New InSystems product line release helps insurers meet compliance regulations and respond to changes more quickly

Whitehill Technologies, Inc. announced the latest release of IStream Writer, part of the InSystems line of software which helps insurance companies get new products to market faster.

Insurance is a complex, highly regulated business, and the process of bringing new products to market can take more than a year. Whitehill's InSystems line of software reduces that time by 50% or more. The InSystems line manages the product lifecycle from initial drafting of contract language, through regulatory approval, to sales and policy issuance.

As part of this process, IStream Writer 1.2 lets insurers create documents and policies which comply with the multitude of regulations enforced by state filing agencies. The new-product developer in IStream Writer 1.2 lets users create a master document which can be tailored to fit state regulations, lines of business and specific products. When the master document is modified, changes are automatically applied to all the appropriate documents, eliminating multiple updates and reducing compliance risk.

IStream Writer 1.2 shortens product implementation and rollout timelines with its unique ability to automatically transform these filed documents into templates for policy production. The latest release further improves speed-to-market by providing advanced capabilities for updating product wordings, allowing for faster response to legislative changes and hassle-free product enhancements.

"We've listened carefully to what our customers have been saying, and we've made improvements to help them get their new products to market faster," says Neil Betteridge, VP, Product Management, Whitehill Technologies, Inc. "Insurance carriers are under pressure from today's sophisticated, well educated consumers to provide innovative, competitive offerings. It's critical that insurers be able to get these new products to market as soon as possible. Whitehill is committed to helping our customers accomplish that goal."

About Whitehill Technologies Inc. (www.whitehilltech.com)

Whitehill Technologies, Inc. develops and implements document and compliance automation software that helps insurance companies and legal firms accelerate key business processes. Whitehill's InSystems product line helps get new products to market faster by speeding up development and regulatory filing processes. More than 1,000 customers in 45 countries, including more than half the largest 100 insurers in North America, have used Whitehill software to personalize and accelerate the way they communicate with customers, getting the right information into the hands of the right people at the right time. Whitehill is a privately held company with more than 200 employees in Canada, the United States and the UK. Whitehill is headquartered in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.

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Hummingbird Enterprise™ eDOCS for SharePoint provides seamless access to content managed by Hummingbird

Hummingbird Ltd. (NASDAQ: HUMC, TSX: HUM), a leading global provider of integrated enterprise content management (ECM) and network connectivity solutions, announced the general availability of Hummingbird Enterprise™ eDOCS for Microsoft® SharePoint® which provides seamless access to and interaction with content managed by Hummingbird Enterprise through Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003. eDOCS for Microsoft SharePoint will also integrate with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 when it is launched.

eDOCS for Microsoft SharePoint enables organizations to further leverage their investment in Hummingbird Enterprise, by providing workers using SharePoint Technologies with seamless access to Hummingbird's robust document management and records management capabilities in support of regulatory compliance.

eDOCS for Microsoft SharePoint is a collection of customizable Web Parts which expose the rich functionality of Hummingbird Enterprise within Microsoft Office SharePoint environments, providing a central point of access to documents, folders, and workspaces and exposing Hummingbird's leading full text search capabilities through SharePoint products and technologies. It offers fully customizable document/folder views based on secure metadata and login access rights.

"Hummingbird has a strong heritage of providing the best application integration with the Microsoft platform. In addition to fully leveraging Microsoft SQL Server as the underlying content repository platform for Hummingbird Enterprise, Hummingbird continues to deliver innovative solutions to ensure that organizations can make more efficient use of the Microsoft technology stack," said Alp Hug, Vice President of Strategic Business Development, Hummingbird Ltd. "eDOCS for Microsoft SharePoint will provide our joint customers with the ability to leverage Hummingbird Enterprise through Microsoft SharePoint, allowing information workers to further extend their productivity."

"Hummingbird's rich expertise building solutions for Fortune 100 companies around the world is well known," said Kurt DelBene, Corporate Vice President of the Office Business Platform Group at Microsoft. "Together with the investments we're making with the 2007 Office system, Hummingbird's customers will be able to realize the benefits of having the content they need at the tips of their fingers, within a single environment, so they can make better business decisions."

With more than 700 attorneys and other professionals in 10 U.S. offices and a global reach throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Canada, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP serves many of the world's largest and best-known businesses, nonprofits and individuals. "Our Firm's information management goals require integrating information from multiple firm systems. We use our Web Portal as the delivery vehicle where these assets, the firm's collective knowledge about people, companies, relationships, experience and expertise, intersect in an attorney-preferred desktop view," said Andy Jurczyk, Chief Information Officer at Sonnenschein. "We partnered with both Microsoft and Hummingbird to develop a Web portal platform using and integrating the latest technologies from both companies. The portal provides our attorneys with the flexibility to organize information into client, matter and practice-centric views for optimal productivity and client service.

"We are contemplating integrating Hummingbird's LegalKEY Records Management within our SharePoint portal for transparency into client records as well as e-filing capabilities. Further, we are planning new client extranets as well as Web site advances all as a direct result of our work with Microsoft and Hummingbird and the synergies among their product offerings," adds Jurczyk.

Taylor Vinters, a leading regional UK law firm and long established Hummingbird user will be deploying the newly released Hummingbird eDocs for Microsoft SharePoint as part of a major development they are undertaking to deliver combined CRM, financial and document information to all staff, facilitating improved working efficiencies and better customer contact and service.

"Software such as Hummingbird Enterprise, Microsoft Dynamics and SharePoint Portal have opened up fantastic possibilities for IT to deliver to the firm real tangible benefits in improving the firm's access to information," said Steve Sumner, Director of IT at Taylor Vinters. "The ability to interface Microsoft's SharePoint platform with Hummingbird technology will be a key benefit for us. It will enable people to call up in an instant a list of documents for a client and work on them, all with a simple search, and not only documents but CRM and financial information as well. That all translates to real financial benefits by making us more efficient in doing what we do with Microsoft SharePoint Server, while Hummingbird Enterprise addresses all of our document management needs.

"That holy grail of integrated IT at the front of the house is coming closer with Hummingbird and Microsoft joined together. Our ongoing investment in their technology is ready to spring us forward," added Sumner.

Located in Brussels, the EFTA Surveillance Authority was formed to ensure that European Economic Area (EEA) rules are properly enacted and applied by the EFTA States, which include Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. The EFTA Surveillance Authority is currently evaluating eDocs for Microsoft SharePoint in order to implement a system that enables two way electronic communication with external parties and the Authority. This comprises both uploading of information by external parties and publishing of structured and unstructured content for search and retrieval purposes.

"For us, the principal value we see in the integration is the easy way that we may integrate our internal Hummingbird Enterprise document management system in different situations and be able to expose only a subset of the content to external parties. We plan to implement subsites that general users may use for accessing information that is non-confidential," said Battista Vailati, Officer, Information Technology for the EFTA Surveillance Authority. "Additionally, by leveraging our Hummingbird document management repository through Microsoft SharePoint, we will be able to create these subsites considerably faster than in the past."

Hummingbird partner, Eli Rotenberg, from Systematics Ltd. states: "Hummingbird has done a good job exposing the functionality of Hummingbird Enterprise DM from within the Microsoft SharePoint environment. From the perspective of an end user, the integration is quite intuitive and will not require any special training for those who are familiar with Hummingbird Enterprise DM. From the point of view of the system administrator, installation and configuration of the integrated technologies is straight forward and user-friendly."

Hummingbird will be demonstrating Microsoft SharePoint integration at booth #306/308 at the International Legal Technology Association `06 conference to be held August 21-24 at Grand Lakes Resort in Orlando, Florida.

About Hummingbird Enterprise™

Hummingbird Enterprise provides an integrated platform for enterprise content management that provides global organizations with solutions to manage business interaction information such as documents, records, virtual deal room exchanges, discussions, e-mail or financial data - linking business processes, information and people. Hummingbird solutions are designed as modular applications that are fully interoperable with each other, enabling customers to incrementally build an enterprise content management solution to meet their evolving information needs in a cost effective manner.

About Hummingbird

Hummingbird Ltd. is a leading global provider of enterprise software solutions. The Company's enterprise software solutions fall into two principal categories: enterprise content management (ECM) solutions, and network connectivity solutions. Hummingbird's ECM solutions enable organizations to manage the lifecycle of enterprise content from creation to disposition, thereby enabling organizations to address critical business needs, such as information management, business continuity, compliance and risk mitigation. The network connectivity solutions provide a comprehensive set of core network technologies that enables the enterprise to connect to any type of legacy system.

Founded in 1984, Hummingbird employs over 1,400 people and serves more than 33,000 customers, including 90% of Fortune 100 companies. Hummingbird solutions are sold directly from 40 offices worldwide and through an Alliance Network of partners and resellers. For more information, visit www.hummingbird.com.

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Acquisition Strengthens Benefits Management Offerings

Vertafore, Inc., a leading provider of specialized software solutions for the insurance industry, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all outstanding stock of BenefitPoint^®, a leading San Francisco-based provider of sophisticated benefits software solutions. By combining the complementary capabilities and taking advantage of Vertafore's financial strength and organizational stability, the two companies will be able to effectively meet the needs of all segments of the benefits agency market and deliver the most comprehensive solution in the industry.

"We are excited about this opportunity to become part of the Vertafore family," said Kurt M. de Grosz, president and co-founder of BenefitPoint. "The new organization will have the domain expertise, product breadth, customer base and financial stability required to make it a clear market leader."

"BenefitPoint has always impressed us with their domain expertise and product offering in the benefits arena," said Euan Menzies, president and CEO of Vertafore. "The combination of the two companies will enable us to deliver a strong, comprehensive solution to benefits agencies."

The acquisition is subject to the satisfaction of normal conditions to closing. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. 

About Vertafore, Inc.
Vertafore is a leading provider of specialized software services and information for the insurance industry, delivering solutions to facilitate independent agent productivity and carrier/agent connectivity. Vertafore's principal operating entities are AMS Services, SilverPlume^®, Custom Insurance Solutions and others. AMS provides agency software and services. CIS develops and markets software solutions specifically designed for the wholesale brokerage and managing general agents. SilverPlume is the industry's leading aggregator of insurance reference content for risk analysis and underwriting support. For more information on Vertafore and its operating entities, please visit www.vertafore.com

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Wincor Nixdorf is now the only ATM vendor installed at all Susquehanna branches

Wincor Nixdorf, one of the world's leading suppliers of IT solutions for the banking and retail industries, announced that Susquehanna Bancshares, has selected the company as its total banking solutions IT partner. Because of the successful deployment, Susquehanna is now Wincor Nixdorf’s first customer in the U.S. to install all Wincor hardware, software and services to its branches and entire ATM fleet.

Wincor Nixdorf has deployed or replaced all 170 ATMs, including full-function interior, through-the-wall, and drive-up ATMs as well as cash dispensers; installed its Windows®-based ProCash® DDC multi-vendor software solution with web extensions; and implemented its ProView® monitoring and management solution for Susquehanna’s entire ATM fleet. Wincor Nixdorf will also provide first and second-line maintenance services, manage monthly operating system updates, and will monitor Susquehanna’s software inventory on the ATMs via its version control system.

“The new hardware, software and services from Wincor Nixdorf have given Susquehanna the opportunity to focus even more on our customers while still being able to reduce costs,” said Steven Stoner, vice president, director of systems support and EFT services, Susquehanna Bancshares, Inc. “With Wincor Nixdorf, we are now able to provide reliable, innovative ATM solutions at a lower total cost of ownership.”

Wincor Nixdorf’s ProCash DDC multi-vendor software solutions with web extensions allow the software to run on other brands of ATMs. The multi-vendor platform provides Susquehanna with greatly improved user interface capabilities and the ability to integrate new transactions at the ATM in the future. ProView is Wincor Nixdorf’s ATM monitoring and management tool that allows Susquehanna to automatically monitor its entire network around the clock, providing the bank with a single point of software distribution for updates, instead of depending on costly on-site visits by technicians.  Susquehanna will utilize ProView for remote content/application updates, allowing the bank to deploy new advertising campaigns quickly and cost effectively.

Also under the agreement, Wincor Nixdorf field service engineers (FEs) will provide all services and will carry only certified Wincor Nixdorf parts, and will have access to additional local parts depots in the Susquehanna vicinities as backup supplies. Wincor Nixdorf has utilized its global eServices Platform® to allow Susquehanna to electronically create service tickets as well as monitor the progress through complete ticket closure. Susquehanna will also be able to customize its own online service performance reports via Wincor Nixdorf’s iSupport Web-based solution. 

“Susquehanna is one of the first companies of its size to prepare its entire ATM fleet for the new regulations that are required of all financial institutions, in order to automate multi-vendor ATM operation and management and to begin the migration towards more functionality at the ATM,” said Julia Waugh, director of marketing, Wincor Nixdorf USA. “Wincor Nixdorf is pleased to be Susquehanna’s total banking solutions provider. Susquehanna is setting the standard for financial institutions of its size.”

Current Project: Wincor Nixdorf ProSales® CRM Solution

Wincor Nixdorf is currently working with Susquehanna to deploy its ProSales CRM software solution. The ProSales software will give Susquehanna the ability to make direct, personalized contact with customers at the ATM, including advertisements, messages, surveys or other information. With ProSales, the customer’s response is delivered directly to the marketing system and acts as the link between a bank’s existing CRM system and its ATM network – allowing Susquehanna to generate revenue with third-party advertising, reduce advertising costs, and increase customer loyalty through personalized marketing and sales campaigns.

Wincor Nixdorf is also working with Susquehanna to utilize ProSales for broadcast advertising campaigns of the bank’s services and products to customers via large flat screens in Susquehanna’s branches.  The browser-based ProSales solution will be centralized at the ProSales server, which will then send the information (advertisements) to the flat screens in the branches.  “The ProSales project is very exciting for Susquehanna because it will allow us to find out what is most important to our customers and immediately meet those needs,” said Stoner.

About Susquehanna

Susquehanna is a financial services holding company, operating in multiple states, with assets of $8.3 billion. Headquartered in Lititz, PA, the company provides financial services through its subsidiaries at 167 branch locations in the mid-Atlantic region. In addition to its three commercial banks, Susquehanna operates a trust and investment company, an asset management company, an insurance brokerage and employee benefits company, a commercial leasing company and a vehicle leasing company. Investor information may be requested on Susquehanna's Web site at www.susquehanna.net.

About Wincor Nixdorf

Wincor Nixdorf is one of the world's leading suppliers of IT solutions to the retail and banking industries. The company's extensive portfolio, consisting of hardware products, software, consulting, maintenance and other services, is aimed at reducing the cost and complexity of business processes while improving customer service. Wincor Nixdorf is the world's third largest supplier of POS systems and automated teller machines and the number one supplier of POS systems in Europe (source: Clarendon Report, April 2005). With nearly 7,000 employees and net sales of €1,744 million last fiscal year, Wincor Nixdorf operates in over 90 countries with manufacturing plants in Germany and Singapore. Worldwide headquarters are in Paderborn, Germany and North American headquarters are in Austin, Texas. For more information, visit www.wincor-nixdorf.com/usa.

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Fincentric Corporation, a leading global provider of core retail banking software to financial institutions, announced that Meridian Credit Union has completed a large-scale conversion to Fincentric's core banking system to offer better member services across
all channels.

The seamless expansion of database and software matches the growing demand of the third largest credit union in Canada. "Our partnership with Fincentric has given us the software tools we need to better manage and service our 187,000 members," says Steve Gesner, CIO at Meridian Credit Union. "Technology continues to be a significant factor in delivering outstanding relationship service to our members. All of our systems are up and running and we're very pleased with the deployment of our new banking system from Fincentric, which was accomplished on schedule and within budget."

Meridian Credit Union required a flexible banking platform that met its technology vision as well as its business objectives for industry leading vendor support. Fincentric offered a scalable solution for Meridian's developing needs. Its comprehensive financial software system now provides Meridian Credit Union with a complete front-to-back office banking solution that supports its many delivery channels, including branch, ATM, POS, IVR and Internet services.

In 2005, Meridian was formed with the merger of Niagara Credit Union and HEPCOE Credit Union. The credit union decided to adopt Fincentric's software solution, which is flexible and scalable, and allowed the new credit union to seamlessly integrate and enhance Meridian's overall operations.  Fincentric software provides Meridian Credit Union with core banking capabilities, integrated delivery channels and real-time, online transaction processing.

"The success of the conversion reflects our ability to implement large scale banking systems within the Canadian financial services industry," said Robert Nygren, President & CEO of Fincentric Corporation. "We're excited to play a part in Meridian's future growth as they continue to demonstrate leadership within the growing credit union system."

About Meridian Credit Union
Meridian Credit Union is Ontario's largest credit union serving more than 187,000 members throughout Ontario with a full range of banking, wealth management, and credit products and services. With 43 branches and eight Commercial Banking Centres located throughout Ontario, the credit union has more than 900 employees and over $3.5 billion in assets. Meridian invests 4%
of pre-tax earnings - more than four times the national average for corporate giving - in the communities where it operates through their Good Neighbour Program. For more information about Meridian Credit Union, please visit www.meridiancu.ca.

About Fincentric Corporation
Fincentric Corporation is a leading provider of core retail banking and customer value management software to the global financial services industry. Fincentric's Wealthview family of integrated products enables financial institutions to leverage customer knowledge to deliver personalized service and products, and to develop profitable customer relationships. Fincentric has strategic alliances with TELUS, Microsoft and Intel, and supports financial institutions in over 20 countries. For more
information about Fincentric, please visit www.fincentric.com.

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Wincor Nixdorf, one of the world's leading suppliers of IT solutions for the banking and retail industries, announced the selection of Alan Walsh as vice president of banking, Wincor Nixdorf USA, overseeing all aspects of the company’s banking solutions business in the U.S.

As vice president of banking for the U.S, Walsh will work to strengthen existing relationships with both customers and strategic business partners. He will also work to grow Wincor Nixdorf’s successful service business in the U.S. Wincor Nixdorf has recently made great strides within its service business in the U.S., including announcing the availability of its innovative eServices platform that connects Wincor Nixdorf service management with service customers via an electronic network.

Prior to his new position at Wincor Nixdorf, Walsh served as managing director for Wincor Nixdorf Ireland. He was a key factor in the successful turnaround of the organization, quickly turning Wincor Nixdorf Ireland into a fully-developed service organization, focused on direct customer relationships and a market share of nearly 50 percent in 2004.  Additionally, under Walsh’s leadership, Wincor Nixdorf Ireland secured a significant outsourcing agreement with Bank of Ireland.  Bank of Ireland chose Wincor Nixdorf to manage its off-site cash dispensing network, over 600 ATM terminals, making the financial institution the first major customer of Wincor Nixdorf’s outsourcing business.

“Wincor Nixdorf USA is now a supplier of hardware, software and services for more than 400 customers in industries like retail, petrol, hospitality, banking and postal services,” said Javier Lopez-Bartolome, president, Wincor Nixdorf USA. “In the four years since he has been with Wincor Nixdorf, Alan has made a tremendous impact on our company. In his role as the new vice president of banking, he is already making significant progress in building out our direct sales teams and strategic partner business,” Lopez-Bartolome continued. “Alan is uniquely qualified to take on the role as vice president of banking and I am pleased to congratulate him on his new position at Wincor Nixdorf.”

“Wincor Nixdorf offers a rich history of innovation, commitment to customers, a strong global presence, and a customer base that includes many of the world’s most well-known financial institutions,” said Alan Walsh. “Wincor Nixdorf continues to strengthen and grow its business in the U.S., and we do not intend on slowing down. I look forward to being a part of and leading Wincor Nixdorf Banking USA.”

A native of Ireland, Walsh received his degree in software engineering from the Carlow Institute of Technology.

About Wincor Nixdorf

Wincor Nixdorf is one of the world's leading suppliers of IT solutions to the retail and banking industries. The company's extensive portfolio, consisting of hardware products, software, consulting, maintenance and other services, is aimed at reducing the cost and complexity of business processes while improving customer service. Wincor Nixdorf is the world's third largest supplier of POS systems and automated teller machines and the number one supplier of POS systems in Europe (source: Clarendon Report, April 2005). With nearly 7,000 employees and net sales of €1,744 million last fiscal year, Wincor Nixdorf operates in over 90 countries with manufacturing plants in Germany and Singapore. Worldwide headquarters are in Paderborn, Germany and North American headquarters are in Austin, Texas. For more information, visit www.wincor-nixdorf.com/usa.

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TAP Solutions (TAP) continues its expansion in the market and reference data management industry, signing a leading Australian financial services firm. This unnamed client marks the third in six months for TAP, following wins at The Olayan Group in March and Mizuho Securities USA in May.

"We're seeing tremendous growth in sales because of the speed in which we can replace custom-built securities masters with a single, consolidated database," says TAP's President and COO, Bob Bell. "TAPMaster is an enabling data platform that allows the ongoing integration of multiple new vendor feeds and applications to meet the needs of progressive and evolving businesses."

With 21 out-of-the-box feed managers and data management modules that deploy data to downstream systems and users,  installation of TAPMaster has already taken place at all three of these new clients' operations centres. TAPMaster is now supported on three continents, further illustrating TAP's delivery capabilities and vaulting the firm into the global marketplace.

"Our clients now reside in the North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific regions, all supported from our offices in New York, Toronto, and Vancouver," says Conal Campbell, TAP's Sales and Alliances Manager. "TAP's focus on turn-key product design allows clients to install TAPMaster in 24 hours, enabling users to query and publish from a populated database within a week. This ease of use and rapid installation gives our clients a clear advantage in bringing new services to market."

TAP expects more international sales in September, as well as the release of several new feed managers from some of the  world's leading data vendors.

About TAP Solutions
TAP provides turnkey high performance software tools for the acquisition, management, and deployment of market and  reference data in capital markets. TAPMaster is a complete data management platform that helps financial services clients reduce operating costs, meet regulatory requirements, and generate new sources of revenue. http://www.tapsolutions.com

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New release from InSystems product line provides greater integration, lower total cost of ownership

Whitehill Technologies, Inc. introduced the latest release of IStream Communicator, part of the InSystems product line which focuses on speed-to-market for the insurance industry.

Whitehill's InSystems line helps insurers get new products to market faster by managing the product lifecycle, from initial drafting of contract language through approvals and policy issuance. IStream Communicator 2.2 is an integral part of that process, handling customer service, support and communications once a policy has been issued.

IStream Communicator 2.2 lets insurers create personalized communications with their customers and maintain account continuity. It distributes correspondence via e-mail, postage and fax, providing a searchable content repository for rapid retrieval and online viewing of customer and policy-related documents.

The latest version of IStream Communicator provides integration with home-grown and third-party applications, improved clustering and load balancing for better performance, and platform support for IBM WAS 6 Express. This allows for departmental deployments and a revised pricing structure, creating a lower total cost of ownership. One major insurance customer has already begun taking advantage of the new opportunities provided by IStream Communicator 2.2.

"Whitehill is committed to providing the very best products and services to our insurance customers," says Paul McSpurren, President & CEO, Whitehill Technologies, Inc. "We've listened carefully to their needs, and made improvements that will help them accomplish their business goals. Our goal is to create satisfied customers by helping them do business faster and more efficiently. It's gratifying to know that we're helping them succeed."

About Whitehill Technologies Inc. (www.whitehilltech.com)

Whitehill Technologies, Inc. develops and implements document and compliance automation software that helps insurance companies and legal firms accelerate key business processes. Whitehill's InSystems product line helps get new products to market faster by speeding up development and regulatory filing processes. More than 1,000 customers in 45 countries, including more than half the largest 100 insurers in North America, have used Whitehill software to personalize and accelerate the way they communicate with customers, getting the right information into the hands of the right people at the right time. Whitehill is a privately held company with more than 200 employees in Canada, the United States and the UK. Whitehill is headquartered in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.

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ATERAS, a leading provider of fully automated legacy migration and modernization solutions,  announced that DB-Shuttle™ was named the Platinum winner in the Migration category of the 2006 SQL Server Magazine Editors’ Choice Awards.   Editors and writers were asked to vote on the products that SQL Server Magazine has covered since January 2005. Product leaders were selected based on the product’s strategic importance to the market, its competitive advantages, and the value to the customer. Click here to view award.

SQL Server Magazine helps professionals solve problems and gain functionality by reporting on relevant products’ quality and utility. To recognize superior products in the market, the editors and writers of SQL Server Magazine created the first annual Editors’ Choice Awards.
 

“The Editors’ Choice Awards allows editors and writers to give our perspective on the products we find exceptional,” said Karen Forster, Editorial and Strategy Director. “We’re excited to have the opportunity to connect readers with the third-party vendors who serve them and to acknowledge excellence,” added Forster.

This acknowledgement validates ATERAS’ leadership in delivering powerful automated solutions for legacy migration and modernization, helping companies extend the value of their legacy systems. "We are extremely proud to have our automation technology, DB-Shuttle acknowledged with this prestigious award," said Scott Miller, president and CEO, ATERAS. "We have achieved this award through our commitment to providing the most advanced technology in automated migration solutions for our customers’ successes.”

Full details about the Editors’ Choice Awards and Tech Ed awards are available at http://www.sqlmag.com or in the August issue of SQL Server Magazine.

About ATERAS

ATERAS has supported global enterprises for over 20 years, offering state of the art services to our clients by modernizing and migrating legacy systems to the most current IT environments. The patent-pending DB Shuttle™ automation technology provides everything from comprehensive assessments of existing IT environments to fully automated conversions. Migration of mission critical applications and databases can be either mainframe to mainframe or mainframe to distributed platforms utilizing the .NET Framework. ATERAS delivers these solutions by working through leading systems integrators and alliance partners in markets including: Insurance, Financial Services, Healthcare, Government and Universities, both domestically and globally. For more information on ATERAS’ solutions visit www.ateras.com, or contact ATERAS at info@ateras.com, 972.664.9005 or 800.801.9005, 12750 Merit Drive, Suite 1105, Dallas, TX, 75251 USA.

About Windows IT Media

Penton’s Windows IT Media, the largest independent Windows IT community in the world, includes flagship print publication Windows IT Pro.  First published in 1995, Windows IT Pro is the editorial leader in its field and has a paid subscription base of 105,000. The magazine is published in 13 languages and has an international reach into 160 countries. Windows IT Pro UPDATE, the group’s flagship email newsletter, is the only e-newsletter to make BtoB Magazine’s Media Power 50 list.

Windows IT Media also includes SQL Server Magazine and MSD2D. SQL Server Magazine has 30,000 paid subscribers, and three email newsletters sent to more than 130,000 opt-in subscribers.  MSD2D is a rich online information resource for IT professionals, with a focus on the software developer community. MSD2D has a robust product mix that includes a vertical search engine, Web sites, partner directories, email newsletters, trade show programs and Web seminars.

The Windows IT Media network has 2.5 million unique visitors to its websites each month, and over one million (gross) subscribers who opt-in to one or more of our email newsletters. Windows IT Media is the world’s leading producer of custom road shows, paid conferences and paid workshops for Windows and SQL Server IT professionals.

For more information visit: www.windowsitpro.com/pressroom, and www.windowsitmedia.com.

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Leading global private investment firm likes company’s growth prospects and management strength

Applied Systems Chairman and CEO James P. Kellner announced that Bain Capital Partners will be his new ownership partner in the industry-leading agency management system company.

Bain Capital and Kellner have signed a definitive agreement to purchase Applied Systems from Vista Equity Partners, LLC, the San Francisco-based private equity firm that partnered with Kellner in September 2004 to buy the company from founder Robert Eustace. Kellner remains as Chairman, CEO, and a significant investor in the insurance technology company that he has helped develop for more than 20 years.  

Bain Capital is a global private investment firm based in Boston that has $38 billion in assets under management. The firm cites sound growth potential, superior technology, a strong management team, and excellent customer service among the factors that make Applied Systems a valuable investment.

“We are excited to support Jim Kellner and his management team as they continue to grow the business,” said Andrew Balson, a managing director at Bain Capital, which has made investments in many technology and business services companies. “We respect Applied Systems’ special blend of experience, technical expertise, and vision that consistently yields successful products and services. We believe Applied Systems customers are benefiting from the best-designed suite of products, and the most user-appropriate agency management system technology, in the marketplace.”

Bain Capital’s investment comes at a time when Kellner and his management team have aggressive growth plans well under way.  Kellner said Bain Capital’s commitment validates Applied Systems’ progress in product development as well as in customer growth and relationship management.

“Our product development remains on course and will not deviate with our new owner partners,” Kellner said. “Over the past two years, we have made remarkable progress in adjusting and refining our technology development process. In addition, we have invested heavily in growing our sales force and managing our customer relationships, all to strengthen our commitment to protect our customers’ technology investments.”

“Vista was exactly the partner we needed as we positioned ourselves for the next phase in our growth,” Kellner said. “We were well-served by Vista’s commitment and guidance. With Bain Capital, we are now poised for even greater growth that will benefit our customers and everyone in the Applied Systems community.”

Applied Systems, Inc., is the world leader in insurance agency and broker management system software. The company provides insurance agency automation through products and services for accounting, customer, policy, claims management, and all related agency functions. More than 120,000 users in 10,000 agencies—many of them multi-office conglomerates—use Applied Systems technology and services. The company leads the industry in agency/carrier real-time and batch communication solutions. Applied Systems automates insurance transactions at every distribution level from consumer through carrier, providing technical support and professional services to maximize customers’ return on investment. www.appliedsystems.com

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