MaSSSoftech

August 2, 2009 8:24 PM EDT

Hong Kong, Aug 3, 2009 - (ACN Newswire) - Global Resources Development (Holding) Limited ("Global Resources" or "the Group", Stock Code: 8116) intends to acquire 100% of Wealthy China Group Limited ("Wealthy China") which holds a 100% in Beijing Upway Science & Technology Development Co. Ltd ("Upway") and 60% interest in China Chief Medical Standards Database Co. Ltd.. The Total investment by Global Resources will be approximately $498 million which will provide entry into China's hospital information technology market. The total acquisition will be transacted by the issuance of convertible bonds with the initial conversion price of HK$0.168 per share. The acquisition agreement between Global Resources and the vendors was entered into on 24 July.

Commenting on the agreement, Mr. Stephen Frostick, Chairman of Global Resources said, "Our agreement with Wealthy China is a significant step in implementing our strategic interest in the health information technology business in China. The health information market in China is projected to reach RMB 246 billion within 5 years. This, coupled with the central government's medical reform plan which in part prescribes the upgrade of medical and clinical data application systems, will further broaden our Group's earnings base, and put us in a strong position to capitalize on emerging opportunities in China's health information technology market."

The PRC government's medical reform plan referenced by Global Resources' chairman, calls for the expenditure of RMB 850 billion by 2011 to provide basic medical security to all people living in urban and rural areas. The government also plans to build hospitals and improve medical services at the county level and in remote areas. Emphasis is being placed on reforming state-run hospitals by strengthening their administration, operation and supervision, inclusive will be a system to allow both urban and rural residents to use a universal healthcare account by 2011.

"The prospects of providing information technology services to PRC hospitals and medical institutions for standardization or medical records, information and management are extremely promising. Out patient services and admission services currently amount to 1.8 billion and 74 million person-time per year. This proposed acquisition provides Global Resources the advantage of participation in this robust industry, and it enables us to strategically diversify into new areas of high growth potential." added Mr. Frostick.

About Global Resources Development (Holding) Limited

Global Resources Development (Holding) Limited is principally engaged in production and sales of automobile parts and accessories, mining of mineral resources and production and sales of ferro-silicon and radio trunking systems integration. Supported by the central government's medical reform plan, the Group recently diversified its core business structure into the healthcare information technology sector in the PRC.

Contact: Porda International (Finance) P.R. Group
Ms. Louisa Ching
Tel: 3150-6762
Email: louisa.ching@pordafinance.com.hk

Ms. Alman Loong
Tel: 3150-6731
Email: alman.loong@pordafinance.com.hk

Ms. Kate Chan
Tel: 3150-6752
Email: kate.chan@pordafinace.com.hk
Fax: 3150 6728

Copyright 2009 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved.

There is an old saying, attributed to Alexander Graham Bell: “When one door closes, another opens”. While the traditional IT market or “door” of hardware, software and services from information technology companies has been slightly shut by the global financial situation, IT companies have found and opened new markets in the energy, environment and sustainability markets. It’s a huge opportunity worth hundreds of billions of dollars in the near future. It may seem a stretch for companies known for PC operating systems, internet searches and network switches to now take on energy management for utilities and buildings. Each of the IT networking titans now has products, primarily software, to monitor, manage and provide information on energy usage. The hardware and software covers homes, buildings, smart meters, electric cars, IT networks, and building automation systems. Almost all have been released this year and some are in limited release, beta versions or development. Here’s an overview of some of the offerings:

Dynamics AXMicrosoft

One of Microsoft’s products is the Dynamics AX, an accounting package within their Dynamics’ series for mid-sized companies that works and feels much like the other Microsoft products that many of us know and use. Within the Dynamics AX product, Microsoft earlier this year added the “Environmental Sustainability Dashboard” which essentially does environmental accounting. The data used in the environmental accounting is provided from two other modules in the accounting package, accounts payable and inventory management.

The program calculates and displays four of the Core Environmental Performance Indicators (CEPI) as identified by the Global Reporting Initiative. Those indicators are:

• Direct Energy Consumption – This is related to energy sources that are bought and consumed, such as natural gas and coal.
• Indirect Energy Consumption – This is electricity from a utility where the energy is generated elsewhere.
• Total Direct And Indirect Greenhouse Gas Emissions – The carbon footprint of direct and indirect energy consumption.
• Other Relevant Greenhouse Gas Emissions – For example, emissions from business travel.

Microsoft HohmMicrosoft has also released a product to address home energy use called Microsoft Hohm. It’s an online home energy-monitoring tool that provides recommendations to homeowners on how to save energy and compare their energy use to others. It also has a “Hohm user community” to exchange ideas.

The analytics embedded in Hohm are from Department of Energy and Lawrence Berkley Laboratories studies. Users can input specific information about their house or use local or national averages. Microsoft has teamed with four utilities (Puget Sound Energy, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Seattle City Light and Xcel Energy) and is working on automatically uploading the energy usage data into the Hohm application. In addition they have partnered with smart meter manufacturers, Itron and Landis+Gyr, which allow greater access to more granular energy consumption data. Obviously the integration with meter data would greatly improve the functionality and accuracy of the information.

Google

Google has done a limited release of a beta version of their PowerMeter, another software platform geared to home energy use. PowerMeter collects information on electrical use and stores it in a Google data center. The information is pushed to it from utility companies, smart meters and energy management devices. Users are provided with access to their home electricity consumption on their personal iGoogle homepage or an in-house energy display device. Google will have a publicly available Google Data API Specification for the PowerMeter allowing third-party collaboration.

PowerMeterTo address different data formats from utility companies and different meters, Google has started to build a library of tools and sample code that will facilitate sending and receiving data from the PowerMeter. Goggle has partnered with utilities in the US, Canada, India and Germany: Glasgow EPB (Glasgow, Kentucky), JEA (Northeast Florida), Reliance Energy (Mumbai, Delhi & Orissa, India), San Diego Gas & Electric (San Diego and Southern Orange Counties, California), Toronto Hydro–Electric System Limited, TXU Energy, White River Valley Electric Cooperative (Missouri), Yello Strom (Germany). Google, like Microsoft has partnered with smart meter manufacturer Itron.

Google is also developing software to address an energy need which seems far, far into the future. That issue is recharging millions of electric vehicles at the same time. If the smart grid is to interact and regulate energy use in buildings, why shouldn’t the same relationship exist between the grid and millions of electric plug-in vehicles? All of this is of course to reduce peak electric demand, minimize the need for new power plants and reduce carbon emissions. The ramifications of software regulating when electric vehicles should be recharged and how much they should be recharged based on power generation in the grid are just short of mind boggling. For example, could the batteries in millions of electric vehicles be used for “storage” for the utilities, regulating their load by drawing from the batteries during peaks rather than increase power generation?

Cisco

Cisco has been involved with several energy and environmental initiatives. They have been involved in some local civic projects such as Urban EcoMap, where one can obtain information on San Francisco’s greenhouse gas emissions by city zip codes, and the Connected Bus project, again in San Francisco, that provides free Wi-Fi on the public buses to enhance riders’ experience, digital signage to provide information on bus arrivals and external LED displays of environmental information.

The more serious business initiatives have been EnergyWise and the Building Mediator. Cisco is estimating that the communications infrastructure market for the US smart electrical grid will reach $20 billion a year over the next five years with huge requirements for products already in their portfolio; networking equipment and services. Cisco is already involved with Florida Power and Light and Duke Energy in smart grid projects.

EnergyWiseCisco released EnergyWise in January 2009. EnergyWise is software based on a version of Verdiem’s Surveyor PC management software that reduces energy levels of PCs. This is a free software upgrade for the Cisco Catalyst series to automatically turn off computers, VOIP telephones and wireless access points. At the core is management of network devices through the use of Power-over-Ethernet (PoE), that is, if the network is supplying power to the devices, the network can monitor and manage the devices. With EnergyWise, an IT manager can set policies on energy use, allowing PCs or networking equipment to go into sleep mode after work hours or at night or whenever they aren't being used.

The Building Mediator About the time Cisco introduced EnergyWise Cisco acquired Richards-Zeta Building Intelligence, a provider of building automation middleware, called the Building Mediator. The middleware solution is a combination of system controllers and software. The controller allows for the connection of HVAC systems, lighting control, power management and a host of other typical building automation systems. These are the primary systems consuming power in a building. The Building Mediator allows all connected system points to be accessible over an IP network and provides for two-way communications between systems with different protocols. The supervisory control platform for the controllers will be rolled up into EnergyWise increasing its capabilities to monitor, mange and provide insight into a building’s energy use.

Spartan Peripheral Systems That’s Not All

Whether introducing middleware or dashboards IT manufacturers are also touting PoE devices, energy-efficient switches, and data center energy efficient solutions. HP has a number of Energy Star rated end-user devices as well as its Dynamic Smart Cooling. Nortel, as well as energy-efficient switching, is introducing the Energy Saver that monitors and manages power to PoE devices. Among many other energy initiatives, IBM has Green Sigma, a dynamic dashboard built on a Statistical Process Control engine/rule set. As the market for energy and energy savings continues to grow, so will the participants.

Obstacles

The move by IT companies into energy-related hardware and software presents an enormous opportunity but also comes with some obstacles. Customers for these new products are not necessarily the traditional IT Directors; they’re facility managers, home owners and utility managers. The sales and procurement processes for some markets, such as the design and construction for a new building are different from what IT companies are use to. In addition, the systems being monitored and controlled as part of energy management, such as HVAC, lighting and power management are unfamiliar territory for most IT companies.

For more information about smart buildings, technology design or to schedule a Continuing Education program, email me at jsinopoli@smart-buildings.com.

Steve Cariglio is president of PC-Plus Technologies in Auburn. He can be reached at stevec@pcplustech.com.

10. Virtualization
Energy savings, space concerns, underutilized hardware and administration costs are the most common reasons companies are taking on this type of technology. An investment in virtualization can save businesses money on many levels.

9. Intelligent Phones
Integrating your phone system with your network can save you money, simplify management and boost productivity. Some features included in today’s phone systems are: call recording and monitoring, detailed call reporting and voicemail to your inbox.

8. Internet Abuse
Thirty to 40 percent of Internet use in the workplace is not related to business. Social networking is a contributor, however trading stocks, adult content and online shopping are huge factors, as well. A web filter is a must for productivity in the workplace.

7. Data Is Critical
In our technologically evolving world, data is more important than ever. Significant problems arise when businesses fail to properly secure and backup their data. It is imperative to have a comprehensive data backup plan in place.

6. Managed Services
From network and server monitoring and alerting, to full IT outsourcing, managed services offer many opportunities for cost savings and greater reliability.

5. Network Security
Uneducated computer users are often those who fall victim to viruses, spyware, and phishing attacks. These attacks are designed to corrupt systems or leak confidential information to a third party.

4. Going Mobile
Giving your employees secure access to critical data while out of the office allows them to be more productive.

3. Data Keeps Growing
Market research firm IDC reports that storage capacity is rising 60 percent per year. Businesses need to upgrade their capacity at a similar rate.

2. Embrace Technology
New technology is a great way to increase productivity. Employee training, dual displays, up to date hardware and software, and mobile devices are all gaining popularity.

1. “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”
This is one adage that definitely does not apply to IT.

By Chris O'Nan

KAYSVILLE -- Austin Abel is hungry for knowledge, and the information technology program at Davis Applied Technology College is feeding the 13-year-old over the summer.

Austin said he is captivated by his father's work with computers as an electrical engineer and wants to follow in that path.

"My dad is a problem solver," Austin said. "That's what I want to be."

During the new school year, students desiring a career in computer technology will get a little more than in years past as DATC implements a new industry-driven certification program, allowing students to earn certifications such as A+ (hardware) and Net+ (networking) while in school.

"We are here to augment education," said DATC information technology instructor Don Spatig. "The bottom line is the students. We want to get them every advantage we can."

Spatig said information technology students get a certificate of completion at the end of the 12-month program, but many students stay for only a few months to get job skills needed for employment.

DATC recruiter Allen Turner said the new program lets students earn certifications the computer industry values even if they don't complete the entire program. He said certifications will cost students extra when they take the tests.

"We've always trained to those standards," Turner said. "It was optional, previously, for the students to take the A+ test if they wanted. Now that test is part of our curriculum."

Over the summer, the information technology program at DATC is giving youth a taste of the computer field by letting students build their own computers and take them home.

Over a three-week period, Austin and about 20 other youths will learn the inner workings of a computer at DATC through class instruction and hands-on computer building. The program is part of the college's Summer Youth Experience.

Spatig said students first learn about computer parts and electrical safety, then order computer towers, wiring, inside components and software through approved vendors.

While waiting for the computers and parts to arrive, students spend time building computers in the classroom. Spatig said the school's equipment is a mixture of working and dead parts to give students an opportunity to trouble-shoot problems with the computers they build.

Once the students' computers and parts arrive, they are prepared to put them together in class, Spatig said. Computer prices can range from $300 to $1,500, depending on how the students want to use the computers, he said.

"Some gamers purchase expensive graphics cards, while others just want a basic computer to browse the Internet," Spatig said.

After all the parts are in place, the students load the operating system and trouble-shoot and fix any bugs in their new system.

"What they end up with is a computer that is customized for what they want to do," Spatig said. "We want them to see how things work and get a hunger to learn more."

Syracuse High School student Jared Walker, 16, said he took the summer class because of his curiosity about how all the components work together.

Spatig said high school students and a group of Boy Scouts working on a merit badge are currently taking the class.

Boy Scout Bryson Williams, 11, also began learning about computers from his dad but he'd never seen the inside of one.

"Now I can really see how they work," Bryson said.

"Computers involve using a lot of math, which is my favorite subject."

"I want a new computer, and I want the experience of building it myself," Bryson said.

"I want to understand how it all works -- the wiring, the processor -- and where all the things go."

"These kids learn so much and they feel pretty confident when they leave," Spatig said.

Solano County is one of the top technologically advanced county governments in the United States, receiving a top 10 ranking in its population category in a national survey by the Center for Digital Government and National Association of Counties.

The award comes only a year after the county launched a redesigned Web site -- www.solanocounty.com -- designed to make it easier for residents to access the hundreds of pages of useful information about county services and programs.

"This award recognizes how we are using technology to make it easier for residents to access the information they need, to improve services online and to make the business of government even more transparent," said Ira Rosenthal, Solano County Chief Information Officer.

The 2009 Digital Counties Survey found that Solano County uses information technology in increasingly innovative ways to deliver service to county residents. Thousands of U.S. counties were invited to participate in the survey. Officials responded to questions that included more than 100 measurements and data points about online service delivery, infrastructure, architecture and governance models.

"As counties face the budgetary challenges of 2009 and beyond, they are finding information technology essential for effective and efficient government," said NACo Executive Director Larry E. Naake. "Not only are county governments using technology to continue delivering services
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with fewer resources, they are using innovative technology to communicate more effectively with their citizens and businesses. The Digital Counties Survey illustrates the innovation and tenacity of counties across the country."

Solano County provides a number of services through its Web site, including a comprehensive database of land parcels, Webcasts of Board of Supervisors meetings, online tax payments, photos of pets available for adoption, online library catalogs and dozens of online forms from registering to vote by mail to starting a child support case.

About 1 million users visit the Solano County Web site annually, viewing more than 3.4 million pages.

Visit www.centerdigitalgov.com for more information about the 2009 Digital Counties Survey and the Center for Digital Government.

People often ascribe failures in technology projects in government (and private sector) to technology-specific issues such as hardware or software glitches. However when you look closer, underneath the so-called technology failure is often more of a human issue. The issue in Virginia over Governor's Kaine's complaint that in effect, he is accountable for VITA's results but not responsible for it, is an organizational issue, not a technical one. However it is still leading to technology failures in the Virginia Government.

Let's step back a little bit - taking the example pf a point I made in an old paper published way back in 1999 on the critical importance of coordination in getting technology implementation right. The paper is obviously outdated in a lot of ways, but the fact that it is still current in one aspect - the importance of coordination - shows how little progress we have made in this area.

At the time I had observed that

"Most of the literature surveyed recommended that governments take strong measures towards promoting coordination and interaction of IT elements. Particular emphasis has been given on handling interministerial and interdepartmental conflict as well as promoting partnerships between business/government/ academia .....However in reality most of the governments failed to implement this".

This is something that remains as much of an issue in 2009 as it was in 1999, and as Candi Harrison, who has been in the web management trenches for 10 years (and co-chaired the U.S. Government Web Managers Council), notes in her blog, proper communication between all involved, whether they are agency heads, or agency employees, remains a big part of it.

A good example of this is right here in Virginia. Governor Timothy M. Kaine has just taken the unusual step of saying, quite publicly, that the Virginia agency that provides computer and information technology service to every other state agency should have to answer to the governor. Kaine said he feels most of the failures that have resulted in two legislative panels just to probe the Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA) are a result of its less than sane oversight structure and management. "I hope what the Legislature will do ... is come to the conclusion that this agency should report to the governor like every other agency does," Kaine said on his monthly radio program in Richmond. VITA, established six years ago, and Northrop Grumman Corp., its partner, have missed major deadlines in building a single integrated statewide network. These delays in providing service have caused problems (and complaints) from state agencies for some years now. Two committees: the House Science and Technology Committee and a subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee have held hearings on the troubling topic. In addition, the Freedom of Information Advisory Council ruled last month that the board that oversees VITA improperly met in private to discuss the Northrop Grumman contract, the largest state contract with a single vendor ever in Virginia. If Governor Kaine is right, then it is almost a textbook case of how lack of coordination between agencies has led to failures in technology implementation. Also worth noting, that so far the failures have been ascribed primarily to Northrop's performance but not lack of coordination between agencies or the absence of coherent reporting relationships. This is because things like over-billing, delays in paying subcontractors, and a lack of security at a warehouse that was holding state computers - all uncovered by audits - were much more obvious. Also obvious was the fact that the state e-mail addresses were not switched to a new statewide system on time. However factors like coordination or reporting relationship coherence are harder to pinpoint and recognize. While it is possible that technology failures can lead to unsuccessful e-government implementation, and in this case it is possible that all of these apparent failures can be laid at Northrop's door, it is also apparent that without proper coordination of IT elements - in this case - adequate coordination and authority over VITA, government managers will have a very difficult time implementing IT initiatives successfully. In this case, it seems to me, without the authority he needs, Governor Kaine cannot be expected to be held accountable for IT implementation in the state of Virginia.

Sources Used:

Northrop Grumman missed deadlines for a new billing system and an inventory of the state’s IT infrastructure: http://www.fcw.com/Articles/2009/06/19/Virginia-questions-northrop-contract.aspx

Fred Duball, a director of the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, wrote that “Northrop Grumman’s failure to complete transformation in a timely manner means . . . the commonwealth is deprived of the benefit of those services and may incur other damages to compensate for Northrop Grumman’s deficiencies.“ Duball left open the possibility of legal action, saying, “By notifying Northrop Grumman of its failure to fulfill its contractual obligations and requesting a corrective plan, the commonwealth is not waiving any contractual rights or remedies available to it, nor is it excusing Northrop Grumman’s breach.“ Northrop Grumman spokeswoman Christy Whitman, told of the Duball memo, replied in an e-mail, “We are working to address the issues of critical importance to the program’s success.“.....Kaine defended Northrop Grumman, which has donated more than has $808,000 to Virginia political candidates of both parties since 2001, including $76,000 to his campaign and inauguration. "Generally, the issue has been VITA management of the contractor rather than the contractor itself," Kaine said.
Tricities.com

Results of audit findings: Select Sector SPDR

Not a single state agency's computer system was transformed by the deadline Virginia and its politically connected contractor have worked toward for the past three years, under a $2.3 billion contract. Business Week