APOS Solutions News - Maximizing Business Objects with APOS Solutions May, 2010 In this issue: » New Strategic Alliance Partnership - APOS teams with LRS to fill the enterprise output management gap. » Location Matters at APOS - Is the smart grid really smart? » Upcoming Webinar - SAP BusinessObjects Integration, version for ESRI GIS software, Energize Decision Making in Utilities » Product Updates at APOS - Encryption for APOS Publisher. » APOS on the Road - Meet with APOS staff to discuss business partnership opportunities with us at Sapphire. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Download the current version of all APOS Solutions here http://www.apos.com/Downloads/Default.aspx Forward this message or send this link to a colleague you'd like to share this newsletter with... http://www.apos.com/Company/SolutionsNewsletter/APOS_Solutions_News_Jan_2010.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New Strategic Alliance Partnership | LRS Kitchener, Ontario, Canada - May 3, 2010 - APOS Systems, a leading provider of extensions to SAP® BusinessObjects solutions, announced today that it has expanded its global presence by signing a strategic partnership agreement with Levi, Ray & Shoup, Inc. (LRS), located in Springfield, Illinois. Learn more about LRSThe joint solution offering will extend the content publishing and distribution capabilities of the APOS Publisher solution to encompass the output management and control capabilities of the LRS® Output Management Server solution. "The collaboration between APOS and LRS is a natural fit. Integration of APOS and LRS components bring output management to SAP BusinessObjects customers, and complete critical aspects of the content publishing process – control and validation of print jobs and email distribution," said Allan Pym, APOS Vice President of Sales. Read the full press release here. http://www.apos.com/Company/PressReleases.aspx ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Location Matters at APOS | Is the Smart Grid really smart? Bill Meehan, ESRI's director of utility solutions, states that the smart grid isn't about the electrical transmission system, but how customers interact with this system. It is a concept that is about an intelligent electrical delivery system that responds to the needs of and directly communicates with consumers. Overall, the smart grid is a complex system of components that work together, but fundamentally, the smart grid is about three things: Managing loads more effectively, providing significantly more automation during restoration after an outage event and enabling more interaction between the energy providers and the consumer. Smart grids start with smart meters. These electronic meters communicate with the utility company through a communication channel such as a cellular network. Each meter is able to communicate the specific energy use of each household to the utility company. In doing so, it enables the utility company to monitor, manage and balance the energy needs of the network. GIS has been a critical component of the infrastructure and planning of the network. Over the last decade, GIS technology has advanced to the point where energy flow can be simulated through the drawings of the infrastructure. A savvy GIS analyst can perform 'what if' analysis on the system, identifying which meters will be impacted by the termination of a switch or calculating the maximum load a line can withstand. To learn more about the Smart Grid and the role of GIS technology in this system visit here. http://www.esri.com/industries/electric/business/smartgrid.html For Location Intelligence, GIS is the starting point because all of the assets are located in real space and connectivity to other assets can be modeled. The challenge for implementing the smart grid isn't in the infrastructure, but in the ability to tie the customer usage data to a physical location on the grid. The APOS Location Intelligence solution provides a mechanism to connect the customer data held in a SAP BusinessObjects system with the spatial location of the customer power meter. The result is a system that allows the business user to spatially enable their customer data and add the spatial dimension to their analysis. Have you ever asked these questions about your customers? # Which neighbourhoods are using the most resources? # How many new homes can be built on the existing infrastructure? # Customer X has been using 3 times the average power for his neighbourhood, why? # Which neighbourhoods responded best to our energy conservation campaign? # Which areas are likely to be affected by the severe weather that is coming our way? See below for details about registering for the Utilies Focused Webinar or register here. http://www.apos.com/Webinars/WebinarESRIUtilitiesRegister.aspx To learn more about the APOS Location Intelligence Solution check out the web site here. http://www.apos.com/Solutions/ESRIGISIntegration.aspx ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Upcoming Solution Webinars | Location Intelligence: Energizing Utilities APOS industry focused webinar May 11, 2010 Most utility companies understand the value that ESRI GIS technology brings to their organization and are looking for ways to extend their investment by exposing the technology to a new set of information consumers. Please join us for this 60 minute webinar that uses the APOS Location Intelligence Solution to show Utilities specific demonstrations of spatial intelligence and business reporting working together. Register today if you work for a utility or have an interest in learning how the APOS Location Intelligence Solution can help you develop a clear picture of your ESRI GIS and SAP BusinessObjects integration potential. Agenda:This webinar will provide a solution overview and use case scenarios applicable to the following functions within a utility company; » Field crew optimization » Asset tracking and management » Smart grids Register for Upcoming WebinarsDetails and registration here. http://www.apos.com/Webinars/WebinarESRIUtilitiesRegister.aspx -------------------------------------------------------------------- APOS Solutions Overview Webinar June 3, 2010 An overview of the APOS Solutions Suite for the SAP BusinessObjects XI platform. Learn how APOS Solutions can help leverage and maximize the SAP BusinessObjects XI platform. We will provide high level information to help better assess the range of current solutions available. Register for Upcoming WebinarsDetails and registration here. http://www.apos.com/Seminars/WebinarBIToolsRegister.aspx ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Product Updates at APOS |APOS Publisher In the April newsletter, we talked about the top 10 technology trends for 2010. In the top 5 were Security, Risk and Compliance. In the current IT landscape, threats and challenges to the security of an organization becomes more of a concern and many organizations are turning to self-encryption of their hardware, user authentication and security suites to centralize the management of these settings. APOS publisher now contains a plug-in that allows system administrators to enable their own encryption algorithms. The plug-in provides a gateway to encrypt both files and email body content using a two parameter security model. A company can build their own private encryption algorithm into the plug-in and apply it to either email, file, or ftp destinations. Once enabled, all files and emails sent from publisher will be encrypted. If your organization requires certain encryption levels and custom algorithms, the APOS publisher is a great tool to send context sensitive information in a format that conforms to your own specific encryption needs. To learn about other benefits of APOS Publisher, check out the web site here. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ APOS on the Road | Conferences APOS will be attending the SAPPHIRE® NOW and the ASUG Annual Conference events in Orlando, May 16-19. APOS staff will be active in the booth of our new technology partner LRS. The LRS booth is #2808 and we invite you to stop by to meet and learn more about our new alliance. These events give you a great opportunity to network with SAP customers, partners, team members, and industry experts. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An easy next step! If you've missed our last webinar, no need to worry. We've recorded it for you. Watch how our solutions can help leverage and maximize the SAP BusinessObjects platform. APOS Administrator, APOS Location Intelligence "How to" and more... More details and registration here http://www.apos.com/Theatre/Default.aspx -------------------------------------------------------------------- This newsletter is published approximately 12 times a year, to share information about how APOS Solutions and services are extending the SAP BusinessObjects platform for companies like yours. If you do not want to receive future newsletters or would like to add someone else to our email list, visit here. http://www.apos.com/Company/NewsletterUnSubscription.aspx If you have any compliments or suggestions, we welcome those too! -------------------------------------------------------------------- Head Office: 1118-100 Conestoga College Blvd., Kitchener, Ontario, Canada N2P 2N6 Tel: 519.894.APOS(2767) - Fax: 519.894.1891 Help Desk: 519.894.APOS(2767) Ext. 1 80-83 Long Lane, London, UK EC1A 9ET EMEA Sales: 44 (0) 207 099 0374 EMEA Support: 44 (0) 208 819 9640 Ext 1 Email: apos@apos.com - Web: www.apos.com (c)2010 APOS Systems Inc. All rights reserved. The SAP BusinessObjects logo, SAP logo, Business Objects, SAP, Crystal Reports, Xcelsius, WebIntelligence and Desktop Intelligence are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP BusinessObjects, or SAP and its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. The ESRI logo, ESRI, ArcGIS, ArcIMS, are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of ESRI in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.