Cognos, an IBM company and the world leader in business intelligence and performance management solutions, today announced that IBM Cognos 8 Business Intelligence software is now available, for the first time, for Linux on System z.

With IBM Cognos 8 BI for Linux on System z, customers can efficiently report and analyze transactional systems directly on the mainframe, so workers across an organization can use information to quickly identify and respond to critical business trends. Highly targeted information delivery and analysis capabilities let knowledge workers, ranging from front-line managers to executives, receive strategic business information where, when and how they need it to make better business decisions.

A result of IBM's rapid assimilation of its acquisition of Cognos, the product unites the proven reporting and analysis capabilities of IBM Cognos 8 BI with the power and reliability of IBM System z. This allows organizations across industries to leverage their mainframe investments to improve decision-making and overall business performance.

The availability of IBM Cognos 8 BI for Linux on System z extends IBM's Information on Demand business strategy, which unifies the company's software, hardware, consulting and research expertise to help customers gain access to the right information when they need it, along with business insights to address and respond to changing market demands. Further in support of this strategy, IBM has established multiple worldwide System z competency centers to help customers learn about IBM Cognos 8 BI on System z, benchmark the System z architecture and interact with other IBM products and solutions.

The combination of IBM Cognos 8 BI and System z demonstrates the mainframe's resurgence as the strategic platform of choice for running modern applications. It provides organizations, such as Satyam Computer Services Ltd, with the means to transform their disparate pieces of data into consistent, actionable business information on a modern mainframe that has been designed from the ground up to help dramatically increase data center efficiency. The IBM System z mainframe significantly improves data center performance and reduces power, cooling costs, and floor space requirements with unmatched levels of security and automated management and tracking of IT resources.

'Our BI Center of Excellence evaluated the tool for very large volumes of data. With IBM Cognos 8 BI for Linux on System z customers can gain a single, current and consolidated view of business information to support operational processes and disperse to the right teams across the company for more effective-decision making,' said Indira Munjuluri, Head of BI Architecture & CoE group , Satyam Computer Services Ltd. 'Aligning such a broad range of BI capabilities with our infrastructure strategy helps us deliver consistent business solutions through a powerful, ultra-efficient data center.'

More than 600 new applications and solutions were introduced for the IBM mainframe in 2007 ' bringing the total to more than 4,000 unique applications available on the System z platform. 'System z customers want more users across their organization making better, faster decisions using their infrastructure platform of choice,' said Leah MacMillan, vice-president, BI Product Marketing, Cognos, an IBM Company. 'With IBM Cognos 8 BI for Linux on System z, these customers will be able to take advantage of the broad range of proven BI capabilities for all types of users across the organization to optimize operational processes while reducing infrastructure cost and complexity.'

Cognos, an IBM Company, is a recognized leader in delivering BI and performance management solutions across industries. For example, 19 of the top 20 consumer goods companies worldwide, 9 of the top 10 insurance companies and over 1,000 financial services organizations, including 9 of the top 10 banks in Europe and all of the top 10 banks in the United States, use IBM Cognos solutions.

IBM announced the availability of the System z10 Enterprise Class on February 26, 2008 as the most sophisticated server ever developed, reflecting a multi-billion dollar investment, five years of development and a global team of thousands of technical professionals.

IBM System z is an important part of IBM's new enterprise data center model, which helps clients improve IT efficiency and facilitates the rapid deployment of new IT services for future business growth. The model is based on best practices for virtualization, green IT, service management and cloud computing.

About IBM Cognos Business Intelligence Products:

IBM Cognos 8 Business Intelligence (BI) delivers easy-to-use BI with the right context, through familiar interfaces, at the right time. For further information visit: http://www.cognos.com/products/cognos8businessintelligence/index.html. For more information on System z, visit http://www.ibm.com/systems/z.  

About Cognos, an IBM company:

Cognos, an IBM company, is the world leader in business intelligence and performance management solutions. It provides world-class enterprise planning and BI software and services to help companies plan, understand and manage financial and operational performance. Cognos was acquired by IBM in January 2008. For more information, visit http://www.ibm.com/software/data/ and http://www.cognos.com. 

Cognos and the Cognos logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cognos ULC, an IBM Company, in the United States and/or other countries. IBM and the IBM logo are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, or other countries, or both. All other names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Note to Editors: Copies of previous Cognos press releases and product information are available on Cognos' Web site at http://www.cognos.com.  

Many businesses across a variety of sectors are already dealing with the repercussions of the IT skills shortage, with many companies having no choice but to leave essential vacancies unfilled while the search continues for the skilled and available IT professional.

In response to this, Computeach's recruitment service has partnered up with leading businesses, including Dell, Siemens, Virgin Media and Cable and Wireless, to provide staff who have already demonstrated an aptitude and enthusiasm for IT. Computeach now offers both the qualifications and experience necessary for career changers to get a foot in the door of the IT industry, whilst helping businesses take a pro-active approach to the skills shortage.

Katie Jansz from Siemens explains, "We have appointed a number of recently qualified IT staff to work across a variety of positions. Many of them have very diverse career backgrounds and have funded their own training to enable their career change. We find that these individuals have a real sense of motivation and accomplishment; some having raced through their training courses, such is their determination to succeed."

MaryAnne Clayton, Head of Recruitment and Careers at Computeach adds, "The majority of our students come from industrial backgrounds, many of whom have never written a CV, attended a formal interview or worked within an office environment. Yet they have demonstrated, through funding their own training courses with us, an ability and drive for IT. This, accompanied with the qualifications they're studying towards, makes them extremely attractive candidates for employers."

Computeach's recruitment team, which is made up of six consultants and two administrators, has just placed its 100th student so far this year. Last year, the team placed one student for every working day of the year and are on target to double that figure in 2008. With over 40 years of experience in the IT Training Industry, Computeach provides innovative and truly blended learning solutions to a wide range of customers. For more information visit www.computeach.co.uk.  

Cisco today furthered its strategy of investment in the Russian technology industry with the announcement of an anchor investment in a venture capital fund that will focus on Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). In collaboration with Almaz Capital Partners, Cisco has made the anchor investment in Almaz Capital Russia Fund I, L.P. (to be informally called 'Almaz Capital / Cisco Fund I'), which has initially closed at $60 million.

Almaz Capital Partners will seek investment opportunities and manage the fund's investments. The target companies for the fund primarily include high-growth small and medium-sized companies in the technology, media, and telecommunications sectors. Cisco will pursue investment opportunities in technology-related start-ups in the region, both directly as well as indirectly through this regional venture fund.

"Today's announcement underscores Cisco's recognition of the innovation and potential that the Russia technology market offers," said Paul Mountford, president of Emerging Markets for Cisco. "As part of its globalisation strategy, Cisco's intention is to strengthen links to key centers of innovation. The growing number of start-ups originating from the region is reflective of the growing importance of the technology sector to Russia's continued socio-economic development and competitiveness."

Cisco's Corporate Development organization helps the company to identify and capture market disruptions and anticipate trends around the world, and to provide a competitive advantage through early investments in burgeoning technologies. The group's objectives align closely with Cisco's corporate globalization strategy, which addresses the world's shifting boundaries and intensifying competition worldwide.

"Investing in best-in-class venture teams, such as Almaz Capital Partners in Russia, is an example of how Cisco maintains leadership in global markets in transition," said Hilton Romanski, vice president of Global Corporate Development for Cisco. "The potential for technology innovation arising from Russia is tremendous. Our objective is to help catalyze and accelerate that potential into action that will have a positive impact on the Russian and global marketplaces."

Cisco has already announced key direct investment commitments to the Russian market, including a stake last year in Ozon, the leading Russian online retailer.

"Russia is unique relative to other emerging venture capital markets, in that it offers both innovation and market opportunities. Like Israel, Russia has tremendous technology and innovation potential, and similar to China and India, it has a large and fast growing enterprise and consumer market," said Peter Loukianoff, managing partner of Almaz Capital Partners. "Russia has a growing community of savvy entrepreneurs that are building companies based on both innovative technologies for global markets and proven business models for the internal Russian/CIS market."

Overall, Cisco currently has more than $2 billion in venture capital investments under management and has been an active equity investor in major markets such as China, India, Israel and Europe, in addition to the United States. Through a combination of direct and indirect funding vehicles, Cisco is a strategic investor in start-ups and venture funds around the world and focuses on finding and investing in companies that have innovative technologies and business models.

Yoav Samet, head of Cisco's Corporate Development for Israel, Central and Eastern Europe, and Russia/CIS, will lead the initiative announced today.

About Almaz Capital Partners

Almaz Capital Partners is a venture capital firm that invests in Russian-related technology, media, and communications companies. The firm has offices in Silicon Valley and Moscow. Additional information about Almaz Capital Partners can be found at http://www.almazcapital.com. 

About Cisco Systems

Cisco is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com. Cisco equipment in Emering Markets is supplied by Cisco Systems International BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems, Inc.

BGC Partners, Inc., a leading global full-service inter-dealer broker of financial instruments, announced today that the Audit Committee of its Board of Directors has appointed Ernst & Young LLP as the company's independent auditors. Ernst & Young will replace Deloitte & Touche LLP as the independent auditors for the Company upon the completion by Deloitte & Touche of its review report on the financial statements of BGC Partners for the quarter ended June 30, 2008.

The appointment of Ernst & Young was made after careful consideration by its Audit Committee and by the management of BGC Partners, and concludes an extensive evaluation process. The decision to change auditors was not the result of any disagreement between the Company and Deloitte & Touche on any matter of accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure, or auditing scope or procedure.

“We appreciate the service Deloitte & Touche has provided.” said Albert M. Weis, who is a member of BGC Partners’ Board of Directors and also Chairman of the Audit Committee. “We look forward to our new relationship with Ernst & Young.”

About BGC Partners, Inc.

BGC Partners, Inc. is a leading global inter-dealer broker, specializing in the brokering of financial instruments and related derivatives products. BGC Partners provides integrated voice, hybrid, and fully electronic execution and other brokerage services to many of the world’s largest and most creditworthy banks, broker-dealers, investment banks, and investment firms for a broad range of global financial products, including fixed income securities, interest rate swaps, foreign exchange, equity derivatives, credit derivatives, futures, commodities, structured products, and other instruments.

Through its eSpeed and BGCantor Market Data brands, BGC Partners also offers financial technology solutions and market data and analytics related to select financial instruments and markets. Named after fixed income trading innovator B. Gerald Cantor, BGC Partners has offices in New York and London, as well as in Beijing (representative office), Chicago, Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Johannesburg, Mexico City, Nyon, Paris, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto.

Ernst & Young announces that as from today practices within its Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA) and Far East Areas will each become operational under the management of their respective Area Executive.

Mark Otty, as Area Managing Partner of EMEIA, will lead an organization with over 60,000 people in 87* countries and a projected turnover in excess of US$11 billion.

David Sun and Jim Hassett, as Area Co-Managing Partners of the Far East, will lead a US$1.2 billion organization with more than 20,000 people.

Mark Otty commented: “Our clients tell us these globalization moves are important because they enable us to better meet their needs to deliver seamless, consistent, high-quality service, not just across EMEIA but right across the rest of the world.”

David Sun added: “These are also positive steps for our own people as they want to be in an organization where the opportunities for mobility, career development and international experience are without boundaries.”

Jim Turley, Chairman and CEO concluded: “The integration of our practices within our EMEIA and Far East Areas, together with that of our Americas practices in 2006, differentiates us in the marketplace as the most globally integrated professional services firm.”

About Ernst & Young

Ernst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. Worldwide, our 130,000 people are united by our shared values and an unwavering commitment to quality. We make a difference by helping our people, our clients and our wider communities achieve potential.

For more information, please visit www.ey.com.

Axon Americas, a division of Axon Group plc, the leading SAP Business Transformation consultancy, announces that it has acquired the business of SCM Solutions, a privately-held provider of Supply Chain Management Services.

Founded in 2005 by Pete King and Chris Botha, SCM Solutions is one of the premier supply chain consultancy firms that leverage SAP's world class Supply Chain Management (SCM) Solution. The acquisition is designed to accelerate Axon's expansion into SCM for SAP's Services Industry. SCM Solutions currently supports close to 50 service industries in all areas of SCM, including, Advanced Planner and Optimizer (APO), Transportation Management (TM), Supply Chain Event Management (SCEM), Supply Network Collaboration (SNC) and Service Parts Planning (SPP). Industries represented include High Tech, Mining, Oil &Gas, Healthcare, Automotive, Consumer Products and Life Sciences.

Mr. King, Managing Partner of SCM, said, "We are delighted to become part of the largest SAP dedicated consultancy in the world. Axon's global reach will allow us to gain access to the premier global SAP operating platform and apply our insights into supply chain transformation for a broader range of clients using our SCM consulting capabilities. Our clients will benefit from Axon's capabilities in the full range of Business Consulting and SAP Solutions."

"I am excited about the addition of SCM Solutions to Axon. Their deep understanding of the SAP supply chain solution is consistent with our global vision of being the SAP Systems Integrator of choice," added Steve Peck, President and CEO of Axon Americas. "SCM Solutions' capabilities will help Axon provide enhanced transformational value and a strategic differentiator for all companies using SAP. We will maintain SCM Solutions' strong commitment to their clients' success and are dedicated to providing outstanding opportunities to SCM Solutions' consultants."

SCM Solutions serves as an exceptional fit for Axon. Since their inception, they have been dedicated to SAP's enterprise applications, and like Axon, their objective has always been to provide premier consulting services with clear, measurable results for each client.

About Axon

Axon (www.axonglobal.com) is a Business Transformation consultancy that delivers significant business value to large, complex organizations through the innovative implementation of SAP technologies. Axon has over 2,000 experienced professionals specializing in the delivery of sustained business improvement through technology enabled transformation programs. Axon's consultants bring in-depth industry expertise alongside best practice functional knowledge to address the strategic, operational, information management and organizational effectiveness challenges faced by organizations today. Axon is renowned for its ability to help clients define more ambitious strategies, build more effective organizations and shape more successful futures.

Founded in 1994, Axon today has offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore, China, India and Australia.

Apply for the latest Axon jobs on our job board.

IT contractors have reason to be cautiously optimistic about surviving the current economic crisis. The financial services sector will create more jobs for them than any other sector over the next 12 months.

IT contractors may not have as much confidence in the sector as they used to, but they do believe that it will still be their dominant client by 2009, according to a research conducted by the Giant Group.

The IT hiring freeze and offshoring of IT jobs has left IT departments in big companies significantly thinner. Contractors tend to profit from economic uncertainty, as they are easier to let go than permanent IT employees if things go downhill.

"What we are seeing is a fairly measured response to the downturn," reads a statement from the Giant Group. "Some IT projects which will not yield a short-term return on investment are being given lower priority, but the market hasn’t fallen off a cliff by any means."

"Large organisations [will] strip the 'perm' workforce down, reduce fixed overheads, and look to opt for more project based or ad-hoc staffing solutions, using staff as and when required, in this case potentially contractors," says Nick Hardisty, managing director of Inspired Recruitment, an IT jobs agency.

Matthew Brown, director of the Giant Group, says that there is no sign of panic among contractors, adding: "Sentiment is on the wane, but few are expecting a repeat of the mass bloodletting we saw in the 2001/02 downturn... The general trend in [contractor] joblessness has been upwards. But the proportion of contractors out of work long-term (3 months or more) has remained relatively static at around 4% over the last year. To put this in perspective, 13% of contractors were jobless for three months or more in 2003, so the market is still in reasonable shape."

Deloitte LLP announced today that it will invest approximately $300 million in the creation of a state-of-the-art learning and leadership development center in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area in Westlake, Texas. Construction on the new facility will begin in 2009 and the center is expected to open in 2011.

The facility will serve as a central destination for all of Deloitte's talent, including everyone from new hires to senior leadership to partners, principals and directors. The 750,000-square-foot campus will have 800 guest rooms.

"As our industry evolves faster than ever before, Deloitte's learning and leadership development center will enable our people to take the lead in shaping the future of our profession," said Barry Salzberg, chief executive officer, Deloitte LLP. "We expect this facility to become the heart of our organization -- the place where we meet, learn and develop our next generation of leaders."

The facility will feature multiple conference spaces and classrooms that will house thought leadership events; events with professors from nationally recognized universities and colleges; and networking events. All of the facilities' activities will enable people to develop and grow as a result of their connection with business and industry leaders, academia, mentors and colleagues.

The facility will also feature dining venues, a ballroom, a business center, recreational facilities and a fitness center. The campus will be constructed according to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards established by the U.S. Green Building Council. Green considerations are a top priority for all aspects of this project, including design, materials, engineering and supplies.

In addition to the direct benefit for Deloitte and its people, the facility is expected to provide economic benefits to Westlake and the Dallas/Fort Worth region. 

To browse the latest job openings with Deloitte, please visit our IT consulting job board. 

BearingPoint, Inc., one of the world’s largest management and technology consulting firms, announced today that it has established a new human capital management system for East Japan Railway Company, also known as JR East. The solution is built on the SAP® ERP Human Capital Management solution and has been running smoothly since its formal introduction.

JR East is the largest passenger railway company in the world serving 16 million passengers daily. Established 21 years ago, the company is now restructuring its operations to achieve further growth. Previously, JR East had managed human resources, payroll, social insurance and welfare data separately, distributing personal information across multiple systems. They needed a system that could streamline administrative work, provide better service to the employees and quickly adjust to personnel-system and organizational changes.

To address this need, JR East decided to deploy SAP ERP HCM and establish a new system to integrate its human resource-related systems. BearingPoint helped JR East merge the employee master data from its existing systems, build a new human resource portal for relevant departments to share data, and improve the Web service menus used by managers and regular employees to view and update information. This project involved completely replacing the existing dedicated human capital management terminals. Now, approximately 62,000 employees, including employees located at affiliated companies, use the new system, which is now one of the largest SAP ERP user bases in the Asia-Pacific region.

To establish the new system, JR East looked to BearingPoint for its experience and achievements in installing human resource information systems and providing business process redesign consulting. BearingPoint collaborated with JR East Japan Information Systems Company to develop the basic concept, define the system requirements, and design and develop the system. The two companies also worked together to provide support for smooth and stable operations, and conduct change management. On the advice of BearingPoint, JR East selected SAP ERP HCM because SAP and its products rate highly for reliability, functionality and technological superiority. JR East also took into account the compatibility of its current human resource processes and IT environment.

BearingPoint won the 2008 SAP Award of Excellence presented by SAP Japan in the category "Project Award", which recognizes project impact and innovation. The award for was given to BearingPoint for the new SAP ERP HCM-based system implemented at JR East, a project in which BearingPoint completed one of the Asia-Pacific region's largest SAP ERP HCM-based systems.

About BearingPoint, Inc.

BearingPoint, Inc. is one of the world's largest providers of management and technology consulting services to Global 2000 companies and government organizations in more than 60 countries worldwide. Based in McLean, Va., the firm has more than 16,000 employees focusing on the Public Services, Commercial Services and Financial Services industries. BearingPoint professionals have built a reputation for knowing what it takes to help clients achieve their goals, and working closely with them to get the job done. Our service offerings are designed to help our clients generate revenue, increase cost-effectiveness, manage regulatory compliance, integrate information and transition to “next-generation” technology. For more information, visit the Company's Web site at www.BearingPoint.com. 

Despite a macroeconomic slowdown that has kept the threat of recession looming for the past eight months, pockets of job market growth continue to emerge in the technology, healthcare and defense sectors. According to TheLadders.com’s Quarterly Executive Job Market Trends Report for Q208, which tracks hiring patterns in 20 major cities and surveys in-the-trenches job seekers nationwide, 71 percent of $100,000+ job seekers said they have noticed a slow-down in interview opportunities this quarter. However, undeterred by the economic slow-down, 58 percent of those surveyed described the high-end job markets in their cities as stable and 59 percent said they expect to land a new job in six months or less.

This optimism is echoed in the hiring patterns among the large American corporations according to TheLadders.com Quarterly Executive Job Market Trends Report. While hiring in the financial and consumer discretionary sectors has clearly been impacted by the continued fall-out from the mortgage market collapse, the technology, healthcare and defense sectors are all adding to their executive-level ranks nationwide.

"There were 12,000 more $100,000+ jobs posted on TheLadders.com in the first quarter of 2008 than there were in the first quarter of 2007," said Marc Cenedella, president and CEO of TheLadders.com. "The recession is grabbing the headlines, but there are always countercyclical segments of the market that thrive in a down economy; we’re seeing a lot of reliance in this marketplace."

Regional Job Market Analysis

To get at the heart of hiring patterns in the $100,000+ job market, TheLadders.com’s Quarterly Executive Job Market Trends Report measured hiring activity across a variety of metrics and found the regional markets with the most favorable $100,000+ climates were San Francisco, San Diego, Washington DC, Seattle and Boston. The ratio of job seekers to job postings sits at a favorable 2:1 in San Francisco, 3.1 in San Diego and 4:1 in Washington DC, Seattle and Boston.

Job markets attracting the highest number of job seekers from other parts of the country are New York, San Francisco and Boston. Tampa and Detroit continue to be among the tightest markets in the 20 DMAs.

Across the nation, some of the top companies currently posting the most open positions are BAE Systems, Cisco Systems, Deloitte, General Dynamics, Google, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Northrop Grumman, PayPal, and Sepracor.

Job Seeker Survey

As part of TheLadders.com Quarterly Executive Job Market Trends Report, active job seekers throughout the country were asked to weigh in with their own first-hand accounts on the status of the current job market in their cities. Job seekers were asked questions such as: Have you directly felt the impact of the recession on your job hunt? How long do you think it will take you to land a new job?

As noted above, when asked directly about the impact of the recession, 71 percent of job seekers said they have noticed a slow-down in interview opportunities. In describing the high-end job markets in their cities, a 58 percent majority cited overall stability and 59 percent said they expect to land a new job in six months or less. An upwardly mobile group, 64 percent of the job seekers surveyed said they were willing to move from their current cities for a new job opportunity. Another 42 percent said they are actively looking for new job opportunities in cities outside of their own.

Complete city-by-city data and survey results are available at the following link: http://www.theladders.com/static/boom/ Please contact John Roderick at 631-656-9736, or john@jroderick.com to receive more information.

About TheLadders.com

TheLadders.com is the world's largest online service catering exclusively to the $100k+ job market. Our job is to make the search for senior talent and senior positions quick and effective. With access to the most $100k+ job leads in one place, senior level professionals can get to the next step in their careers faster. Top recruiters value the ability to quickly and easily connect with so much qualified talent in the sales, marketing, finance, HR, legal, tech and operations industries. Founded in 2003 by Marc Cenedella, TheLadders.com has grown into the largest specialty employment website. In addition to traditional job search services, TheLadders.com also provides a host of specialized career development resources, including a proven, one-on-one resume service; advice from career experts; customized online profiles; and e-mail alerts. TheLadders.com is headquartered in New York with offices in London. For more information, please visit www.theladders.com or www.theladders.co.uk.