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BERLIN — Microsoft Corp. announced on Thursday the Nokia Lumia 830, Lumia 735 and Lumia 730 Dual SIM smartphones running the latest Windows Phone 8.1 operating system, bringing industry-leading imaging technology to more affordable price levels. Microsoft also announced two new accessories that provide innovative ways for people to interact with their phones, plus the Lumia Denim update, which brings extra features and enhancements to existing Lumia smartphones.

With a slim design, the Lumia 830 is an affordable flagship that delivers high-end innovations such as optical image stabilization and PureView imaging to more people.

Offering wide-angle, front-facing cameras; an attractive price tag; and slim, compact style, the Lumia 730 Dual SIM and Lumia 735 are built for Skype calls and selfies.

Existing Lumia smartphones continue to get even better with the Lumia Denim update, which combines great new features from the latest Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1 with exclusive enhancements such as Lumia Camera, which brings high-quality images at the fastest speeds.

“Our strategy is to help people do more with stunning products that unite and showcase the best of Microsoft’s digital work and life experiences,” said Chris Weber, corporate vice president of Mobile Devices Sales at Microsoft. “The Lumia 830, Lumia 735 and Lumia 730 Dual SIM combine popular Microsoft services such as Skype, Microsoft Office and OneDrive with amazing Lumia innovations in design and imaging to bring experiences that people value, at prices they can afford.”

Lumia 830: The affordable flagship

The Lumia 830 offers the best of Lumia and the latest from Microsoft in a pocket-friendly design and price.

The Lumia 830 captures high-quality images and videos, day or night, with a 10-megapixel PureView camera with ZEISS optics, Rich Recording and the thinnest optical image stabilization system to date on a Lumia.

It delivers the best of Microsoft with pre-loaded Microsoft Office Mobile; the latest version of Windows Phone 8.1 with Lumia Denim; and OneDrive with 15 GB of free storage, allowing content to be synced and shared easily.

It comes with flagship Lumia innovations such as integrated wireless charging in a sleek and light aluminum and polycarbonate design.

Lumia 830 will begin rolling out globally this month, priced around 330 euros before taxes and subsidies.

Lumia 730 Dual SIM and Lumia 735: Built for Skype and selfies

With wide-angle, front-facing cameras and a slim, pocketable style, the Lumia 730 Dual SIM and Lumia 735 let people easily capture and share more.

The front-facing, wide-angle, 5-megapixel camera is great for Skype video calls, letting people share more of the world around them or bring more family and friends into a call.

With an offer for a free, three-month Skype Unlimited World1 subscription, it’s easier than ever to have an international voice call with friends and family on their mobile and landline phones, right from the Lumia 730 or Lumia 735.

Plus, with the integration of one-tap Skype video call access during voice calls,[1] people have even more ways to share their stories, no matter where they are.

Lumia 730 Dual SIM and Lumia 735 will also begin rolling out globally this month, featuring a 2220 mAh battery, 8 GB of internal storage and 15 GB of free OneDrive storage. The Lumia 730 Dual SIM will be priced around 199 euros before taxes and subsidies, while the Lumia 735 with LTE/4G and wireless charging support will be priced around 219 euros before taxes and subsidies.

New accessories to complement Lumia smartphones

Microsoft Devices Group on Thursday also announced two new additions to the innovative Lumia accessories line:

The second-generation smart Wireless Charging Plate DT-903 makes the most convenient way to charge even better by intelligently alerting people when to charge and highlighting notifications with a subtle glow.

The Microsoft Screen-Sharing for Lumia Phones HD-10 lets people beam any content from their smartphone to an HDMI-enabled screen, easily and without content restrictions. It is good for reliving memories with friends and family or sharing presentations at work.

Lumia continues to get even better with the Lumia Denim update

Lumia Denim combines the latest Windows Phone 8.1 update with exclusive experiences for Lumia smartphones. Lumia Denim also cements Microsoft’s leadership in imaging with the introduction of unique innovations in Lumia Camera that make the camera work faster and more intuitively. Coming as part of the Lumia Denim update to Lumia 930, Lumia Icon and Lumia 1520, Lumia Camera offers the following:

Speed. Never miss a moment with Lumia Camera and its fast camera startup and capture speeds. Take numerous photos with just milliseconds between shots.

High definition. Using Moment Capture, a long press of the camera button within the app automatically starts 4K-quality video recording at 24 frames per second. Each frame is of high image quality at 8.3 megapixels, allowing every single video frame to be selected and saved as a still image.

Intuitiveness. Get the best shot every time with Rich Capture, which simplifies picture-taking with auto HDR and Dynamic Flash. With Rich Capture, people can avoid the hassle of adjusting camera settings; they can shoot first and edit and select the perfect shot later.

Quality. Capture high-quality smartphone images in low light with the latest-generation imaging algorithms.

Lumia Camera will initially roll out as an update with Lumia Denim for Lumia 930, Lumia Icon and Lumia 1520 and as an over-the-air update for Lumia 830 in Q4 2014. Lumia Denim will roll out as an over-the-air update to all the other Lumia Windows Phone 8 smartphones, following partner testing and approvals.

About Microsoft Devices
The Microsoft Devices Group includes award-winning hardware used by over a billion people around the world, including Lumia smartphones and tablets, Nokia mobile phones, Xbox hardware, Surface, Perceptive Pixel products, and accessories.

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services, devices and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

RIDGEFIELD PARK, NJ – Samsung Electronics America, Inc. today introduced Samsung Smart Signage TV (SSTV), an all-in-one digital signage solution designed for small, single-location business owners. Providing everything a small storefront owner needs to get up and running with digital signage, Samsung SSTV combines the functionality of a TV with built-in content management software for creating personalized promotional content to increase sales and improve customer loyalty and retention.

“Samsung understands the unique challenges small business owners face when it comes to selecting and implementing technology, and we built this product to address the market need for a cost-effective, easy-to-manage, professional-grade solution that is better suited for these environments than the consumer solutions that many small business owners are using,” said Tod Pike, senior vice president at Samsung’s Enterprise Business Division. “With Samsung Smart Signage TV, we’re giving small business owners the power to enhance their customer communications, enabling them to create more personalized content to drive conversations that extend long after a customer leaves the store to keep them coming back.”

Available in 40- and 48-inch models, Samsung SSTV provides a complete platform for displaying digital content about new promotions and daily specials, sharing educational information about products and services, and broadcasting live TV for on-premise entertainment. Business owners can wirelessly connect to the TV from their laptop, tablet or mobile device to instantly publish and update content, or load new content using a USB drive. SSTV is ideal for use in small, single-location storefronts or service providers such as pizzerias, grocers, salons, drycleaners, dental clinics and more.

Key features include:

Professional-grade LED-lit LCD display designed for up to 16/7 usage to align with standard business hours
Included wall-mount, stand and quick start guide to get signage up and running in hours
MagicInfo Express, a built-in content management software that shop owners can use to easily update customers with information on discounts, store hours, special events and other promotional information
MagicInfo Mobile, which allows businesses to make quick updates or upload photos to promotional materials directly from their Android or iOS mobile device using an app
More than 200 free templates to create personalized signage designs or split-screen TV content
Support for displays mounted in portrait or landscape mode
Commercial grade 3-year warranty, with dedicated service and support
“We see opportunity for Samsung’s new Smart Signage TV among customers who have traditionally purchased consumer solutions for their business needs,” said Ben Davis, display market analyst at Futuresource Consulting. “It will be interesting to see the response especially in the small business market as this has been an area underserved, but discussed for a long time. An out-of-the-box solution is very interesting and one that small businesses could easily leverage to differentiate from their competitors and grow.”

This offering further builds out Samsung’s suite of digital signage solutions, which includes the Samsung Smart Signage Platform (SSP) for larger organizations. Compatible with Samsung’s latest lineup of commercial displays, SSP features a system-on-a-chip that provides support for advanced signage applications, including touch and video wall configurations, all without the need for an external media player or PC.

Samsung SSTV will be available at an MSRP of $749 for the 40-inch model and $999 for the 48-inch model through major club and electronics retailers, as well as select reseller partners.

About Samsung Electronics America Enterprise Business Division
As a global leader in Information Technology, Samsung’s Enterprise Business Division (EBD) is committed to introducing new business experiences across a diverse spectrum of industries from retail to healthcare, hospitality to sales. We believe technology brings business and customers together — to better share, collaborate and discover new opportunities. With a market-oriented approach to innovation, EBD is a division of Samsung Electronics America, Inc. (SEA), a U.S. subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Company, Ltd. (SEC). For more information, please visit samsung.com/business, call 1-866-SAM-4BIZ or follow Samsung EBD via Twitter: @SamsungBizUSA.
About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in technology, opening new possibilities for people everywhere. Through relentless innovation and discovery, we are transforming the worlds of TVs, smartphones, tablets, PCs, cameras, home appliances, printers, LTE systems, medical devices, semiconductors and LED solutions. We employ 286,000 people across 80 countries with annual sales of US$216.7 billion. To discover more, please visit www.samsung.com.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire SmartThings, the leading open platform for the smart home and the consumer Internet of Things. SmartThings supports an open and growing ecosystem of developers, who are producing new types of connected devices and unique apps in the cloud that change how everyday objects work. With Samsung’s resources and support, SmartThings will be able to expand its platform and become available for even more partners and devices.

The company will continue to operate independently under founder and CEO Alex Hawkinson, and will become part of the Samsung Open Innovation Center (OIC), which is responsible for bringing software and services innovation to Samsung Electronics. SmartThings will move its headquarters from Washington, DC to Palo Alto, California.

Founded in 2012, SmartThings gives people power to monitor, control, and automate their homes from wherever they are through a single mobile app. SmartThings’ open platform supports more than 1,000 devices and 8,000 apps created by its community of device makers, inventors, and developers.

“SmartThings has created a remarkable universe of partners and developers and now has the most engagement of any smart home platform in the world,” said David Eun, Head of the OIC. “Connected devices have long been strategically important to Samsung and, like Alex and his team, we want to improve the convenience and services in people’s lives by giving their devices and appliances a voice so they can interact more easily with them. We are committed to maintaining SmartThings’ open platform, fostering more explosive growth, and becoming its newest strategic partner.”

“As an open, standards-agnostic platform for the Internet of Things, our vision has always been to innovate, build, and make the world smarter, together,” said Alex Hawkinson. “With Samsung behind us, we will be able to attract more device makers and developers to unlock the limitless possibilities of the consumer Internet of Things. We are thrilled to become part of the Samsung family and continue our goal in making every home a smart home.”

About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in technology, opening new possibilities for people everywhere. Through relentless innovation and discovery, it is transforming the worlds of TVs, smartphones, tablets, PCs, cameras, home appliances, printers, LTE systems, medical devices, semiconductors, and LED solutions. The company employs 286,000 people across 80 countries with annual sales of US$216.7 billion. To discover more, please visit www.samsung.com.

About The Samsung Open Innovation Center
The Samsung Open Innovation Center brings software and services innovation to Samsung Electronics by working with technology startups and entrepreneurs through investments, acquisitions, partnerships and the Samsung Accelerator. The OIC’s deep integration with Samsung consumer electronics and mobile business units provide entrepreneurs and startups with unparalleled access to Samsung resources, decision-makers, product roadmap, and the world’s largest platform for distribution. Opened in 2013, the OIC operates across offices in Mountain View, Palo Alto, New York City, and Suwon, South Korea.

About Physical Graph Corporation/SmartThings
Physical Graph Corporation is the company behind SmartThings, the open platform for the Internet of Things (IoT). SmartThings enables consumers to easily install connected devices and control them through a single mobile app that makes their homes smarter, more reactive and more enjoyable. SmartThings supports an open and growing ecosystem of over 5,000 inventors and developers producing new types of connected devices and unique apps in the cloud that change how everyday objects work. SmartThings has raised $15.5M in venture capital to date from Greylock Partners, Highland Capital Partners, First Round Capital, SV Angel, Lerer Ventures, Max Levchin, Start Fund by Yuri Milner, A-Grade, David Tisch, CrunchFund, and others. SmartThings is headquartered in Washington, D.C. with offices in San Francisco and Minneapolis. SmartThings products are sold at shop.smartthings.com or Amazon.com. For more information, visit www.smartthings.com.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA– – Today at VMworld® 2014, AT&T and VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW) announced they will deliver highly secure, flexible bandwidth, low latency private cloud network connectivity for VMware vCloud® Air™ customers using AT&T NetBond(SM). Working together, VMware and AT&T will enable customers to quickly connect to VMware vCloud Air using AT&T’s Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) based private network solution.

AT&T and VMware recognize that enterprises continue to cite secure, high performance bandwidth as a key requirement to deploying hybrid cloud solutions linking existing data centers with off-premises cloud infrastructure. This new solution will use patented cloud integration technology from AT&T to pair virtual private networking with VMware’s industry-leading hybrid cloud platform. Customers of the solution will benefit from the enterprise-grade security of virtual private networking, overcoming the barriers that exist for enterprises needing a highly secure, reliable and scalable connection to VMware vCloud Air.

“VMware vCloud® Air™ is unique in allowing customers to extend their existing applications seamlessly into the public cloud, using the same management and security capabilities they use in their on premises environments,” said Bill Fathers, executive vice president and general manager, Hybrid Cloud Services Business Unit, VMware. “By working with AT&T, our customers will be able to connect their existing sites to VMware vCloud® Air™ using AT&T worldwide network in hours or minutes rather than the weeks required for traditional network connections.”

AT&T NetBond’s patented technology will help businesses dynamically connect to VMware vCloud Air from any location on their private corporate networks. This will give VMware vCloud Air customers who use the service the reliability, speed, protection and performance of AT&T’s global network. It also offers the simplicity, flexibility and cost efficiency of the cloud.

“Secure, private and reliable connectivity to cloud services has been a key concern for businesses,” said Jon Summers, SVP Growth Platforms, AT&T Business Solutions. “VMware vCloud® Air™ with AT&T NetBond provides a pre-integrated network-enabled cloud, enhancing performance and flexibility by extending an AT&T VPN into VMware’s hybrid cloud platform.”
The new combined solution is expected to be available the first half of 2015.

Additional Resources
Visit the VMware vCloud® Air™ online press kit to get service details and images
Follow VMware vCloud® on Facebook and Twitter

About VMware
VMware (NYSE: VMW) is the leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure solutions that enable businesses to thrive in the Cloud Era. Customers rely on VMware to help them transform the way they build, deliver and consume Information Technology resources in a manner that is evolutionary and based on their specific needs. With 2013 revenues of $5.21 billion, VMware has more than 500,000 customers and 75,000 partners. The company is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the world and can be found online at www.vmware.com.

Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com/aboutus or follow our news on Twitter at @ATT, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/att and YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/att.
– See more at: http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/vmw-newsfeed/AT&T-and-VMware-to-Bring-Enterprise-Grade-Security,-Speed-and-Reliability-to-VMware-vCloud-Air-Customers/1872981#sthash.MAKiZEnY.dpuf

We are happy to announce that Intex Technologies just introduced the Cloud FX as the first Firefox OS smartphone available in India. Intex will offer the Cloud FX exclusively on Snapdeal.com to give their customers a powerful and customizable smartphone experience.

“It is exciting to see the Intex Cloud FX now available as the first Firefox OS device in India and Asia. The positive consumer feedback from other markets tells us that people like the unique user experience and openness we’re building with Firefox OS. With support from Intex, Firefox OS smartphones in the ultra-low-cost category will redefine the entry-level smartphone and create strong momentum in Asia,” said Dr. Li Gong, President of Mozilla.

“The launch of Intex Cloud FX marks the beginning of a new era of the Indian smartphone market and Intex is proud to be the first Indian company to understand and deliver on market needs. With the launch of Intex Cloud FX, we aim to enable the masses to get smartphone experience at the cost of a feature phone. We are delighted to partner with Snapdeal.com, the partnership allows us to offer the smartphone pan-India at a revolutionary cost,” said Keshav Bansal, Director, Marketing, Intex Technologies.

“The launch of India’s first Firefox OS smartphone by Intex and at such a lucrative price point, exclusively on Snapdeal.com, is very exciting, given the enablement it will provide to current feature phone users to upgrade to a high quality smart phone. We are sure to see a very positive response from our customers,” said Kunal Bahl, Co-Founder & CEO, Snapdeal.com.

The Intex Cloud FX is equipped with Firefox OS, a 1.0 GHz processor and expandable memory of up to 4GB. It boasts dual-SIM capabilities, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for easy connectivity, and built-in functionality for users to monitor and control their data usage. Several languages are supported on the phone, including Hindi and Tamil.

Firefox OS is the first device platform built entirely to open Web standards, with every feature developed as an HTML5 application. Its flexibility, scalability and powerful customization empower users, developers and industry partners to create customized mobile experiences.

This news is courtesy of blog.mozilla.org

REDMOND, Wash. — Recognizing the rapid growth of ultra-affordable mobile phones, Microsoft Devices Group on Monday unveiled the Nokia 130, a mobile phone designed to introduce millions of people to new digital experiences. At just 19 euros,* the Nokia 130 combines the everyday essentials that first-time mobile phone buyers expect with the beautiful design, reliability and mobile entertainment they want. Featuring a built-in video player, music player with up to 46 hours continuous playback on a single charge, and everyday essentials such as a flashlight, FM radio and USB charging, the Nokia 130 is the perfect introduction to a “mobile first” world.

The Nokia 130 is an ideal handset for first-time mobile phone buyers, or for people seeking a reliable backup phone to complement their existing smartphones. It’s built to last, with a 1.8-inch color display and outstanding battery life of up to 36 days’ standby for the single-SIM variant and 26 days’ standby for the dual-SIM device. In design and quality, the Nokia 130 stands out among devices priced below $35.* Every year, people buy 300 million phones from this category alone.**

As one of the most affordable mobile phones with video playback, the Nokia 130 makes new digital experiences accessible to more people. It delivers hours of entertainment with the built-in video player that offers up to 16 hours of playback for video stored on a microSD card, MP3 player and FM radio. With support for expandable microSD storage up to 32GB, alongside the Bluetooth-enabled SLAM application and USB connectivity, it also makes sharing digital content easy without the need for an Internet connection.

“As demand in the affordable mobile segment continues to grow, Microsoft remains committed to delivering market-leading mobile innovation at each and every price point,” said Jo Harlow, corporate vice president for Phones, Microsoft Corp. “It is estimated that at least 1 billion people in the world still do not have a mobile phone, while at the same time there is increasing demand for reliable backup phones in both mature and high-growth markets.”

She continued, “With handsets like the Nokia 130, we see tremendous potential to deliver the experience of a ‘mobile-first’ world to people seeking their first device, and we continue to invest in ultra-affordable devices that will introduce people to a ‘cloud-first’ world through Microsoft services such as Bing, Outlook.com and OneDrive.”

Pricing and availability
The estimated retail price before taxes and subsidies for the Nokia 130 and Nokia 130 Dual SIM is 19 euros. It is expected to begin shipping in the third quarter of this year. The Nokia 130 will be available in select markets, including China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Vietnam.

About Microsoft Devices
Microsoft Devices Group is responsible for the company’s devices strategy, including Lumia smartphones and tablets, Nokia mobile phones, Xbox hardware, Surface, Perceptive Pixel products, and accessories.

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services, devices and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

SAN JOSE, Calif. –Addressing the ever-increasing demand for storage in today’s IT environments, driven by explosive data growth from video applications, the Internet of Everything (IoE) and Big Data, Cisco today announced next-generation storage area networking (SAN) additions for its Data Center portfolio. According to the EMC Digital Universe Study with research and analysis by IDC, April 2014, data produced will grow 10 times by 2020, from 4.4ZB today to 44ZB; 32 billion Internet of Things devices will be connected to the Internet; 40 percent of data will be touched by cloud; and enterprises will have liability and responsibility for 85 percent of all data. To better manage the resulting performance, scale, and operational management challenges, Cisco continues to innovate multi-protocol storage networking solutions for its unified data center portfolio that merge data center networking and compute functions into one data center fabric, for more efficient business operations and end-to-end management.

Cisco has made a strong investment in its SAN product portfolio to meet performance, reliability, scalability, and flexibility requirements for the decade ahead. With more than 125,000 storage networking switches installed at over 20,000 customer sites, the Cisco MDS portfolio offers the highest investment protection and reliability for customer data storage networks.

Cisco introduced the first two members of its 16G fibre channel family- Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director and MDS 9250i MultiServices Switch‑ in 2013. With today’s announcement of the Cisco MDS 9148S Multilayer Fabric Switch, Cisco MDS 9706 Director, and the Cisco MDS 9700 FCoE module, Cisco has a complete 16G portfolio from top-of-rack small SAN switches to the largest SAN products. Furthermore, Cisco provides a complete end-to-end unified data center fabric that is powered by the same NX-OS operating system across its award-winning product line–Cisco Nexus® for data center Ethernet networking, Cisco MDS for storage networking, and Cisco UCS® for compute.

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

New Cisco MDS 9148S
The Cisco MDS 9148S Multilayer Fabric Switch is a highly affordable, versatile, easy-to-manage storage networking switch for entry-level and departmental SANs.

The Cisco MDS 9148S, based on the Cisco “switch on a chip” Storage Networking ASIC, delivers 16 Gbps dedicated Fibre Channel bandwidth per port.
The Cisco MDS 9148S is available in a base configuration of 12-ports with on-demand “pay as you grow” 12-port activation license to scale up to 48-ports. A fully configured 48-port configuration is also available for ease of ordering.
A Quick Configuration Wizard is available for simple out-of-the-box configuration
Enterprise-class capabilities such as non-disruptive upgrades, Virtual SANs (VSANs), Inter-VSAN Routing (IVR), QOS, Port Channels, N-Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) are available
Hot-swappable redundant power supplies and fans provide high availability.
New Cisco MDS 9706 Director

Cisco is extending the industry-leading MDS 9700 Director-class family with the addition of a smaller-footprint MDS 9706 switch for space-constrained deployments, offering high performance, high availability with fully redundant components, and multi-protocol flexibility.

The Cisco MDS 9706 Director is housed in a compact 9 rack-unit (RU) form factor to make optimal use of valuable data center floor space.
The Cisco MDS 9706 Director offers unmatched flexibility with support for a variety of protocols, including the industry’s leading port densities of up to 192 16-Gbps line-rate Fibre Channel ports, or 10-Gbps line-rate Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) ports, or in the future FICON, on the same 9RU form factor modular chassis.
The Cisco MDS 9706 Director offers the industry’s highest performance with 1.5 Tbps per slot switching capability and up to 12-Tbps front-panel switching capacity – thereby providing investment protection for future deployment of next-generation Fibre Channel and Fibre Channel over Ethernet protocols.
The Cisco MDS 9706 Director offers the industry’s highest reliability with N+1 fabric redundancy, hot-swappable redundant supervisors, power supplies, and fans. True front-to-back air flow enables hot-cold aisle deployments
New Cisco MDS 9700 FCoE linecard

With the Cisco MDS 9700 48-Port 10-Gbps Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) Module, the Cisco MDS 9700 Series Multilayer Director platforms now offer multiprotocol flexibility for SANs.

Through deployment of Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), enterprises can converge Ethernet LAN and Fibre Channel SAN – thereby saving money, simplifying management, reducing power and cooling requirements, and improving flexibility; while maintaining the low-latency, deterministic, and network management attributes of Fibre Channel.
The Cisco MDS 9700 FCoE Module extends the benefits of FCoE beyond the access layer by bridging converged multi-hop FCoE SANs to FC SANs.
The Cisco MDS 9700 FCoE Module, the industry’s highest-density FCoE module available in a Fibre Channel Director, is designed to enable seamless interoperability between Cisco MDS 9700 and Cisco Nexus or Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect switches
New Enhancements for Cloud-Scale Deployments

The Cisco MDS and Nexus portfolios enable industry-leading cloud-scale Fibre Channel (FC) and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) infrastructures.

The number of ports and physical/virtual devices supported in the network, which were already industry-leading values, have been more than doubled on Cisco MDS 9700 and Nexus 7700 product portfolios with the increase in number of zones and fabric logins supported
Dynamic FCoE over FabricPath capability enables network convergence of LAN and SAN traffic over the massively scalable and highly available FabricPath Spine-Leaf Ethernet fabric. Dynamic FCoE establishes the link between leaf FCF switches dynamically, creates a logical SAN A/B separation within the Fabric through VSANs and creates a highly resilient SAN fabric.
Increased Performance, Scale and SLA compliance for MDS Data Mobility Manager: MDS Data Mobility Manager on MDS 9250i can now support heterogeneous array migration with data migration throughput of 3.7 TB/hour, in addition to increased scale. Customers can now recover and resume migration operations from recoverable WAN link failure, further strengthening their commitment to meet service level agreement.
New Enhancements to Simplify SAN Management and Reduce Operational Cost

Hardware-based congestion detection and avoidance – Dedicated hardware based fibre channel congestion detection and recovery logic on MDS 9700 not only offloads the software but also provides much more precise and faster detections. Furthermore it also enables automatic real-time recovery if the customer so configures.
Fabric Automation – Cisco is simplifying SAN management through automated provisioning of Cisco MDS 9148S and 9148 configuration on switch power up to enable rapid error-free deployments. Cisco is opening MDS management by supporting automated zoning integration with Cisco UCS Cloud Director, EMC ViPR, Microsoft System Center VMM, and IBM PowerVC to enable pooling of heterogeneous storage assets and centralization of storage management.
Extensive monitoring and visibility- Cisco is introducing three new key features to enhance SAN monitoring to help IT administrators avoid outages and reduce risk during change management windows. Switch Health Score combines all of the impactful switch alerts on a switch to come up with a single health score so that storage administrators can track health of switches over time and proactively restore a switch in the event of an issue. End-to-end visibility into compute, network and storage domains allows for resource planning and problem analysis. Automated path redundancy analysis automatically analyzes, every 24 hours and on demand, whether the redundant paths in SAN Fabric A and in Fabric B are maintaining best practices, thereby signaling any issues proactively.
SUPPORTING QUOTES

The mission of the Department of Children, Youth & Their Families is to ensure that families with children are a prominent and valued segment of San Francisco’s social fabric by supporting programs and activities in every San Francisco neighborhood. “The variety of programs, the number of families we serve, and our grant processes require us to have a storage area network, in which we house 27 terabytes of data, and manage over 400 contracts daily,” said Shawn Ewing, IT Manager. “As a small department within San Francisco City government, our requirements were to start small, have room to grow without replacing equipment, and have a cost-effective solution. With an attractive price and scalability from 12 to 48 ports, Cisco’s MDS 9148S is the ideal fit for our needs, and installation was easy with proven policy-based methodology.”

Crawford & Company is the world’s largest independent provider of claims-management solutions. “The Cisco MDS 9000 Series has been an extremely stable and consistent product line over 10 years,” said John Praet, principal storage architect, Crawford & Company. “We’re confident that the MDS 9700 series switch will deliver similar longevity and return on investment, with a lot of flexibility.”

The Banco Nacional de Costa Rica is the largest bank in Costa Rica and Central America. Its network supports 170 offices and more than 400 ATMs across the country. “We deployed the Cisco MDS Series Multilayer Directors to move from a physical infrastructure to a virtualized environment for greater flexibility and scalability, and the ability to easily segment our SAN environment for higher availability,” said Christian Campos Chinchilla, storage architect for Banco Nacional de Costa Rica. “We look forward to Cisco’s latest MDS offerings, which will offer industry-leading high performance, investment protection and multi-protocol support for cloud deployments.”

About Cisco
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in IT that helps companies seize the opportunities of tomorrow by proving that amazing things can happen when you connect the previously unconnected. For ongoing news, please go to http://thenetwork.cisco.com.

GRAPEVINE, Texas– GameStop (NYSE: GME), a family of specialty retail brands that makes consumers’ favorite technologies affordable and simple, announced today that its GameStop Technology Institute (GTI) business unit has entered into strategic partnerships with Shelfbucks, BestFit Mobile and Dynamic Signal to further extend its focus on driving technological innovation and change within its store environments.

Dedicated to harnessing the power of new and emerging technologies to better address the needs of today’s empowered and informed consumer, GTI was launched by GameStop to pursue an open innovation strategy whereby the Company partners with leading organizations and institutions to explore and build best-in-class research and development capabilities.

GTI was created to understand the drivers surrounding the evolution of the retail industry and advance the pace of change – always keeping the customer experience in mind. With these new partnerships the company is further executing against this overarching goal to create and implement, within its global retail locations, the next generation of business applications for the sector as a whole.

Ongoing Commitment to Innovation to Meet Evolving Needs of Consumers
Working to develop retail solutions that create a positive in-store experience is a key priority for GTI. With this focus in mind, GameStop is partnering to bring Shelfbucks’ iBeacon Platform and BestFit Mobile’s ProxDK solution, into to its brick and mortar retail locations. Through the deployment of these new communication capabilities, the retailer is launching a big differentiator in consumer engagement technology – putting the customer in control of the shopping experience. While today’s customers are traditionally bombarded with promotional offers the minute they enter a retail location, GameStop shoppers will need to take proactive steps, moving smartphones close to beacons installed on store shelving to instantly receive real-time, customized offers via the retailer’s app. As a result, customers will be able to receive digital content that is specifically tailored to their areas of interest when they need it most – shopping inside a physical GameStop store.

Under the terms of the agreement with GTI, the Shelfbucks iBeacon Platform will provide the configuration, deployment and ongoing operation/support for the in-store beacons, as well as the platform to integrate with GameStop’s promotions; while BestFit’s Mobile ProxDK solution will enable for seamless consumer engagement based on a user’s proximity to beacons. Moving forward the collaboration between the three technology providers will also serve as a basis for future retail innovations related to enhancing customer experiences in physical stores.

“Digitization of the physical retail space has always been a top priority of GTI as we look to further GameStop’s evolution as a technology provider,” said Charlie Larkin, senior director, technology innovation at GameStop. “Through our partnership with Shelfbucks and our initial deployment of their iBeacon Platform, there are numerous ways to leverage the emerging technology to deliver a next-generation shopping experience.”

Beginning this September, GTI will formally deploy the iBeacon Platform in approximately 36 locations in its Austin and College Station, Texas test markets. Following the initial test period, GameStop will assess the customer adoption and business value of the promotional capabilities with the potential for the possibility of an additional roll-out in another 60 stores by the end of the year.

Amplifying the Employees’ Voice Via Social Media Initiatives
Since the first GameStop opened twenty years ago, store employees have always played a critical role as informal ambassadors for the retailer’s brand. Today, recognizing the need for a more sophisticated approach to managing the GameStop conversation externally, GTI is partnering with Dynamic Signal to deploy a cloud-based solution designed to amplify the voice of employees online while taking into account the unique nature of content management at GameStop.

Leveraging Dynamic Signal’s VoiceStream technology, GameStop is able to unite with interested employees to drive awareness, reach and engagement in an easy-to-use, brand-safe environment. Moving forward, GTI will now rely upon the VoiceStream platform to facilitate every aspect of this process – helping to identify, recruit and engage advocates and providing them with the tools to share GameStop approved content via web and mobile devices.

“The development and deployment of traffic driving technology is a critical component of GTI’s focus on innovation and interaction at the store level,” said Jeff Donaldson, senior vice president of GameStop Technology Institute. “Recognizing that the interaction between our employees and the customers in the local community is the most valuable type of relationship, we committed to working with Dynamic Solutions to put a technology platform in place that amplifies those conversations beyond the brick and mortar location to create lasting value for all parties involved.”

For more information about Shelfbucks’ leading iBeacon promotion platform, visit http://www.shelfbucks.com. For information about the Dynamic Signal’s VoiceStream technology platform, please visit http://dynamicsignal.com.

About GameStop Corp.
GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Grapevine, Texas, is a global, multichannel video game, consumer electronics and wireless services retailer. GameStop operates more than 6,600 stores across 15 countries. The company’s consumer product network also includes www.gamestop.com; www.Kongregate.com, a leading browser-based game site; Game Informer® magazine, the world’s leading print and digital video game publication; and www.buymytronics.com, an online consumer electronics trade-in platform. In addition, our Technology Brands segment includes our Simply Mac, Spring Mobile and Cricket stores. Simply Mac, www.simplymac.com, operates 23 stores, selling the full line of Apple products, including laptops, tablets, smartphones and offering Apple certified warranty and repair services. Spring Mobile, http://springmobile.com, sells post-paid AT&T services and wireless products through its 210 AT&T branded stores. Cricket Wireless, www.cricketwireless.com, is a new AT&T brand offering pre-paid wireless services, devices and related accessories. We operate 37 Cricket stores in select markets throughout the United States.

San Francisco, CA – Samsung Electronics Co, Ltd., and Google announced that a part of the Samsung KNOX technology will be integrated into the next version of the Android. The next version of Android, which was previewed today at Google I/O, will include a number of new features for enterprise users and IT administrators, such as a separate container to manage and secure business data. This new experience will also provide business users and IT administrators with the ability to adapt to evolving enterprise mobility trends. The announcement is great news for Samsung KNOX related Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and developers who can extend potential target market to a broader Android community with minimal implementation effort.

“I am very pleased and welcome this ground breaking partnership with Google. As a driving force of Android powered mobile devices, Samsung is in a unique position to meet the rapidly evolving mobile security and privacy needs of Android users,” said Injong Rhee, Senior Vice President of KNOX Business Group at Samsung Electronics. “We are delighted with the opportunity to work with Google to help build Android’s enterprise eco-system and establish Android device as the leading choice for businesses. This represents an amazing transformation in workforce mobility.”

“Samsung has been pioneering to bring Android to the enterprise. We are grateful for their contribution to the Android open source project,” said Hiroshi Lockheimer, VP of Engineering, Android. “Jointly we are bringing enterprise-grade security and management capabilities to all manufacturers participating in the Android ecosystem.”

The goal of this unique collaboration is to address the evolving needs for a resilient and secure mobile platform. At the same time it ensures that the end user privacy and experiences are not compromised, so users can enjoy the same Android experience for work as they do for personal use. Along with this effort to expand into the enterprise mobility market powered by the Android platform, Samsung will continue to provide the advanced, differentiated, and comprehensive enterprise mobility solution for enterprise customers.

Samsung KNOX is currently the only Android provider of defense-grade and government-certified mobile security complying with key US Government and Department of Defense (DoD) initiatives and other standards for mobile device security. This enables its deployment in government and other highly regulated enterprise environments. The Samsung KNOX platform received the STIG approval from the US Defense Information Systems Agency to use in US DoD networks in May 2013 and was upgraded to STIG version 2 in April 2014. UK government also recently published End User Device (EUD) Security Guidance for Samsung KNOX on using select Samsung Android devices. Additionally, MDFPP Common Criteria was certified for KNOX embedded devices such as Galaxy S5 and Note 10.1 (2014 Edition) in May 2014 and Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy Note PRO in Feb 2014 each.

Samsung also offers a comprehensive KNOX management and application store service. In addition to the Samsung KNOX components found in this next generation Android platform, Samsung will keep developing specialized proprietary services such as KNOX EMM and KNOX Marketplace.

For more information, please visit www.samsungknox.com

About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in technology, opening new possibilities for people everywhere. Through relentless innovation and discovery, we are transforming the worlds of TVs, smartphones, tablets, PCs, cameras, home appliances, printers, LTE systems, medical devices, semiconductors and LED solutions. We employ 286,000 people across 80 countries with annual sales of US$216.7 billion. To discover more, please visit www.samsung.com.

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. – Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: MSI) today unveiled TekSpeech® Pro, an enhanced voice-directed solution that improves the productivity and efficiency of mobile workers in warehouses, distribution centers and other logistics environments. Motorola has bolstered the TekSpeech platform first introduced 10 years ago with a number of technical advancements including a zero-training speaker-independent speech recognition engine and a flexible architecture that enables companies and PartnerEmpower partners to design an end-to-end supply chain solution that meets their specific business needs with a wide selection of mobile computers.

Picking and replenishment processes account for up to 70 percent of operating costs in a warehouse and remain the top priority for warehouse professionals to address with advanced technology solutions that help reduce order fulfillment costs and increase worker efficiency and productivity. Motorola Solutions’ Future of Warehousing Survey found that picking and replenishment solutions during the next five years will see a significant shift (142 percent increase) toward true multi-modal operation and workflows.

KEY FACTS
TekSpeech Pro is ideal for core warehouse management applications such as picking, packing, receiving, cross-docking, put-away, replenishment, loading and quality inspection.
With voice-directed picking solutions, companies can benefit from hands-free mobile workers focused on the task at hand, which can increase productivity and reduce errors leading to flawless fulfillment and improved customer service.
Motorola’s voice-directed solution provides best-in-class recognition accuracy and requires no speaker training – providing for fast and easy deployments. Users can speak naturally regardless of accent or speed of speech.
The TekSpeech Pro platform delivers state-of-the-art performance that can be tailored to meet partner and customer needs easily with a rich set of tools that allow users to customize their application, seamlessly integrate into warehouse management systems (WMS) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and analyze voice-directed processes to improve workflows.
Motorola has the widest range of multi-modal devices and accessories that enable speech applications in the warehouse. Multi-modal support enables a more natural and efficient communication environment that allows users to interact through multiple modes of speech, scan, touchscreen, and keyboard input.
The TekSpeech Pro platform enhances Motorola’s voice picking solution ecosystem, which gives customers the most choice in selecting the solution that is right for them.
SUPPORTING QUOTES

Joe White, vice president of Enterprise Mobile Computing, Motorola Solutions
“Voice-directed solutions in the warehouse traditionally have been costly and complex to implement and required proprietary hardware and software. Motorola Solutions is reinforcing its 10-year commitment to this market with TekSpeech Pro – bringing flexibility and performance to a completely open, multi-modal solution that will help partners and customers deploy voice-enabled applications that can improve worker productivity and business profitability.”

Laurent Rouly, logistics director, RETIF
“The real driver behind our business is technology and we have relied on our voice system for production and order preparation operations since 2006. Hardis and Motorola Solutions were able to rapidly deploy and implement the TekSpeech Pro solution during our pilot and the speech recognition system exceeded performance expectations. The production operators that utilized the solution were able to save significant time and maintain their productivity because they did not need to repeat their orders to their wearable mobile computers.”

SUPPORTING RESOURCES
Website: TekSpeech® Pro
Website: Motorola Mobile Computers
Infographic: Pick a New Direction
White Paper: Six Reasons to Pick a New Direction in Voice and Multi-Modal Solutions
Facebook: Motorola Solutions
Twitter: @MotoSolutions

About Motorola Solutions
Motorola Solutions is a leading provider of mission-critical communication solutions and services for enterprise and government customers. Through leading-edge innovation and communications technology, it is a global leader that enables its customers to be their best in the moments that matter. Motorola Solutions trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “MSI.” To learn more, visit www.motorolasolutions.com

London/Rotterdam – Innovative marketing and media tech startups will pitch to a panel of leading brand, agency and Venture Capital decision makers for the chance to be crowned The Next Big Thing at ad:tech London after Unilever agreed to partner the initiative and the trade show’s Future Media & Technology Summit.

In this new move, Unilever becomes the first consumer brand to partner the conference and exhibition which this year celebrates its 10th birthday with a ‘Digital Decade: Past, Present, Future’s'(Link opens in a new window) theme.

The Next Big Thing(Link opens in a new window), created in collaboration with Collider, will be working with some of the UK’s leading tech startup hubs to showcase the country’s rising tech stars. The initiative will provide the opportunity to pitch to a panel of leading industry players with the winner being crowned ‘The Next Big Thing’ – a prestigious accolade won last year by mobile native advertising network Avocarrot. Shortlisted startups will also secure free ad:tech exhibition space in a Unilever Foundry show floor feature.

This partnership underlines Unilever’s commitment to innovation through collaborating with start-ups. The Unilever Foundry(Link opens in a new window) enables innovative companies to pilot their technology with Unilever brands, tap into talent and expertise through the mentoring programme and apply for investment through Unilever Ventures.

The partnership will see Unilever take headline sponsorship of ad:tech London’s Future Media & Technology Summit in which Marc Mathieu, Unilever’s SVP Marketing will reveal Unilever’s strategic marketing and media investment plans.

The partnership will also see ad:tech host up to 50 Unilever marketers who will participate in guided tours and special networking events designed to connect startups and technology providers with investment decision makers at Unilever.

Marc Mathieu, SVP Global Marketing explains: “Startups are pioneering the future of marketing. Our partnership with ad:tech enables us to showcase these technologies to the wider marketing community and challenge our existing partners to collaborate with these innovators.”

“As event organisers our job is to connect people and this partnership is a great example of how we can do that in a more effective and efficient way. Unilever’s enthusiasm and drive to make this happen shows their commitment to forging the way when it comes to embracing digital, technology and new forms of community engagement,” says James Drake-Brockman, Head of ad:tech in EMEA & India.
-Ends-
For more information, please contact:
Adam Fisher, Unilever Corporate Media Relations on +44 (0)207 822 5082 or adam.fisher@unilever.com
About The Unilever Foundry

The Unilever Foundry(Link opens in a new window) provides a single entry-point for innovative start-ups seeking to partner with Unilever, enabling the company’s global brands to experiment with and pilot new technologies more efficiently, effectively and speedily. It provides start-ups and entrepreneurs the opportunity to develop and work on global projects, access mentoring from marketing professionals, and tap into funding through Unilever Ventures. Start-ups are invited to find a mentor through visiting http://foundry.unilever.com/mentors/(Link opens in a new window). Simply select a mentor based on their skills and geography, then message that marketer to request their mentorship.
About ad:tech

ad:tech London is the UK edition the world’s largest series of digital marketing events. It is a marketplace for buying and selling, a community for networking, a forum for exchanging ideas and an opportunity for contributing to industry debate and initiatives.
ad:tech’s ten global events deliver top level strategic insight through keynote speakers, topic-driven panels and campaign case studies. ad:tech provides an environment for marketing and media professionals to explore the latest innovative products and services through a market-leading exhibition.
This combination of education, insight, discovery, networking and business development provides visitors with the tools needed to compete effectively in the fast-paced business of marketing and media.

CUPERTINO, California and ARMONK, New York—July 15, 2014—Apple® and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced an exclusive partnership that teams the market-leading strengths of each company to transform enterprise mobility through a new class of business apps—bringing IBM’s big data and analytics capabilities to iPhone® and iPad®.

The landmark partnership aims to redefine the way work will get done, address key industry mobility challenges and spark true mobile-led business change—grounded in four core capabilities:
a new class of more than 100 industry-specific enterprise solutions including native apps, developed exclusively from the ground up, for iPhone and iPad;
unique IBM cloud services optimized for iOS, including device management, security, analytics and mobile integration;
new AppleCare® service and support offering tailored to the needs of the enterprise; and
new packaged offerings from IBM for device activation, supply and management.

The new IBM MobileFirst for iOS solutions will be built in an exclusive collaboration that draws on the distinct strengths of each company: IBM’s big data and analytics capabilities, with the power of more than 100,000 IBM industry and domain consultants and software developers behind it, fused with Apple’s legendary consumer experience, hardware and software integration and developer platform. The combination will create apps that can transform specific aspects of how businesses and employees work using iPhone and iPad, allowing companies to achieve new levels of efficiency, effectiveness and customer satisfaction—faster and easier than ever before.

As part of the exclusive IBM MobileFirst for iOS agreement, IBM will also sell iPhones and iPads with the industry-specific solutions to business clients worldwide.

“iPhone and iPad are the best mobile devices in the world and have transformed the way people work with over 98 percent of the Fortune 500 and over 92 percent of the Global 500 using iOS devices in their business today,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “For the first time ever we’re putting IBM’s renowned big data analytics at iOS users’ fingertips, which opens up a large market opportunity for Apple. This is a radical step for enterprise and something that only Apple and IBM can deliver.”

“Mobility—combined with the phenomena of data and cloud—is transforming business and our industry in historic ways, allowing people to re-imagine work, industries and professions,” said Ginni Rometty, IBM Chairman, President and CEO. “This alliance with Apple will build on our momentum in bringing these innovations to our clients globally, and leverages IBM’s leadership in analytics, cloud, software and services. We are delighted to be teaming with Apple, whose innovations have transformed our lives in ways we take for granted, but can’t imagine living without. Our alliance will bring the same kind of transformation to the way people work, industries operate and companies perform.”

Apple and IBM’s shared vision for this partnership is to put in the hands of business professionals everywhere the unique capabilities of iPads and iPhones with a company’s knowledge, data, analytics and workflows. Specifically, the two companies are working together to deliver the essential elements of enterprise mobile solutions:

– Mobile solutions that transform business: The companies will collaborate to build IBM MobileFirst for iOS Solutions—a new class of “made-for-business apps” targeting specific industry issues or opportunities in retail, healthcare, banking, travel and transportation, telecommunications and insurance, among others, that will become available starting this fall and into 2015.

– Mobile platform: The IBM MobileFirst Platform for iOS will deliver the services required for an end-to-end enterprise capability, from analytics, workflow and cloud storage, to fleet-scale device management, security and integration. Enhanced mobile management includes a private app catalog, data and transaction security services, and productivity suite for all IBM MobileFirst for iOS solutions. In addition to on-premise software solutions, all these services will be available on Bluemix—IBM’s development platform on the IBM Cloud Marketplace.

– Mobile service and support: AppleCare for Enterprise will provide IT departments and end users with 24/7 assistance from Apple’s award-winning customer support group, with on-site service delivered by IBM.

– Packaged service offerings: IBM is introducing IBM MobileFirst Supply and Management for device supply, activation and management services for iPhone and iPad, with leasing options.

Announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference in June and available later this year, Apple’s iOS 8 is the biggest release since the launch of the App Store℠, giving users incredible new features and developers the tools to create amazing new apps. For enterprise, iOS 8 builds on the new IT model for a mobilized workforce by improving the way users are informed of how their devices are configured, managed or restricted, with expanded security, management and productivity features.

Apple designs Macs, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.

IBM’s 5,000 mobile experts have been at the forefront of mobile enterprise innovation. IBM has secured more than 4,300 patents in mobile, social and security, that have been incorporated into IBM MobileFirst solutions that enable enterprise clients to radically streamline and accelerate mobile adoption, help organizations engage more people and capture new markets.

IBM has made a dozen acquisitions in security in the past decade, has more than 6,000 security researchers and developers in its 25 security labs worldwide that work on developing enterprise-class solutions.

IBM has also established the world’s deepest portfolio in Big Data and Analytics consulting and technology expertise based on experiences drawn from more than 40,000 data and analytics client engagements. This analytics portfolio spans research and development, solutions, software and hardware, and includes more than 15,000 analytics consultants, 4,000 analytics patents, 6,000 industry solution business partners, and 400 IBM mathematicians who are helping clients use big data to transform their organizations.

This news is courtesy of www.apple.com

WASHINGTON — At the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) 2014 in Washington, D.C., yesterday, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq “MSFT”) honored its highest-performing Microsoft Dynamics partners for demonstrating exceptional levels of growth while delivering innovative solutions that have helped their customers drive their businesses forward.

“Each year, we recognize and honor a select group of Microsoft Dynamics partners from around the world for exemplary performance,” said Neil Holloway, corporate vice president, MBS Sales & Partners. “These award-winning partners inspire us by the standards they set and the impact they have on the business. Microsoft’s success is a direct result of their contribution, and it is an honor to recognize them for their achievements this past year and for their dedication and support of Microsoft Dynamics applications.”

At the pinnacle of the partners recognized, Hitachi Solutions America Ltd. was named the Microsoft Dynamics Global Outstanding Reseller of the Year, and Incadea GmbH and To-Increase BV were named the Global Outstanding ISVs of the Year. Microsoft honored 13 resellers with the 2014 Microsoft Dynamics Regional Reseller of the Year award, and nine independent software vendors (ISVs) were awarded the 2014 Microsoft Dynamics Regional ISV of the Year award. Several key criteria were considered when selecting Microsoft Dynamics Certified Partners for this special recognition, including outstanding sales performance, thorough technological expertise on Microsoft Dynamics products and services, a consistently high level of customer satisfaction, and feedback from Microsoft team members. The performance-based Microsoft Dynamics Regional Partner of the Year award recipients are as follows:

Reseller Awards

Microsoft Dynamics Global Outstanding Reseller of the Year: Hitachi Solutions America Ltd.

Microsoft Dynamics Reseller of the Year for Asia Pacific: Hands-On Management Pty Ltd.

Microsoft Dynamics Reseller of the Year for Canada: ADXSTUDIO Inc.

Microsoft Dynamics Reseller of the Year for Central and Eastern Europe: GMCS Verex

Microsoft Dynamics Reseller of the Year for Greater China: Shanghai Wicresoft Co. Ltd.

Microsoft Dynamics Reseller of the Year for France: ISATECH SASU

Microsoft Dynamics Reseller of the Year for Germany: KUMAvision AG

Microsoft Dynamics Reseller of the Year for Greater China: Shenzen Huaxu Technology Development Co. Ltd.

Microsoft Dynamics Reseller of the Year for India: Acxiom Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

Microsoft Dynamics Reseller of the Year for Japan: Hitachi Solutions Ltd.

Microsoft Dynamics Reseller of the Year for Latin America: Fesworld SA de CV

Microsoft Dynamics Reseller of the Year for Middle East and Africa: AccTech System

Microsoft Dynamics Reseller of the Year for United Kingdom: eBECS Ltd.

Microsoft Dynamics Reseller of the Year for United States: mcaConnect LLC

Microsoft Dynamics Reseller of the Year for Western Europe: HSO International

ISV Awards

Microsoft Dynamics Global Outstanding ISVs of the Year: Incadea GmbH and To-Increase BV

Microsoft Dynamics ISV of the Year for Asia Pacific: Flintfox International Ltd.

Microsoft Dynamics ISV of the Year for Central and Eastern Europe: LS Retail EHF

Microsoft Dynamics ISV of the Year for France: GFI Progiciels

Microsoft Dynamics ISV of the Year for Germany: GOB Software & Systeme GmbH & Co. KG

Microsoft Dynamics ISV of the Year for Middle East and Africa: Veripark

Microsoft Dynamics ISV of the Year for United Kingdom: K3 Retail Solutions Ltd.

Microsoft Dynamics ISV of the Year for United States: CoCentrix Inc.

Microsoft Dynamics ISV of the Year for Western Europe: 4PS

During the recognition ceremony, a select group of Microsoft Dynamics partners were named to the 2014 Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle and the 2014 Microsoft Dynamics President’s Club. The Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle represents an elite group of the most strategic Microsoft Dynamics partners from around the world, with sales achievements that rank them in the highest echelon of the Microsoft Dynamics global network of partners. These partners are recognized for their exceptional overall company performance in delivering valuable solutions to Microsoft Dynamics customers. Microsoft Dynamics President’s Club honors high-performing Microsoft Dynamics partners with a commitment to customers reflected in their business success and growth.

A list of the Microsoft WPC 2014 and Regional Partner award winners and finalists can be found online at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/partnernetwork/docs/DynamicsPartnerAwards.pdf.

A list of the 60 2014 Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle award winners can be found online at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/partnernetwork/docs/DynamicsInnerCircle.pdf.

A list of the 219 2014 Microsoft Dynamics President’s Club award winners can be found online at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/partnernetwork/docs/DynamicsPresidentsClub.pdf.

About the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference

The Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference provides Microsoft’s partner community the opportunity to interact with leaders from around the globe: innovative partners, Microsoft team members and tech visionaries. Partners have access to key marketing and business strategies, leadership, and information regarding specific customer solutions designed to help partners succeed in the marketplace. Along with informative learning opportunities covering sales, marketing, services and technology, the Worldwide Partner Conference is an ideal setting for to network with thousands of partners from across the world. Attendees come from over 150 countries and represent many of the most successful, top-tier Microsoft partners. More information can be found at http://www.digitalwpc.com.

About Microsoft Dynamics
At the heart of every successful business are the people who make things happen. Microsoft Dynamics designs modern business solutions that empower individuals with intuitive tools that allow them to do their best work. Our proactive, easy-to-use business applications adapt to the way people and systems work, enabling businesses to rapidly deploy and be forward-looking in an ever-changing world.

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services, devices and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. – Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: MSI) has issued its 2013 Corporate Responsibility Report. This annual report highlights Motorola Solutions’ performance as a responsible corporate citizen, dedicated to operating ethically, protecting the environment and supporting the communities where it does business.

KEY FACTS
Motorola Solutions continues to support the Solutions for Hope project, a closed-supply system of mining conflict-free tantalum from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and neighboring countries through our actions and industry-wide engagement.
About 23 percent of the electricity Motorola Solutions used globally in 2013 came from renewable sources.
Motorola Solutions has a goal to reduce total waste by 10 percent in 2015 from 2011 levels (normalized by headcount), as well as increase its recycling rate to 90 percent by 2015.
Motorola Solutions and The Motorola Solutions Foundation contributed $16.4 million from Motorola Solutions cash and in-kind product donations, Motorola Solutions Foundation grants, and employee giving that helped 1.2 million students, first responders and community members in 40 countries. By the end of the year, employees around the world donated 71,000 hours of volunteer time – exceeding the company’s 65,000-hour goal.
The company’s corporate responsibility performance was recognized by a number of external rankings, including: Corporate Knights’ Global 100 Most Sustainable Companies and CR Magazine’s 100 Best Corporate Citizens.

SUPPORTING QUOTES
Jodi Shapiro, vice president, Environment, Health and Safety, Motorola Solutions
“At Motorola Solutions, we are proud of our strong environmental performance, our track-record as a leader in sustainability and our global commitment to corporate responsibility. Our 2013 report highlights both the progress we’ve made with our current initiatives and how we continue to identify and implement new ways to reduce the environmental impact of our operations.”

Matt Blakely, director, Motorola Solutions Foundation
“As the charitable and philanthropic arm of Motorola Solutions, the Motorola Solutions Foundation recognizes that the expertise, solutions and services we provide extends beyond our innovative communications and technology solutions. We’re proud of the positive impact we continue to make in our communities and we encourage our employees to be generous with their time and talents so they can be their best in someone’s moment that matters.”

SUPPORTING RESOURCES

Website: Corporate Responsibility at Motorola Solutions
Document: 2013 Motorola Solutions Corporate Responsibility Report (pdf)

About Motorola Solutions
Motorola Solutions is a leading provider of mission-critical communication solutions and services for enterprise and government customers. Through leading-edge innovation and communications technology, it is a global leader that enables its customers to be their best in the moments that matter. Motorola Solutions trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “MSI.” To learn more, visit www.motorolasolutions.com. For ongoing news, please visit our newsroom or subscribe to our news feed.

SAN RAMON, Calif., — GE (NYSE: GE) announced today the launch of Frost I3, a new Industrial Internet incubator with Frost Data Capital to create and grow up to 30 new startups over the next three years. The incubator will provide funding, resources and expertise to launch companies focused on industrial technologies and solutions that accelerate the advancement of intelligent machines, predictive and contextual analytics, and new workforce mobility tools.

A combined team of GE executives and the Frost I3 leadership will identify ideas for the startups based on the needs of their shared customers. Startups will receive funding from Frost Data Capital and GE Ventures, as well as use of Frost’s incubator resources and facility in Southern California. They will also gain access to GE’s global network of 5,000 research scientists and 8,000 software professionals across industries including transportation, healthcare, energy and finance.

Stuart Frost, managing partner and CEO of Frost Data Capital, said, “Frost I3 is about empowering global organizations to become smarter through innovation. Working with strategic partners like GE, which is a founding member of Frost I3, we are co-investing both time and money to create in-demand companies, and then scaling these new companies in an accelerated and highly effective incubation process. This means our partners will no longer seek out companies to fill strategic gaps or struggle with build vs buy decisions. Instead, they can immediately track progress on a concept they have been involved in from the start, build confidence in a proven management team, and then make an acquisition at the right time, with the right technology that will fit their environment. This results in an all-around win for our partners, the company, the investors, and ultimately our shared customers. What we are looking at, perhaps for the first time, is a scalable model of predictable, repeatable innovation.”

Bill Ruh, vice president, GE Software, said, “The Industrial Internet is the next big opportunity for developers and entrepreneurs to drive rapid innovation and industry transformation. Our collaboration on Frost I3 presents a significant opportunity for new startups to establish their leadership position by gaining access to the right domain knowledge and next-generation technology. We’re excited to expand our Industrial Internet ecosystem and to accelerate industry innovation and capabilities around GE’s Predix platform and Predictivity outcomes.”

To find out more about Frost I3 and the innovative approach taken by GE and Frost Data Capital, visit us at www.frosti3.com or www.gesoftware.com/partners.

About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter. The best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering, moving and helping to cure the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ge.com.

About GE Ventures
GE Ventures is committed to identifying, scaling and accelerating ideas that will make the world work better. Focused on the areas of software and analytics, advanced manufacturing, energy and healthcare, GE Ventures helps entrepreneurs and start-ups succeed by providing access to GE’s technical expertise, capital and opportunities for commercialization through GE’s global network of business, customers and partners. GE Ventures is headquartered in Menlo Park, CA. For more information, please visit http://www.ge.com/company/ge-ventures.

About Frost Data Capital
Frost Data Capital is a combined incubator and venture capital firm with a unique approach, designed specifically to capture some of the enormous value that will be created as the “Big Data” revolution unfolds. Based out of Southern California, Frost Data Capital has built an eco-system of innovative start-ups, with deep expertise in big data, entrepreneurialism, advanced technology, analytics, and the Industrial Internet. For more information, please visit our website at www.frostdatacapital.com

ORLANDO, Fla. — Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and SAP America, Inc., a subsidiary of SAP AG (NYSE: SAP), are working with the HP (NYSE: HPQ) Enterprise Group to help clients more rapidly and cost-effectively adopt and deploy the SAP HANA® platform through an innovative subscription based model. The goal is to accelerate the ability of clients to transform their business by leveraging real-time business insight provided by SAP HANA. The companies will provide integrated solution-as-a-service and additional managed services solutions leveraging their respective assets, products and services to target clients worldwide across various industries. The announcement was made at SAPPHIRE® NOW, in Orlando, Florida.

The solution will help clients that have already purchased SAP HANA but have not started their deployment or fully utilized their license capacity for SAP HANA, and will feature Accenture managed and implementation services and HP Converged System for SAP HANA and Enterprise Group infrastructure services.

The collaboration will include Accenture as the primary services provider, HP’s Enterprise Group as the primary infrastructure provider, and SAP will provide mission-critical product support for SAP HANA. Accenture will manage the client relationship and deliver deep industry expertise, strategy, business process transformation experience and integration and deployment capabilities, while HP’s Enterprise Group will provide to Accenture the systems architecture, IT infrastructure products and technology, and infrastructure services and related software for the new solution.

“Accenture’s strategy, business process and integration expertise coupled with HP’s Enterprise Group IT Infrastructure will help clients take full advantage of the SAP HANA platform. With Accenture serving as the single point of contact, clients would find it easier to deploy and manage SAP HANA on HP Infrastructure and achieve key benefits including lower risk, reduced commitment and greater scaling options,” said Mark Willford, senior managing director, Technology Ecosystem and Offerings, Accenture. “This joint initiative will be managed through the Accenture and SAP Business Solutions Group and provides another example of how we can simplify the process for clients to leverage SAP solutions and Accenture services.”

“Increasingly, organizations are looking to streamline their IT infrastructure by shifting their focus from integrating hardware, software and services, to adopting complete systems that can be quickly ordered and deployed to achieve business results faster,” said Nariman Teymourian, senior vice president, Global Enterprise Solutions, HP. “HP’s Enterprise Group offers industry-leading infrastructure and capabilities that are a critical part to delivering an SAP HANA solution-as-a-service to help customers speed innovation.”

“With today’s announcement, we are taking another step toward helping our customers leverage the power of SAP HANA in the cloud,” said Kevin Ichhpurani, senior vice president and head of Corporate Business Development and Strategic Ecosystem, SAP. “Together with Accenture and HP, we plan to offer the world-class benefits of SAP HANA through a more simplified approach that can include required technology and services without the capital expense of traditional deployment.”

For more information, including additional news and coverage from SAPPHIRE NOW, visit the SAP News Center. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 289,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$28.6 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2013. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

SAPPHIRE® NOW
With SAPPHIRE® NOW, SAP offers customers, partners and prospects even more opportunities to engage in dialogue with peers, participants and thought leaders around the globe. Being held in Orlando, Florida, June 3-5, 2014, this enhanced, real-time event connects attendees on site with global participants through state-of-the-art broadcast studios and an online experience that incorporates the latest social media and community functionality. Whether on site or online, participants can gain insight as to how SAP is delivering on its strategy and helping organizations around the world to run better. For more information, visit www.sapphirenow.com. Follow SAPPHIRE NOW on Twitter at @SAPPHIRENOW and for news and coverage during the event, visit the SAP News Center at www.news-sap.com.

About SAP
As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 258,000 customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

SEATTLE– (NASDAQ: AMZN)—Amazon today unveiled Fire, the first smartphone designed by Amazon. Fire is the only smartphone with Dynamic Perspective and Firefly, two new breakthrough technologies that allow you to see and interact with the world through a whole new lens. Dynamic Perspective uses a new sensor system to respond to the way you hold, view, and move Fire, enabling experiences not possible on other smartphones. Firefly quickly recognizes things in the real world—web and email addresses, phone numbers, QR and bar codes, movies, music, and millions of products, and lets you take action in seconds—all with the simple press of the Firefly button. See what people are already saying about Fire at www.amazon.com/Fire-Phone-Customers.

“Fire Phone puts everything you love about Amazon in the palm of your hand—instant access to Amazon’s vast content ecosystem and exclusive features like the Mayday button, ASAP, Second Screen, X-Ray, free unlimited photo storage, and more,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO. “The Firefly button lets you identify printed web and email addresses, phone numbers, QR and bar codes, artwork, and over 100 million items, including songs, movies, TV shows, and products—and take action in seconds. We invented a new sensor system called Dynamic Perspective that recognizes where a user’s head is relative to the device—we use it to offer customers a more immersive experience, one-handed navigation, and gestures that actually work. And this is only the beginning—the most powerful inventions are the ones that empower others to unleash their creativity—that’s why today we are launching the Dynamic Perspective SDK and the Firefly SDK—we can’t wait to see how developers surprise us.”

Dynamic Perspective—Immersive Smartphone Experience
Dynamic Perspective uses four ultra-low power specialized cameras and four infrared LEDs built into the front face of Fire, a dedicated custom processor, sophisticated real-time computer vision algorithms, and a new high-performing and power-efficient graphics rendering engine. Dynamic Perspective features include:

One-handed gestures: Auto-scroll, tilt, swivel and peek for quicker, easier navigation and a better media and entertainment experience. For example, with auto-scroll, customers can read a long web page or a book without ever having to touch the screen; tilt in Amazon Music shows song lyrics; swivel instantly reveals quick actions; peek in Maps shows layered information like Yelp ratings and reviews.
Immersive apps and games: Dynamic Perspective enables a new class of apps and games that are more immersive, and make it quicker and easier for the user to access information. For example, peek to instantly see close-up front and back views of a dress in the new Amazon Shopping app for Fire. In games like Lili, take on the character’s viewpoint and move your head to look around corners, obstacles, and other objects.
Enhanced Carousel: Stay productive with real-time updates and take action right from the home screen—triage email, find recent photos, access most visited websites, return missed calls, view appointments, and more. Developers can customize the contents of their dynamic app and how it responds to user actions. For example, Zillow’s app in the carousel shows property information based on the location, so customers can access search results on nearby homes from the carousel without having to launch the Zillow app. USA TODAY shows headlines most relevant to customer’s interest—someone who frequents football in the Sports section will see those related headlines appear in the carousel.
Starting today, Amazon is introducing the Dynamic Perspective SDK that enables developers to build new experiences with this groundbreaking technology. Learn more about the SDK at http://developer.amazon.com/firephone.

Firefly Technology–Illuminate Your World
Firefly combines Amazon’s deep catalog of physical and digital content with multiple image, text and audio recognition technologies to quickly identify web and email addresses, phone numbers, QR and bar codes, plus over 100 million items, including movies, TV episodes, songs, and products. Simply press and hold the dedicated Firefly button to discover helpful information and take action in seconds.

Printed phone numbers, email, web addresses, QR, and bar codes: Firefly identifies printed text on signs, posters, magazines and business cards—make a call, send an email, save as a contact, or go to the website without typing out long URLs or email addresses.
245,000 movies and TV episodes, and 160 live TV channels: Firefly recognizes movies and TV episodes, and uses IMDb for X-Ray to show actors, plot synopses, and related content—add titles to Watch List or download and start watching immediately.
35 million songs: Firefly recognizes music and uses Amazon Music’s rich catalog to show information about the artist—play more songs, add them to your Wish List, or download instantly to your Fire. Developers, such as iHeartRadio and StubHub, used the SDK to build Firefly-enabled apps, so customers can create a new radio station based on the song or find concert tickets for the artist.
70 million products, including household items, books, DVDs, CDs, video games, and more: Access product details, add items to your Wish List, or order on Amazon.com.
The Firefly SDK is available starting today so developers can invent new ways to use this advanced technology. Later this year, Firefly will include artwork recognition, foreign language translation, and wine label recognition powered by Vivino. Learn more about the SDK at http://developer.amazon.com/firephone.

Amazon Exclusive Features and Vast Digital Ecosystem—All Deeply Integrated
Fire seamlessly integrates Amazon’s vast digital ecosystem for instant access to over 33 million songs, apps, games, movies, TV shows, books, audiobooks, and magazines, including thousands of exclusives. Plus, Prime members get unlimited streaming of tens of thousands of movies and TV episodes at no additional cost with Prime Instant Video, over 500,000 books to borrow with the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, and the all-new Prime Music—unlimited streaming and download of more than a million songs and hundreds of expert-programmed playlists—all at no additional cost.

Fire deeply integrates Amazon exclusive services:
Mayday is now available over 3G and 4G, in addition to Wi-Fi—simply hit the Mayday button in quick actions and an Amazon expert will appear via live video to co-pilot you through any feature on the device. Amazon experts are able to draw on the screen, talk you through how to do a task, or do it for you—whatever works best. Mayday is available 24×7, 365 days a year, and it’s free. Amazon’s response time goal for Mayday is 15 seconds or less—since launch, the average response time has been 9.75 seconds.
ASAP (Advanced Streaming and Prediction) predicts which movies and TV episodes you’ll want to watch and prepares them for instant playback before you even hit play.
X-Ray helps you get more from books, music, movies, and TV shows. Explore the bones of a book, including characters, ideas and background with a single tap on the screen; bring the power of IMDb right to Fire for trivia on movies and TV shows; plus, with X-Ray for Music, see synchronized lyrics display while you listen to your favorite song.
Second Screen lets you fling TV shows and movies from Fire phone to your Fire TV, PlayStation or any other Miracast-enabled device. Second Screen turns your TV into the primary screen and frees up Fire phone to provide playback controls and a customized display for X-Ray, all without leaving the TV show or movie you’re watching.
Free unlimited cloud storage of photos taken with Fire, automatically backed-up wirelessly and available across Amazon devices and Cloud Drive apps so you have access anywhere.
Beautiful Industrial Design & Powerful Hardware

Built using premium materials, including Gorilla Glass 3 for the rear and front, aluminum buttons, stainless steel details and a rubberized polyurethane grip area, Fire is optimized for beauty, hand comfort and powerful performance:

Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 2.2 GHz processor and 2GB RAM for excellent fluidity and image rendering.
4.7-inch HD display with an ambient light sensor and Dynamic Image Contrast that delivers better outdoor viewing.
Global LTE and connectivity with nine bands of LTE, four bands of GSM, five bands of UMTS for better voice coverage and faster data speeds, 802.11ac support, Wi-Fi channel bonding, NFC, and Bluetooth.
Dual stereo speakers with Dolby Digital Plus for a virtual surround sound experience.
Advanced imaging system with custom-tuned 13MP rear-facing camera with backside illumination, LED flash, 5-element f/2.0 lens, Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), and high dynamic range (HDR) capabilities for beautiful, crisp photos, even in low-light conditions. Fire also includes a 2.1MP front-facing camera. Both front and rear-facing cameras record smooth 1080p HD videos.
Reliable backup and restore leveraging the experience and operational excellence of Amazon Web Services and its cloud technology. Fire customers can automatically back up device settings, notes, bookmarks, messages, and installed applications—no need to manually configure or connect to a computer.
Availability & Exclusive Network Partner

Fire ships on July 25 and is available exclusively on AT&T—the nation’s most reliable 4G LTE network. Starting today, customers can pre-order Fire at www.amazon.com/Fire-Phone, www.att.com and in AT&T retail locations nationwide. Fire with 32GB is available for $199 with a two-year contract—that’s an extra 16GB of memory for the same price as many other premium smartphones—or zero money down for as little as $27.09 a month from AT&T on Next 18. Fire is also available with 64GB for $299 with a two-year contract or starting at $31.25/month from AT&T on Next 18.

Limited Time, Introductory Offer
Starting today, customers can take advantage of an introductory, limited time offer—buy Fire and get 12 months of Amazon Prime included—FREE Two-Day Shipping on millions of items, unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Prime Instant Video, unlimited, ad-free streaming and downloading of over a million songs and hundreds of playlists, and over 500,000 books to borrow from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. Existing Prime members get an additional 12 months added to their account.

About Amazon.com
Amazon opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995. The company is guided by three principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire phone, Fire tablets, and Fire TV are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon.

NEW YORK, NY AND BELLEVUE, WA, – Univision Communications Inc. and T-Mobile US, Inc. (NYSE: TMUS) are joining forces to launch Univision Mobile, a pioneering wireless service created specifically for Hispanic Americans. The new service combines the insights and programming content of Univision, the leading media company serving Hispanic America, with T-Mobile’s wicked-fast network and Un-carrier™ wireless innovation and know-how. The new service will be available nationwide beginning May19th.

Univision Mobile, with service provided by T-Mobile, promises affordable, flexible wireless service developed from the ground up to meet the unique needs of today’s Hispanic Americans. Anchored by the Univision Rewards program and portal, Univision Mobile also gives customers access to tailor-made content, events and apps – right out of the box, Univision Mobile customers are a click away from unique Univision content.

“Univision Mobile’s services and features have been created to satisfy the needs of the U.S. Hispanic community,” said Kevin Conroy, President, Digital & Enterprise Development, Univision Communications, Inc. “We’re providing the best value, no annual contract wireless service plans specifically tailored to our audience’s needs. This partnership further reinforces our commitment to serve our audience in every way possible and also clearly demonstrates how Univision is the gateway for any brand looking to connect with the influential and fast growing U.S. Hispanic community.”

With a population of nearly 56 million, Hispanic Americans are among America’s fastest growing groups. And, according to Nielsen, nearly three out of four Latinos own smartphones (72 percent), close to 10 percentage points higher than average in the United States. Moreover, a staggering 49 percent of Latinos say they plan to replace or upgrade smartphones within the next six months, based on findings from a recent Nielsen survey. Built on T-Mobile’s cutting-edge, data-strong network, Univision Mobile is uniquely suited to meet the needs of the highly connected, tech-savvy Hispanic American community – which has adopted smartphones at a much higher rate than any other group.

“Hispanic Americans are among the largest, most important and most influential groups in the US today,” said Mike Sievert, Chief Marketing Officer for T-Mobile, “And they deserve wireless tailored to their interests and needs. Univision Mobile is a completely unique wireless experience built to provide Hispanic Americans with both the content and mobile experience they crave from two brands they know and trust.”

As the exclusive national retailer, Walmart will offer Univision Mobile in approximately 1,800 of its stores throughout the country. The service will also be available at 6,000 independent dealer locations serving Hispanic communities throughout the country.

“As our customers continue to make the switch to no-contract wireless plans, we’re excited to provide them with another exceptional service that delivers what they want at a disruptive value,” said Mehrdad Akbar, vice president of wireless for Walmart U.S. “With more than 16 million Hispanic customers in our stores each week, we also know staying in touch with friends and loved ones outside the U.S. is very important. Univision Mobile will help them stay connected while providing access to the media content they want.”

Unlike carriers that try to lure in Hispanic customers with an international calling option for an added charge, dubbing it their “Hispanic Plan,” Univision Mobile’s services and features have been custom built to satisfy the needs of the U.S. Hispanic community, including:

Affordable “No Annual Contract” Plans
Unlimited Nationwide Talk and Text plans for just $30 per month
Unlimited Nationwide Talk, Text, and Web plans starting at just $45 per month ($45 plan includes up to 2.5GB of high-speed data)
International features in all plans: To address the international calling needs of Hispanic consumers, all Univision Mobile plans automatically include:
Unlimited international texting from the U.S. to select Latin American countries and 200+ countries and destinations around the world
100 minutes to call mobile or landline numbers from the U.S. to eight Latin American countries, including Mexico
Unique Univision rewards
Ringtones and Wallpapers
Sneak peeks of new Univision shows and premieres
Opportunities for behind-the-scenes VIP access to Univision events and television/radio personalities
Univision Mobile “portal”
Gives smartphone customers access to news, sports, and entertainment, as well as Univision apps, including UVideos and Uforia
Customers can bring along their own compatible devices by simply purchasing a SIM card, or they can choose from a wide array of available devices. Customers with capable smartphones can also download the Univision Mobile application for access to additional content and rewards and to track their minutes, text and data usage.

About Univision Communications Inc.
Univision Communications Inc. (UCI) is the leading media company serving Hispanic America. The Company, a leading content creator in the U.S., includes Univision Network, one of the top five networks in the U.S. regardless of language and the most-watched Spanish-language broadcast television network in the country reaching approximately 95% of U.S. Hispanic television households; UniMás, a leading Spanish-language broadcast television network reaching approximately 89% of U.S. Hispanic television households; Univision Cable Networks, including Galavisión, the country’s leading Spanish-language cable network, as well as Univision tlnovelas, a 24-hour cable network dedicated to novelas, Univision Deportes Network, a 24-hour cable network dedicated to sports, ForoTV, a 24-hour Spanish-language cable network dedicated to news, and an additional suite of cable offerings – De Película, De Película Clásico, Bandamax, Ritmoson and Telehit; Univision Television Group, which owns and/or operates 62 television stations in major U.S. Hispanic markets and Puerto Rico; Univision Radio, the leading Hispanic radio group which owns and/or operates 68 radio stations in 16 of the top 25 U.S. Hispanic markets and Puerto Rico, as well as Uforia, the leading Hispanic digital music service; UVideos, the first bilingual digital video network serving Hispanic America; an Interactive network of online and mobile apps and products including Univision.com, which continues to be the No. 1 most-visited Spanish-language website among U.S. online Hispanics, and Univision Partner Group, a specialized advertising and publisher network. UCI’s assets also include a minority stake in El Rey Network, a new 24-hour English-language network founded by maverick filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, and a joint venture with Disney/ABC Television Network for Fusion, a news, pop culture and satire TV and digital network. Headquartered in New York City, UCI has television network operations in Miami and television and radio stations and sales offices in major cities throughout the United States. For more information, please visit Univision.net.

About T-Mobile US, Inc.
As America’s Un-carrier, T-Mobile US, Inc. (NYSE: “TMUS”) is redefining the way consumers and businesses buy wireless services through leading product and service innovation. The company’s advanced nationwide 4G and expanding 4G LTE network delivers outstanding wireless experiences for customers who are unwilling to compromise on quality and value. Based in Bellevue, Wash., T-Mobile US provides services through its subsidiaries and operates its flagship brands, T-Mobile and MetroPCS. It currently serves approximately 49.1 million wireless subscribers and provides products and services through 70,000 points of distribution. For more information, please visit http://www.t-mobile.com.

SAN FRANCISCO ―Apple® today unveiled iOS 8, the biggest release since the launch of the App Store℠, giving users incredible new features and developers the tools to create amazing new apps. iOS 8 delivers a simpler, faster and more intuitive user experience, including iCloud® Photo Library, allowing you to enjoy your photos and videos more easily across your devices; new Messages features to easily share voice, video or photos with just a swipe; and an entirely new Health app that gives you a clear overview of your health and fitness data all in one place. iOS 8 also includes predictive typing for Apple’s QuickType™ keyboard; Family Sharing, the easiest way to share purchases, photos and calendars within the same household; and iCloud Drive™, so you can store files and access them from anywhere.

“iOS 8 offers simpler, faster and more intuitive ways to use your device with incredible new features like iCloud Photo Library, a new Messages app, the QuickType keyboard and an entirely new Health app,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “We’re also giving developers amazing new tools to make managing your health and your home from your devices an integrated, simple and secure experience.”

In iOS 8, the Photos app and iCloud Photo Library give you access to all of your photos and videos anytime, anywhere. Your photos are easy to find and are organized consistently across your enabled devices. The Photos app can automatically straighten horizons and with smart editing tools, you can quickly adjust light and color or access individual tools for deeper fine-tuning. With iCloud Photo Library, every adjustment and effect is automatically updated across your devices.

Conversations in Messages become more immersive with the ability to communicate with just a swipe. Tap to Talk allows you to share your voice and the same simple gesture also works for sharing videos and photos within Messages. Group messaging now gives you the ability to add and remove contacts, leave a conversation and the option to not be disturbed. Users can easily browse through all of the photos and videos within a conversation and share multiple photos and videos at once. You can choose to share your current location from within Messages for an hour, a day or longer.

The new Health app gathers the information you choose from your various health apps and fitness devices, and provides you with a clear and current overview in one place. iOS 8 offers developers the ability for health and fitness apps to communicate with each other. With your permission, each app can use specific information from other apps to provide a more comprehensive way to manage your health and fitness. For example, the Nike+ apps using NikeFuel will be able to pull in other key HealthKit metrics such as sleep and nutrition to build a custom user profile and improve athletic performance.

New predictive typing for Apple’s QuickType keyboard is smarter and more personalized, and intelligently takes context into account, such as who the recipient is and in which app you’re typing. QuickType understands the way you communicate, suggesting favorite phrases, so you can write entire sentences with just a few taps. What the keyboard learns is encrypted on your device and never sent to the cloud.

iOS 8 introduces Family Sharing, making it easier than ever to communicate and share purchases, photos and calendars within the same household. Family members can browse and download each other’s iTunes®, iBooks® or App Store purchases. Up to six members can participate, each with their own Apple ID. Parents can create Apple IDs for children, which includes Ask to Buy, requiring parental permission for purchases. Family Sharing automatically keeps everyone connected by creating a shared family photo stream, shared calendar and provides an option for locating family members and their devices.

With iCloud Drive, documents of any type can be safely stored, accessed and edited across your devices. Make edits on one device and the most up-to-date version of your documents will be available across all devices, whether an iOS device, Mac®, Windows PC or on www.icloud.com. iCloud Drive brings a whole new level of collaboration between apps, providing seamless access and the ability to work on the same file across multiple apps.

For Enterprise, iOS 8 builds on the new IT model for a mobilized workforce by improving the way users are informed of how their devices are configured, managed or restricted. iOS 8 offers expanded security and management improvements as well as new productivity features, including an expanded level of data protection for key built-in apps, the ability to set your out of office response, see your colleague’s availability when scheduling a meeting and support for configurable Thread Notifications in Mail.

Additional iOS 8 features include:
• design enhancements that build off the stunning interface of iOS 7, bringing interactive notifications, quick access to key contacts, the ability to quickly switch back and forth between the inbox and drafts in Mail, as well as intelligent suggestions;
• extended Spotlight® capabilities that give you results beyond what’s on your device, including articles from Wikipedia, findings from the news and results from places nearby; and
• greater continuity between iPhone®, iPad® and Mac, including Handoff to start an activity on one device and finish on another, along with Instant Hotspot and the ability to make and receive calls and send SMS and MMS messages from your Mac or iPad.

The iOS 8 beta software and SDK are available immediately for iOS Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. iOS 8 will be available this fall as a free software update for iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPod touch® 5th generation, iPad 2, iPad with Retina® display, iPad Air™, iPad mini™ and iPad mini with Retina display. iCloud Photo Library and iCloud Drive use your iCloud storage with the first 5GB free. Features are subject to change. Some features may not be available in all regions or all languages.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.

This news is courtesy of www.apple.com

TAIPEI, Taiwan — June 4, 2014 — Wednesday during a keynote address at Computex, Nick Parker, Microsoft corporate vice president responsible for Microsoft Corp.’s device partnerships, demonstrated the breadth of innovation happening across Windows and the Windows device ecosystem. He was joined during his keynote by Tony Prophet, corporate vice president of Windows Marketing, and Dr. Hsiao-Wuen Hon, managing director of Microsoft Research Asia and distinguished scientist at Microsoft, who provided evidence of how Microsoft is innovating to deliver opportunity for partners and value to customers in a mobile-first, cloud-first world.

Parker opened the keynote talking about Microsoft’s vision for devices in a rapidly changing market and how Microsoft is innovating across its products, partnerships and business model to create opportunity for partners. Parker also talked about Microsoft’s device partner strategy to drive scale and innovation with Windows, through new partnerships and new technology that delight customers.

To talk about how the Windows team is operating with new speed and agility to deliver enhancements to customers and partners, and how Microsoft and its partners can build the next 1 billion devices together, Parker invited Tony Prophet to the stage. Prophet talked about how recent Windows enhancements including $0 Windows for devices smaller than 9 inches, relaxed certification requirements, the release of Windows 8.1 Update, Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows universal apps all make building incredible Windows devices easier for a broader ecosystems of hardware partners and ultimately more valuable and affordable for customers. He talked about the value of Microsoft cloud services across devices and shared the latest momentum:

2 billion Skype minutes per day

4.4 million Office 365 Home subscribers

400 million active Outlook.com users

250 million OneDrive users

48 million Xbox Live members

18 percent share of U.S. search market for Bing

He also shared momentum on apps and announced that Kabam, a leader in free-to-play games, will deliver its lineup of hit games to Windows tablets and phones over the next year, including “Fast & Furious 6: The Game,” “Dragons of Atlantis: Heirs of the Dragon” and “The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth.” Moving forward, Kabam games will be available for Windows in the same timeframe as for other platforms.

Prophet was joined on stage by Nick Hedderman, group manager in the Windows Product Management team. Hedderman demonstrated the latest capabilities in Windows 8.1 Update and Windows Phone 8.1, showing a number of new experiences that were built based on customer and partner feedback, including improved mouse and keyboard navigation in Windows and enhanced notification, personalization and file management options in Windows Phone. He finished the demo with a look at Cortana, Microsoft’s new personal assistant on Windows Phone, and spoke about its upcoming availability in both China and the U.K.

Microsoft and its hardware partners announced new designs, price points and markets for Windows devices. Parker had nearly 40 brand-new devices on stage, including all-in-ones, laptops, 2-in-1s, tablets and smartphones. He gave the first sneak peek of Toshiba’s 7-inch tablet that will be available in the coming months at a value-driven price point that is very competitive to any other 7-inch-class device and unveiled the HP Pro x2 612 2-in-1 that is packed with business-ready capabilities including security features, a Wacom stylus, and dual batteries in the tablet and the power keyboard. He demonstrated an expanding ecosystem with new partner devices including numerous tablets from partners in the China technology ecosystem in Shenzhen, Beijing and Shanghai, including Haier, VIDO and Luckystar. Parker also showcased a breadth of smartphones from value to premium from new partners including BLU, InFocus Corp., Prestigio and Yezz. These new devices are the result of Microsoft’s expanded collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies Inc. on its reference design program, which enables device manufacturers to quickly and efficiently broaden their portfolio with Windows Phones.

Dr. Hon joined Parker on stage for a discussion about the future of computing and key areas of investment for Microsoft Research that include big data, machine learning, datacenter, sensors, computer vision and natural user interface. Dr. Hon talked about advancements in computer science and provided examples of how technology coming out of Microsoft Research ends up in products such as Xbox, Bing and Skype. He concluded by sharing his thoughts on how computing is evolving to become more human-centric, which provides a more personal and contextual user experience for people to do more, know more and be more.

Computex is the second-largest computer exhibition in the world, drawing a range of manufacturers and developers each year for a look at the latest upcoming devices and technologies. Microsoft products and partner devices can be seen on display in the Microsoft booth in Nangang Exhibition Hall, L Area-#0110. More information is available at http://www.computextaipei.com.tw/.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services, devices and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

This news is courtesy of www.microsoft.com