QLD:Premier in awe of Morcombe parents

AAP General News (Australia)
08-14-2011
QLD:Premier in awe of Morcombe parents

Queensland Premier ANNA BLIGH has paid tribute to BRUCE and DENISE MORCOMBE for their
courage and persistence in keeping the news of their missing son DANIEL in the spotlight.

She says that as a parent herself, she can only imagine the MORCOMBES' heartbreak and
devastation in the nearly eight years since their 13-year-old vanished from a Sunshine
Coast bus stop.

She says the couple never stopped fighting - and they're still fighting to ensure the
safety and protection of other children.

Police arrested a 41-year-old man yesterday and charged him with DANIEL's murder.

He'll face the Brisbane Magistrates Court tomorrow.

AAP RTV dac/jmt

KEYWORD: MORCOMBE BLIGH (BRISBANE)

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Letter to US congress wants Hicks returned

AAP General News (Australia)
02-02-2007
Fed: Letter to US congress wants Hicks returned

Democrats .. Labor .. and Greens MPs .. have written to the Democratic Party speaker
of the US Congress .. NANCY PELOSI .. asking for help in bringing home Guantanamo detainee
DAVID HICKS.

The letter .. authored by Democrats leader Senator LYN ALLISON .. has been signed by
all Democrats .. Greens and almost all members of the Labor party.

Their letter states the US military commission process to try HICKS and other Guantanamo
Bay prisoners runs against basic American values.



HICKS' lawyers also claim the Australian was shown a photo of SADDAM HUSSEIN hanging
from a rope after his execution.

They say showing such photos to prisoners breaches the Geneva Conventions designed
to protect prisoners of war.

AAP RTV nb/wz/psm/

KEYWORD: HICKS LETTER (CANBERRA)

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

ALIPAY JOINED HANDS WITH 10 BANKS IN EFFICIENT PAYMENT

AsiaInfo Services
04-19-2011
Alipay Joined Hands with 10 Banks in Efficient Payment

BEIJING, Apr 19, 2011 (SinoCast Daily Business Beat via COMTEX) -- Alipay.com Co., Ltd., China's leading online payment service provider, on April 18, 2011 announced the cooperation between its latest-released efficient payment service and credit cards of ten banks, such as Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Ping An Bank, Bank of Beijing, Shanghai Rural Commerical Bank, Bank of Dalian, Bank of Ningbo, and Bank of Ningxia.

The number of newly-added users of the new service has been close to 3 million.

Alipay said that a user can complete an online payment in a very simple and complete way as the user is not required to open an online bank but input the credit card number and other necessary information, and the online payment is subject to the quota of the credit card.

By December 2010, the number of registered users of Alipay has surpassed 550 million, and daily turnover has surpassed CNY 2.5 billion and 8.5 million deals. However, the problem of not good experiences via online payment has always been there. At the end of December 2010, Alipay joined banks with Bank of China, a leading commercial lender, took the lead to release credit card efficiency service.

Source: www.163.com (April 19, 2011)

KEYWORD: BEIJING INDUSTRY KEYWORD: Internet & Online Services & Media SUBJECT CODE: Internet & Online Services
Online/Direct Banking
SinoCast China Business Daily news
efficient payment
credit card
online payment
quota
registered user
turnover

Copyright 2011 AsiaInfo Services (via Comtex). All rights reserved

Gear up for school

Oleh Siti Syameen Md Khalili
New Straits Times
01-03-2011
Gear up for school
Byline: Oleh Siti Syameen Md Khalili
Edition: Main/Lifestyle
Section: Tech & U

Getting kids ready for school today goes beyond buying textbooks, uniforms and shoes. Here's a list of gadgets for all, from students to teachers

1 Dell Inspiron 13R
Designed with students in mind, the Dell Inspiron 13R laptop comes with a 13.3-inch widescreen HD display, Intel Core i3 or i5 Processor, SRS Premium Sound, 802.11b/g/n wireless connectivity, and a 7-in-1 card reader. Its webcam will also help students communicate with family and friends with ease. In Obsidian Black, Peacock Blue or Tomato Red body, the starting price is RM1,999.

2 Bone Collection Ninja Flash Drive

This cute USB flash drive is easy to carry around. With 8GB storage space, there is enough room for all your schoolwork. Available at Youbeli.com.my at RM109.

3 iNO Mobile SOS F12

INITIALLY aimed at older citizens but there's no reason why primary school students can't enjoy the same benefits of the iNO Mobile SOS F12. This basic phone comes with GprX solution that lets parents keep tabs on the user with the touch of a button. It has a large display screen and keypad, LED and Digital Readout. The F12 also offers SOS Emergency call feature, support dual-SIM operation, MP3 playback, FM Radio and a 2-megapixel camera.

4 Microsoft Office Home and Student 2010

The Microsoft Office Home and Student 2010 edition comes with Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote. Microsoft Malaysia is now offering the software suite with the Yes Go 4G dongle at a special price. Check out the terms and conditions at www.microsoft.com/ malaysia/office/yesbundle.aspx.

5 A4Tech G10 MeetingMan Presenter Mouse

With its many convenient features, the G10 MeetingMan is suitable for teachers who do lots of presentation in class. It includes tools such as five-colour Tutor Pen to draw and mark objects, LaserPointer to highlight projected items, GlassRun technology that allows operation even on dusty glass and selectable operating range up to 20m.

6 DiGi Discover broadband plan

A monthly access fee of RM68 is reasonable for students and teachers whose Internet connection focuses on research, reference, communications and participation in campus forums and facilities. For RM100, you get a USB modem with your notebook or netbook with the DiGi Discover broadband plan. If you have your own modem, the cost starts at RM30. You also get free personal accident insurance worth RM10,000 and free unlimited songs download.

7 Samsung NF310 netbook

Retailing at RM1,299, this netbook is one of the coolest-looking devices in its category, not to mention one of the fastest to boot up at three seconds. It packs in the new Dual-Core Intel Atom N550 processor for power and long battery life and has Easy File Share feature for sending files directly to your peers.

8 HP Photosmart Wireless e-All-in-One Printer - B110a

At RM389, this printer is sufficient for daily printing, photostating and scanning. It can print your project paper in a jiffy with its 32 ppm print speed and make your hand-outs more memorable with its 4,800 x 1,200 optimised dpi colour printing. You can also work with it wirelessly over WiFi 802.11 b/g/n connectivity.

9 Philips GoGear ViBE 4GB MP4 player

Take a break after a long school day with Philips GoGear ViBE 4GB MP4 player. Offering FullSound audio support and Philips Songbird feature, it comes with 1.5-inch full colour display for you to enjoy your choice of songs and movies.

10 Canon F-718S Scientific Calculator

Who says calculators are boring? Check out the Canon F-718S Scientific Calculator that comes in interesting red and white anti- bacteria finishing. Running on battery and solar power, this model features 18 internal calculation digits with dual way display and is ready to tackle functions such as Exponential, Logarithm, Fraction, Combination, Permutation, Rounding, Square & Square Root, Cubic & Cubic Root, Power & Radical Root, Replay Function, Trigonometry Functions. Also available in blue finishing as well as the recyclable green casing. Priced at RM45.

(Copyright 2011)

FED:PM says Labor MP apologised for gaffe

AAP General News (Australia)
08-20-2010
FED:PM says Labor MP apologised for gaffe

MELBOURNE, Aug 20 AAP - Prime Minister Julia Gillard says she has no reason to speak
with a Queensland Labor MP in a key marginal seat who made an embarrassing gaffe to a
voter.

Ms Gillard said the sitting member for Longman, Jon Sullivan, had already apologised
for the remarks he made at a community forum on Thursday night.

At the forum, a father of a disabled child asked Mr Sullivan what he would do to speed
up getting children on the Queensland Health waiting list.

Mr Sullivan then asked why he had waited two years to get a specialist diagnosis for
his seven-year-old son's disability.

"What parent would wait two years to get a child who they believe has a disability...?"

Mr Sullivan asked.

The father told Mr Sullivan: "It's taken two years ... to take him to the doctor to
get him diagnosed because we don't have the money to actually go and pay for a specialist
to get him diagnosed so he can get the proper help that he needs at school."

Ms Gillard said the MP had already apologised after making the remark and she had no
need to speak to him about it.

"He certainly owed an apology and he's given it," she told the Nine Network.

"My focus today in the remaining few hours of this election campaign of course is what
it will mean for this nation's future when we make the decision as a nation tomorrow."

Longman is one of the seats the coalition needs to pick up on its way back to power
and the LNP has chosen 20-year-old Wyatt Roy as its candidate.

If he wins it will make him the youngest person to enter the Australian parliament as an MP.

AAP ees/ce/psm/apm

KEYWORD: POLL10 SULLIVAN

� 2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Beneath Hill 60 not patriotic war movie: director

AAP General News (Australia)
04-12-2010
Fed: Beneath Hill 60 not patriotic war movie: director

By Alyssa Braithwaite, National Entertainment Writer

SYDNEY April 12 AAP - Beneath Hill 60 reveals the untold story of how a group of Australian
miners became World War One heroes.

It's being released in time for Anzac Day, but the film's director, Jeremy Sims, says
it was not his intention to make a patriotic war movie.

"I don't like jingoism," Sims told AAP.

"That's one of the reasons in the film that there's a German side of the story that
is told - I didn't want to get involved in making a patriotic war movie.

"And I certainly didn't want to give the impression that we thought the Australians
were braver, stronger, wiser, or any of those things. Everyone was in the same boat."

Based on the diaries of Captain Oliver Woodward, the film recounts the story of a group
of miners sent to the Western Front to dig beneath enemy lines.

They created the biggest explosion the world had seen, and helped change the course
of the war on the Western Front.

Brendan Cowell, who plays Woodward, said everyone involved in the making of the film
was interested in telling the incredible human story.

"(The idea) was more to just remark on this insane time and this spirit of these miners,"

he said.

"They were not real soldiers, they were miners with six days training - so 15 and 50-year-old
guys from Queensland - and they didn't come home from Europe and go, `hey we blew up Hill
60 and created the biggest explosion in the history of the world'.

"They never spoke about it. So we want to tell the story without a big song and dance,
just in a respectful way because I think that would be the only way they'd want it told."

The film was shot in Townsville in 2009, and had a budget of $9.5 million.

The ensemble cast also features Gyton Grantley, Anthony Hayes, Aden Young and a young
rising star by the name of Harrison Gilbertson.

At just 16, he plays a boy of the same age who pretended to be older so he could do
his part for the war effort.

Gilbertson said he hoped other young people his age would go and see the movie and
learn how tough previous generations had it.

"One of the biggest things for me in doing any role that is different and a character
that is in a bad place is the superficialness of this generation, of people on Facebook
and complaining because their internet is being slow, and complaining because the guy
won't talk to them so they're having a go at them over Facebook," he said.

"There's kids living on the streets, and there's kids in Iraq, and I hope people see
it and it reminds them that they're pretty lucky and they shouldn't be complaining."

Beneath Hill 60 opens nationally on April 15.

AAP acb/nf/jlw

KEYWORD: BENEATH (PIX, VIDEO AVAILABLE)

2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Take-up of home owners grant slowing

AAP General News (Australia)
08-29-2009
Fed: Take-up of home owners grant slowing

CANBERRA, Aug 29 AAP - The number of Australians taking up the federal government's
first home owners grant is declining ahead of the scheme's rollback next month.

New figures released by Labor on Saturday showed by the end of July more than 137,000
people had taken up the grant since it was boosted last October.

But for the first time during that period, monthly breakdowns indicated the amount
of people taking advantage of the more generous grant was shrinking.

In June, home owners grant take-up peaked at 20,389 but last month it dipped to 18,939.

The grant was doubled to $14,000 for established homes and trebled to $21,000 for new
properties as part of the government's first stimulus package.

After September 30 it will be reduced to $10,500 for established homes and $14,000
for new homes until December 31, before returning to its original $7,000 next year.

The drop off in grant applications is being felt in every state and territory.

However, NSW leads the way when it comes to total take up, with almost 50,000 people
receiving the grant there in the 10 months to July.

Housing Minister Tanya Plibersek said the grant's positive impact on the economy was
evident in new Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) housing finance data.

The data showed the number of loans for new constructions by owners has increased by
55 per cent in the year from June 2008, while the purchase of new homes is up 47 per cent
over the same period.

First home buyers made up 27.1 per cent of all new loans for owner occupation in June,
one of the highest levels since the ABS started collecting this data in 1991.

"The first home owners boost, combined with lower interest rates, has attracted tens
of thousands of first home buyers into the market," Ms Plibersek said.

"A strong housing market is critical for underpinning confidence and supporting jobs
in the Australian economy as we battle the worst global recession in 75 years."

AAP bsb/cjb

KEYWORD: HOUSING

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Recession concession means govt should release data: Coonan

AAP General News (Australia)
04-21-2009
Fed: Recession concession means govt should release data: Coonan

CANBERRA, April 21 AAP - The federal government should release data that has forced
it to concede the country will slide into a recession, the opposition says.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Monday conceded Australia will head into a recession for
the first time since the early 1990s.

The severity of the global recession made it impossible for the nation to avoid a further
period of negative economic growth, he said.

The economy recorded its first quarter of negative growth in eight years during the
final three months of 2008.

A recession is conventionally defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

Mr Rudd, Treasurer Wayne Swan and other ministers had dodged the issue for weeks, opposition
finance spokeswoman Helen Coonan says.

"It is incumbent upon them to tell us what revised forecasts or what data they're relying
on in order to reach the conclusion that Australia inevitably will slide into a recession,"

she told ABC television on Tuesday.

These figures are updated "pretty much" all the time and Mr Rudd obviously wouldn't
be relying merely on the GDP figures, she said.

"He's relying on some kind of forecasts. He might even be relying on projections, but
we simply don't know."

Senator Coonan said the government used the same tactic with the budget deficit.

"There was first of all denial, then there was `oh well possibly we will go into deficit
and then finally dragged kicking and screaming to making an admission," she said.

AAP srj/maur/

KEYWORD: ECONOMY COONAN

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NT: Missing man found in WA

AAP General News (Australia)
12-16-2008
NT: Missing man found in WA

A man missing in Australia's rugged Kimberley region for more than a week has been
found safe and well.

It was feared 38-year-old IAN ANDREW GRAHAM was taken by a crocodile after leaving
his home in Kununurra .. in the far north of Western Australia, on December 7 .. to fish
in crocodile-infested waters in the Keep River National Park .. just over the border in
the Northern Territory.

Mr GRAHAM'S partner LANA PENNY told the NT News on Monday she thought a croc had taken
Mr GRAHAM somewhere on Keep River .. and says he would not have abandoned her and her
four-year-old son.

An extensive search of the region turned up no sign of Mr GRAHAM .. but Northern Territory
police say he's now been found safe and well at Cape Donette in WA.

AAP RTV jrd/psm/

KEYWORD: GRAHAM FOUND (DARWIN)

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

FED: Bungled army truck tender to cost millions - report

AAP General News (Australia)
08-11-2008
FED: Bungled army truck tender to cost millions - report

The Department of Defence has been forced to recall a bungled 1.6 billion dollar tender
for trucks .. amid claims the former federal government rushed the decision through to
win votes ahead of the last election.

Fairfax newspapers report the tender .. for up to 24-hundred armoured and conventional
trucks .. was awarded to BAE Systems in October last year.

It's believed the tender .. announced by then defence minister BRENDAN NELSON .. was
meant to be a straightforward purchase of trucks already available .. but defence ordered
trucks in sizes which had not previously been manufactured.

Defence Minister JOEL FITZGIBBON has confirmed the Project Overlander tender will be
relet .. which could cost the government 30 million dollars .. with a new tender possibly
adding 300-million to the overall cost.

Mr FITZGIBBON has accused Dr NELSON .. now leader of the opposition .. of failing to
give defence enough time to test the markets or test the vehicles before making the decision.

AAP RTV kd/psm/

KEYWORD: TRUCKS (SYDNEY)

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Qld: Learner crashes car and injures pregnant friend: court

AAP General News (Australia)
04-01-2008
Qld: Learner crashes car and injures pregnant friend: court

By Christine Flatley

BRISBANE, April 1 AAP - A learner driver had been drinking and smoking cannabis before
she ploughed into a power pole, seriously injuring her pregnant passenger, a court has
been told.

The Brisbane District Court was today told the 24-year-old victim suffered life-threatening
injuries when Alinta May Suey, 23, crashed her Ford Falcon during a late-night drive along
Brisbane's Lutwyche Road on December 6, 2006.

Suey's pregnant friend was trapped in the back seat for hours before being taken to
hospital, where she spent three weeks undergoing surgery to repair her diaphragm, which
had been ruptured when her liver protruded into it.

She also suffered injuries to her right arm and left shoulder, and received a fractured pelvis.

Miraculously, the baby was unharmed.

Suey today pleaded guilty to one count each of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle
causing grievous bodily harm, driving a motor vehicle over the general but under the high
alcohol limit and driving a motor vehicle while unaccompanied.

She was sentenced to 18 months jail but released today on immediate parole.

The court was told Suey was not adversely affected by the intoxicating substances but
that she had a blood alcohol reading of 0.054 per cent.

Under Queensland law, learner drivers are forbidden from driving with any alcohol in
their system.

The court was told Suey had crashed the car after having an argument with the complainant,
who had demanded to be let out of the car.

The court was told Suey had accelerated and turned around to continue arguing with
her friend, before ploughing into the pole.

Police alleged she was travelling at speeds of more than 80km/h in a 60km/h zone before
the crash.

Judge Tony Rafter disqualified Suey from holding or obtaining a licence for two years.

AAP cf/lc/imc/de

KEYWORD: SUEY

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Gunns accetps extension of pulp mill decision

AAP General News (Australia)
08-30-2007
Fed: Gunns accetps extension of pulp mill decision

Timber company Gunns Limited says it remains committed to building a pulp mill in Tasmania
.. despite the chance it may not be approved before the federal election.

Federal Environment Minister MALCOLM TURNBULL last night extended the deadline for
a decision by six weeks .. to allow for an assessment of public comment and a scientific
report.

Gunns executive chairman JOHN GAY says the move comes as no surprise .. and the company's
fully committed to the project.

An environmental group is also appealing a court decision in favour of the mill ..

in a hearing expected in October.

Gunns wants to build the two billion dollar mill in north-east Tasmania's Tamar Valley
.. in a project which has divided Tasmanians and attracted national interest.

Mr TURNBULL has extended the deadline for environmental approval under federal laws
by 30 working days .. and says the government's chief scientist will not submit his report
on the mill until September.

AAP RTV pw/imc/bart

KEYWORD: PULP (CANBERRA)

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Phone relay service for deaf people to be expanded

AAP General News (Australia)
04-16-2007
Fed: Phone relay service for deaf people to be expanded

SYDNEY, April 16 AAP - A national communication service for the hearing impaired will
be expanded to provide assistance to more Australians, including the elderly.

The National Relay Service, which receives 55,000 calls a day, will target older Australians
who are experiencing the late onset of hearing loss.

Users of the relay service can type a message and have it relayed by the voice of a
telephone operator and vice versa.

Launching the expanded program in Sydney today, federal Communications Minister Helen
Coonan said the service would spread to new user groups and improve the lives of older
Australians.

"It will encourage them to not be embarrassed about not being able to hear or having
a disability, but feeling that this is something that's available," Ms Coonan said.

"It's something that is going to make a big difference to their life.

"It will allow them to keep in touch with their loved ones, let them make calls to
their doctor ... so we'll be spreading the word around so that anyone with a disability
who can benefit from this will know about it."

She said the service would now be extended to the internet.

AAP krc/wjf/cjh/mn

KEYWORD: RELAY

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Qld: Police officer won't be charged over Palm Island death

AAP General News (Australia)
12-14-2006
Qld: Police officer won't be charged over Palm Island death

A senior Queensland police officer .. blamed over a death in custody of a Palm Island
man .. has been cleared .. after the state's top prosecutor deemed it a terrible accident.

Director of Public Prosecutions LEANNE CLARE says there's no evidence Senior Sergeant
CHRIS HURLEY was criminally responsible for the death of 36-year-old MULRUNJI DOOMADGEE
.. at the Palm Island police station in November 2004.

Ms CLARE says MULRUNJI died from internal injuries caused by a crushing force to the
front of his abdomen .. when he and Senior Sergeant HURLEY fell together through the open
door of the police station.

The island erupted into riots .. after an autopsy found MULRUNJI suffered four broken
ribs .. a ruptured liver and a ruptured portal vein in the scuffle.

Deputy state coroner CHRISTINE CLEMENTS ruled in September Senior Sergeant HURLEY struck
MULRUNJI .. causing his fatal injuries.





Townsville-based Aboriginal activist .. GRACELYN SMALLWOOD .. says the DPP's decision
is another slap in the face for indigenous Australians.

She says it's the police investigating the police.

Around a dozen family members and supporters were asked to leave the DPP's office in
Townsville .. moments before Mrs CLARE explained her findings at a news conference.

AAP RTV dd/sc/wf/ibw/bart

KEYWORD: MULRUNJI CHARGES (TOWNSVILLE)

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Kelly apologises to Costello for "toff" comments

AAP General News (Australia)
08-07-2006
Fed: Kelly apologises to Costello for "toff" comments

CANBERRA, Aug 7 AAP - Liberal backbencher Jackie Kelly has apologised to Treasurer
Peter Costello for saying he had not been able to build empathy with voters in western
Sydney.

Ms Kelly told the ABC last night that voters in her western Sydney seat of Lindsay
often said they did not like Mr Costello's smirk.

And Mr Costello suffered from the outdated "twin set and pearls" image of Liberals
being a party for rich, toffee-nosed people, she said.

"I mean the reason I've been very, very successful out here is, I believe, is because
the Labor Party for decades before I came on the scene would say: You just don't want
to be a Liberal, because they are these twin set and pearls lot of the north shore, and
they are nasty, terribly unfeeling, uncharitable, toffy-nosed, rich people. And I broke
the mould. John Howard as well," she told the Sunday Profile program.

"Whereas I think Peter still suffers from that. They can just pigeon hole him and say:
yeah, those nasty Liberals, you don't want to be a part of, you know."

Today, Ms Kelly issued a statement apologising for the comments.

"Peter has been a great treasurer for 10 years and his ability has seen Australia go
ahead in leaps and bounds in the last 10 years," she said in the statement.

"It is not appropriate for members to cast aspersions on their colleagues and brings
no credit to anyone."

She said the Liberal Party had a strong leadership "which, well supported, will take
the coalition to victory in 2007".

Last night, Ms Kelly also said Mr Costello's years in the treasurer's job had hampered
his attempts to build empathy with voters.

Asked if people commented on his smirk, which Ms Kelly described as a "good old chuckle",
she said: "Yeah, I think that's the broad-brush impression people get."

AAP mfh/sb/apm/jlw

KEYWORD: COSTELLO KELLY

) 2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Man suffers multiple injuries during annual bike race

AAP General News (Australia)
04-01-2006
NSW: Man suffers multiple injuries during annual bike race

A man's suffered multiple injuries when he crashed his bike during an annual 24-hour
mountain bike race nortwest of Sydney.

The accident happened during the race at Dargyl .. near Wisemans Ferry .. tonight.

The 37-year-old Newport man suffered a fractured shoulder along with chest and spinal injuries.

Once stabilised .. the man was flown to Westmead Hospital where he is in a stable condition.


(Re-issuing, placing accident north west of Sydney.



AAP RTV af/wz

KEYWORD: RACE (SYDNEY)

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

accounting technician

accounting technician A person qualified by membership of an appropriate body (such as the Association of Accounting Technicians) to undertake tasks in the accountancy field without being a fully qualified accountant.

Tommy Bahama Selects Comdial's Award-Winning FX System For Its Corporate Communications Network.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 12, 2001

Comdial Corporation (Nasdaq:CMDL) announced today the installation of the award-winning FX(TM) platform to handle all communications requirements for the corporate network of Tommy Bahama, Inc. The sale and installation of the FX system was made by Firstline, a Comdial Platinum dealer based in Seattle, Washington.

Tommy Bahama, Inc. is world famous as a "purveyor of island lifestyles." Tommy Bahama has 17 retail locations which sell island-theme clothing, accessories and other merchandise to up-scale customers, both domestically and internationally. Specialty stores, golf shops and resorts also carry Tommy Bahama merchandise. The company's corporate headquarters handles tremendous call volume every day.

According to Tim Maio, President of Firstline, "We are truly delighted to be playing a key role in helping the unique Tommy Bahama operation become more productive and more responsive to their customers needs by using Comdial's advanced communication system. Comdial's FX platform with voice mail, QuickQ(R) ACD, and Impact Attendant(TM) sets the industry standard for reliable, hassle-free, easy-to-use call handling and management. Comdial's QuickQ ACD (Automatic Call Distribution) software installed on the FX platform enables Tommy Bahama personnel to route calls directly while capturing critical data on call volume and service levels. With Comdial's Impact Attendant software installed, users can handle calls using the phone, keyboard and a mouse. This makes call handling as easy as point and click or drag and drop. The system provides call statistics, call logs, and even empowers attendants to notify busy employees of additional calls or to tag parked calls. When Tommy Bahama opened a large warehouse location across town, they networked the new location to the original FX system that was installed in their headquarters location. With Impact Attendant at each location, Tommy Bahama employees benefit from visual status of all extensions over the entire network. This improves customer service and saves the company substantial money by increasing their inner-office efficiency and productivity.

"We have sold and installed Comdial's cutting-edge and totally reliable communications products for over 14 years. Comdial's FX system fits perfectly with our `total communications' business model which consistently meets even the most challenging customer requirements," concluded Mr. Maio.

About Comdial

Comdial provides integrated communications solutions that address the needs of the business environment. Comdial is committed to researching and developing leading edge, fully integrated communications solutions and customer applications for small to medium sized businesses, government, assisted living, hospitality and call centers. For more information about Comdial and its communications solutions, please visit our web site at www.comdial.com.

About Firstline

Firstline is the Puget Sound's premier provider of integrated communications solutions. Firstline provides complete turnkey solutions for data and voice networks, video and messaging, local and long distance, and Internet access for single or multiple offices. For additional information on Firstline, please visit their web site at www.firstline.net.

San Jose Mercury News, Calif., Termsheet Column.

Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Nov. 5--ONLINE MEDICINE BATTLE ENLISTS VENTURE ELITE: A report from the trenches of the Great Online Drugstore Battle resembles a dispatch from a real war. Neither side is anxious to talk about strategy, tactics or casualties. In an Internet-commerce world where people are usually only too happy to preach the merits of their products, the answers from PlanetRx and Drugstore.com are the terse and maddeningly vague recitations of a military press briefing.

But the color of the uniforms and the shape of the weaponry attract inescapable interest. Two start-ups, each with a high-profile CEO, each backed by the venture elite, are aiming to open Web sites, probably early next year.

Drugstore.com, begun as a concept by entrepreneur Jed Smith, is backed by the venture firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers. Its CEO is Peter Neupert, who once served as vice president of news and publishing in Microsoft's interactive media group. (Among other things, he supervised Slate, the Microsoft-backed online magazine). Drugstore.com's board includes Kleiner Perkins' John Doerr and Brook Byers. Its locale of business: Redmond, Wash.

PlanetRx, which was begun by entrepreneur Michael Bruner, has received $5 million from the venture firms Benchmark Capital and Sequoia Capital. (Kleiner Perkins does not reveal the size of its investments.) PlanetRx's CEO is Bill Razzouk, a former executive at Federal Express, and, briefly, at America Online Inc. Its board members include David Beirne at Benchmark and Michael Moritz of Sequoia (Beirne, in fact, recruited Razzouk). Its locale: Oakland, with a move to San Francisco planned.

Both companies are trying to tackle the complicated task of filling prescriptions -- and offering related products -- online. What makes it difficult is that any online pharmacy has to meld its current efforts with the traditional world of paper and doctors' scrawls. Because many doctors' offices do not use the Web and because many states do not allow electronic submission of prescriptions, both start-ups will have to field phoned or faxed prescriptions from medical offices. The idea is that, ultimately, the customer will find far more convenience in ordering, say, tetracycline from the Web -- and then waiting for a speedy delivery -- than in trekking to the nearest pharmacy. While they pledge to be competitive on price, neither Drugstore.com nor PlanetRx claims that lower cost is a fundamental part of its appeal.

A lot of other people have their eye on this same market, which is estimated to be as large as $160 billion per year through traditional outlets. An Austin start-up, Rx.com, plans to be operational next year. And some of the big drugstore chains could follow. But on Sand Hill Road, the question is: Which of the two venture-backed start-ups is ahead: Neupert or Razzouk? Kleiner Perkins or Benchmark and Sequoia? Redmond or Oakland? It's almost impossible to tell from the outside, though it is fair to point out that Neupert has been in his job a few months longer than Razzouk. Both PlanetRx and Drugstore.com say it's more important to do things right than to be first.

"We're up and running," says Suzan DelBene, Drugstore.com's vice president of marketing. "There's only one big milestone: Opening our front door, and we're not ready to do that."

"I think we've got an excellent blueprint. We're pouring concrete as fast as we can," says Razzouk. Ask him when the Web site will open and he says only: "Soon."

MEMORIES, MEMORIES: When Wal-Mart Stores Inc. brought a trade secrets lawsuit last month against online bookseller Amazon.com Inc. and its venture firm of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Roger Borovoy, the former general counsel for Intel Corp., looked on with considerable interest. Wal-Mart alleged that Amazon.com, with Kleiner Perkins' help, had hired a cadre of Wal-Mart employees who knew the secrets of the chain's inventory control systems. The lawsuit broached a topic that Borovoy knows intimately.

Now in private practice with the firm of Fish & Richardson in Menlo Park, Borovoy was Intel Corp.'s general counsel in 1981, when the company filed a trade secrets lawsuit against Seeq Technology, a start-up formed by six former Intel employees. Intel also filed suit against Kleiner Perkins, which had financed Seeq. (It was one of the first deals done by a newly minted venture capitalist, John Doerr, an ex-Intel marketing whiz.)

Seeq and Intel ultimately settled the lawsuit, but what's important is this: Borovoy dissented on the notion of suing the venture capital firm. "Suing Kleiner Perkins made Kleiner Perkins furious," Borovoy said, who notes that the venture firm quickly went out and hired top-notch legal help. It's a lesson he says Wal-Mart might do well to remember. "You can sue anybody for anything. But to sue a venture firm, you have to prove the venture firm conspired to get Wal-Mart secrets." Borovoy adds that evidence of this is extraordinarily unlikely. VCs advise their start-ups carefully to avoid such fixes.

The ex-Intel counsel suggests that Wal-Mart also faces an uphill task in attempting to make its case that ex-Wal-Mart employees took inventory trade secrets with them when they joined Amazon.com. While noting that the Arkansas company could be helped by a clearly written employee manual, he says, "The basic law of trade secrets is that you have the right to take your general knowledge and skills with you....My experience in most of these cases is that these programmers are going to say that no one ever told them that what's at stake was proprietary."

DEAL TO WATCH: AlphaBlox Corp., a Mountain View start-up that provides Web-based business analysis software, received $14.75 million in later-round financing from a group of investors including Accel Partners, Polaris Venture Partners, Integral Capital Partners, and Mohr Davidow Ventures. Noteworthy were two new investors: the blue-chip investment firms Goldman Sachs & Co. and Merrill Lynch & Co. Goldman put in $5 million and Merrill Lynch put in $3 million. Both companies ordinarily make money in handling IPOs or equity offerings, dipping only rarely into the venture field. But the investment firms see something in AlphaBlox related to their own business. Ralph Blumenthal, a vice president at Goldman, Sachs, called AlphaBlox's market "an important and emerging space, particularly in the financial services industry."

Term Sheet -- a name drawn from the formal proposal that a venture capitalist offers to an entrepreneur -- is an occasional column about venture capitalists and the companies they fund. Contact Scott Herhold by telephone at (408) 920-5877, by fax at (408) 920-5917, or by e-mail at sherhold@sjmercury.com.

Visit Mercury Center, the World Wide Web site of the San Jose Mercury News, at http://www.sjmercury.com

UNISYS: Unisys 8-way Windows NT-based server ac achieves world record benchmark for performance.

M2 PRESSWIRE-30 November 1999-UNISYS: Unisys 8-way Windows NT-based server achieves world record benchmark for Microsoft Exchange Server performance (C)1994-99 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

RDATE:301199

Blue Bell, PA -- Adding to a series of recent record-setting server performance results, Unisys Corporation today announced that the Unisys e-@ction Enterprise Server ES5085R supported the highest amount of Microsoft Exchange electronic mail traffic ever measured on any server.

The Unisys ES5085R server achieved an Exchange MAPI Messaging Benchmark (MMB) of 32,700, surpassing the previous MMB high-water mark of 32,500. The record-setting Unisys server was equipped with eight 550-MHz Intel Pentium III Xeon processors with 2 Mbytes of Level 2 cache, as well as Unisys Enterprise Software Suite (ess) value-added technology.

The Microsoft Exchange Server MAPI Messaging Benchmark is the standard method of measuring a system's performance in a Microsoft Exchange software environment. It measures throughput in terms of a specific profile of user actions, executed over an eight-hour day. It represents mail traffic from a typical corporate e-mail user, including common daily mail tasks such as send, browse, read and forward, as well as scheduling tasks and distribution list usage.

"This is one more in a series of tests proving that Microsoft technology on Unisys Intel-based servers can match the performance of UNIX/RISC environments at the high end of the enterprise for a fraction of the price," said Don Johnson, vice president and general manager, Enterprise Server Business, Unisys Computer Systems. "We are in the midst of a fundamental shift in the economics of large-scale enterprise computing. The full significance of that shift will become clear as we begin reporting such test results for our new 32-way partitionable Unisys e-@ction Enterprise Server ES7000, which will redefine how enterprises address their most challenging tasks."

The large workloads handled by the ES5085R in the test demonstrate the suitability of the server as a platform for consolidating large numbers of smaller electronic messaging servers to save space, costs and to simplify systems administration. The 32-processor Unisys e-@ction Enterprise Server ES7000, the industry's first Intel-based mainframe, will multiply the scalability provided by the ES5085R, enabling enterprises to perform tasks handled by hundreds of conventional servers with a single, partitionable platform that accommodates multiple operating environments.

Unisys Enterprise Software Suite (ess) value-added technology equips the ES5085R eight-way server with an array of new systems management, hardware and middleware products to optimize Windows NT Server performance, ease of administration, availability and interoperability with heterogeneous systems. The increased scalability afforded by the software enhances performance and manageability by allowing enterprises to partition the server - assigning processors to specific, separate tasks and enabling administrators to view and manage multiple partitions as a single system.

"As enterprise messaging increasingly takes on business-critical significance, businesses are demanding a new dimension in scalability and reliability from information technology suppliers," said Stan Sorensen, lead product manager for Exchange, Microsoft. "The new record-breaking performance of the Unisys e-@ction Enterprise Server ES5085R is strong evidence that, when applied by experts in enterprise computing like Unisys, the Windows NT environment can meet such increasingly demanding requirements."

About Unisys

Unisys is an electronic business solutions company whose 35,000 employees help customers in 100 countries apply information technology to seize opportunities and overcome challenges of the Internet economy. Unisys people integrate and deliver the solutions, services, platforms and network infrastructure required by business and government to transform their organizations for success in this new era. The company offers a rich portfolio of Unisys e-@ction Solutions for electronic business based on its expertise in "repeatable" vertical industry solutions, network services, outsourcing, systems integration and multivendor support, coupled with enterprise-class server and related technologies. The primary vertical markets Unisys serves worldwide include financial services, transportation, communications, publishing and commercial sectors, as well as the public sector, including federal government customers. Unisys is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, in the Greater Philadelphia area. For more information on the company, access the Unisys home page on the World Wide Web at www.unisys.com. Investor information can be found at www.unisys.com/investor.

CONTACT: Steve Holzman, Unisys Tel: +1 215 986-5098 e-mail: stephen.holzman@unisys.com

*M2 COMMUNICATIONS DISCLAIMS ALL LIABILITY FOR INFORMATION PROVIDED WITHIN M2 PRESSWIRE. DATA SUPPLIED BY NAMED PARTY/PARTIES.*

Leave the Work Week Behind with the Where Weekends Begin Package Offered at Atlanta Marriott Century Center.

ATLANTA, July 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Start your weekend off right with the Where Weekends Begin Package offered at Atlanta Marriott Century Center. The Peachtree Airport Atlanta hotel is providing guests with free breakfast, free Internet and a late check out with qualifying hotel reservations with room rates starting from $109 per night!

Guests can take advantage of the Atlanta hotel deal when they make a reservation seven days in advance for two consecutive weekend nights before August 22, 2011, for a weekend stay by September 5, 2011.

The Where Weekends Begin Package includes:

* Free breakfast for two adults

* Free Internet access

* Late check out (based upon availability)

* Seven-day advance reservation required

* Book before August 22, 2011

* Two night weekend stay required

The promotional rate includes free breakfast for two adults in Stackstone Grille and one hot and cold beverage per adult.

Be sure promotional code F2V for the Where Weekends Begin Package appears in the Corporate/Promotional code box when making your online reservation, or call 1-800-228-9290 in the U.S. and ask for promotional code F2V.

About Atlanta Marriott Century Center

Discover the Atlanta Marriott Century Center, a luxury hotel near Peachtree DeKalb Airport (PDK) conveniently located off I-85 and minutes from downtown Atlanta. Offering complimentary parking and local shuttle service, this Decatur hotel provides guests with easy access to Emory University, Georgia Tech, Buckhead, Atlantic Station, CDC and much more. Take advantage of complimentary wireless in The Lobby Reinvented - your place to work, meet and recharge. Enjoy hospitable accommodations in your Peachtree airport hotel room, furnished with the comforts of home. Experience savory cuisine at the Stackstone Grille that features flat-panel HD TVs and Wii, or discover a variety of exciting DeKalb Airport hotel amenities, including an outdoor pool and fire pit. Enjoy family activities in Atlanta, just minutes from the Peachtree Airport, or plan cherished weddings and events in 25,000 square feet of luxury Atlanta event facilities. Stay at the Marriott City Center near the PDK Airport for Southern charm and hospitality at its best.

For more information or to make a reservation, call 404-325-0000, or visit www.AtlantaMarriottCenturyCenter.com.

SOURCE Atlanta Marriott Century Center

OnGreen Hires Former Fox Interactive Media and Hulu VP as New CTO.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) June 20, 2011

OnGreen announced today the appointment of Mark Richards to the role of Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Richards will manage OnGreen's growing development team that manages critical product rollouts supporting the world's largest cleantech marketplace. Richards joined the company in mid-June and reports directly to Nikhil R. Jain, OnGreen's chief executive officer.

A respected industry veteran, Mark Richards brings more than 15 years of internet technology experience, including 10 years of managing technical groups at marquee internet properties. Richards was previously Vice President of Technical Operations at Fox Interactive Media and part of their senior team during the MySpace acquisition. He was also Interim VP of Infrastructure and Technology at the online video site Hulu. Mark also brings a depth of experience in social networking and online media technologies.

"OnGreen's traffic has increased over 250% in the last year and now is an ideal time to bring on a new CTO," Jain said. "We will leverage Mark's deep experience in running global IT organizations, and his focus will be in select areas. First, we want Mark and the IT team to drive product deployment throughout our site and provide valuable input and feedback to our executive and marketing teams. Second, Mark will be spearheading the international platform expansion and building out internal capabilities. In turn, we anticipate an improvement in user satisfaction and interaction in the marketplace."

"So few places offer the chance to expand your skills and have an impact across such a important sector," Richards said. "It is a great opportunity, and I am excited to work with the OnGreen team to advance its business forward."

About OnGreen

OnGreen is the world's largest cleantech marketplace. Members from across the globe work together, connecting the best ideas in cleantech to funding and expertise, translating IP into ROI. With thousands of entrepreneurs, investors, and business and technology experts spanning 35 countries, it's never been easier to connect with the people and resources needed to turn today's energy and environmental challenges into business opportunities. OnGreen is headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in Shanghai. Connect with the world's leading cleantech investors at http://www.ongreen.com.

Contacts:

Chathri Munasinghe

chathri(at)ongreen(dot)com

(800) 297-0445 x 207

Twitter: @OnGreenInc

###

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/6/prweb8580508.htm

Alfresco Continues to Foster Growing Partner Base with New Solution Showcase.

Alfresco Software, the leader in open source enterprise content management (ECM), announced the launch of its Partner Solution Showcase, an online content application resource that enables partners to promote solutions built with Alfresco. The Partner Solution Showcase offers a selection of solutions developed using Alfresco's content platform which enables leading companies from a range of industries to solve critical business problems. Tweet this: #Alfresco launches Partner Solution Showcase to Promote Range of Content Applications http://bit.ly/9FTkY With an open standards and open source architecture, Alfresco software provides partners with an ideal platform for building content applications or application extensions. By supporting open standards, including the upcoming content management interoperability standard (CMIS), partners are able to easily build content applications using Alfresco and deliver portable, cost-effective business solutions. Alfresco's Partner Solution Showcase was created in response to growing interest from both customers and partners to share best-of-breed Alfresco solutions.

"Micro Strategies has been delivering high-quality, ECM solutions for more than 10 years - and we have clearly reached the next level with Alfresco's enterprise-class platform. Now more than ever, our clients must be considerably more efficient at a lower total cost of ownership, and Alfresco enables us to achieve both objectives," said Adam J. Storch, vice president of business solutions, Micro Strategies. "We are very excited about Alfresco's Partner Solution Showcase, as it provides us with a great place to market our solutions and reach a much larger audience."

Keywords: Alfresco Software, Inc., Alfresco Software, Inc., Technology, Consumer Electronics, Data Management, Hardware, Internet, Networks, Software, Information Te, Content Management, Data Management, Software, Alfresco Software Inc., Consumer Electronics, Content Management, Data Management, Hardware, Information Te, Information Technology, Internet, Networks, Software, Technology

This article was prepared by Computer Weekly News editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2009, Computer Weekly News via VerticalNews.com.

IGN.com Launches New Video Programming Destination to Highlight Originally-Produced and New Third-Party Content.

Black20 Digital Studios, Machinima.com, CollegeHumor and ScrewAttack.com Highlight List of Content Creators to Develop Exclusive Video for IGN Entertainment

BRISBANE, Calif. -- IGN.com (http://www.ign.com), the Web's leading videogame and entertainment information destination, today announced a series of production and distribution agreements with nearly a dozen of the Web's most dynamic video content creators, including Black20 Digital Studios, Machinima.com, CollegeHumor, ScrewAttack.com, g-NET and Comedy.com. In conjunction with the launch of these partnerships, IGN -- currently the Web's No. 1 source for video content related to videogames (comScore) -- today unveiled a new video destination (http://video.ign.com), which will showcase the new third-party programming, as well as IGN's leading array of originally-produced video content.

Content produced by IGN that will be featured within the new video destination will include game reviews, movie reviews and several popular IGN video shows, such as IGN_Strategize, IGN Head-to-Heads and IGN Game Scoop! News Break. All content on IGN's new video hub will be free to the user and the new content agreements mark the first time that IGN has worked extensively with outside partners to exclusively produce and distribute original content.

"At a time when marketers are watching every dollar, quality video made for the Web is a remarkable value," said Roy Bahat, GM of IGN Entertainment. "We and our content partners are producing premium video that's creatively experimental, cost effective and targeted to a very valuable audience that our advertisers are anxious to reach."

Fox Broadcasting Company (FBC) will serve as the destination's launch sponsor, with creative promoting the "24: Redemption" television movie.

"Participating in the launch of IGN's new video hub was a perfect way for FOX to drive attention to the premiere of '24:Redemption'," said Laurel Bernard, SVP of Marketing for Fox Broadcasting Company. "Re-introducing the 24 brand after an 18-month hiatus posed an interesting challenge and with IGN's help, we felt we would have success reaching that elusive young male 18-24 audience. The timing and technology of IGN's new video hub allowed us to elevate awareness for our Sunday night event."

IGN.com's new video hub will highlight the latest trailers, reviews, news and original programming from IGN and third-party partners. A full list of partners and content includes:

* Black20 Digital Studios

* CollegeHumor.com

* Comedy.com

* Das Gamer

* g-NET

* Konsole Kingz

* Machinima.com

* Mega64

* Once Upon ATARI by Scott West Productions

* ScrewAttack

"The gaming community demands a huge, diverse, and increasing supply of relevant video entertainment," says David Getson, CEO of g-NET Media. "With the evolution of their video hub, IGN is showing a commitment to being a leader in this space. We're thrilled to collaborate with them in serving their passionate and informed audience with top-quality entertainment."

"It's exciting to see such a leader in the space ramping up its online video efforts and creating new opportunities for independent content producers," said J. Crowley, CEO of Black20 Digital Studios. "IGN has a massive audience that Black20 content naturally targets, and we look forward to working together to develop great programming for their millions of viewers."

"As an experienced content producer, it's impressive to see how IGN is showcasing content from ScrewAttack and other producers," said Craig Skistimas, Program Director of ScrewAttack Entertainment LLC.

Original IGN video programming that will live within the new video destination includes:

* IGN_Strategize

* IGN Head-to-Heads

* IGN Game Scoop! News Break

* IGN Babeology

* IGN Game Reviews

* IGN Movie Reviews

ABOUT IGN ENTERTAINMENT

IGN Entertainment, a unit of Fox Interactive Media, Inc., is a leading Internet media and services provider focused on the videogame and entertainment enthusiast markets. Collectively, IGN's properties reached more than 30 million unique users worldwide in the month of July 2008, according to Internet audience measurement firm comScore Media Metrix. IGN's network of videogame-related properties (IGN.com, GreenPixels, GameSpy, FilePlanet, TeamXbox, Direct2Drive and others), is one of the Web's leading videogame information destination and attracts one of the largest concentrated audiences of young males on the Internet. IGN also owns and operates the popular movie-related website, Rotten Tomatoes and one of the leading male lifestyle Websites, AskMen.com. In addition, IGN provides technology for online game play in videogames. IGN is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, with offices in the U.S., Canada, the UK and Australia.

Eicon Technology, AT&T GIS sign OEM pact to provide wide-area connectivity for client/server enterprises.

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 24, 1995--Eicon Technology and AT&T GIS have announced an OEM agreement under which Eicon's WAN Services for Windows NT software will be bundled with all AT&T GIS server-class products for Windows NT. The agreement makes Eicon the sole provider of WAN connectivity software for AT&T GIS Windows NT servers.

The inclusion of Eicon's WAN Services for Windows NT software will enhance the strengths of AT&T GIS servers by enabling them to provide LAN-to-LAN internetworking; messaging and workgroup computing; access to information sources such as legacy host systems, on-line services and database servers; and Internet access.

The agreement also calls for AT&T to sell the EiconCard, the high-speed intelligent co-processor server card required to operate the WAN Services for Windows NT software.

"Bundling Eicon's WAN Services for Windows NT is consistent with our leadership in offering enterprise solutions for our customers," said James E. Clark, vice president, AT&T GIS Software and Communications Solutions. "Eicon's open connectivity and integration with existing systems contributes directly to the overall value contained in our servers."

Guy Hoffman, Eicon vice president of worldwide marketing, said, "The agreement was designed to address the rapid proliferation of client/server technology across distributed computing environments, which has placed unprecedented importance on the WAN. With Eicon's commitment to open architecture, scalability and industry standards, customers can be assured that AT&T GIS Windows NT servers will provide internetworking and interoperability for enterprise-wide connectivity today, and will accommodate growth and changing needs in the future."

Founded in 1984, Eicon Technology is a worldwide provider of server and desktop integrated remote networking solutions. The company develops, markets and supports hardware and software allowing personal computers to access IBM SNA networks and corporate internetworks for client/server location-independent applications. Eicon Technology is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange and Montreal Exchange under the symbol EIC.

AT&T Global Information Solutions helps its customers better understand and serve their customers by getting, moving and using information.

Further information on Eicon products can be obtained through the World Wide Web address http://www.eicon.com.

CONTACT: Eicon Technology, Inc.

Janie Reyes, 214/239-3270

or

Ulevich & Orrange, Inc.

William Orrange or Janis Ulevich, 415/329-1590

New Dynamode ADSL2+ 24Mbps Router is Cheapest on Market - GBP32.75 +VAT.

M2 PRESSWIRE-14 June 2006-Dynamode: New Dynamode ADSL2+ 24Mbps Router is Cheapest on Market - GBP32.75 +VAT(C)1994-2006 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

RDATE:14062006

Dynamode have launched a new ADSL2+ Router, the R-ADSL-C4W-EG, ideal for broadband services up to 24Mb, which is available now from dabs.com for only GBP32.75 plus VAT, offering outstanding performance and value for money. The router is also available from ebuyer.com with a USB dongle for GBP40 plus VAT.

Coupled with a high-performance 125Mbps 802.11g+ Access Point with full backward compliance with existing 802.11g/b Wireless products, the R-ADSLC4W-EG is the perfect partner for both home and office Wireless LAN applications with added piece of mind of WiFi compatibility.

Dynamode's Safe&Secure hardware SPI Firewall gives total prevention of Internet attacks and complete support for the latest online games.

The router supports very high encryption including WPA2, 802.11x and 256-Bit WEP encryption, which assures very high data integrity and reduced chances of eavesdropping. The R-ADSL-C4W-EG enjoys an easy to use Web-based setup with 'Universal Plug n Play', which means that the Router will automatically configure itself correctly when plugged into other UPnP devices (such as WindowsXP) so users can be up and running in minutes.

According to Hoj Parmar of Dynamode, "This Dynamode ADSL2+ Router takes this latest 125Mbps 802.11g broadband technology down to a new price point and provides a superior spec than the main competitors with a high end firewall and easy setup and configuration."

Further details about Dynamode ADSL2+ Routers are available on Dynamode's website www.dynamode.co.uk or by phone on 01923 244438.

PRODUCTS ARE AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW ON REQUEST

CONTACT: Tom Hohenberge-mail: tom@themark.demon.co.ukHoj Parmare-mail: hojp@dynamode.co.uk

((M2 Communications Ltd disclaims all liability for information provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data prepared by named party/parties. Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to info@m2.com)).

Pinnacle Systems Ships New Deko3000 HD for Native High Definition Live Production Graphics.

HD Without Compromise - Delivers Legendary FXDeko II Quality, Effects and Flexibility at Native HD Resolutions

Pinnacle Systems(R), Inc. , a leader in live production graphics solutions, today announced that it has begun shipping the Deko3000 HD character generator as scheduled. The flagship in Pinnacle's high definition (HD) graphics systems lineup, Deko3000 HD delivers across the most popular HD formats and at full native HD resolution the full spectrum of effects and features pioneered for Pinnacle's legendary FXDeko II, the mainstay of demanding live production worldwide.

Pinnacle COO Ajay Chopra said, "Viewing audiences have a voracious appetite for HD content. Now broadcasters can easily deliver the complete package -- stunning HD video combined with eye-catching graphics. No more stretching, squeezing or making do with SD graphics upconverted. With Deko3000 HD, broadcasters can deliver a truly complete HD presentation for sports, news and other live productions. As with all Pinnacle live production products, Deko3000 HD is designed to fit seamlessly in today's networked workflow infrastructure."

Superior quality

Many graphics systems upconvert SD graphics to HD and as a result introduce flaws to the graphic. Deko3000 HD offers a significant and readily visible improvement over such systems by producing at full native 720p and 1080i HD resolutions. The result is graphics of stunning quality that are the perfect foil for impressive HD video.

Complete Effects Toolkit

Deko3000 HD delivers unlimited creative flexibility with a real-time effects palette that includes everything world-class productions demand from a top-of-the-line SD character generator. Deko3000 HD lets the operator perform 2D and 3D animation on a page, a row, a layer, a word, a character -- even on details within a character to create on demand shimmers and glows.

Deko Productivity

Deko3000 HD delivers the added functionality that sets Deko apart and has made it the system of choice for broadcasters throughout the world. Content independent effects mean that effects always playback as designed, even as data is updated on the fly. Motions that change properties like size, position, rotation, opacity, or even 3D DVEs are easy to create and automatically adjust to the length of the data. This makes Deko3000 HD -- and the entire Deko family -- ideal for challenging applications including automated data feeds such as election results and sports feeds.

Internal clip playback with key matte is standard on Deko3000 HD providing full design motion without the expense of a separate video server.

Deko file association significantly reduces the number of graphics that have to be pre-produced for a broadcast. By creating a master file of elements that graphics can reference, locally or on the network, individual elements or entire pages can be changed automatically.

Easy SD to HD transition

Deko3000 HD slips easily into existing workflows to simplify the transition from SD to HD. With the same easy-to-use Deko user interface and workflow functionality to use your 4:3 SD graphics in the 16:9 HD format, the transition to HD is easier, without duplicating effort.

Deko3000 HD is available immediately. Prices start at $52,000 U.S. manufacturers suggested retail price. Upgrade pricing is available to move from standard definition Deko systems to Deko3000 HD. For complete details visit http://www.pinnaclesys.com/ or contact your local Pinnacle dealer.

About Pinnacle Systems, Inc.

Pinnacle Systems provides broadcasters and consumers with cutting-edge digital media creation, storage, and play-back solutions for use at Home, at Work and on the Air. Pinnacle Systems' award winning digital media solutions are in use around the world for broadcast, video editing, DVD and CDR authoring and on the Internet. A recognized industry leader, the company has received nine prestigious Emmy Awards for its technical innovations and carries this commitment throughout all of its product lines. Pinnacle Systems may be reached at 650-526-1600 or at http://www.pinnaclesys.com/.

NOTE: Pinnacle Systems is a trademark or registered trademark of Pinnacle Systems in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.

CONTACT: media, Paulien Ruijssenaars, +1-650-237-1648, or paulien@pinnaclesys.com, or investors, ir@pinnaclesys.com, both of Pinnacle Systems; or Evan Sirof of MarComm-On-Call, +1-914-993-0805, or evan@marcomm-on-call.com, for Pinnacle Systems

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

India, Pakistan agree on road map for a peace process.

Byline: Liz Sly

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan _ India and Pakistan agreed Wednesday on a "road map for a peace process," expressing optimism that this latest attempt to resolve nearly six decades of hostility will result in a lasting peace between two of the world's most bitter enemies.

Concluding three days of talks in Islamabad, the nuclear-armed neighbors unveiled a schedule of meetings to be held over the next six months addressing the range of disagreements that have divided them since they won independence in 1947.

"We hope that this road map will eventually lead to settlement of all outstanding disputes between India and Pakistan, and in the direction of a durable peace," Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokar told reporters in Islamabad.

The first of the meetings won't take place until May or June, after elections scheduled to be held in India this spring. Although Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is expected to be re-elected, the vote adds an element of uncertainty to the future of the talks.

That meeting will directly address the future of the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir, the Muslim majority region claimed by both countries and currently divided between them by a cease-fire line drawn in 1947.

India and Pakistan have since fought three wars, in 1965, 1971 and 1999, and they came close to fighting again in 2002. They both have also acquired nuclear weapons, which they have threatened to use, making Kashmir one of the world's most dangerous flashpoints.

In July, there will be talks on other problems, including terrorism, disputes over water, drug trafficking and trade and commerce. There will also be separate sets of talks at a more junior level on border security issues and on mechanisms to reduce the likelihood of a nuclear conflict.

In August, the foreign ministers of both countries will meet to review progress and decide on the next step, according to a joint statement issued by the two sides.

Taken together, the elements of the "road map" don't amount to much more than a timetable for future discussions. None of the actual issues was broached in the talks, and both sides urged patience.

Previous attempts to address the same issues have failed, and there is still no indication of how either side intends to approach the bitterly divisive issue of Kashmir.

Whether the residents of Kashmir will go along with any solution reached by the two nations claiming their loyalties is also in question. Although there have been no reliable public opinion surveys in Kashmir, the few that have been taken, along with anecdotal evidence, suggest that many Kashmiris don't want to be ruled by either of their squabbling neighbors and would prefer independence.

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, addressing an audience of clerics, promised that he would not accept any solution unless it was acceptable also to the people of Kashmir.

"I am hopeful that a solution for Kashmir, in accordance with the wishes of Kashmiris, will be found," he said. "If there is no solution according to the wishes of Kashmiris, no solution will be found."

The launch of the new peace process comes after a groundbreaking meeting between Musharraf and Vajpayee in January, at which the two leaders promised to resume peace talks suspended in August 2001.

For the talks to go ahead, India agreed that the question of Kashmir would be on the agenda in return for a promise from Musharraf to halt the infiltration of terrorist groups into Kashmir from Pakistani territory.

But Musharraf's ability to deliver on that promise was called into question by the two assassination attempts against him in December, at least one of which has been linked to the extremist Kashmiri organization Jaish-e-Mohammed.

The push for peace with India only increases his vulnerability to the threat from extremist groups opposed to any form of compromise over Kashmir's future, adding another element of unpredictability to the prospects for success.

Nonetheless, officials on both sides say they detect a new openness to exploring new ways of addressing their rivalry that were absent in previous attempts to negotiate a solution.

"We feel that the atmosphere is much better," said Khokhar. "There is a realization on both sides that war is not an option."

The Indian delegation, headed by India's Foreign Secretary Shashank, who has only one name, did not comment publicly on the talks. In New Delhi, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said he detected "a sincere desire to discuss and arrive at a peaceful settlement of all bilateral issues."

___

(c) 2004, Chicago Tribune.

Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicagotribune.com/

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

Loral And Mitsubishi Electric Complete In-orbit Testing Of Optus C1; Multi-band Military and Commercial Satellite Begins Service.

Business Editors

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 21, 2003

Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications (OTCBB: LRLSQ), today announced that the Optus C1 communications satellite, built by SS/L under contract from Mitsubishi Electric Corporation for SingTel Optus and the Australian Department of Defence, has successfully completed a complex series of in-orbit tests. The satellite, launched June 11 from the Spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana, was handed over to Optus and the Australian Department of Defence for operational service on July 18.

Optus C1 achieved geostationary orbit on June 20. In-orbit tests, conducted by a combined team of Loral and Mitsubishi engineers, demonstrated performance that accurately reflects the results of ground tests before launch.

Optus C1 is one of the most advanced communications satellites ever built, carrying a total of 16 antennas that provide 18 beams across Australia, New Zealand, and the Asia-Pacific region, as well as global beams covering a large area from Malaysia to Hawaii. The advanced communications payload operates in four different frequency bands -- commercial services at Ku-band, and military communications at UHF, X- and Ka-bands. The spacecraft is operating from an orbital slot at 156 degrees East longitude.

Optus, a leading Australian telecommunications service provider, will use the Optus C1's Ku-band payload to distribute video, direct-to-home TV, and telephony and Internet connections to remote areas.

For the Australian Department of Defence, the satellite's Ka-band payload provides high-data-rate broadcast coverage for video, and voice and data communications. The X-band payload provides medium- to high-data-rate, voice and data communications for land and maritime applications. The UHF payload provides secure low-rate voice and data communications to mobile platforms.

Optus C1 is based on SS/L's space-proven 1300 geostationary satellite platform, which has an excellent record of reliable operation. The 1300 is designed to achieve a long life, in this case in excess of 15 years. The 1300 achieves high stability by using bipropellant propulsion and momentum-bias attitude control systems. A system of high-efficiency solar arrays and batteries provide uninterrupted electrical power. In total, SS/L satellites have amassed more than 1,000 years of on-orbit service. Total satellite power will be approximately 10 kW at end of life, and the spacecraft had a launch mass of nearly five metric tons.

Optus managed the procurement, together with the Australian Department of Defence. Japan's Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (MELCO), the prime contractor, teamed with SS/L, which designed, assembled, integrated and tested the spacecraft at its California facility. SS/L also supplied the Ku-band subsystem. MELCO was responsible for the overall payload.

Space Systems/Loral is a premier designer, manufacturer, and integrator of powerful satellites and satellite systems. SS/L also provides a range of related services that include mission control operations and procurement of launch services. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., the company has an international base of commercial and governmental customers whose applications include broadband digital communications, direct-to-home broadcast, defense communications, environmental monitoring, and air traffic control. SS/L is ISO 9001:2000 certified. For more information, visit www.ssloral.com.

Loral Space & Communications is a satellite communications company. Through its Skynet subsidiary, it owns and operates a global fleet of telecommunications satellites used by television and cable networks to broadcast video entertainment programming, and by communication service providers, resellers, corporate and government customers for broadband data transmission, Internet services and other value-added communications services. Loral also is a world-class leader in the design and manufacture of satellites and satellite systems through its Space Systems/Loral subsidiary. For more information, visit Loral's web site at www.loral.com.

This document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. In addition, Loral Space & Communications Ltd. or its representatives have made or may make forward-looking statements, orally or in writing, which may be included in, but are not limited to, various filings made by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, press releases or oral statements made with the approval of an authorized executive officer of the company. Actual results could differ materially from those projected or suggested in any forward-looking statements as a result of a wide variety of factors and conditions. These factors include those related to the filing, on July 15, 2003 by Loral and certain of its subsidiaries, of voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 of Title 11 of the United States Code in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and parallel insolvency proceedings in the Supreme Court of Bermuda in which certain partners of KPMG were appointed as joint provisional liquidators. Additional factors and conditions are also described in the section of the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2002, entitled "Certain Factors That May Affect Future Results," and the company's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The reader is specifically referred to these documents.

NCO/SOUNDBITE TO DRIVE MULTI-CHANNEL COMMUNICATIONS.

NCO Group, Inc. ("NCO"), a leading global provider of best-in-class business process outsourcing solutions, has announced that it recently expanded its long-standing solutions, in an effort to broaden its multi-channel, proactive customer communications offering to the contact center marketplace.

Complementing NCO's live agent, chat, and social media solution offerings, SoundBite brings its full suite of multi-channel communications solutions to the relationship including automated voice messaging, inbound IVR, hosted dialer, interactive mobile messaging, and email. The offering broadens the existing relationship between the two companies and enables NCO to offer one of the industry's most complete set of customer contact strategies to its clients. The expanded offering will service new and existing markets including retail, financial services, utilities, telecom, and healthcare.

Specifically regarding the healthcare industry, NCO's healthcare services offering is heavily focused on patient contact. This expanded relationship positions NCO to increase patient contact and satisfaction by communicating with patients based on their communications preferences, whether it be by live agent, automated voice message, text, chat or email.

Furthermore, it enhances patient services efficiencies by automating messages and reminders for appointments, payments, and the full range of patient contact. Commenting on the NCO-SoundBite expanded relationship, Steven Leckerman, NCO's EVP and Chief Operating Officer, stated, "By leveraging SoundBite's technology, we are very pleased to offer our clients a leading-edge customer contact and preference management solution. SoundBite's technology will enable us to further expand NCO's multi-channel proactive customer communications across all industry verticals. We continue to seek ways to optimize ROI for all of our clients' voice and non-voice applications. This bundled NCO solution creates a proven and seamless proactive communications offering for our clients."

Added Jim Milton, president and CEO of SoundBite Communications: "Organizations worldwide recognize the increasingly important role that proactive communications plays within their contact centers. Our expanded relationship with NCO will deliver the benefits of SoundBite's cloud-based, multi-channel communications platform to contact centers who wish to communicate more effectively with their customers across a variety of communications channels."

For more information on the expanded NCO-SoundBite relationship, visit www.ncogroup.com or www.soundbite.com.

About NCO Group, Inc. NCO Group, Inc. is a leading global provider of business process outsourcing services, primarily focused on accounts receivable management and customer relationship management. With a network of approximately 30,000 employees, supporting the global market, NCO provides services through more than 100 offices throughout North America, Asia, Europe and Australia.

About SoundBite Communications

SoundBite Communications is a leading provider of cloud-based, multi-channel, proactive customer communications solutions designed to transform the way organizations communicate throughout the customer lifecycle to build trusted, lifelong and profitable relationships. Clients can leverage SoundBite's proactive customer communications offering and expertise in designing, executing and optimizing communications strategies to engage in relevant customer interactions that deliver long-term business value.

For more information, visit http://www.soundbite.com or call 781/897-2632. >TX FIBER NETWORK TO FUEL TELECOM GROWTH IN SINGAPORE >TX CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Data and content offer opportunities for operators in Singapore due to high mobile Internet usage and a new fiber network, according to a new report from Pyramid Research (www.pyr.com).

Singapore: National Fiber Network Levels the Playing Field for Operators offers a precise profile of the country's telecommunications, media and technology sectors based on proprietary data from Pyramid's research in the market. It provides detailed competitive analysis of both the fixed and mobile sectors, tracks the market shares of technologies and services and monitors the introduction and spread of new technologies. Download an excerpt of this report here: http://www.pyr.com/downloads.htm?id=18&sc=PRN031411_CIRSIN

Purchase the report here: http://www.pyramidresearch.com/store/CIRSINGAPORE.htm?sc=PRN031411_CIRSIN

"The national fiber rollout will quickly gain traction and increase consumer spend, as well as increase businesses fixed broadband penetration, which, at its current rate of 62 percent, is below that of its peers," said Emily Smith, Research Analyst at Pyramid. "Opportunities will present themselves more strongly after 2013, when the island-wide free broadband service is transformed into a paid service, when Pyramid expects mobile broadband connectivity services to reach 47 percent by 2015."

"For years, island-wide free Wi-Fi networks and the limited browsing capacity of handsets held back users from fully utilizing 3G services, Smith explains. Today, a wider selection of smartphones and higher mobile broadband speeds are changing this situation. In addition, the rapid pace of smartphone adoption means that more and more mobile subscribers will be increasing their mobile data service usage. "Both of these causes will lead to strong mobile data growth through 2015," she added.

The strong mobile broadband and Internet growth is creating opportunities in an otherwise mature market. "Growing interest and usage of these services is and must continue to be accompanied by continuous network improvement, the launch of innovative devices and service innovation, especially with respect to content," notes Smith. "All operators are being aggressive in all three areas, and competition will be fierce. Furthermore, all three mobile operators over the past year have invested in building out fiber backhaul to increase bandwidth," she added.

Singapore: National Fiber Network Levels the Playing Field for Operators is part of Pyramid Research's Asia/Pacific Country Intelligence Report Series and is priced at $990. Download the excerpt here: http://www.pyr.com/downloads.htm?id=18&sc=PRN031411_CIRSIN. It can be purchased online here http://www.pyramidresearch.com/store/CIRSINGAPORE.htm?sc=PRN031411_CIRSIN or by emailing info@pyr.com or call 617/871-1910.