Best Buy Co., Inc. Confirms Receipt of Unsolicited Indication of Interest

Press release:

Best Buy Co., Inc. Confirms Receipt of Unsolicited Indication of Interest

Minneapolis, August 6, 2012 Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY) today confirmed that its Board of Directors has received a letter requesting due diligence and outlining an unsolicited, highly conditional indication of interest from Richard Schulze, former chairman of Best Buy, to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Best Buy that he does not already own for a per-share price of $24 to $26.   This has come through a public letter addressed to the Board.  Best Buy's Board of Directors will review and consider the letter in due course, consistent with its fiduciary duties, in consultation with its financial advisors, Goldman, Sachs & Co. and J.P. Morgan and its legal advisor, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP.  Best Buy said that its Board of Directors will evaluate this proposal carefully and will, as always, pursue the best course for its shareholders. About Best Buy Co., Inc. Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY) is a leading multi-channel global retailer and developer of technology products and services. Every day our employees - 167,000 strong - are committed to helping deliver the technology solutions that enable easy access to people, knowledge, ideas and fun. We are keenly aware of our role and impact on the world, and we are committed to developing and implementing business strategies that bring sustainable technology solutions to our consumers and communities. For information about Best Buy, visit http://www.bby.com and to shop at Best Buy, visit http://www.bestbuy.com. #  #  #

Geek Squad® Launches Partner Program to Expand Technology Support for Small Businesses

Geek Squad® Launches Partner Program to Expand Technology Support for Small Businesses

Geek Squad Partner Website to Provide Program Insights, Partner Registration RICHFIELD, MINN., March 27, 2012 - Geek Squad,® Best Buy's 24-hour tech support task force, announced today that it will now offer services and technology support to small businesses (SMBs). Through the Geek Squad Partner Program, Geek Squad will work with third-party sellers to provide services for their own customers, including Geek Squad Office Support which features Geek Squad Agents available for unlimited 24/7 support via phone, online chat, remote, and, with an option to include on-site support. Geek Squad has developed a SMB program that is easy to do business with and provides partners with the tools to make them successful. The Partner Program targets partners who focus on SMBs, to sell the PC, mobile, networking and infrastructure support services.  Target partners include carrier-like master agents, IP telephony resellers and wiring and cabling resellers. And the Partner Program site, http://partnerprogram.geeksquad.com offers tutorials, trainings, sales environment videos and as well as registration. "Geek Squad was founded 17 years ago as a small business technology service and support task force," said George Sherman, senior vice president, services, Best Buy. "Today, our strategic priorities to grow our services business have set the stage to leverage its heritage as a small business resource.  With our service offerings, the expertise of our Geek Squad Agents nationwide, and our solid brand reputation, we believe Geek Squad is uniquely equipped to partner with the resellers community to meet the needs of small business customers today." The Geek Squad Partners Program service plans are designed to help customers with diagnostics and repair, client and server administration, and network integration, including network, firewall, VPN, and server support as well as data backup and transfers. Geek Squad Office Support currently offers two plans: the Standard Plan with unlimited 24/7/365 phone and online support for $24.99 per month per seat, and the Advanced plan with unlimited 24/7/365 phone and online support plus on-site agent support for $49.99 per month. Earlier this year, Best Buy expanded its services capabilities for the estimated $40 billion SMB market when it acquired mindSHIFT Technologies, which provides managed IT, cloud, data center and other professional services across the United States, About Geek Squad Since its expansion nationally in 2004, Geek Squad has grown to nearly 20,000 technicians who support install and repair for consumers and small businesses alike, including computing, home theater, auto electronics, mobile devices and appliances. Geek Squad technicians are available at Precincts in all Best Buy U.S. stores, through house calls and and via online chat, remote support or over-the phone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. About Best Buy Co., Inc. Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) is a leading multi-channel global retailer and developer of technology products and services. Every day our employees - 180,000 strong - are committed to helping deliver the technology solutions that enable easy access to people, knowledge, ideas and fun. We are keenly aware of our role and impact on the world, and we are committed to developing and implementing business strategies that bring sustainable technology solutions to our consumers and communities. For additional information about Best Buy, visit http://www.investors.bestbuy.com/.

Avnet Technology Solutions UK Introduces New Professional Services Offering for Microsoft System Center

March 21, 2012 - Avnet Technology Solutions UK introduces new Professional Services offering for Microsoft System Center

Bracknell, UK -- Avnet Technology Solutions, the global IT solutions distribution leader and an operating group of Avnet, Inc.(NYSE: AVT), today announced that Microsoft System Center professional services are now available from Avnet in the UK.  This coincides with Avnet becoming the only distribution company in the UK to achieve the Microsoft Gold Competency in virtualization and management - a significant milestone that recognises Avnet's exceptional technical competency in this area. 

By combining best-of-breed Microsoft technology with Avnet's professional services capability, Avnet business partners will benefit from an effective framework for introducing server management lifecycle best practices and more simple and flexible licensing models that save time and money for end-user customers.  Avnet will work with its business partners to support SME and midsized organisations by offering a comprehensive range of services covering pre-sales consultancy, design, customisation, integration and support.

Taisha Betz, Microsoft business unit manager, Avnet Technology Solutions, UK, commented, "Today's announcement rewards our investment in high quality training and reflects our commitment to adding real value to our business partners.  Our dedicated team of professionals has the market knowledge, resources and technology know-how to help business partners offer much more than software licenses, namely the ability to implement large-scale, complex IT solutions and services that deliver tangible business value."

Stephen Ennis, services business development director, Avnet Technology Solutions, EMEA, added, "Being the first IT solutions distribution company in the UK to gain the Microsoft Gold Competency in virtualization and management is a truly remarkable achievement. Our comprehensive services portfolio enables business partners to rapidly enter and capitalise on the high growth virtualisation market. This portfolio is complementary to our business partners and augments their own in-house services."

To find out more about Avnet's new professional services offering for Microsoft System Center, please visit www.virtcentral.co.uk

About Avnet Technology Solutions

As a global IT solutions distributor, Avnet Technology Solutions collaborates with its customers and suppliers to create and deliver services, software and hardware solutions that address the business needs of their end-user customers locally and around the world. For fiscal year 2011, the group served customers in more than 70 countries and generated US $11.5 billion in annual revenue. Avnet Technology Solutions (www.ats.avnet.com) is an operating group of Avnet, Inc.

About Avnet

Avnet, Inc. (NYSE:AVT), a Fortune 500 company, is one of the largest distributors of electronic components, computer products and embedded technology serving customers in more than 70 countries worldwide. Avnet accelerates its partners' success by connecting the world's leading technology suppliers with a broad base of more than 100,000 customers by providing cost-effective, value-added services and solutions. For the fiscal year ended July 2, 2011, Avnet generated revenue of $26.5 billion. For more information, visit www.avnet.com.

Adobe Kicks Off Digital Marketing Summit 2012

Adobe Kicks Off Digital Marketing Summit 2012

For immediate release

Company Announces Significant Innovations to Adobe Digital Marketing Suite

SALT LAKE CITY, Adobe Digital Marketing Summit — March 21, 2012 — Adobe Systems Incorporated(Nasdaq:ADBE) today opened the Adobe® Digital Marketing Summit, where more than 4,000 digital marketers and senior leaders from the world’s foremost advertisers, publishers, agencies, systems integrators and technology companies have gathered  to learn the latest about digital marketing trends, share best practices and network. Keynote presenters include Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, Adobe Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch, and Senior Vice President and General Manager of Adobe’s Digital Marketing Business, Brad Rencher, along with Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post and Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter.

Adobe’s digital marketing business continues to demonstrate significant momentum. In the company’s most recent earnings announcement, Adobe reported 30 percent year-over-year growth in its digital marketing business. Adobe introduced several new innovations within the Adobe Digital Marketing Suite, including:

Adobe Social
A new product within the Digital Marketing Suite, Adobe Social (see separate release) combines social publishing and engagement with monitoring, social ad buying and analytics that can attribute social activity to business results. Adobe is giving those with social marketing responsibilities – digital marketers, community managers, customer service, public relations, ad buyers, analysts and others – a single platform to align and collaborate around the management, measurement and optimization of their social media strategies, and do so in the context of all other digital marketing efforts.

Predictive Marketing
New predictive marketing capabilities within the Adobe Digital Marketing Suite reduce the complexity of uncovering hidden behavioral patterns in big data (see separate release). These advancements will help marketers more quickly sort through an increasing amount of data to find the most impactful insights as well as leverage vast amounts of historical data to predict future results.

Personalization
Adobe announced a major update to its Web Experience Management (WEM) solution (see separate release), part of the Adobe Digital Marketing Suite that helps marketers drive engagement by delivering more consistent, contextually relevant experiences on the Web, mobile devices and social media. At the heart of the WEM solution is Adobe CQ 5.5, the latest version of the company’s industry leading Web Content Management software that is now deeply integrated with several other products in the Suite, such as Scene7®, Search&Promote and SiteCatalyst®.

Quotes
Brad Rencher, senior vice president and general manager,Digital Marketing Business, Adobe

·         “The Adobe Digital Marketing Summit is quickly becoming digital marketing’s premier event, gathering the best and brightest minds in the industry. This year we have almost doubled in size with 4,000 attendees who will connect with experts and peers, get direct access to case studies and best practices, and have great opportunities to network and socialize. Summit is also a chance to get a first peek at the latest digital marketing innovations from Adobe and our partners and to help guide the future of our Digital Marketing Suite.”

About the Adobe Digital Marketing Suite
The Adobe Digital Marketing Suite offers an integrated and open platform for online business optimization, a strategy for using customer insight to drive innovation throughout the business and enhance marketing efficiency. The Suite consists of integrated applications to collect and unleash the power of customer insight to optimize customer acquisition, conversion and retention efforts as well as the creation and distribution of content. For example, using the Suite, marketers can identify the most effective marketing strategies and ad placements as well as create relevant, personalized and consistent customer experiences across digital marketing channels, such as onsite, display, email, social, video and mobile. The Suite enables marketers to make quick adjustments, automate certain customer interactions and better maximize marketing ROI, which, ultimately, can positively impact the bottom line.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated
Adobe is changing the world through digital experiences. For more information, visit www.adobe.com.

Infosys & Fabric Worldwide Chosen to Support Delivery of Digital Strategy

Infosys and Fabric Worldwide Chosen by GlaxoSmithKline to Support the Delivery of Digital Strategy

An Integrated Platform and Services Solution to Streamline Global Digital Engagement

Bangalore, London, New York, March 13, 2012: Infosys Ltd (NASDAQ: INFY), today, announced its partnership with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to optimize digital channels across its global consumer healthcare and pharmaceuticals business lines. The partnership in association with Fabric Worldwide, a WPP company, will simplify and improve effectiveness of how GSK delivers digital engagement with consumers and healthcare professionals.

Through this partnership, with Infosys, GSK will create 'Global Digital Services' (GDS), a new shared service which will drive standardized processes and sharing of best practices in creating and securely delivering information, across multiple digital channels.

The service will utilize the 'Digital Marketing Platform', built by Infosys in partnership with Fabric Worldwide. This brings together the best of technology and marketing expertise, on a unified platform, delivered on the Cloud. The proprietary BLUE (Build, Listen, Understand, Engage) framework of the ‘Digital Marketing Platform' will allow GSK to quickly build digital assets and listen to consumers across an array of digital channels. GSK will be able to use the platform's advanced analytical capabilities to better understand consumer segments and leverage audience insight to deliver an engaging brand experience. The platform will allow teams to collaborate through superior work flow capabilities, and foster re-use of digital assets. Infosys, in partnership with Fabric Worldwide, will also provide specialized digital marketing services, around brand and agency liaison, and advanced analytics to enable GSK to improve the effectiveness of digital media.

Phil Benton, Vice-President, Global Digital Services, at GSK Core Business Services, said, "We recognize that our customers, consumers and other external stakeholders increasingly want to engage with us on-line. Global Digital Services will enable us to provide globally standard processes, scalable assets and advanced analytics to support better and more efficient engagement with these external audiences. Infosys and Fabric bring important and complementary capabilities to give us the potential to make a real step forward in this area."

Dheeshjith V.G. Senior Vice President and Global Head of Life Sciences at Infosys said, "For pharmaceutical companies, driving digital transformation, globally across the organization to achieve rapid growth and deepen customer engagement, is very important. In the coming years, pharmaceutical companies will be heavily leveraging digital media to connect with their sales force, customers, physicians and key opinion leaders in the industry. Infosys, with its in-depth life sciences industry knowledge, robust cross-industry experience and cutting edge technology expertise, has partnered with WPP to build the foundation for the global digital transformation initiative at GSK."

Samson David, Vice President and Global Head - Business Platforms, Infosys said, "Companies, today, spend a significant part of their time streamlining their digital processes with little focus on engaging with stakeholders. Our partnership with WPP brings the best of marketing and technology together to create the next-generation Digital Marketing Platform. Delivered on the Cloud, the platform will enable GSK to efficiently create digital properties and effectively engage with its digital consumers."

Neil Miller, Joint CEO of Fabric WW said. "We are delighted that GSK is using the Fabric Data Management Platform and Marketing Operating System, as a key part of the overall Infosys solution. It will greatly enhance GSK's ability to consistently understand consumer signals from digital channels, across all brands in all markets, and react faster to the insight they gain."

News Release from Compuware - New eBook

Compuware Launches New eBook: Java Enterprise Performance

DETROIT, March 13, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Compuware Corporation (Nasdaq:CPWR), the technology performance company, today announced the availability of Java Enterprise Performance, a new online eBook authored by technology experts at the Compuware dynaTrace^® Center of Excellence. Java Enterprise Performance is a free resource for IT senior managers, team leaders and practitioners responsible for the performance of business-critical applications. To start reading, visit: http://book.dynatrace.com.

The online book is a comprehensive compilation of state-of-the-art approaches, best practices and pragmatic solutions to support application performance management and optimization initiatives throughout the lifecycle of systems from pre-production to production, encompassing all stakeholders: architecture, development, test, deployment and production teams.

"As businesses rely more than ever on applications, application performance management (APM) has become a top operational priority; performance delays of just two seconds can cause a revenue loss of 4 percent," said Alois Reitbauer, co-author and dynaTrace Technology Strategist. "As interest in application performance grows, more people want to further their careers in this field. Our eBook provides a pragmatic reference for those who are passionate about application performance and accountable for improving it."

All key topics covered in Java Enterprise Performance — from application performance concepts and memory management to hot issues such as cloud, virtualization and more — will empower architects, developers, test and operations teams to understand, measure and optimize the performance of Java-based technologies and meet the challenges they currently face in complex enterprise environments. The eBook is being published online with new chapters added monthly. 

The first two chapters are available today:

·         Chapter One —Application Performance Concepts: considers how to become performance experts. Besides technical expertise, IT leaders need a solid understanding of how performance and scalability works. The chapter reviews how to collect and interpret data properly and which performance data is needed in a variety of use cases.
 

·         Chapter Two —Memory Management: addresses the fact that memory management is often a major contributor to application performance problems. It highlights the inner workings of memory management and garbage collection to help understand memory-related performance problems such as memory leaks or excessive garbage collection, where they come from and how to optimize applications accordingly.

·          

The authors, all members of the dynaTrace APM Center of Excellence, include: Alois Reitbauer, Andreas Grabner, and Michael Kopp. They regularly share insight and expertise with a community of over 100,000 performance professionals at about:performance (http://blog.dynatrace.com). This online book contains more than 30 years of their combined knowledge in the application performance field. The authors have worked building large-scale applications and performance tools, developed numerous training courses and are regular speakers at leading software conferences worldwide on performance-related topics.

Mobile Apps Take Data Without Permission

Excerpt from an article in The New York Times
Thursday, February 16, 2012

Mobile Apps Take Data Without Permission 

By NICOLE PERLROTH and NICK BILTON

SAN FRANCISCO - The address book in smartphones - where some of the user's most personal data is carried - is free for app developers to take at will, often without the phone owner's knowledge.

Companies that make many of the most popular smartphone apps for Apple and Android devices - Twitter, Foursquare and Instagram among them - routinely gather the information in personal address books on the phone and in some cases store it on their own computers. The practice came under scrutiny Wednesday by members of Congress who saw news reports that taking such data was an "industry best practice."

Apple, which approves all apps that appear in its iTunes store, addressed the controversy on Wednesday after lawmakers sent the company a letter asking how approved apps were allowed to take address book data without users' permission. Apple's published rules on apps expressly prohibit that practice.

But in its statement about the issue, Apple did not address why those apps that collect address book data had been approved.

In that statement, Tom Neumayr, an Apple spokesman, said: "Apps that collect or transmit a user's contact data without their prior permission are in violation of our guidelines. We're working to make this even better for our customers, and as we have done with location services, any app wishing to access contact data will require explicit user approval in a future software release."

The Federal Trade Commission regulates the use of consumers' data on the Internet, and in the past it has sanctioned big companies like Facebook and Google over privacy issues. It said Wednesday that it would make no comment about the app makers' practices.