protection for over 300 million users worldwide. Learn more at www.kaspersky.co.uk.

* The company was rated fourth in the IDC rating Worldwide Endpoint Security Revenue by Vendor, 2012. The rating was published in the IDC report "Worldwide Endpoint Security 2013–2017 Forecast and 2012 Vendor Shares (IDC #242618, August 2013). The report ranked software vendors according to earnings from sales of endpoint security solutions in 2012.

Further Information

account exec
Tel: 441189090909
Email: alice.collins@berkeleypr.co.uk

Fujitsu today announced that it has been selected as a partner by Halfords Group plc. Under the terms of the three-year contract, Fujitsu will provide ongoing IT maintenance and support for Halfords 465 stores across the UK & Ireland. The move supports Halfords’ wider business objective of IT becoming an enabler for future growth.

Halfords has set a three-year plan in place that will see it transform its IT business in line with its people, processes, partners and technology. Halfords is currently reviewing its IT suppliers with an aim to significantly reduce to a smaller set of strategic relationships. Following a competitive tender Halfords chose Fujitsu to manage and maintain its IT hardware within the UK and Ireland stores.

“Providing a strong IT maintenance service to our colleagues in store enables them to deliver great service to our customers,” said Anna Barsby, CIO, Halfords. “Fujitsu was a natural choice, as a partner with tried and tested credentials which would strive to help us continuously improve the way we run our business. Beyond this contract, we’re talking to Fujitsu about a number of future projects and are looking forward to welcoming them on board as one of our strategic partners.”

“This is a really exciting time to work with Halfords as it transforms its approach to IT,” said Paul Patterson, Executive Director, Fujitsu UK & Ireland. “Retail is an incredibly fast-paced sector to operate in – and ensuring that all technology is running smoothly is a critical part of providing the best service to customers. The next few years isn't simply about maintaining the organisation's IT, but also about working together to identify new technologies that can ensure that Halfords IT platform will facilitate sustainable long-term growth.

About Fujitsu

Fujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company offering a full range of technology products, solutions and services. Approximately 170,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE: 6702) reported consolidated revenues of 4.4 trillion yen (US$47 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2013. For more information, please see http://www.fujitsu.com   

Fujitsu UK & Ireland
Fujitsu UK & Ireland is a leading IT systems, services and products company employing over 10,100 people with an annual revenue of £1.6 billion. Additionally, Fujitsu’s other operations in the UK bring its total employee numbers to over 14,000 and its total revenues to £1.8 billion. Its business is in enabling its customers to realise their objectives by exploiting information technology through its integrated product and service portfolio. This includes consulting, applications, systems integration, managed services and product for customers in the private and public sectors including retail, financial services, telecoms, government, defence and consumer sectors. For more information, please see: http://uk.fujitsu.com

About Halfords

Halfords Group plc
The Group is the UK's leading retailer of automotive, leisure and cycling products and through Halfords Autocentres also one of the UK's leading independent car servicing and repair operator. Halfords customers shop at over 460 stores in the UK and Republic of Ireland and at halfords.com for pick-up at their local store or direct home delivery. Halfords Autocentres operates from over 300 sites nationally and offers motorists dealership-quality MOTs, repairs and car servicing at affordable prices.

The Halfords group strategy is based on three pillars:

• Supporting Drivers Of Every Car
• Inspiring Cyclists Of Every Age
• Equipping Families For Their Leisure Time

The Getting into Gear 2016 plan for the Retail business is based on executing in five key areas in order to deliver a significantly-enhanced customer experience:

• Service Revolution
• The H Factor
• Stores Fit To Shop
• 21st Century Infrastructure
• Click With The Digital Future

Halfords employs approximately 12,000 colleagues and sells around 10,000 product lines in stores, increasing to around 30,000 lines online. The product offering encompasses significant ranges in car parts, cycling, in-car technology, child seats, roof boxes, outdoor leisure and camping equipment. Halfords own brands include Apollo and Carrera cycles, augmented by exclusive UK distribution rights for the premium-ranged Boardman cycles and accessories. In outdoor leisure, we sell a premium range of camping equipment including brands such as Gelert and Outwell. Halfords offers customers expert advice and a fitting service called "wefit" for car parts, child seats, satellite navigation and in-car entertainment systems, and a "werepair" service for cycles.

www.halfords.com

www.halfordscompany.com

www.halfordsautocentres.com

London, UK 9th April, 2014 – RES Software and Fruition Partners today announced the certification of the RES Software integration with ServiceNow, which builds on ServiceNow’s core automation capabilities to give enterprises an opportunity to further optimise IT operations and improve the user experience. RES Software, a provider of IT automation software that improves the end user experience, worked closely with Fruition Partners, the leading provider of technology-enabled services for the service management sector, to develop the automation integration that has been certified by ServiceNow. Certification by ServiceNow signifies that RES Software and Fruition Partners have successfully completed a set of defined and rigorous tests focused on integration interoperability, security and performance. The certification also ensures best practices are used in the design and implementation of RES Software technology’s integration with ServiceNow.

As a Master Solutions Partner of ServiceNow, Fruition Partners provides innovative products and technology-enabled services that help organisations attain sustained success throughout the entire IT Service Management process.  Fruition Partners is also a valued expert at integrating third-party software tools with ServiceNow, providing both development services as well as consulting services to assist companies through the formal ServiceNow certification process. Fruition Partners and RES Software collaborated to develop this integration that provides customers with broader application of automation technology within their ServiceNow deployment. Customers can now leverage the prebuilt automation of repeatable tasks in more applications, databases, enterprise mobility management solutions, PC lifecycle management (PCLM), and SaaS solutions that are common in the enterprise.

“We see our customers reaping the benefits of ServiceNow and we realise a larger opportunity for enterprises to do even more by integrating their critical business processes and tools with ServiceNow,” said Roland Wornor, Director of the Center of Excellence at Fruition Partners.  “RES Software has automation capabilities that build on ServiceNow offerings, giving enterprise IT more flexibility and options on when and how to automate various services. At the end of the day, when building the ServiceNow integration with RES Software, we realised customers could save even more time and give users a more seamless IT experience.”

RES Software transforms how users consume IT services through proactive, secure and automated delivery and return of IT resources, with a great user experience. Key benefits of the RES Software integration for ServiceNow customers include:

• More advanced out-of-the-box automation capabilities for faster IT service delivery with less manual intervention from IT
• Improved automation workflow, using pre-built and validated automation for more key IT services, reducing the need for scripting
• A better user experience by empowering users to fix and remediate issues immediately themselves before they become an incident
• Faster resolution of incidents and proactive prevention of tickets, giving the service desk the ability to solve more incidents faster and focus on more strategic projects

“RES Software is committed to arming IT departments with powerful enterprise tools that not only make their job easier, but also improve the user experience and cultivate happy employees,” said Jeff Fisher, RES Software’s Vice President of Emerging Technologies. “Working with Fruition Partners to deliver extended automation capabilities to ServiceNow customers was a logical step for us as we continue to work toward helping CIOs and IT departments more strategically support their organizations’ bottom line.”

For more information, visit www.ressoftware.com/ServiceNow.

About RES Software
RES Software transforms how users consume IT services through proactive, secure and automated delivery and return of IT resources, with a great user experience. RES Software helps IT professionals master the impacts of IT consumerisation, increasingly sophisticated corporate users, bring-your-own-device initiatives and cloud technologies by building a foundation for delivering IT as a Service. RES Software patented technologies are used by a global customer base, and include superior customer support. For more information, follow updates on Twitter @ressoftware and visit www.ressoftware.com/uk   or www.itstore.com/uk.

About Fruition Partners
Fruition Partners is an experienced cloud-service management firm with a proven history of processes transformation and practical results.  From robust service offerings to innovative products, Fruition Partners has the technology-enabled tools and services to help organizations attain sustainable success throughout the entire ITSM process.  Ranked #480 on the 2013 Inc. 500 list of America’s fastest growing private companies, with 325+ ServiceNow implementations, and more than 200 cloud service management experts on staff, Fruition Partners is a Master Services Partner of ServiceNow.  For more information on Fruition Partners visit http://www.fruitionpartners.com, follow the company on Twitter @FruitionPartner or call +1-888-604-0055.

Media Contacts:
Joe Richards
Aspectus PR
020 7242 8867
resuk@aspectuspr.com

April H. Burghardt
PR Consultant
Fruition Partners
646-246-0484
april.burghardt@fruitionpartners.com

WorldPay, a global leader in payment processing, risk and alternative payments, andZNAP™, the mobile business platform, have agreed a global partnership which will enable multi-channel commerce for new and existing businesses. The joint offering has already been deployed by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) at Twickenham Stadium.

ZNAP is a mobile app that allows customers to shop, pay, and receive special offers and loyalty rewards through their smart device. Businesses can deliver a new sales channel to potential customers and offer a seamless transition throughout the customer journey. By integrating WorldPay’s payment gateway into ZNAP, customers can choose their preferred method of payment from a portfolio of more than 200 alternative payment methods, as well as traditional credit and debit cards.

Highly scalable and adaptable, the solution requires no additional infrastructure or hardware, allowing businesses to quickly and simply create a new sales channel with minimal expense.

Kevin Dallas, Chief Product and Marketing Officer, WorldPay e-commerce, says: “By partnering with ZNAP we can offer businesses a highly competitive multi-channel service. Our unrivalled alternative payment portfolio means that businesses using ZNAP can instantly gain access to hundreds of payment options to offer customers their preferred payment method. Payments made through the ZNAP platform are routed through WorldPay, meaning that instead of having the headache of manually collating payments from different sources, businesses can track the payments collected through one secure connection.”

Hooman Mazaheri, European CEO of ZNAP says: “We want to transform payments from a simple transaction into new sales opportunities for businesses and a compelling purchasing experience for consumers. For consumers it’s about helping them discover and buy the best products at the best prices simply and securely, and be rewarded for their custom. For businesses it’s about better engagement with new and existing customers to drive sales through the delivery of meaningful information and offers. It’s more than simply connected channels, it’s connected commerce – we call it omni-commerce. And this only works if businesses and consumers have the freedom to transact how they choose, which is why we are delighted to be working with WorldPay to offer more than 200 payment methods.”

Jonathan Harris, Finance Director, Twickenham Experience Limited, says: “As an international venue, we need to offer fans excellent customer service, regardless of where they’ve travelled from. With ZNAP and WorldPay’s offering, we can now speed up shopping times, reduce queues and deliver special offers and loyalty rewards to our customers via their preferred payment method.”

Further Information

Service Delivery Executive
Tel: +44 (0)1522 883640
Email: enquires@realwire.com

Pennaf Ltd has chosen Real Asset Management (RAM) to manage its array of property assets and deliver an efficient, automated component accounting system that will replace its outdated, manual spreadsheet based method. The new system, which is due to go live in April, will enable Pennaf to create timely, accurate and error free reports, whilst also ensuring Welsh government demands are being met and complying with accounting standards regulations.

Pennaf Ltd provides general corporate management support services, as well as specialist services to Pennaf Housing Group members. Pennaf was created in response to the changing and ever more demanding needs faced by service providers in the community to maximise the use of limited resources. When SORP regulations were introduced in 2008, Pennaf saw its asset base escalate from 5,500 to in excess of 60,000. After trialling a traditional spreadsheet method of recording its depreciating assets, Pennaf saw the need for an accurate, robust and flexible system that would allow it to record its large array of properties including residential homes and hostels.

Stephen Morris, Finance Controller, Pennaf Housing Group, comments, “The wide variety of properties that we have was making it difficult for us to keep track of our depreciating assets. We were using a mix of spreadsheets and an in-house housing rental system which, when combined, were not designed for asset management. When component accounting was introduced our number of assets increased dramatically and after struggling to produce all the necessary information needed, we decided to seek a genuine asset management system.”

Stephen continues, “We quickly realised that RAM’s Asset4000 system was extremely flexible and was exactly what we needed. With different types of properties, each with a different asset base and a different life cycle, we needed a system which would be able to handle a vast amount of different data. RAM’s solution could do exactly that.”

As well as implementing Asset4000, Pennaf has also purchased RAM’s forecasting module which will create ‘what if’ scenarios for future capital expenditure, revaluations and asset disposals, creating depreciation projections to simplify annual budget decisions.

Another key reason for selecting RAM is its integration with Pennaf’s finance system, Kypera, which together will deliver increased efficiency, saving time and ultimately, money.

Once implemented, Pennaf Ltd is also considering rolling out the system across its partner groups Clwyd Alyn, Ty Glas and Offa, each of which is part of the Pennaf Housing Group.

Stephen concludes, “It’s not only RAM’s solution that has impressed us, it has also been its great customer service so far. From the word go, the company has been nothing but extremely helpful and we are now looking forward to finalising the implementation and realising the benefits of the system.” 

• The Roundhouse applauds Exchequer software performance
• New finance system will improve efficiencies, reporting and management of projects

9 April 2014 - The Roundhouse, one of the most well-known performing arts venues in the UK, has selected Exchequer accounting software, from Advanced Business Solutions, to increase efficiency by automating more of its financial processes. The charitable organisation will go live with Exchequer, which includes document management technology, in April 2014.

The Roundhouse, which runs as a charitable organisation, was founded in the 1960’s. The organisation’s finance team chose Exchequer based on previous experience of using the system and recommendations received from existing users within the arts sector.

The software will provide richer financial management functionality that will improve the visibility of accounts information and will give the accounts team clear, accurate information at their fingertips.

The system will be used to manage profitability and produce accurate figures for each of the 25+ events organised at the Roundhouse each month, which includes the Circus Fest and the iTunes Festival. Effective management reporting will allow the six strong accounts team to consolidate information and plan the future of all areas of the organisation. These include own productions, venue hire, a radio and television station, bars and a restaurant.

The Roundhouse will also make use of integrated document management technology, which they will use to store, capture and file invoices and which will save costs and time and help to lower the organisation’s carbon footprint.

Staff will also use the management reporting solution to drill down into financial reports and analyse data, resulting in improved clarity of figures including Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) headings. The reporting capabilities of Exchequer mean the presentation of the management accounts, which previously took one person several days to complete, can now be done in five minutes.

Joe Thomas, Director of Finance, the Roundhouse, says, “Having outgrown our existing finance system there was a clear need for a more sophisticated alternative. We were struggling to produce the information we required to manage our organisation and Exchequer can deliver that information in a timely and accurate manner.”

“We are confident that Exchequer will automate a lot more of the processes we handle on a daily basis, saving over 25% of our processing time and costs. This will mean that my team can dedicate their efforts on the value added aspects of finance that will support the organisation moving forward.”

“So far I am very impressed with the project management support we have received from Exchequer and I am confident that the roll-out of our new system will be a success. We have a phased approach to our implementation, the second part of which will include tools to assist us with payroll, e-banking, document scanning and much more.”

The Roundhouse is the latest of a number of arts sector organisations that are using Exchequer software to simplify and enhance their financial processes. Other customers include Edinburgh International Festival, The Rambert Dance Company and Bournemouth and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras.

About the Roundhouse www.roundhouse.org.uk
The Roundhouse is loved by audiences everywhere, as a truly extraordinary place to experience live performance. Fewer people know that the Roundhouse is a charity which every year works with 3,000 11-25 year-olds from all backgrounds, supporting them to reach their creative potential by offering opportunities in music, media and performing arts.

About Exchequer www.exchequer.com
Exchequer’s multi-award-winning, fully integrated accounting and business software helps organisations improve the way they manage and operate their business, delivering significant time and cost savings by automating everyday tasks.

Flexible and easy to use, with powerful functionality built-in throughout, Exchequer supports all aspects of an organisation providing unrivalled analysis, exceptional management reporting and productivity enhancing tools. Exchequer improves customers’ productivity by 47%.

Award successes include ‘Financial Software Provider of the Year’ in the Real Finance/CBI FDs’ Excellence Awards, winning more times than any other software provider, ‘Best rated accounting product catering for businesses in the medium range’ in an authoritative survey by the ICAEW, and 100% user recommendation by Charity Finance for three years running.

Exchequer is part of Advanced Business Solutions, a division of Advanced Computer Software Group plc.

For further information, please contact:
0844 815 5600 0844 815 5600 FREE
exchequer@advancedcomputersoftware.com
www.exchequer.com

Press contacts:
Angela Mycock, Advanced Computer Software Group
pr@advancedcomputersoftware.com
+44(0)1625 856 513 or 07887 415 232

Further Information

PR Officer
Tel: 01625 856 513
Email: kathryn.howard@advancedcomputersoftware.com