By David Sims

David at firstcoffee d*t biz

 

The news as of the second cup of coffee this morning, and the music is Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver's Gospel Parade:

 

C.S. Wo & Sons, Honolulu, has selected Storis Management Systems Vision R8 package for its retail operating system.

The firm operates 17 furniture stores in Hawaii and California.

In addition to Vision R8's core products, C.S. Wo also use several companion services, including Executive Information System, InTouch CRM and Mobile Vision WiFi Technology.

"We are proud to be selected as a business partner with this prestigious retailer," said Doug Culmone, chief operating officer for Mt. Arlington, N.J.-based Storis.

 

. . . .

 

Bango has announced that it has appointed Cary Stanek as Customer Services Manager for the US.

 

With the US experiencing a rapid growth in mobile Web services, the Bangovians say, Stanek joins the company "to further strengthen Bango's relationships with its US customers."

 

The US, with over 226 million mobile subscribers, is a growing market due to the popularity of flat-rate data plans, Bango officials say: "According to m:metrics, 31 million of US subscribers, access news and information on the mobile Web, with downloading ringtones and games also being popular past times."

 

The US content industry is "now realizing the benefits of the mobile Web in delivering safe and transparent subscription services to its consumers," said Elaine Davies, VP Customer Services at Bango.

 

Stanek has 15 years experience in the wireless and Internet industry, having worked at Verizon Wireless, AT&T and DotPhoto.com, where he managed accounts and developed customer care and marketing programs.

 

. . . .

 

The J.M. Smucker Company, a vendor of fruit spreads, peanut butter and other such products in North America, has selected Oracle Application Integration Architecture and

Oracle's Siebel CRM Integration Pack for Oracle Trade Promotion Management,

Oracle officials have announced. 

 

The J.M. Smucker Company is reportedly "the first Oracle customer to deploy the new Application Integration Architecture (AIA) with Siebel CRM Integration Pack for Oracle Trade Promotion Management."

 

By using AIA and deploying the Siebel CRM Integration Pack, Smucker can execute promotions, maintain a view of customer data, manage trade funds, resolve invoice deductions and enhance analytical capabilities, the Oraclians say.

 

For the initial project, the company used its previous implementation of the Oracle E-Business Suite and deployed Siebel 8.0. The standards-based approach uses the AIA architecture and will help support future upgrades.

 

"We partnered with Oracle to develop an SOA integration architecture for our Siebel Trade Funds and the Oracle E-Business Suite integration," said Andy Platt, Vice

President and Chief Information Officer for The J.M. Smucker Company.

 

Jesper Andersen, Senior Vice President of Application Development, Oracle, noted that consumer goods companies "spend approximately 20 percent of total revenue on trade promotion activities with their retail partners."

 

. . . .

 

Sand Technology, an information management software vendor, has announced that its South Korean reseller, FreeSat, has expanded its Financial Services portfolio with three new customers implementing the SAND/DNA product suite using FreeSat's consulting services.

 

FreeSat specializes in providing business intelligence consulting services and IT products for information lifecycle management, and has been a Sand reseller for five years.

 

Over the past three months, FreeSat has increased their presence in the Financial Services market, company officials say, "working with a number of South Korean financial institutions including Woori Bank, a main arm of Woori Finance Holdings." FreeSat officials say they will provide Woori Bank with an enterprise data warehouse product.

 

"The continuing data explosion is a challenge facing organizations all over the world," said Linda Arens, Vice President, Global Alliances and Marketing, Sand Technology.

 

SAND/DNA is built to let users retain "massive amounts of compressed data in a nearline

repository for extended periods," company officials say, "in accordance with any applicable business rules and regulatory requirements."

 

. . . .

 

Consona ERP, a vendor of enterprise resource planning software and services for small and midsize discrete manufacturers, has announced that it has acquired substantially all of the Intuitive-related assets of Automated Design Systems, a Canada-based vendor of software tools, implementation services, integration support and education programs for various CAD and ERP applications.

 

The acquisition of the Intuitive-related assets of ADS is part of Consona ERP's plan to acquire manufacturing expertise within the ERP industry, Consona officials say, adding that it "extends the company's footprint within the Canadian market."

 

The idea is for the combined companies to grow and increase market share as a provider of ERP software and services for Canadian manufacturers.

 

The deal gives Consona the intellectual property for, and expertise behind, Intuitive ERP's CRM and service functionality, "making it easier and faster to support, service, maintain and enhance this module moving forward," Consona officials say.

 

This acquisition shows Consona ERP "is putting significant resources behind the international scale and marketability of Intuitive ERP," said Scott Malia, general manager of Consona ERP: "In addition to the IP for the Intuitive ERP CRM module, Consona ERP will gain professionals already intimately familiar with the Intuitive ERP product and the Canadian customer base."

 

According to Malia, the ADS brand and trademark will not become a part of Consona ERP, and ADSs CAD business will continue to operate under the ADS name, remaining unaffected by the acquisition. Consona will use the acquired ADS expertise to create a distribution channel for its family of ERP products, thereby creating Consona Canada.

 

Consona Canada will operate from the former ADS Winnipeg location and will be managed by Dmitry Kirshner, former vice president of client services for ADS.

 

. . . .

 

Alterian, a marketing platform vendor, has announced the completion of its acquisition of Web content management software company Mediasurface, including its flagship products Morello and Immediacy, subject only to the formality of admission of the consideration shares to trading on the London Stock Exchange which is expected to take place Wednesday.

The addition of Mediasurface's Web content capabilities will enable Alterian to expand its Marketing Services Platform to offer integrated analytics, content and execution, company officials say, adding that Alterian's "strengths in online and offline analytics will be enhanced by Mediasurface's content management and execution for Web sites, corporate intranets, extranets" and social media channels.

"Web sites are increasingly becoming a core part of measurable lead generation, as well as more traditional branding activities. As such, the case for optimizing the customer experience through the Web is accelerating -- requiring powerful Web content management capability linked to analytics of all of an organization's marketing data, said Alterian CEO David Eldridge.

 

The new company will trade as Alterian and will continue to invest in and support Mediasurface products. This follows the strategy adopted by Alterian following its acquisition of e-mail and online marketing software company Dynamics Direct in 2006.