Management system five years ago, it did so for a simple reason: The governor wanted a new e-mail address.
“He was tired of spelling out Michael dot Leavitt at state dot UT dot US,” said Phillip Windley, then CIO for the state, now a computer science professor at the University of Utah. “We owned the domain Utah.gov, so we decided to give him and every other state employee a Utah.gov address.”
However, making the change was anything but simple. Utah had to upgrade network directories at nearly every agency and create a metadirectory to synchronize their data. It also had to get consensus on a naming schema (i.e., first name, last name, etc).
“Getting everyone in a decentralized organization to agree on anything can be a challenge,” Windley said.
Today, when government agencies implement identity management systems, security is more likely their primary concern. Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 of August 2004 requires the federal government to adopt standard ways of securing physical access to buildings and logical access to information systems. Although not bound by HSPD-12, many state and local governments also are implementing an IDMS for added security and efficiencies.
“Our first reason for adopting identity management was to tighten up security,” said Norman Jacknis, CIO for New York’s Westchester County, which is rolling out IBM Tivoli’s identity management suite to more than 6,000 county employees. “We also realized we’re wasting enormous resources by having every software developer build their own ID structure.”
An IDMS can reduce the number of passwords an employee must remember, and automate password recovery, slashing help-desk costs. It also can simplify provisioning for new hires or terminations, letting IT or human resources departments control access to network resources with a few keystrokes.
Rules FirstBefore rolling out an IDMS, you must define roles and set policies for every contractor and employee in an agency. This lets people access some systems but not others, depending on their roles.
Some IDMS are more flexible than others, said Ellen Libenson, vice president of product management for Symark, an enterprise IDMS vendor in Agoura Hills, Calif. Ensure that an IDMS lets the agency define roles based on factors such as an employee’s title, department and security clearance, and manage resources at a level granular enough to, for example, deny access to certain databases after normal working hours.
The ability to manage many roles is also important for large agencies. The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence has 400,000 employees but more than 600,000 roles, said Torgeir Pedersen, senior architect for Trondheim, Norway-based MaXware.
A basic IDMS authenticates users, manages access to resources and helps users better manage password security. A better IDMS provides a “three-strikes” capability, locking users out after a specified number of failed login attempts, Symark’s Libenson said. It also would capture users’ keystrokes during login to help spot potential break-ins.
Another key driver for this IDMS capability is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which requires some agencies to maintain audit trails of employee access to information systems. But most identity management solutions stop logging the moment you gain access, said Toby Weir-Jones, director of product management for Counterpane Internet Security in Chantilly, Va.
“The system will know when and where you logged in and that you logged out seven minutes later, but it won’t know what you did in between,” he said. Because most identity management systems aren’t designed to track user activity inside applications, they should be able to integrate with third-party tools that do, Weir-Jones said.
For sensitive data and strong authentication, Libenson said, “you’ll need a system that integrates easily with tokens, smart cards or biometrics.”
For federal agencies, an IDMS must integrate with smart cards based on Federal Information Processing Standard 201 for personal identity verification. FIPS-201-compliant cards store digital fingerprint data and support public-key infrastructure credentials for user authentication.
Integration ChallengesBecause IDMS touch every major system in an organization, they are a challenging integration project. It may take months, even years, to roll out an IDMS at large agencies with diverse platforms.
Nearly all core enterprise applications, from e-mail to human resources to accounting, have their own user directories. An enterprisewide IDMS must be able to communicate with directories in each application and synchronize the data, even if the account is listed as “George W. Bush” in the accounting application, “Bush, George W” in human resources, and “potus@white house.gov” in e-mail.
“A key requirement of any identity management system is how effectively it can connect to and use data held by multiple systems,” said Chris Zannetos, CEO of Framingham, Mass.-based Courion Corp.
It’s necessary to inventory all systems that hold identity data to evaluate whether an IDMS gives an interface to each one, Counterpane’s Weir-Jones said. “If they don’t, you’ll have to build them yourself, which can be expensive. And when the tool changes, you have to upgrade the interface,” he said.
Some IDMS packages offer tools to build connectors between applications, but they may need tweaking to work with some apps.
“One of the biggest stumbling blocks is interoperability with other agencies,” Weir-Jones said. A “federated” identity management scheme lets employees use the same log in and password on any federal network. But as federation standards are still in flux, an IDMS must support multiple standards from the Liberty Alliance, IBM and Microsoft’s Web Services architecture, and the open-source Security Assertion Markup Language 2.0.
Chart the processesThe biggest challenges to building an IDMS may not be technological.
“This isn’t a solution you’re going to buy from someone as much as it is a cultural change in your organization,” said the University of Utah’s Windley. “How do you assess risk for the various components of your information infrastructure? What authentication guarantees can you pass on to the underlying system? The risk assessment has to be driven by business leaders, not IT security professionals.”
Look at the problem from a business or organizational point of view, said Jon Wall, principal technology specialist for Microsoft Federal.
“Figure out what triggers what,” he said. “Walk through two scenarios from beginning to end: hiring an employee and terminating one. Chart every system that process will touch and in what order, and do it from an internal agency perspective, not a technology perspective. We can bend software to do a lot of stuff for you, but identity management is really driven by business practices.”
Successfully implementing an IDMS requires a slow, steady rollout and lots of patience, Westchester County’s Jacknis said.
“We’ve had so many surprises with identity management products,” he said, “I can only say that I hope to be done [with our rollout] by the end of 2006.”
Identity Management Systems
Vendor
Product(s)
Notes
CA Inc. Islandia, N.Y. (800) 225-5224 www.ca.com
eTrust Identity and Access Management Suite
This suite of five products offers soup-to-nuts protection across several flavors of Unix, Linux and Windows.
Courion Corp. Framingham, Mass. (866) 268-7466 www.courion.com
Enterprise Provisioning Suite
IDM specialists offer a full suite of password, provisioning and access modules; works with any directory, e-mail server or SQL relational database but may require a fair amount of programming expertise.
Hewlett-Packard Co. Palo Alto, Calif. (650) 857-1501 www.hp.com
HP OpenView Identity Management(s)
HP offers sophisticated IDM tools as part of its OpenView management platform, adding to its suite of federation products with the acquisition of Trustgenix last November.
IBM Corp. Armonk, N.Y. (800) 426-4968 www.ibm.com
Tivoli Identity Manager, Tivoli Access Manager
Full suite of identity, directory, access and federation products works with directories based on Microsoft Active Directory, Sun ONE and its own LDAP-based Tivoli Directory Server.
MaXware AS Trondheim, Norway (732) 409-5000 www.maxware.com
MaXware Identity Center
This vendor boasts 280 clients in 30 countries, with strong ties to military and governmental agencies.
Microsoft Corp. Redmond, Wash. (425) 882-8080 www.microsoft.com
Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003, Enterprise Edition
MIIS 2003 works with a number of non-Microsoft directories (including LDAP, Novell eDirectory, IBM and Sun/iPlanet) and e-mail servers, provided they run on a Windows platform
Novell Inc. Waltham, Mass. (800) 529-3400 www.novell.com
Novell Identity Manager 2
Built around its widely used eDirectory structure, Novell's suite supports a wide range of operating systems and offers some good (though optional) tools for designing identity management schemes and running what-if scenarios.
Oracle Corp. Redwood Shores, Calif. (650) 506-7000 www.oracle.com
Oracle Identity Management
Recent acquisitions of top-tier IDM vendor Thor Technologies and OctetString strengthen Oracle's offerings, which include a full range of application-centric middleware products.
Sun Microsystems Inc. Santa Clara, Calif. (800) 232-4671 www.sun.com
Java System Identity Manager
One of the oldest players in IDM software offers a full suite of access, auditing and federation products across diverse operating systems (AIX, HP OpenVMS, Solaris, Windows) using a Web-based management console.
Symark Software Inc. Agoura Hills, Calif. (800) 234-9072 www.symark.com
PowerBroker, PowerPassword User Management Edition, PowerKeeper
Longtime Unix/Linux enterprise software vendor added support for Windows last year with its PowerKeeper identity management appliance.
Technology journalist Dan Tynan is author of “Computer Privacy Annoyances” (O’Reilly Media, 2005).
Monday, January 30, 2006
Making information systems better
Technology is no silver bullet, says John Hill, principal, Esync (419-842-2210). Adding automated data collection, a warehouse management system or automated equipment to a poorly designed warehouse or a flawed process won’t solve problems. It will only bring those problems to light.
But once a company has done the hard work of benchmarking its performance and streamlining its processes, automated systems, like warehouse management systems (WMS) and automated data collection (ADC), can drive even higher gains in productivity.
Despite that, Hill adds, “I’m still amazed at the number of people who aren’t using a WMS or bar code scanning, even when they have the wherewithal to implement them,” says Hill. “There’s still a subset of the warehouse community that is put off by technology, and comfortable with they way they do things, although it may be flawed.”
The cost of technology can also be an impediment. But even companies that can afford the systems are sometimes leery about implementing automated systems. “We have been working for over a year with a client that has nearly $200 million in annual revenue, but doesn’t want to spend $30,000 for a study to develop the value proposition for a WMS,” says Hill. “Yes, that is an investment. But wouldn’t it be nice to know that there’s quantifiable value in moving ahead with a system?”
Even companies without the financial resources to purchase a WMS and ADC system can benefit from the technology by implementing manual processes that impose the same discipline as software and automated data capture. Hill calls this “the fine art of making do.”
He recalls a client that doubled productivity simply by widening aisles so that workers weren’t bumping into one another, investing about $20,000 in additional shelving units, and re-slotting and relocating the forward pick area based on historical inventory profiles. “This was a project that had nothing to do with RFID, bar codes or WMS,” says Hill. “But with some simple steps, they eliminated redundant processes, improved the manual collection of information, and went from 30 to nearly 70 picks per hour per person.”
But once a company has done the hard work of benchmarking its performance and streamlining its processes, automated systems, like warehouse management systems (WMS) and automated data collection (ADC), can drive even higher gains in productivity.
Despite that, Hill adds, “I’m still amazed at the number of people who aren’t using a WMS or bar code scanning, even when they have the wherewithal to implement them,” says Hill. “There’s still a subset of the warehouse community that is put off by technology, and comfortable with they way they do things, although it may be flawed.”
The cost of technology can also be an impediment. But even companies that can afford the systems are sometimes leery about implementing automated systems. “We have been working for over a year with a client that has nearly $200 million in annual revenue, but doesn’t want to spend $30,000 for a study to develop the value proposition for a WMS,” says Hill. “Yes, that is an investment. But wouldn’t it be nice to know that there’s quantifiable value in moving ahead with a system?”
Even companies without the financial resources to purchase a WMS and ADC system can benefit from the technology by implementing manual processes that impose the same discipline as software and automated data capture. Hill calls this “the fine art of making do.”
He recalls a client that doubled productivity simply by widening aisles so that workers weren’t bumping into one another, investing about $20,000 in additional shelving units, and re-slotting and relocating the forward pick area based on historical inventory profiles. “This was a project that had nothing to do with RFID, bar codes or WMS,” says Hill. “But with some simple steps, they eliminated redundant processes, improved the manual collection of information, and went from 30 to nearly 70 picks per hour per person.”
TCS on Winning Team With NCI Information Systems, Inc. for $4.1 Million Task Order With the U.S. Army for Information Technology Support
Award for IT Training and Support Services
ANNAPOLIS, MD -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 01/30/2006 -- TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. (TCS) (NASDAQ: TSYS), a provider of mission critical wireless communications, today announced it has teamed with NCI Information Systems, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of NCI, Inc. (NASDAQ: NCIT) (http://www.nciinc.com/), prime contractor on a four-year task order worth approximately $4.1 million through the Army Information Technology Enterprise Solutions (ITES) contract.
Under this task order, NCI and its team member, TCS, will support the Program Executive Office, Enterprise Information Systems' (PEO EIS) Product Management Office for the Reserve Component Automation System (RCAS) located at the National Guard Bureau in Arlington, Virginia. The team will provide Information Technology (IT) infrastructure services to include network, systems administration, and user support for PEO EIS RCAS personnel. TCS will provide IT infrastructure services, to include network, system administration and user support.
"Becoming a member of the NCI ITES team provides TCS with an excellent vehicle to deliver solutions to our Army customers. We see this alliance with NCI as a 'win-win.' Our recent selection by the Army PEO EIS to provide expanded training and technical support services under this new task order affirms the value of working with NCI," said Mike Bristol, Vice President of the Network Solutions Group for TCS.
ABOUT NCI
NCI, Inc., a Delaware holding company, through its subsidiary NCI Information Systems, Inc., is a leading provider of information technology services and solutions to U.S. government agencies. As an ISO 9001 certified company, NCI's award-winning expertise encompasses areas critical to its customers' mission objectives including enterprise systems management, information assurance, network engineering, and systems development and integration. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, NCI has approximately 50 locations and over 1,450 employees worldwide. For more information, visit our web site at http://www.nciinc.com/.
ABOUT TELECOMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, INC.
TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. (TCS) (NASDAQ: TSYS) is a leading provider of mission critical wireless communications to carriers, enterprise and government customers. TCS' wireless data offerings include location-based Enhanced 9-1-1 services, and messaging and location service infrastructure for wireless operators, real-time market data and alerts to financial institutions, mobile asset management and mobile office solutions for enterprises, and encrypted satellite communications to government customers.
TCS offers mission-critical networking and professional services solutions to government agencies and the military, as well as to public and private corporations. More information on TCS' product and service offerings can be found by visiting http://www.telecomsys.com/.
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
These statements are based upon TCS' current expectations and assumptions that are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that would cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated.
The actual results realized by the Company could differ materially from the statements made herein, depending in particular upon the risks and uncertainties described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These include without limitation risks and uncertainties relating to the Company's financial results and the ability of the Company to (i) reach and sustain profitability as early as anticipated, (ii) continue to rely on its customers and other third parties to provide additional products and services that create a demand its products and services, (iii) conduct its business in foreign countries, (iv) adapt and integrate new technologies into its products, (v) expand its business offerings in the new wireless data industry, (vi) develop software and provide services without any errors or defects, (vii) protect its intellectual property rights, and (viii) implement its sales and marketing strategy.
Existing and prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise the information in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or circumstances, or otherwise.
Media Contacts:
Rita Thompson
TeleCommunication Systems
(410) 295-1865
Email Contact
ANNAPOLIS, MD -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 01/30/2006 -- TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. (TCS) (NASDAQ: TSYS), a provider of mission critical wireless communications, today announced it has teamed with NCI Information Systems, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of NCI, Inc. (NASDAQ: NCIT) (http://www.nciinc.com/), prime contractor on a four-year task order worth approximately $4.1 million through the Army Information Technology Enterprise Solutions (ITES) contract.
Under this task order, NCI and its team member, TCS, will support the Program Executive Office, Enterprise Information Systems' (PEO EIS) Product Management Office for the Reserve Component Automation System (RCAS) located at the National Guard Bureau in Arlington, Virginia. The team will provide Information Technology (IT) infrastructure services to include network, systems administration, and user support for PEO EIS RCAS personnel. TCS will provide IT infrastructure services, to include network, system administration and user support.
"Becoming a member of the NCI ITES team provides TCS with an excellent vehicle to deliver solutions to our Army customers. We see this alliance with NCI as a 'win-win.' Our recent selection by the Army PEO EIS to provide expanded training and technical support services under this new task order affirms the value of working with NCI," said Mike Bristol, Vice President of the Network Solutions Group for TCS.
ABOUT NCI
NCI, Inc., a Delaware holding company, through its subsidiary NCI Information Systems, Inc., is a leading provider of information technology services and solutions to U.S. government agencies. As an ISO 9001 certified company, NCI's award-winning expertise encompasses areas critical to its customers' mission objectives including enterprise systems management, information assurance, network engineering, and systems development and integration. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, NCI has approximately 50 locations and over 1,450 employees worldwide. For more information, visit our web site at http://www.nciinc.com/.
ABOUT TELECOMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, INC.
TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. (TCS) (NASDAQ: TSYS) is a leading provider of mission critical wireless communications to carriers, enterprise and government customers. TCS' wireless data offerings include location-based Enhanced 9-1-1 services, and messaging and location service infrastructure for wireless operators, real-time market data and alerts to financial institutions, mobile asset management and mobile office solutions for enterprises, and encrypted satellite communications to government customers.
TCS offers mission-critical networking and professional services solutions to government agencies and the military, as well as to public and private corporations. More information on TCS' product and service offerings can be found by visiting http://www.telecomsys.com/.
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
These statements are based upon TCS' current expectations and assumptions that are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that would cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated.
The actual results realized by the Company could differ materially from the statements made herein, depending in particular upon the risks and uncertainties described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These include without limitation risks and uncertainties relating to the Company's financial results and the ability of the Company to (i) reach and sustain profitability as early as anticipated, (ii) continue to rely on its customers and other third parties to provide additional products and services that create a demand its products and services, (iii) conduct its business in foreign countries, (iv) adapt and integrate new technologies into its products, (v) expand its business offerings in the new wireless data industry, (vi) develop software and provide services without any errors or defects, (vii) protect its intellectual property rights, and (viii) implement its sales and marketing strategy.
Existing and prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise the information in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or circumstances, or otherwise.
Media Contacts:
Rita Thompson
TeleCommunication Systems
(410) 295-1865
Email Contact
Saturday, November 05, 2005
Computer Programs and Systems, Inc. Named to Forbes 200 Best Small Companies Listing
Business Wire)- Computer Programs and Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ/NM:CPSI), a leading provider of healthcare information solutions, today announced that it has been ranked No. 31 overall on the Forbes 200 Best Small Companies, a list published in the magazine's October 31, 2005, edition. The list represents a compilation of financially strong small-cap businesses. A number of criteria are considered by Forbes, including five-year average return on equity, five year sales growth and five year earnings per share growth. The ranking represents the Company's first appearance on the annual list.
"We are honored to be acknowledged by Forbes for our consistent performance," said David Dye, chief executive officer and president of CPSI. "Our ranking of 31st in the list of 200 companies is a source of great pride for the dedicated employees of CPSI, without whom this special recognition would not be possible." About Computer Programs and Systems, Inc. CPSI is a leading provider of healthcare information solutions for community hospitals with over 550 client hospitals in 45 states. Founded in 1979, the Company is a single-source vendor providing comprehensive software and hardware products, complemented by complete installation services and extensive support. Its fully integrated, enterprise-wide system automates clinical and financial data management in each of the primary functional areas of a hospital. CPSI's staff of over 800 technical, healthcare and medical professionals provides system implementation and continuing support services as part of a comprehensive program designed to respond to clients' information needs in a constantly changing healthcare environment. For more information, visit www.cpsinet.com. This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified generally by the use of forward-looking terminology and words such as "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "believes," "predicts," "intends," "plans," "potential," "may," "continue," "should," "will" and words of comparable meaning. Without limiting the generality of the preceding statement, all statements in this press release relating to estimated and projected earnings, margins, costs, expenditures, cash flows, growth rates and future financial results are forward-looking statements. We caution investors that any such forward-looking statements are only predictions and are not guarantees of future performance. Certain risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Such factors may include: overall business and economic conditions affecting the healthcare industry; saturation of our target market and hospital consolidations; changes in customer purchasing priorities and demand for information technology systems; competition with companies that have greater financial, technical and marketing resources than we have; failure to develop new technology and products in response to market demands; fluctuations in quarterly financial performance due to, among other factors, timing of customer installations; failure of our products to function properly resulting in claims for medical losses; government regulation of our products and customers; interruptions in our power supply and/or telecommunications capabilities and other risk factors described from time to time in our public releases and reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, our Annual Report on Form 10-K. We also caution investors that the forward-looking information described herein represents our outlook only as of this date, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or developments after the date of this press release.
"We are honored to be acknowledged by Forbes for our consistent performance," said David Dye, chief executive officer and president of CPSI. "Our ranking of 31st in the list of 200 companies is a source of great pride for the dedicated employees of CPSI, without whom this special recognition would not be possible." About Computer Programs and Systems, Inc. CPSI is a leading provider of healthcare information solutions for community hospitals with over 550 client hospitals in 45 states. Founded in 1979, the Company is a single-source vendor providing comprehensive software and hardware products, complemented by complete installation services and extensive support. Its fully integrated, enterprise-wide system automates clinical and financial data management in each of the primary functional areas of a hospital. CPSI's staff of over 800 technical, healthcare and medical professionals provides system implementation and continuing support services as part of a comprehensive program designed to respond to clients' information needs in a constantly changing healthcare environment. For more information, visit www.cpsinet.com. This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified generally by the use of forward-looking terminology and words such as "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "believes," "predicts," "intends," "plans," "potential," "may," "continue," "should," "will" and words of comparable meaning. Without limiting the generality of the preceding statement, all statements in this press release relating to estimated and projected earnings, margins, costs, expenditures, cash flows, growth rates and future financial results are forward-looking statements. We caution investors that any such forward-looking statements are only predictions and are not guarantees of future performance. Certain risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Such factors may include: overall business and economic conditions affecting the healthcare industry; saturation of our target market and hospital consolidations; changes in customer purchasing priorities and demand for information technology systems; competition with companies that have greater financial, technical and marketing resources than we have; failure to develop new technology and products in response to market demands; fluctuations in quarterly financial performance due to, among other factors, timing of customer installations; failure of our products to function properly resulting in claims for medical losses; government regulation of our products and customers; interruptions in our power supply and/or telecommunications capabilities and other risk factors described from time to time in our public releases and reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, our Annual Report on Form 10-K. We also caution investors that the forward-looking information described herein represents our outlook only as of this date, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or developments after the date of this press release.
Camtronics Medical Systems is bought by Alabama company
Acquisition turns around a company's fortune
Hartland, Wis.—Camtronics Medical Systems, Inc., a maker of cardiology information and imaging systems, has been acquired by Emageon Inc., of Birmingham, Alabama, for $40 million in cash.Emageon makes digital image management systems for radiologists. The purchase gives each company an entrée into the other's market, said John W. Thompson, president of Thompson Investment Management in Madison and an Emageon board member.
Camtronics currently markets to 350 hospitals, and Emageon markets to 250, so the acquisition more than doubles Emageon's customer base, according to the company. Emageon bought the company from Analogic Corp., of Peabody, Mass., which designs and makes health and security systems. The purchase included its corporate headquarters in Hartland, valued at $7 million.
The purchase price was relatively low when compared with Camtronics $38 million in revenue for the year ending July 31. In 2004, accounting problems had dogged the company and jeopardized the Nasdaq stock market listing of its former parent Analogic. "It was a good price because Camtronics was, in a way, damaged merchandise," Thompson said. "But what is a big negative is not a negative for Emageon."Camtronics, formed in 1986, has about 165 employees in Hartland, according to company president Dan Webster. Emageon has a Madison location with 50 employees. The purchase will allow the merger of the two companies' sales forces and could possibly bring jobs to Wisconsin, Thompson said. "There's talk of using the [Hartland] facility more extensively for assembling the Emageon product, and also for more engineering people to be under one roof," he said. Chuck Jett, Emageon's Chairman and CEO, said that the addition of Camtronics to Emageon's enterprise solution completes the next phase in Emageon's vision to provide comprehensive, standards-based content management, workflow, and advanced visualization to healthcare facilities.
Hartland, Wis.—Camtronics Medical Systems, Inc., a maker of cardiology information and imaging systems, has been acquired by Emageon Inc., of Birmingham, Alabama, for $40 million in cash.Emageon makes digital image management systems for radiologists. The purchase gives each company an entrée into the other's market, said John W. Thompson, president of Thompson Investment Management in Madison and an Emageon board member.
Camtronics currently markets to 350 hospitals, and Emageon markets to 250, so the acquisition more than doubles Emageon's customer base, according to the company. Emageon bought the company from Analogic Corp., of Peabody, Mass., which designs and makes health and security systems. The purchase included its corporate headquarters in Hartland, valued at $7 million.
The purchase price was relatively low when compared with Camtronics $38 million in revenue for the year ending July 31. In 2004, accounting problems had dogged the company and jeopardized the Nasdaq stock market listing of its former parent Analogic. "It was a good price because Camtronics was, in a way, damaged merchandise," Thompson said. "But what is a big negative is not a negative for Emageon."Camtronics, formed in 1986, has about 165 employees in Hartland, according to company president Dan Webster. Emageon has a Madison location with 50 employees. The purchase will allow the merger of the two companies' sales forces and could possibly bring jobs to Wisconsin, Thompson said. "There's talk of using the [Hartland] facility more extensively for assembling the Emageon product, and also for more engineering people to be under one roof," he said. Chuck Jett, Emageon's Chairman and CEO, said that the addition of Camtronics to Emageon's enterprise solution completes the next phase in Emageon's vision to provide comprehensive, standards-based content management, workflow, and advanced visualization to healthcare facilities.
ICT vital for development
The Project Manager of NICO Technologies Mabvuto Nkangala has said Information Communication Technology (ICT) is a driving force to development.Nkangala said this in Blantyre on Friday at the Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems and Bachelor of Science in Information Technology symposium and recruitment seminar.He said many developed countries of this world achieved their success through the use of ICT facilities and Malawi can do the same if it can put more effort in promoting ICT usage in the country.The theme of the symposium was ‘ICT: Hope For Rapid Economic Growth’. “ Information Communication Technology plays a major role in the development of a country because it provides a platform for faster movement of information,” he said.Dean of the faculty of Applied Sciences at the Polytechnic Amos Mandhlopa said ICT is very vital to development in the country but needs publicity and necessary gadgets.He said it is embarrassing to see professionals in various disciplines being unable to use the internet, fax, e-mail and other ICT tools.He appealed to employers to recruit well qualified ICT students like the ones graduating from the college to increase efficiency in the field.
BBC Labs, New Era Farm Principals Headline Fourth Annual Integrated Pest Management Conference in December
SAN LUIS OBISPO -- Cal Poly's Sustainable Agriculture Resource Consortium and the California Certified Organic Farmers are hosting a two-day conference and workshop in December on sustainable pest control in agriculture.
Designed for agricultural consultants and growers, the fourth annual Sustainable Agriculture Pest Control Advisor Conference will be held at the San Luis Obispo Veterans' Hall on Friday, Dec. 2. On Saturday, Dec. 3, the agencies will hold a hands-on workshop at Tolosa Winery in San Luis Obispo.
The Dec. 2 session will focus on incorporating sustainable agricultural practices into a comprehensive Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy.
The Dec. 3 workshop is titled "Managing Soil Microbiology for Improved Pest Management and Soil Fertility." Presenters are well-known microbiologist Vicki Bess of BBC Labs and agronomist Ralph Jurgens of New Era Farm Service at Tolosa Winery (www.tolosawinery.com).
The conference will feature tools for biologically integrated pest control, information on enhancing microbial ecologies in soils, designing landscapes to improve habitat for beneficial insects, new research on plant immune systems, updates on important regulatory issues, and expected changes in USDA certified organic regulations.
The winery workshop will focus on the importance of maintaining healthy soil microbiology to help plants resist pests. Winery workshop topics include: managing soil microbiology for plant disease suppression, pathogen inhibition assays, and an overview of compost, compost tea and effective biological agricultural products.The conference fee is $150 for the Dec. 2 session, and $65 for the Dec. 3 workshop before Nov.18. Registration after is $175 and $75 respectively. Students with valid identification can register for $35 for the Dec. 2 session and $20 for Dec. 3. Conference registration includes parking, breakfast, lunch and refreshments.
Up to 14 Continuing Education Units will be available for participants attending both days, including three Laws and Regulations Units. For more information call CCOF at (831) 423-2263 ext. 22, or e-mail: ccof@ccof.org, or visit: www.ccof.org/pcaconference.php.
About the Workshop Leaders:
Vicki Bess is the founder of BBC Laboratories, an independent environmental microbiology laboratory in Tempe, Arizona. BBC labs (www.bbclabs.com) works with agriculture, horticulture and turf industries to improve the soil microbiology for increased crop quality and yield. Bess holds an M.S. in microbiology and has spent many years working with growers, consultants, and compost professionals to evaluate soil and compost quality. She has helped develop economically feasible methods for analyzing microbiological profiles of soil and compost, as well as detection systems for the analysis of plant pathogen inhibitors.
Ralph Jurgens is an agronomist, nutritional consultant and co-owner of New Era Farm Service Inc. New Era Farm is an agronomic service organization specializing in biologically influenced fertility systems designed to enhance microbial soil life. New Era Farms) is currently working with over 900 growers throughout the West, representing over 1 million acres.
Designed for agricultural consultants and growers, the fourth annual Sustainable Agriculture Pest Control Advisor Conference will be held at the San Luis Obispo Veterans' Hall on Friday, Dec. 2. On Saturday, Dec. 3, the agencies will hold a hands-on workshop at Tolosa Winery in San Luis Obispo.
The Dec. 2 session will focus on incorporating sustainable agricultural practices into a comprehensive Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy.
The Dec. 3 workshop is titled "Managing Soil Microbiology for Improved Pest Management and Soil Fertility." Presenters are well-known microbiologist Vicki Bess of BBC Labs and agronomist Ralph Jurgens of New Era Farm Service at Tolosa Winery (www.tolosawinery.com).
The conference will feature tools for biologically integrated pest control, information on enhancing microbial ecologies in soils, designing landscapes to improve habitat for beneficial insects, new research on plant immune systems, updates on important regulatory issues, and expected changes in USDA certified organic regulations.
The winery workshop will focus on the importance of maintaining healthy soil microbiology to help plants resist pests. Winery workshop topics include: managing soil microbiology for plant disease suppression, pathogen inhibition assays, and an overview of compost, compost tea and effective biological agricultural products.The conference fee is $150 for the Dec. 2 session, and $65 for the Dec. 3 workshop before Nov.18. Registration after is $175 and $75 respectively. Students with valid identification can register for $35 for the Dec. 2 session and $20 for Dec. 3. Conference registration includes parking, breakfast, lunch and refreshments.
Up to 14 Continuing Education Units will be available for participants attending both days, including three Laws and Regulations Units. For more information call CCOF at (831) 423-2263 ext. 22, or e-mail: ccof@ccof.org, or visit: www.ccof.org/pcaconference.php.
About the Workshop Leaders:
Vicki Bess is the founder of BBC Laboratories, an independent environmental microbiology laboratory in Tempe, Arizona. BBC labs (www.bbclabs.com) works with agriculture, horticulture and turf industries to improve the soil microbiology for increased crop quality and yield. Bess holds an M.S. in microbiology and has spent many years working with growers, consultants, and compost professionals to evaluate soil and compost quality. She has helped develop economically feasible methods for analyzing microbiological profiles of soil and compost, as well as detection systems for the analysis of plant pathogen inhibitors.
Ralph Jurgens is an agronomist, nutritional consultant and co-owner of New Era Farm Service Inc. New Era Farm is an agronomic service organization specializing in biologically influenced fertility systems designed to enhance microbial soil life. New Era Farms) is currently working with over 900 growers throughout the West, representing over 1 million acres.
Alan White is Named Sr. Vice President & Chief Information Office for Outrigger Enterprises
White was most recently Vice President of Operations and Information Technology. He replaces Joe Durocher, who recently retired from the company but will continue to advise Outrigger on technology matters as a special consultant.
In his position as Chief Information Officer, White is responsible for the strategic development and implementation of all information technology needs for Outrigger Enterprises with the goal of using technology to improve productivity while enhancing guests' experience.White brings to Outrigger over 20 years of senior management experience in the lodging and travel software and services industries. From April 2000, he served as the senior vice president and managing director for Dallas-based Pegasus Solutions, where he was responsible for the direction, growth, operation and profitability of the Pegasus ASP business, which provides central reservations system services to the hospitality industry worldwide.Prior to Pegasus, White was senior vice president for system development and management services with REZsolutions, Inc., which was acquired by Pegasus in April 2000.White also spent eight years with ENCORE System, Inc., where he served in several management positions, lastly as senior vice president charged with development, quality assurance and applications support. At ENCORE, he was responsible for the design and development of the Hyatt Hotels property management system, the central reservations systems for the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and Harley Hotels and with creating and developing a shipboard management system for the luxury cruise ship industry. Before his affiliation with ENCORE, White held various senior management positions with several luxury hotel and resort properties. In 1995, he was appointed as one of 13 industry-wide members of the Technologies Task Force for the White House Conference on Travel and Tourism.White holds a bachelor's degree in political science and political economy from Providence College and the Universitat Freiburg, Switzerland. He also earned his graduate degree in public and international affairs at George Washington University.
In his position as Chief Information Officer, White is responsible for the strategic development and implementation of all information technology needs for Outrigger Enterprises with the goal of using technology to improve productivity while enhancing guests' experience.White brings to Outrigger over 20 years of senior management experience in the lodging and travel software and services industries. From April 2000, he served as the senior vice president and managing director for Dallas-based Pegasus Solutions, where he was responsible for the direction, growth, operation and profitability of the Pegasus ASP business, which provides central reservations system services to the hospitality industry worldwide.Prior to Pegasus, White was senior vice president for system development and management services with REZsolutions, Inc., which was acquired by Pegasus in April 2000.White also spent eight years with ENCORE System, Inc., where he served in several management positions, lastly as senior vice president charged with development, quality assurance and applications support. At ENCORE, he was responsible for the design and development of the Hyatt Hotels property management system, the central reservations systems for the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and Harley Hotels and with creating and developing a shipboard management system for the luxury cruise ship industry. Before his affiliation with ENCORE, White held various senior management positions with several luxury hotel and resort properties. In 1995, he was appointed as one of 13 industry-wide members of the Technologies Task Force for the White House Conference on Travel and Tourism.White holds a bachelor's degree in political science and political economy from Providence College and the Universitat Freiburg, Switzerland. He also earned his graduate degree in public and international affairs at George Washington University.
IBM acquires Iphrase Systems
Information technology company IBM has acquired the business of Iphrase Systems, a privately-held company based in Bedford, Massachusetts. Iphrase develops software that helps improve e-commerce sales, online service and support, and call centre productivity by allowing website users to find answers, make purchases and solve problems without expert assistance.
For example, retailers use Iphrase technology to help interpret and understand online customer queries, even if they are misspelled or contain jargon.
Iphrase software also enables merchandisers to dynamically generate customised web pages with relevant products and shopping cart links based on individual customer needs. This acquisition is expected to strengthen IBM's information management software portfolio by broadening its enterprise search and content management capabilities. Iphrase is the fifteenth software acquisition IBM has made since 2001.
For example, retailers use Iphrase technology to help interpret and understand online customer queries, even if they are misspelled or contain jargon.
Iphrase software also enables merchandisers to dynamically generate customised web pages with relevant products and shopping cart links based on individual customer needs. This acquisition is expected to strengthen IBM's information management software portfolio by broadening its enterprise search and content management capabilities. Iphrase is the fifteenth software acquisition IBM has made since 2001.
State of South Australia purchases Oacis Medication Management Module for physician orders
OTTAWA, ON, Oct. 27 /PRNewswire/ - DINMAR, a leading North American healthcare information technology company, announced today that the South Australia Department of Health (SADH) has signed a contract for the Medication Management Module of the Oacis Order Management application. Already in use by over 1,000 doctors across the state of South Australia, Oacis Order Management has helped to streamline the delivery of many routine clinical services. The addition of the Medication Management Module is expected to completely automate the electronic ordering process and have a significant impact on improved patient safety as well as reduce drug administration costs region- wide.
Oacis Order Management is a powerful tool for improving patient safety and encouraging "best practices." Prior to order submission, Oacis alerts the clinician regarding potential duplicate orders, drug interactions and treatment conflicts and it also recommends additional site-approved "companion" orders. These on-line decision support assistants reduce errors and support delivery of high quality, cost-effective care. The system also provides the physician with on-line dosing information and informs doctors of the medication benefits for which the patient is eligible such as the Australian Pharmacy Benefits System (PBS) which is being integrated with Oacis as part of SADH's implementation.
"DINMAR is one of the only EHR suppliers to offer a Medication Management Module that does not require the replacement of existing pharmacy systems," commented Mark Groper, DINMAR's CEO. "The Oacis EHR is purpose-built to connect and interoperate with existing and new systems - and this helps our customers to protect and extend current capital investments. Moreover, this flexible approach helps to reduce the significant human retraining costs and possible patient safety risks associated with replacing all clinical information systems at once," concluded Mr. Groper.
Oacis EHR provides a modular suite of core clinical applications, off-the- shelf and custom interfaces, as well as a built-in integration engine and enterprise master person index facility. Organizations can quickly and economically connect their unique and ever changing information systems with the Oacis EHR. In fact, where diverse clinical systems coexist, Oacis provides a "unifying" clinical data repository that enables a single, integrated electronic patient record.
South Australia's Department of Health has been expanding access and usage of Oacis EHR consistently for almost a decade and it's one of the largest and most successful state-wide electronic health record deployments in the world. Due to its inherent interoperability, a highly attractive aspect of Oacis is the modular method by which it can be purchased and installed. This enables care delivery organizations large and small to deploy functionality in line with financial budgets as well the ability to stage-in and effectively absorb the impact on the clinical process. With respect to medication ordering through Oacis, this is one of the final steps towards realizing the benefits of South Australia's vision for a statewide EHR.
ABOUT DINMAR
DINMAR is a leading North American healthcare information technology solutions provider. The company's Oacis product was instrumental in launching the "open systems" revolution, which spawned many innovative technologies and clinical-interoperability standards in commercial use today. For more information, please visit www.dinmar.com .
ABOUT SOUTH AUSTRALIA'S DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
The Australian public healthcare system is funded and governed, at differing levels, by the Commonwealth and State Governments to provide access to free healthcare for all Australians. The South Australian Department of Health (SADH) is the governing body for public health services in that State. The careconnect.sa Programme (previously the Oacis Programme) is coordinated within the SADH Information and Communications Technology Services' Projects Branch. Oacis has currently been implemented across seven of the eight major metropolitan hospitals of South Australia's capital city of Adelaide, which service 75% of the State's population of 1.5 million.
Source: DINMAR CONSULTING, INC.
Oacis Order Management is a powerful tool for improving patient safety and encouraging "best practices." Prior to order submission, Oacis alerts the clinician regarding potential duplicate orders, drug interactions and treatment conflicts and it also recommends additional site-approved "companion" orders. These on-line decision support assistants reduce errors and support delivery of high quality, cost-effective care. The system also provides the physician with on-line dosing information and informs doctors of the medication benefits for which the patient is eligible such as the Australian Pharmacy Benefits System (PBS) which is being integrated with Oacis as part of SADH's implementation.
"DINMAR is one of the only EHR suppliers to offer a Medication Management Module that does not require the replacement of existing pharmacy systems," commented Mark Groper, DINMAR's CEO. "The Oacis EHR is purpose-built to connect and interoperate with existing and new systems - and this helps our customers to protect and extend current capital investments. Moreover, this flexible approach helps to reduce the significant human retraining costs and possible patient safety risks associated with replacing all clinical information systems at once," concluded Mr. Groper.
Oacis EHR provides a modular suite of core clinical applications, off-the- shelf and custom interfaces, as well as a built-in integration engine and enterprise master person index facility. Organizations can quickly and economically connect their unique and ever changing information systems with the Oacis EHR. In fact, where diverse clinical systems coexist, Oacis provides a "unifying" clinical data repository that enables a single, integrated electronic patient record.
South Australia's Department of Health has been expanding access and usage of Oacis EHR consistently for almost a decade and it's one of the largest and most successful state-wide electronic health record deployments in the world. Due to its inherent interoperability, a highly attractive aspect of Oacis is the modular method by which it can be purchased and installed. This enables care delivery organizations large and small to deploy functionality in line with financial budgets as well the ability to stage-in and effectively absorb the impact on the clinical process. With respect to medication ordering through Oacis, this is one of the final steps towards realizing the benefits of South Australia's vision for a statewide EHR.
ABOUT DINMAR
DINMAR is a leading North American healthcare information technology solutions provider. The company's Oacis product was instrumental in launching the "open systems" revolution, which spawned many innovative technologies and clinical-interoperability standards in commercial use today. For more information, please visit www.dinmar.com .
ABOUT SOUTH AUSTRALIA'S DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
The Australian public healthcare system is funded and governed, at differing levels, by the Commonwealth and State Governments to provide access to free healthcare for all Australians. The South Australian Department of Health (SADH) is the governing body for public health services in that State. The careconnect.sa Programme (previously the Oacis Programme) is coordinated within the SADH Information and Communications Technology Services' Projects Branch. Oacis has currently been implemented across seven of the eight major metropolitan hospitals of South Australia's capital city of Adelaide, which service 75% of the State's population of 1.5 million.
Source: DINMAR CONSULTING, INC.
Mid America Bank Goes Paperless with Integration of the Fiserv UniFi(R) PRO and Nautilus Systems BROOKFIELD, Wis
--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Oct. 26, 2005--Fiserv, Inc. (Nasdaq:FISV) said Mid America Bank is now leveraging the UniFi(R) PRO Mortgage eX loan origination system's integration of Fiserv's Nautilus Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system to compress loan processing time. MAF Bancorp (Nasdaq:MAFB), the parent company of Mid America Bank, is headquartered in Clarendon Hills, Ill., a suburb of Chicago.
This integration project is another example of Fiserv's broad-ranging and successful deployment of service-oriented architecture.
The UniFi PRO loan origination system provides Mid America Bank with comprehensive workflow functionality, document production, strategic reporting and advanced support for multiple business channels. The Fiserv Nautilus ECM system is a suite of image-enabled electronic document management applications. With Nautilus ECM integrated into UniFi PRO, Mid America Bank has quick access to mortgage and home equity loan documents that have been produced from within the UniFi PRO application. In addition, the integration provides the bank with the ability to view images that have been directly archived from UniFi PRO or manually scanned into Nautilus, creating a central electronic repository for all of Mid America Bank's loan documents.
Ken Rusdal, senior vice president of operations and information systems at Mid America Bank, cited the bank's satisfaction with the UniFi PRO loan origination system as a key factor in the selection of the Fiserv imaging solution. "Fiserv has been a very reliable technology partner. We are now benefiting from the seamless integration of the loan origination and imaging systems," said Rusdal. "With UniFi PRO and Nautilus automation and workflow management tools, we have been able to recreate ourselves as a paperless enterprise."
According to Alison Bettisworth, Mid America's first vice president of systems and voice communications, the auto-tasking capabilities of UniFi PRO efficiently distribute files to work queues and also prioritize associates' work in relation to timelines, rate locks and closing dates. Integration of electronic documents further streamlines the bank's workflow by eliminating delays caused by waiting for loan files to route through departments or be tracked down by associates.
"It's now instantaneous," Bettisworth said. "In the past, when a customer wanted to know something about a loan, you had to go digging around for it. Now we go into the Nautilus imaging system through UniFi PRO or independently and we can easily find the customer's file."
The automated electronic document/loan origination workflow reduces errors and saves time by eliminating manual document indexing. To facilitate retrieval, loan documents entering the Nautilus system are automatically classified by group and type. This simplifies document selection for easy viewing, printing or faxing. In addition, documents can be synched up with UniFi PRO screens to share the same information.
The new, paperless workflow has taken time out of Mid America Bank processes.
"We have been able to close up some timelines. Getting an appraisal from our outside appraiser to an associate used to take 24 to 48 hours," said Bettisworth. "Now, it takes just minutes, which is a huge benefit and a significant return on our investment."
Fiserv worked to ensure that the combination of UniFi PRO and Nautilus would transform lenders' operations. "With one click of a button, all documents related to a specific UniFi PRO screen can be retrieved in real time," said John Tenuta, a division president of Fiserv Lending Solutions. "This enables our clients to have images of actual applications, appraisals, letters - literally every document associated with an account - instantly available for review. This is a great advantage when our clients are talking to their customers because all the information is right there."
Part of the reason that the UniFi PRO and Nautilus integration takes time out of the process is that more than one Mid America employee is able to view a document image simultaneously, while still maintaining centralized document control. It has allowed Mid America to replace static linear processes with a more dynamic method of working. To satisfy compliance requirements, integration of Nautilus also provides Mid America Bank with post-closing archival document storage.
MAF Bancorp is the parent company of Mid America Bank, a federally chartered stock savings bank. The bank currently operates a network of 73 retail banking offices throughout Chicago and Milwaukee and their surrounding areas. Offices in Wisconsin operate under the name "St. Francis Bank, a division of Mid America Bank." The company's common stock trades on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol MAFB.
UniFi PRO Mortgage eX is a next-generation loan origination system that blends innovative, Web-centric technology with proven business logic. With its service-oriented architecture, highly configurable decision-making and workflow capabilities and complete integration to a wide range of services and business systems, UniFi PRO Mortgage eX offers lenders the tools to achieve a fully automated, end-to-end mortgage-processing environment. UniFi PRO Mortgage eX automates every phase of mortgage and home-equity loan origination, electronic processing, traditional processing and closing. UniFi PRO Mortgage eX is an offering of Fiserv Lending Solutions, a suite of products and services for mortgage, consumer and equity lenders. The comprehensive lending solutions set includes loan origination and servicing software; lead management and customer loyalty services; electronic document management solutions; automated lending services such as credit, flood and valuations; field services such as appraisals, inspections and broker price opinions; closing services; and default management solutions. Further details are available on the Internet at www.fiservlendingsolutions.com.
Fiserv, Inc. (Nasdaq:FISV) provides information management systems and services to the financial and health benefits industries, including transaction processing, outsourcing, business process outsourcing and software and systems solutions. The company serves more than 16,000 clients worldwide, including banks, credit unions, financial planners/investment advisers, insurance companies and agents, self-funded employers, lenders and savings institutions. Headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., Fiserv reported $3.4 billion in processing and services revenues for 2004. Fiserv was ranked the largest provider of information technology services to the U.S. financial services industry in the 2004 FinTech 100 survey by the American Banker newspaper and the Financial Insights research firm. Fiserv can be found on the Internet at www.fiserv.com.
Contacts
Fiserv Lending Solutions Kathleen Mikula (Product Information), 574-245-1562 orFiserv, Inc. Mike Muckian, 262-879-5667
This integration project is another example of Fiserv's broad-ranging and successful deployment of service-oriented architecture.
The UniFi PRO loan origination system provides Mid America Bank with comprehensive workflow functionality, document production, strategic reporting and advanced support for multiple business channels. The Fiserv Nautilus ECM system is a suite of image-enabled electronic document management applications. With Nautilus ECM integrated into UniFi PRO, Mid America Bank has quick access to mortgage and home equity loan documents that have been produced from within the UniFi PRO application. In addition, the integration provides the bank with the ability to view images that have been directly archived from UniFi PRO or manually scanned into Nautilus, creating a central electronic repository for all of Mid America Bank's loan documents.
Ken Rusdal, senior vice president of operations and information systems at Mid America Bank, cited the bank's satisfaction with the UniFi PRO loan origination system as a key factor in the selection of the Fiserv imaging solution. "Fiserv has been a very reliable technology partner. We are now benefiting from the seamless integration of the loan origination and imaging systems," said Rusdal. "With UniFi PRO and Nautilus automation and workflow management tools, we have been able to recreate ourselves as a paperless enterprise."
According to Alison Bettisworth, Mid America's first vice president of systems and voice communications, the auto-tasking capabilities of UniFi PRO efficiently distribute files to work queues and also prioritize associates' work in relation to timelines, rate locks and closing dates. Integration of electronic documents further streamlines the bank's workflow by eliminating delays caused by waiting for loan files to route through departments or be tracked down by associates.
"It's now instantaneous," Bettisworth said. "In the past, when a customer wanted to know something about a loan, you had to go digging around for it. Now we go into the Nautilus imaging system through UniFi PRO or independently and we can easily find the customer's file."
The automated electronic document/loan origination workflow reduces errors and saves time by eliminating manual document indexing. To facilitate retrieval, loan documents entering the Nautilus system are automatically classified by group and type. This simplifies document selection for easy viewing, printing or faxing. In addition, documents can be synched up with UniFi PRO screens to share the same information.
The new, paperless workflow has taken time out of Mid America Bank processes.
"We have been able to close up some timelines. Getting an appraisal from our outside appraiser to an associate used to take 24 to 48 hours," said Bettisworth. "Now, it takes just minutes, which is a huge benefit and a significant return on our investment."
Fiserv worked to ensure that the combination of UniFi PRO and Nautilus would transform lenders' operations. "With one click of a button, all documents related to a specific UniFi PRO screen can be retrieved in real time," said John Tenuta, a division president of Fiserv Lending Solutions. "This enables our clients to have images of actual applications, appraisals, letters - literally every document associated with an account - instantly available for review. This is a great advantage when our clients are talking to their customers because all the information is right there."
Part of the reason that the UniFi PRO and Nautilus integration takes time out of the process is that more than one Mid America employee is able to view a document image simultaneously, while still maintaining centralized document control. It has allowed Mid America to replace static linear processes with a more dynamic method of working. To satisfy compliance requirements, integration of Nautilus also provides Mid America Bank with post-closing archival document storage.
MAF Bancorp is the parent company of Mid America Bank, a federally chartered stock savings bank. The bank currently operates a network of 73 retail banking offices throughout Chicago and Milwaukee and their surrounding areas. Offices in Wisconsin operate under the name "St. Francis Bank, a division of Mid America Bank." The company's common stock trades on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol MAFB.
UniFi PRO Mortgage eX is a next-generation loan origination system that blends innovative, Web-centric technology with proven business logic. With its service-oriented architecture, highly configurable decision-making and workflow capabilities and complete integration to a wide range of services and business systems, UniFi PRO Mortgage eX offers lenders the tools to achieve a fully automated, end-to-end mortgage-processing environment. UniFi PRO Mortgage eX automates every phase of mortgage and home-equity loan origination, electronic processing, traditional processing and closing. UniFi PRO Mortgage eX is an offering of Fiserv Lending Solutions, a suite of products and services for mortgage, consumer and equity lenders. The comprehensive lending solutions set includes loan origination and servicing software; lead management and customer loyalty services; electronic document management solutions; automated lending services such as credit, flood and valuations; field services such as appraisals, inspections and broker price opinions; closing services; and default management solutions. Further details are available on the Internet at www.fiservlendingsolutions.com.
Fiserv, Inc. (Nasdaq:FISV) provides information management systems and services to the financial and health benefits industries, including transaction processing, outsourcing, business process outsourcing and software and systems solutions. The company serves more than 16,000 clients worldwide, including banks, credit unions, financial planners/investment advisers, insurance companies and agents, self-funded employers, lenders and savings institutions. Headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., Fiserv reported $3.4 billion in processing and services revenues for 2004. Fiserv was ranked the largest provider of information technology services to the U.S. financial services industry in the 2004 FinTech 100 survey by the American Banker newspaper and the Financial Insights research firm. Fiserv can be found on the Internet at www.fiserv.com.
Contacts
Fiserv Lending Solutions Kathleen Mikula (Product Information), 574-245-1562 orFiserv, Inc. Mike Muckian, 262-879-5667
Prairie Systems Develops and Hosts Innovative Digital Medical Records Offering from
MyMedicalRecords.com
LOS ANGELES & OMAHA, Neb.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 31, 2005--MyMedicalRecords.com recently announced the launch of its digital medical records service to provide next-generation records management to consumers today. Subscribers can store test results, X-rays, prescriptions and other types of medical information in a secure database and view actual images of those documents on their personal computers. The company was co-founded by Los Angeles philanthropist and entrepreneur Robert H. Lorsch, a cancer survivor who almost died from a prescription drug interaction that could have been avoided. After months of research and in-depth discussions with top business communications solutions companies throughout the world, MyMedicalRecords.com selected Prairie Systems as its partner.
The MyMedicalRecords.com service is built under an exclusive relationship with Prairie Systems and sits on top of the Prairie Systems integrated communications and voice solutions platform, presenting consumers with an innovative combination of secure voicemail handling and storage of physician information, fax-to-digital conversion of records, and the ability to upload files and distribute these digital medical records to health care providers.
Consumers can have their health care providers fax records directly into self-managed folders in the MyMedicalRecords.com web site. Telephone messages from doctors, pharmacists and specialists are stored in the same self-managed folders. At the same time, MyMedicalRecords.com customers are provided with a full-featured calendar service, including outbound reminder calls of upcoming medical appointments and scheduled prescription refills through the Prairie Systems voice solutions platform. MyMedicalRecords.com worked closely with Prairie Systems engineers to design the implementation and security architectures that make this powerful application easily accessible to customers while protecting individual privacy and providing high availability. With the Prairie Systems platform behind it, MyMedicalRecords.com ensures the integrity of that confidential data while providing needed access from anywhere, at any time. Robert H. Lorsch, CEO and founder of MyMedicalRecords.com, says, "Prairie Systems has helped MyMedicalRecords.com fulfill our product vision. We have a highly secure, scalable product that will allow us to meet the challenges of providing the best quality service to our customers." "Sometimes a product comes along you just have to be a part of," says Ann Cannon, Senior Vice President of Sales and Product Management at Prairie Systems. "MyMedicalRecords.com points the way to how people will be better able to manage their personal health information and other important documents. We are proud to be part of this service and working with such a forward thinking business. This solution offering is revolutionary in providing the average citizen more direct control of his or her own healthcare journey." Enterprises nationwide turn to Prairie Systems for inbound and outbound voice, multimedia messaging and many other business communication solutions. Our consultative approach results in applications designed specifically to meet each client's individual objectives. About MyMedicalRecords.com
MyMedicalRecords.com is a privately held corporation based in Los Angeles that empowers consumers to take greater control over their health and well-being by providing a virtual safe-deposit box for storing, managing and sharing medical records and other vital documents in a secure and easy-to-use online database. For more information or to take a multimedia Flash tour of the Web site, visit www.mymedicalrecords.com or call 1-888-808-4667, Ext. 129. About Prairie Systems, Inc. Based in Omaha, Nebraska, Prairie Systems is an interactive voice services company with substantial unified communications capabilities in outbound broadcast notifications and alerts, interactive voice response, Internet, SMS and fax. Prairie Systems clients include Fortune 500 companies, with emphasis in the financial, transportation and logistics, call center, telecommunications, utilities and healthcare industries. For more information on Prairie Systems' communication solutions, visit www.prairiesystems.com or call (800) 888-3151.Contacts MyMedicalRecords.com, Los AngelesRobert H. Lorsch, 888-808-4667 info@mmrmail.comorPrairie Systems, Inc., OmahaJay Lake, 800-839-5489
jayl@prairiesys.com
LOS ANGELES & OMAHA, Neb.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 31, 2005--MyMedicalRecords.com recently announced the launch of its digital medical records service to provide next-generation records management to consumers today. Subscribers can store test results, X-rays, prescriptions and other types of medical information in a secure database and view actual images of those documents on their personal computers. The company was co-founded by Los Angeles philanthropist and entrepreneur Robert H. Lorsch, a cancer survivor who almost died from a prescription drug interaction that could have been avoided. After months of research and in-depth discussions with top business communications solutions companies throughout the world, MyMedicalRecords.com selected Prairie Systems as its partner.
The MyMedicalRecords.com service is built under an exclusive relationship with Prairie Systems and sits on top of the Prairie Systems integrated communications and voice solutions platform, presenting consumers with an innovative combination of secure voicemail handling and storage of physician information, fax-to-digital conversion of records, and the ability to upload files and distribute these digital medical records to health care providers.
Consumers can have their health care providers fax records directly into self-managed folders in the MyMedicalRecords.com web site. Telephone messages from doctors, pharmacists and specialists are stored in the same self-managed folders. At the same time, MyMedicalRecords.com customers are provided with a full-featured calendar service, including outbound reminder calls of upcoming medical appointments and scheduled prescription refills through the Prairie Systems voice solutions platform. MyMedicalRecords.com worked closely with Prairie Systems engineers to design the implementation and security architectures that make this powerful application easily accessible to customers while protecting individual privacy and providing high availability. With the Prairie Systems platform behind it, MyMedicalRecords.com ensures the integrity of that confidential data while providing needed access from anywhere, at any time. Robert H. Lorsch, CEO and founder of MyMedicalRecords.com, says, "Prairie Systems has helped MyMedicalRecords.com fulfill our product vision. We have a highly secure, scalable product that will allow us to meet the challenges of providing the best quality service to our customers." "Sometimes a product comes along you just have to be a part of," says Ann Cannon, Senior Vice President of Sales and Product Management at Prairie Systems. "MyMedicalRecords.com points the way to how people will be better able to manage their personal health information and other important documents. We are proud to be part of this service and working with such a forward thinking business. This solution offering is revolutionary in providing the average citizen more direct control of his or her own healthcare journey." Enterprises nationwide turn to Prairie Systems for inbound and outbound voice, multimedia messaging and many other business communication solutions. Our consultative approach results in applications designed specifically to meet each client's individual objectives. About MyMedicalRecords.com
MyMedicalRecords.com is a privately held corporation based in Los Angeles that empowers consumers to take greater control over their health and well-being by providing a virtual safe-deposit box for storing, managing and sharing medical records and other vital documents in a secure and easy-to-use online database. For more information or to take a multimedia Flash tour of the Web site, visit www.mymedicalrecords.com or call 1-888-808-4667, Ext. 129. About Prairie Systems, Inc. Based in Omaha, Nebraska, Prairie Systems is an interactive voice services company with substantial unified communications capabilities in outbound broadcast notifications and alerts, interactive voice response, Internet, SMS and fax. Prairie Systems clients include Fortune 500 companies, with emphasis in the financial, transportation and logistics, call center, telecommunications, utilities and healthcare industries. For more information on Prairie Systems' communication solutions, visit www.prairiesystems.com or call (800) 888-3151.Contacts MyMedicalRecords.com, Los AngelesRobert H. Lorsch, 888-808-4667 info@mmrmail.comorPrairie Systems, Inc., OmahaJay Lake, 800-839-5489
jayl@prairiesys.com
Azul Systems and Foundry Networks Partner to Ensure Network Availability, Scalability and Performance
Interoperability Between Network Attached Processing Solution and Gigabit Ethernet Switches Provides Proven Path to High Performance
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Nov. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Azul Systems, Inc., the pioneer of the industry's first network attached processing solution designed to unbound compute resources for Java(TM) and J2EE(TM) based application platforms, and Foundry Networks(R), Inc. , a performance and total solutions leader for end-to-end switching, routing and web traffic management solutions, today announced verification of interoperability between the Azul(R) Compute Appliance and Foundry Networks' EdgeIron Layer 2 10-GbE switches for large enterprises and service providers.
As a mission-critical infrastructure for today's organizations, the network has become a complex extension of business operations that must adapt to rapid growth, data-intensive applications, security threats and new technologies that push the network to its limits. The combination of Foundry Networks' switching technology and Azul's compute pool technology offers customers a cost-effective path for building a massively-scalable Java-based application infrastructure on top of a robust, scalable and highly-available network infrastructure, ensuring optimal performance, maximum adaptability and maximum ROI.
"To achieve the greatest benefit from network attached processing, Azul compute appliances must run on a high-quality, high-performance infrastructure," said Shahin Khan, vice president and chief marketing officer at Azul Systems. "Foundry Networks' industry-leading Gigabit Ethernet switches enable the Azul solution to operate at optimal performance levels with the highest degree of reliability." Interoperability has been verified between the Azul Compute Appliance and the EdgeIron 24GS, EdgeIron 48GS and EdgeIron 8X10G.
"As organizations build out their next-generation data centers, including those designed for utility computing and service-oriented architectures, they want total confidence in the interoperability and high performance of all the critical components," said Mark Danckert, director of alliances, at Foundry Networks. "By certifying interoperability between Azul Systems and Foundry Networks, we have provided customers with a proven path to availability, performance and cooperative customer support."
About Foundry Networks
Foundry Networks, Inc. is a leading provider of high-performance enterprise and service provider switching, routing and Web traffic management solutions including Layer 2/3 LAN switches, Layer 3 backbone switches, Layer 4 - 7 application switches, wireless LAN and access points, access routers and metro routers. Foundry's 8,500 customers include the world's premier ISPs, metro service providers, and enterprises including e-commerce sites, universities, entertainment, health and wellness, government, financial, and manufacturing companies. For more information about the company and its products, call 1.888.TURBOLAN or visit http://www.foundrynetworks.com/.
About Azul Systems
Azul Systems(R) has pioneered the industry's first network attached processing solution, designed to unbound compute resources for virtual machine based applications. Without any application level modifications, binary compatibility requirements or operating system dependencies, this fundamentally new approach eliminates the need to capacity plan at the application level and dramatically lowers the cost and complexity associated with the traditional delivery of computing resources. More information on Azul Systems can be found at http://www.azulsystems.com/.
Legal Notices
Azul Systems and Azul are registered trademarks, and the Azul arch logo is a trademark of Azul Systems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Java and all Java based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Other marks are the property of their respective owners and are used here only for identification purposes.
Website: http://www.foundrynetworks.com/
Website: http://www.azulsystems.com/
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Nov. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Azul Systems, Inc., the pioneer of the industry's first network attached processing solution designed to unbound compute resources for Java(TM) and J2EE(TM) based application platforms, and Foundry Networks(R), Inc. , a performance and total solutions leader for end-to-end switching, routing and web traffic management solutions, today announced verification of interoperability between the Azul(R) Compute Appliance and Foundry Networks' EdgeIron Layer 2 10-GbE switches for large enterprises and service providers.
As a mission-critical infrastructure for today's organizations, the network has become a complex extension of business operations that must adapt to rapid growth, data-intensive applications, security threats and new technologies that push the network to its limits. The combination of Foundry Networks' switching technology and Azul's compute pool technology offers customers a cost-effective path for building a massively-scalable Java-based application infrastructure on top of a robust, scalable and highly-available network infrastructure, ensuring optimal performance, maximum adaptability and maximum ROI.
"To achieve the greatest benefit from network attached processing, Azul compute appliances must run on a high-quality, high-performance infrastructure," said Shahin Khan, vice president and chief marketing officer at Azul Systems. "Foundry Networks' industry-leading Gigabit Ethernet switches enable the Azul solution to operate at optimal performance levels with the highest degree of reliability." Interoperability has been verified between the Azul Compute Appliance and the EdgeIron 24GS, EdgeIron 48GS and EdgeIron 8X10G.
"As organizations build out their next-generation data centers, including those designed for utility computing and service-oriented architectures, they want total confidence in the interoperability and high performance of all the critical components," said Mark Danckert, director of alliances, at Foundry Networks. "By certifying interoperability between Azul Systems and Foundry Networks, we have provided customers with a proven path to availability, performance and cooperative customer support."
About Foundry Networks
Foundry Networks, Inc. is a leading provider of high-performance enterprise and service provider switching, routing and Web traffic management solutions including Layer 2/3 LAN switches, Layer 3 backbone switches, Layer 4 - 7 application switches, wireless LAN and access points, access routers and metro routers. Foundry's 8,500 customers include the world's premier ISPs, metro service providers, and enterprises including e-commerce sites, universities, entertainment, health and wellness, government, financial, and manufacturing companies. For more information about the company and its products, call 1.888.TURBOLAN or visit http://www.foundrynetworks.com/.
About Azul Systems
Azul Systems(R) has pioneered the industry's first network attached processing solution, designed to unbound compute resources for virtual machine based applications. Without any application level modifications, binary compatibility requirements or operating system dependencies, this fundamentally new approach eliminates the need to capacity plan at the application level and dramatically lowers the cost and complexity associated with the traditional delivery of computing resources. More information on Azul Systems can be found at http://www.azulsystems.com/.
Legal Notices
Azul Systems and Azul are registered trademarks, and the Azul arch logo is a trademark of Azul Systems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Java and all Java based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Other marks are the property of their respective owners and are used here only for identification purposes.
Website: http://www.foundrynetworks.com/
Website: http://www.azulsystems.com/
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