CNN International in conjunction with MyClick® has announced the launch of CNN MyClick®, an application that allows users to directly connect to CNN’s free* mobile news site at cnnmobile.com utilizing camera mobile devices. Users can now take a picture of a CNN logo and within seconds connect to CNN’s mobile news site to access the latest news headlines, stories and more.

The technology has been designed so that it recognizes the official CNN logo anywhere it is in print form which can include magazines, leaflets, brochures, billboards etc. or even when the image is captured from the television screen.  ►

Swiss information security specialist InfoGuard AG, has strengthened its presence in the Middle East region with a new office in Dubai’s Internet City. The new regional headquarters is part of an international expansion strategy, which has also added InfoGuard offices in London and Frankfurt over the last two years.  ►

Dorset County Hospital, one of the leading NHS Foundation Trusts in the UK, is implementing document management and imaging software from Version One (www.versionone.co.uk) to speed-up the processing of 50,000 purchase invoices each year and free-up document storage space. These new systems are expected to go-live to up to 150 users in early 2009.
  ►

UK technical services and process provider, Imtech, has selected a fully-integrated Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Solution from The Content Group. This ECM system, based on Ektron software, will allow Imtech UK to share communications across its five businesses, modernise the current intranet and begin to automate existing manually-based business processes, improving cost efficiencies and potentially reducing carbon footprint.  ►

AnyDoc Software, Inc., an award-winning developer of automated document, data capture, and classification solutions, has quickly become a leading solution provider for organizations that process insurance notice documents. Selected by three of the nation’s largest insurance services firms, AnyDoc’s automated solution, AnyDoc®NOTICE™, has eliminated the manual identification and manual data entry previously required to capture data from insurance notices.  ►

Uplogix®, a leading provider of secure remote management (SRM) solutions, has announced that Navix Distribution has become its first Distributor for South Africa and has already begun working on projects with Managed Service Partners, Financial Service Companies and also Telecommunications Operators. Johannesburg-based Navix Distribution has already completed the process of training staff and providing demonstration Uplogix Appliances to its growing channel in South Africa.  ►

Aladdin Knowledge Systems Ltd. (NASDAQ: ALDN), an information security leader specializing in authentication, software DRM and content security, today announced its UK channel operations have enjoyed its most profitable year since it began operations in the UK in 1993. Within its eToken business alone, Aladdin UK has reached 95% of its 2008 UK sales targets in just 9 months and expects to show an overall increase of eToken sales.  ►

The CoSign digital signature (electronic signature) solution has been implemented at Dayton Power & Light (DP&L) by ARX (Algorithmic Research), a leading provider of digital signature solutions. The implementation has allowed DP&L, a major supplier of electricity to West Central Ohio, to transform their business process into a more efficient process.  ►

IBML have announced two additional document scanner models: the ImageTrac 3e and the ImageTrac 3ex. The new scanners are an evolution of IBML’s renowned ImageTrac III platform, with more than 20 product enhancements, some subtle, others more revolutionary. The enhancements to the ImageTrac 3e series increase both the reliability and the efficiency of the scanners. Less downtime, increased productivity on both the front end and the back end of the process, greater reliability—together help you scan more documents faster than ever before.  ■

www.ibml.co.uk

DRS e-Counting solutions have once again delivered results efficiently and effectively, and faster than ever, for two Scottish councils.

With a combined electorate of over 44,500, DRS e-Counting technology was used to count the complex STV Forth Ward City of Edinburgh and the Baillieston Ward Glasgow City Council by-elections. Both elections were hailed a success by the Returning Officers, with all votes being scanned in less than an hour after the polling stations closed.  ►

Gone are the days of struggling to put up shelving and racking, armed with a drill in one hand and a mallet in the other! BiGDUG are set to launch their innovative new range of Widespan shelving, meaning less time examining the instruction manual from every angle imaginable and more time to get the important jobs finished!

What’s more, not only is their new range easy to put up, it is cheaper than many of the leading brands, making it a cost-effective solution that is also softer on the pocket.

Managing director Doug Nourse said, “Our Widespan shelving is extremely easy to build, with pre built frames, all you have to do is lock the beams in.”  ►

IBM has named Lighthouse Computer Services an Authorized Partner for its IBM XIV Storage System, a coveted designation that exemplifies Lighthouse's expertise in enterprise storage solutions as well as its long time relationship with IBM. The IBM XIV Storage System is an entirely new, highly scalable disk storage system designed to handle today's diverse mix of information -- from traditional applications to Web 2.0 services. Developed from IBM's acquisition of XIV in January, this new enterprise disk offering features a unique grid-based architecture that offers easier management, greater performance scalability, self-tuning/healing and thin provisioning to help reduce the cost and complexity of information storage while enabling consistently quick access of data for today's dynamic range of workloads.  ►

Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc., the market leader in document imaging scanners and services, today announced the introduction of its next-generation network scanner into the expansive lineup of document imaging solutions. The new Fujitsu fi-6010N iScanner provides added simplicity, enhanced security and encryption features, a new network control utility and an upgraded user interface to further assist collaboration across a global network. ►

Core Security Technologies, provider of CORE IMPACT, the most comprehensive solution for proactive enterprise security testing, today issued an advisory disclosing a vulnerability that could affect millions of individuals and businesses using Adobe’s Reader PDF-file browsing software.

Engineers from CoreLabs, the research arm of Core Security, determined that Adobe Reader could be exploited to gain access to vulnerable systems via the use of a specially crafted PDF file with malicious JavaScript content. Upon making the discovery, CoreLabs immediately alerted Adobe to the vulnerability and the two companies have since coordinated efforts to ensure that a patch could be created and made available to protect users of the program. ►

Following their “acquisitions required” advert in the Green Sheet, the Data Imaging & Archiving Company Limited (DI&A) has concluded the purchase of CMS Commercial Micro-Systems Limited (CMS), a West London based Scanning Bureau. ►

Canon UK, world leader in imaging technology, has today announced the launch of six new A4 MFPs, which are designed to address the time and financial pressures organisations are under. The six new devices deliver faster print speeds, ranging from 20 to 24 pages per minute (PPM), and offer duplex (double-sided) printing as standard, enabling organisations to save money through the more efficient use of paper. ►

In a move to further enhance customer service on imaging hardware both manufactured and distributed by The Crowley Company, president Christopher Crowley announces a technical services relationship with KODAK Service and Support, a unit of Kodak’s Document Imaging business division. “This is a beneficial alliance for our customers,” says Crowley. “KODAK Service and Support will provide outsourced maintenance and support on a variety of our Mekel Technology and Zeutschel copying and scanning equipment where it makes geographic sense. For the many clients located outside of our immediate mid-Atlantic service region, this agreement will mean quick turnaround on our standard service agreement visits and immediate repair needs. These are precise, sensitive machines and we would only trust their care – and our client care – to a provider with the reputation of Kodak.” ►

Snowbound Softwae, a pioneering leader of document viewing and conversion technology, announced the immediate release of its Zero Footprint viewer for Java; the only AJAX Java viewer for multiple formats available today. VirtualViewer™ AJAX provides a high-speed viewing solution that enables users to quickly view virtually any document and image from any desktop or mobile device with a web browser. ►

Basware has been awarded with two prestigious accolades at the 2008 Kofax Partner of the Year Awards, as a result of its strong global sales and high levels of technical expertise.

Basware UK Ltd has been named Kofax Certified Solutions Partner of the year for the EMEA North region at the Transform 2008 conference in Athens, the annual Kofax partner conference which brings together leading data capture and information delivery specialists from around the world.

This is the third consecutive year that Basware UK’s data capture team has won the award, recognising the company’s extensive experience and high level of technical expertise in delivering complex data capture and workflow management solutions for companies including Barclays Wealth, Abbey International, Goldsmith Williams and Williams Lea. ►

The Mekel MACH V was introduced to the public by The Crowley Company at the ARMA International Conference and Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. “The MACH V is the vehicle of our Quantum Scanning process – a step beyond the typical full-roll or ribbon-scanning hardware and processes currently on the market,” states company president Chris Crowley. “It’s a natural progression in our Mekel product line. Mekel introduced the first microfilm scanner to the world in 1989 and has been producing equipment to move the record management and archiving industries forward for the past two decades. The MACH V, utilizing our Quantum suite of software, offers 100% image capture and is the most advanced scanning system on the market today.” ►

Bookshop Opened

Green Sheet virtual bookshop opens it's 'doors'

'BOOKSHOP'      Now Open!     

Click to enter

It's Official!

Research proves print advertising works says PPA

Sourced from the PPA (Periodical Publishers Association) Newsletter, Friday 20th June:
Consumers are more positive towards print advertising than any other media, research by Dynamic Logic has revealed. Over 50 per cent of respondents viewed print advertising positively, which was more than TV, outdoor, radio and online.
Newspaper and magazine ads came top of the rank with 53 and 51 per cent of respondents respectively viewing them as positive advertising formats. The breadth of feelings towards advertising in media platforms was diverse, with only 20 per cent of online ads viewed positively by respondents.

The more relevant ads are to people, the better their opinion of the ad format, the research stated. As past research has shown, this is the case with magazines, where readers become deeply engaged and view ads as an integral part of the magazine experience. More interruptive or intrusive formats on the other hand, such as telemarketing and SPAM emails were found to be towards the bottom of the list in terms of consumer appeal.

Dynamic Logic’s AdReaction 5 research study was conducted on 350 respondents and gauges consumers’ opinions towards advertising. Dynamic Logic is a leading research company with expertise in measuring marketing effectiveness.

Details on the study from Amina Ymer at PPA on 0044 20 7400 7560.
For Green Sheet advertising rates and potential, contact johnbaker@greensheetmedia.com or call 0044 24 7625 4957 for a no obligation discussion.

Web CMS Report 2008

Now available to all Green Sheet readers 080608

Traditional Web CMS vendors are increasingly touting their "Web 2.0"-style interaction services, but enterprises looking to roll out comprehensive social computing services will likely need to bring other tools into the mix, according to research released today at the Gilbane Conference by CMS Watch, a vendor-independent analyst firm that evaluates content technologies.

"The good news is, nearly all Web CMS vendors are 'socializing' the experience around enterprise websites and intranets by adding various engagement features such as blogs, tag clouds, forums, and more to their products," said CMS Watch founder, Tony Byrne. "Where they tend to come up short is when you want to extend into broader forms of Social Networking and Collaboration." For that, you’ll likely need additional technologies purpose-built for those services, argued Byrne.

In the recent release of The Web CMS Report 2008, CMS Watch interviewed customers around the globe to evaluate forty different solutions.

CMS Watch found:

- Profiles and Collaboration are emerging as key Social Software services at a time when most Web CMS products focus on information-oriented Publishing and Discussion facilities.

- Web CMS vendors can relatively easily replicate blog functionality, but many customers still prefer the simplicity of standalone blog tools and services, and not all Web CMS vendors can deal effectively with comment/trackback spam on public-facing blogs.

- Similarly, most Web CMS tools possess sufficient editorial and versioning facilities to enable wiki services. Yet, standalone wiki tools typically perform better at creating new pages, re-organizing and refactoring discussions, and outputting compound wiki entries into printable documents.

"Web CMS technology continues to play a very important role in enterprise communications, since you still need a platform to produce and manage authoritative content," notes CMS Watch analyst, Jarrod Gingras. "So you shouldn't postpone dealing with a serious content management problem on the false hope that there is a 'Web 2.0' panacea out there to fix it."

"The Web CMS Report 2008" provides a comprehensive overview of current web content management products and best practices, including updated evaluations of forty Web CMS vendors across two editions (Global and European).

The report is available for purchase online from Green Sheet MEDIA. Prices from $975. Info here.

SharePoint Report

Now available to all Green Sheet readers 080608

Evaluate Microsoft's newest server technology as an enterprise platform. Learn from the experts exactly what SharePoint is, what it can do, and how it can work for you and your organisation.

More information here.

You can also read more about SharePoint in the next issue of the Green Sheet magazine. We have an article on how one company has introduced a version of its software specifically to take advantage of SharePoint, and we will bring you news from Microsoft regarding MOSS, theMicrosoft Office SharePoint Server.

All in Issue 51, due out 7th July, but remember you will need to be a subscriber to get your copy.

More for Your Money

Magazine expansion plans announced 080608

Green Sheet MEDIA has announced exciting plans for the latter part of 2008. Not only is the Green Sheet magazine set to increase its print run, but it is also going to increase in size from its current 32 page format, to 48 pages and possibly more.

Green Sheet managing editor John Baker stated, "For some time now we have been struggling to include all of the news that the industry has brought to our attention in the two month editorial gap between magazine issues. Much of the news is still of interest, even after that period of time, so by combining the really urgent news on the web site, and the less time sensitive news in the magazine, we hope to bring site visitors and magazine subscribers the best of both worlds."

Another aspect of the Green Sheet expansion is that spare copies of the magazine no longer go to a pool of 'occasional' readers. This was normally done on a rolling and complementary basis. "With a dramatic increase in paid subscriptions, interest in back issues, and renewed interest from the PR industry, almost every copy is now allocated. It [free copies] has served its purpose", says John Baker, continuing, "With the high cost of print and distribution, we need to make every copy count, so it has to be specifically targeted from now on. This benefits our advertisers too, as casual readers cannot follow serial articles or prolonged ad campaigns, not if they only get a copy every fourteen months. The only real answer is to subscribe.".

With increased activity on the subscription side coming from both an in-magazine ad and a telesales campaign, the subscriber base has been further increased by the magazine now being sold through specialist subscription companies. Working on a commission or referral basis, Green Sheet is already sold worldwide by over 10 agencies, and this number is set to hit over 20 by the start of 2009.

To date the Green Sheet magazine has always been sold direct to subscribers, but that is also set to change. Through a specialist distribution network in the UK, the magazine will appear on newsagent shelves by the end of 2008, and perhaps as soon as September. This significant step is a major milestone in the 39 year history of the magazine. "Green Sheet is 40 next year, and this will be the first time it has had a cover price", says John Baker, continuing, "Magazines are going through a period of strong growth at present, particularly in the UK, and especially in the B2B market. We have a golden opportunity to enter the retail market which will take the magazine to new readers and ultimately, new subscribers."

The first retail version of the magazine will 'hit the shops' in the UK in September. 

Green Sheet title confusion prompts change 080608

In Q4 of 2007, Green Sheet were negotiating an on-site interview with a major UK owned international engineering company. This was for a multi-part feature on the management of engineering data. It was an organisation whose name is renowned around the world, and whose engines have been used to keep planes aloft for decades. All was going well until we heard that the interview had been knocked back unexpectedly.

The site we were to visit had already been declared to us as being a UK MoD site, and as such there were to be no cameras, no recording equipment, and no mobile phones. The refusal for entry had originated from the MoD itself, and the consensus was that it could well have been because the name 'green' appears in the magazine title (and the company name). This undoubtedly put the wind up those from whom approval was being sought, and given Whitehall's understandable reluctance to let any eco-warriors onto the jointly operated site - it was a no-go.

Investigating our inherited name further, Green Sheet took into account several comments made by members of the information management industry during 2007. (The year John Baker (managing editor) had been heavily promoting the company, and evangelising the virtues of the magazine in particular.

The following incidents and comments have been relayed, recorded and recounted to us:

"I thought it was something to do with accountancy"
In fact the name 'greensheet' is given to an internal corporate document which is used to extol the pros and cons of a share issue which an underwriter is about to sell.

We were asked to reproduce online and in the magazine, the manifesto for a somewhat radical environmental group
It was not a group we had ever heard of, and as it was early in 2007 we cannot recall the name.

We have been asked by an AIIM executive if the name is anything to do with accountancy!
So even the IM industry itself was in doubt as to our identity.

The name Green Sheet is also known around the world as:
- a bimonthly report of statewide environmental news and activism (USA)
- a weekly publication in the USA for pharmacists, drug store operators and trade relations advisor's covering new drug releases
- a column in an anti-smog web site
- a US political newsletter on environmental issues (Mark Green)
- a 4 page insert into Michigan Contractor & Builder, which goes to 12,430 contractors. Apparently 'more Michigan based new and used equipment is listed in the Green Sheet than all other sources combined.
- a weekly publication for the worldwide fashion industry
- a free weekly classified ads publication in Phoenix, Arixzona
- a newsletter published by the West Sussex Hospital NHS Trust (a totally dismal tome if ever we saw one)