The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has unveiled a web-based talent management system for the manufacturing sector that will match skilled workers with UK companies will job vacancies to fill.

The system, known as the Talent Retention Solution (TRS), will be fully operational by January 2012, by which time 1,500 UK companies will be on board, a statement from BIS said. It contain live data on workers and employers, separated out by skills and location.

Demand for skilled workers in the engineering and manufacturing industry far exceeds supply, the BIS statement said. Mark Prisk, the Minister for Business and Enterprise, said the system is designed to ensure skilled workers are not lost to other countries or industries. 

“This easily accessible web based system will play a vital role in ensuring that these skills are not lost by redeploying highly skilled workers into growing sectors of advanced manufacturing such as automotive, energy, infrastructure and aerospace,” Prisk said.

The site will initially be focused on finding skilled workers for the defense sector.

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Designed to meet the requirements of large scale business intelligence and optimised for large data volumes

Business intelligence (BI) software provider MicroStrategy Incorporated has rolled out its MicroStrategy Cloud, a cloud-based platform-as-a-service.

The company notes that MicroStrategy Cloud allows quicker, cost-effective development of business intelligence, mobile and social applications, by handling hundreds of terabytes of data and providing elastic scalability up to tens of thousands of users.

The cloud-based service is designed to meet the requirements of large scale business intelligence, and is optimised for large data volumes, high concurrency, and high performance, the company said.

MicroStrategy Cloud is mainly aimed at establishing a growing cloud partner ecosystem, “the Cloud Alliance” that includes technology from data warehousing and data integration companies and establishes advanced worldwide data centres, as part of the company’s cloud architecture.

It will also allow customers to build and host their own database on the MicroStrategy Cloud through integrated database and data integration options, where customers connect directly to their cloud-based data sources.

The company said the service supports the full range of cloud use cases, including fast, flexible tactical BI offerings, to the largest implementations, and encompasses advanced memory, 64-bit business intelligence technology and a high memory database architecture.

The technology enables subscribers to access enterprise data from their desktop or mobile device, as they will not have access to the full suite of MicroStrategy technology for reporting and analysis.

The optional database services are available in three pre-integrated configurations and integrate with on-premises or cloud-based data sources through various out-of-the box connectors.

The company notes that MicroStrategy Cloud is designed to control and reduce inefficient and risky processes related to planning, architecting, sourcing, contracting, budgeting, hiring, training, installing, testing, deploying, which are possible through an adaptive control framework suiting various industry standards.

The service supports secure virtualised BI environments, data encryption, hardened network infrastructure including secure customer VLANs, and multilayer authentication and access control to secure customer information.

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Each year MITs Technology Review chooses 10 emerging technologies they think will have the greatest impact on the world. This years top 10 are:

1. Social Indexing
2. Smart Transformers
3. Gestural Interfaces
4. Cancer Genomics
5. Solid State Batteries
6. Homomorphic Encryption
7. Cloud Streaming
8. Crash Proof Code
9. Separating Chromosomes
10. Synthetic Cells

IT and biology dominate the list, which is no surprise. But its interesting that 2 power related technologies are included.

See the article for more details and videos on each of the 10 technologies.

Eliminates obstacles to monitoring application performance

Network-based application performance management (APM) technology provider ExtraHop Networks has introduced its virtual appliance for APM, the EH1000v.

The company said the new offering offers real-time transaction analysis at up to 1Gbps speeds for applications running in virtual and cloud environments, about 10 times faster than the existing products.

The EH1000v is a virtualised version of the company’s passive, network-based ExtraHop Application Delivery Assurance system, and gives companies a small-footprint tool for branch-office deployments and offers efficient end-to-end application visibility for virtualised environments.

The EH1000v allows companies to get around the present obstacles to monitoring application performance and realise efficient virtual and cloud technologies without compromising application performance.

The new offering also enables lower IT infrastructure costs required for monitoring network and application performance across geographically distributed environments.

The EH1000v eliminates the necessity for separate hardware for different geographic locations in case of remote-office applications, and allows companies deploy and remotely administer and monitor branch-office deployments as well as traffic within virtualised environments.

The company notes that EH1000v can monitor traffic that passes only through virtual switches and ensures deep visibility into applications running in such environments, including the massive transactions passing between virtual machines on the same physical host.

Networking giant Cisco is just weeks away from layoffs that will see it cut 5,000 jobs – seven percent of its total workforce – according to an analyst from San Francisco based investment bank, Gleacher & Co.

The move could reduce the company’s operating expenses by $1 billion per year, analyst Brian Marshall wrote in a researh note.

In further discussion with the Wall Street Journal, Marshall said that that his analysis was based on what he thought Cisco needed to do.

“I think at the end of the day, we need to come to the fact that there is a pretty big disconnect between Cisco’s revenue performance and their headcount,” he told the paper. “Look at the past eight quarters. They’

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There are many ways in which small businesses may find themselves losing money that they can ill afford.  They may not be tracking waste within the office, employees could be using work hours to check Facebook or Twitter, or they might not be using the right services (paying too much for hardware, software, and online services that they don’t really need, for example).  But one thing that can really impact a small business negatively is the failure of clients to keep appointments.  This is especially detrimental to businesses that offer booked services at their location.  Clients that miss their appointments not only result in lost revenue, they could also mean the loss of other potential clients (that may have been unable to book due to a full schedule).  But what can a small business do to ensure that clients show up (without alienating them completely)?  Here are a few options.

1. Cancellation policy.  This is pretty standard fare.  Most service-oriented businesses, whether large or small, have policies in place that allow their clients to cancel should something come up.  Many give clients anywhere from 24-48 hours to cancel without penalty.  Although this won’t account for last-minute emergencies, it will certainly let clients reschedule should they realize a conflict a day or two in advance.
2. Cancellation fee.  Again, it is well within the rights of a business to demand that irresponsibility on the part of the client not result in total financial loss for the company.  You may not want to charge the full amount for a missed appointment, but there are other ways to recoup at least some amount of lost revenue for the no-show.  You could charge a percentage of the cost of the appointment (or a flat fee) or you could charge the full amount but apply a portion of it to the client’s bill should they reschedule for a later date.  And most offices are pretty flexible with refunding fees should clients be detained by a bonafide emergency.
3. Appointment reminder.  Sometimes people simply forget that they have appointments.  Many small businesses have taken to sending out reminders via phone message, email, or text (depending upon office capabilities and client preferences).  These can be automated or in person, but they should be sent prior to the cancellation cutoff so that clients have a chance to avoid fees should they remember that they need to reschedule.
4. Offer bonuses.  If there is a real problem with no shows, businesses can think about offering incentives for clients to arrive in a timely manner for their appointments.  For example, if a client makes appointments several times in a row, the business might give a discount or a freebie for the next time.  Sometimes rewards are a better motivation than punishments (like fees).
5. Deny service.  This should be a last resort for any business, but if a client repeatedly fails to show up or refuses to acknowledge fees for no-shows or late cancellations, then a business cannot afford to keep losing revenue on a client that is clearly not worth the effort.