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The Association of Service and Computer Dealers International (ASCDI) is a 30 year old, worldwide non-profit organization made up of companies who provide technology solutions, technical support or value added services to the business community.

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EUROPEAN CONFERENCE: June 17 - 19, 2009
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New York City

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Automation
Book review
Contracts
Economy
HP
IBM
iSeries
Printers

Automation

Halcyon Software and Network Services Plus, Inc. announce strategic partnership
Halcyon Software Inc. announced a partnership with Network Services Plus, Inc. (NSPI). Under the terms of the partnership, Halcyon and NSPI will deliver an array of IBM automation solutions including Halcyon System Operations Suite and Operations Center to provide message management, reporting management and job scheduling to enterprise organizations hard hit by recent economic and resource challenges. Halcyon's multi-platform systems management solutions proactively manage and automate IT operations -- dramatically reducing system operating and support costs, thereby enabling organizations to do more with less resources. NSPI managed services help organizations extend the life and value of legacy systems and applications, reduce service and support costs, and even take advantage of greater computing power and scalable capacity. With the Halcyon Outsourcer program NSPI will be able to deliver Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) to their customers at fixed prices and with a flexible contract. Further, NSPI will be able to easily monitor thousands of users on a 24/7/365 basis.
Visit www.halcyonsoftware.com or www.NSPI.com.
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Book review

Fax, Modem, and Text for IP Telephony

Modulated data such as fax, modem and text is often overlooked in the rush to IP transition. Since just about every IP telephony installation includes at least one fax machine and larger enterprise applications often include many fax machines, as well as modems and text telephony devices, it is important to understand that they cannot be treated like voice applications. In fact, they have different transport requirements and usually require unique transport protocols if communications are to be reliable. If you operate in a Cisco environment, this thorough and well-written book is a technical resource that should be on your bookshelf…when not in your hands.

Authors: David Hanes and Gonzalo Salguiero
Publisher: Cisco Press (June 21, 2008)
ISBN-10: 1587052695
ISBN-13: 978-1587052699
List Price: $55.00
Digital Guru Price: $44.41Back To Top

Contracts

Texas information technology company receives contract
Mark III Systems, Inc., one of the leading Texas information technology resources, was recently awarded a contract with the Department of Information Resources (DIR). As an IBM Premier Business Partner, Mark III Systems specializes in solutions centered on datacenter optimization, high availability and data management. The company sells IBM Midrange and Enterprise products, including pSeries, xSeries, iSeries, storage and software and has the only IBM certified Business Partner Innovation Center (BPIC) in South Texas. The DIR is operated by the chief technology office of the State of Texas, with a mission to support the effective and efficient use of public funds to maximize the value of its technology investment. This is the second contract awarded to Mark III Systems; the previous contract was awarded in 2006 for IBM Storage hardware and software products. Mark III Systems is the first IBM Business Partner to receive a DIR contract that covers all of IBM's midrange products.
Visit www.markiiisys.com.
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Economy

IBM pledges $2 billion for economic recovery gap
The government’s economic stimulus package includes oodles of money — more than $30 billion — for high-technology projects like health information technology, smart electric grids and broadband networks for rural communities. But the money isn’t flowing yet, and to get individual projects underway requires upfront investment for planning and design. IBM is announcing that its big finance unit will set aside $2 billion for “bridge” financing for high-tech infrastructure efforts likely to qualify for federal grants and incentive payments under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The idea, said John Callies, general manager of IBM’s global finance unit, is to “accelerate the benefits to communities and companies by letting them begin the investment now.” The IBM program, according to Joseph Pucciarelli, an analyst at IDC, looks like a sound step that will hasten the arrival of high-tech projects. “The irony is that Washington has promised all this money, but you need funding to start the projects,” Mr. Pucciarelli said.
Visit www.ibm.com.



CFOs who stop liquidity leaks today will be in good shape to fund expansion moves when the recession lifts
Nine out of 10 finance executives report that their companies have reassessed liquidity management and made it a top corporate priority. Nonprofit research firm APQC surveyed a cross-section of North American CFOs and treasurers about how their liquidity management practices have changed given today’s economic conditions. Both the survey results and a new APQC white paper, “Cash Flow is Oxygen in Turbulent Times,” may be downloaded at no cost from www.apqc.org/liquiditymgmt. According to the survey results, CFOs are taking proactive measures to ensure they have the cash they need to make payroll and keep the lights on. In addition, they want to demonstrate to banks that their forecasts of future cash flows are believable. Some CFOs, however, are also thinking along strategic lines: they want to boost liquidity levels so that, if and when an expansion opportunity emerges, they will have a cache of cash at the ready. Survey results also indicate that working capital management practices have only recently become a major topic of discussion in the C-suite.
Visit www.apqc.org. ^Back To Top

HP

EMC seeks to prevent former exec from joining HP
EMC Corp. is enmeshed in a legal dispute with the former head of its biggest division who abruptly resigned this week to join rival Hewlett-Packard Co.  The company and the former president of its storage division, David Donatelli, have filed lawsuits against each other over the terms of a non-compete clause in his employment agreement, EMC spokesman Michael Gallant said.  "Mr. Donatelli's key employee agreement with EMC contains a non-competition clause and other protections for EMC that we intend to enforce," Gallant said. He said that EMC filed its lawsuit in its home state of Massachusetts after Donatelli filed one in California, where HP is based, seeking to nullify the agreement. HP recently named Donatelli as executive vice president of enterprise servers, storage and networking. He ran a unit whose sales accounted for about three quarters of the $14.9 billion in revenue that EMC rang up last year. EMC is the top maker of corporate data storage equipment, claiming 22.4 percent of a market worth $20.1 billion last year, according to market researcher IDC. IBM was second with 13.4 percent of the market, followed by HP with a 12.7 percent share.
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IBM

IBM doubles Power Rewards to chase Sun gear
IBM announced that it is doubling up the points that UltraSparc and Sparc64 shops can earn under the Power Rewards deal to $8,000 per processor core (assuming that a point in the program is worth a dollar, which it is). For many Sun and Fujitsu customers the trade-in points – which are good for the purchase of various IBM hardware, software and services – are now considerably higher than the purchase price of entry Sparc gear, and for many more that is a lot more than the current street value of their gear they have in their shops if they bought it on the second-hand market. That $8,000 per core, which is called the Sun Set Special, is a lot more money than Big Blue was offering to Sparc customers a year ago, when it set the points at a measly $1,000 per core with a Sun or Fujitsu label when it debuted the converged Power Systems server line based on Power6 processors, finally merging its System i proprietary and System p AIX and Linux servers.
Visit http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/migratetoibm/systems/power/rewards.html.



IBM to resell Brocade's Foundry gear
IBM and Brocade Communications announced that the former will begin re-selling the latter's switch and router products, targeting them at cloud networking and data center opportunities. The products Brocade acquired from Foundry Networks last year will be sold through the partnership. IBM has purchased similar products from Cisco Systems, and Light Reading points out that IBM and Cisco may be evolving into more direct competitors in the data center, though it is not clear that Brocade is replacing Cisco as a partner to IBM.
Visit www.ibm.com or www.brocade.com.
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iSeries

InfiMed ships first iSeries product
InfiMed has sold and shipped its first iSeries product, the i5RF, to the San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington, New Mexico, where it will be installed later this month. The i5RF features a 3-year warranty, InfiVision Automatic Image Processing software, customizable workflow for faster patient throughput, APR-based exam settings with integrated x-ray and imaging parameters, user-tailored GUI, GUI integrated generator controls and interchangeable multi-language support for both clinical and service applications.
Visit www.infimed.com.
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Printers

HP Officejet Pro 8500 wireless printer launched in India
HP has launched HP Officejet Wireless Pro 8500 All in One Printer in India for Rs 22,889. The company has been trying to impress upon world users that a good solid office inkjet printer is a better bet than a flimsy color laser. The machine has a big footprint, particularly when you take in the duplexer sticking out the back, the separate black block power supply off which it runs and the extending paper tray at the front, which is rarely pictured open. A user writing about the product says, "The Officejet Pro 8500 series is nice and quiet. Not as clunky looking as the Officejet Pro 7500 series, though the 7500 series was a workhorse. I am expecting the same durability and quality on the 8500 series as well." HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless is a substantial machine, well up to the duty cycle and print standards needed for small business.
Visit www.hp.com.
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