industry itself is under a lot of pressure there will be some changes Recognising RFID is only part a new wave of sensor based
| FID development partner. For the last 17 years we have been a vital partner for the provision of Automated Warehousing solutions particularly to many Geac System21 customers. Recently we have been talking extensively to a number of them about their requirements for forthcoming RFID pilots. We're now taking this knowledge and experience into this development project to provide a single solution which will be tightly integrated with System21 for our joint customers."
Leading RFID industry analyst, Nigel Montgomery from AMR Research, said: "Recognising that RFID is only part of a new wave of sensor-based technologies that will revolutionise global supply networks over coming years, Geac and its partner Indigo, are developing a solution to enable customers to leverage these new-wave technologies. Customers should be safe in the knowledge that their core systems can not only handle the volumes of data, but the new solution also protects customer investments by providing an integration layer that will operate with all new merging technologies. In addition, System21 leverages incoming information for performance improvement using Geac's own leading Business Performance Management solution. Geac has learned from the mistakes of other providers, who have developed rigid integration to back-office systems. Emerging technologies require open- integration flexibility if customers are to reduce their overall total cost of ownership (TCO)". About Geac Geac (TSX: GAC, NASDAQ:GEAC) is a global enterprise software company that addresses the needs of the Chief Financial Officer. Geac's best-in-class technology products and services help organizations do more with less in an increasingly competitive environment, amidst growing regulatory pressure, and in response to other business issues confronting the CFO. Further information is available at http://www.geac.com or through e-mail at info@geac.com. RFID is also a hot topic in many different businesses. In particular, the introduction of RFID into supply chain management systems, Automated Warehousing and telemetry systems. The ability to have more information available at any time about processes is a vital tool to improve efficiency and response to customer’s needs. Resource planning means efficiency and efficiency means money, costs reduction. In this article we see how, despite of the initials concerns, both on capital investment, and other like traceability and privacy, companies are decidedly looking at the possibilities RFID could bring down to the business arena. Efficiency is the word, especially in supply chain management and the whole distribution/logistics/warehousing sector. Integration, though, is an important issue, as new technologies like RFID have to deal with the existing infrastructure. Systems integration, interoperability and data management are key point, customer satisfaction also. The target is clear, it was already clear thousands of years ago; ‘altius, fortius, citius’. Topic 3 Real Time Data DATAMIRROR CORP - ICluster 2.2 Redefines iSeries High Availability 934 words Improved monitoring, unprecedented transaction replication help large enterprises achieve lower cost of ownership DataMirror, a leading provider of real-time data integration, protection and Java database solutions, unveiled DataMirror iCluster 2.2, the latest release of DataMirror's complete high availability and disaster recovery solution for business applications running in the IBM i5 (iSeries) environment. iCluster 2.2 includes numerous performance, functional and usability enhancements that further improve system scalability, reliability and integrity of iSeries high-availability environments while reducing total cost of ownership. "The increased functionality and scalability of iCluster 2.2 ensures enterprise customers have the most powerful and flexible high availability solution on the market today, one that will meet their disaster recovery needs now and well into the future," said Herman Wallenburg, Chief Scientist, DataMirror. iCluster 2.2 Highlights iCluster, which has been granted IBM iSeries HA/CO (High Availability/Continuous Operations) VAE status, provides large enterprises with continuous availability of business applications, disaster avoidance and protection, and improved application system performance and response times. Among the powerful new features of iCluster 2.2: - Centralized monitoring graphical user interface (GUI) - Administrators can monitor replication simultaneously on both the primary and backup systems, as well as start and stop replication jobs, all within a single interface. The result: easier administration and lower cost of ownership; - Enhanced object management - Administrators can conveniently configure multiple objects to be refreshed as a group to the backup system without the overhead of journaling; - Simple global level commands- Administrators can now start, stop, set starting positions and switch over of multiple object sets quickly and easily using simple global level commands; - Enhanced support for remote and local journaling - iCluster 2.2 offers full support for IFS and LOBs in remote journaling environments, remote journal cleanup, and automatically manages remote journal status. Customers can seamlessly configure their high availability environments to support remote and/or local journaling depending on their requirements; and, - Enhanced sync-check functionality - Improved checks for synchronization status of triggers, files, IFS objects and data queues ensure data integrity so users have the confidence that their source and target systems match. For more information about iCluster, visit www.datamirror.com/products/icluster . Real-time dataI systems improved monitoring, lowering total cost of ownership. DataMirror, a leading provider of real-time data integration, protection and Java database solutions, unveiled DataMirror iCluster 2.2, the latest release of DataMirror's complete high availability and disaster recovery solution for business applications running in the IBM i5 (iSeries) environment. It is aimed at offering better performance, functional and usability enhancements that further improve system scalability, reliability and integrity of iSeries high-availability environments while reducing total cost of ownership. This particular technology has ample implications in disaster recovery systems and introduces the trends of what will be the future of recovery and back-up systems. Real-time replication is designed to help protect information assets and address the continuity of business processes. Real-time replication involves real-time movement of critical information at the transaction level from the client site to a provided location — helping to ensure that changes occurring in the client’s environment coincide with changes to the site. Topic 4 Sensors and Nanotechnology Nanotechnology; Monoclonal antibody-coated nanotubes may offer cost-effective way to identify cancer cells 549 words 2005 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- A biochemist and an engineer have used tiny carbon nanotubes and monoclonal antibodies to detect cancer cells in the laboratory dish. The work might lead to nanotube-based biosensors that can spot circulating cancer cells in the blood from a new cancer or from a treated tumor that has returned. Balaji Panchapakesan, PhD, at the University of Delaware in Newark, and his co-workers coated the surface of microscopic carbon nanotubes with a monoclonal antibody. The antibodies - so-called guided missiles that home in on targets on the surface of cancer cells - were specific for insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R), which is commonly found on cancer cells. The data were presented in an abstract entitled "Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes with Absorbed Monoclonal Antibodies Detect Breast Cancer Cells" presented recently at the International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics sponsored by the American Association of Cancer Researchers (AACR), the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC). When cancer cells and antibodies bind together, there is a measurable change in electric current, according to Panchapakesan. He and his group placed antibody-nanotube combinations between electrodes and compared the increase in electrical charge between two different types of breast cancer cells. One type, human BT474 breast cancer cells, had moderate IGF1R expression, while the other type, MCF7, had a higher expression of IGF1R. The researchers found that the change in the conductance of the antibody-nanotube device was proportional to the number of receptors on the cancer cell surfaces. That is, the BT474 cancer cells, which had less IGF1R on their surfaces, had a three-fold increase in conductance. IGF1R-laden MCF7 cells showed an eight-fold rise in conductivity. "When the antibody proteins - which are specific to the cell surface receptor (IGF1R) of the cancer cell and are attached to the nanotube - bind to the cancer cell surface, they produce a specific change in the electrical conductivity," Panchapakesan explains. The scientists found a "spike" in current with the MCF7 cells because it correlated with the greater IGF1R expression. "The technique could be used for detection and it could be used for recurring circulating tumor cells or micrometastases remaining from the originally treated tumor," explains co-author Eric Wickstrom, PhD, of Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. "This could be cost-effective and could diagnose whether cells are cancerous or not in a matter of minutes versus hours or days with current methods of histology sectioning," says Dr. Panchapakesan. "It might also allow for large scale production methods to make thousands of sensors and have microarrays of these to detect cancer proteins." The researchers plan to test the technique with additional breast cancer markers, as well as with markers for other cancers. They are also planning to perform animal studies, examining the sensitivity of the antibody-nanotube system in detecting cancer cells in the blood and in detecting specific types of cancer cells shed in the blood from tumors. Nanotechnology is powerfully irrupting as one of the main areas of development and innovation for the upcoming years. The applications are almost unlimited. In this case we see how engineers and medicine get together and develop a system of nano-tubes able to detect cancer cells. It is interesting to look at these sensors as part of complex intelligent bio/nano-medicine systems that will help doctors in their diagnosis. One of the main hurdles that this technology will have to face in the near future will be not only cost but also social acceptance. The applications, as said, as just unlimited and the benefits range from the possibility to minimize the damage produced by chirurgic invasive techniques to the development and implementation of neuron-microelectronics interfaces in the human brain. In this case, for instance, nano carbon tubes have an application as sensors to detect cancer cells in the laboratory dish, nanotube-based biosensors that can spot circulating cancer cells in the blood from a new cancer or from a treated tumor that has returned. |
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