Upcoming Meeting Notice

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.

Members and non-members are invited to learn how to grow your business, find new business opportunities, hear from industry representatives and enjoy some fabulous networking events at our conferences:

EUROPEAN CONFERENCE: June 17 - 19, 2009
Prague, Czech Republic

FALL CONFERENCE: October 7 - 9, 2009
New York City

Click here for more information on ALL ASCDI MEETINGS, to view the agendas, lodging details, attendee lists and to REGISTER AT THE EARLY BIRD RATE.

Case study
Conferences
IBM
Intermec
Services
Software
Training

Case study

Limited Stores selects Teradata database platform for retail marketing
Teradata Corporation announced that Limited Stores, LLC (D.B.A. The Limited), an affiliate of Sun Capital and a retailer of upscale women’s apparel with 220 stores, has selected the Teradata Data Warehouse Appliance and Teradata Database for its enterprise information requirements. The new intelligence platform will enable extensive analysis of data pertaining to merchandising, merchandise planning and financial management. The system will support The Limited’s initiatives to provide more complete and effective service to its millions of customers. “In only a year, our line of data warehouse appliances has proven its acceptance in the marketplace, and for The Limited it is a perfect fit for the enterprise approach the retailer wants to take,” said Dean Wold, area vice president for retail, Teradata.
Visit www.teradata.com.
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Conferences

SMSC presents MOST at Audio Engineering Society’s conference
SMSC presented information on the use of Media Oriented Systems Transport (MOST) as the information and entertainment backbone in modern automobiles at the recently held Audio Engineering Society’s 36th International Conference. MOST is used in several million vehicles from automotive manufacturers including Audi, BMW, Porsche, Toyota and Volvo. It enables feature-rich, state-of-the-art information and entertainment systems and is the de-facto standard for high multimedia networking in vehicles. The information focused on the ways in which MOST has been designed from the ground up to carry the different kinds of streaming and control information needed to create feature-rich information and entertainment systems that meet the high Quality of Service (QoS) and reliability requirements of the automotive industry. These systems also include protection mechanisms so they can transport commercial content like DVD and Blu-ray audio and video. With a focus on performance, programmability and integration, SMSC plans to build upon its leadership position in various connectivity solutions to help integrate automobiles into consumers’ digital lifestyles without compromising the automotive quality and reliability requirements of its customers.
Visit www.smsc.com.
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IBM

Mark III Systems, Inc. to serve Department of Information Resources
Mark III Systems, Inc. was recently awarded a contract with the Texas 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. 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.



Brocade and IBM extend OEM relationship to enterprise IP networking
Brocade announced that IBM will rebrand and sell the Brocade enterprise IP networking family of products through the IBM global sales force and authorized IBM Business Partners. This original equipment manufacturer (OEM) agreement complements and extends the existing relationship between Brocade and IBM for storage area networking (SAN) products. Initially, IBM plans to sell the following Brocade IP networking product families under the OEM agreement, with additional products to be added over time. IBM will offer multiple models in each product family:

• Brocade NetIron MLX Series as IBM m-series Ethernet routers

• Brocade NetIron CES 2000 Series as IBM c-series Ethernet switches

• Brocade FastIron SX Series as IBM s-series Ethernet switches

• Brocade FastIron GS Series as IBM g-series Ethernet switches

In support of this agreement, Brocade has been working with IBM to develop customized programs across many key functional areas including sales, marketing, training/certification and technical support/service.
Visit www.brocade.com or www.ibm.com.
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Intermec

Home Hardware stores transforms retail operations with Intermec
Intermec Technologies announced that Home Hardware Stores Limited, Canada’s largest independent hardware, lumber, building materials and furniture retailer, in collaboration with Intermec Honours Partner, Ryzex, has selected the Intermec CK3 mobile computer for use across its over 1,000 retail stores. The CK3 will be used to help manage the retailer’s more than 60,000 items and accompany its in-store POS (point of sale) operations. The solution delivers considerable improvements and increased efficiencies in inventory management, store ordering, and pricing and promotions for each independent store Dealer. The Intermec CK3 mobile computer is ideal for rugged environments, providing future investment protection by delivering high performance for critical mainline applications along with the flexibility to easily add capabilities like voice/speech and RFID.
Visit www.intermec.com.
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Services

Sunoco signs IT services contract extension with Infocrossing
Infocrossing and Sunoco announced a $34 million four-year contract extension and expansion of the companies' 13-year relationship. Infocrossing is a provider of managed infrastructure outsourcing services that have helped Sunoco access the latest technologies including servers, storage and network devices. "This agreement builds on a 13-year relationship with Infocrossing," said Peter Whatnell, CIO at Sunoco. "It is aligned with our IT roadmap and is consistent with the intent of our IT outsourcing strategy to continue working jointly with Infocrossing to manage our mainframe, UNIX and Windows environments as well as take advantage of their shared infrastructure services such as their storage arrays." Infocrossing has been providing IT management solutions for enterprises and operates data centers throughout the United States.
Visit www.infocrossing.com
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Software

Halcyon revs up U.S. channel effort
U.K.-based Halcyon Software, a developer of systems management software for i OS and other platforms, is growing its presence in the U.S. with the goal of attracting new customers. But instead of concentrating on individual AS/400 shops, Halcyon will primarily target outsourcing firms that run large data centers, which in turn will use Halcyon's software to manage the individual clients' systems. Halcyon brings a solid collection of systems management and automation tools for the i OS platform. Core functionality includes: message and job log monitoring and management; a job scheduler; disk space management; spool file management; record and playback (automation); audit journal monitoring; performance monitoring; and management of restricted tasks. Other products monitor AIX and Windows environments, and all platforms can be managed from a single graphical interface, called the Enterprise Console. Software development continues out of Halcyon's U.K. headquarters, which will unveil several enhancements to its four bundles of i OS software later this year.
Visit www.halcyonsoftware.com.
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Training

Microsoft OCS planning tools added to OCS training classes
OCS Forum announced integration of Microsoft OCS-Office Communications Server Release 2 (OCSR2) Planning Tools into classroom and webseminar training.  Microsoft offers a number of OCS planning tools such as OCS Capacity, VOAT (OCS VOice Assessment Tool), VIRTUAL OCS R2, Edge planning and others.  OCS Forum provides classroom and webseminar training as well as a non-production environment for those IT departments without additional equipment, budget or time.  OCS Forum is also designed for both the system integrator/consultant who wants to learn about OCSR2 without having to build their own system as well as the enterprise customer who doesn’t have the time or resources to develop one.  OCS Forum Labs are designed to be “hands-on” or “over-the-shoulder” with experts available for Q&A and classes for feature-specific review.
Visit www.ocsforum.com.
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