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OREM, Utah, April 22 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Agilix Labs, Inc. announced that its GoCourse Learning System solution has been selected as a winner in round two of microsoft Corp.’s Ingenuity Point contest, a worldwide competition for independent software vendors (ISVs) that recognizes solutions built on microsoft technology with the potential to drive positive change in the areas of education, healthcare and environmental sustainability. GoCourse Learning System, a personalized distributed learning platform for delivering online courses, is the winner in the education category.
“Educational institutions want to deliver personalized learning through rich, engaging content to their online students. We are pleased to work with microsoft worldwide in providing a powerful new learning solution to schools and institutions that need the benefits of fully distributed learning,” said Curt Allen, Agilix CEO.
“The Agilix GoCourse Learning System is the first hosted ‘Software Services’ solution built on the microsoft platform that can be easily customized and integrated with other components of a complete eLearning system through a suite of open XML APIs,” said Allen.
GoCourse Learning System, which is now in its 2.0 released version, is a distributed online learning system designed to address the needs of distance and online education and training around the world.
GoCourse Learning System improves the lives of teachers and students. The solution provides the tools that allow any instructor or instructional designer to create and deliver rich and engaging courses with minimal effort. Instead of publishing course materials as a series of links and text in a browser, GoCourse delivers the entire course inline as a series of engaging learning experiences through an immersive course player environment. The combination of dynamic templates and simple drag-and-drop assembly methods supports the creation of course content, quizzes and assessments and learning activities that are accessed through either an Internet browser or an installed Windows application.
GoCourse’s distributed learning model and personalized learning approach provide students with access to anywhere, anytime learning that expands the concept of the classroom to include anywhere the student has access to the course materials, even when Internet access may not be available.
“Ingenuity Point contest winners such as Agilix utilize microsoft technology to build new, exciting applications that make a difference in the world and demonstrate the true power of software,” said Rob Bernard, chief environmental strategist at Microsoft. “We are pleased to recognize Agilix as an ISV leading the field of pioneering software solutions in the education category.”
Agilix customers include schools and institutions, such as K-12 school districts, universities, professional associations, and corporate and military training organizations that use GoCourse to author, deliver, and track comprehensive online courses.
Once an online course is created, GoCourse Learning System delivers the course as a series of interactive and media-rich learning experiences, tracking both performance and time spent.
Agilix and the winners in the other two categories make up the final-round grand prize recipients of the yearlong Ingenuity Point competition and are joined by the three grand prize winners from round one. The six vertical winners selected in both award rounds are eligible to be chosen as the Platinum Ingenuity Point Award winner later this spring. Platinum Award winners will receive additional marketing support from Microsoft, as well as a coveted guest judge position at the microsoft Imagine Cup 2008 competition to be held in Paris.
More information about the contest and all winning ISVs is available at the Ingenuity Point Web site, .
About Agilix
Agilix Labs, Inc. enables educational institutions and organizations focused on distributed online learning to deliver rich and engaging online courses. Its flagship GoCourse(TM) Learning System is designed to radically transform instructional management and the learning experience and improve the lives of instructors and students. Agilix products enable delivery of rich interactive learning content through online and offline access. Through partnerships with some of the industry’s most progressive technology leaders, including Microsoft, Intel, Higher Ed Holdings and FranklinCovey, Agilix delivers its software applications to hundreds of thousands of users in more than 110 countries worldwide. Founded in 2001, Agilix is based in Orem, Utah. For more information about Agilix, please visit .
Product or service names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
Agilix Labs, Inc.

IRVINE, Calif. and LONDON, April 22 /PRNewswire/ — Endeavors Technologies, the pioneer in application streaming and virtualization technology, and its parent company, Tadpole Technology plc, today announced support for the microsoft program amending the Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA). The new program allows service providers to stream microsoft Office for delivery through a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model.
“We’ve anticipated this change and are pleased that microsoft now has a date for allowing service providers to stream microsoft Office,” said Peter Bondar, CEO at Endeavors. “We have completed proof of concept programs with a number of providers and have been waiting for the amended SPLA program to roll out new services. Through our partnerships with Partner Advantage and others, we are poised to take advantage of the new business opportunities on day one. We applaud microsoft in taking this bold step.”
Partner Advantage and other service providers will use Application Jukebox as the platform to stream and virtualize microsoft Office so it can be offered through a SaaS model. Application Jukebox enables service providers to introduce flexible licensing models for microsoft Office and other Windows applications, improve the efficiency of software rollouts, ensure that subscribers stay up-to-date with the latest versions and guarantee license agreement compliance.
“The potential for using software that is metered, rather than purchased outright is huge,” said Mat Clothier, managing director of Partner Advantage Ltd. “In the future most applications will be paid for as they are used, often as part of a monthly contract, in a similar manner to mobile phone services. We have been preparing for this market for some time and have the complete solution available today, based upon Application Jukebox, Endeavors’ leading-edge application virtualization and streaming product.”
About Application Jukebox
The Application Jukebox family of products contain three key components. Application Jukebox Player sits on the client to create the virtual application environment and provides user authentication and application license enforcement. Application Jukebox Server controls and delivers applications, provides usage monitoring and logging, plus group, user and application level administration. Application Jukebox Studio allows ISVs and IT administrators to create a streamable, virtualized “appset” from standard, Windows-based applications that is then published to the server.
Two versions of Application Jukebox are currently available. Application Jukebox SaaS Edition features usage metering and a kiosk mode to support a pay-as-you-go model for application rental, plus portals that provide an easy-to-use environment for service providers and ISVs to create a custom application landing site. Application Jukebox Enterprise Edition supports Active Directory and offers user and group monitoring, as well as extensive tracking and support for cost-effective license management.
About Endeavors Technologies
Endeavors Technologies creates, develops and markets innovative application virtualization and streaming technologies that allow servers to stream pc-based applications to client computers where they are subsequently executed. These “next stage” technologies replace thin client computing paradigms. Application virtualization and streaming enables organizations to reduce the total cost of ownership while improving service levels, simplifying the management of computers and improving security and reliability. This innovative application distribution methodology provides companies with new revenue opportunities while reducing IT costs and increasing user productivity. Endeavors Technologies is a pioneer and thought leader with eight patents granted and 25 pending, including the first patents granted for streaming applications. Endeavors Technologies provides its solutions through licensing, royalty and technology transfer models. Visit for more details.
About Tadpole Technology plc
Tadpole Technology plc is a company in transition. The company was formed in 1983 as a developer and manufacturer of high performance portable workstations. In 2003, Tadpole transitioned to a software group focused on two sectors; geospatial solutions and system level software technologies. In mid 2007, Tadpole made a strategic decision to focus exclusively on the application streaming and virtualization marketplace and in November 2007 announced the sale of its geospatial interests. The company established Endeavors Technologies Ltd. as its European trading arm, complementing the existing Endeavors Technologies Inc. in the US. Subject to shareholder approval, Tadpole Technology plc intends to rebrand itself under the Endeavors’ name to reflect its focus on a single brand and product set. For information on Tadpole Technology plc, visit
Endeavors Technologies

BURLINGTON, Mass., April 22 /PRNewswire/ — groupSPARK, a microsoft Gold Certified Partner and the leading provider of private label hosted software services including microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, today announced its private label SaaS services are now being offered as part of Ingram Micro’s Seismic Virtual Services Warehouse. The new agreement includes groupSPARK’s hosted Exchange Server 2007 and 2003, as well as Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, and Dynamics CRM 4.0.
Ingram Micro, Inc. is the world’s leading distributor of technology products and services to the IT industry. Ingram Micro’s Seismic Virtual Services Warehouse is part of the distributor’s North America Services Division which provides VARs with a full range of managed IT services, professional IT labor services, and warranty contract management services and enables VARs to offer customers a variety of hosted software services. This new agreement enables Ingram Micro Seismic to immediately offer industry leading private label hosted messaging and collaboration solutions from groupSPARK to partners in the U.S. and Canada.
groupSPARK’s unique Private Label Application Delivery (PLAD) platform was designed to enable resellers to offer the company’s hosted services completely under their own corporate brand, URL, and look and feel. This private label solution reinforces the resellers’ brand with their customers, deepens their market penetration and enables them to offer their customers’ enterprise-class hosted email and collaboration solutions at a price set solely by the VAR. In addition, groupSPARK’s hosted Exchange, hosted SharePoint and hosted CRM offering fortifies customer retention and provides Ingram Micro Seismic partners with the opportunity to earn additional monthly recurring revenue per user.
As part of Seismic’s hosted solutions portfolio, groupSPARK will maintain, monitor and upgrade all hardware and software allowing Seismic partners to offer these hosted software services to their customers without incurring any upfront expense, delay or risk in attempting to deploy the services on their own. groupSPARK will also enable Seismic partners to offer 2-way wireless synchronization with BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), Windows Mobile and Good Mobile Messaging.
“Ingram Micro is at the forefront of the services market in the IT channel and remains committed to identifying best-in-class solutions for our Seismic partners,” said Justin Crotty, vice president of Ingram Micro Services Division, North America. “We selected groupSPARK’s private label hosted microsoft Exchange, SharePoint and Dynamics CRM services because of its focus on the VAR brand and its proven track record for providing VARs with affordable solutions that deliver the email and collaboration services small and mid-size businesses need to increase productivity and stay connected.”
“As the provider of hosted Exchange Server, SharePoint and CRM to Ingram Micro Seismic, we are dramatically increasing our reseller channel and reaching a new group of small and mid-size businesses,” said Ravi Agarwal, senior executive officer, groupSPARK division of mindSHIFT Technologies, Inc. “Ingram Micro’s confidence in our hosted services offering and our best-in-class service and support is the direct result of our commitment to and focus on true private label hosting of enterprise-class services.”
About groupSPARK
Located in Burlington, Massachusetts, groupSPARK, a mindSHIFT company, is a leading provider of SaaS services, such as microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Windows SharePoint Services v3.0, and Dynamics CRM, which can be completely private labeled and resold by partners as a part of their own product offerings, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in development and support costs.
Its partners utilize groupSPARK’s turnkey private label platform to provide hosted services to their users in minutes. Partners are able to address scalability and uptime concerns by leveraging groupSPARK’s 100% uptime SLA, private label 24×7 U.S.-based support and proactive hardware and software monitoring capabilities. For additional information, visit .
About Ingram Micro, Inc.
As a vital link in the technology value chain, Ingram Micro creates sales and profitability opportunities for vendors and resellers through unique marketing programs, outsourced logistics services, technical support, financial services, and product aggregation and distribution. The company serves 150 countries and is the only broad-based global IT distributor with operations in Asia. Visit .
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
groupSPARK

EATONTOWN, N.J., April 21 /PRNewswire/ — Quintum Technologies, a leading innovator in VoIP technologies, and a subsidiary of Network Equipment Technologies, Inc. , today announced that Plan B, a German consultancy, successfully deployed Microsoft(R) Office Communications Server (OCS) 2007 and integrated it into their existing voice network using Quintum’s Tenor BX VoIP MultiPath Switches. The Tenor BX supports ISDN BRI lines, commonly found in Germany.
Plan B chose to deploy Microsoft’s unified communications (UC) solution within the organization, starting with the consultants, the most mobile employees, while minimizing the impact on the rest of the organization. Plan B deployed a state-of-the-art communications network with microsoft Communicator and microsoft Outlook running on the consultants’ individual laptops and PDAs. microsoft OCS 2007 and microsoft Exchange run on servers in the company’s main office, and a Quintum BX Tenor gateway sits between the servers and the company’s PBX. Consultants use either Bluetooth headsets, USB connected headsets or the PC’s built-in microphone and speakers, with Communicator as the VoIP client. The Tenor allows voice traffic to move freely among the company’s LAN and its PBX to communicate with other employees, as well as the public switched telephone network (PSTN) for outside calls. Voice traffic can also move between the company’s LAN and the Internet via its router.
“Deploying Tenors with microsoft OCS enabled our consultants to answer their office phones from anywhere in the world,” stated Alan Dutton, head of Plan-B’s unified communications practice. “In addition, it lets everyone see who is available, and provides a least cost routing solution, which has saved us thousands in telecommunications costs. It truly gave us a unified communications network.”
“Plan B’s consultants faced many challenges with their communications network,” said Chuck Rutledge, Vice President of Marketing for Quintum. “Tenors helped them easily bridge the gap between the PSTN, microsoft OCS, and the multiple communications devices that the consultants rely on, while also improving productivity.”
Quintum, a microsoft Gold Certified Partner, worked closely with microsoft on the UC initiative, by addressing several potential complications to OCS2007 deployments. Quintum developed its Unified Communications Proxy, designed to enable the Tenor gateways to provide “Any to Any” connectivity between microsoft OCS environments and both legacy TDM voice equipment and standard SIP VoIP equipment.
Quintum also designed a customized microsoft Configuration Wizard to simply the configuration process, and developed a Total Care Package featuring a ‘One Price/One Year’ service offering.
For more information on Quintum’s microsoft initiative, please go to: .
About Quintum
Quintum Technologies, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Network Equipment Technologies, Inc., is headquartered in Eatontown, NJ. Quintum delivers VoIP solutions that bring the reliability and voice clarity of public telephone networks to Internet telephony. Quintum’s intelligent VoIP access solutions integrate easily into existing PBX and IP infrastructures, making them the ideal choice for service providers and enterprises alike.
Quintum was awarded the Frost & Sullivan 2007 Global Product Differentiation Innovation Award in recognition of its ability to grow and strengthen its position in the enterprise media gateway market through intensive in-house product development. Quintum is also a microsoft Gold Certified Partner, a Nortel Developer Partner and an Avaya DeveloperConnection Partner.
Quintum sells its switches worldwide through its direct sales force and a network of resellers and distributors. For more information, call 1-877-SPEAK IP (1-877-773-2547), 1-732-460-9000 outside the US, or visit .
About Network Equipment Technologies, Inc.
For nearly a quarter of a century, Network Equipment Technologies, Inc. has provided voice and data communications equipment for multi- service networks requiring high degrees of versatility, interoperability, security and performance. NET’s broad family of products are purpose-built for mixed-service, multi-protocol networks; bandwidth-sensitive site communications; high-performance, security-sensitive transmissions; and converged communications. The company’s NX Series for network exchange solutions and VX Series for voice exchange solutions enable interoperability and integration with existing networks for seamless migration to secure IP- based voice and data communications. In addition, Quintum, a subsidiary of NET, delivers VoIP access solutions that bring the reliability and voice clarity of public telephone networks to Internet telephony. For more information, visit .
Contact: Joanne Lowy
Quintum Technologies

732-460-9000 x238

Quintum Technologies

WASHINGTON, June 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein announced today the launch of a major initiative which lays the foundation for preserving electronic and all other records generated by the government and providing public access to them. The Initial Operating Capability of the National Archives Electronic Records Archives (ERA) is the beginning of far-reaching changes in the management of U.S. government records.
In its initial stage, the new system will support the basic process of determining how long federal agencies need to keep records and whether the records should be preserved in the National Archives afterwards. ERA will support this process for all federal records, whether they are paper, film, electronic, or other media. In July, the National Archives will start moving approximately three and a half million computer files into ERA. These historically-valuable electronic records range from databases about World War II soldiers to the State Department’s central files on foreign affairs. The records eventually will be accessible online in ERA.
ERA is a multi-year project spearheaded by the National Archives and Lockheed Martin, the development contractor, to create a ‘permanent’ solution for the ever-changing challenge of preserving electronic records. Because new formats of electronic records are constantly being created and older formats become obsolete quickly, the ‘permanent’ solution cannot be a one-time fix. It has to be a dynamic system which can grow to accommodate ever-increasing volumes, be extended to deal with new formats, and evolve to enable records on obsolete formats to be accessed on new computers. The goal is to enable researchers 50 or 100 years from now to find and retrieve electronic records using the best technology available to them, regardless of what hardware or software was used to create them. ERA will also move record keeping out of filing cabinets and into cyberspace. It provides a foundation for the National Archives and all other federal agencies to perform business transactions online to improve the way government records are organized, stored, and retrieved. Besides the direct benefit to government, these capabilities will make it easier for citizens to discover what records the government has and to access them.
In making the announcement, Professor Weinstein said, “There has been a race against technology as we watch software become obsolete almost as soon as it is installed in our computers. All of us have stored personal memories or favorite music on 8-track tapes, floppy disks, or 8 mm film. In many cases, these technologies are now relics and we have no way to access the stored information. Imagine this problem multiplied millions and millions of times — that’s what the federal government is facing today. But thanks to ERA,” he continued, “the technology for preserving electronic records is finally beginning to catch up with the technology for creating them. This Initial Operating Capability is a crucial step in ensuring that our recent history will be saved.”
The ERA development has been shaped by extensive dialogue with stakeholders both inside the federal government and around the world. Four federal partners, who have been instrumental in testing the system, will start using ERA in September: the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the National Oceanographic Office, the National Nuclear Security Administration, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Valuable input from these partners has been used to fine-tune the system.
The National Archives also has received ongoing counsel from the Advisory Committee on ERA which is chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act to advise the Archivist of the United States on technical, mission, and service issues related to ERA. Its members include experts in archives, records management, libraries, computer science, history, and the law, including representatives of other federal agencies and of state governments.
Chairman of the Advisory Committee on ERA and co-inventor of the Internet Dr. Robert Kahn said, “The Internet has made it possible for people using a computer to instantly communicate across continents and around the world. When the full system is deployed, ERA will make it possible for people to access U.S. government information across generations.”
Andrew Patrichuk, Lockheed Martin Vice President for Civil Mission Solutions, said, “The Electronic Records Archives system being developed by the National Archives and Lockheed Martin is enormously important to this nation. In the future, corporations, other governments and institutions around the world will benefit from the foundation that ERA sets today.”
In the next stage, already under development, ERA will provide the capability to absorb massive quantities of Presidential electronic files from the Bush Administration when the President leaves office in January, 2009.
In 2010, the National Archives intends to make the system available to the public. Ultimately, the Archives expects the system to be able to preserve and provide access to ever-increasing volumes of important electronic records of the federal government, even long after the hardware and software used to create them has become obsolete.
For media information, contact the National Archives Public Affairs Staff at 202-357-5300.
National Archives

REDMOND, Wash., April 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — As part of its Sustainable Computing Program, microsoft Corp. today announced it will support four academic research projects focused on energy efficiency in computing in the areas of datacenter power efficiency, power management and the creation of parallel computing architecture with decreased power demands.
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Through this program, microsoft Research is stimulating research across a broad range of areas with the potential to significantly improve energy efficiency. And considering that a single 100-watt incandescent light bulb left on around the clock for a year costs more than $80 to power and releases 1,350 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere — roughly the same amount of power that an idle PC uses in that same timeframe — finding ways to lessen humankind’s impact on the environment is critical.
“We want to open new avenues of research and raise the awareness of power as a critical resource that needs to be managed,” said Sailesh Chutani, senior director of microsoft External Research. “Through this program, we are encouraging novel thinking about how to reduce that power consumption and how to make technology more environmentally friendly into the future.”
The Sustainable Computing Program explores two main areas of research that can have a major impact. The first is the principle of “pay for play,” which is the idea that the power consumed by a computing device should be proportional to the demand placed upon it, lowering the amount of energy consumed at low load and idle. Secondly, energy efficiency, even at peak loads, is equally important in reducing the overall consumption of electricity and should be managed as a first-class resource. The program encourages researchers to use novel approaches in hardware design, software, networking, benchmarking, analysis, virtualization and any other avenue that might provide improvements in the field.
Under the program, a total of $500,000 will be awarded among the four winners. A summary of the winners and descriptions of their projects follows:
* “Control-Theoretic Power and Performance Management for Green Data
Centers”; University of Tennessee; aimed at developing frameworks for
integrating power and performance improvements in virtualized
datacenters
* “Building a Building-scale Power Analysis Infrastructure”; Stanford
University; for the design and deployment of a dense sensor network for
power analysis, producing data for future research on power-aware
computing
* “A Synergistic Approach to Adaptive Power Management”; Harvard
University; for the development of a dynamic runtime environment that
ensures that power consumption is proportional to the computational
demands made on the system
* “Simulating Low Power x86 Architectures with Sooner, a Phoenix-based
Simulation Framework”; University of Oklahoma; for the development of a
simulation framework that supports the study of low-power
microarchitectures for innovative multicore systems

Microsoft Research is committed to delivering breakthrough innovations in research in the areas of energy efficiency and conservation, weather study and prediction, air pollution and quality, climate change, and hydrology. Other efforts range from sensor networks to assist scientists in understanding global ecological issues by tracking animals, to Web-enabled sensors that could be used in businesses and homes to monitor energy consumption. For example, research with the Berkeley Water Center, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and National Marine Fisheries Service will use these technologies to help form a “digital” picture of watershed health.
In February, microsoft Research Cambridge announced new technology to help understand sensitive species’ responses to changing environments, in an effort to enhance conservation strategies. In March, at the company’s annual TechFest event, several new environmentally friendly projects were on display, including a new server-provisioning strategy to reduce the power consumed by large networks and a Web service designed to replace batteries used in smoke detectors and other household devices.
“We applaud the efforts of these academic researchers to develop new, innovative technologies to reduce energy usage and lessen the impact on the environment,” said Rob Bernard, chief environmental strategist at Microsoft. “Microsoft believes in the potential of software to help create a more sustainable environment, and the Sustainable Computing Program is just one example of Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to help businesses and consumers drive change through energy efficiency.”
Microsoft Research also has several projects aimed at providing technology expertise and tools to scientists in an effort to improve how data is accessed and used. Such projects include studying how the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere leads to changes in Earth’s climate, and understanding the impact of increased population and industry on rivers and balancing this with the need to conserve wildlife and protect ecosystems. More information can be found at .
About microsoft Research
Founded in 1991, microsoft Research is dedicated to conducting both basic and applied research in computer science and software engineering. Its goals are to enhance the user experience on computing devices, reduce the cost of writing and maintaining software, and invent novel computing technologies. Researchers focus on more than 55 areas of computing and collaborate with leading academic, government and industry researchers to advance the state of the art in such areas as graphics, speech recognition, user-interface research, natural language processing, programming tools and methodologies, operating systems and networking, and the mathematical sciences. microsoft Research currently employs more than 800 people in six labs located in Redmond, Wash.; Cambridge, Mass.; Silicon Valley, Calif.; Cambridge, England; Beijing, China; and Bangalore, India. microsoft Research collaborates openly with colleges and universities worldwide to enhance the teaching and learning experience, inspire technological innovation, and broadly advance the field of computer science. More information can be found at .
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Microsoft Corp.

MCLEAN, Va., June 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), Mars, Incorporated, and ibm intend to apply their scientific resources to sequence and analyze the entire cocoa genome. Sequencing the cocoa genome is a significant scientific step that may allow more directed breeding of cocoa plants and perhaps even enhance the quality of cocoa, the key ingredient in chocolate.
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The research results may enable farmers to plant better quality cocoa and, more importantly, help create healthier, stronger cocoa crops with higher yields, pest and disease resistance, and increased water and nutrient use efficiency. These crops may help protect an important social, economic and environmental driver in Africa, where 70 percent of the world’s cocoa is produced. Additionally, Mars will make its research results freely available through the Public Intellectual Property Resource for Agriculture (PIPRA), which supports agricultural innovation for both humanitarian and small-scale commercial purposes.
“Sequencing the genomes of agriculture crops is a critical step if we want to better understand and improve a crop,” said Judy St. John, USDA-ARS Deputy Administrator for Crop Production and Protection, based in Beltsville, Md.
Genome sequencing may help eliminate some of the guesswork of traditional breeding. If the sequencing is completed, it is hoped that scientists and farmers will be able to better identify the specific genetic traits that allow cocoa plants to produce higher yields and resist drought or pests. Then, cocoa breeders may be able to grow plants with these desirable traits to produce unique, new lines of cocoa plants using conventional breeding techniques.
“As the global leader in cocoa science, Mars saw the potential this research holds to help accelerate what farmers have been doing since the beginning of time with traditional breeding, ultimately improving cocoa trees, yielding higher quality cocoa and increasing income for farmers,” said Howard-Yana Shapiro, Ph.D., global director of plant science for Mars, Incorporated.
The group anticipates that it will take approximately five years to complete the entire sequencing, assembly, annotation and study of the cocoa genome. Scientists from USDA-ARS and Mars will conduct various aspects of the project at the USDA-ARS facility in Miami. Researchers at the ibm T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York, expect to use their computational biology technology and expertise designed to develop a genetic map and assemble and study the cocoa genome.
“This collaboration is an opportunity for us to apply our computational biology and supercomputing expertise to help improve an economically important agricultural crop,” said Dr. Mark Dean, ibm Fellow and vice president, Technical Strategy and Global Operations, ibm Research. “IBM Research is interested in enhancing and supporting growth and development in Africa, where 70 percent of the world’s cocoa is produced. We look forward to helping the agricultural community in Africa, and in other emerging markets.”
Cocoa has been the subject of little agricultural research compared to other major crops such as corn, wheat and rice. And while cocoa is not grown in the U.S., for every dollar of cocoa imported, between one and two dollars of domestic agricultural products are used in the manufacture of chocolate products.
“We are delighted to work with Mars to allow free access to the cocoa genome sequence information in real time, while ensuring that the gene sequences will not be patented,” noted Alan Bennett, Executive Director of the Public Intellectual Property Resource for Agriculture. “Once its genome is sequenced, it has the potential to provide positive social, economic and environmental impact for the more than 6.5 million small family cocoa farmers around the world.”
Mars and USDA-ARS have worked together during the past 10 years on research projects related to improving traditional methods of cocoa breeding and reducing the threat of pest and disease to the crop around the world. Mars and ibm also worked together on projects in the past, but this is the first project in which all three experts are working to yield benefits for the crop, the farmer and the consumer for many years to come. Mars, Incorporated, the world’s largest chocolate company, is financially backing and coordinating this project.
About Mars, Incorporated
Mars, Incorporated, is a privately-held company that produces some of the world’s leading confectionery, food, petcare, beverage, and health & nutrition products, and operates in more than 65 countries. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Mars, Incorporated employs more than 12,000 associates in the United States and 48,000 associates worldwide with 54 sites nationally and more than 100 manufacturing facilities globally. The company’s global sales exceed $22 billion annually.
Mars is also the global leader in cocoa research. Decades of Mars research has led to major innovations in the areas of sustainable cocoa farming technology; taste and texture of chocolate products; and the health benefits of cocoa-based compounds such as flavanols. For more information, please visit , or .
About US Department of Agricultural Research - Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS)
ARS is a world-leading scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. .
About IBM
For more information about IBM, please visit .

Note to Editors: Images and broadcast-quality broll are available for download by registered journalists at
Contact:
Alfredo Flores
USDA-ARS
301-504-1627

Marlene M. Machut
Mars, Incorporated
973-691-3536 or 908-433-6605

Sara Delekta Galligan
ibm Media Relations
408-927-2272 or 917-868-4502

Mars, Incorporated

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 25 /PRNewswire/ — HiT Software, Inc., an established player in the data integration and access (DIA) market, today announced that its prominent real-time data replication product, DBMoto v6.2, has gained validation for ibm Informix(R) Dynamic Server (IDS).
For the first time, using DBMoto, IT teams can incrementally and intelligently replicate IDS database transactions to all other major databases. DBMoto’s support for transactional replication ensures that remote databases always use the latest data for accurate application processing or decision support in business intelligence and reporting. DBMoto also supports third-party database replication to IDS as a target. DBMoto architecture allows for customizable data transformations via scripting support, offering intelligent, business logic-based replication. To date, IDS-based enterprises have lacked such a powerful, flexible heterogeneous data management tool.
Sandro Levati, Director of IT at Ferrari & Maserati North America, recently implemented DBMoto to support business intelligence needs. “Setting up the replications was a straightforward process,” said Mr. Levati. “We could easily select the source, create the target, and define the mapping using the wizards, and, when we stumbled into some small difficulty, the HiT Technical Support team was very quick to respond and help overcome the problem.”
Dave McDowell, President of Kazer, an ibm Business Partner serving the IDS user community, stated, “A number of clients have the need to integrate their IDS data into adjoining processes throughout their enterprise.”
Giacomo Lorenzin, CEO at HiT Software, affirmed that the latest release of DBMoto firmly anchors it as a key IT tool for every IT team. “DBMoto support for the Informix platform is meeting a significant need for businesses which rely on IDS high-performance, OLTP-based applications,” said Mr. Lorenzin. “Our development teams have worked with ibm to ensure that DBMoto offers excellent performance and manageability.”
“IBM is committed to helping companies like HiT Software achieve high performance through data management innovations. There’s a shift underway in the database software market as our partners and clients increasingly choose IBM,” said Inhi Cho, Vice President, ibm Data Management Marketing. “The combination of IDS and DBMoto provides customers a fast, secure, reliable, and scalable data management system to help clients increase their competitive advantage now and as their businesses grows.”
DBMoto v6.2 can be downloaded for evaluation from .

About HiT Software, Inc.

HiT Software is an established player in the data integration and access (DIA) market. For more than a decade, HiT Software products have been providing access to critical data, enabling data availability and offering programming-free data integration across enterprise systems. HiT Software standards-based products perform real-time, bi-directional replication between all major databases; execute real-time, bi-directional transformations between XML and all major databases; and connect applications to ibm DB2 databases via .NET, OLE DB, ODBC and JDBC standards.
Founded in 1994, HiT Software is relied upon by thousands of organizations around the globe. HiT Software products are sold and supported worldwide by the HiT Software direct sales team, international subsidiaries, and authorized channel partners. Additional information is available at , by e-mail at , or by telephone at 1(408)345-4001.
Media Contacts:
HiT Software, Inc.
Martin Smith
VP Marketing

Tel: 1 (408) 345-4003
Fax: 1 (408) 345-4899

HiT Software(R), DBMoto(TM), Allora(TM) and Ritmo(TM) are trademarks or registered trademarks of HiT Software Inc.
IBM and Informix are registered trademarks of ibm Corporation, Microsoft and Windows are registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
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HiT Software, Inc.

SUNNYVALE, Calif., June 25 /PRNewswire/ — Fujitsu computer Products of America, Inc., a leading supplier of innovative computer products including hard disk drives, peripherals and biometric security solutions, today announced that the Network Products Guide, a Silicon Valley Communications publication and world-leading publication on technologies and solutions, has named the Fujitsu XG2000 10-Gigabit (Gb) Ethernet Switch a winner of the 2008 Product Innovation Award. This annual award program honors vendors that deliver innovative and ground-breaking products that bring essential and incremental changes to information technology.
The Fujitsu XG2000 is a revolutionary 20-port, 10Gb Ethernet Switch supporting dynamic enterprise networks. High performance computing (HPC), video server and storage applications rely on it to meet intensive computing demands and effectively support high-bandwidth transmissions. The compact 1U form factor, flexible XFP network interface and ultra-low latency switching of the XG2000 are particularly beneficial for enterprise server/storage applications, Internet SCSI (iSCSI) and Networked Attached Storage (NAS) environments. To read more about the Fujitsu XG2000, please visit .
“The goal of any product innovation must always remain a positive change, making or improving solutions better than before,” says Rake Narang, editor-in-chief, Network Products Guide. “Innovative products such as the Fujitsu XG2000 10Gb Ethernet Switch meet the growing demands for high-performance and cost-efficient networks for servers and storage systems.”
“As the marketplace for IP-based storage networks continues to surge, the Fujitsu XG Ethernet Switch is the ideal product to address the specific demands IT professionals face and help them create a cost-effective 10GbE network infrastructure,” said Joel Hagberg, vice president, marketing and business development, Fujitsu computer Products of America, Inc. “Our XG2000 Ethernet Switch is designed for organizations that rely on high-speed, high- bandwidth networks to power their business. Network Products Guide’s recognition of the Fujitsu XG2000 demonstrates that we are efficiently meeting these organizations’ demands.”
About Network Products Guide Awards
Network Products Guide published from Silicon Valley is a leading provider of products, technologies and vendor related research and analysis. You will discover a wealth of information in this guide including product innovations, roadmaps, industry directions, technology advancements and independent product evaluations that facilitate in making the most pertinent technology decisions impacting business and personal goals. The guide follows conscientious research methodologies developed and enhanced by industry experts. To learn more, visit .
About Fujitsu
Fujitsu is a leading provider of IT-based business solutions for the global marketplace. With approximately 160,000 employees supporting customers in 70 countries, Fujitsu combines a worldwide corps of systems and services experts with highly reliable computing and communications products and advanced microelectronics to deliver added value to customers. Headquartered in Tokyo, Fujitsu Limited reported consolidated revenues of 5.3 trillion yen (US$53 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008. For more information, please see: .
About Fujitsu computer Products of America, Inc.
Fujitsu computer Products of America, Inc. conducts engineering and marketing activities in Sunnyvale, California, and sales operations throughout the United States. Fujitsu computer Products of America, Inc. currently offers products and services including hard disk drives, scanners and scanner maintenance, broadcast video products, palm vein recognition technology and 10Gb Ethernet switches. Fujitsu computer Products of America, Inc. is located at 1255 East Arques Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA, 94085. For more information about Fujitsu products and services, call us at 800-626-4686 or 408-746-7000. For more information, please see: .
Fujitsu computer Products of America, Inc. All rights reserved. Fujitsu and the Fujitsu logo are registered trademarks and The Possibilities are Infinite is a trademark of Fujitsu Ltd. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Statements herein are based on normal operating conditions and are not intended to create any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Fujitsu computer Products of America, Inc. reserves the right to modify at any time without notice these statements, our services, products, and their warranty and performance specifications.
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Fujitsu computer Products of America, Inc.
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Fujitsu computer Products of America, Inc.

SUNNYVALE, Calif., June 24 /PRNewswire/ — Chelsio Communications, Inc., a leading provider of 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) adapters and ASIC solutions, today announced that its complete family of 10GbE Unified Wire iWARP adapters supports Intel(R) MPI v3.1.
Chelsio’s iWARP solution supports uDAPL (User Direct Access Programming Library), and is OpenFabrics Enterprise Distribution (OFED) compliant. Support for the OFED software stack is already integrated into major versions of Linux distributions from RedHat and Novell, making the Chelsio iWARP approach a seamless solution for Linux users. Now, with intel MPI Library support for Chelsio 10GbE iWARP adapters, intel MPI Library users can further boost the performance of their applications using Ethernet-based adapters that deliver the industry’s lowest latency and 10 times the message rate over existing standards-based cluster networking products.
Intel(R) MPI Library 3.1 is a product designed to accelerate the migration of Message Passing Interface (MPI) applications to intel architectures and to accelerate innovation in the network interconnect market. Intel’s MPI Library utilizes industry standard network plug-ins based on uDAPL, to support a broad range of existing and future network technologies. Software vendors can reduce development and validation costs by creating a single executable that can run reliably and efficiently on any supported network. End users will benefit from a larger selection of high-performance applications, regardless of the interconnect network they choose.
“Full support of intel MPI Library allows us to offer end users the highest performing standards-based interconnect for the Intel-centric HPC community,” said Kianoosh Naghshineh, president and CEO of Chelsio Communications. “Users will have the assurance of Chelsio iWARP adapters providing out-of-the-box support for their MPI applications.”
“Clustered applications achieve solid price/performance by harnessing multiple multi-core processing server nodes via the Message Passing Interface (MPI). High-performance MPI software and networking hardware work together to deliver this potential,” said Bill Magro, director of High Performance Computing Solutions, Software and Solutions Group, intel Corporation. “By using Intel(R) MPI Library and Chelsio 10GbE iWARP adapters, commercial software vendors can reach customers seeking high-performance Ethernet-based solutions while using their existing and already deployed intel MPI Library-based application binaries.”
About Chelsio Communications, Inc.
Chelsio Communications is leading the convergence of networking, storage and clustering interconnects with its robust, high-performance and proven unified wire technology. Featuring a highly scalable and programmable architecture, Chelsio is shipping 10-Gigabit Ethernet and multi-port Gigabit Ethernet adapter cards, delivering the low latency and superior throughput required for high-performance computing applications. For more information, visit the company online at .
Chelsio Communications, Inc.