MSC推廣生活創意

MSC MALAYSIA'S INNOVATION LIFESTYLE INITIATIVE PROMOTES COLLABORATION BETWEEN MNCs & SMEs

KUALA LUMPUR, July 13 – MSC Malaysia today announced the commencement of their Innovation Lifestyle Initiative, aimed at driving technology partnering between multinational companies and Malaysian small- and mid-sized enterprises.

The initiative kicks-off with an alliance between MSC Malaysia and British Telecom (BT) Multimedia for the MSC Malaysia – British Telecom Digital Lifestyle Programme, aimed at spurring the growth of broadband usage in Malaysia through the adoption of leading-edge, broadband-based products and services.

The programme is a probably the first of its kind in Malaysia, and sees BT working in collaboration with Malaysian ICT-based small and mid-sized enterprises to conceptualise, create and develop new broadband-based products and services, aimed at generating generate new-waves of revenue.

While more developed markets were nearing the point of saturation in their broadband growth cycle, the adoption of basic broadband access was still in its infancy in emerging markets, said Dr. Kamaljit Singh, chief executive officer of BT Multimedia Malaysia.

“In the developed markets, service providers are focused on deploying bandwidth-intensive applications that take advantage of the faster available speeds. Thus, we can learn from these experiences to help emerging markets particularly Malaysia where the broadband usage is growing exponentially, to ensure continued demand for such services as well products,” he added.

Present at the launch event to announce the programme was Dato’ Badlisham Ghazali, chief executive officer of MSC Malaysia, who joined Dr. Kamaljit Singh, Tengku Farith Rithaudeen, the chief executive officer of SKALI, and Hasanuddin Saidin, PIKOM Councilor to head a panel discussion themed “Digital lifestyle: The way forward”.
Through the MSC Malaysia – British Telecom Digital Lifestyle Programme, BT Multimedia will leverage research on future trends and user requirements conducted by of scientists and developers in the UK and the USA to conceptualise new products and services, focusing on advanced broadband and convergence areas. These will then be used to create high-value proof-of-concept prototypes of next-generation broadband-based products and services.

Malaysian ICT-based SMEs will then be invited to adopt these prototypes and further develop them the point of commercialisation. A total of 24 Prototypes will be down-streamed into the programme over the period of two years. There will also be a structured technology transfer programme put in place to enable the rapid familiarization of these prototypes within a short duration.

Speaking at the panel discussion, Dato’ Badlisham said that one of the key issues MSC Malaysia companies and other Malaysian ICT-based SMEs today face was their inability or non-readiness to rapidly go to market.

“It is both difficult and costly for our companies to conduct market and industry research to identify future trends. It is also time consuming and expensive for the companies to engage in exploratory research and development to break new ground,” he said.

“With the MSC Malaysia – British Telecom Digital Lifestyle Programme, our SMEs can go to market relatively easier and quicker. This is yet another MSC Malaysia initiative to catalyze innovation and grow the ICT industry in Malaysia,” he added.

Proof-of-concept prototypes unveiled
Three broadband-based proof-of-concept prototypes were introduced at the launch event, namely Community Calendar, a network enabled converged calendar that allows communities to organise their activities; MyFrame, a digital photo frame that also delivers events, time, data, weather information, and personalised news that is read out; and Zeta a live network entertainment platform for social outlets that is equipped with a digital jukebox, enabling live messaging, news feeds and personalised advertising, among other things.

Dr. Kamaljit noted that in today’s ICT industry, success depended on intensive collaboration – where companies could no longer just sit in their own labs and develop innovative products and services on their own.

“BT uses an ‘open innovation’ model, where new products and services are created together with other companies and industry players,” he said.

“This is a good model as it allows BT to focus on ‘up-stream research and development’ and channel the output to SMEs who can then create commercial products and services from it. We are proud that this initiative and our partnership with MSC Malaysia, which we believe will enable Malaysian ICT SMEs to profit from the ongoing broadband revolution” he added.

Intel推介動畫製作工具MACHINIMASIA

ANIMATE, CAPTURE AND CREATE DIGITAL ANIMATION WITH INTEL AND MACHINIMASIA

PETALING JAYA, 13 July, 2007 – A new craze in digital content creation is taking off in Asia, offering aspiring Asian filmmakers and digital animators an opportunity to express and share their creativity in new ways. “Machinima*” (pronounced muh-sheen-eh-mah) is an evolutionary film technique that utilizes game characters and environments to create unique digital animation for short films.

Popular in the U.S. and Europe, the burgeoning new film genre is expected to be popular in Asia Pacific as it combines the popularity of gaming with personal, unique expression through digital media, as popularized by social networking websites.

“In the past, digital animation was largely limited to companies who could handle the compute-intensive workloads required to create animated films. However, the advancement of technology in personal computing by Intel has created a new wave of enthusiasts that now have access to powerful processor technologies to create their own digital short films and animations,” said Rupal Shah, APAC Marketing Director, Intel Technology Asia.

According to Shah, Intel® Core™ Microarchitecture provides the amazing PC performance and compute intensive capabilities required for digital content creation, and to take advantage of the growing number of multi-threaded applications available. A powerful choice for multimedia and entertainment enthusiasts, the four processing cores in Intel® Core™ 2 Quad processors provide astonishing performance, up to 79% faster for highly-threaded applications like creating multimedia and 3D content[1].

“For Machinima artists this amazing performance translates into less time waiting and more time creating,” she said.

Rather than working with costly camera equipment or spending months animating each scene using costly 3D packages, a Machinima film can be produced by “acting” out scenes within a computer game. The scenes are then captured and stitched together using digital video creation software to create the final masterpiece. The whole process is significantly less complex and far less expensive for budding film directors.

Intel is working with Machinimasia to conduct a series of workshops teaching aspiring content creators how simple and easy it is to produce their own original works. The workshops will travel to Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Korea and Taiwan from July to December 2007. The first workshop is held in Malaysia today.

During the workshops, participants will create digital animation on Intel Core Microarchitecture-based PCs gaining valuable insight on how digital filmmaking and computer game animation are brought together within a real-time virtual 3D environment. They will also learn the finer points of how to script, direct, produce and create their very own animated story with some of today’s most popular games.

“Machinimasia[2] kicked off in Singapore last year making it the first country in Asia to benefit from this new media art movement. We now look forward to taking it to the next level across the Asia Pacific this year with Intel as our technology partner of choice,” said Eugene Lim, acting head of Machinimasia.

“Machinima currently has a community of more than 500,000 and sees a strong following in the gaming and virtual world as an accessible means to showcase creativity online. It is also a great introduction to the world of digital content creation for students,” he said.

[1]Performance measured using 3D Ray Tracing on POV-Ray* 3.7 Beta 16, comparing the Intel® Core™ 2 Quad processor Q6600 to Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor E6700. Actual performance may vary. See http://www.intel.com/performance/desktop/extreme/3d_ray_tracing.htmcom/performance/desktop/extreme/3d_ray_tracing.htm for more information.

[2] The Asia Chapter of The Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences New York

IBM發佈最新Blade伺服器

IBM Blades power Malaysian businesses with latest innovative technologies

Petaling Jaya, 12 July 2007 – IBM today showcased their latest innovative technologies that deliver easier, more affordable management capabilities to businesses of all sizes in Malaysia. The IBM Blades World 2007 was organized for chief information officers and IT managers where they gained insights on how to simplify and improve their businesses.

“IBM BladeCenter was engineered to reduce complexity by reducing the number of tools and access points needed to manage the solution. Why manage hundreds of servers, dozens of switches, and networking devices when you could manage just a handful of BladeCenters,” said Azlina Mohd Ariff, Country Brand Manager, System x, System Technology Group, IBM Malaysia.

She also added that blades can help small and medium businesses (SMBs) to consolidate sprawling servers and reap the benefits of integrated blade computing. By integrating servers, networking, storage and software in one system, SMBs are able to save on power, cooling and floor space. It can also decrease management and maintenance costs which are critical for SMBs, who don't have the budget or staff to implement complex IT solutions.

For larger organizations which have begun to consolidate servers into centralized data centres using rack-mounted servers in many cases, it is a means of reducing the challenges and costs associated with administering many small servers scattered across the enterprise.

“Blades is one of the most exciting enterprise computing technologies that have emerged in the past four to five years. It enables IT to become much more flexible and agile to be able to better respond to changes in the environment more cost effectively,” said Rajnish Arora, Research Director, Asia/Pacific Enterprise Servers and Workstations Research, IDC Asia Pacific.

Due to the blade server’s increased rack density, fewer racks would be required to house the servers which often results in lower rental charges from reduced floor space requirements.

He added, “The use of low-power processors in some blades can save users money on electricity and cooling costs too. With rising energy costs, power efficiency has become one of the top issues for most large company IT executives to address in the next several years.”

According to IDC’s Asia/Pacific Quarterly Enterprise Server Tracker, IBM in Malaysia was the number one ranked vendor in the overall server market by revenue share, in the first quarter of 2007. IBM Malaysia took the top spot with a 48.6 percent revenue share, posting an impressive 65.9 percent year-on-year growth, outpacing the market growth by more than 3 times.

"IDC has observed that IT buying patterns are evolving as product innovation continues across the marketplace," added Rajnish Arora. "The phenomenal growth in the use of volume servers is creating challenges for the CIOs and CTOs in system management, and power and cooling requirements. IDC believes that IBM has an extremely comprehensive suite of blade server offerings that can effectively address some of the key challenges that IT managers face."

“IBM has always been at the fore front of advanced technology. An energy-smart innovation called Calibrated Vectored Cooling from IBM engineers the path of cool air flow through the system, using highly energy efficient blowers that move air from the front of the system to the back while protecting components inside the server,” said Azlina.

Further example is Cool Blue, a technology component that can use the existing chilled water supply for air conditioning systems already located in the majority of customer data centers to reduce server heat emissions into the room by up to 55 percent. This is more efficient than traditional AC designs and can be deployed on any server, enabling organizations to ease the burden on existing air conditioning units and potentially lower energy costs by up to 15 percent.

Also in the portfolio is the IBM Thermal Diagnostics, the industry's first thermal analyzer to pinpoint and automatically take action on heat-related issues. IBM Thermal Diagnostics provides clients with the intelligence needed to monitor heat emissions and determine their root causes before they flare up.

Another competitive advantage to IBM BladeCenter is the virtualization technology which enables companies to lower the cost of IT labor that can account for about 70 percent of overall IT spending. Virtualization also enables better use the computing capacity that companies have already bought. IBM virtualization offerings lead the industry in interoperability with the ability to virtualize both IBM and non-IBM systems.

“Through collaborative innovation, IBM builds solutions with other industry leaders, leveraging the best in the industry and delivering solutions as a whole to enable client’s to innovate their businesses,” she added.

In February 2006 Blade.org, a collaborative organization and developer community focused on accelerating the development and adoption of open blade server platforms was established to increase the number of blade platform solutions available for customers and to accelerate the process of bringing them to market. From eight founding companies, Blade.org has grown to more then a 100 members including leading blade hardware and software providers, developers, distribution partners and end users from around the globe.

Azlina also further substantiated IBM’s commitment towards creating an ecosystem of ‘openness’; the IBM BladeCenter solutions are built on open standards, making them interoperable with one another and allowing them to easily fit into most client’s current standards and solutions.

“Our clients who are standardized on IBM BladeCenter know the new technology can easily integrate into their current architecture as it becomes available. This enduring architecture effectively means reduced risk. A perfect example would be moving to the latest processors. To implement the latest from Intel, AMD or IBM only means a new blade. Power, thermals, systems management, switching all likely stay the same with no overhaul needed for the entire IT infrastructure. There is no unneeded ‘churn’ levied on the IT staff either,” she said.

Trend Micro統計上半年記錄和預測下半年

1st Half 2007 Threat Roundup and 2nd Half Forecast

KUALA LUMPUR – July 13, 2007 – Trend Micro released its 1st Half 2007 threat report with a forecast of threats to expect in the second half of the year as well. The report clearly details the various threats dominating the cyberworld and the pattern in which it spreads. Trend Micro also offers preventive measures to ensure that these threats are contained.

Trend Micro stresses that the era of the global outbreak is over. Today's threats are stealthy, regional and targeted, blended and sequential, Web-based and motivated by money. There are economies built around the creation, sale and utilization of malware. Trend Micro continues to see explosive growth in the Web-based attacks, while the use of messaging remains a popular threat vector as well. Using these two threat vectors in combination to target victims has gained significant momentum in the first half of 2007. Adding to the mix, the technologies and techniques used for malicious purposes are growing ever more sophisticated.

Infrastructure Vulnerabilities
Infrastructure vulnerabilities are threats that originate from the existence of security weaknesses in applications, network architectures, or operating systems. Malware authors rely on security holes in software applications to be able to introduce malicious code to personal computers (PCs). Some proactively look for vulnerabilities and sell their information in digital black markets. Others wait for public disclosure of the vulnerability, and then craft an exploit hoping to reach users before vendors distribute patches or updates. Notable infrastructure vulnerability exploits recently detected include:
Trojans that exploit Microsoft Windows applications, specifically MS Word, MS Excel, and MS PowerPoint
Trojans that exploit Microsoft Windows cursor (.ANI) files a vulnerability in the way Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, and Vista handle animated cursor and icon formats
Infrastructure vulnerabilities exist not only in software products, but also in Internet applications. For example, cross-site scripting (XSS) , a popular application used by Web 2.0 sites including MySpace and YouTube, also is popular among malicious code developers who exploit an XSS vulnerability to phish high volume, interactive Web sites.

High-Impact Threats
High-impact threats are threats that have the capacity to cause very high localized damage. Examples include regional outbreaks and targeted attacks. The high-impact threats from the first half of this year illustrate how malware authors are able to deploy code that specifically targets victims using social engineering tactics. The NUWAR worm is among the more prominent of such events.

The NUWAR worm emerged in late 2006, propagating via mass-emailed messages with war-related subject lines and attached executable files that are capable of transforming PCs into spam- and infectious-worm email generators. It was not until January 2007, when Trojan variants arrived via spammed email messages, that the malware gained much publicity. Leveraging a 200-kph storm ravaging Eastern Europe, a slew of email messages containing the subject "230 dead as storm batters Europe" were spammed to unsuspecting recipients. Concerned and curious, recipients who were lured into opening the attachments named full clip.exe, full story.exe, full video.exe, and read more.exe, inadvertently introduced a Trojan downloader onto their computers. Other malware authors deliver high-impact by relying on the timely popularity of certain Web sites. During the first week of February, malware authors attempted to capitalize on Super Bowl XLI in the United States. They created a malicious script, hacked into the official site of the Miami Dolphins Stadium, and unknowingly delivered a key-logger to anyone who happened to visit the site known as a "drive-by-download." Recently in June, over 3000 websites in Italy were compromised affecting over 15000 users with keyloggers and bot software.

Content-Based Threats
Content-based threats are threats that cyber criminals deliver via email or Web content. Spam and phishing are well-known types of content-based threats.

Spam
Spam, defined as unsolicited email messages containing links that download malware, continued to rise during the first months of 2007. Malware delivered via spam, such as the NUWAR worm, have proven to be quite adept at exploiting real world events and human interest in doomsday pronouncements of war. As discussed earlier, such spam attacks have a very high-impact when delivered using social engineering tactics or increasingly stealth attack vectors, such as image spam.

Phishing
In response to the surge in online commerce generated by the holiday season, attempts via email to procure personally identifiable information with the intent of identity and financial theft (commonly referred to as phishing), peaked in January 2007. While numbers were down for a few months, May saw an increase in attempts, reflecting the ease by which fake Web sites can now be created (via the introduction of phishing kits into the underground markets) and established online (via cheaper rates for domain registration).

The top ten Web sites that were spoofed by phishers during the past six months are:
1. eBay
2. PayPal
3. Bank of America
4. Wachovia
5. Fifth Third Bank
6. BB&T
7. Poste Italiane
8. Sparkasse
9. Regions Bank
10. VolksBank

Process-Based Threats
Process-based threats are typically propagated via executable applications resident on a host PC. Examples include malware, spyware and adware. The latest infection counts show that the growth in the number of infections from heuristically-detected malware have nearly doubled from December 2006 to May 2007.
Table 2. Trojan Spyware Detections for 2007

Notable process-based exploits being detected today include:
Advanced file infectors (viruses that attach themselves to program files)
Information theft spyware targeting online gaming
Rogue anti-spyware software containing malware

Distributed Threats
Distributed threats are threats that involve the use of bots, or botnets, to mount attacks on third party victims. Due to the power and sophistication of bots and botnets, they remained the hacker's best friend in 2007. Their ability to go undetected and be called into action on a moment's notice for use in spam, phishing, denial of service, keylogging and other malware- and crimeware-related activities make them a key player in the threat landscape.

As the past few months have demonstrated, there is a distinct effort by botnet masters, particularly those that send out spam (NUWAR and STRAT) to increase their batting average in infection rates by closely monitoring real-world events and crafting timely email messages to increase the likelihood that each spammed message ends up in a hit. As discussed in content-based threats, the changing subject headings are proving to be effective.

Effective Measures for Combating Today's Threats
For enterprises, mid-size corporations and small businesses, Trend Micro recommends a multi-layered approach to protection, including the following:
Deploy HTTP-scanning methods
Do not allow unnecessary protocols to enter the corporate network
Deploy vulnerability scanning software in the network
Restrict user privileges for all network users
Deploy corporate anti-spyware scanning
Support user awareness campaigns

For home users, Trend Micro recommends the following:
Beware of pages that require software installation
Scan all programs and files downloaded from email or via the Internet
Beware of unexpected or strange-looking emails, regardless of their sender
Always run a real-time antivirus scan service

Oracle發佈Oracle Database 11g

Oracle Unveils Oracle® Database 11g

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, July 12, 2007 — Oracle today introduced Oracle® Database 11g, the latest release of the world’s most popular database. With more than 400 hundred features, 15 million test hours, and 36,000 person-months of development, Oracle Database 11g is the most innovative and highest quality software product Oracle have ever announced.

“Oracle Database 11g, built on 30 years of design experience, delivers the next generation of enterprise information management,” said Andy Mendelsohn, senior vice president of Database Server Technologies, Oracle. “More than ever, our customers are facing the challenges of, rapid data growth, increased data integration, and data connectivity IT cost pressures. Oracle Database 10g pioneered grid computing, and more than half of Oracle customers have moved to that release. Oracle Database 11g delivers the key features our customers have asked for to accelerate broad adoption and growth of Oracle grids; representing real innovation, that addresses real challenges, as told to us by real customers.”

Oracle Database 11g can help organizations take control of their enterprise information, gain better business insight, and quickly and confidently adapt to an increasingly changing competitive environment. To do this, the new release extends Oracle’s unique database clustering, data center automation, and workload management capabilities. With secure, highly available and scalable grids of low-cost servers and storage, Oracle customers can tackle the most demanding transaction processing, data warehousing, and content management applications.

Real Application Testing Helps Reduce Time, Risk and Cost of Change
Oracle Database 11g features advanced self-management and automation features to help organizations meet service level agreements. For example, with organizations facing regular database and operating system software upgrades, and hardware and system changes, Oracle Database 11g introduces Oracle Real Application Testing, making it the first database to help customers test and manage changes to their IT environment quickly, in a controlled, cost effective manner.

Increase Return On Investment for Disaster Recovery Solutions
In Oracle Database 11g, Oracle Data Guard enables customers to use their standby database to improve performance in their production environments as well as provide protection from system failures and site-wide disasters. Oracle Data Guard uniquely enables simultaneous read and recovery of a single standby database making it available for reporting, backup, testing and ‘rolling’ upgrades to production databases. By offloading workloads from production to a standby system, Oracle Data Guard helps enhance the performance of production systems and provides a more cost-effective disaster recovery solution.

Enhanced Information Lifecycle Management and Storage Management
Oracle Database 11g has significant new data partitioning and compression capabilities, for more cost-effective Information Lifecycle Management and storage management. Oracle Database 11g automates many manual data partitioning operations and extends existing range, hash and list partitioning to include interval, reference and virtual column partitioning. In addition, Oracle Database 11g provides a complete set of composite partitioning options, allowing storage management that is driven by business rules.

Building on its long-standing data compression capabilities, Oracle Database 11g offers advanced data compression for both structured and unstructured (LOB) data managed in transaction processing, data warehousing, and content management environments. Compression ratios of 2x to 3x or more for all data can be achieved with the new advanced compression capabilities in Oracle Database 11g.

Total Recall of Data Changes
The new release also features “Oracle Total Recall,” enabling administrators to query data in designated tables “as of” earlier times in the past. This offers an easy, practical way to add a time dimension to data for change tracking, auditing, and compliance.

Maximum Availability of Information
Oracle has consistently led the industry in protecting database applications from planned and unplanned downtime. Oracle Database 11g continues this lead by making it easier for administrators to meet their users’ availability expectations. New availability features include Oracle Flashback Transaction which makes it easy to back out a transaction made in error, as well as any dependent transactions; Parallel Backup and Restore which helps improve the backup and restore performance of very large databases; and ‘hot patching,’ which improves system availability by allowing database patches to be applied without the need to shut databases down. In addition, a new advisor - Data Recovery Advisor - helps administrators significantly reduce recovery downtime by automating problem investigation, intelligently determining recovery plan and handling multiple failure situations.

Oracle Fast Files
The next-generation capability for storing large objects (LOBs) such as images, large text objects, or advanced data types – including XML, medical imaging, and three-dimensional objects – within the database. Oracle Fast Files offers database applications performance fully comparable to file systems. By storing a wider range of enterprise information and retrieving it quickly and easily, enterprises can know more about their business and adapt more rapidly.

Faster XML
Oracle Database 11g includes significant performance enhancements to XML DB, a feature of Oracle database that enables customers to natively store, and manipulate XML data. Support for binary XML has been added offering customers a choice of XML storage options to match their specific application and performance requirements. XML DB also enables manipulation of XML data using industry standard interfaces with support for XQuery, Java Specification Requests (JSR)-170 and SQL/XML standards.

Transparent Encryption
Oracle Database 11g continues to build on its unmatched security capabilities through the addition of significant enhancements. The new release features improved Oracle Transparent Data Encryption capabilities beyond column level encryption. Oracle Database 11g offers tablespace encryption that can be utilized to encrypt entire tables, indexes, and other data storage. Encryption is also provided for LOBs stored in the database.

Embedded OLAP Cubes
Oracle Database 11g also provides data warehousing innovations. OLAP cubes are enhanced to behave as materialized views in the database. This allows developers to use industry standard SQL for data query, but still benefit from the high performance delivered by an OLAP cube. New Continuous Query Notification features allow applications to be immediately notified when important changes are made to database data without burdening the database with constant polling.

Connection Pooling and Query Result Caches
The performance and scalability features in Oracle Database 11g are designed to help organizations maintain a highly performant, scalable infrastructure to provide users’ with the best quality of service. Oracle Database 11g further enhances Oracle’s position as the industry’s performance and scalability leader with new features such as Query Result Caches which improves application performance and scalability by caching and reusing the results of often called database queries and functions in database and application tiers, and Database Resident Connection Pooling which improves the scability of web-based systems by providing connection pooling for non-multi-threaded applications.

Enhanced Application Development
Oracle Database 11g offers developers a choice of development tools, and a streamlined application development process that takes full advantage of key Oracle Database 11g features. These include new features such as Client Side Caching, Binary XML for faster application performance, XML processing, and the storing and retrieving of files. In addition, Oracle Database 11g also includes a new Java just-in-time Compiler to execute database Java procedures faster without the need for a third party compiler; native integration with Visual Studio 2005 for developing .NET applications on Oracle; Access migration tools with Oracle Application Express; and SQL Developer easy query building feature for fast coding of SQL and PL/SQL routines.

Enhanced Self-Management and Automation
The manageability features in Oracle Database 11g are designed to help organizations easily manage enterprise grids and deliver on their users’ service level expectations. Oracle Database 11g introduces more self-management and automation that will help customers reduce their system management costs, while increasing performance, scalability, availability and security of their database applications. New manageability capabilities in Oracle Database 11g include Automatic SQL and memory tuning, a new Partitioning Advisor which automatically advises administrators on how to partition tables and indexes in order to improve performance, and enhanced performance diagnostics for database clusters. In addition, Oracle Database 11g includes a new Support Workbench which provides an easy-to-use interface that presents database health-related incidents to administrators along with information on how to quickly manage the resolution of incidents.

Oracle is the #1 Database: Gartner 2006 Worldwide RDBMS Market Share Reports 47.1% Share for Oracle
Gartner recently published their market share numbers by operating system for 2006 based on total software revenues. According to Gartner, Oracle

Has 47.1 percent share (up from 46.8 percent in 2005);
Has revenue growth of 14.9 percent, faster than the market average of 14.2 percent with US$7.2 Billions in revenues; and,
Continues to hold more market share than its two closest competitors combined.

新培訓課程以善用Oralce Database 11g

New Training Resources Help Partners Leverage Oracle® Database 11g to Expand Their Businesses

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, July 12, 2007 — Partners across the globe are ready to leverage new Oracle® Database 11g partner enablement programs to help them to innovate solutions and services faster to further grow their businesses. Nearly 300 Oracle partners, across various partner segments, participated in the Oracle Database 11g beta program and are touting manageability and change assurance, grid consolidation, Oracle Real Application Testing and information life cycle management, as well as the additional resources that will help them continue to innovate at a rapid pace.

Resources for Partners
The foundation for partners’ success with Oracle is Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN), a worldwide partner ecosystem of more than 19,500 companies, a management portal, an interaction center for partner support, and a global business program. As a member of Oracle PartnerNetwork, partners have access to development, education, support, sales and marketing resources, as well as specialized Product Focus Areas and Initiatives to streamline their enablement on Oracle products and facilitate go-to-market opportunities, market expansion, and revenue growth. Membership in the Database Product Focus Area provides easy access to the most current information, tools and resources available to facilitate incorporating Oracle Database 11g and associated options in third-party solutions.

“We’ve worked closely with Oracle Development to ensure that a host of partner education and enablement programs for Oracle Database 11g are immediately available to our partner community, ” said Doug Kennedy, vice president, Worldwide Alliances and Channels at Oracle. “A combination of online resources and physical events, including seminars, provides an introduction to new capabilities as well as deep technical training to help partners understand how to leverage these new features to drive more innovation into their solutions and services.”

Oracle Database 11g Partner Enablement Programs Available Now
To support the growing partner ecosystem around Oracle Database 11g, several enablement opportunities are available immediately for Oracle PartnerNetwork members.

Oracle University Training Courses: Oracle University courses that provide training on the new functionality in Oracle Database 11g are now available in all geographic regions. OPN members receive a 25 percent discount off standard rates. Visit oracle.com/education for details.

Introductory Webcast Series: A webcast series entitled “Start Selling Oracle Database 11g” will be available for partners beginning July 18th. The same classes offered to Oracle internal sales teams, these sessions will be offered live and on demand to partners. Partners can register for this series on the Education page under Featured Training on the Oracle PartnerNetwork Portal at http://oraclepartnernetwork.oracle.com.

Oracle Database 11g Worldwide Partner Readiness Roadshow Series: In person, 2-day sales and pre-sales technical training sessions, delivered by the Oracle Platform Technology Solutions organization, are scheduled around the world to quickly bring partners up-to-date on the latest innovations available with Oracle Database 11g. A schedule of dates and locations for these events can be found on the Event Calendar on the Oracle PartnerNetwork Portal at http://oraclepartnernetwork.oracle.com.

Guided Learning Paths and Assessments: New Guided Learning Paths for Oracle Database 11g will be available in September to assist partners in determining what training is needed for an individual’s specific role and focus area. Assessments test an individual’s knowledge of the course material to help ensure the partner staff is enabled in the product area.

“Oracle Database 11g is proving to be particularly valuable to our partners, as they look to drive new, secure and compliant applications faster into the market,” said Willie Hardie, vice president, Database Product Marketing at Oracle. “Oracle Database 11g provides an excellent opportunity for our partners to take advantage of new capabilities like Oracle Real Application Testing, Total Recall and Advanced Compression and maintain a competitive advantage in their solutions and services.”

Oracle Database 11g助客戶加速創意

Oracle® Database 11g Helps Customers Innovate Faster

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, July 12, 2007 — As part of the launch of the next generation of its flagship product (see today’s related press releases from Oracle), Oracle announced that customers from a wide range of industries across the globe have successfully completed the Oracle® Database 11g beta program. The beta program participants evaluate the full spectrum of Oracle Database 11g features including, among others, manageability, performance and scalability, high availability, and security. Colgate-Palmolive, Fidelity National Information Services, Inc., PB (Parsons Brinckerhoff), and several members of the Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG) are among the Oracle Database 11g beta program participants.

“Oracle continues to lead the industry in enterprise software innovation,” said Ari Kaplan, president, IOUG. “This latest product launch from Oracle is based on strategic input from many of the IOUG members. With the IOUG’s recent annual conference survey indicating that 35 percent of our conference attendees plan on upgrading to Oracle Database 11g within the year of release, we believe that this latest Oracle product will be successfully leveraged by our community of enterprise customers.”

Colgate-Palmolive Tests New and Enhanced Database Manageability Capabilities
Colgate-Palmolive, a leading global consumer products company, tightly focused on oral care, personal care, home care and pet nutrition, concentrated on the manageability features including Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor, Automatic SQL Tuning, Partitioning Advisors and Real Application Testing.

“Three new features in Oracle Database 11g that really jump out are Automatic SQL Tuning, Partition Advisors, and Real Application Testing,” said Arthur Fleiss, IT Architect, Colgate-Palmolive. “Those three things alone are reason enough to upgrade. They improve the reliability and performance of the database, yet do not take loads and loads of the database administrators time to implement.”

Innovating Faster is Key for Fidelity
Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. (NYSE:FIS) is a leading provider of core financial institution processing, card issuer and transaction processing services, mortgage loan processing and related information products and outsourcing services to financial institutions, retailers, mortgage lenders and real estate professionals. In addition to examining manageability and high availability features, Fidelity National Information Services also evaluated Oracle Real Application Testing.

“Oracle Database 11g Real Application Testing significantly increases the speed at which we are able to innovate,” said Mike Amble, senior vice president of operations and engineering, Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. “By helping to identify key transactions, extrapolating partial workloads to production workloads and automating multiple steps in the development process, Oracle Database 11g’s Real Application Testing collapses months of development and testing into days. As a result, we can quickly deploy incremental changes to our applications to gain a competitive advantage.”

With millions of mortgage, title and escrow documents stored as large objects (LOBs) in its database, Fidelity also favors Oracle Database 11g because it can manage structured and unstructured information in a cohesive way—securely and with encryption capabilities.

PB Tackles Engineering and Construction Projects with Oracle Database Spatial
PB (Parsons Brinckerhoff) is a leader in developing and operating infrastructure around the world, with 10,500 employees dedicated to meeting the needs of clients and communities in the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Australia-Pacific regions. PB thoroughly tested Oracle Database 11g’s 3D spatial capabilities.

“Planning and managing some of the world’s largest and most complex engineering and construction projects requires sophisticated spatial data management and analysis that can be seamlessly integrated together with all of our design and project data and incorporated into our business processes,” said Tim Case, Geospatial Services Leader, PB. “The 3D Spatial capabilities of Oracle Database 11g will deliver a sophisticated set of spatial capabilities on a standards-based, Web services architecture, which will enable us to perform transportation modeling and construction simulation using information stored in a single repository. This will help us manage increasingly high volumes of 3D laser scanning and other spatial data, while easily integrating spatial information into our business applications, helping to ensure our projects are completed on time, on budget and at a quality level that is second to none.”

“Our research indicates that commercial databases are tripling in size about every two years,” said Richard Winter, president of WinterCorp. “To maintain the performance of these databases exploding in size, enterprises should consider a comprehensive Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) strategy. Oracle Database 11g’s enhanced partitioning, data compression and ILM capabilities meet these demands by enabling enterprises to more easily manage storage and streamline business processes related to their growing databases.”

For more about what customers are saying about Oracle Database 11g , please visit: http://www.oracle.com/corporate/pressroom/mediakit/database-11g-launch.html.

hp發佈專為亞洲市場而設的伺服器

HP Unveils Server Designed for Growing Businesses in Asia

KUALA LUMPUR, July 12, 2007 – HP today introduced a new server designed to deliver optimal outcomes for businesses in Asia experiencing rapid growth.

Available exclusively in Asia Pacific countries and powered by the new Dual Core and Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® processors, the HP ProLiant DL180 server offers maximum performance while controlling costs, with the lowest cost per gigabit (Gb) of data in its class.

As part of the growing family of servers developed in Asia for the Asian markets, the HP ProLiant DL180 features essential management and redundancy and sufficient power to handle complex business requirements. Its new 2U chassis and the 2Gb DIMM memory option kit are specifically designed to support the computing needs of growing businesses.

In addition, the server meets the needs of network service providers looking to manage the networking, gaming, mail and messaging, file and print and data storage applications of their customers.

“The new HP ProLiant DL180 is designed for growth,” said Vincent Lee, Country Business Manager, Industry Standard Servers, Technology Solutions Group. “HP has invested in building -- from the ground up -- a server packed with innovation, rich features and power efficiency built on industry standards with the objective of meeting the needs of growing businesses in Asia. It is the ideal platform for customers that are looking to grow beyond the capabilities of a distributed, tower-server based environment, offering all the efficiencies of a rack server while maintaining the economics of a tower server.”

The HP ProLiant DL180 comes equipped with essential management features allowing network administrators to easily check and update servers from a remote location.

“Growing businesses in Asia have to ensure consistent business performance supported by a reliable and cost-effective technology solution,” said Tim Bailey, director of product marketing, Server Platforms Group, Intel Asia Pacific. “Dual Core and Quad Core Intel® Xeon® processor technology integrated with HP ProLiant DL180 offers a powerful combination available at a competitive price with more than enough throughput for data processing.”

HP has maintained its leadership position in the x86 server shipments in Asia Pacific and Japan and in unit shipment terms for the 20th consecutive quarter since the second quarter of 2002, capturing 29.6 percent market share in the first quarter of 2007, according to industry analyst firm IDC.(1)

Key features and performance
· Choice of new Dual Core and Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® processors with 1066 or 1333 MHz front side bus for improved power efficiency
· Custom ordering options based on unique performance needs (processors, memory, hard drives, HP Care Pack Services, etc.)
· Scalable internal bays to meet storage needs with up to eight Hot Plug SATA/SAS hard drives
· Performance for 32-bit and 64-bit application solutions
· Supports up to 16Gb PC2-5300 fully buffered DIMMs with advanced ECC
· Ultra-dense 2U rack design offers maximum utilization of server rack and data center space
Remote management

The HP ProLiant DL180 Lights-Out 100c Remote Management provides entry level remote management with new licensed capabilities at an affordable price point. HP Lights-Out for Virtual KVM (Keyboard/ Video/ Mouse) available using optional Lights-Out 100 riser card and virtual media support allow customers or their service providers to manage the server remotely over a LAN or the Internet.

Dependability and support
The HP ProLiant DL180 offers customers access to a global server support network, which assists with setup and installation while providing reliable after sales support through a single point of contact. HP provides a broad choice of pre-configured, factory-integrated and tested cluster packages ideal for midrange technical computing.

Pricing and availability
HP ProLiant DL180 is available in Asia Pacific through HP’s channel partner network and is priced at USD $1,499 (2).

MSN.com的Live Earth演唱會觀衆破紀錄

Live Earth Concerts on MSN.com Are the Most Watched Entertainment Event in Online History

July 12, 2007 — A history-making audience of viewers from around the world united at http://www.liveearth.msn.com to experience the excitement of the Live Earth concerts and confront the threat of global warming. Since the start of the first Live Earth concert in Australia, MSN® has delivered more than 30 million live and on-demand video streams of the concerts. During the exclusive live coverage on MSN, more than 8 million people watched over 15 million streams, with peak simultaneous viewership of 237,000 people making it the most watched entertainment event in online history.

“July 7, 2007, was the greatest day in the history of MSN. Our exclusive Live Earth offering has delivered more than 30 million video streams and reached more than 8 million people around the world, a milestone in online history,” said Joanne Bradford, corporate vice president and chief media officer of MSN. “We are proud that MSN connected a global audience together for this important issue, and invite people to explore the in-depth experience available exclusively on MSN, which millions are continuing to enjoy.”

Millions of people are still expected to visit the MSN Live Earth coverage over the coming weeks. Hundreds of Live Earth concert performances are available on demand at http://liveearth.msn.com, along with artist interviews and exclusive backstage footage. Viewers can easily find specific performances, share their favorite performances with friends, and learn more about the climate crisis through in-depth information, tools and resources.

The U.K. concert at Wembley Stadium was the most watched live stream, and peak simultaneous viewership of 237,000 occurred during Madonna’s closing performance in London. Other popular artists throughout the day included Kelly Clarkson, Metallica, Rihanna and Shakira.

“Live Earth is committed to continuing to provide our global audience with ways to ‘Answer the Call’ and individually make a difference to help solve the climate crisis,” said Kevin Wall, founder and producer of Live Earth. “By providing the opportunity to view the shows in their entirety online, coupled with our unique solutions campaign, we’re able to communicate our message on a mass scale in a way that engages people and inspires them to act.”

MSN, the exclusive online media partner for Live Earth, allows people to watch live online feeds or recorded footage from earlier performances at no charge from all eight concerts, each located in different cities around the world. Interactive maps on LiveEarth.MSN.com make it easy to navigate between different cities and venues. People can get involved in the Live Earth effort by clicking on links on the Web portal to information on how they can help reduce global warming. They can also share video commentaries about their environmental concerns or Live Earth performances on the Soapbox on MSN Video Web site, http://soapbox.msn.com.

Juniper推介JUNOS ENTERPRISE ROUTING文憑課程

Juniper BRINGS JUNOS ENTERPRISE ROUTING CERTIFICATION FAST TRACK PROGRAMME to MALAYSIA

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, July 13, 2007 – Juniper Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: JNPR) today introduced the JUNOS Enterprise Routing Certification Fast Track Programme in Malaysia. The programme, which runs from now until the end of the year, enables Cisco routing certified professionals to become certified in the Juniper Networks routing operating system, JUNOS, at no cost.

The programme is an opportunity for networkers with Cisco Certified Networking Associates (CCNA), Cisco Certified Networking Professionals (CCNP), and Cisco Certified Internetworking Engineers (CCIE) qualifications to obtain the following Juniper certifications: Operating Juniper Networks Routers in the Enterprise (OJRE), Advanced Juniper Networks Routing in the Enterprise (AJRE), and Juniper Networks Certified Internet Associate in Enterprise Routing (JNCIA-ER).

“The Fast Track programme builds on the momentum Juniper has made in enterprise networking, a segment in which we now have over 20,000 customers worldwide,” said Wan Ahmad Kamal, sales director Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei for Juniper. “The push towards high performance enterprise networking is driving demand for certified networking professionals in Asia Pacific, and this programme provides an accelerated track for people in the industry to earn qualifications that are steadily becoming increasingly desirable as JUNOS-powered networking equipment grows more prevalent.”

JUNOS Enterprise Routing Certification Fast Track Web Portal

Access to the programme is via the JUNOS Enterprise Routing Certification Fast Track Web Portal, which contains all the Juniper Networks Education Services courseware, lab guides and diagrams, technical manuals, and the tools required to become Juniper Networks JUNOS certified. Participants have access to the following materials:
JUNOS as a second language (JSL) eLearning course
Operating Juniper Networks Routers in the Enterprise (OJRE) student and lab guides
Advanced Juniper Networks Routing in the Enterprise (AJRE) student and lab guides
Hardware and software technical documentation
Basic installation eLearning courses
Juniper Networks Certified Internet Associate – Enterprise Routing (JNCIA- ER) preassessment online exam

For more information, please visit www.juniper.net/fasttrack

MYNIC與加強公眾對域名系統意識

MYNIC aims to increase knowledge pool on domain name system (DNS)

SERI KEMBANGAN, 12th July, 2007 -- MYNIC, the .my domain administrator has today announced that it will be conducting a series of training workshops called .myTraining Workshop Series 2007, on domain name system’s (DNS) latest technologies in August this year.

.myTraining Workshop Series 2007 is aimed at increasing the knowledge pool on DNS by providing the academia, researchers, practitioners in IT community as well as the general public real life, practical approaches on the latest technologies used to enable easy, fast accessibility and management of domain names.

The .myTraining Workshop Series 2007 will also be the platform to share ideas and knowledge on key technologies that will have an impact on how domain name systems will be managed, accessed and deployed in the near future, namely:

a) IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) technology
IPv6 is a technology that will resolve and overcome many of the serious limitations of the current Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4), as it is designed to allow steady growth of the Internet and allow for greater efficiency and security. It also has the ability to expand the address space from 32-bit to 128-bit. IPv6 technology will also be able to generate 340 octillion (340 billion, billion, billion) of available address space. This would mean, even devices such as mobile phones and electrical appliances can have their own IP addresses

b) ENUM (Telephone Number Mapping) technology
ENUM is a DNS-based protocol to unify the telephone system with the Internet by using a Dynamic Discovery Delegation System (DDDS) application to resolve telephone numbers into data stored in DNS

c) VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology
VoIP is a technology that allows telephone calls to be made over computer networks like the Internet. VoIP converts analog voice signals into digital data packets and supports real-time, two-way transmission of conversations using Internet Protocol (IP). VoIP offers a substantial cost savings over traditional long distance telephone calls.

d) DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) technology
DNSSEC technology is the latest technological innovation that protects the DNS from security breaches. When deployed, it helps authenticate data on DNS, provides data integrity and authenticates denial of existence.





“Convergence of emerging technologies is already happening. We must keep pace with these emerging technologies if we do not want to be left behind. The number of knowledge workers in the country need to be elevated at a faster rate if we are to become a knowledge economy and a developed country by the year 2020,” said Puan Shariya Haniz Zulkifli, Director of MYNIC Berhad adding that MYNIC successfully nurtured the country’s first DNS community last year through its .myTraining Workshop Series 2006.

Following last year’s success, MYNIC is enhancing its training initiatives this year. Participants can expect more comprehensive training workshop syllabus, detailed hands-on exercise, exposure to dual stack network environment that support IPv4 & IPv6 as well as getting real life, practical experiences and approaches from trainers who are experts in their respective fields.

“The worlds of IT and telecommunications are getting more and more integrated. These two worlds will one day become one. As such, it is best we start looking at the trends and challenges of integrating and deploying these technologies and address the issues at hand,” added Shariya.

.myTraining Workshop Series 2007 will be held at the Palace of Golden Horses Hotel from 20th to 30th August, 2007 and has been designed to encompass the skill sets of ISPs (Internet Service Providers), educationists, researchers, country code top level domain name (ccTLD) operators, DNS administrators and providers, systems administrators as well as DNS enthusiasts who are interested in utilizing DNS and its related applications.

The .myTraining Workshop Series 2007 will comprise of:

i) Knowing Your DNS and Impact of IPv6 on DNS (20th – 21st August, 2007)
This workshop aims to enable participants gain sufficient background, skills and expertise to deploy DNSIPv6 in their own organizations. Participants will be given valuable tips and hands-on exercises on techniques and tools to help troubleshoot server configurations, from building primary and secondary name server to populating DNS server with AAAA records to configuring it to perform lookups to debugging a zone file. They will also get to partake in the .myDNSIPv6 test-bed and review the results instantly.

ii) Revelation of ENUM and VoIP in Next Generation Network (NGN) (23rd – 25th August, 2007)
Apart from providing participants updates and latest trends on ENUM and VoIP technologies, trainers will also guide them on how to install and configure Asterisk, one of the most popular and fully featured open source PBXs available. Hands-on development of applications running on the infrastructure of an integrated telephony and Internet system will also be given. These applications include database integration, interactive voice response (IVR) applications, billing systems, queuing / helpdesk systems, as well as integration with external applications.

iii) DNS Security (DNSSEC) At Its Best! (28th – 30th August, 2007)
At this workshop participants will get to build their DNS in such a way that it is trusted by end users, one that gives them the assurance of getting the correct authenticity and integrity of the data it provides. As such, this workshop intends to enlighten the participants on the various features of the DNSSEC as well as its related configuration and troubleshooting tools. Trainers will be providing hands-on real life, practical approaches at this workshop.

“There have been many key developments in DNS technology and it is important for
Malaysians to keep themselves updated. This is what these workshops are all about, to help keep our technical community well informed with the current trends and technologies, so that, they, in turn, can assess the impact it might have on their businesses and operations. I believe those who participate will benefit greatly from these workshops," Shariya affirmed.

Each workshop is limited to only 30 participants, thus registration will be on a first-come-first-served basis. Interested parties can register online at www.mynic.net.my/training/AUG07/.

PandaLabs發現欺騙iPhone買家網站

Botnet threatens iPhone buyers, reports PandaLabs

The launch of iPhone is being exploited by cyber-crooks for financial gain. PandaLabs has uncovered a tool that controls a botnet made up of over 7,500 zombie computers infected by the Aifone.A bot Trojan. If the user of an infected PC tries to buy an iPhone online, their confidential data might end up in the hands of cyber-criminals.

The tool allows cyber-criminals to specify the web pages that the bot must redirect and where they must be redirected to
The tool uncovered by PandaLabs has a series of features that allow cyber-crooks to take users of infected computers to a false page that appears to be the iPhone official page. As a result, if the user tries to buy the phone from the spoof page, they will actually be giving their bank details to cyber-criminals.

One of the tabs in the tool, called “REDIRECTS ADMIN”, allows criminals to specify the web pages that the bot must redirect and where they must be redirected to. In this case, the tool sends users that want to visit the iPhone official pages to a false web page.

Another tab, “SEARCH REDIR”, is used to specify the results that the Trojan must display when the infected user performs an Internet search and where they should be redirected to when they click any of the links. Obviously, this will be the false page.

In section “INJECTS ADMIN” it is possible to indicate the links that the Aifone.A Trojan must modify. As a consequence, if the user visits a web page that contains a link to a page dealing with iPhone, they will also be redirected to the false page.

Other tabs, “POPUPS ADMIN” and “BANNERS ADMIN”, allow cyber-crooks to display pop-ups and banners with advertising about iPhone on the infected computer. This aims at enticing users to visit the spoofed web page and buy the phone from it.

“This is one of the most sophisticated attacks we have seen targeting a user community, in this case iPhone users. It is a really complex, dangerous attack that combines elements of malware (the Trojan), phishing (the spoofed web page) and even adware (pop-ups, modification of search results, etc.)”, explains Luis Corrons, Technical Director of PandaLabs.

The real danger behind this attack is the fact that, in the same way that it is now being used to affect users that want to buy an iPhone, it could be slightly modified and used to affect users interested in any other product, or even several groups of users simultaneously, which would increase the cyber-criminals’ chances of success.

If you think your computer might have been infected by this malware, scan it for free at http://www.infectedornot.com/

For more information about this tool, go to the PandaLabs blog.

英國于賽城設立Soft Landing Zone

United Kingdom sets up Soft Landing Zone in Cyberjaya ~Assists new UK IT companies to expand in Malaysia~

Kuala Lumpur, 12 July 2007 – The United Kingdom Trade and Investment (UKTI) is collaborating with the Coventry University Enterprises Ltd (CUE) to launch a Soft Landing Zone (SLZ) in Cyberjaya. SLZ serves as a platform to assist United Kingdom based companies in the information technology industries to set up businesses in Malaysia. Located within the Multi-Media Development Corporation (MDeC), the office will be managed by CUE in close collaboration with MDeC.

Announcing the initiative, Mr Tim Luft, Director of the Soft Landing Zone said, “The Soft Landing Zone will provide United Kingdom (UK) businesses with a cost effective and relatively free opportunity to compete in the Malaysian market. We aimed to attract small to medium sized companies, especially those involved in research and development and high growth technology. We also welcome companies interested in joint research and development projects, outsourcing, setting up a second office or undertaking a joint venture project.”

SLZ refers to the pre-preparation of work environment in a foreign county, tailored to the needs of companies seeking to do business within that specific location. It has been successfully implemented across Europe and Asia.

“The soft landing zone Malaysia is a safe and welcoming environment for companies who are at the early stages of trading in Malaysia,” explained Mr John Latham, Pro-Vice Chancellor of the Coventry University. “The UK companies who will be using this office may well have visited Malaysia, although they now require the operational and cultural support to establish a joint venture, new business or partnership.”

SLZ also includes a reciprocal service in the UK for Malaysian business. Indeed the UK is equally welcoming companies from Malaysia that require a similar support package to help them generate sales, new business and partnerships across the UK.

Mr Gordon Reid, Director of Trade and Investment, British High Commission said, “The effort is timely as the UK has enjoyed the benefits of an on-going bilateral relationship with Malaysia for many years. In fact, UK companies are now the highest among European companies in Malaysia accorded with the MSC status. We hope to see mutual benefits from this platform where Malaysia would also gain from the on-going transfer of UK’s latest cutting edge technology & innovations.”

United Kingdom is a leader in attracting R&D investment projects. This includes biotechnology, telecommunications, performance engineering, computing, electronics, satellite design and construction and lose-alternative energy technologies. UK is also a major player in new electronics technologies with tremendous expertise in displays, optoelectronics, chip development and wireless.

The SLZ is part of the ‘Malaysia and UK: Forward Together’ Campaign. In line with the Malaysia 50th Independence, the British High Commission has arranged a multitude of business, technology, educational and cultural activities to celebrate both countries’ successful partnership.

APC獲Best of Interop獎

APC Wins “Best of Interop” Award for its InfraStruXure® InRow™ RP Cooling Solution

KUALA LUMPUR – JULY 12, 2007 – APC, a global leader in critical power and cooling services, today announced that it received the “Best of Interop” award in the category of Data Center and Storage for its InfraStruXure® InRow™ RP cooling solution at the recent Interop show in Las Vegas, May 20-25, 2007. APC joins an elite class of Interop Exhibitors and technology providers honored for setting new standards in technology and innovation.

The InfraStruXure InRow RP solution places cooling next to the heat source, providing predictable, dynamic heat removal for medium, high and ultra-high density deployments. The InRow RP, the latest in the suite of InfraStruXure InRow cooling units, can support power densities of up to 70 kW per rack when used with hot air containment systems.

APC’s InRow RP is available in chilled water up to 70kW or refrigerant-based up to 37kW designs, making it suitable for a wide range of environments. The architecture eliminates the requirement for constant speed fans used in traditional approaches, saving energy and maximizing power available for IT deployments. This variable airflow capability lowers operating costs by reducing energy consumption during partial load conditions.

APC has invested heavily in the research and development of solutions that solve power and cooling problems in today’s data centers. A perfect example of APC's innovative technology includes APC’s InRow cooling solutions, which offers customers a variety of systems that can predictably remove heat from high density deployments.”

The Best of Interop Awards are always an indicator of the most innovative and exciting offerings in these product categories, and this year’s winners are no exception. APC and each of the other category winners have truly demonstrated superior technology and innovation, and deserve recognition for their contributions to the industry.

APC’s InRow RP is currently available worldwide. For more information about the InRow RP cooling solution and other data center products, please visit www.apc.com or call 800-877-4080.

Mydin Mohamed Holdings運用ICT提高競爭力

Mydin Mohamed Holdings leverages on ICT to improve competitiveness


KUALA LUMPUR, 12 July, 2007 – Allied Telesis, one of the world’s leading companies in the networking industry, today announced that Mydin Mohamed Holdings, Malaysia’s largest local wholesaler, has begun deployment of a network solution from Allied Telesis to deliver timely communication, value-added customer service and efficient data management.

Said Malik Murad Ali, IT Manager, Mydin Mohamed Holdings, “In the fast moving hypermarket industry, having the right technology is key as it enables us to grow profitably and compete successfully in the market. We recognized the need for new technology solutions that would enable us to grow our retail model efficiently and profitably, as well as to ensure the company’s success to compete in the hypermarket business.”

The objective is to achieve marketing speed and overall efficiency of operations and supply chain management. From the suppliers to the logistics and warehouse, to Mydin’s ground staff and to the management team, efficiency and productivity are important factors for timely and accurate decision-making.

To differentiate itself, Mydin had to redefine the value it brings to its customers. Mydin’s brand name signifies convenience, quality and value for money. Thus, it looks into Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to achieve these goals.

Mydin manages over 200,000 unique items and processes millions worth of transactions daily. Its key challenge is to gain insight into these huge volumes of transactions. The company needs to track the exact products and volumes of goods flowing in and out of the company.

Next, a real-time network infrastructure is required to drive incremental sales and top line results. Mydin next move is to improve the communications with all its 28 branches nationwide.

“Our suppliers typically have a very small quota for promotional items. If we want to buy in bulk to enjoy greater savings, we need to act fast to place the orders on the same day. Therefore, determining each store’s inventory and quota at the shortest time possible is the real challenge. In the past, we are unable to take full advantage of the promotional offers when they are available,” said Malik.

It is therefore important that timely and accurate information can reach the right person at the right time to aid them in their daily operations and decision making. In this way, additional business value can be delivered to customers when real-time information can be accessed by the sales personnel and store managers.

In order to fuel their growth, Mydin sets out to look for a standard based solution that can complement and support its current IT systems; a solution that is reliable, scalable and robust. Tying and linking the systems together is very crucial because the network infrastructure is the backbone of the entire IT system as it is the bloodline of the ICT infrastructure that affects Mydin’s day to day operations.

The company’s previous networking systems were not able to complement and supports the complexity of their systems. As a result, enormous costs and additional resources are needed to reconcile the problems and transactions faced by the employees and customers.

After a thorough selection process, Mydin chose Allied Telesis, one of the leading global IP networking solutions leaders.

“Allied Telesis beat other vendors and emerge as the overall winner from our selection exercise,” Malik enthused. “Allied Telesis had a clear superiority in functionality and pricing. The initial and ongoing maintenance costs were reasonable and competitive. Most importantly is the record of accomplishment in successful projects implemented by Allied Telesis that was really impressive! That gives us the confidence and assurance that we need and we believe in Allied Telesis as it is a strong and reliable brand.”

The decision of choosing Allied Telesis and the investment proved worthwhile. Mydin started to see an improvement in its network infrastructure within the first few months itself.

Now, the IT department is able to monitor its network in a more proactive manner. And if there is a problem, the IT team will be able to know the issue/s in real time.

In the near future, the company expects more savings both in terms of business and IT management costs.

From the business aspect, the company now gains timely, accurate and consistent management and financial information that enable it to monitor activities and transactions more closely and react proactively to any changes in its environment and the supply chain management.

In terms of IT management costs, applications of the solution give Mydin the ability to attain a competitive advantage – improved services and communications, while internal and external customers gain operational efficiency and increased productivity.

Being empowered with real time information is very important as it meant that Mydin could better identify opportunities and threats in the market, reduce latency, enhance relevance and value of leads, and of course increase productivity. Such improvements built on their competitive advantage enable Mydin to deliver stronger intimacy and greater relevance in customer interaction and satisfaction.

Mydin will be adding another 14-15 branches in the next 36 months and all these branches will have to come into its network infrastructure systems.

“I look forward to work with the Allied Telesis’ team again in the near future. This will help strengthen our partnership ties and enhance our working relationship,” concluded Malik.

“We are happy to have been provided with the trust to fulfill Mydin’s requirements to enhance their business processes and help reduce the business and technical risks. This achievement is a major milestone for us not just in the retail industry but in the enterprise sector as well and proves that we have the expertise and extensive background to implement end-to-end networking solutions for customers of such size in Malaysia,” said Paul Choy, Country Sales Manager, Allied Telesyn International (Asia) Pte Ltd.

“We certainly hope this successful network infrastructure implementation at Mydin will be a case study which other companies in Malaysia can emulate,” he added.

Oekom International Environmental排行榜Asus居高位

ASUS Receives High Ranking in Oekom International Environmental Rating for Computers and Peripherals

ASUS is well-known for its uncompromised commitment to deliver products with the highest quality by the ASUS Way of Total Quality Management which aims to offer the best quality without compromising cost and time-to-market while providing maximum value through world-class services. Furthermore, ASUS is investing dedicated resources to take product quality to the next level with care for the environment via green design, procurement, production, marketing and service. This effort has been recognized by the Oekom Research in the recently published Environmental Rating which ranks ASUS as one of the top-tier companies that meets the International industrial environmental-friendly standards.

The Oekom Environmental Rating covers three main sections: Environmental Management, Products and Services and Eco-efficiency. Each section is rated respectively according to its environmental performance. ASUS acquired an overall score of B+ which indicates that ASUS’ environmental attributes both in terms of products and manufacturing.

“ASUS insists on every detail in the green ideology, from design, procurement, production, to distribution, so that a safer, better environment could be achieved,” said James Huang, Chief Quality Officer of ASUS, “Rock solid quality from ASUS combined with the green concept, we aim to strive for a better environment on Earth as an International corporation.”

For more information on Green ASUS, please visit the official site at http://green.asus.com/english/
For more information on Oekom Research: http://www.oekom-research.de/index_english.html

Brother International 在八打灵再也设立新总部

2007 年 7 月 11 日，八打灵再也 – 作为以“客户第一”为宗旨的家庭和商业 IT 周边设备领导者，Brother International 今天表示有意加强马来西亚的业务，并在八打灵再也的 Jaya 33 商业中心设立新的马来西亚总部。

引领日本打印及成像术的本地运营总部由日本Brother工业有限公司代表董事兼副董事长平田誠一先生、日本Brother International 公司代表董事兼总裁井戸豊水先生以及负责Brother集团日本及亚太区管理最高代表团的新加坡Brother International 公司董事经理渡辺哲夫先生正式宣布成立。

新设立的 Brother International (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd 总部占据一整层的楼面，将为该品牌的系列彩色和黑白激光打印机、激光多功能一体机、喷墨多功能一体机、传真机和标签机提供全方位的销售、市场营销和服务支持。

这一日本品牌的新总部处于八打灵再也商业零售区中心位置，占地面积达 13,500 平方英尺，是之前办事处及服务中心面积总和的三倍。

它将容纳这一品牌的全国服务及支持中心、全系列产品展示厅、最多可容纳 100 人的培训中心、客户休息室、咨询中心、信息展示馆以及优先入库设施。

Brother International (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd 公司董事经理辻友三郎　表示，Brother International 此次投资设立一个占地面积更大的总部是因为公司相信马来西亚市场的未来十分美好。

“Brother International 希望在加强销售和客户支持的同时，提高『Brother』在马来西亚的品牌形象，因为该国公司、中小型企业和家庭用户的技术型产品使用量持续上升，我们的旗舰产品 – 打印机和多功能一体机在马来西亚市场具有强大的增长潜力。” 辻友三郎先生解释道。

该公司于 2001 年在马来西亚成立，其产品至今已获得无数奖项和荣誉，目前在 A4 激光多功能周边设备分类中为市场第一品牌（IDC 市场报道，2007 年第一季度）。

“虽然是马来西亚市场的后来者之一，我们在激光和喷墨打印机和多功能产品分类中已取得优异的成绩。我们希望在这一成功基础上，通过增加总职员数、与现有及新的经销商建立更强大的网络来提高区域零售渗透力、为客户提供更高水准的服务，实现进一步的发展。”

他表示，公司目前在 14 个州属共有 38 个服务中心提供支持服务，作为其 “在您身边” (At Your Side) 客户第一宗旨的一部分，公司将继续设立多个服务中心。

公司同时计划在年底前增加 20% 的职员，在未来几年内将近 1,500 家经销商组成的网络规模翻番。

日本Brother工业有限公司代表董事兼副董事长平田誠一先生表示公司的长期愿景“21 世纪全球愿景”即在 2012 年成为一家高利润、拥有专有技术和“客户第一”卓越公司文化的公司。

“很高兴能看到公司的全球愿景在马来西亚得到完美实施。这一地区的打印和成像技术潜力巨大，我们在马来西亚的业务扩展也证明Brother International 众志成城，决心在马来西亚取得长期成功，” 平田誠一先生说道。

他同时表示，公司将在 2008 年举办 100 周年庆，目前正在东南亚推广其品牌知名度，以期与该品牌在日本、欧洲和美洲的高认知率保持一致。

“Brother必将成为马来西亚的顶尖技术品牌，此次设立总部只是一个序幕。” 平田誠一先生最后说道。

ACA Pacific增3品牌產品

ACA Pacific Expands IT Solution Offerings

KUALA LUMPUR, 11 July 2007 – ACA Pacific Technology Sdn Bhd (“ACA Pacific”), leading IT distributor within the Asia-Pacific region, is expanding its foothold in the local enterprise business solutions market by its appointment as the sole distributor for three leading international brand names, Kace Networks (“KACE™”), ConSentry Networks and FaceTime.

KACE™ is the provider of systems management appliances that deliver easy-to-use, comprehensive systems management capabilities. ConSentry Networks and FaceTime are leading security brands that enable businesses to protect critical resources and systems from threats both within and outside the organization.

ACA Pacific’s appointment by these three international brands is in line with the company’s objective of forging more strategic partnership with dynamic global companies. This move also paves a way for these IT brands to penetrate the Malaysian market, with ACA Pacific helping them to drive their brand awareness and revenue in the local industries.

Azmil Merican, Sales Manager, ACA Pacific said, “We pride ourselves as being one of the region's leading distributor for the IT industry that only partner with globally reputed brands. Our aggressive go-to-market programs and pre and post-sales technical services will give us the competitive edge to provide channel partners with genuine value added services and satisfy the growing needs of our diverse customer base.”

“These newly formed alliances mark the beginning of a long-term relationship that will help us consolidate ACA Pacific’s position in the region."

ACA Pacific currently carries six product lines in Malaysia: Design Automation, Media Entertainment and Broadcasting, Security and Networking, Data Storage and Backup, Document Imaging and Business Applications.

"The partnership not only complements our existing solutions, but also creates new business opportunities for our channel partners. With organizations finding ways to improve their business critical resources, I believe there is a positive demand for the solutions that these brands have to offer,” said Merican.

KACE™, ConSentry and FaceTime join ACA Pacific’s extensive portfolio of leading technology associates, to provide more innovative system management and security solutions options to local enterprises.

The other IT brands under the ACA Pacific’s Security and Networking category of products and solutions include Trend Micro, Websense, Top Layer, SonicWall, RSA Security, Clearswift and Talariax.

Merican adds that ACA Pacific will continue to add more technology brands under its portfolio to ensure that its customers always have an attractive range of technological solutions for better returns on their IT investments.

Earlier in April, ACA Pacific also signed with DataCraft and EqualLogic to boost its Data Storage and Backup portfolio of solutions.

Apacer發表全世界首款DDR3 1600MHz超頻記憶體模組

Apacer宇瞻引爆DDR3超頻速度追逐大戰 發表全世界首款DDR3 1600MHz超頻記憶體模組

世界第五大獨立記憶體模組製造商—Apacer宇瞻今日宣佈推出DDR3系列桌上型電腦記憶體模組，此款高階DDR3桌上型電腦記憶體模組將全力支援英特爾Bearlake系列桌上型電腦晶片組，從此桌上型電腦將正式邁入DDR3新紀元，享受更高效能、更低功耗、以及更大容量DDR3記憶體模組。

宇瞻長期與主機板廠商合作，在支援DDR3主機板的開發階段，就進行一連串的產品功能性與相容性測試，因此相對與其他廠商同級產品，具備更優異的產品相容性，同時也能夠最早取得主機板廠商的認證。除此之外，宇瞻此次發表的DDR3記憶體模組，在頻率方面除了支援DDR3 1066/1333之外，同時將同步發表全世界首款的DDR3 1600MHz超頻的記憶體模組，此款超頻記憶體模組，將是宇瞻繼領先發表DDR2 1200+的超頻記憶體模組之後，再度領先全球發表最快速度的DDR3 1600MHz超頻記憶體模組，兌現宇瞻成為超頻技術領航者的承諾。隨著DDR2 1200+與DDR3 1600MHz的領先發表，宇瞻在DDR2與DDR3的超頻領域的領導地位將更為鞏固。

宇瞻此次推出的DDR3桌上型電腦記憶體模組，相較於DDR2有多項的優勢，其中DDR3採用8 bit 預先取設計、運算時脈介於800MHz至1600MHz之間，較 DDR2 4bit 的預取設計、運算時脈介於400MHz至800MHz之間為倍數成長。此外，DDR3 的規格要求將電壓控制在1.5V，較 DDR2 的 1.8V更為省電。DDR3 採用ASR(Automatic self-refresh) 的設計，以確保在資料不遺失情況下，儘量減少更新頻率來降低溫度。以DDR3 800、DDR3 1066及DDR3 1333與DDR2-800相比，其平均功耗分別下降25%、29%及40%。

宇瞻目前已推出 DDR3 1066MHz/1333MHz 的桌上型電腦記憶體模組，記憶體模組容量有512MB 與1GB容量版本，滿足包括各種桌上型電腦、工作站等個人系統的所有需求。在DDR3 Overclocking系列上推出了DDR3 1600MHz超頻記憶體模組，採用雙支記憶體模組包裝方式，容量為1GB(512MBx2)及2GB(1GBx2)兩種，能支援處理大量資料的應用，像是影片編輯與高階遊戲等，充份滿足遊戲愛好者與電腦玩家對極致效能追求的渴望。

HTC提供Windows Mobile 6升級服務

HTC Offers Windows Mobile 6 Upgrade
Users of 838Pro, D810, P800W and U1000 get free upgrades

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, 10 July 2007 - High Tech Computer Corp. (TAIEX: 2498; “HTC”), the world's leading provider of Microsoft® Windows Mobile® smart handheld devices, today announced that with effect from July 10, 2007, HTC will progressively offer ROM code downloads for free to existing users of 838Pro, D810, P800W and U1000. This will enable them to upgrade from the existing Windows Mobile 5 in their devices to the latest operating system - Windows Mobile 6.

Consumers can access http://www.asia.htc.com/asia/event/WM6/index.html to download the ROM code and relevant applications. Prior to the upgrading of operating system, HTC would like to remind consumers to backup their personal data as the data will be deleted after the upgrade. Downloads for the different devices are available according to the following schedule:

July 10: D810

July 12: 838Pro

July 13: P800W

July 20: U1000

“Upgrading to the Windows Mobile 6 operating system will enable users of 838Pro, D810, P800W and U1000 to enjoy greater mobility. Used with the Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, this will also enable businessmen to better manage the business information with greater effectiveness. By leveraging on our innovative and functions-rich products, our customers can stay well-connected to the world. In the future, we will continue to launch high-quality and fashionable products that satisfy consumers’ pursuit for a stylish and mobile lifestyle,” says Jack Tong, Vice President, Sales & Marketing of HTC Asia.

Celcom為其雇員提供醫藥保健服務

CELCOM INTRODUCES NEW HEALTH AND SAFETY POLICY TO PROMOTE HEALTHIER LIVING AMONGST ITS EMPLOYEES

How’s my blood pressure? : Y.Bhg Dato’ Seri Shazalli Ramly, Chief Executive Officer, Celcom (M) Berhad having his blood pressure checked.

KUALA LUMPUR, 11 JULY 2007 - Celcom (Malaysia) Berhad proudly launches its very first regional health awareness event this morning, in conjunction with its latest company Policy Statement; the Occupational Safety & Health and Environment policy, at the Lobby of Menara Celcom. Aptly named CELCOM’S HEALTH CARNIVAL 2007, this two-day event will be held at the lobby of Menara Celcom beginning today until 12th July 2007.

This policy statement is a show of commitment to all of Celcom’s employees in efforts to increase awareness, to prevent and eliminate the risk of any form of health or safety hazard, and most importantly, to change the general mindset of employees and the public towards healthier living.

It also goes to show, that Celcom is dedicated in taking proactive steps towards environmental issues such as preventing pollution and damage to properties, conserving and preserving natural resources, and at the same time, formulating new ideas to increase employee awareness, all for the benefits of a safe, healthy and decent workplace.

Celcom strives for continual improvement and now with the newly applied policy statement, Celcom staff will have a detailed guideline in improving the overall environment of the company.
The first in many more “pro-health” events to come, the Health Carnival will consist of various interesting medical workshops covering areas of emotional well being, psychical fitness, sex and other health related issues that commonly affect the masses.

“Celcom believes in constant improvement in every aspect of a lifestyle and the best way to achieve this, is by starting with health. By taking the step to apply the new Occupational Safety & Health and Environmental policy statement, not only will we be able to enhance one’s health, it will also help mould an improved, more productive and more health conscious working society,” said Dato’ Sri Shazalli Ramly, Chief Executive Officer of Celcom (Malaysia) Berhad.

He added, “By beginning internally with all of our staff, it will then be trickled down to our customers the realization that Celcom is indeed a healthy and environmentally friendly organization. Celcom never wavers in empowering our customers with perfection.”

Several interesting talks and health workshops will be given by renowned Malaysian doctors and cardiologists from Ampang Puteri Specialist Hospital, Damansara Specialist Hospital and Pantai Bangsar Medical Center. The discussions will touch on health issues and information that are rarely discussed among us Malaysians. In addition to that, free consultations booths, scans and tests will be made readily available for guests who would like to identify their most current state of health.

Celcom currently has 6.2 million customers and over 270,000 3G subscribers. It has the widest network of any mobile network operator in the country, covering 97 per cent of Malaysia.

FileMaker推介新產品

New FileMaker 9 Product Line Delivers 30 Ease-of-Use Breakthroughs including Live Connections to SQL Data

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – 11 July, 2007 – FileMaker today announced the immediate availability of FileMaker Pro 9, (http://store.filemaker.com.au) a major new version of the most award-winning desktop database for Windows and Mac OS.

The new FileMaker 9 product line, which the company called its most dramatic new offering in years with over 30 ease-of-use breakthroughs, is available today, and includes FileMaker Pro 9, FileMaker Pro 9 Advanced, FileMaker Server 9 and FileMaker Server 9 Advanced.

FileMaker Pro 9 includes many new features, for end users and developers, to simplify creating, automating, sharing and reporting from databases, including a new Quick Start screen for new users to be quickly productive; Conditional Formatting, which highlights data based on parameters the user sets; and the ability to email a link to other FileMaker users, which they can click to instantly access your database.

The new version also offers breakthrough easy-to-use tools so FileMaker users and workgroups can easily connect to the world of company and Web data residing in external SQL data sources: MySQL, Oracle SQL and Microsoft SQL Server.

The new Server 9 products, which enable workgroups to share databases over the network and the Web, come with a completely modernised and streamlined Admin Console, so FileMaker Pro users can easily set up and administer Server software.

“FileMaker is the acknowledged leader in easy-to-use database software which empowers workgroups,” said Dominique Goupil, president of FileMaker. “With FileMaker 9 we go further. We make it easier than ever for developers and users to manage information in amazingly productive and creative ways. For example, our goal is to make FileMaker Server 9 so easy that FileMaker Pro customers can install it in 20 minutes or less, and quickly share database solutions.

“FileMaker 9 is perfect for innovative organisations who realise the benefits of empowered self-service workgroups,” Goupil said.


Early Evaluator Customers and Developers Laud New FileMaker Pro 9

“What we like most are the Conditional Formatting and Script Group functions. We can see great potential in the External SQL Data Sources (ESS) feature. This will allow us to open doors to enterprise customers. The FileMaker team has done a great job in that specific area. While few people have heard of FileMaker in Singapore, Easi-Link Systems develops all applications using this product. Customers buy the Easi-Link Systems solution because of what it does, and with FileMaker Pro 9 enhanced features we anticipate continued sales and growth.”
Singapore-based FileMaker developer M.F. Leong, Easi-Link Systems

“Not only is FileMaker Pro 9 easier for users, but the enhanced features such as the debugger and Data Viewer also make life straightforward and trouble-free for both IT managers and developers. I’m really looking forward to showing the External SQL Data Sources (ESS) feature to my customers as this is going to massively add to the potential uses for FileMaker Pro in the marketplace.”
Melbourne-based FileMaker developer Nicholas Orr, Goya Pty Ltd

“We believe the External Data Sources features are going to be pivotal in terms of opening doors to both new applications for existing clients, and helping us reach new clients. This makes integration with web and corporate SQL systems 100 times easier, and more than that, FileMaker suddenly emerges as a great front-end and reporting tool for other systems... what a brilliant way to very quickly build a content management system for a MySQL website.

“The additional features present fresh opportunities and will attract new clients to FileMaker. An immediate advantage is that FileMaker Pro 9 doesn't have to use its own proprietary database engine and/or can work directly with corporate data sources. Many other favourites include Web Viewer, which adds dynamic User Interface (UI) controls making for more compelling user experiences. With data URLs now officially supported you can create a graph, display calculated results, or a warning message, with nothing more than a Web Viewer.

“Clients have been asking for Auto Resize, so I think that'll be a winner with them too. It's another feature that keeps FileMaker Pro 9 ahead of web applications. I personally like the Quick Start screen because people tend to launch the application first. So now, when users launch the application it will present a menu of databases right away. Finally, from a development perspective the big winner is the new scripting tools: these features are worth their weight in gold when developing large solutions and keeping things organised,”
New Zealand based FileMaker developer Craig Saunders, Digital Fusion

“FileMaker Pro 9 features that appeal to me and my team (which consists of part-time developers) are the ones that help to create the best possible user experience. They make it easier and quicker for us to develop workable applications. FileMaker Pro 9 provides easy access to resources that help us learn about the different features available. An additional consideration brought about by the disruptive environment in which development occurs, is that FileMaker Pro 9 enables you to be more productive in the small blocks of time available. However, my best pick is Conditional Formatting, which is very helpful in making the layout appear more intuitive and interactive to the user.”
Dominique Hawinkels, Security/Reception Manager, Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, New Zealand

“FileMaker 9 is truly a ground breaking release that extends the product’s scope significantly. External SQL Data Sources (ESS) is a significant step in the evolution of FileMaker. Top features on my list would be enhanced Web Viewer with special support for data URLs, multiple script editing windows, Conditional Formatting and finally, the ‘append to PDF’ feature greatly enriches the output produced.

“Along with ESS, each of the above new features opens up new possibilities and extends the reach of the product. All of these address a very specific area of need and will provide users and developers with greater control and a more consistent experience. All in all, FileMaker 9 promises to be a very exciting release.”
Melbourne-based FileMaker developer Ray Cologon, NightWing Enterprises

Connect to the world of data in External SQL Data Sources
Using the new one-way or two-way live connectivity to popular SQL sources, FileMaker Pro 9 users within any business or organisation can safely and securely create custom reports, add calculations and other fields, and even build relationships with existing FileMaker data – just using the easy-to-use tools of FileMaker Pro.

“Linking FileMaker Pro 9 solutions to the open source strengths of MySQL will greatly empower the developer and user communities of both product lines,” said Zack Urlocker, MySQL AB's executive vice president of products.

With the new PHP features of FileMaker Server and FileMaker Pro 9 Advanced both users and Web developers can publish information to external websites, gather information from Web visitors, and create new solutions combining a Web-based front-end with a rich, FileMaker Pro back-end.

Mac users of the new FileMaker products can connect to SQL sources with the Actual ODBC Pack version 2.7, now available from Actual Technologies LLC (http://www.actualtechnologies.com/)
New Data Integration and Easier Database Design Features in FileMaker Pro 9 FileMaker Pro 9 (www.filemaker.com.au/products/) features many new capabilities to make databases more ‘connected’ for users, as well as a suite of advanced but easy-to-use development and customisation tools for developers. New features include:
· Connecting to a world of data, by easily creating links and integrating live MS SQL server, Oracle and MySQL data as if it were FileMaker-based data.
· Ease of use breakthroughs, including the FileMaker Quick Start Screen, which remembers your favorites and gives you access to the new videos in the FileMaker Learning Centre, Send Link Database Sharing, a one-click feature that sends an email with a hyperlink so you share a database with other FileMaker Pro users, and Append to PDF, which allows users to consolidate multiple data reports into a single PDF file.
· More productive database design, including script grouping and editing tools, conditional formatting, auto-resize, enhanced layout objects, enhanced tab control and an improved Web Viewer.

Advanced Database Design Even Easier with FileMaker Pro 9 Advanced
New features in FileMaker Pro 9 Advanced (www.filemaker.com.au/products/) that are focused on giving users faster and easier ways to create advanced and customised database solutions include:
· Enhanced Database Design Report and File Maintenance tools, making it even easier to modify and maintain databases.
· Improved Script Debugger and Data Viewer, for identifying and correcting script errors earlier in the design process.
· PHP Site Assistant Link, providing a one-click launch of the PHP Site Assistant included in FileMaker Server 9.

FileMaker Server 9 Products Feature Most Significant Upgrade in its History
FileMaker Server 9 and FileMaker Server 9 Advanced feature one-click integration with the Web using PHP, a simple 20-minute or less install time for basic installations, plus the most significant redesign of the server interface ever. With FileMaker Server 9, users can generate a fully working PHP website using FileMaker data without writing code in just minutes.

Other major new features include PHP Custom Web Publishing for creating dynamic data-driven websites, shared access to live data from external SQL sources, and a web-delivered server console.Pricing and AvailabilityAll FileMaker 9 products are immediately available. New users may purchase FileMaker Pro 9 for US$299 (Suggested list price (SLP)) and FileMaker Pro 9 Advanced for US$499 (SLP). Existing users of FileMaker Pro 7, 8 and 8.5 may upgrade to FileMaker Pro 9 for US$179 (SLP). Existing users of FileMaker Developer 7, FileMaker Pro 8 Advanced and 8.5 Advanced, and FileMaker Pro 7, 8, 8.5 and 9 may upgrade to FileMaker Pro 9 Advanced for US$299 (SLP).

FileMaker Server 9 is US$999 (SLP) and FileMaker Server 9 Advanced is US$2,499 (SLP). Existing users of FileMaker Server 7 and 8 may upgrade to FileMaker Server 9 for US$599 (SLP). Existing users of FileMaker Server 7 Advanced and 8 Advanced may upgrade to FileMaker Server 9 Advanced for US$1499 (SLP). FileMaker offers licence discounts for volume purchasers as well as for education and non-profit organisations.

Special FileMaker Pro 9 Limited Time Offers
Two limited-time offers mark the launch of the new products:

Buy FileMaker Pro 9 Advanced and get a free 1-year FileMaker Technical Network membership, valued at AU$135.45 ex. GST. Available until 21 September, 2007 (more details at www.filemaker.com.au/pr/technet).

The FileMaker 9 VLA Workgroup Bundle (10 FileMaker Pro 9 licences, one FileMaker Server 9 licence and one FileMaker Pro 9 Advanced licence) lets corporate, education and government customers save more than US$750 off regular prices, and is available until 28 September, 2007 (more details at www.filemaker.com.au/pr/bundle).