HTC Dash Review - tested with MacBookPro (OS/X 10.4.8) -MissingSync for Windows Mobile
Shortcomings that disqualify the phone:
The main disqualifier: TMobile has broken the ability to transfer data via WiFi using typical apps such as Internet Explorer and email. One must use GPRS/Edge.
Since each time I have traveled abroad for the past five years, I have not been able to use my T-Mobile account abroad despite having gone thru the tech support fire drill prior to each departure. The walk you through unlocking the phone and enabling international roaming privileges. Yet, on arrival, nothing works at all. Yes, I know how to switch GSM carrier networks manually. Since the past is often a reasonable indicator of future performance, I have no confidence that even if was inclined to spend an additional $30/month for antiquated and slow GPRS/Edge data connections, I would not be able to use the device abroad for data access. In the past, the only way I could use my phones was to buy a local chip and put the TMobile SIM in my wallet for the duration of the trip. Even if TMobile was present, for example in England, it was still unable to roam, even after an entirely wasted day at the mall in Manchester with inept TMobile people who wanted me to call the USA office on my own dime on a phone that would not work. You get the idea, a typical SNAFU.
Other nagging problems that made me want to hurl the phone to the floor and smash it to bits: ;-)
2. No notepad or text editor. Must set up an email account to edit any text. Even then, there is not a cut and paste feature. You cant even select text. Brilliant! I had to manually type in WEP bin hex key despite having transferred a text file to the phone to copy the key from on the phone. The text file was NOT able to read by ANY app on the phone. It is a standard Unicode text file readable by any platform anywhere except of course for Microsoft.
3. You can’t set up email without paying TMobile even if you use your own WiFi access point at home. USB email sync does not work on Mac, at least with Mail or Thunderbird. Did not try with Entourage, but I do not wish to use Entourage, a terrible program in terms of standards based messaging services.
5. Infrared on phone does not exist. A myth. A nasty myth.
6. Direct Push and Data Connection both require TMobile based services and preclude WiFi based Access. This issue prevents using any email service without TMobile provisioned datacoms. You can use Push with Outlook, of course that only exists on Windoze, and requires that you connect to your computer. Checking email while mobile is not practical as a result.
7. WiFi reception is poor. And the questions remains of what you can actually use WiFi for anyway given the main shortcoming above!
9. Volume touch pad just stinks. Unintuitive, unresponsive, and if you don’t read the manual, you will wonder what that is for, and why the volume randomly changes.
10. File system browsing (Start Menu etc) is incredibly slow.
11. Browser is just plain useless. Can’t connect except via Tmobile services.
4. Mac issue - Bluetooth connection malfunctions. Cannot pair with Mac either direction. Pairing from phone does not illicit pass code response on Mac. Pairing from Mac finds the phone, succeeds in pass code response handshake then finds no usable services (like OBEX or other BT protocol apps). You can "beam" a file to the phone via BT, but that is all.
1. Using Missing Sync App for data sync -
a. Only able to sync via USB cable. Bluetooth sync attempts time out halfway thru the connection.
b. It took nearly 45 minutes to put 1200 contacts onto the phone, first sync. Second sync hung and was not able to be recovered.
c. USB cable not recognized without reinserting each time. App does not detect the presence of the cable-connected phone unless cable re-inserted.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Friday, April 07, 2006
Tektronix Inc. ERP Implementation [MOT6107-IT Strategies]
Georgia Institute of Technology
Executive Master of Science of Management and Technology (MSMoT)
MOT6107-IT Strategies
EMSMOT 11
Tektronix Inc. Case Questions
(a) What are the typical reasons why IT projects (and ERP implementations in particular) fail? What are some of the best practices in managing IT projects to reduce such failures? Base on answer on your past experience, trade articles and research on the Internet
IT projects fail for many and varied reasons. At the outset, the project leader must be given an adequate scope of authority and an executive mandate in order to achieve the desired objectives. Furthermore, the leader must be able to create a project team who will use their delegated authority generate buy in across the project and maintain the momentum needed to sustain a long-term cost and time intensive project. Beginning from the executive and board level, Neun’s ERP project carried with it an overarching authority that could access the entire global organization.
Neun’s approach also involved the divisional leaders such as Roy Barker, president of CPID. This allowed each department to participate in the framing of the implementation around their unique business processes. By fostering project buy-in on the divisional level, and having the executive committee’s blessing helped to ensure that the mandates were created and that they would not create unnecessary structural upheaval in fundamental division level processes.
Improper planning and scoping will always lead to disaster and failure. Neun demonstrated a unique ability to conceive a simple yet broad reaching schema for the ERP implementation plan. His vision made it possible to stay within project goals and measure against these milestones. The plan offered clarity of the progress throughout the project. The progress was captured and celebrated as “waves”. This solved a common shortcoming of IT projects, loss of momentum. Each wave built confidence in the company ranks and reinforced the impetus of the project.
Neun also did a lot of to “sell” the project to the various compartments around the global entity. There existed a lot of pain and inefficiencies. “Five Calls Does It All”, leads to employee dissatisfaction, increased costs, reduced customer service levels, delayed order fulfillment cycles, and overall losses due to operational inefficiencies. This negative feedback loop also prevents Tektronix from growing through disposition, acquisition, and expansion of its various business units.
In past experience, an IT project is usually driven from an IT manager level and not from the business manager or executive level. The initiative takes form within the ranks of IT, gets approved somewhere up the ladder without adequate investigation into whether, where, or how the proposal will fit within the entire organization’s framework. Then, the approved plan proceeds without proper research, requirements gathering, obtaining user buy in, or setting relevant success milestones. As each subsequent project falls short of the mark, the feedback amplifies and generates more and more dysfunction in the environment. This dysfunction takes the form of siloed data resources that are non-interactive with other organizational resources. This leads to missed business opportunities related to the business tools not working in a responsive and rapid manner. The dysfunction cripples the organization in waves as each project unnecessarily removes efficiencies with each failing project.
(b) Did Tektronix effectively manage the risks associated with implementing an ERP system? Analyze the salient features of Tektronix’s approach to implementing the ERP system.
Did Tektronix effectively manage the risks associated with implementing an ERP system? Analyze the salient features of Tektronix’s approach to implementing the ERP system.
Tektronix managed implementation risks by setting a well-researched plan in place supported by full buy in from the top levels of the organization. The pains and current shortcomings were well documented. The inability to access real time and reliable date of the status of assets such as work in progress, finished goods, and the location of the inventories all spoke of a complex and potentially paralyzing business infrastructure. The thorough review of these shortcomings generated a strong basis from which to implement a planning model to simplify the environment and then integrate the new platform to each separate business model, in effect creating the “global business model”.
They reduced risks by identifying which processes were substantively similar and could be shared by all the various business units. Accounts Receivable, General Ledger, a common Chart of Accounts, a central customer services registry (CRM), and a single-item master table would tie all the divisions together. This provided near real-time visibility into worldwide operations.
Enrolling the Key Players in each functional and geographic area further reduced risks to the project. These ran interference and acted as negotiators when business change was needed. This resolved issues through a combination of technical and functional strengths. Getting project buy in from each of the divisional leaders, as well as the IT department management, Neun had the necessary basis from which to make the tough calls. The downsizing of the European employees would have been a difficult play considered the labor law environment. And there is more – Neun managed to impose English as the worldwide internal company language. Foreign languages were only used in customer facing interactions. Imagine what it must have been like to adopt this management directive in a country like France, who have a notorious disdain of other languages and a pride of their own. One would have to have inscrutable authority to make such deep changes to the cultures of the global offices.
Apathy is an often-overlooked risk in large projects that consume long time frames. Neun’s team created a rhythm of waves. Each milestone was celebrated. Each project phase was delivered in waves. Each wave built upon the previous successes. The successes built heightened levels of eager anticipation, project confidence, and general satisfaction during the change implementation.
Vendor issues were well addressed. In IT, as in so many other endeavors, it is best not give your vendors the ability to “punt”. They will, when given the opportunity, point the finger at some other vendor and cast the blame. That vendor will do the same in turn to the next vendor, and so on. The only way to end the dissonance is to somehow orchestrate a meeting between all these players and force them to confront the matter. There is usually no easy or expeditious way to facilitate such a useful meeting. Tektronics addressed the matter rather handily. After selecting Oracle as their platform, they made sure to hire in Oracle’s own consultants. These individuals would have access to all the inside people who had the answers and latest patch fix upgrades. They also would have no excuse whatsoever to be able to pass the buck to some outside vendor.
Roll-out risks were managed by carefully orchestrating the timing and order of rollouts. They began with US CPID the simplest organization moving to US VND, and then to US MBD. The MBD was the most complex business model. Having proven the functional solidity of these three implantations in the US divisions, they chose to roll out in global regions based upon which would be incrementally more complex in terms of culture and language technical challenges. Overall, this move went from basic Western ISO, Latin based character sets and languages to the complex 2 byte Asian character sets and there associated languages. This approach minimizes the chances that implementation errors will be magnified via global replication.
(c) Overall, what is your impression of the ERP implementation at Tektronix? Is there anything you would do differently?
Tektronix ERP Implementation Team employed relatively simple approach to such a complex and far-reaching challenge is quite impressive. The simplification of every single business process was achieved through this effort while preserving the integrity of each division’s unique business driven processes. The overall time line was surprisingly short. The breadth of accomplishment and the substantial gains in performance monitoring and service delivery are obvious, even if they are hard to quantify in terms of real dollars. In an industry that rapidly moved from expensive high margin products to a thin profit margin commoditized model, Tektronix ERP project, in all likelihood, is one of the main reasons the company remains viable to this present day. Therefore, we are satisfied with the manner in which this project was conducted, and would hope to bring the same level of insight to our own business challenges.
Executive Master of Science of Management and Technology (MSMoT)
MOT6107-IT Strategies
EMSMOT 11
Tektronix Inc. Case Questions
(a) What are the typical reasons why IT projects (and ERP implementations in particular) fail? What are some of the best practices in managing IT projects to reduce such failures? Base on answer on your past experience, trade articles and research on the Internet
IT projects fail for many and varied reasons. At the outset, the project leader must be given an adequate scope of authority and an executive mandate in order to achieve the desired objectives. Furthermore, the leader must be able to create a project team who will use their delegated authority generate buy in across the project and maintain the momentum needed to sustain a long-term cost and time intensive project. Beginning from the executive and board level, Neun’s ERP project carried with it an overarching authority that could access the entire global organization.
Neun’s approach also involved the divisional leaders such as Roy Barker, president of CPID. This allowed each department to participate in the framing of the implementation around their unique business processes. By fostering project buy-in on the divisional level, and having the executive committee’s blessing helped to ensure that the mandates were created and that they would not create unnecessary structural upheaval in fundamental division level processes.
Improper planning and scoping will always lead to disaster and failure. Neun demonstrated a unique ability to conceive a simple yet broad reaching schema for the ERP implementation plan. His vision made it possible to stay within project goals and measure against these milestones. The plan offered clarity of the progress throughout the project. The progress was captured and celebrated as “waves”. This solved a common shortcoming of IT projects, loss of momentum. Each wave built confidence in the company ranks and reinforced the impetus of the project.
Neun also did a lot of to “sell” the project to the various compartments around the global entity. There existed a lot of pain and inefficiencies. “Five Calls Does It All”, leads to employee dissatisfaction, increased costs, reduced customer service levels, delayed order fulfillment cycles, and overall losses due to operational inefficiencies. This negative feedback loop also prevents Tektronix from growing through disposition, acquisition, and expansion of its various business units.
In past experience, an IT project is usually driven from an IT manager level and not from the business manager or executive level. The initiative takes form within the ranks of IT, gets approved somewhere up the ladder without adequate investigation into whether, where, or how the proposal will fit within the entire organization’s framework. Then, the approved plan proceeds without proper research, requirements gathering, obtaining user buy in, or setting relevant success milestones. As each subsequent project falls short of the mark, the feedback amplifies and generates more and more dysfunction in the environment. This dysfunction takes the form of siloed data resources that are non-interactive with other organizational resources. This leads to missed business opportunities related to the business tools not working in a responsive and rapid manner. The dysfunction cripples the organization in waves as each project unnecessarily removes efficiencies with each failing project.
(b) Did Tektronix effectively manage the risks associated with implementing an ERP system? Analyze the salient features of Tektronix’s approach to implementing the ERP system.
Did Tektronix effectively manage the risks associated with implementing an ERP system? Analyze the salient features of Tektronix’s approach to implementing the ERP system.
Tektronix managed implementation risks by setting a well-researched plan in place supported by full buy in from the top levels of the organization. The pains and current shortcomings were well documented. The inability to access real time and reliable date of the status of assets such as work in progress, finished goods, and the location of the inventories all spoke of a complex and potentially paralyzing business infrastructure. The thorough review of these shortcomings generated a strong basis from which to implement a planning model to simplify the environment and then integrate the new platform to each separate business model, in effect creating the “global business model”.
They reduced risks by identifying which processes were substantively similar and could be shared by all the various business units. Accounts Receivable, General Ledger, a common Chart of Accounts, a central customer services registry (CRM), and a single-item master table would tie all the divisions together. This provided near real-time visibility into worldwide operations.
Enrolling the Key Players in each functional and geographic area further reduced risks to the project. These ran interference and acted as negotiators when business change was needed. This resolved issues through a combination of technical and functional strengths. Getting project buy in from each of the divisional leaders, as well as the IT department management, Neun had the necessary basis from which to make the tough calls. The downsizing of the European employees would have been a difficult play considered the labor law environment. And there is more – Neun managed to impose English as the worldwide internal company language. Foreign languages were only used in customer facing interactions. Imagine what it must have been like to adopt this management directive in a country like France, who have a notorious disdain of other languages and a pride of their own. One would have to have inscrutable authority to make such deep changes to the cultures of the global offices.
Apathy is an often-overlooked risk in large projects that consume long time frames. Neun’s team created a rhythm of waves. Each milestone was celebrated. Each project phase was delivered in waves. Each wave built upon the previous successes. The successes built heightened levels of eager anticipation, project confidence, and general satisfaction during the change implementation.
Vendor issues were well addressed. In IT, as in so many other endeavors, it is best not give your vendors the ability to “punt”. They will, when given the opportunity, point the finger at some other vendor and cast the blame. That vendor will do the same in turn to the next vendor, and so on. The only way to end the dissonance is to somehow orchestrate a meeting between all these players and force them to confront the matter. There is usually no easy or expeditious way to facilitate such a useful meeting. Tektronics addressed the matter rather handily. After selecting Oracle as their platform, they made sure to hire in Oracle’s own consultants. These individuals would have access to all the inside people who had the answers and latest patch fix upgrades. They also would have no excuse whatsoever to be able to pass the buck to some outside vendor.
Roll-out risks were managed by carefully orchestrating the timing and order of rollouts. They began with US CPID the simplest organization moving to US VND, and then to US MBD. The MBD was the most complex business model. Having proven the functional solidity of these three implantations in the US divisions, they chose to roll out in global regions based upon which would be incrementally more complex in terms of culture and language technical challenges. Overall, this move went from basic Western ISO, Latin based character sets and languages to the complex 2 byte Asian character sets and there associated languages. This approach minimizes the chances that implementation errors will be magnified via global replication.
(c) Overall, what is your impression of the ERP implementation at Tektronix? Is there anything you would do differently?
Tektronix ERP Implementation Team employed relatively simple approach to such a complex and far-reaching challenge is quite impressive. The simplification of every single business process was achieved through this effort while preserving the integrity of each division’s unique business driven processes. The overall time line was surprisingly short. The breadth of accomplishment and the substantial gains in performance monitoring and service delivery are obvious, even if they are hard to quantify in terms of real dollars. In an industry that rapidly moved from expensive high margin products to a thin profit margin commoditized model, Tektronix ERP project, in all likelihood, is one of the main reasons the company remains viable to this present day. Therefore, we are satisfied with the manner in which this project was conducted, and would hope to bring the same level of insight to our own business challenges.
CISCO : ERP & Web Enabled IT [MOT6107-IT Strategies]
Georgia Institute of Technology
Executive Master of Science of Management and Technology (MSMoT)
MOT6107-IT Strategies
EMSMOT 11
CISCO : ERP & Web Enabled IT
(a) Was the decision to implement ERP justified for CISCO?
Given the current and project growth patterns, Cisco’s $15m investment in the software made sense, given that the implementation’s success and time frame could be reasonably assured. Given the two days of down time experience by the system being over utilized, this was a clear indicator a significant change was in order. That Cisco is positioned to sell products that secure and enhance the business use of the Internet justifies the need to break ground on completely web enabling their entire business. If Cisco has done it, then they can help their clients do it. The operational efficiencies are numerous. They reduced average inventories requirements; they reduced the variable availability of their source parts from their suppliers by giving partners more timely and accurate forecasting. It enables customers to better order and provision the various products. The effort also made it easier for Cisco to acquire new companies, enabling a standard and reliable assimilation path.
(b) What were some of the key factors that enabled them to implement the system in nine months? Based on the information given in the case, evaluate their project management approach.
The nine-month time frame was driven by a few factors. The leading issue was a perceived need for an immediate solution to the shortcomings of the existing operational IT Infrastructure. Next, the auditor would have fit if the reporting systems were down during the Q4 Audit season. This could have severe consequences in terms of reporting to the markets. A qualified audit statement can seriously diminish the perceived market value of a company. Furthermore, Cisco correctly anticipates a surge in demand for their products. The current operational infrastructure would simply not accommodate this flux of volume. That level of growth could literally choke the organization. Therefore, it was necessary to find a feature rich and scalable solution to bring in all the data silos, compartmentalized operations, and disparate sales methods and product lines.
(c) What are the benefits of the Web Enabled architecture at CISCO? What are the drawbacks of the architecture? As CIO, would you have done anything differently?
There are many advantages to what Cisco accomplished. First and foremost, they demonstrated by example that their business case for an pervasively Internet facing company can cut costs, improve customer service, and stabilize production and design work flows. The only serious drawback was the expense. During the time, few applications were web enabled. Cisco invested enormous amounts of capital into software vendors own products to web enable these for Cisco’s use. The return on investment was rather interesting as Cisco enjoyed a radically reduced operational cost structure. Another potential danger to the strategy lies in the pervasive interconnected model that Cisco has to create between Customers, Cisco, and the suppliers. This leaves many points where a security breach could occur, or a software malfunction could incorrectly execute a large order. These bugs could significantly reduce the effective cost savings delivered by the new web enabled IT infrastructure.
(d) How would you justify the expenditure that CISCO incurred in implementing the web enabled architecture? You do not have enough information to actually do a cost-benefit analysis. However, you can discuss what approach you would use to justify the expenditure.
There are many facets of the implementation that would have to be analyzed. First of all, the internal operational efficiencies enabled the organization to scale to meet demand and to easily assimilate new technologies into the product lines by their acquisition activities. Employees can be trained and managed more effectively through the use of self-service applications. The CEC addressed the various unique needs for 40,000+ employees during a time when many other companies still used three ring binders and paper forms to handle HR related functions. Dissemination of executive directives, new employee training, and product training all saw vast time and operational efficiencies. Distance learning, workflow collaboration, and web enabling legacy systems for ubiquitous access and use, all improve the bottom line.
The supply chain is where a huge improvement was experienced. Dynamic Replenishment reduced delays and errors, and saved tem $275 million through increased profitability. The effort streamlined New Product Introduction. The orders could be fulfilled directly from the customer pulling all the way back to the part, components, and product OEM suppliers on demand and on time. The example is one of the relatively few instances where JIT actually works.
The executive management tier leveraged the entire system by the ability to dashboard the entire organization globally in real time. This allows more effective decision-making. It allows the organization to react to changes in the market before competitors.
All this is fine and well, however in 2001, when I work for the Cisco-KPMG team, the $1 billion investment did not pay off. The demand for product nosedived. KPMG did not actually receive any significant volume of integration engagements. The 4000 people hired for headcount to service the anticipated accounts remained benched for months. For my part, I free-agent walked onto team doing BellSouth’s Electronic Applications Interface project to create an intranet and extranet eStore for the entire BellSouth organization. Instead of using Cisco router skills, our team found ourselves learning UML, CORBA, SOAP, DCOM, XML, and UDDI. We found ourselves gathering requirements and setting scope to web enable the entire IT assets of BellSouth. We found ways to jettison the legacy systems. Nonetheless, the hammer came down only 4 months after they hired everyone. 3000 people received the axe. While Cisco, operationally is a sound company, it has not really recovered from the leveling of the dot com market. See the five-year chart. They have gone sideways since 2001 with one major dip and one major “peak” of 29 since then. This peak should be placed in the perspective that the stock was trading above 30 from 1999-2001 and peaked at 70 accounting for splits.
Executive Master of Science of Management and Technology (MSMoT)
MOT6107-IT Strategies
EMSMOT 11
CISCO : ERP & Web Enabled IT
(a) Was the decision to implement ERP justified for CISCO?
Given the current and project growth patterns, Cisco’s $15m investment in the software made sense, given that the implementation’s success and time frame could be reasonably assured. Given the two days of down time experience by the system being over utilized, this was a clear indicator a significant change was in order. That Cisco is positioned to sell products that secure and enhance the business use of the Internet justifies the need to break ground on completely web enabling their entire business. If Cisco has done it, then they can help their clients do it. The operational efficiencies are numerous. They reduced average inventories requirements; they reduced the variable availability of their source parts from their suppliers by giving partners more timely and accurate forecasting. It enables customers to better order and provision the various products. The effort also made it easier for Cisco to acquire new companies, enabling a standard and reliable assimilation path.
(b) What were some of the key factors that enabled them to implement the system in nine months? Based on the information given in the case, evaluate their project management approach.
The nine-month time frame was driven by a few factors. The leading issue was a perceived need for an immediate solution to the shortcomings of the existing operational IT Infrastructure. Next, the auditor would have fit if the reporting systems were down during the Q4 Audit season. This could have severe consequences in terms of reporting to the markets. A qualified audit statement can seriously diminish the perceived market value of a company. Furthermore, Cisco correctly anticipates a surge in demand for their products. The current operational infrastructure would simply not accommodate this flux of volume. That level of growth could literally choke the organization. Therefore, it was necessary to find a feature rich and scalable solution to bring in all the data silos, compartmentalized operations, and disparate sales methods and product lines.
(c) What are the benefits of the Web Enabled architecture at CISCO? What are the drawbacks of the architecture? As CIO, would you have done anything differently?
There are many advantages to what Cisco accomplished. First and foremost, they demonstrated by example that their business case for an pervasively Internet facing company can cut costs, improve customer service, and stabilize production and design work flows. The only serious drawback was the expense. During the time, few applications were web enabled. Cisco invested enormous amounts of capital into software vendors own products to web enable these for Cisco’s use. The return on investment was rather interesting as Cisco enjoyed a radically reduced operational cost structure. Another potential danger to the strategy lies in the pervasive interconnected model that Cisco has to create between Customers, Cisco, and the suppliers. This leaves many points where a security breach could occur, or a software malfunction could incorrectly execute a large order. These bugs could significantly reduce the effective cost savings delivered by the new web enabled IT infrastructure.
(d) How would you justify the expenditure that CISCO incurred in implementing the web enabled architecture? You do not have enough information to actually do a cost-benefit analysis. However, you can discuss what approach you would use to justify the expenditure.
There are many facets of the implementation that would have to be analyzed. First of all, the internal operational efficiencies enabled the organization to scale to meet demand and to easily assimilate new technologies into the product lines by their acquisition activities. Employees can be trained and managed more effectively through the use of self-service applications. The CEC addressed the various unique needs for 40,000+ employees during a time when many other companies still used three ring binders and paper forms to handle HR related functions. Dissemination of executive directives, new employee training, and product training all saw vast time and operational efficiencies. Distance learning, workflow collaboration, and web enabling legacy systems for ubiquitous access and use, all improve the bottom line.
The supply chain is where a huge improvement was experienced. Dynamic Replenishment reduced delays and errors, and saved tem $275 million through increased profitability. The effort streamlined New Product Introduction. The orders could be fulfilled directly from the customer pulling all the way back to the part, components, and product OEM suppliers on demand and on time. The example is one of the relatively few instances where JIT actually works.
The executive management tier leveraged the entire system by the ability to dashboard the entire organization globally in real time. This allows more effective decision-making. It allows the organization to react to changes in the market before competitors.
All this is fine and well, however in 2001, when I work for the Cisco-KPMG team, the $1 billion investment did not pay off. The demand for product nosedived. KPMG did not actually receive any significant volume of integration engagements. The 4000 people hired for headcount to service the anticipated accounts remained benched for months. For my part, I free-agent walked onto team doing BellSouth’s Electronic Applications Interface project to create an intranet and extranet eStore for the entire BellSouth organization. Instead of using Cisco router skills, our team found ourselves learning UML, CORBA, SOAP, DCOM, XML, and UDDI. We found ourselves gathering requirements and setting scope to web enable the entire IT assets of BellSouth. We found ways to jettison the legacy systems. Nonetheless, the hammer came down only 4 months after they hired everyone. 3000 people received the axe. While Cisco, operationally is a sound company, it has not really recovered from the leveling of the dot com market. See the five-year chart. They have gone sideways since 2001 with one major dip and one major “peak” of 29 since then. This peak should be placed in the perspective that the stock was trading above 30 from 1999-2001 and peaked at 70 accounting for splits.
Cathay Pacific Case [MOT6107-IT Strategies]
Georgia Institute of Technology
Executive Master of Science of Management and Technology (MSMoT)
MOT6107-IT Strategies
Case # 3
Cathay Pacific
EMSMOT 11
(a) What factors contributed to Cathay Pacific’s decision to outsource parts of their IT function?
The implementation of IT outsourcing at Cathay was a slow process, but with rapid growth, competitive pressures, and turbulent economic conditions, it became crucial for the survival of the company. Initially, Cathay was handling virtually all of its IT needs internally.
Cathay’s Data Center was separated into three locations, and IM Operations Manager cautioned that their rapid growth would require a fourth or even a fifth data center facility to meet the company’s IT needs. This rapid growth was a definite factor leading up to their outsourcing endeavors. They had two separate centers in Hong Kong, which was second only to Tokyo as the most expensive international location for office real estate. As cutting costs became a higher priority, it became evident that the extremely high cost of maintaining data centers in such areas would impair their ability to remain competitive.
“Operation Better Shape” was the name of the strategic initiative that formally prescribed a company wide effort to reduce costs within Cathay in 1992. According to one Hong Kong-based analyst: “The company is highly, perhaps too highly, vertically integrated. It does too many things in-house which it should have outsourced.” This initiative identified outsourcing as a critical approach to cutting costs. Outsourcing would allow Cathay to focus on its core aviation competencies. IT outsourcing was identified as a target for outsourcing along with other business processes.
Anthony Yeung, GM of Information Management (IM), realizing that Cathay could not develop all their solutions internally, had already begun to purchase software packages that were available on market in the late 80’s. He even changed his unit’s name from “Systems Development and Support” to “Systems Delivery” to reflect the fact that his team’s role would be shifting from writing coded and developing applications to delivering IT systems to Cathay business units.
In the mid-1980’s, Cathay outsourced its networks to SITA. This was an important step in Cathay’s transition from a regional carrier to an international carrier. SITA offered application, desktop, network, and infrastructure services, systems integration, outsourcing, and consulting.
Early on, outsourcing was identified as a means to bridge the gap between the IM department and the business side, and overcome vast learning curves associated with rapid growth and moving into new arenas. It had become impossible for IM to fulfill the ever-growing needs of all of Cathay’s business units. Further, the cost of maintaining internal legacy systems was continually increasing and also not necessary to develop custom systems.
Along with a new GM of Information Management came a new IT ideology at Cathay in mid-1994. It had become clear that whether or not outsourcing was necessary was no longer questioned; it was necessary in order for Cathay to remain competitive.
Cathay’s new IT ideology would be industry driven and quick to respond to industry practices in adopting new technology. Whereas before Cathay’s programmers spent years writing code for Cathay applications, acquisition and outsourcing various IT needs was necessary in order for Cathay to remain competitive.
In 1997-1998 economic difficulties onset by the handover of Hong Kong from British rule to Chinese rule. The economic crisis that ensued made it even more imperative for Cathay to find additional ways of cutting costs. One significant blow to Cathay’s business was that tourism for the entire area from their major market dropped approximately 70%. They had also made a commitment during more prosperous times to purchase 13 new aircraft that they were obligated to take. This further contributed to Cathay’s financial woes and contributed to their decision to outsource.
Along with various other cost-cutting measures, outsourcing nonstrategic business functions may have been Cathay’s saving grace. Cathay posted a $281 million profit in 1999 despite continued decline in the airline market. Early on, outsourcing at Cathay was a matter of convenience. With rapid growth, competitive pressures, and economic turbulence, outsourcing became a matter of survival. Cathay utilized outsourcing very effectively as those factors (e.g. rapid growth, competitive pressures, and economic turbulence) demanded well-executed responses.
(b) Evaluate Cathay’s overall approach to outsourcing.
The overall approach was cautious, well researched, and implemented well. They began with the areas that were not directly associated with the core business, but were necessary in the support roles. These were the “low hanging fruit” and easy to implement.
They were smart in the approach that they did not get locked into a sole source for supplying the needed solutions for the IT needs. This enabled them to compare the product offerings in the market and get the best mix to address their specific needs. They also negotiated for the needs of the employees whose jobs were being out sourced, as in the case of the data centers. This helped to make additional future outsourcing initiatives go smoothly.
The concept of Benchmarking is another good trait for outsourced contracts to ensure that the charges remain competitive on an ongoing basis.
The method of employing outsourcing at CP was very good when compared to some US companies. They did not seem to announce a close to an office or data center and have the employees shocked, but worked to take care of them as well as set well researched contracts. They also did not move jobs outside of the region, but maintained them where they were already located. In the case of the Data center, CP had already relocated the center when they decided to do the outsourcing.
What are the strengths of their approach?
Cathay’s approach to outsourcing is strong on the following aspects:
Identifying business process areas that are non-core to Cathay’s aviation competencies. The company realized that it could cut costs by eliminating the non-essential functions that were adding unnecessary fixed costs.
Dividing the Information Technology function between the two competency areas of infrastructure and applications and finding the best suppliers to meet needs in each of these areas. Many organizations may have looked at this and seen that there was no single solution provided by one supply. This may have deterred many organizations from outsourcing both of these functions. However, Cathay realized that the extra effort put into tripartite relationship could provide long-term benefits if established and carried-through successfully.
Identifying key strategic partners that could deliver solutions that in turn could cut Cathay costs. With the Smartsourcing strategy Cathay did not cut corners when it came to what organizations would be supplying them their IT solutions. They went with proven organizations that had established a history of delivering quality products and services.
Employing an appropriate mix of outsourcing and insourcing. Cathay realized that they had a great deal of internal knowledge about their IT systems and supplier management. In the early stages of outsourcing this was a key to their smooth transition to outsourced services. This knowledge served as a key liaison between in-house and outsourced suppliers. In addition, Cathay still maintained many legacy systems, and servicing theses systems requires internal expertise. Eventually these systems could be phased out, but for the time being it was essential that they were not simply replaced. In essence, Cathay did not abruptly change their business model, which could send operations into shock, but rather they gradually and strategically chose areas to outsource, providing a transition for the IT functions.
Cathay continually managed and maintained contract relationships. They made sure that they employed periodic benchmarking and continually monitored the progress and success of contracts. This helped smooth relationships with suppliers. Even though there were issues when it came down to knowledge about the relative benefits of the contract for all parties, it was important that Cathay make sure that suppliers were aware and living up to expectations. This avoided any potential disasters.
What are the risks and disadvantages?
The risks and disadvantages of Cathay Pacific’s approach to IT outsourcing and “smartsourcing” are as follows:
In contract negotiations for outsourcing the Data Center, Cathay Pacific did not issue RFP’s, nor did they elicit bids from other vendors. In addition, they did not share financial data with IBM during the decision making process; therefore, neither side was able to determine if the other was getting a good deal. Instead, it was hoped that benchmarking, now into its’ third study, along with pricing parameters established from material collected at IT conferences would serve as a surrogate in establishing competitive pricing pressure. However, several managers believed that smartsourcing eliminated commercial tension and competition from the purchasing process, thereby exposing Cathay Pacific to unnecessarily excessive expenditures.
By outsourcing the Data Center to IBM along with the vast expanse of Cathay Pacific human IT capital that transferred to IBM as part of the deal, Cathay Pacific has essentially foregone the opportunity of providing data services to other industries. As Anthony Yeung is now realizing in his review of the transaction, IBM was able to transform the Data Center, with assistance of highly trained former Cathay Pacific employees, into a very successful operation serving over 50 customers in both Australia and in Asia. Now, with Cathay Pacific’s desires to establish air routes into mainland China and possibly to offer Chinese and other airlines IT services, their ability to do so is minimized by the opportunity cost of outsourcing the data center and its’ highly valuable employees in the name of cost reduction, when they more than likely could have benefited more by utilizing internal strengths to diversify the operation.
What should Cathay have done differently?
First, Cathay should have trained the procurement staff on how to bid and manage an outsourcing contract or have hired new procurement staff that had extensive experience with outsourcing. The article mentioned that the procurement staff and legal staff were not trained well enough to write a good outsourcing contract. Since an outsourcing contract can make or break the deal, Cathay should have put more emphasis on aligning the appropriate skill-sets and resources to develop and implement a strong contract.
Second, Cathay should have setup a core outsourcing team responsible for the following:
• Managing the smart sourcing vendors - IBM, Sabre, and SITA;
• Develop amendments to the contract and Service Level Agreement (SLA) as needed;
• Develop vendor scorecards to track the financial success of each smart sourcing contract. For example, Cathay was promised a 10-15% cost reduction with the same level of quality and service. This core outsourcing team would be responsible for ensuring the vendors were meeting these goals monthly.
Cathay should also manage and develop a competitive pricing process to price the same services with other vendors to ensure Cathay was getting market rates or better. In this process they could also develop cost reduction strategies with the current smart sourcing vendors to ensure that contractual arrangements remain mutually beneficial. Based on the case Cathay had never pressured their vendors about pricing and could potentially benefit significantly by engaging their vendors in discussions regarding reducing rates. As previously mentioned, Cathay did not issue RFP’s, nor did they elicit bids from other vendors. By engaging in this sort of process they would be able to ensure that what they are paying for these services is competitive with the prices available from other vendors.
Finally, by 2007, legacy custom Cathay-built systems should be phased out. Thus, Cathay should get rid of the Infrastructure delivery manager and group. In addition, they should reduce head count in the system delivery group by outsourcing some of the responsibility of this group. For example, the support and maintenance of their business systems should be easy to outsource, especially when Cathay has phased out all of their custom legacy systems.
Executive Master of Science of Management and Technology (MSMoT)
MOT6107-IT Strategies
Case # 3
Cathay Pacific
EMSMOT 11
(a) What factors contributed to Cathay Pacific’s decision to outsource parts of their IT function?
The implementation of IT outsourcing at Cathay was a slow process, but with rapid growth, competitive pressures, and turbulent economic conditions, it became crucial for the survival of the company. Initially, Cathay was handling virtually all of its IT needs internally.
Cathay’s Data Center was separated into three locations, and IM Operations Manager cautioned that their rapid growth would require a fourth or even a fifth data center facility to meet the company’s IT needs. This rapid growth was a definite factor leading up to their outsourcing endeavors. They had two separate centers in Hong Kong, which was second only to Tokyo as the most expensive international location for office real estate. As cutting costs became a higher priority, it became evident that the extremely high cost of maintaining data centers in such areas would impair their ability to remain competitive.
“Operation Better Shape” was the name of the strategic initiative that formally prescribed a company wide effort to reduce costs within Cathay in 1992. According to one Hong Kong-based analyst: “The company is highly, perhaps too highly, vertically integrated. It does too many things in-house which it should have outsourced.” This initiative identified outsourcing as a critical approach to cutting costs. Outsourcing would allow Cathay to focus on its core aviation competencies. IT outsourcing was identified as a target for outsourcing along with other business processes.
Anthony Yeung, GM of Information Management (IM), realizing that Cathay could not develop all their solutions internally, had already begun to purchase software packages that were available on market in the late 80’s. He even changed his unit’s name from “Systems Development and Support” to “Systems Delivery” to reflect the fact that his team’s role would be shifting from writing coded and developing applications to delivering IT systems to Cathay business units.
In the mid-1980’s, Cathay outsourced its networks to SITA. This was an important step in Cathay’s transition from a regional carrier to an international carrier. SITA offered application, desktop, network, and infrastructure services, systems integration, outsourcing, and consulting.
Early on, outsourcing was identified as a means to bridge the gap between the IM department and the business side, and overcome vast learning curves associated with rapid growth and moving into new arenas. It had become impossible for IM to fulfill the ever-growing needs of all of Cathay’s business units. Further, the cost of maintaining internal legacy systems was continually increasing and also not necessary to develop custom systems.
Along with a new GM of Information Management came a new IT ideology at Cathay in mid-1994. It had become clear that whether or not outsourcing was necessary was no longer questioned; it was necessary in order for Cathay to remain competitive.
Cathay’s new IT ideology would be industry driven and quick to respond to industry practices in adopting new technology. Whereas before Cathay’s programmers spent years writing code for Cathay applications, acquisition and outsourcing various IT needs was necessary in order for Cathay to remain competitive.
In 1997-1998 economic difficulties onset by the handover of Hong Kong from British rule to Chinese rule. The economic crisis that ensued made it even more imperative for Cathay to find additional ways of cutting costs. One significant blow to Cathay’s business was that tourism for the entire area from their major market dropped approximately 70%. They had also made a commitment during more prosperous times to purchase 13 new aircraft that they were obligated to take. This further contributed to Cathay’s financial woes and contributed to their decision to outsource.
Along with various other cost-cutting measures, outsourcing nonstrategic business functions may have been Cathay’s saving grace. Cathay posted a $281 million profit in 1999 despite continued decline in the airline market. Early on, outsourcing at Cathay was a matter of convenience. With rapid growth, competitive pressures, and economic turbulence, outsourcing became a matter of survival. Cathay utilized outsourcing very effectively as those factors (e.g. rapid growth, competitive pressures, and economic turbulence) demanded well-executed responses.
(b) Evaluate Cathay’s overall approach to outsourcing.
The overall approach was cautious, well researched, and implemented well. They began with the areas that were not directly associated with the core business, but were necessary in the support roles. These were the “low hanging fruit” and easy to implement.
They were smart in the approach that they did not get locked into a sole source for supplying the needed solutions for the IT needs. This enabled them to compare the product offerings in the market and get the best mix to address their specific needs. They also negotiated for the needs of the employees whose jobs were being out sourced, as in the case of the data centers. This helped to make additional future outsourcing initiatives go smoothly.
The concept of Benchmarking is another good trait for outsourced contracts to ensure that the charges remain competitive on an ongoing basis.
The method of employing outsourcing at CP was very good when compared to some US companies. They did not seem to announce a close to an office or data center and have the employees shocked, but worked to take care of them as well as set well researched contracts. They also did not move jobs outside of the region, but maintained them where they were already located. In the case of the Data center, CP had already relocated the center when they decided to do the outsourcing.
What are the strengths of their approach?
Cathay’s approach to outsourcing is strong on the following aspects:
Identifying business process areas that are non-core to Cathay’s aviation competencies. The company realized that it could cut costs by eliminating the non-essential functions that were adding unnecessary fixed costs.
Dividing the Information Technology function between the two competency areas of infrastructure and applications and finding the best suppliers to meet needs in each of these areas. Many organizations may have looked at this and seen that there was no single solution provided by one supply. This may have deterred many organizations from outsourcing both of these functions. However, Cathay realized that the extra effort put into tripartite relationship could provide long-term benefits if established and carried-through successfully.
Identifying key strategic partners that could deliver solutions that in turn could cut Cathay costs. With the Smartsourcing strategy Cathay did not cut corners when it came to what organizations would be supplying them their IT solutions. They went with proven organizations that had established a history of delivering quality products and services.
Employing an appropriate mix of outsourcing and insourcing. Cathay realized that they had a great deal of internal knowledge about their IT systems and supplier management. In the early stages of outsourcing this was a key to their smooth transition to outsourced services. This knowledge served as a key liaison between in-house and outsourced suppliers. In addition, Cathay still maintained many legacy systems, and servicing theses systems requires internal expertise. Eventually these systems could be phased out, but for the time being it was essential that they were not simply replaced. In essence, Cathay did not abruptly change their business model, which could send operations into shock, but rather they gradually and strategically chose areas to outsource, providing a transition for the IT functions.
Cathay continually managed and maintained contract relationships. They made sure that they employed periodic benchmarking and continually monitored the progress and success of contracts. This helped smooth relationships with suppliers. Even though there were issues when it came down to knowledge about the relative benefits of the contract for all parties, it was important that Cathay make sure that suppliers were aware and living up to expectations. This avoided any potential disasters.
What are the risks and disadvantages?
The risks and disadvantages of Cathay Pacific’s approach to IT outsourcing and “smartsourcing” are as follows:
In contract negotiations for outsourcing the Data Center, Cathay Pacific did not issue RFP’s, nor did they elicit bids from other vendors. In addition, they did not share financial data with IBM during the decision making process; therefore, neither side was able to determine if the other was getting a good deal. Instead, it was hoped that benchmarking, now into its’ third study, along with pricing parameters established from material collected at IT conferences would serve as a surrogate in establishing competitive pricing pressure. However, several managers believed that smartsourcing eliminated commercial tension and competition from the purchasing process, thereby exposing Cathay Pacific to unnecessarily excessive expenditures.
By outsourcing the Data Center to IBM along with the vast expanse of Cathay Pacific human IT capital that transferred to IBM as part of the deal, Cathay Pacific has essentially foregone the opportunity of providing data services to other industries. As Anthony Yeung is now realizing in his review of the transaction, IBM was able to transform the Data Center, with assistance of highly trained former Cathay Pacific employees, into a very successful operation serving over 50 customers in both Australia and in Asia. Now, with Cathay Pacific’s desires to establish air routes into mainland China and possibly to offer Chinese and other airlines IT services, their ability to do so is minimized by the opportunity cost of outsourcing the data center and its’ highly valuable employees in the name of cost reduction, when they more than likely could have benefited more by utilizing internal strengths to diversify the operation.
What should Cathay have done differently?
First, Cathay should have trained the procurement staff on how to bid and manage an outsourcing contract or have hired new procurement staff that had extensive experience with outsourcing. The article mentioned that the procurement staff and legal staff were not trained well enough to write a good outsourcing contract. Since an outsourcing contract can make or break the deal, Cathay should have put more emphasis on aligning the appropriate skill-sets and resources to develop and implement a strong contract.
Second, Cathay should have setup a core outsourcing team responsible for the following:
• Managing the smart sourcing vendors - IBM, Sabre, and SITA;
• Develop amendments to the contract and Service Level Agreement (SLA) as needed;
• Develop vendor scorecards to track the financial success of each smart sourcing contract. For example, Cathay was promised a 10-15% cost reduction with the same level of quality and service. This core outsourcing team would be responsible for ensuring the vendors were meeting these goals monthly.
Cathay should also manage and develop a competitive pricing process to price the same services with other vendors to ensure Cathay was getting market rates or better. In this process they could also develop cost reduction strategies with the current smart sourcing vendors to ensure that contractual arrangements remain mutually beneficial. Based on the case Cathay had never pressured their vendors about pricing and could potentially benefit significantly by engaging their vendors in discussions regarding reducing rates. As previously mentioned, Cathay did not issue RFP’s, nor did they elicit bids from other vendors. By engaging in this sort of process they would be able to ensure that what they are paying for these services is competitive with the prices available from other vendors.
Finally, by 2007, legacy custom Cathay-built systems should be phased out. Thus, Cathay should get rid of the Infrastructure delivery manager and group. In addition, they should reduce head count in the system delivery group by outsourcing some of the responsibility of this group. For example, the support and maintenance of their business systems should be easy to outsource, especially when Cathay has phased out all of their custom legacy systems.
Monday, March 20, 2006
The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP): Fortune 500, investment bankers plan for Global Warming
The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) site has been set up which tracks and reports research results performed on global companies, institutional investors, and other large economic concentrations in regards to their actions and planning models to address Global Warming. The CDP's intent is to explore the world's significant economic private market players’ going forward assumption of an environment where global warming (GW) is a significant factor in logistical and capital decision making processes. There are reports and results easily downloadable off the site. I am sure there are plethoras of tie-ins to our course curriculum at EMSMOT.
In a sensational statement related to this site on NPR's Market Place, a spokesperson from CDP touts GW as bigger than the Internet; veritably "the Next Big Thing". If GW does prove true, then Global warming is unstoppable and inexorable. GW will affect every single entity and organism on our planet, and will change everything. One thing the investors are trying to derive is how to find the plays on the markets going forward.
The respondent companies are devoting their resources in an attempt to understand how their assets and operations are exposed to GW. For example, if we hypothetically allow that Hurricane Katrina may be directly correlated to effects of Global Warming, then all manner of effects may also be traced from this event. These lasting effects, the configuration of corporate response protocols, the re-evaluation of actuarial factoring for insurance underwriting, etc would fall under the scope of this research.
The participants in this project are economic titans. If for no other reason the stature of the participants, CDP and its resources should be on our radar. Given that the operating assumption of the entire project is that GW is present and growing in its significant effects on global economics, the science must be conclusive to a point where global financial and corporate leadership consider the matter actually relevant. In short, for their planning purposes, GW is here.
There are potential business opportunities related to this matter. We should integrate more fully the subject matter into our curriculum so we may better address the eventual business cases as they arise after our graduation from the program.
This site (http://www.cdproject.net/)
Sincerely,
Bryan "Beau" Grant
Commercial Real Estate Broker
Convivia Group
(404) 348-4759 x701 office
"I would also like to applaud the very high response rate from British companies. I am delighted to see that corporations in this country are aware of the economic implications of global warming and are taking a lead internationally– and indeed seizing the business opportunities of early action to address these important issues.
I hope the Project goes from strength to strength."
-Excerpt from Tony Blair's letter to the CDP
17 February 2003
In a sensational statement related to this site on NPR's Market Place, a spokesperson from CDP touts GW as bigger than the Internet; veritably "the Next Big Thing". If GW does prove true, then Global warming is unstoppable and inexorable. GW will affect every single entity and organism on our planet, and will change everything. One thing the investors are trying to derive is how to find the plays on the markets going forward.
The respondent companies are devoting their resources in an attempt to understand how their assets and operations are exposed to GW. For example, if we hypothetically allow that Hurricane Katrina may be directly correlated to effects of Global Warming, then all manner of effects may also be traced from this event. These lasting effects, the configuration of corporate response protocols, the re-evaluation of actuarial factoring for insurance underwriting, etc would fall under the scope of this research.
The participants in this project are economic titans. If for no other reason the stature of the participants, CDP and its resources should be on our radar. Given that the operating assumption of the entire project is that GW is present and growing in its significant effects on global economics, the science must be conclusive to a point where global financial and corporate leadership consider the matter actually relevant. In short, for their planning purposes, GW is here.
There are potential business opportunities related to this matter. We should integrate more fully the subject matter into our curriculum so we may better address the eventual business cases as they arise after our graduation from the program.
This site (http://www.cdproject.net/)
Sincerely,
Bryan "Beau" Grant
Commercial Real Estate Broker
Convivia Group
(404) 348-4759 x701 office
"I would also like to applaud the very high response rate from British companies. I am delighted to see that corporations in this country are aware of the economic implications of global warming and are taking a lead internationally– and indeed seizing the business opportunities of early action to address these important issues.
I hope the Project goes from strength to strength."
-Excerpt from Tony Blair's letter to the CDP
17 February 2003
Thursday, March 16, 2006
FINAL RESULTS- Injured Dog fundraising: Great news!!! Adoption Party next Sunday March 19th 2pm
This is the final update. This is GREAT news! Apparently over $1250 was raised in UNDER 7 DAYS. You guys are INCREDIBLE!
Check out the photos attached that were taken after her surgery. She is now convalescing and her mobility has to be restricted for one week, but she is fired up and ready to play despite her surgery.
She is very appreciative, giving lots of kisses, and trying to play and get on your lap!
This amount covered the Femur Surgery, all the shots, heartworm meds, flea prevention medicine, and set aside money for Spaying.
This weekend we will host a ADOPTION PARTY at John’s clinic from 2pm – 5pm Sunday afternoon, March 19th. Refreshments will be served.. Please come by so we can say thanks and you can meet the pup!
If you have any dog toys or other accessories and wish to donate them, please bring them to the party!
If you know anyone who wants a sweet Bull Terrier to adopt, please SEND THEM THIS EMAIL so that they know!
Yours,
Beau Grant
home: 404.351.0905
PSSS: GOOGLE MAP to the ADOPTION PARTY
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=1709+Ridgeway+Ave+%23A+atlanta+30318
Check out the photos attached that were taken after her surgery. She is now convalescing and her mobility has to be restricted for one week, but she is fired up and ready to play despite her surgery.
She is very appreciative, giving lots of kisses, and trying to play and get on your lap!
This amount covered the Femur Surgery, all the shots, heartworm meds, flea prevention medicine, and set aside money for Spaying.
This weekend we will host a ADOPTION PARTY at John’s clinic from 2pm – 5pm Sunday afternoon, March 19th. Refreshments will be served.. Please come by so we can say thanks and you can meet the pup!
If you have any dog toys or other accessories and wish to donate them, please bring them to the party!
If you know anyone who wants a sweet Bull Terrier to adopt, please SEND THEM THIS EMAIL so that they know!
Yours,
Beau Grant
home: 404.351.0905
PSSS: GOOGLE MAP to the ADOPTION PARTY
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=1709+Ridgeway+Ave+%23A+atlanta+30318
UPDATE: Injured Dog fundraising: Great news!!!
This is an update on the dog’s status. Within 24 hours of the last message
being sent, nearly $525 had been raised. AMAZING! Thank you for your rapid
support. The vet clinic offered a 20% discount, bringing the surgery bill
to somewhere around $800-$1000. Right now, we have around $850. So there
may need to be just a little bit more donated. ALMOST THERE!
If there is extra money, we would like to give it to the vet to place on
hold so that the dogs shots and neutering can also be covered. If you would
not like this, please let John know how to handle your donation. Otherwise,
we will assume this is OK. Almost everyone has already dropped off the
donations at John’s office at 1709 Ridgeway Ave (30318). If you have not
already done so, please just head on over or put it in the mail.
As for the pooch - She is in surgery right now. She will be under
observation until Thursday. Afterwards, she will be convalescing for another
1.5 – 2 weeks.
After the recovery period, we will have a “Dog Open House”. The idea being
to introduce her to potential new parents. We will make a subsequent
announce once her status is better confirmed. Meanwhile, if you want to
pitch in, come over, and do some TLC time, I am sure she will welcome the
attention. She really is a friendly dog. If you already have a strong
intention to adopt her, please let us know.
On behalf of John and the dog, THANK YOU again for all your support.
Yours,
Beau Grant
home: 404.351.0905
PS If you wish to call and ask after her status, the clinic number is (404)
873-3771. Just let them know you are calling about the charity dog.
PSS: If you wish to mail in your donation: Make check payable to Buckhead
Animal Clinic, then mail the check to John’s address below.
PSSS: John’s address is :
John Kunihiro
Art of Healing, Inc.
1709 Ridgeway Ave #A
Atlanta, GA 30318
Work: (404) 355-1662
art_of_healing@msn.com
Injured Dog fundraising request
John Kunihiro, who owns and operates the Art of Massage clinic on Ridgeway Avenue in the neighborhood, and his wife found an injured bull terrier dog in the road near Newnan on their weekend getaway vacation. She had apparently been hit by a car. They placed her over at Debbie Jones’ house for two days. Last night, we made a plan to get the dog to the vet.
She is actually well behaved, gentle, and rather sweet. Given all she has been through, it only grumbled slightly when my dog, Conner, tried to make friends. I think I would grumble if someone was nudging my broken leg!
This morning, John and I took her over to Buckhead Animal Clinic. They tested her thoroughly today. She is actually healthy with one large and expensive exception.
She has a broken femur. The vets estimate that it will cost around $1000.00 to perform the surgery. So they are seeing about using a clinical student for the procedure, which will significantly reduce the costs.
I would like to ask you folks if you can contribute something to the cause.
If 20 people give $50, the surgery is covered.
If anyone who contributes money wants to adopt the dog, please let John know, as we also need to place the dog in a home. I am starting this off with a $50 contribution. One of employees just donated $50 as I wrote this. So.. That’s $100 and the letter is not even sent yet.
The alternative here is dire and I do not need to spell it out.
If you also wish to help, simply drop your check in the mail to the address below. Or you could stop by John’s place and put it in his box or hand it to him directly. Make it payable to the Buckhead Animal Clinic. (John’s information is below for your use).
Thank you for your consideration of this matter, and I hope you will be inclined to help.
Yours,
Bryan "Beau" Grant
Commercial Real Estate Broker
Convivia Group
(404) 348-4759 x701 office
“A society is judged by how they treat the least among them.”
PS please forward this to people you think may care and be inclined to help.
John Kunihiro
Art of Healing, Inc.
1709 Ridgeway Ave #A
Atlanta, GA 30318
Work: (404) 355-1662
Mobile: (404) 550-0477
art_of_healing@msn.com



Free your iPOD!! Liberate your iTunes Library!
The French, for once, are on the right track. In the CNET Article - "Liberte, egalite, fraternite--and a more open iTunes?" the French are taking the lead in opening up iTunes. One item should be clarified, the iPod will play various audio file formats. The iPod just will not let you sync with multiple computers. There is a way to “fix” this... read on.
Ths legislative hoopla is superfluous if you are computer capable. As of today, you can simply go download a copy of Tune Transfer from (http://www.valusoft.com/products/tunetransfer.html). I gave this to my brother for Christmas. He wrote me and said it was the most useful gift he has gotten in a long time. This simple and inexpensive XP and Mac compatible applet allows you to take your iPod and plug into any other system running iTunes without risking data loss.
The Disappearing Library - If you have ever tried to connect your iPod to another one your own computers, and you have been using the Sync features between iTunes and iPod, you may have had the nasty experience of losing your entire library. Granted, if you had read the splash screen announcements you might not have proceeded, but who would really imagine a clear and present danger for deleting your entire media library? Heaven forbid you afterwards plugged into the original workstation and accidentally told the sync routine to sync the other way around and thus delete your local library as well.
This begs a question. If the music you have purchased is in fact so valuable as to warrant all these software and usage limitations, should we not as consumers have recourse to have our assets restored to us when they are deleted? As it is, unless you are a very good computer user, have loads of extra storage space, and lots of time on your hands, the back up routines for iTunes are just not present. You have do it manually. Your average computer user has no clue of how to do this, much less that it even needs to be done!
The implementation of DRM in the iTunes-iPods model is much more stringent than the law calls for. The current model prevents the various instances of legal fair use. For example, if you have a Windows XP box and a Mac (because you need to use the XP Internet Explorer for the list of sites that do not work on any browser that exists on Mac or Linux) or just need more than one computer for other reasons then you will have at least two places where you need to store your files. If you own the media, you can, in theory, use your files on up to five separate workstations so long as you own them yourself. You could just share your music folder or park it on a server and share to yourself among your various computers. However, the iTunes library files will overwrite each other or not work at all. There is a way to edit the plist file, but that only works on a Mac in a Mac environment.
The only way to share files among you OWN computers is to stream them over the network between instances of iTunes hogging bandwidth, CPU cycles, and forcing you to have more than one computer turned on. Meanwhile this facet of the model allows anyone on your network to listen to your library and never pay for the use. I am surprised the greedy media goons have not stifled this feature.
So why even use iTunes at all?
1. If you want to use an iPod, you have NO CHOICE.
2. The other media players and devices in the market have just been either ignored by the market, or the products have significant shortcomings. Please read the other blog related to this topic ( http://conviviagroup.blogspot.com/2006/03/ipod-product-on-shaky-ground.html)
3. Personally, I use iTunes as follows, thought I do not own nor plan to ever buy ( out of general principal) an iPod. Yes, I am that stubborn. I use iTunes to stream audio to my home stereo system via Airport Express’ streaming audio feature. The out of the box feature only allows you to broadcast from iTunes (XP & Mac) to the Airport. There is no other significant or affordable offering in the market that performs this task. I am surprised that Linksys/Cisco did not add this two years ago!
Other related components to make this effort really useful:
- Airfoil (ONLY Exists on a Mac), (http://www.rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/) broadcasts any sound on your Mac to an Airport Express base station.
- Audio Hijack allow you to record audio from any source that plays over the system speakers, a song from Rattle and Hum DVD or a Real Audio file of This American Planet.
- Salling Clicker (http://www.salling.com/) allows you to control iTunes, iPhoto, PowerPoint etc using a Bluetooth connection on your cellphone.
The net result is that I can control my 5700 file music library from my cell phone, stream it over my WiFi network to my wired home audio system. I can then listen to the entire music library using only my Nokia 6600 cellphone as a remote. Sweet.
Now then, if you want to access your entire library and have a centrally accessible repository, follow these steps.
If you have more than one computer in use, you can consolidate your library as follows.
(THIS IS A KLUDGE so be careful.)
1- Delete your local Library file (NOT your SONG FILES) out of your iTunes directories for each of the computers that you want to participate.
2- Move all the song/media files to one centrally accessible folder location on your network. You “could” use a copy of iTunes to automatically reorganize the folder hierarchy on the remote folder, but this is just being way too retentive. Have fun.
3- Open iTunes/preferences
a- uncheck keep iTunes folder organized
b- uncheck copy to Itunes Folder when adding to library.
c- map your iTunes path to your computers LOCAL iTunes directory, or any other local directory. Just do NOT map it to where you store your media. This is KEY.
4- Build the local Library file by selecting (MAC) “Add to Library (XP) “Add Folder to Library”
5- Be sure there are no Library files in or near the shared folder where you now store your media. This will get read by the first iTunes instance, and prevent subsequent iTunes on other systems from seeing the files are present.
There are issues with all of this. So beware and be careful.
When adding NEW songs to your central storage location, you will have to manually drag them over from the place where you ripped them to. Manually.
Once you have done this, you will to go around to EACH and EVERY workstation, delete the local library file, and Redo item#4 above which takes a couple of hours per workstation. In essence, you will have to rebuild the Library whenever you add to the library. If you are going to use one workstation MOST of the time, do all of your importing and ripping on that system, then once in a while go around to the other systems and rebuild the library database when it is convenient.
That we have to go through such tribulation when all of this should be handled seamlessly and automatically speaks to just how broken iTunes really is and how Apple has intentionally made a an otherwise promising product far less useful and revolutionary that it could have been. Not only that, it forces a user to circumvent the DRM features just to legally access their own media. It forces a user to behave unethically. Meanwhile, it allows for sharing via streaming of your library to users who do NOT own your media, which seems counter to DRM legislation.
Just your usual complicated mess in the brave, new digital world!
Enjoy your new ability to control iTunes!!
Ths legislative hoopla is superfluous if you are computer capable. As of today, you can simply go download a copy of Tune Transfer from (http://www.valusoft.com/products/tunetransfer.html). I gave this to my brother for Christmas. He wrote me and said it was the most useful gift he has gotten in a long time. This simple and inexpensive XP and Mac compatible applet allows you to take your iPod and plug into any other system running iTunes without risking data loss.
The Disappearing Library - If you have ever tried to connect your iPod to another one your own computers, and you have been using the Sync features between iTunes and iPod, you may have had the nasty experience of losing your entire library. Granted, if you had read the splash screen announcements you might not have proceeded, but who would really imagine a clear and present danger for deleting your entire media library? Heaven forbid you afterwards plugged into the original workstation and accidentally told the sync routine to sync the other way around and thus delete your local library as well.
This begs a question. If the music you have purchased is in fact so valuable as to warrant all these software and usage limitations, should we not as consumers have recourse to have our assets restored to us when they are deleted? As it is, unless you are a very good computer user, have loads of extra storage space, and lots of time on your hands, the back up routines for iTunes are just not present. You have do it manually. Your average computer user has no clue of how to do this, much less that it even needs to be done!
The implementation of DRM in the iTunes-iPods model is much more stringent than the law calls for. The current model prevents the various instances of legal fair use. For example, if you have a Windows XP box and a Mac (because you need to use the XP Internet Explorer for the list of sites that do not work on any browser that exists on Mac or Linux) or just need more than one computer for other reasons then you will have at least two places where you need to store your files. If you own the media, you can, in theory, use your files on up to five separate workstations so long as you own them yourself. You could just share your music folder or park it on a server and share to yourself among your various computers. However, the iTunes library files will overwrite each other or not work at all. There is a way to edit the plist file, but that only works on a Mac in a Mac environment.
The only way to share files among you OWN computers is to stream them over the network between instances of iTunes hogging bandwidth, CPU cycles, and forcing you to have more than one computer turned on. Meanwhile this facet of the model allows anyone on your network to listen to your library and never pay for the use. I am surprised the greedy media goons have not stifled this feature.
So why even use iTunes at all?
1. If you want to use an iPod, you have NO CHOICE.
2. The other media players and devices in the market have just been either ignored by the market, or the products have significant shortcomings. Please read the other blog related to this topic ( http://conviviagroup.blogspot.com/2006/03/ipod-product-on-shaky-ground.html)
3. Personally, I use iTunes as follows, thought I do not own nor plan to ever buy ( out of general principal) an iPod. Yes, I am that stubborn. I use iTunes to stream audio to my home stereo system via Airport Express’ streaming audio feature. The out of the box feature only allows you to broadcast from iTunes (XP & Mac) to the Airport. There is no other significant or affordable offering in the market that performs this task. I am surprised that Linksys/Cisco did not add this two years ago!
Other related components to make this effort really useful:
- Airfoil (ONLY Exists on a Mac), (http://www.rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/) broadcasts any sound on your Mac to an Airport Express base station.
- Audio Hijack allow you to record audio from any source that plays over the system speakers, a song from Rattle and Hum DVD or a Real Audio file of This American Planet.
- Salling Clicker (http://www.salling.com/) allows you to control iTunes, iPhoto, PowerPoint etc using a Bluetooth connection on your cellphone.
The net result is that I can control my 5700 file music library from my cell phone, stream it over my WiFi network to my wired home audio system. I can then listen to the entire music library using only my Nokia 6600 cellphone as a remote. Sweet.
Now then, if you want to access your entire library and have a centrally accessible repository, follow these steps.
If you have more than one computer in use, you can consolidate your library as follows.
(THIS IS A KLUDGE so be careful.)
1- Delete your local Library file (NOT your SONG FILES) out of your iTunes directories for each of the computers that you want to participate.
2- Move all the song/media files to one centrally accessible folder location on your network. You “could” use a copy of iTunes to automatically reorganize the folder hierarchy on the remote folder, but this is just being way too retentive. Have fun.
3- Open iTunes/preferences
a- uncheck keep iTunes folder organized
b- uncheck copy to Itunes Folder when adding to library.
c- map your iTunes path to your computers LOCAL iTunes directory, or any other local directory. Just do NOT map it to where you store your media. This is KEY.
4- Build the local Library file by selecting (MAC) “Add to Library (XP) “Add Folder to Library”
5- Be sure there are no Library files in or near the shared folder where you now store your media. This will get read by the first iTunes instance, and prevent subsequent iTunes on other systems from seeing the files are present.
There are issues with all of this. So beware and be careful.
When adding NEW songs to your central storage location, you will have to manually drag them over from the place where you ripped them to. Manually.
Once you have done this, you will to go around to EACH and EVERY workstation, delete the local library file, and Redo item#4 above which takes a couple of hours per workstation. In essence, you will have to rebuild the Library whenever you add to the library. If you are going to use one workstation MOST of the time, do all of your importing and ripping on that system, then once in a while go around to the other systems and rebuild the library database when it is convenient.
That we have to go through such tribulation when all of this should be handled seamlessly and automatically speaks to just how broken iTunes really is and how Apple has intentionally made a an otherwise promising product far less useful and revolutionary that it could have been. Not only that, it forces a user to circumvent the DRM features just to legally access their own media. It forces a user to behave unethically. Meanwhile, it allows for sharing via streaming of your library to users who do NOT own your media, which seems counter to DRM legislation.
Just your usual complicated mess in the brave, new digital world!
Enjoy your new ability to control iTunes!!
iPod! a product on shaky ground
I have always thought Apple's value play is rather weak for several reasons.
Up until recently, the iPod device is not much fancier than a Quartz display digital watch with a big hard drive. What Apple did really well was brand the iPod in such a way that it became as cool as any fad in the 70's. However fads erode quickly. Another reason the iPod has worked -before iPod's advent, people were not aware that MP3's were so easy to deal with or that they evev existed. Remember the CDR/WAV format has been around since the early 80's. That MP3 took another 12-15 years to get to the geek market is just plain surprising.
WinAMP and similar apps have been around for many, many years. All you really had to do was burn the MP3's to a CD-RW, and then play them on $30 MP3 compatible Walkman that you could easily plug into your car stereo via the cassette deck for another whopping $10. I traveled all over Scandinavia in 2001 with nearly 25 Miles Davis albums burned onto just 2 CD's. We had 10 other CD's and we never ran out of music in two weeks and thousands of miles of driving.
The reason why products like iTunes sell is that most people are simply not good at putting disparate components together. They do like going to Radio Shack. They get nervous about their ability to make things work for themselves. They want the package. They want the image. And if you give it to them, they will pay top dollar. That is, until they figure out that it really was just the Emperor's new clothes.
All it will take to dislodge iTunes from its resplendent position and to kill Apple's stock price is a consortium of other player manufacturers and software player vendors deriving an open standard file sync interface for allowing devices to talk to any software player and play all the file formats. This should take the right group of three geeks in a basement about 10 hours to create.
Much hullabaloo has been made of iPod's video capabilities and the advent of podcasted video. WHOOPEDOO. Over two years ago, Archos (http://www.archos.com/) already has the handheld video & music market for the PC's done. ,The devices supported every video standard, boasted humungous storage capacity, offered tight form factor, and a long battery life. What more could a gadget guy want?? You could use it to take your favorite shows to another location and plug into a TV and watch like a VCR. You could carry a healthy music library everywhere you went.
Archos currently lags in the market for two reasons.
Visibility and Image – Who has actually heard of it? It is buried on the bottom shelf at the retail stores. The sales people are not trained on it. The accessories are not present to purchase with the product at stores. And who has ever heard of the company to begin with? There has been no meaningful market, no superbowl ads, no buzz, and certainly no cool image factor. It is marketed the typical way Pac Rim manufacturers try to enter our market without a US OEM label, quietly and unnoticed by the cash spending masses.
Inept competitive positioning - One has to question the business acumen of Archos. They have products that directly compete in Apple’s iTunes space. Yet, Archos provides no support for Mac at all. The device could have replaced TiVo or the large component DVR’s that is directly competing the space with iTunes that does NOT make an attempt to support Mac OSX, but DOES have Linux support. Bewildering. (Yes, "I" could compile Linux support on my Mac, as I have installed all the necessary development add-ons (gigs and gigs worth) but your average guy will not be able.) Archos works great UNLESS you need to use it on a Mac. There are no useful software sync or video conversion apps between Archos and Mac.
Sony and all the other handheld gadget players out there have not stepped up and addressed this market. If any of them would bother to turn their juggernaut in the direction of iPod, we would witness a rapid dilution of the iPod space.
(Which leads us to the other question. Given that iPod serves as Apple’s way to familiarize people with other Apple products, given that Microsoft Windows still is god awful and buggy, and given that Apple is now porting it’s OS to Intel, the right course of action should be for Apple to simply sell it’s OS in shrink-wrap at Office Depot alongside Red Hat and XP such that anyone could install it to any Intel machine. However in Apple’s usual fashion, they are limiting this only to their own hardware. )
Up until recently, the iPod device is not much fancier than a Quartz display digital watch with a big hard drive. What Apple did really well was brand the iPod in such a way that it became as cool as any fad in the 70's. However fads erode quickly. Another reason the iPod has worked -before iPod's advent, people were not aware that MP3's were so easy to deal with or that they evev existed. Remember the CDR/WAV format has been around since the early 80's. That MP3 took another 12-15 years to get to the geek market is just plain surprising.
WinAMP and similar apps have been around for many, many years. All you really had to do was burn the MP3's to a CD-RW, and then play them on $30 MP3 compatible Walkman that you could easily plug into your car stereo via the cassette deck for another whopping $10. I traveled all over Scandinavia in 2001 with nearly 25 Miles Davis albums burned onto just 2 CD's. We had 10 other CD's and we never ran out of music in two weeks and thousands of miles of driving.
The reason why products like iTunes sell is that most people are simply not good at putting disparate components together. They do like going to Radio Shack. They get nervous about their ability to make things work for themselves. They want the package. They want the image. And if you give it to them, they will pay top dollar. That is, until they figure out that it really was just the Emperor's new clothes.
All it will take to dislodge iTunes from its resplendent position and to kill Apple's stock price is a consortium of other player manufacturers and software player vendors deriving an open standard file sync interface for allowing devices to talk to any software player and play all the file formats. This should take the right group of three geeks in a basement about 10 hours to create.
Much hullabaloo has been made of iPod's video capabilities and the advent of podcasted video. WHOOPEDOO. Over two years ago, Archos (http://www.archos.com/) already has the handheld video & music market for the PC's done. ,The devices supported every video standard, boasted humungous storage capacity, offered tight form factor, and a long battery life. What more could a gadget guy want?? You could use it to take your favorite shows to another location and plug into a TV and watch like a VCR. You could carry a healthy music library everywhere you went.
Archos currently lags in the market for two reasons.
Visibility and Image – Who has actually heard of it? It is buried on the bottom shelf at the retail stores. The sales people are not trained on it. The accessories are not present to purchase with the product at stores. And who has ever heard of the company to begin with? There has been no meaningful market, no superbowl ads, no buzz, and certainly no cool image factor. It is marketed the typical way Pac Rim manufacturers try to enter our market without a US OEM label, quietly and unnoticed by the cash spending masses.
Inept competitive positioning - One has to question the business acumen of Archos. They have products that directly compete in Apple’s iTunes space. Yet, Archos provides no support for Mac at all. The device could have replaced TiVo or the large component DVR’s that is directly competing the space with iTunes that does NOT make an attempt to support Mac OSX, but DOES have Linux support. Bewildering. (Yes, "I" could compile Linux support on my Mac, as I have installed all the necessary development add-ons (gigs and gigs worth) but your average guy will not be able.) Archos works great UNLESS you need to use it on a Mac. There are no useful software sync or video conversion apps between Archos and Mac.
Sony and all the other handheld gadget players out there have not stepped up and addressed this market. If any of them would bother to turn their juggernaut in the direction of iPod, we would witness a rapid dilution of the iPod space.
(Which leads us to the other question. Given that iPod serves as Apple’s way to familiarize people with other Apple products, given that Microsoft Windows still is god awful and buggy, and given that Apple is now porting it’s OS to Intel, the right course of action should be for Apple to simply sell it’s OS in shrink-wrap at Office Depot alongside Red Hat and XP such that anyone could install it to any Intel machine. However in Apple’s usual fashion, they are limiting this only to their own hardware. )
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