Survey Indicates Today’s Mid-Market Companies Want More Bang for their EDI VAN Buck

Liaison Technologies, a global provider of secure cloud-based integration and data management services and solutions, and its remarketing partner, NewEDI, an industry-changing, no-contract, Electronic Data Interchange Value Added Network (EDI VAN) service provider that lets you “Name Your EDI Price,” today jointly released the results of a 2012 EDI VAN Survey. Among its findings, the survey reveals that mid-market companies believe most EDI VAN providers are using old business models, resulting in higher prices and less value in today’s tougher economic climate.

Nearly 700 people from businesses generating under $10 million to over $500 million in annual sales revenue participated in the web-based survey, which was administered by Louisiana State University market researcher Dr. Rich Vlosky. The purpose of the survey was to objectively evaluate the value delivered by EDI VAN providers and to explore each provider’s strengths and weaknesses.

Employing a perception-based research methodology, respondents were asked to identify the EDI VAN they use from a list of major EDI VAN providers, including Descartes, EasyLink, GSX/Inovis, IBM/Sterling Commerce, Kleinschmidt and Liaison Technologies (nuBridges).

VANs were analyzed and compared based on 13 selection criteria ranked by level of importance. Out of the top five criteria, Liaison Technologies (nuBridges) received the highest overall scores for “Lower Overall Prices,” “Ease of Migration” and “Overall Vendor Reputation.”

Answers to questions about VAN “Value” and “Pricing” showed that an overwhelming number of the respondents would agree to switch to a different VAN if the provider added more value to their business. However, participants also indicated they want this value without being locked into higher prices in order to exchange data with trade partners.

While EDI technology has not changed for over four decades, the infrastructure that delivers EDI transactions has gone through a tremendous transformation, both in terms of access and cost. The survey indicates that most providers are considered at par technologically but are offering a price structure that doesn’t reflect the lower cost of delivering these services in today’s environment.

“Dr. Vlosky’s survey has been invaluable in helping us understand the value proposition desired by customers so that we can offer solutions that exceed their expectations while lowering the cost of EDI VAN services,” said Kevin Rathie, NewEDI president. “At NewEDI, we’re providing more bang for the EDI VAN buck by selling VAN services using a simple web-based process that lets businesses literally name their price. Our remarketing partnership with Liaison allows us to offer Tier-1 network capacity to our customers, making EDI VAN very affordable for small- to mid-volume businesses. For high-volume businesses, our process can save thousands of dollars per month.”

NewEDI is the first and only EDI VAN service provider to allow customers to propose a rate they’d like to pay. This forward-thinking business model and customer-focused approach enable NewEDI to provide maximum value to customers at the lowest price point, meeting the needs of today’s cost-conscious businesses.

“This year’s survey results show that NewEDI’s ingenuity goes against the old way of selling EDI and puts it way ahead of the curve in the marketplace,” said Larry Mieldezis, Liaison COO. “Clearly, customers are ready for a change: more value; less expense. We’re pleased to be working in partnership with NewEDI to make reliable EDI VAN services attainable for any business.”

A complimentary copy of the 2012 EDI VAN Survey is available for download on the NewEDI website.
About NewEDI

Distinguished by its industry-changing, no-contract “Name Your EDI Price” business model, NewEDI is a no-hassle, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Value Added Network (VAN) service provider that enables businesses to transfer documents with their trading partners. NewEDI is committed to providing customers easy-to-purchase, budget-accommodating, reliable service. Headquartered in Atlanta, NewEDI leverages Liaison’s (nuBridges) top Tier-1 EDI VAN services. More information is located at www.newedi.com.

About Liaison

Liaison Technologies is a global integration, data management and data security company. It provides unique and high-value services to move, transform and manage business information in the cloud, and to protect data to help organizations master complex security challenges and meet compliance mandates. With a comprehensive array of business-to-business and application-to-application integration and data transformation services, as well as on-premise and cloud-based data security solutions, Liaison's practitioners implement data management infrastructures adapted to each client's specific business requirements. Headquartered in Atlanta, Liaison has offices in the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.liaison.com.

Liaison Technologies Acquires Hubspan, Establishing Leadership in the Cloud Integration Market

>> Combination Creates Industry’s Leading Platform to Capture Fast-Growing Market

Liaison Technologies, a global provider of secure cloud-based integration and data management services and solutions, has acquired Hubspan, the leading provider of cloud-based business integration solutions. The combined company creates the leading cloud integration platform to address critical customer and partner needs for B2B, A2A, Managed File Transfer (MFT), Master Data Management (MDM) and Data Security.

Hubspan’s platform enables partners and customers to expand on-premise and cloud-based ERP applications and business processes throughout the extended enterprise. Real-time integration of information and processes is increasingly critical as organizations look to drive top line revenue and improve efficiencies. Hubspan powers integration for many of the world’s leading industry networks, ERP applications and services solutions, including Ariba, NetSuite, Visa and many more. Thousands of businesses rely daily on Hubspan for enterprise class business integration.

“This is exciting news for both Liaison and Hubspan customers,” said Bob Renner, CEO of Liaison Technologies. “Hubspan’s marquee customer base, commitment to its customers’ and partners’ success, and deep integration expertise fit well with our focus on the customer.”

Hubspan was founded in 2000 by industry experts who had a vision for a simpler, more effective way for businesses to work together. The Hubspan team built the industry’s first cloud-based single-instance, multi-tenant integration platform delivered on a subscription basis. The acquisition creates a unique opportunity for Liaison to capture the leadership position in the cloud integration platform market with the companies’ combined technologies, industry expertise, sales channels and global reach.

“This is an outstanding opportunity for customers, partners and our collective teams,” said Trisha Gross, CEO of Hubspan. “Hubspan’s technologies, services and expertise will strengthen and extend Liaison solutions, creating significant leadership and competitive advantages in this fast-growing market.”

The Hubspan acquisition complements Liaison’s cloud-based integration and data management offerings. The Hubspan acquisition gives Liaison:

- Combined expertise and marquee customers in multiple key industries, including Biotech and Life Sciences, Financial Services, Wholesale Distribution and Manufacturing
- A rapidly growing channel partner community, including both OEM and Referral partnerships across several vertical industries
- Process and security compliance in areas of SSAE 16 and PCI DSS
- Cloud-based MFT supporting highly secure and scalable massive file transfer


About Liaison Technologies
Liaison Technologies is a global integration and data management company providing unique and high-value solutions to securely move, transform and manage business information on-premise or in the cloud. With a comprehensive array of business-to-business and application-to-application integration and data transformation services, Liaison's practitioners implement data management infrastructures adapted to specific business requirements. Headquartered in Atlanta, Liaison has offices in the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.liaison.com.

>> Technology Innovator Raises Capital to Expand Marketing and Sales For Full Line of Social Data Tools

Social123, a leading social media management and lead generation company, today announced it received $500,000 in Series A funding, led by Atlanta-based Linch Capital. Social123 plans to use the capital to help raise awareness of its social media monetization tools through expanded marketing and sales initiatives.

“The amount of data and content that Internet users are creating and sharing through social media is expanding exponentially―by the hour,” said Aaron Biddar, chairman and CEO at Social123. “Social data is more complicated to process and analyze because it’s so unstructured. We are leading the way in providing innovative social media tools that enable sales and marketing professionals to turn this rich source of data into actionable intelligence. This investment will not only allow us to scale our IT infrastructure, but also to fast-track the introduction of our Social123 family of products into a marketplace that is moving at the speed of light where gaining valuable insight from social interactions will be a key differentiator for conducting business―both online and offline.”

The company’s technology is a powerful, yet easy-to-use social data platform that offers a family of highly sophisticated tools that collect, filter and analyze social data, giving sales teams an intelligent way to connect with contacts on a whole new level. The robust SocialData+ technology provides Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter information for companies’ contact lists. With the only customizable social influence score on the market, SocialPoints+ gives sales professionals the ability to rank their most influential contacts so they can focus on the ones who matter most. SocialLeads+ provides the most complete and highest quality business information by searching millions of records on all the major social media platforms, based upon specific search criteria. And, SocialCRM+ seamlessly integrates with popular customer relationship management systems (CRMs), such as Salesforce, so that all data is housed in one location and is accessible when companies need it most.

“Social CRM is the new frontier for organizations that want to get closer to customers,” said David Linch, managing director at Linch Capital. “Social123 is one of the first companies to develop a reliable and cost-effective means to optimize the power of social interactions and extract true value from social data specifically for sales and marketing professionals. The Social123 team has developed a strong and viable customer-focused product strategy with three of the four products developed as a result of direct customer requests. With a technology platform designed for all types of businesses and bolstered by a proven sales model, we are excited to be investing in Social123 to help expand the adoption of its products.”

Social123 currently has approximately 25 customers, including Avectra, a developer of web-based Social Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) solutions for fundraisers, not-for-profits and associations.

About Social123
Social123 is a leading social media management and lead generation company. Social123′s powerful social data platform, with its innovative social media monetization tools, empowers businesses to engage, educate and retain customers, target prospects and website visitors as well as maximize return on investment. The company’s technology delivers strategic social information to organizations, businesses, and associations so they can make the most of their Contact Relationship Management (CRM) systems and expand their knowledge base. Social123 is headquartered in Atlanta with a regional support office in Charleston, S.C. For more information, visit www.social123.com.
About Linch Capital
Linch Capital is an Atlanta-based, boutique investment bank and active principal investor. Linch Capital assists companies seeking equity or debt growth capital, pursuing divestitures or acquisitions, and seeking financial advisory services. The focus is on growth companies in the technology, digital and traditional media, or financial services technology sectors with operations based in the Southeastern United States. Principal investing is also focused on companies in the technology, media, and financial services technology sectors, providing opportunities to partner with companies it works with as investors in some cases. For more information, visit www.linchcapital.com.

>> Continuing commitment ensures full compatibility with Oracle solutions for enterprise and mid-market customers in the healthcare, financial services and retail industries

Liaison Technologies, a global provider of cloud-based integration and data management services and solutions, announced today that it has renewed its membership in the Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) program, maintaining its Gold Partner status. The renewal signifies Liaison’s ongoing commitment to ensuring that its data integration, management and security solutions fully support Oracle solutions, which is of particular importance for organizations with heterogeneous IT infrastructures in the healthcare, financial services and retail industries.

Liaison delivers cloud-based enterprise application integration and business-to-business integration services for complex data management and integration scenarios, including on-premise-to-cloud, SaaS-to-on-premise, SaaS-to-cloud and cloud-to-cloud, as well as on-premise integration solutions. Liaison solutions are compatible with Oracle Fusion to handle integration with non-Oracle platforms, a key requirement for mid-size to large enterprises. Similarly, Liaison’s cloud-based and on-premise data security solutions complement Oracle’s data security solutions by working with Oracle databases and applications.

“Many of our data integration customers, particularly in the healthcare and financial services industries, rely on Oracle databases along with a host of other types of databases and systems,” said Gary Palgon, Liaison VP of Healthcare Solutions. “It’s imperative that we continue our partnership with Oracle to ensure our solutions work well together.”

Data integration and data security are of paramount importance to healthcare companies tasked with compliance with HIPAA and the HITECH Act. They are also vital for financial services and retail companies that need to harmonize customer and product data from disparate sources and are required to comply with the Payment Card Industry’s Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) to protect cardholder information, among other regulations. With its array of data integration, data management and data security solutions, Liaison offers the deep domain expertise required to meet the unique challenges within these industries.

About Oracle PartnerNetwork
Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) Specialized is the latest version of Oracle’s partner program that provides partners with tools to better develop, sell and implement Oracle solutions. OPN Specialized offers resources to train and support specialized knowledge of Oracle products and solutions and has evolved to recognize Oracle's growing product portfolio, partner base and business opportunity. Key to the latest enhancements to OPN is the ability for partners to differentiate through Specializations. Specializations are achieved through competency development, business results, expertise and proven success. To find out more, visit www.oracle.com/partners.

About Liaison Technologies
Liaison Technologies is a global integration and data management company providing unique and high-value solutions to securely move, transform and manage business information on-premises or in the cloud. With a comprehensive array of business-to-business and application-to-application integration and data transformation services, Liaison's practitioners implement data management infrastructures adapted to specific business requirements. Headquartered in Atlanta, Liaison has offices in the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.liaison.com.

>> Inadequate testing can wreak havoc on production environments; User Acceptance Testing and a sound testing strategy can help keep business processes running smoothly

Liaison Technologies, a global provider of secure cloud-based integration and data management services and solutions, recommends that all companies performing data integration on-premise set up a User Acceptance Testing (UAT) environment and create a sound strategy for pre-production integration testing. Inadequate testing for translation maps or application upgrades can wreak havoc on production environments, interrupting critical business processes.

Many companies use ad hoc testing to evaluate changes to translations maps—testing just a few maps for a quick verification, instead of all maps against a full battery of tests. This invariably leads to maps being released into the production environment that end up breaking because they haven’t been tested in all scenarios. Another problem is with new versions of applications. According to Rob Fox, Liaison’s senior director of EAI/B2B Software Development, just as it is important to test new maps and changes to maps in a test environment first, it is equally vital to test software upgrades with maps before deploying them to production.

“It’s not unusual for smaller companies—and even some pretty large ones—that do on-premise data integration to have inadequate testing processes for new and modified translations maps and software upgrades,” he said. “Changing a map or putting a new one straight into the production environment, or upgrading an application that uses maps without testing the consequences, can be costly. If it doesn’t work correctly, you have three choices: figure out how to fix the map, roll back the upgrade, or call tech support — all of which take time and effort and can seriously impact operations.”

Fox recommends that companies adopt a pre-production testing strategy comprised of these five best practices for on-premise data integration testing:

1. Have a UAT environment — Having a User Acceptance Testing environment to test integration maps, and to test application upgrades with established maps before they go into the production environment, is critical for preventing business process problems.

2. Establish acceptance criteria — Acceptance criteria help prevent problems in the production environment by establishing a standard which maps and software must meet before they are deployed.

3. Develop a comprehensive set of tests — This test suite should examine every possible permutation of a map across applications to have the best chance of catching problems before the map or a software upgrade goes into production.

4. Adopt automated continuous testing — Organizations that make frequent changes to maps or run a high volume of tests should consider using an automated testing system that runs continuously and issues alerts when a test fails.

5. Use version control — Version control provides visibility into exactly what version of a map is running and where and what changes were made to it, making it much easier to fix the problem, whether it’s in the test or production environment.

“The best testing environment for on-premise data integration is comprehensive, continuous and automated with strong version control and a rollback strategy,” said Fox. “Setting up a UAT environment and establishing a testing strategy based on best practices help to ensure that map changes and new software versions won’t interrupt business processes.”

About Liaison Technologies
Liaison Technologies is a global integration and data management company providing unique and high-value solutions to securely move, transform and manage business information on-premise or in the cloud. With a comprehensive array of business-to-business and application-to-application integration and data transformation services, Liaison's practitioners implement data management infrastructures adapted to specific business requirements. Headquartered in Atlanta, Liaison has offices in the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.liaison.com.

>> Retail audit software update features iPad photo support, enhanced mobility and expanded reporting capabilities

Wren Solutions, a leading loss prevention technology provider, today announced the immediate availability of Encapsulon® Assessment™ version 3.3.3, its industry-leading retail audit software solution. The new version helps retailers to automate and optimize audit programs through enhanced mobility, improved reporting and greater intelligence; making it easier and faster for retail loss prevention and operations teams to identify and correct sources of loss.

Initially released in March of this year, Wren’s easy-to-use retail audit software enables loss prevention and store operations professionals to streamline and simplify the process of designing, conducting, and following up on audits. Flexible and readily adapted to virtually any environment, Encapsulon Assessment gives retailers the ability to verify compliance, measure consistency, compare performance, streamline operations and address organizational challenges, including the growing problem of shrink, a key focus of audits and a significant source of loss.

Highlights of Encapsulon Assessment 3.3.3 include:
- Enhanced Mobility: enables auditors to utilize the iPad camera to upload and attach pictures to audit questions while walking the store. The photo attachments can be viewed on an iPad as well as a desktop computer when audits are reviewed, and photo thumbnails can be included in completed audit reports.

- Greater Intelligence: Auditors can use the Location Search feature to quickly find stores by entering a partial location name or number, ensuring accurate information is recorded every time. A new Audit Visibility property enables administrators to assign users to specific audits, forms and report views, ensuring that users see only what they need and no more.

- Improved Reporting: When reviewing an Audit, users are now able to choose which Question Details (standards, comments, and attachments) are included in the completed audit report. Users can create distribution lists within Encapsulon Assessment and email completed audits and reports from the system, enabling immediate intelligence sharing, effective follow-up and swift remediation. There are now more graphical reports including a report for Store Performance by Location.
The enhancements signify Wren’s commitment to the retail loss prevention community as well as its ability to deliver solutions that are most valuable to the marketplace. “Wren Solutions continues to innovate with industry-leading solutions for loss prevention in retail,” said Mark Lummus, Vice President of R&D and Operations. “The new enhancements to Encapsulon Assessment, especially the iPad photo attachment app, provide retail loss prevention professionals with additional opportunities to optimize the audit process, prevent shrink and deliver value-adding reports to senior management.”
Updates will automatically push to current customers, with incremental deployment to Early Access Program (EAP) partners. To learn more about Wren Solutions and to view the full list of the features of Encapsulon Assessment 3.3.3, visit www.wrensolutions.com.


About Wren
For nearly 30 years, Wren Solutions has served leading retailers with technologies that help loss prevention professionals reduce loss, increase profits and rise as heroes in their companies. The company’s solutions, including enterprise-class video management software, access control systems, loss prevention and operational assessments, surveillance cameras and hardware, and professional services, enable retail organizations to lower shrink and protect people, assets and facilities, while empowering them with operational insights for better performance. Established in 1983 and headquartered in Jefferson City, MO, Wren is a member of the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), the Loss Prevention Research Council (LPRC), the National Retail Federation (NRF) and the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA). Visit us at www.wrensolutions.com.


Wren®, the Wren logo and The Power to See Your Business are trademarks of Wren. The trademarks that are followed by ® are registered trademarks in the U.S. All other trademarks and/or registered trademarks mentioned herein are properties of their respective owners and are for reference purposes only. The use of such third party trademarks does not indicate any affiliation with or sponsorship of or by Wren.

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>> Award-winning solution features performance enhancements and improved tokenization support across multiple data centers

Liaison Technologies, a global provider of secure cloud-based integration and data management services and solutions, today announced the availability of Token Manager 2.2, the latest version of its award-winning tokenization solution. Token Manager 2.2 features faster performance, improved support for token synchronization across multiple data centers, and simpler configuration and management.

Token Manager 2.2 offers high-volume connection pooling and improved caching of static data, enabling it to create new tokens and reveal tokenized data more quickly to authorized users. Its support for Multiple Active Domain (MAD v2) has also been completely redesigned, resulting in higher performance and scalability across multiple data center clusters to keep them in-sync, as well as the ability to work with market-leading database technologies including Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server. Token Manager 2.2 is also easier to install and upgrade, offers improved logging capability, and includes user interface and messaging enhancements for better usability in the Management Console.

“Tokenization, when used with encryption and key management, delivers exceptional data security for organizations that want to diminish risk, protect brand reputation and dramatically reduce the scope, cost and complexity of various regulatory compliance requirements,” said Robert Fox, Senior Director, Security Software Development, at Liaison. “Many enterprise and mid-market companies rely on Token Manager to protect all types of sensitive information, from credit card and Personally Identifiable Information to patient data. We’re committed to continually improving our solution to meet evolving customer and industry requirements.”

Token Manager is part of Liaison Protect™, the industry’s first data security software solution to combine Format Preserving Tokenization™ with strong local encryption, centralized encryption key management and logging in one platform-agnostic package. The combined solution reduces complexity and simplifies compliance management for data security standards and privacy laws. Customers primarily consist of companies in the retail, e-commerce, financial services, healthcare and hospitality industries that want to reduce the risk of a data breach and decrease scope for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) audits. Liaison Protect TaaS™ takes tokenization to the cloud, providing the same protection as Token Manager, but as a service.

Token Manager 2.2 is available now from Liaison Technologies as a no-charge upgrade to customers. Please contact Liaison for upgrade information or to schedule an optional security health check-up.

About Liaison Technologies
Liaison Technologies is a global integration, data management and data security company providing unique and high-value solutions to move, transform and manage business information on-premises or in the cloud. With a comprehensive array of business-to-business and application-to-application integration and data transformation services, and with solutions to help organizations protect data and meet compliance mandates, Liaison's practitioners implement data management infrastructures adapted to specific business requirements. Headquartered in Atlanta, Liaison has offices in the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.liaison.com.

Liaison Technologies’ Tokenization-as-a-Service Passes PCI-DSS 2.0 Audit

>> PCI-DSS 2.0 compliance assures merchants that Liaison’s cloud-based tokenization service is a highly secure environment for protecting customer credit card data

Liaison Technologies, a global provider of secure cloud-based integration and data management services and solutions, has announced that earlier this year, the Liaison Protect™ Tokenization-as-a-Service (TaaS™) cardholder data environment successfully passed a Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) 2.0 audit and other major payment card association security requirements related to the protection of cardholder data.

Liaison engaged Trustwave®, an authorized third-party assessor for all major payment card associations, to conduct the assessment of the TaaS cardholder data environment hosted at the Verizon Computing as a Service (VzCaaS) hosting facility in Beltsville, Maryland. The cardholder data environment consists of the perimeter and internal firewalls, the Liaison Protect Token Manager application, the production VLAN, the Web VLAN and the VzCaaS Management VLAN. The PCI requirements are comprised of VISA’s Cardholder Information Security Program (CISP) and MasterCard’s Site Data Protection (SDP) program, as well as Discover’s (DISC) and American Express’s Data Security Operating Policies.

“Our cloud-based tokenization service offers merchants the same benefits of our on-premise tokenization solution, such as reducing PCI-DSS scope and compliance costs and decreasing IT management and capital expenditure requirements, while providing limitless data storage and retention,” said Christopher Hale, Liaison’s VP, Global Product Marketing. “We asked Trustwave to conduct a PCI-DSS audit on our TaaS cardholder data environment as proof of its high level of security and to further underscore Liaison’s continuing leadership in data security.”

Liaison Protect TaaS is a managed tokenization service that uses Liaison Protect Token Manager to protect credit cards and other types of structured sensitive data in a PCI-compliant cloud to improve security, reduce risk, ease compliance and minimize data security costs. To use Liaison Protect TaaS, customers enable one or more of their systems to interact with TaaS via web services. Administration, configuration, key management and operations are handled by Liaison to relieve customers of day-to-day data security tasks related to data tokenization.

Liaison is the first data security company to offer Format Preserving Tokenization™ on-premise and as a managed service in the cloud, giving customers a choice on how to tokenize any type of confidential information, including credit card numbers, Personally Identifiable Information (PII) such as Social Security Numbers, passwords and birthdates, Electronic Health Records (EHR) and components of business-to-business transactions such as order information. Unlike other tokenization service providers, Liaison guarantees customers ownership of their tokenized data, including the token/data relationship, should the service contract be cancelled. What’s more, companies that use Liaison Protect TaaS can still use their payment gateway and payment processors of choice.

About Liaison Technologies
Liaison Technologies is a global integration and data management company providing unique and high-value solutions to securely move, transform and manage business information on-premises or in the cloud. With a comprehensive array of business-to-business and application-to-application integration and data transformation services, Liaison's practitioners implement data management infrastructures adapted to specific business requirements. Headquartered in Atlanta, Liaison has offices in the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.liaison.com.

>> Company Attributes Managed Services Growth to Complexities of Data Integration in the Cloud

Liaison Technologies, a global provider of secure cloud-based integration and data management services and solutions, announced today a 52 percent increase in domestic and global mid-market customers for its B2B/EDI and cloud integration managed services since the beginning of the year. Liaison attributes the increase to the growing number of mid-market companies interested in reaping the “speed to value” and cost benefits of cloud services, but wanting to avoid the integration complexities of folding them into their existing IT infrastructures.

Companies such as Tacony Corporation, PBD Worldwide, GlobalTranz Enterprises, Inc., MacPherson’s Arts and Troxell Communications are using Liaison’s integration solutions and services.

“Liaison’s managed services allow companies to offload the increasingly complex data management and integration challenges related to using multiple cloud services,” said Peter Rodenhauser, Liaison’s VP of Managed Services. “This is particularly attractive to mid-market companies that may be without the extensive resources required to handle complex cloud integration projects themselves. Drawing on over a decade of managed services and cloud-based integration expertise, our offerings resonate with organizations that find their time is better spent improving their business processes than dealing with the ‘heavy-lifting’ aspects of cloud integration and management.”

“We were already using a custom, in-house built solution to manage our 850 document transactions daily, but we wanted to extend our capabilities with more document types – such as advanced ship notices and order acknowledgments – with our suppliers,” said Mohan Melarcode, Internet Applications Manager at Troxell Communications. “Liaison allows us to manage the integration between our suppliers and our on-premise, legacy back-end system so that we can now perform these business processes within our extended enterprise more easily and cost-efficiently.”

Liaison offers cloud-based enterprise application integration and business-to-business integration services for the most complex data management and integration scenarios, including on-premise-to-cloud, SaaS-to-on-premise, SaaS-to-cloud and cloud-to-cloud. The company provides customer support and expert integration services from its managed services hub in Carbondale, Ill., and from support teams in Atlanta, Finland and the Netherlands. Liaison further distinguishes itself by offering flexible service level agreements (SLAs) to “tailor-fit” each customer’s requirements, an all-inclusive pricing structure and advanced mapping tools for accurately and quickly completing projects.

About Liaison Technologies
Liaison Technologies is a global integration and data management company providing unique and high-value solutions to securely move, transform and manage business information on-premise or in the cloud. With a comprehensive array of business-to-business and application-to-application integration and data transformation services, Liaison's practitioners implement data management infrastructures adapted to specific business requirements. Headquartered in Atlanta, Liaison has offices in the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.liaison.com.

>> Extensive enhancements deliver greater mapping flexibility with Java objects and increased automation for business-to-business data transformation and integration

Liaison Technologies, a global provider of secure cloud-based integration and data management services and solutions, announced today the general availability of version 5.2 of Contivo™, the company’s market-leading B2B/EAI solution for enterprise-ready data transformation and semantic integration. This latest release of Liaison’s patented enterprise data integration solution offers a new Java object mapping feature, enhanced support of usage profiles, functionality for ad hoc SQL queries, enhanced web service extensions and overall improved database mapping capabilities.

Contivo VMS 5.2 minimizes the impact that integration imposes on applications by maintaining each transformation map, including content validation and format variations, regardless of sources, target applications, platforms or adapter requirements. It eliminates the need for new code development and allows mappings to be moved easily between applications and platforms. Liaison’s Contivo helps reduce reliance on a particular B2B/ERP platform vendor via a central, semantics-based metadata repository that offers version control and patented algorithms for collaborative design and execution. Its powerful write-once, deploy-anywhere portability helps grow technology infrastructures as business requirements demand.

Key new capabilities in Contivo VMS 5.2:

- A Java Importer (available as an add-on) with Java object support for greater speed and flexibility than traditional mapping. Contivo VMS 5.2 can now move data in and out of a Java object graph, and now supports mapping of Java object technologies such as JAXB rather than traditional string mapping. The result is much higher performance than with traditional mapping, very high data transfer rates and a greater degree of flexibility within a single technology. Java object mapping support can enhance existing SOA implementations by significantly reducing the request/response time, and by allowing maps to plug more readily into pure Java implementations.
- Usage profiles that support the creation of new services when managing large SOA structures, as part of the standard Contivo Repository for all users. Usage profiles can help with impact analysis and enhance the efficiency of service creation and management, with dramatic improvements compared to the use of spreadsheets. With the addition of usage profiles, Contivo can help reduce complexity and increase visibility when working with XML schemas and WSDLs.
- General improvements that add support of ad hoc SQL queries to database mapping, simplify web services mapping with WSDL 2.0 support, and provide Map Intuition enhancements in the construction of business rules in data transfers.
“Our strategy for Contivo has always been based on introducing breakthrough capabilities that support the most complex integration initiatives,” said Robert Fox, Senior Director, Software Development at Liaison. “The new version is a continuation of our efforts to simplify mapping through expanded and increasingly flexible automation.”

Contivo Vocabulary Management Solution™ is an innovative, patented and customer proven design-time semantic integration technology that helps reduce the risk, time, cost and effort of integration projects through the use of a centralized, semantic metadata repository. The solution provides a portable abstraction layer of technology and services that provide investment protection and facilitate customers’ migrations to new or existing systems.

About Liaison Technologies
Liaison Technologies is a global integration and data management company providing unique and high-value solutions to securely move, transform and manage business information on-premises or in the cloud. With a comprehensive array of business-to-business and application-to-application integration and data transformation services, Liaison's practitioners implement data management infrastructures adapted to specific business requirements. Headquartered in Atlanta, Liaison has offices in the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.liaison.com.

>> Liaison’s extensive array of third-party interfaces and adapters and any-to-any integration services enable companies to effortlessly take advantage of the cloud

Liaison Technologies, a global provider of secure cloud-based integration and data management services and solutions, announced today its support for a broad range of cloud services and on-premises applications within its Data Aware Cloud Services Brokerage, a seamless, on-demand, any-to-any integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS). Liaison provides a host of third-party interfaces and adapters to popular software- and data-as-a-service (DaaS) offerings and to on-premises applications, making it easy for companies to connect with customers, partners, e-commerce vendors, carriers and payment gateways, and to CRM, HR and other systems critical to internal and external operations.

With hundreds of global customers, Liaison is one of the industry’s largest cloud integration managed services providers. It has one of the broadest connectivity ranges to Hadoop, Cassandra and dozens of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications, including to such major SaaS ISVs as salesforce.com, NetSuite, RightNow and SuccessFactors, and also offers support for hundreds of on-premises and legacy applications.

“There are two obstacles to companies that want to use SaaS and DaaS offerings along with their on-premises applications: connecting and data integration,” said Christopher Hale, Liaison’s VP, Global Product Marketing. “We remain convinced that a pure cloud integration platform, combined with flexible managed services, is the best model for powering the continued growth and success of the cloud computing industry. Our cloud integration platform also provides a natural on-ramp for traditional enterprises to migrate to the cloud with seamless SaaS-based connectivity to on-premises applications.”

Liaison supports a wide variety of simple formats, including XML, CSV, fixed-width files, Cobol copybooks, EDI and more, and supports standards built on ebXML, RosettaNet, OAGIS, X12, EDIFACT and others. Liaison also supports all communications standards, including SOAP, FTP, SMTP and AS2.

For a complete list of Liaison’s third-party interfaces and adapters for cloud services and on-premises applications, visit liaison.com/solutions/cloud-services-integration/cloud-adapters


About Liaison Technologies
Liaison Technologies is a global integration and data management company providing unique and high-value solutions to securely move, transform and manage business information on-premises or in the cloud. With a comprehensive array of business-to-business and application-to-application integration and data transformation services, Liaison's practitioners implement data management infrastructures adapted to specific business requirements. Headquartered in Atlanta, Liaison has offices in the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.liaison.com.

American CyberSystems (ACS) announced today that as part of its ACS Giving Program, two outstanding female high school graduates in the YWCA of Greater Atlanta’s Teen Girls in Technology (TGI Tech) program have each received a $10,000 college scholarship to assist in covering the cost of books and educational expenses. American CyberSystems helped to create and has been a strong proponent of the TGI Tech program since 2006.

Nita Sardana, a faithful volunteer, mentor, supporter and the wife of American CyberSystems’ CEO, Raj Sardana, has long taken a personal interest in the YWCA’s TGI Tech program. “Encouraging and inspiring local young women to enter the technology field is a way for ACS to invest in the future of Atlanta,” said Mrs. Sardana. “It’s been a rewarding experience for us to support such a worthy cause and make a difference in the lives of so many deserving youths. It has also brought a sense of responsibility to my own daughters as they remain actively involved in the program.”

“We are very proud to be the recipient of such generosity for so many years,” said Judy Brown-Fears, TGI Tech program director. “Mrs. Sardana has been a guardian angel to us and has stepped in so many times to ensure the young women in our program have the resources to explore advanced opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math.”

American CyberSystems has been an Atlanta-based company since 1998. In the past year, ACS and its workforce management subsidiary, HireGenics, have experienced explosive growth, nearly doubling in revenue to over $190 million. Currently, some 2,500 employees/contractors service the companies’ customers on a global basis.

American CyberSystems originally planned to offer one $5,000 scholarship to a high school graduate. However, due to the overwhelming number of entries and inspirational essays, the company decided to give two scholarships and increase the amount given.

The two scholarship winners will attend Agnes Scott College and the University of Georgia, respectively.

About American CyberSystems, Inc.
Founded in 1998, American CyberSystems, Inc. is a global information technology services company, offering IT consulting and staffing services, systems integration and business solutions to organizations in a variety of industries. Through its extensive resource pool and global recruitment centers, ACS offers unparalleled expertise in delivering solutions for Fortune 1000 companies worldwide. ACS works in partnership with clients to understand their challenges, share their vision, and deliver mission-specific solutions. For more information about American CyberSystems, please visit www.acsicorp.com.

About HireGenics, Inc.
HireGenics creates enterprise value through de-risking and re-balancing the customer’s workforce. HireGenics provides automated payroll services to assure compliance, VMS services to optimize the contingent labor process, and services procurement strategies that effectively manage deliverable-based projects or services spend. Through extensive workforce management expertise, HireGenics delivers high quality, process-based services at a faster pace while making them cost less for our customers. For more information about HireGenics, please visit www.hiregenics.com.

About Teen Girls in Technology (TGI Tech)

TGI Tech seeks to increase girls’ interest, confidence and competence in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) by helping young women (ages 12-18) overcome barriers and stereotypes in these areas. The program provides girls with innovative learning opportunities while helping them to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills. TGI Tech prepares young women to enter a world of non-traditional, STEM-related careers such as engineering, oceanography, computer science and biotechnology. The program also links girls to successful women in STEM professions for mentoring and encouragement.


About YWCA of Greater Atlanta
YWCA of Greater Atlanta is a not-for-profit organization that provides social services, advocacy, education and leadership development. It is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all. Established on the Spelman College campus in 1902, the YWCA of Greater Atlanta has seven key programs: Women in Transition, Teen Girls in Technology, Early Learning Academy, After School Learning Academy, EncorePlus, Stand Against Racism and Empowered Youth Entertainment. It is a member of World YWCA, which is comprised of YWCAs in 106 countries around the globe. Visit www.ywcaatlanta.org.

Chairman of Startup America, Revolution, the Case Foundation and AOL co-founder to share unique perspective on entrepreneurship and venture capital

Venture Atlanta, Georgia’s premiere event connecting technology innovation and investment capital, announced today that AOL Co-founder and Revolution LLC CEO Steve Case will kick off the two-day conference on October 17 at 12 p.m. at the Georgia Aquarium. As one of the country’s most accomplished entrepreneurs and philanthropists, Case’s passion to celebrate and accelerate entrepreneurship is in perfect alignment with the energy of Venture Atlanta and the entire Georgia technology ecosystem.

“We are thrilled to have Steve Case address our community at this year’s event,” said Larry Williams, vice president of Technology Industry Development, Metro Atlanta Chamber. “His experience in both the entrepreneurial and investing communities is an example of success for our thriving tech community. The conference brings our state’s business leaders, innovative companies and leading research universities together under one roof. Having an industry giant like Steve Case deliver one of our keynote addresses will motivate Atlanta’s current and future entrepreneurial leaders.”

Under Case’s leadership as co-founder and CEO, AOL became the world’s largest and most valuable Internet company. AOL helped drive the worldwide adoption of a medium that has transformed business and society. After AOL, Case founded investment firm Revolution to continue his passion for mentoring and investing in entrepreneurs. Since its founding in 2005, Revolution has backed companies such as Zipcar and LivingSocial. In addition, Case serves as a member of President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, and worked closely with the administration in the passing of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act. Case also chairs the Case Foundation. Led by Jean Case, the
foundation creates and supports initiatives that leverage new technologies and entrepreneurial approaches to drive innovation in the social sector and encourage individuals to get involved with the communities and causes they care about.

Venture Atlanta’s annual investor event will be held October 17-18, 2012, at the Georgia Aquarium. The event will showcase 40 local, innovative technology companies from both the early and later stages, spanning various industries such as health IT, consumer products, and financial technology. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear from several keynote speakers including Steve Case, network with venture capitalists and angel investors from around the country, and hear from Georgia’s most promising technology companies.

For more information on Venture Atlanta 2012 or to register for the event, visit www.ventureatlanta.org. Tickets are currently priced at $400 for the two-day event. Early registration ends July 15. The full conference schedule and speaker line-up can be found here: www.ventureatlanta.org/conference/2012-conference-schedule/.

For up-to-the-minute information on conference news and speakers, follow us on Twitter (@VentureAtlanta) to join the conversation.

Wren’s mini bullet camera provides retailers with high-quality and cost-effective video surveillance solution

Wren Solutions, a loss-prevention technology provider helping leading retailers reduce loss and increase profits, today announced the immediate availability of a new mini bullet camera. Purpose-built for retail, it provides the ideal solution for stores in search of a video surveillance solution that is both cost-effective and aesthetically pleasing.

The high-resolution camera is available in white or black, includes an auto-iris, vari-focal lens; accepts 12 VDC or 24 VAC, and is UL-approved. A universal mounting bracket is included with the camera, enabling quick and easy installation in open ceilings and ensuring minimal disruption to the retail environment throughout the implementation process. The product also carries Wren’s standard 3 year warranty.

According to Andrew Wren, CEO of Wren Solutions, the camera fits the need for retailers of all shapes and sizes. “We saw the need among both our smaller retailers, as well as larger enterprises, to offer a solution that was flexible and easily to implement,” he noted.

Retailers can integrate the new mini bullet cameras into existing video surveillance systems, or consider compatibility with Wren’s line of recording solutions. Weighing 1.1 lbs. and measuring 4 in. long by 2 in. in diameter, the mini bullet camera’s small size makes for a design that is convenient for quick and easy deployment in virtually any retail environment.

“As an American manufacturer serving the country’s largest retailers for nearly 30 years, our experience with the industry’s most challenging environments gives us the ability to work hand-in-hand with retailers to develop solutions that truly meet their needs, both aesthetically and functionally,” said Wren.

Wren’s mini bullet cam is currently available and ready for deployment. Photos, specifications and additional information on this camera are available here.

About Wren Solutions
For nearly 30 years, Wren Solutions has served leading retailers with technologies that help loss prevention professionals reduce loss, increase profits and rise as heroes in their companies. The company’s solutions, including enterprise-class video management software, access control systems, loss prevention and operational assessments, surveillance cameras and hardware, and professional services, enable retail organizations to lower shrink and protect people, assets and facilities, while empowering them with operational insights for better performance. Established in 1983 and headquartered in Jefferson City, MO, Wren is a member of the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), the Loss Prevention Research Council (LPRC), the National Retail Federation (NRF) and the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA). Visit us at www.wrensolutions.com.

>> With its Managed Services hub in southern Illinois, Liaison keeps tech jobs in the U.S., provides customers with high-quality support, and keeps operations costs in check

Liaison Technologies, a global provider of secure cloud-based integration and data management services and solutions, announced today it is holding a webinar on the benefits of rural sourcing for technology companies, based on its own successful initiative in Carbondale, Illinois. “Rural Sourcing: Trend or Main Street Savior” will be held at 12:00 pm ET on Tuesday, June 19.

In the webinar, Kyle Harfst, executive director of the Southern Illinois Research Park at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC), and Larry Mieldezis, COO of Liaison Technologies, will showcase Liaison’s rural sourcing operation and talk about how it has benefitted the company, the local economy and customers alike. Carbondale has a population of 26,000.

Liaison established its Managed Services hub in Carbondale in 2010 to provide support for its on-premise and cloud-based data integration and data management solutions, and to provide data mapping and implementation services to its North American customers. It partnered with Southern Illinois University for the initiative, working from a space in the Dunn-Richmond Economic Development Center at SIU. Liaison has since moved off-campus to a 5,000-square-foot facility where it has room to grow. It currently employs 20 mapping analysts and other technologists in Carbondale, hiring both seasoned IT professionals and new SIU graduates.

“For all of its benefits, the fact remains that the global economy has driven business out of America,” said Mieldezis. “For many small towns, economic revitalization is a matter of life or death. At the same time, companies are finding that the quality of their outsourced IT initiatives in other countries is lacking. A solution has emerged that solves both issues: rural sourcing. It is our hope that our successful venture in Southern Illinois will prompt other tech companies to establish offices throughout rural America, instead of sending high-paying jobs overseas.”

Rural sourcing is becoming more prevalent as technology companies realize the benefits of using domestic technical talent in rural communities, particularly those anchored by a technical college or university. Because of the lower cost of living in these communities, companies can offer competitive wages and benefits at a lower cost than they can in large metropolitan areas. They can also avoid the problems often associated with outsourcing overseas, such as language and cultural barriers, regulatory compliance and security requirements, political instability and time zone differences.

To register for “Rural Sourcing: Trend or Main Street Savior,” click here: event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLo...;sourcepage=register

About Liaison Technologies
Liaison Technologies is a global integration and data management company providing unique and high-value solutions to securely move, transform and manage business information on-premise or in the cloud. With a comprehensive array of business-to-business and application-to-application integration and data transformation services, Liaison's practitioners implement data management infrastructures adapted to specific business requirements. Headquartered in Atlanta, Liaison has offices in the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.liaison.com.

>> Decoupling data from applications for internal and external data sharing enhances its value in the business ecosystem but also presents new challenges

As companies begin to uncouple data from applications to enable richer services both internal and external to their organizations, new considerations arise that can speed up as well as slow down adoption of data sharing using data-as-a-service. This is according to Liaison Technologies, a global provider of secure cloud-based integration and data management services and solutions, which is helping organizations to better understand the game-changing technology trend and its potential impact on business ecosystems.

Data-as-a-service enables users to access data on demand. Most of these services are based on one-directional hub and spoke models where people access data stored in a data service and then create isolated data pools, which are not usable to anyone else. In this model, data is not shared, which defeats the data-as-a-service intent. What’s worse is if the data pool isn’t constantly refreshed, a break is created in the data value chain that causes data to quickly become stale and inaccurate.

“A healthy data value chain will have many consumers who may not continue the chain, but won’t store a snapshot view of the data they use,” said Robert Fox, senior director of B2B/EAI Software Development at Liaison. “Instead, data will freely flow in and out of the core data sets as needed to keep data updated and accurate. The goal is to lay out the services in a way that eliminates isolated data pools and produces a healthy ecosystem of data services for all.”

In the preferred model, data-as-a-service providers interweave to increase the value of data and promote data refreshment and reuse. The synergistic benefit comes when two or more services can feed each other, enabling the ecosystem to grow the data chain value by way of enrichment between data consumers and producers.

Data-as-a-Service Challenges

According to Fox, organizations using data services need to show the value in decoupling data from applications and create an open service-oriented architecture that allows data to be shared internally and externally.

Organizations that publish and subscribe to data services must have confidence the information is accurate and current; otherwise, the model fails. Consequently, one of the difficulties in shifting to an architecture that enables data-as-a-service lies in changing the traditional IT philosophy of data ownership to one of data stewardship, where every individual and organization that participates in the data value chain becomes responsible for maintaining the quality of the data.
Other challenges include:

- Cost vs. Value — The level of effort required to decouple data from an application must be weighed against the value of doing it. In many instances, organizations may be better served by abandoning the data store altogether and subscribing to a data service that can provide the information in real-time.

- Privacy Concerns — When an organization decides to share data to other applications and services outside the current application or departmental walls — whether it is to other departments within the organization or to external organizations — privacy must be ensured, especially when mandated by federal law.

- Data Security — Sensitive data being shared via data services, especially between networks, must be secured in transit and at rest and access must be controlled. A solid data security plan must be established to avoid breaches and misuse of confidential information.

“Before a true revolution in data-as-a-service can occur, organizations must be convinced of the value and they must meet the inherent challenges of freeing and sharing data,” said Christopher Hale, VP of Global Product Marketing at Liaison. “Decoupling data from applications for sharing has far-reaching benefits that can’t always be quantified by sheer monetary savings or gains, so it’s up to IT to show the advantages using other, often less tangible, criteria. These can include easier data-handling, smoother logistics and increased customer satisfaction.”

About Liaison Technologies
Liaison Technologies is a global integration and data management company providing unique and high-value solutions to securely move, transform and manage business information on-premise or in the cloud. With a comprehensive array of business-to-business and application-to-application integration and data transformation services, Liaison's practitioners implement data management infrastructures adapted to specific business requirements. Headquartered in Atlanta, Liaison has offices in the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.liaison.com.

>> Liaison credits employees’ practitioner expertise and unique, high-value cloud integration and data management solutions for its success

Liaison Technologies, a global provider of secure cloud-based integration and data management services and solutions, announced today it has been named to the Georgia Fast 40 by the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) Atlanta for its steady revenue and employee growth in 2011. The company grew 44 percent in 2011 and continues to steadily increase its employee base. Liaison credits its exceptional growth to its unique integration and data management expertise, its rural sourcing policy that creates jobs for American technologists, and its ability to continually deliver value to its customers.

Each year, the Atlanta chapter of the ACG honors Georgia-based middle market companies that demonstrate the greatest growth in revenue and employees. To be eligible for the Georgia Fast 40, companies must be for profit, have net sales ranging from $15 million to $500 million, and be able to demonstrate three years of sustained revenue and employment growth.

Liaison’s revenue increased nearly 165 percent over the past three years, demonstrating its ongoing success in the United States and Europe. This growth is due to the addition of a number of high-profile Global 1000 and middle-market customers, key acquisitions, significant technological advances, and continued expansion with its rural sourcing initiative in Carbondale, Illinois. In addition to the Georgia Fast 40, Liaison was a 2012 Red Herring Top 100 Americas Award winner, a recognition honoring the year’s most promising private technology ventures from North America, and was also named a 2012 Pacesetter, the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s annual award recognizing Atlanta’s top 50 fastest-growing private companies.

“Despite economic conditions, Liaison has continued to grow by evolving our solutions and services to solve the increasingly complex data management and integration challenges facing our customers,” said Liaison President and CEO Bob Renner. “We credit this growth to our passionate and talented team of business and technology-focused professionals who are committed to delivering customer value through innovative, tailored solutions.”

With an array of innovative solutions, managed services and practitioner expertise to handle complex data management and integration scenarios—including on-premise-to-cloud, SaaS-to-on-premise, SaaS-to-cloud and cloud-to-cloud—Liaison is uniquely positioned to be a single, global solution provider for all multi-enterprise data management and integration needs. Continuing on this path, Liaison’s Cloud Services Brokerage model is helping middle-market and enterprise companies take advantage of multiple cloud services and data-as-a-service offerings.

About Liaison Technologies
Liaison Technologies is a global integration and data management company providing unique and high-value solutions to securely move, transform and manage business information on-premise or in the cloud. With a comprehensive array of business-to-business and application-to-application integration and data transformation services, Liaison's practitioners implement data management infrastructures adapted to specific business requirements. Headquartered in Atlanta, Liaison has offices in the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.liaison.com.