COMMON
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COMMON

Disaster recovery to lead COMMON iSeries user group conference
The special educational focus for the fall 2006 Common conference is disaster recovery. The Strategic Education Team (formerly the CET) understand that this is a timely topic that every IT professional feels compelled to learn about. They have added a whole course of study on the topic, which includes sessions on high availability, backup, data recovery and more, including user case studies. There is also a preconference workshop on the topic, and there are vendors in the Expo that specialize in disaster recovery solutions. COMMON provides innovative and successful IT education to users of the System i family (AS/400, iSeries and System i5). At COMMON conferences, experts from around the world and IBM deliver iSeries education on leading edge technologies such as WebSphere, RPG IV, DB2 for i5/OS, Java, Lotus Domino/Workplace and many other technical topics.
Visit www.common.org.
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Industry products

TMW Systems Inc. acquires Maddocks Systems, Inc.
TMW Systems Inc., the largest provider of enterprise management software for the trucking industry in the United States, announced that it has acquired Maddocks Systems, Inc., Canada's largest provider of trucking software. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. This combination further establishes TMW Systems as North America's largest provider of enterprise management software to the trucking industry with more than 1,000 customers managing 175,000 trucks worldwide and revenues in excess of $40M USD. Both organizations have experienced double digit growth in revenues and earnings since 2002. TMW Systems will continue to develop, evolve and support both companies' product offerings including TMWSuite Windows-based solution, TL2000 for the IBM iSeries and Maddocks TruckMate for Windows. Combining TMW Systems strong reputation, investment in R&D, award winning service and superior integration capabilities with Maddocks Systems additional expertise in LTL, intermodal and cross border functionality, a clear and compelling choice is created for transportation and logistics companies of any size, type, or industry segment.
Visit www.tmwsystems.com or www.maddocks.ca.
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Intermec

RFID equipment awarded Gen 2 interoperability certification
Intermec RFID Gen 2 equipment has been certified as interoperable with other devices certified by EPCglobal Inc, a not-for-profit standards organization driving global adoption of the Electronic Product Code (EPC). The Intermec RFID Large Rigid Tag and the IM5 RFID radio module have earned Gen 2 hardware interoperability marks in independent testing by MET Laboratories in Baltimore, Maryland. The interoperability program is part of EPCglobal's hardware certification program, which verifies that EPC hardware products comply with EPCglobal standards. The EPCglobal hardware interoperability testing demonstrates the ability of different compliance-certified tags to work with different compliance-certified readers or printer/encoders.
Visit www.intermec.com or www.EPCglobalinc.org.
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iSeries

PistolStar expands iSeries support with password products
PistolStar unveiled expanded support for the iSeries server with its collection of software for making passwords easier to handle. The enhancements were added to both of its core products, including Password Power, a password framework that connects PistolStar's various password plug-ins for different platforms and applications, and Web Set Password, which simplifies the handling of passwords and user IDs in a Lotus Notes/Domino environments. After a start in 2001 providing Lotus Notes/Domino consulting, the company developed a set of products that simplified password management on IBM's Lotus Notes/Domino platform. The gist of these products, which still account for about 80 percent of the company's business, is that they enable users to authenticate themselves against Microsoft Active Directory or Novell eDirectory, instead of relying on the native authentication methods in Notes/Domino.
Visit www.pistolstar.com.

ASNA Monarch leads iSeries RPG application evolution
ASNA (Amalgamated Software of North America) announced a new version of its Monarch development solution that allows businesses to smoothly and quickly evolve RPG OS/400 and i5/OS applications and data, transforming monolithic green screen applications into modernized applications for Microsoft Windows .NET. ASNA Monarch 3.0 boasts features and functionality that set a new standard for enterprise evolution of RPG applications and data, enabling the extension to Microsoft Windows .NET for integration into Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA) and Web services, allowing businesses to be more competitive. ASNA Monarch, which was introduced in the fall of 2004, is a comprehensive set of tightly coupled software applications that improves the performance, integration and usability of RPG and CL programs and applications.
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Leasing

IBM Global Financing, Tech Data expand financing relationship
IBM Global Financing (IGF) and Tech Data have extended their financing relationship to include leasing services. Under the agreement, IGF will offer leasing solutions to Tech Data customers. Tech Data is a leading provider of IT products to value-added resellers (VARs). The new leasing service extends the existing relationship between the companies, which have had a flooring relationship for several years.

Among its leasing services, IGF offers Rapid Online Financing, which provides one-hour credit approval for deals under $300,000 and allows IBM business partners to obtain pre-approved lines of credit for selected customers. The system enables partners to generate proposals, submit credit checks, produce documents and track payments directly via the IBM website. IGF announced that it recently reached a company milestone, processing its 10,000th U.S. financing transaction using its Rapid Online Financing service. The program was launched in Europe in 2003, but just less than a year ago in the U.S. Today, the tool is deployed in 27 countries and utilized by over 6000 business partners worldwide.
Visit www.ibm.com/financing.
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Market news

B.O.S. Better Online Solutions Ltd. secures additional financing
B.O.S. Better Online Solutions Ltd. (“BOS”) announced that it has entered into and closed an additional financing transaction with Laurus Master Fund (“Laurus”), a US based fund making investments in public companies. Laurus had previously granted the Company a $2 million convertible loan in June 2004 and a $1.5 million convertible loan in September 2005. The third financing consists of a $1.5 million Secured Convertible Term Note with a term of three years. In addition, BOS granted to Laurus a warrant to purchase up to 73,052 Ordinary Shares, which is exercisable, in whole or in part, until August 16, 2013 at an exercise price of $4.04 per share for the first 24,351 Ordinary Shares acquirable thereunder, and of $5.30 per share for the additional 48,701 acquirable thereunder. The Note bears interest at a fluctuating interest rate, which begins at the Prime rate plus 1.5%.
Visit www.boscorporate.com.

Q4bis selects Corning Data Services to resell its business intelligence software
Q4bis, producers of an innovative and feature-packed business intelligence (BI) software solution, has selected New York-based Corning Data Services, Inc. (CDS), a leading supplier of ERP and SCM business applications, services and products, as an authorized business partner. Q4bis was named by Corning Data Services as its solutions provider for BI software. This new relationship extends Corning Data Services enterprise solution (ERP/SCM) offerings by adding a user-friendly, integrated business intelligence solution that can be rapidly deployed to both new and existing clients.
Visit www.q4bis.com or www.corningdata.com.
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Software

CDC Software adds Business T&G Group to Franchise Partner Program
CDC Software announced that Business T&G Group has joined the company's Franchise Partner Program. The program, which includes $20 million designated for investment in channel partners, was launched earlier in 2006 by CDC Software to establish strategic relationships with franchise partners in selected geographies and accelerate mutual business expansion. Business T&G is the second partner selected into the Franchise Partner Program in two months. Business T&G has been a successful partner, representing CDC Software for more than 4 years, primarily in Latin America. Business T&G is one of Spain's leading technology providers, with subsidiaries in Portugal, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia and Peru with 185 professionals and more than 500 implemented customers. CDC Software will acquire a 19 percent equity stake in the company, with the option to acquire 100% of the company in three years. Through the Franchise Partner Program, CDC Software is working with selected partners in high-growth geographies, including Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, India, China and Asia/Pacific.
Visit www.btgsa.com or www.cdcsoftware.com.

Diagnostic Software enables database testing of IBM systems
TestBench-Live for IBM iSeries systems adapts data validation technology to collect, sort and test database content without bringing systems offline. Using advanced data rules, software allows database managers to quickly run regular data integrity checks, avoiding data corruption without impeding access to data while under test. Tool automatically examines and learns correct structure of all records in database and verifies data in live environment.
Visit www.origsoft.com.

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