Database firm Alterian has inked a deal with David Shepard Associates (DSA), a direct marketing and database consulting firm for DSA to offer Alterian's analysis, campaign planning, multi-channel execution, reporting and marketing operations capabilities for on-premises installation into marketers' offices.
DSA consultants will assist in the construction of the database at the end-user's site, and will provide on-going technical support, as well providing marketing program and marketing analytics support, as needed.
This platform gives the marketer an integrated set of applications built on top of a single data architecture and accessed through a single user interface or marketing portal. (Every application of the Alterian Marketing Services Platform shares data, business rules and assets across applications.)
The Alterian Marketing Services Platform consists of the following applications:
* Marketing Data Infrastructure & Management
* Data Mining: Visualization, Analysis & Modeling
* Campaign Planning and Design
* Campaign Optimization
* Multi Channel Execution
* Reporting and Accountability
* Marketing Operations
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Amazon Web Services Outage Causes Concern
As reported in the New York Times:
A few days after the BlackBerry e-mail system’s latest downtime, Amazon is giving companies another reason to worry about outsourcing company-critical functions.
Amazon’s S3 service, which offers cheap, accessible Web storage for hundreds of thousands of companies, went down this morning at around 7:30 a.m. Eastern time and is only now slowly creeping back up, delivering high error rates, according to various bloggers and posters on Web forums.
S3, one of Amazon’s stable of Web services, lets businesses store their data “in the cloud,” avoiding the need to operate their own servers. It is part of the same online infrastructure that Amazon uses to run its own business. Over 330,000 developers have registered to use Amazon Web Services, up more than 30,000 from last quarter, according to Amazon’s recent quarterly earnings announcement.
An Amazon spokesman said: “We’ve resolved this issue and performance is returning to normal levels for all Amazon Web Services that were impacted. We understand the critical importance of our services to our customers, which is why operational excellence is our highest priority.”
The technical problems affected a host of startups that use S3, such as the messaging service Twitter. The New York Times also uses S3 to store and deliver articles from its historical archives, parts of which were unavailable this morning.
On Amazon’s Web developer forum, the natives are restless. “My business is effectively closed right now because Amazon did something wrong. I’ll have to reconsider using the service now,” wrote one poster at around 9 a.m. Eastern time this morning.
Will all of this hurt Amazon? This is the first significant problem for S3, so if they fix the problem quickly and communicate clearly to customers, probably not. But if it proves to be a continuing problem — like the now biannual BlackBerry blackouts — expect nervous tech folks to at the very least begin considering backup systems.
UPDATE: Here’s another statement from an Amazon spokeman:
“For one of our services, the Amazon Simple Storage Service, one of our three geographic locations was unreachable for approximately two hours and was back to operating at over 99% of normal performance before 7 a.m. pacific standard time. We’ve been operating this service for two years and we’re proud of our uptime track record. Any amount of downtime is unacceptable and we won’t be satisfied until it’s perfect. We’ve been communicating with our customers all morning via our support forums and will be providing additional information as soon as we have it.”
A few days after the BlackBerry e-mail system’s latest downtime, Amazon is giving companies another reason to worry about outsourcing company-critical functions.
Amazon’s S3 service, which offers cheap, accessible Web storage for hundreds of thousands of companies, went down this morning at around 7:30 a.m. Eastern time and is only now slowly creeping back up, delivering high error rates, according to various bloggers and posters on Web forums.
S3, one of Amazon’s stable of Web services, lets businesses store their data “in the cloud,” avoiding the need to operate their own servers. It is part of the same online infrastructure that Amazon uses to run its own business. Over 330,000 developers have registered to use Amazon Web Services, up more than 30,000 from last quarter, according to Amazon’s recent quarterly earnings announcement.
An Amazon spokesman said: “We’ve resolved this issue and performance is returning to normal levels for all Amazon Web Services that were impacted. We understand the critical importance of our services to our customers, which is why operational excellence is our highest priority.”
The technical problems affected a host of startups that use S3, such as the messaging service Twitter. The New York Times also uses S3 to store and deliver articles from its historical archives, parts of which were unavailable this morning.
On Amazon’s Web developer forum, the natives are restless. “My business is effectively closed right now because Amazon did something wrong. I’ll have to reconsider using the service now,” wrote one poster at around 9 a.m. Eastern time this morning.
Will all of this hurt Amazon? This is the first significant problem for S3, so if they fix the problem quickly and communicate clearly to customers, probably not. But if it proves to be a continuing problem — like the now biannual BlackBerry blackouts — expect nervous tech folks to at the very least begin considering backup systems.
UPDATE: Here’s another statement from an Amazon spokeman:
“For one of our services, the Amazon Simple Storage Service, one of our three geographic locations was unreachable for approximately two hours and was back to operating at over 99% of normal performance before 7 a.m. pacific standard time. We’ve been operating this service for two years and we’re proud of our uptime track record. Any amount of downtime is unacceptable and we won’t be satisfied until it’s perfect. We’ve been communicating with our customers all morning via our support forums and will be providing additional information as soon as we have it.”
Lillian Vernon Cuts Staff, Seeks Buyer
We don't normally follow the ups and downs of merchant companies on this blog, but Lillian Vernon is such a classic company in this business (and a class act in general) that this deserves a mention.
According to MultiChannel Merchant magazine:
Feb 15, 2008 3:25 PM , By Jim Tierney
Things have gone from bad to worse for Lillian Vernon. Two months after it cut 25% of its staff, the struggling gifts and housewares cataloger on Feb. 15 laid off about half of its full-time staff, or nearly 200 employees.
The situation is so dire that Lillian Vernon is actively seeking a new owner, says CEO Michael D. Muoio.
The Virginia Beach, VA-based merchant has in fact hired New York-based investment bank Gruppo, Levey & Co. to explore strategic alternatives for Lillian Vernon. "We’re looking at all alternatives in terms of sale of the company," Muoio says.
Citing devastating increases in postal and parcel rates, coupled with a paper price hikes and a decrease in value of the U.S. dollar, Muoio says the company was left with no alternative than to find a new owner.
And finding a new owner is a top priority. "We’re moving as fast as we possibly can," Muoio says. "Eighty people have been contacted as potential buyers."
Lillian Vernon has been privately held since Direct Holdings purchased it in 2003. It was sold again to Sun Capital Partners in 2006 and later that year moved operations from White Plains, NY, to Virginia Beach, VA.
Muoio says there is a possibility the company would move after a new owner is found. "We may stay here or we may relocate," he says. "We can’t handle the infrastructure here. It’s too big." The mailer currently has a one million-sq. ft. facility.
In the past year, Muoio says the company reduced its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) loss from $22.1 million to $3.9 million, but the cost of rent, utilities, and maintenance accounted for $4.6 million.
"We actually made money on an EBITDA basis," he says, "but we got whacked in the head with the postal, freight, and paper cost increases. And we started to shrink the business."
As of June 30, 2007, the company had 564 employees; 374 employees as of Dec. 31, 2007; and it now has 177 employees. Worse yet, Muoio says that more layoffs are possible. "That’s in the cards because we don’t know the future of the company."
He remains confident about Lillian Vernon’s outlook, however: "It’ll all be Lillian Vernon again." And he’s proud of the fact that "we managed to get this thing to profitability inside of 12 months."
Nonetheless, "It’s a sad day here at Lillian Vernon," Muoio says. "But we’re continuing to operate and are working very hard to find a partner. Something is going to happen. I’m very confident of that. It’s too good of a company to have it stop shipping. We haven’t finished our work here."
According to MultiChannel Merchant magazine:
Feb 15, 2008 3:25 PM , By Jim Tierney
Things have gone from bad to worse for Lillian Vernon. Two months after it cut 25% of its staff, the struggling gifts and housewares cataloger on Feb. 15 laid off about half of its full-time staff, or nearly 200 employees.
The situation is so dire that Lillian Vernon is actively seeking a new owner, says CEO Michael D. Muoio.
The Virginia Beach, VA-based merchant has in fact hired New York-based investment bank Gruppo, Levey & Co. to explore strategic alternatives for Lillian Vernon. "We’re looking at all alternatives in terms of sale of the company," Muoio says.
Citing devastating increases in postal and parcel rates, coupled with a paper price hikes and a decrease in value of the U.S. dollar, Muoio says the company was left with no alternative than to find a new owner.
And finding a new owner is a top priority. "We’re moving as fast as we possibly can," Muoio says. "Eighty people have been contacted as potential buyers."
Lillian Vernon has been privately held since Direct Holdings purchased it in 2003. It was sold again to Sun Capital Partners in 2006 and later that year moved operations from White Plains, NY, to Virginia Beach, VA.
Muoio says there is a possibility the company would move after a new owner is found. "We may stay here or we may relocate," he says. "We can’t handle the infrastructure here. It’s too big." The mailer currently has a one million-sq. ft. facility.
In the past year, Muoio says the company reduced its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) loss from $22.1 million to $3.9 million, but the cost of rent, utilities, and maintenance accounted for $4.6 million.
"We actually made money on an EBITDA basis," he says, "but we got whacked in the head with the postal, freight, and paper cost increases. And we started to shrink the business."
As of June 30, 2007, the company had 564 employees; 374 employees as of Dec. 31, 2007; and it now has 177 employees. Worse yet, Muoio says that more layoffs are possible. "That’s in the cards because we don’t know the future of the company."
He remains confident about Lillian Vernon’s outlook, however: "It’ll all be Lillian Vernon again." And he’s proud of the fact that "we managed to get this thing to profitability inside of 12 months."
Nonetheless, "It’s a sad day here at Lillian Vernon," Muoio says. "But we’re continuing to operate and are working very hard to find a partner. Something is going to happen. I’m very confident of that. It’s too good of a company to have it stop shipping. We haven’t finished our work here."
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Avexxis Announces New Platform
Avexxis Corporation, Avon, CT, has announced a sweeping change to the company’s multi-channel order management and fulfillment software offerings, leveraging its 13 years of experience in the multichannel space, and implementing a variety of new products and services.
The company’s website at www.avexxis.com outlines three specific focus points of the company’s new suite of offerings:
1. Web store – Avexxis continues to interface with existing Web stores, but is now bringing a new eCommerce approach to market with a fully integrated Web solution. An ASP.NET Web store is tightly integrated with the Avexxis Commerce Server, the same server used to operate the company’s order management and retail functions. Extending this environment as the data repository and business rules processor for the web store eliminates the need for multiple databases, multiple points of entry and maintenance of information, as well as the need to reprogram business rules in multiple environments.
Additionally, full DIY customer service functions can be made available to end customers, which substantially eliminates costs in customer service and call center environments.
2. Products – Avexxis has formalized its Avexxis Professional offering, which is an "off the shelf" solution for the standard multi-channel marketer. This fully functional, "aggressively priced" package has a full suite of features, including integrated accounting.
The company’s Avexxis Enterprise package begins with Avexxis Professional as a foundation then extends the environment by deploying Adaptive Object Technology within the Avexxis Commerce Server. This yields a fully upgradable and supportable customized solution, which has been exercised for over 10 years with major companies such as Macy’s and Vermont Teddy Bear. Says Avexxis, "This core strength, coupled with the diverse call center and operations experience of Avexxis principal John Fink, provides the ability to deliver a system that fits a customer’s needs -- supportably, affordably, and fully able to be upgraded."
3. Infrastructure – Avexxis has expanded infrastructure options by not only supporting the traditional offerings of in-house customer servers, or SaaS (Software-as-a-Service), but is also providing the best of both worlds with its Avexxis Managed Server (AMS) offering. While the AMS does reside at the client’s site, the minimal administration required for an Avexxis system is performed remotely by Avexxis. AMS delivers the cost advantage of an in-house licensed solution, and the convenience of SaaS without the overhead of IT staff.
Leigh Kendall, the newest principal of Avexxis, and an experienced .NET developer, says, "The ability to readily extend Avexxis’s established product offerings into these new infrastructure and product directions was a key factor in my decision to join the company. The flexibility, performance, and ease of development that we have been able to achieve is remarkable, and all on a single platform (the Avexxis Commerce Server)."
The company’s website at www.avexxis.com outlines three specific focus points of the company’s new suite of offerings:
1. Web store – Avexxis continues to interface with existing Web stores, but is now bringing a new eCommerce approach to market with a fully integrated Web solution. An ASP.NET Web store is tightly integrated with the Avexxis Commerce Server, the same server used to operate the company’s order management and retail functions. Extending this environment as the data repository and business rules processor for the web store eliminates the need for multiple databases, multiple points of entry and maintenance of information, as well as the need to reprogram business rules in multiple environments.
Additionally, full DIY customer service functions can be made available to end customers, which substantially eliminates costs in customer service and call center environments.
2. Products – Avexxis has formalized its Avexxis Professional offering, which is an "off the shelf" solution for the standard multi-channel marketer. This fully functional, "aggressively priced" package has a full suite of features, including integrated accounting.
The company’s Avexxis Enterprise package begins with Avexxis Professional as a foundation then extends the environment by deploying Adaptive Object Technology within the Avexxis Commerce Server. This yields a fully upgradable and supportable customized solution, which has been exercised for over 10 years with major companies such as Macy’s and Vermont Teddy Bear. Says Avexxis, "This core strength, coupled with the diverse call center and operations experience of Avexxis principal John Fink, provides the ability to deliver a system that fits a customer’s needs -- supportably, affordably, and fully able to be upgraded."
3. Infrastructure – Avexxis has expanded infrastructure options by not only supporting the traditional offerings of in-house customer servers, or SaaS (Software-as-a-Service), but is also providing the best of both worlds with its Avexxis Managed Server (AMS) offering. While the AMS does reside at the client’s site, the minimal administration required for an Avexxis system is performed remotely by Avexxis. AMS delivers the cost advantage of an in-house licensed solution, and the convenience of SaaS without the overhead of IT staff.
Leigh Kendall, the newest principal of Avexxis, and an experienced .NET developer, says, "The ability to readily extend Avexxis’s established product offerings into these new infrastructure and product directions was a key factor in my decision to join the company. The flexibility, performance, and ease of development that we have been able to achieve is remarkable, and all on a single platform (the Avexxis Commerce Server)."
Addressing Data Security
According to 1to1Media: Gerhard Lindenmayer recently decided that the time had come to completely overhaul his company's data security process.
The growing number of customer data breaches made it clear to Lindenmayer, CIO of telemarketer DialAmerica, that he needed to establish a better method of protecting his clients' data — especially in the case of sharing information with third parties. "Until five years ago we didn't even have any security on the doors," Lindenmayer says. "But we've gone through some awakening years and now we've turned it around completely."
DialAmerica isn't alone in facing this growing threat. More than ever customers' personal and private data is being shared between organizations.... Prat Moghe, chief technology officer and founder of Tizor, a provider of data protection solutions, says one of the biggest challenges for these enterprises is that they have suddenly been forced by law to share customer data with partners and aren't prepared internally. Such circumstances have placed them at risk for breaches. "They don't know how much data they have or where it is," Moghe says. "We have companies that have said, 'We have social security numbers, but we don't know where they are; we don't know where the data is sitting, let alone who is accessing it, or when it's being accessed.'"
For the entire article, see 1to1Media.
In related news, The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has released a fully automated process for members to employ to assess their level of information security against industry self-regulatory guidelines as well as current government regulations. DMA partnered with Solutionary, Inc., a security services organization in Omaha, NE, to customize SecurCompass®, which is Solutionary’s security and compliance assessment tool.
Solutionary has designed DMA SecurCompass specifically to help association members measure their compliance against DMA’s Information Security ethics guidelines. The new DMA members-only assessment tool consists of 42 questions that mirror the checklist of information security procedures that DMA developed in cooperation with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2004.
The growing number of customer data breaches made it clear to Lindenmayer, CIO of telemarketer DialAmerica, that he needed to establish a better method of protecting his clients' data — especially in the case of sharing information with third parties. "Until five years ago we didn't even have any security on the doors," Lindenmayer says. "But we've gone through some awakening years and now we've turned it around completely."
DialAmerica isn't alone in facing this growing threat. More than ever customers' personal and private data is being shared between organizations.... Prat Moghe, chief technology officer and founder of Tizor, a provider of data protection solutions, says one of the biggest challenges for these enterprises is that they have suddenly been forced by law to share customer data with partners and aren't prepared internally. Such circumstances have placed them at risk for breaches. "They don't know how much data they have or where it is," Moghe says. "We have companies that have said, 'We have social security numbers, but we don't know where they are; we don't know where the data is sitting, let alone who is accessing it, or when it's being accessed.'"
For the entire article, see 1to1Media.
In related news, The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has released a fully automated process for members to employ to assess their level of information security against industry self-regulatory guidelines as well as current government regulations. DMA partnered with Solutionary, Inc., a security services organization in Omaha, NE, to customize SecurCompass®, which is Solutionary’s security and compliance assessment tool.
Solutionary has designed DMA SecurCompass specifically to help association members measure their compliance against DMA’s Information Security ethics guidelines. The new DMA members-only assessment tool consists of 42 questions that mirror the checklist of information security procedures that DMA developed in cooperation with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2004.
New SOA Platform and Language from MS
From eWeek: Microsoft, which in October officially announced its intent to support model-driven development in a broad strategy known as "Oslo," is beginning work on a new declarative programming language called "D," a supporting editing tool and other components of the initiative, according to sources close to the company.
Microsoft announced Oslo as part of an amorphous vision for simplifying application development, design, management and deployment. Company officials said Oslo will represent a core set of technology investments that will encompass both a services infrastructure — spanning server, client and the Internet "cloud" — and an executable modeling platform that will include a general-purpose modeling language, tools and repository....
In a talk at the Lang.NET conference on the Microsoft campus on Jan. 30, Don Box, an architect in Microsoft’s Connected Systems Division, said that Microsoft engineers "care deeply about having natural ways to write things down in a text file that are not only natural to write, but more importantly, natural to read."
The Connected Systems Division is working on D and Intellipad, sources said. However, other groups within Microsoft, including the Developer Division, are working on different components of the Oslo strategy.
For more on the new Services-Oriented platform and declarative programming language, see eWeek.
Microsoft announced Oslo as part of an amorphous vision for simplifying application development, design, management and deployment. Company officials said Oslo will represent a core set of technology investments that will encompass both a services infrastructure — spanning server, client and the Internet "cloud" — and an executable modeling platform that will include a general-purpose modeling language, tools and repository....
In a talk at the Lang.NET conference on the Microsoft campus on Jan. 30, Don Box, an architect in Microsoft’s Connected Systems Division, said that Microsoft engineers "care deeply about having natural ways to write things down in a text file that are not only natural to write, but more importantly, natural to read."
The Connected Systems Division is working on D and Intellipad, sources said. However, other groups within Microsoft, including the Developer Division, are working on different components of the Oslo strategy.
For more on the new Services-Oriented platform and declarative programming language, see eWeek.
New DMA E-Mail Initiatives
The Email Experience Council (EEC), the Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) e-mail marketing arm, has announced it is taking over guardianship of the Email Measurement Accuracy Coalition (EMAC), which has been working to establish e-mail marketing measurement standards. Formed in April 2007 at the behest of concerned industry leaders, the group has been overseen by David Daniels, vice president and research director of JupiterResearch and EMAC executive director.
Said Daniels, "We’ve accomplished our main mission, which was to standardize the definition of e-mail delivery metrics. But there’s plenty of work yet to be done, and it makes the most sense for that work to continue under the EEC umbrella."
The EEC has also announced the launch of a new roundtable called the Digital Lifestyle (DLS) Roundtable. The DLS Roundtable will focus on breaking down channel-specific silos for digital channels such as e-mail, and enabling collaboration in message design that supports a consumer’s digital lifestyle.
Jeanniey Mullen, EEC founder, will lead this initiative. "The DLS is the next step in our efforts to reinvent and demonstrate the impact of e-mail," Mullen commented. "It is a testament to the manner in which e-mail has become ingrained into the consumer’s digital lifestyle. It’s the next stage of e-mail marketing as it integrates with mobile, blogs, social networks, RSS, and digital publishing platforms. It increases the sense of community, connections, and convenience."
Mullen made the announcement today during the EEC’s inaugural Email Evolution Conference, which is being held at the Sheraton Hotel & Marina in San Diego this week.
Said Daniels, "We’ve accomplished our main mission, which was to standardize the definition of e-mail delivery metrics. But there’s plenty of work yet to be done, and it makes the most sense for that work to continue under the EEC umbrella."
The EEC has also announced the launch of a new roundtable called the Digital Lifestyle (DLS) Roundtable. The DLS Roundtable will focus on breaking down channel-specific silos for digital channels such as e-mail, and enabling collaboration in message design that supports a consumer’s digital lifestyle.
Jeanniey Mullen, EEC founder, will lead this initiative. "The DLS is the next step in our efforts to reinvent and demonstrate the impact of e-mail," Mullen commented. "It is a testament to the manner in which e-mail has become ingrained into the consumer’s digital lifestyle. It’s the next stage of e-mail marketing as it integrates with mobile, blogs, social networks, RSS, and digital publishing platforms. It increases the sense of community, connections, and convenience."
Mullen made the announcement today during the EEC’s inaugural Email Evolution Conference, which is being held at the Sheraton Hotel & Marina in San Diego this week.
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